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Bill Allen

@billallen.bsky.social

Retired IT bod. Deoraí fm Tipperary. Wildlife volunteer, sporadic allotmenteer Interested in Irish history . Like a ramble and a beer. Living in Herts

836 Followers  |  1,360 Following  |  816 Posts  |  Joined: 11.12.2023
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Posts by Bill Allen (@billallen.bsky.social)

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The daily photo.
Dartington Hall, Devon, UK. March 2024.

03.03.2026 21:42 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
A tightly coiled spiral staircase, the steps are dark and the walls whitewashed

A tightly coiled spiral staircase, the steps are dark and the walls whitewashed

The spiral staircase of Cahir Castle, Tipperary. I wouldn't fancy having to go down these after quaffing a few medieval ales!

#Ireland #SpéirGhorm #Medieval #IrelandTravel

03.03.2026 19:27 — 👍 43    🔁 6    💬 1    📌 0

The tone of the articles about British people in Dubai is fascinating. The Telegraph et al should be sympathetic to beleaguered British wealth abroad but it reads as faintly mocking.

03.03.2026 17:58 — 👍 5    🔁 1    💬 2    📌 0

Love Niwaki / Japanese gardening tools. Have an old Hori hori knife and a hand hoe similar to your fave but it has a long sharp blade. Also a lethal pruning saw. Great kit I have a wish list…..

03.03.2026 20:50 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

03.03.2026 19:28 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
A circular small glass-walled building housing a bakery cafe, set in a town square, people enjoying the early March sunshine at outdoor coffee tables and chairs. In the background, buildings that go back a century or so, pedestrians walking in the square.

A circular small glass-walled building housing a bakery cafe, set in a town square, people enjoying the early March sunshine at outdoor coffee tables and chairs. In the background, buildings that go back a century or so, pedestrians walking in the square.

VIENNA HEADING TOWARDS SPRING
Lunch Hour on the Third of March
Image © Merisi Vienna,
#EastCoastKin #Photography

03.03.2026 20:17 — 👍 42    🔁 4    💬 3    📌 0

Agree. There is one merchant banker over here with Siberia in his title. Figure that. Total bs

03.03.2026 13:51 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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A sunny day on the thermicos gulf with mount Olympus in the distance (picture by A. Montgomery) #Thessaloniki #greece

03.03.2026 12:17 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

 A palm house conservatory, green metal construction. 
The sky is blue with feathery clouds. Part of the trunk and a large branch of a mature tree framing the image.

A palm house conservatory, green metal construction. The sky is blue with feathery clouds. Part of the trunk and a large branch of a mature tree framing the image.

VIENNA HEADING TOWARDS SPRING
Schönbrunn Palm House at Noon
Hietzing, 13th District
3 March 2026 Image © Merisi Vienna,
#EastCoastKin #Photography
#PalmHouse #Conservatory
#ColorADay #BlueTue

03.03.2026 12:38 — 👍 55    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0

“Gouging” a traditional gombeen activity endured in Ireland

03.03.2026 13:40 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Hey chat, do you think this is what Cass meant (/s)?

03.03.2026 13:03 — 👍 22    🔁 8    💬 1    📌 1
Historical marker embedded in sidewalk pavement. "Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project. David Marcus. 1869-1919. I am a walking testimony. Firebird Community Arts, Organic Oneness, City of Chicago Public Art Collection 2025).

Against a red background, artistic imagery suggests a lake and sunshine, a mother and child, and a shoemaker and pair of shoes.

Historical marker embedded in sidewalk pavement. "Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project. David Marcus. 1869-1919. I am a walking testimony. Firebird Community Arts, Organic Oneness, City of Chicago Public Art Collection 2025). Against a red background, artistic imagery suggests a lake and sunshine, a mother and child, and a shoemaker and pair of shoes.

"I am a walking testimony"

New historical marker for my great-great-uncle, a shoemaker, one of 38 people killed in the Chicago Race Riot of 1919.

37th and Rhodes, Chicago (where he lived, worked and died)

03.03.2026 13:07 — 👍 65    🔁 18    💬 1    📌 1
Freddie Mercury | Queen | Farokh Bulsara | Proud Persian | Zoroastrianism | Nowruz
YouTube video by Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury | Queen | Farokh Bulsara | Proud Persian | Zoroastrianism | Nowruz

Freddie Mercury, Proud Persian

youtu.be/LB8KvXn4rwA?...

03.03.2026 13:31 — 👍 4    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
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Do people post videos on Bluesky?

I was on Cross Question last night arguing that it would be foolish to follow the War Criminal and Episodic Man into Iran. Kind of like following an arsonist into a burning building. Strongmen motivated entirely by their own self interest can not be trusted.

03.03.2026 10:11 — 👍 136    🔁 31    💬 13    📌 1

"Foreign-born Citizens" are actually just called citizens.

"Foreign-born voters" are just called voters

"non-citizen voters" (yes, this is a thing here in 🇬🇧) are just voters.

03.03.2026 10:12 — 👍 730    🔁 141    💬 12    📌 3
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Pan Am - New York, photographer/designer unknown, 1980.

02.03.2026 23:22 — 👍 51    🔁 2    💬 2    📌 1
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View from beautiful Carrickfinn Beach in west Donegal.

03.03.2026 06:30 — 👍 34    🔁 5    💬 0    📌 0

I was curious about the JRCI report claiming 143 incidents of anti-semisitism in Ireland over a 6 month period. Anti-semitism is a serious issue and should be called out but i’ve found it impossible to find the report. I have gleaned some slight issues of concern with the widely circulated claim.

03.03.2026 07:39 — 👍 6    🔁 5    💬 2    📌 0
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Working men's club, Middlesbrough, 1976, photo by Philip Jones Griffiths.

03.03.2026 07:56 — 👍 50    🔁 6    💬 1    📌 2
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Band on the Wall music venue, Manchester, 1943.

03.03.2026 07:55 — 👍 96    🔁 19    💬 10    📌 5
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The daily photo.
Cannizaro Park, Wimbledon, March 2010.

03.03.2026 09:03 — 👍 6    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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“……. War, huh, yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing ………..” 😔
#lovelife #mystory #winter #spring #wildatlanticway #strandhill #photography #surf #surfing #sligo #Ireland

02.03.2026 22:19 — 👍 18    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
"Cats"
Mural by Woskerski 
Larne, Northern Ireland

"Cats" Mural by Woskerski Larne, Northern Ireland

"Cats"
Mural by Woskerski
Larne, Northern Ireland

#CatStreetArt
#MenWithCats

02.03.2026 20:47 — 👍 47    🔁 10    💬 4    📌 0
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At last, a dry day and a spectacular moon too

Douglas, Cork, 🇮🇪

#photography
#nature
#landscape
#springtime
#cloud
#rainbow
#moon
#PhotoHour
#spéirghorm
#EastCoastKin

🐕 🚶📱 📸 📷 🌕💨🌈😇

02.03.2026 21:05 — 👍 61    🔁 6    💬 2    📌 0

Before today, no F-15 had been shot down in more than 35 years — since January 19, 1991, during the Persian Gulf War.

Before today, the U.S. had never had more than one aircraft shot down by friendly fire in a single day, let alone three.

02.03.2026 16:42 — 👍 1984    🔁 605    💬 50    📌 48
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Prof. Robert Pape:

"I have studied every air campaign since WWI... I've modelled the bombing of Fordow and regime change in Iran for 20 years... We are now in the grip of the escalation trap... This has never worked in over 100 years... Trump is up against the weight of history".

02.03.2026 19:05 — 👍 1826    🔁 643    💬 36    📌 94
Hermit's Castle Feature Page on Undiscovered Scotland Information about and images of Hermit's Castle at Achmelvich in Sutherland on Undiscovered Scotland.

A brutalist bothy. I’d no idea such a thing could exist. www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lochinver/he...

02.03.2026 19:59 — 👍 23    🔁 3    💬 1    📌 1
Sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka)

Sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka)

Wood River, Alaska map showing traps date 1908.

Wood River, Alaska map showing traps date 1908.

Hand drawn map of fish traps dating from 1908 the Wood River #Alaska. The traps on wood River are fished seasonally for Salmon. The river is frozen much of winter. Prime fishing is mid-June to August, with #salmon, #trout,#grayling and #Char. #Coastalhistory #tcdtceh

02.03.2026 20:10 — 👍 6    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

Opening the floodgates etc.

02.03.2026 18:42 — 👍 9    🔁 1    💬 2    📌 1

Now that Roy Keane is doing Sky Ads, we needed a new famous Corkman to get annoyed at questions and one has risen to the challenge.

02.03.2026 19:20 — 👍 43    🔁 6    💬 2    📌 0