Matt Bennett

We're only an hour north of Portsmouth and sailed from there to Ouistreham in the days when Britttany Ferries were more affordable.

Beautiful… we used to holiday en famille in Normandy in a 17thc. walled farm with a horse pond in the middle full of carp which my fishing-mad sons loved to visit. (More civilised activities were also available ;-)

Thanks for all these wonderful photos, Rebecca.

Okay - so we both have an unsatisfactory experience. 🤔

On a different matter which you raised earlier. Bluesky will no longer allow DMs without age verification; but requires you to use a partner - KWS - which sends you an email and asks for a credit card number. I feel uncomfortable with that. How about you?

Many a truella said in jest.

Class.

I love it - not least because it’s got horses on it! Why not use for displaying Queen Mathilda’s favourite flowers: gladioli?

I follow this poster for just this kind of information. It is very important to bring to book those people who mismanaged and/or exploited the Covid crisis - up to the very highest level in government and business.

The plaque is 35x15 cms - so quite a miniature version (in case you’re wondering).

Quite deserved. 😀

Norman tat: Ashtray (no-one in the household smokes); plate (cat damaged); woven plaque (wall-hanging); T-shirt (bought two decades ago at the Bayeux museum and worn at every possible ‘Norman’ event). The other three items are charity shop purchases.

Congratulations on your excellent presentation of the Spanish perspective on the 1588 Armada and its many contexts into the present day!

Revealed: How foreign billionaires pump millions into British politics The Elon Musk-shaped hole in Starmer’s Election Bill

🔴 NEW: Foreign billionaires are using UK companies to pour millions into British politics — legally.

We found £6m+ in political donations from UK firms owned by foreign nationals — people who can’t vote in Britain.

New on Democracy for Sale (🧵)

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-h...

The medieval bargemen of the Seine had St Philomena as their protectress. Also, they used horses to pull their vessels along. The river is probably rather too narrow to sail along easily, as you suggest.

Great river trip! Are you aiming to cross La Manche, as well?

Stimmt!

Fascinating!

Note on hall door: ‘Beware the Beserk Hen’.

I have several which I can share…

True. Did you know that players used to bet on chess, and braining someone with a chess-board was a standard trope in epic poetry featuring short-tempered chevaliers?

Yes, but is William playing White or Black (ref. your first comment)?

Not big enough for a medieval board, anyway…

🤣

Who do the couple on the book’s cover represent - it’s far from clear to me?

Tatsächlich? 🤔

Brilliant! A few years ago I took a friend to Jane Austin’s house in Chawton. There is a Clementini square piano in the front room, which she played beautifully, which was much appreciated by all the visitors at the time.

Fabulous displays! I don’t want to be a picky medievalist, but I can’t help feeling that the Cistercian monks in the foreground are being rather performative. Scythes are strange tools to be tending brassicas with. Perhaps they should have asked for guidance from the serfs that they *didn’t* have? 🤔

A betrayal of the victims of the Holocaust A view from Israel

open.substack.com/pub/robertre...

It’s slightly unsettling that boy in the yellow shirt with a huge napkin tucked into its collar is being offered a whole chicken by the waitress.