My uni job was a theatre usher. Absolute best time for someone to have a medical emergency was opening night of the opera. Had to crowd control the various doctors rappelling from the balcony.

My uncle Vic (a vicar) was knocked off his motorbike in south London in his 60s. When he took his helmet off to reveal a dog collar the perpetrator said something along the lines of “O Lord forgive me, I’ve struck a priest” in a strong Irish accent & seemed as much in need of the ambulance as Vic.

Was at a Christmas party with a load of clergy last night and as some people were leaving they found a person collapsed on the street outside so the Verger took over and called an ambulance and sent all the clergy away because "if they wake up surrounded by priests that'll just make things worse"

11am, my phone goes onto do not disturb mode for the rest of the year. Can't wait.

NEW: Organ tuners have been leaving temperature and humidity records in little-known books for decades. 🎹 They reveal how temperatures inside churches have changed over time due to climate change and increased heating. A new scoop for The Reengineer! www.thereengineer.pro/p/church-org...

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 22 Durham Cathedral Artist: SRBadmin

People are like: "what are the poems you enjoy reading like?" And it's just... This:

A couple of weeks ago I took my, what has now become, annual visit to @stedscath.bsky.social to light a candle for family and friends who won’t be here this Christmas. Each year this ceiling wows me! Faith aside, it’s no wonder buildings like this instil a sense of awe and wonder.

My friends. Starting tomorrow the daylight returns. Finally. Longer days. Longer and longer and longer days.

Rare footage of St Paul’s Cathedral testing its giant flamethrower

I'm the raccoon, btw.

Westminster Abbey is not a cathedral and Westminster Cathedral is not Anglican and ‘cathedral’ is an adjective meaning ‘a church that holds the seat of a bishop’, not ‘big famous church’

I have no idea where this is originally from or if my friend made it but they sent it to me once; and I love it

British Quakers are refusing room bookings from terfs as policy. If you were waiting for an org to stand up for LGBTQIA+ rights, and unflinchingly withstand bullying and lawfare, here you go, friends. Good luck to the raging bigots, they'll get nowhere with threats.

Gender Identity Clinic's Waiting Lists from Shortest To Longest

A look at the wings of a mulga parrot. Such pretty little parrots. Gluepot Reserve.

Don't let an app sync your fucking contacts.

can confirm that fixing this would cost six figures, at a minimum, and just as a general rule if you like visiting old churches please do chuck a quid in their donation box

People complain about using the chemical toilet at church (our main toilet is broken and we can't afford the extremely expensive archeology required to fix it), and I'm like... Some volunteers will have to lug this across the city to empty and clean it. We are doing our best. Stop complaining.

Remembering the time I told my friends I'd dyed my hair blue, but I was actually wearing a very realistic blue wig, and we did an entire session of D&D, and then at the end I dramatically ripped the wig off to reveal I had actually dyed my hair blue afterall

A sonnet for one of my favourite beasts, originally published in Fourteen Magazine a year or two ago!

At half ten last night I took some retired middle class gays to a McDonald's for the first time in their lives, and we took the food home, they treated eating it like an anthropological experience, and then ended the evening by bringing out a cheese board and some red wine. I love them so much.

A baby. She chomp.

Took my Goddaughters on a day out to a National Trust property today. I've often heard them advertising their child friendly activities and stuff but have never been to one of their properties with kids in tow and so am delighted to announce that they absolutely smashed it. We had a great time.

When this guidance is published (given legal standing), as it almost certainly will be, as a trans man I will not be allowed to use non-unisex public toilets. Which is almost every public toilet. Just want that to sink in, there. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The fact is no presenter has ever had to leave the BBC for expressing conservative views, or even explicitly endorsing a right-wing party. Was never a problem for Jeremy Clarkson. Was never a problem for Andrew Neil. Was never a problem for Alan Sugar

My current job is one I came back to two years after I initially quit it, so I love to be able to say that I've quit every single job I've ever worked including my current job

We didn't decide he was a saint. He decided that himself

I've already declined invites to the US this year and I guess that'll just have to continue. Rip to their tourism economy I guess.

Picture the scene: tiny terrace in the old bit of Boro. 1930's. Mad great aunt Vi + my G-Gran are sitting in the front room, when a glowing ball of blue light comes down the chimney, floating. Moves slowly thru the room. Vi starts screaming. G-gran, good in a crisis, lets it out the front door.

This is beautiful and anyone saying otherwise is a dullard.

Me, trying to explain what's wrong with the church organ to our music lead, when I don't actually have the words to explain what the problem is:

'Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas being transported to Fossanova Abbey.' Photograph by Daniel Ibanez

I received exactly the same answer. Since when is ‘trans woman’ an obscure and unclear way of referring to a person?

Time for me to tap the fucking sign again, apparently.

It's so funny that as Churchwarden of an ancient church it's fallen to me to continue a grudge against a neighbouring church, which began in 1070 - so pretty much immediately after the Norman Conquest in 1066. It's important we keep this grudge going. It's been nearly 1000 years. Can't stop now.

you know who's got some good book titles? The Council for the Care of Churches. "It won't happen to us: a guide to church insurance" "Sounds good! a guide to church organs" "Widening the eye of the needle: a guide to church access" "how not to do it: installing electricity in your church (1940)"

Would ya look at this loaf of tiger bread!

This is a real disaster for those - pretty much the entirety of the British media - advancing a maximalist reading of the For (Some) Women Scotland decision.

This is the key paragraph in the Sandie Peggie decision.

Decision in the Sandie Peggie case. She was not directly or indirectly discriminated against, her claim of victimisation fails entirely, her claim of harassment fails largely and her claim against Beth Upton fails entirely. www.judiciary.uk/judgments/sa...

And here we see the world's best Azul player, in all his fluffy glory.

TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque: "This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".

St Ambrose, whose feast falls on this date, refused to let the Emperor Theodosius I enter the Cathedral in Milan because he had blood on his hands for the illegal order to murder civilians in Thessalonica. ⚓️

This is my brain in long meetings, just so you know.

For four years my neighbour and I exchanged "hellos" and nothing else. A few days ago he asked if he could have a recycling bag because he's out, and now we're texting each other because we've both requested more bags from the council and haven't received any. British bin day culture is UNMATCHED.

What a wonderful opportunity to get hold of @carcanet.bsky.social #poetry titles at 20% discount … just add CARCMAS at the checkout … Do buy copies of my three books (Eleanor; A Kingdom of Love & my Rossetti Selected), but also buy everyone else’s books too …

How... How old is this CCTV, exactly??