Wonder how this is panning out for all those people who go on and on about how moving to Dubai is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I am biased because @sarahloumiller.bsky.social is a great pal, but her work on women in intelligence is particularly fabulous IMO. I know she is working on some really exciting projects at the moment 👀 🤫

Toby Keith would be loving this

Managed to go for a gentle ride in the school. Maxy moo was very good. He is super stiff in his back at the moment from an old injury, this long wet winter hasn’t helped.

Received my first packet from the magic lantern mail club today! Carla-Jean is a magnificent historian and the cherry on top was the "Lean into it" sticker with the golden virgin of Albert. If you know, you know! 🗃️ #cdnhist

Yes I’ve fractured my foot. Hooray. Just what one needs with a horse to exercise and a 6 month old 😂. In other news, yet another power cut this morning. Going to my parents’ place because COFFFEEEEE

If you’re on Instagram (I know, it’s awful) do pop by and follow me @lmbd1418 !

Finally booked our holiday

“We are the only species on the planet, so far as we know, to have invented a communal memory stored neither in our genes nor in our brains. The warehouse of this memory is called the library.” — Carl Sagan

Just brilliant.

Ted fell asleep during swim class today whilst floating on his back 😂

In other news: I’ve managed to get my hands on the back catalog of the British Mule Society Journal which I’ll be helping to digitise. I came across a name I did not expect to see in the index, but it all makes sense somehow:

She barked to go outside just to sit in the sun. I know the feeling babe.

Reclining boar with magnificent tusks in a snow-covered landscape Ohara Koson

Think I’ve fractured my metatarsal 😭 also, in case you didn’t know, babies are incredibly tiring.

Hezekiah Moscow und Ich. Groß in Deutschland! Me and my fella are in Der Spiegel online. Might make it to print too! Vielen Dank Der Spiegel, Frank Thadeusz, Ossi Piispanen 🙏🏻 I feel sick and my heart might explode. And I only look and sound SLIGHTLY like an obsessed crazy woman, right? 😆

Join me for a Jungle Commandos webinar on behalf of the fabulous Kohima Educational Trust this Thursday at 8pm GMT. Book your place below! 👇 www.kohimaeducationaltrust.net/news-and-eve...

I wouldn't say I'm bad at replying to emails but I just responded to something from May 2025

The bond between soldiers and their horses & mules was not just sentimentality...

A great friend of mine, Gareth Powell, is raising money for the International Commando Heritage Trust to help fund a new Commando Heritage Centre at Spean Bridge honouring the legacy of the Commando Basic Training Centre at Achnacarry. Any help, no matter how small, would be greatly appreciate.🙏

I’m sorry Canada, having reached many a sporting final and lost, GB feels your pay. Also, nothing unites the world like watching the U.S. lose. A great shame.

Dark chocolate digestives are supreme.

Hey Bsky - can I have your fave comedy film recommendations please. Could do with a laugh tonight.

Wunderbar!

I resent Tessa Dunlop mentioning Dotty the Bull Terrier in the same breath as Andy Windsor. One is a disgusting, out of control animal. The other is a gorgeous Bull Terrier.

I’m often asked what my PhD, funded by the fantastic Burma Star Memorial Fund, is actually about. In short: I study the role, experience, and agency of horses & mules in the British Army & Imperial Forces from the end of the First World War through to the end of the Second World War 1/4 📸IWM E8226

Delighted to say that The Long, Long Trail will soon be hosting a database of men passing through No. 1 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, on behalf of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa. Watch this space! #ww1 #genealogy #cef #canada #BIFHSGO

Liked this? Read this from @lmbd1418.bsky.social. Good book. #histbookchat

#OTD in 1945 the Japanese retreated from the last of the hills north of Kangaw. They had lost a staggering 4/5ths of their forces in the area in the fight against XV Corps since 3 Cdo Bde landed in the mangrove swamps on 22 Jan. 📸 IWM IND 4357; 3 Cdo Bde with tanks of the 19th Lancers

Fire Horse, you say? A Light Horseman crouches behind the back of his horse, his rifle held at the ready. He is training his horse for patrolling where they are trained to lie on the ground, providing cover for the soldier. 1918. 📸 AWM P02544.005 #FireHorse

Cheese by Ashley Betteridge

Teddy Sagan is 6 months old today. Feels like 100 years ago since I slept through the night but equally as if we brought him home from the hospital just yesterday.

Olive has sprained her neck. Never seen her in such pain. Poor pooch 😞

Max wishes he could go and roll in the mud

Fire Horse, you say? A Light Horseman crouches behind the back of his horse, his rifle held at the ready. He is training his horse for patrolling where they are trained to lie on the ground, providing cover for the soldier. 1918. 📸 AWM P02544.005 #FireHorse

Me, I’ve heard of them! Ally af.

Monday evening contemplation: In about 100 billion years, every single galaxy outside our own will have drifted beyond our observable horizon, leaving the Milky Way alone in a dark, empty, and cold universe.

‘No penetrationist, however employed, can ever be said to be entirely free from the influence of the mule. At some time or other everyone will have a mule in his life, on his toes, in the small of his back, or stepping quietly on his face while he sleeps.’ - 📖 ‘Jungle, Jungle, Little Chindit’

@ospreypublishing.bsky.social are also having a flash sale. At a glance I saw @dienekes.bsky.social (Dr Prit Buttar), @lmbd1418.bsky.social (Lucy Betteridge-Dyson), and Rob Lyman. Many others too. #histbbokchat

I want to talk about postpartum guilt. I’m 6 months pp now and some days I really struggle with feeling guilty that I’m not doing enough. I’m not doing enough with Teddy, I’m not riding Max enough, I’m not walking Olive enough, I’m not doing enough research work, I’m not working out enough 1/3

Do I ever *stop thinking about it*? Yes, but never for that long. seveninchesofyourtime.com/cinemas-grea...

In tears listening to this incredible woman. What a tower of strength. In a world where the news is constantly littered with stories about the abuse of women and it seems as if that will never change, we should remember her message that shame should never EVER be carried by the victims.

Today the Imperial War Museum announced the acquisition of Dame Vera Lynn's Second World War archive, inc her diaries, personal items and hundreds of letters between Lynn and her fans. Really delighted for my colleague Simon for his outstanding work on this collection. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

He’ll grow into him

SIGH I *had* to join Facebook to look for a horse, soooo now I’m there, I may as well use it for history posts! Please give me a follow so my timeline isn‘t just dodgy horse dealers.

Won 🥳 my case against East Sussex County Council for the £600 new wheel I need on my car after driving down a literal ravine on my road. The hole is still there 🤷‍♀️ incredible really.

I painted this old bureau a few years ago (don’t panic purests, it wasn’t anything particularly nice!) and I’ve finally found just the right spot for it!

I went to the osteopath yesterday and today my back is taking its revenge.

We need to get over this obsession with changing Prime Minister every 5 minutes as if they’re Man United managers. The country needs stability.

There is a saying: 'You can talk to a horse, but you can chat and whisper to a mule', and indeed, many men who served with mules spoke of the uniquely strong relationships they forged with the animals. 📸 Mule 99 & Pte. D. Ravensgraig, Italy, 1944 IWM NA 12495 #MuleMonday