Those soulful eyes. 🥹 Photo from my collection, no date/info.

cübe

Settling in for another day at Gloucester History Festival in the wonderful Blackfriars Priory, and great to finally meet @eckerusla.bsky.social in person!

I made a map showing where all my blood donations to date have gone. 11 different hospitals across 8 counties! #GiveBlood 🩸 @givebloodnhs.bsky.social tinyurl.com/my-blood-don...

Thank you, @givebloodnhs.bsky.social! It's always to special to see where my donations go. #GiveBlood 🩸

Fascinating discussion between @drjaninaramirez.bsky.social, @stroudstory.bsky.social and @andyrpglevum.bsky.social this morning at #GloucesterHistoryFestival about the gorgeous Adoration of the Magi wall painting (c. 1520) at St Mary de Crypt, Gloucester.

And I was particularly pleased to notice that 2+0+2+5=9, 20+25=45 and that 45x45=2025. Very cool 9 times table stuff going on there. Anyway, that’s quite enough geekiness for one evening 😂

Today (16/09/25) is a special date: 16, 9 and 25 are all square numbers - as is 2025.

Calm before the storm at #GloucesterHistoryFestival... hopefully less actual rain in today's "storm" than there was yesterday! @drjaninaramirez.bsky.social @sarahsmythlit.bsky.social

(Yet) another gem from @thedailytism.com. Thank you, @elsawilliams.bsky.social!

10 September 1930 | An Italian Jewish woman, Liliana Segre, was born in Milan. In January 1944, she was deported to #Auschwitz with her father Alberto who perished in the camp in April 1944. Liliana survived. Today, she is a Senator for life in #Italy and turns 95.

The news regarding Layan’s court case is (surprisingly) that it has been postponed, yet again, until November. Still, the family take this as good news for now. Thanks to all for prayers and support in so many ways.

Today our friend Layan Nasir appears in an Israeli military court facing charges which have hung over her for 4 years. Despite 8 months in administrative detention last year for a different issue which was never revealed, Layan faces further unjust imprisonment. We cry out to God for justice.

Yay vaccines! 💉 (Unironically, I promise.)

In hindsight, if I'd taken my laptop filing system to my initial autism diagnostic assessment, I probably could have saved the NHS a lot of time/money/hassle... #ActuallyAutistic ♾️

It has been four hours now since the Church of England leaked the names and email addresses of almost 200 survivors of church abuse. No bishop or safeguarding official has resigned. The church has made no statement. Worst of all, none of the survivors affected has been contacted to offer support.

I finally made in onto a tower tour at #TewkesburyAbbey - and what a gorgeous day for it! The abbey has the largest surviving Norman tower in the world (45m high, and 14m² in area). I particularly loved seeing carvings including this gorgeous hexafoil. #CofE

Israel bombed a hospital. Rescue workers and reporters rushed to recover the dead and the wounded. Israel bombed the hospital again. Live on TV. Read that again. Our government’s legacy will be its complicity in crimes against humanity. End all arms sales to Israel, now.

From #TewkesburyAbbey to @gloucestercathedral.org.uk... #CofE

In the woods #Devon #trees

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

I feel like I've entered a weird alternate universe...

Here is what the UK government is tweeting about while fascist mobs are triumphantly on the advance snd threatening asylum seekers and people of colour

Finally! See you on Monday, #TewkesburyAbbey. 😊 #CofE

This #WorldHumanitarianDay, we acknowledge the devastating impacts that the war in #Gaza is having on women & girls. We demand the immediate and unconditional opening of all land crossings for the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian #aid.

Having spent 7 months in an Israeli jail last year under administrative detention, Layan Nasir is facing trial again. Her much-postponed trial will conclude on Sept 7. All pressure to avoid a custodial sentence is needed now. Letters to Israeli ambassadors and elected representatives please.

The immediate, palpable sense of relief I experience when someone sets me an external deadline for a task I've been avoiding for weeks (months) is... quite something. (Undiagnosed ADHD what undiagnosed ADHD?!) #AdventuresInExecutiveDysfunction #Neurospicy 🧠💫

Largest ever mass arrest by Met Police at one protest 466 arrests were made. This is reportedly the largest ever mass arrest by Met Police. For context, in the year ending 31 March 2025, just 232 people were arrested in the UK for terrorist-related activity in that entire year.

Cat lady in the making from a young age... Claude | Starsky | Mercutio #InternationalCatDay 🐈‍⬛️🐾

A few shots of the magnificent Thun Castle, which I visited a year ago today, for #ThrowbackThursday. 🏰🏞 The castle was built in the C12, though the roof was added later. Its C15 pine beams remain - and the structure was made without nails! (Also: amazing lake and mountain views from the turrets.)

When Trump was reelected, I knew it would be a death knell for millions around the world, because he and his administration would devastate what is left of public health, and especially global public health initiatives. Some of this will happen through attacks on vaccination, but also like this.

Remember when the government put tens of thousands of Afghans’ lives at risk with a catastrophic data breach, then concealed it from everyone, and amazingly enough we’re now talking about exactly how much crime migrants are responsible for

Roman fountain spout in the shape of a frog. Glazed terracotta. From Pompeii, 1st century AD. Great to see ornamental froggie fountain spouts have been popular for 2,000 years! 🐸❤️ MAN Napoli 📷 by me #Archaeology

Talking of the friend I ran into, the show we met because of, Merlin, ended in 2012. I still keep in touch with a lot of people from that fandom and quite a few are regular theatre or con going buddies. Just because a show ends, the friendships don't! 💜

London plane tree seed balls catching sunlight.

I'm currently in the throes of Covid, feeling too grotty to work but still sentient enough to be bored out of my skull. Please send pet/church architecture/mountain pictures. Good news stories and amusing anecdotes also appreciated.

My original plan to climb Moel Siabod had to be ditched because of a poor summit forecast, but a last-minute decision to visit Cregennan Lakes - and walk up Pared y Cefn Hir - made for a gentler but still beautiful alternative, with great views of Cader Idris and the Afon Mawddach estuary. #Eryri ⛰️

Layers and layers of mountains, seen on the descent from Elidir Fawr #Eryri ⛰️

Quote with your gold art! #watercolor

Credit to the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen. Defying the Israeli ban on filming Gaza from above, Bowen instead describes the carnage & genocide he can see: “I can tell you that communities in the north of Gaza that I knew well…with tens of thousands of people…are flat. There’s nothing left of them.”

Recognition of the state of Palestine should not be used as a bargaining chip. It should have happened months ago. We also need far greater action to stop the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, including fully ceasing arms sales and implementing sanctions against the Israeli cabinet.

Compline at Tewkesbury Abbey as part of Musica Deo Sacra was a wonderful way to end the day - and also dangerously soporific! (Would anyone have noticed if I'd curled up in a quiet corner of the abbey afterwards?!) Thank you @katieethers.bsky.social for suggesting I attend. 🥰🎶 #CofE

“Recognise #Palestine while there is still land on which a state could be recognised,” the @archbishopofyork.org‬ told the Government this week, urging the UK to accelerate its planned recognition of a Palestinian state #gaza

Last week's 8.26 mi/13.3 km hike: Y Garn, Foel-goch, Mynydd Perfedd and Elidir Fawr The clouds descended on the approach to Y Garn and I lost hope... but then they lifted on my way down from Foel-goch and the views were incredible. And I had 3 of the 4 summits to myself! #Eryri ⛰️

Great glass by Henry Haig; note that the pieces have different depths so the whole window becomes a wonderfully tactile surface

www.theguardian.com/politics/202... Worth a read. The UK's increasing slide towards authoritarianism is really alarming. "Palestine Action is the first direct action protest group to be banned under the Terrorism Act, placing it in the same category as Islamic State, al-Qaida and National Action."

My happy place ⛰️ #Eryri

The tranquility of St Non’s chapel and well, traditionally the birthplace of St David

Elidir Fawr (3,031 ft / 924 m) My fourth and final summit on today's #Eryri hike, and another ticked off my Welsh 3000s list! Now just to make my way back down to the car...