Clare O'Brien

Clare O'Brien

@clareobrien.bsky.social

Writer. Retired music industry person. 2025 Poet in Residence, Inverewe Garden, Scotland. Poetry chapbooks 'Breathing Out Becomes White And Snowfall' & 'Who Am I Supposed To Be Driving?' & novelette 'Airloc' out now. Links: clarevobrien.weebly.com

2.2K followers1K following2.4K posts

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

So, Airbnb have changed what we hosts can ask tourists to do when they leave our self-catering property. Including "guests shouldn’t be asked to wash and put away dishes, but you can ask them to put used dishes in the sink." WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?

View full thread
Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

I miss the days when guests just found us via Google and booked direct via email. Airbnb is an ugly corporate monster and it's hoovered up everything in the industry, just like Amazon did. I hate it, but the alternatives, like Booking dot com, are worse.

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

And in response to the (now blocked) offensive misogynist who thinks I'm too lazy to work, we don't employ a cleaner. We do all the housekeeping and laundry ourselves. But this is self-catering accommodation, and that means guests wash their own dishes.

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

And the BBC helpfully publicise Airbnb's ridiculous new rules - so I guess we can expect a sink full of dirty dishes when guests leave our cottage now. Have never had this specifically in our house rules - thought in any civilised world it was covered by "please leave cottage clean and tidy"...??

bbc.co.ukAirbnb hosts can no longer make guests strip beds and wash dishes under new rulesThe updated policy will apply to all reservations booked on the accommodation site on or after 20 November.
Clare O'Brien@clareobrien.bsky.social

So, Airbnb have changed what we hosts can ask tourists to do when they leave our self-catering property. Including "guests shouldn’t be asked to wash and put away dishes, but you can ask them to put used dishes in the sink." WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

So, Airbnb have changed what we hosts can ask tourists to do when they leave our self-catering property. Including "guests shouldn’t be asked to wash and put away dishes, but you can ask them to put used dishes in the sink." WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

I mean we're not a hotel. We dont come in and wait on them. They rent the house and cook and tidy up after themselves while they're there. If they want more they need to stay in a hotel and pay twice as much.

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

Apparently we can't ask guests to put their rubbish in the dustbins which are right outside the door either, because it counts as "taking trash offsite" even though this is a cottage in the middle of a six-acre croft in the Scottish Highlands not an apartment on the sixth floor of some US city.

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

"...poetry, literature. These are the things that we stay alive for, and well, that’s exactly what AI threatens to rob from the human race....AI is literally rendering our souls obsolete and I think that is true death." Go Grian. 🫡

latimes.comFontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten is all about dystopia, but says AI is 'rendering our souls obsolete'Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten talks about the group's new album “Dopamine Chamber” and the shock of landing in an AI controversy.

Clare O'Brien reposted

Simon Spanton
@simonguy.bsky.social

"Those were the broad days! Time was when I could walk and sing all day and hear no more than the echo of my own voice in the hollow hills. The woods were like the woods of Lothlórien, only thicker, stronger, younger. And the smell of the air! I used to spend a week just breathing."

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

I have long thought that Brexit was engineered by the Putin/Trump axis in order to weaken Europe, isolate the UK and assist in their ambition of turning the world to shite.

The Herald@heraldscotland.bsky.social

'In concert with Europe, we can develop our own digital infrastructure, so we’re no longer at the mercy of American oligarchs who are poisoning our politics with their propaganda' www.heraldscotland.com/poli... @neilmackay.bsky.social

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

Manically grinning because my somewhat disturbing flash 'Tattoo' will be featuring in GLOWERING, just in time for Halloween! #bodyhorror #writingcommunity #Halloween

Bulb Culture Collective@bulbculture.bsky.social

Our inbox is empty! If you've been waiting to hear back from us, you should now have a response. We received so many incredible pieces for GLOWERING; they spilled over, and we were able to accept more great writing for 2027! We're very lucky, and we can't wait to share all this incredible art!

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

The thing that frustrates me as a tourist accommodation provider (hell, couldn't survive on poetry!) is poor communication. Last night, guests asked for early check-in. Offered 1pm instead of usual 4pm. Rushed through cleaning so it'd be ready. They just turned up without a word at 5.30pm. 🫩

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

The #GrahamNortonShow tonight was an absolute delight. The truly adorable Colin Farrell, Quentin Tarantino, Ellen DeGeneres and Gemma Chan ... plus the glorious Suede, dancing with the Europeans. Catch it on iPlayer if you missed it, it's a corker.

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

"Hinton said that the AI venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Peter Thiel, and the CEO of the newly rebranded SpaceXSI, Elon Musk, “don’t believe in democracy”. They see themselves as “Übermenschen” who believe they should “control society” and that Trump is a useful instrument in that aim."

theguardian.comAI godfather Geoffrey Hinton: ‘We’re creating alien beings. I’m willing to be selfish and choose humans’The pioneering computer scientist on why Trump is using ‘superintelligence’ wrong, whether AI could wipe out humanity – and how our biggest challenge will be accepting we’re not the only intelligent b...
Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

Absolute foaming-at-the-mouth barking batshit. Also, illiterate. He means "justifies" not "verifies". Seriously though... why is he still in the White House and not a secure ward?

Anonymous@youranoncentral.bsky.social

Trump endorses the mass murder of nearly 14 million people as a "small price to pay" for the US to fight Israel's war in Iran. His MAGA cult cheers in the background at the idea of Iran mass murdering millions of US citizens.

Clare O'Brien reposted

hookland.bsky.social
@hookland.bsky.social

War is target fixation. War is concrete cicatrix. War is an unbanishable ghost. Hookland knows this. It pillboxes remain manifestations of invasion fears. The abandoned sound mirrors of its salt marshes still listen out for phantom planes. There is no psychic peace. – #DAKilory

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

September reading was all about history: 4 very different historical novels, poetry written in honour of lizard king Jim Morrison, an account of the brilliant renaissance of #Suede and a look back at legendary TV series #TwinPeaks. 5 I bought, 2 have just gone back to the library. #booksky 💙📚

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

My pebble 'Violent Night' is one of the 39, and in most excellent company. 😊

ｐｅｔｒｉｃｈｏｒ@petrichorlit.bsky.social

petrichor 31 is here! w/ - New text & image from 20 contributors + - Pebbles vol. 7 w/ 39 contributors! + - Digital chaps from Laura Wetherington and Grzegorz Wróblewski (trans. by Peter Burzyński) - Cover by Jeanne Ranz! Submissions are open too!!! petrichormag.com/petrichor-31/

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

So happy to be within!!! Check out my #poem 'Metropolis' at trashcatlit.com/metropolis/ #prosepoetry #poetrycommunity #poetry

trashcatlit.comMetropolisClare O’Brien Listen to Clare read her prose poem Across from my tenth floor window, the Tower glows red, blue, red.  The lights remind me why I fear this city. …
Trash Cat Lit@trashcatlit.bsky.social

Our very first prose poetry issue is NOW LIVE 🦝 Twenty absolute stunners for you to savour. Huge thanks to Jude Potts @judepickledplum.bsky.social for her reading assistance. We'll start highlighting these beauts soon. For now, grab a brew and lose yourself 💜 trashcatlit.com/prose-poetry... 1/2

trashcatlit.comProse Poetry, September 2026We have twenty beautiful pieces in this, our first issue of prose poetry. Inspired by a very special raccoon, Jimothy, the theme was a celebration of tenacity and difference. Click on the images to…
Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

Happy to have my prose #poem 'Metropolis' in this new issue from @trashcatlit.bsky.social and looking forward to reading everyone else's! #prosepoetry #poetrycommunity

Trash Cat Lit@trashcatlit.bsky.social

Our penultimate teases for the coming prose poem issue🦝 Madeleine Armstrong @madeleinewrite.bsky.social shares a mother's challenges when her child's different @clareobrien.bsky.social gives us an MC battling anxiety in the crush of the city Moira Ashley takes us to her storm-strewn homeland

Clare O'Brien
@clareobrien.bsky.social

I think this might be my favourite from today's crop of #poemsabout #deadletters! Witty, funny and sad all at once.

Kyla Houbolt@luaz.bsky.social

For #PoemsAbout #DeadLetters, here's a slightly crazed point of view: The Dead Letter. (*waves* to @alanparrywriter.co.uk 😁 )