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@fenken.bsky.social

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Archaeological geophysicist, heritage nerd, Running Punk, musician and ex-dancer.

A large tabby cat about to climb in a window. Its passage to my desk is blocked by a large Meccano model of a cargo ship and a smaller model of HMS Rodney. Just after this photo was taken, the cat nimbly avoided the rigging on the cargo ship, but nearly took out A turret and most of the forecastle fixings on Rodney. HMS Rodney was a battleship laid down in 1922 and launched in 1925. It and HMS Nelson were visually distinctive by having all their main armament forward, in three triple turrets. Aft of the turrets was a large, blocky superstructure (which acted as a sail and made both ships difficult to move). This layout is obvious in the model that was nearly trampled by a huge cat, in a scene reminiscent of a cross between War of the Worlds and The Goodies.
Idiot in running kit in a field with a different big river behind.
A pan full of bramble jelly that is coming to the boil whilst being stirred.
Pencil drawing of a Fairey Seafox - a biplane fitted with floats. It is drawn in the corner of a piece of paper and angled to keep my work notes out of shot.
Front cover of Repeater, by Fugazi. It is a white cover, with the words FUGAZI REPEATER in justified capitals, formed by a black and white photo of Guy Piccioto, lying face down on the stage with a mike stand entangled in his legs.
Sweaty idiot in running kit. He has a very red face.
A brick with a small handprint. My hand is there to give it scale, but you'd need to know how big my hands are.
A brick on a bed of sand
A hand holding two 9 mm (9x19, for the gun nuts) cartridge cases picked up in our dance spot. They were blank cartridges and have been fired.
A de Lorean car with a fusion drive in the rear compartment and various cables tied along the sides.
Idiot in running kit taking a selfie on a bridge over a river.
Idiot in shades and running kit on a bridge over a stream
Screen at the start of a film claiming it to be set in Los Angeles, November 2019
The bust of Nefertiti in the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung. Wikipedia describes it thus: The bust is 48 centimetres (19 in) tall and weighs about 20 kilograms (44 lb). It is made of a limestone core covered with painted stucco layers. The face is completely symmetrical and almost intact, but the left eye lacks the inlay present in the right. The iris of the right eye is of inserted quartz with black paint and is fixed with beeswax. The background of the eye-socket is unadorned limestone. Nefertiti wears her characteristic blue crown known as the "Nefertiti cap crown" with a golden diadem band looped around like horizontal ribbons and joining at the back, and an Uraeus (cobra), which is now broken, over her brow. She also wears a broad collar with a floral pattern. The work is believed to have been crafted in 1345 BC by Thutmose because it was found in his sculpture workshop in Tell-el Amarna.
Idiot in running kit outside the 1 in 12 Club on Albion Street in Bradford. There is a red a d black sign saying The 1 in 12 Club. Liberty Equality Solidarity Next to it is a poster saying Recycle yourself. Everything can have a new life. Also you
Leeds Morris dancing a stick dance outside the Three Hulets in Chapel Allerton
The Lode just to the west of Soham. It is a water filled dyke/drain with reeds on either side in a dry, flat landscape.
A meringue and a medley of red berries in a beryl-coloured Woods Ware bowl
A programme for the KD Academy adaptation of The Little Mermaid.
Vitalstatistix yelling at Asterix: 'What do you mean Alesia? I don't even know where Alesia is! Nobody knows where Alesia is!'
Hairy Scotsman wearing a Cultural Heritage Agency/Historic England shirt. It was from a joint project between the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands and Historic England (my former employer). It was studying the wreck of the Rooswijk - a Dutch East Indiaman that sank on the Goodwin Sands in 1740 #Rooswijk1740
Three corporate shirts - one from MSDS Marine, one from the East of England Ambulance Service and one from KD Academy, all on a washing line.
A black tabor pipe on a light brown tabor, with a light brown drumstick. It sits on some granite setts next to a partially dry drunk pint of Scoundrel
19th century photograph of the crew of a merchant ship from Peterhead. It is probably a whaling ship, to be honest, which does a bit of a disservice to my BlueSky mutuals (and me), but a more honest photo wouldn't really catch the spirit of the joke.
The late Janey Godley high fiving a polis (Scottish police officer) on the beach at Turnberry. She is also holding a large sign that says TRUMP IS A CUNT
Idiot in running kit on a bridge over a river
A black and white photo of a brick arch supported by two buttresses. It is the entrance to a mid-18th century ice house. Bees are not visible yet, but they suddenly get VERY loud if you enter!
Black and white photo of a Barnack limestone buttress on a carstone wall. There is a benchmark in the picture.
A drain filled with water and flanked by reeds in Flag Fen. Black and white, obviously.
Idiot taking a photo of the sky accidentally.
A small flock of Soay sheep. They were the sum total of our audience for much of our first set this afternoon.
PS Waverley passing Hermitage Moorings on the Thames
Scottish legs in green Ambulance Service uniform trousers
A flask of Yorkshire Tea (Yorkshire Gold, loose leaf for the nerds) and a copy of A Dark History of Tea. There is a gluten and dairy free millionaire's slice in my bag - I have one left and haven't iced the date and walnut cake I made last night yet.
Idiot in running kit by the side of a very flat field. The Idle of Ely rises in the distance. The cathedral is there, but you won't see it at this resolution.
Banner 1, by Bridget Riley. A tall thin artwork with converging/diverging vertical stripes in blue, red and white. The convergence does weird things to the colours.
A DVD of the film Repo Man, with Emilio Estevez on the cover.
An empty picture frame on a green wall.
Fairey Fulmar N1854 (the first production model) on the ground at Farnborough in 1962. It is a low wing monoplane with a three bladed propeller, a pilot canopy and separate greenhouse for the observer or some aspidistras or something behind, that runs into the fuselage.
Two trees that have grown together in a spiral, in this case for decorative purposes. The merging together is known as inosculation. Behind is the 15th century Old Palace in Ely, but you wouldn't know it unless you know the building. You can mostly see a red brick building with stone dressings and square mullioned windows with stone hood moulds.
Ely Cathedral looking mean, moody and magnificent with sunlight reflecting in the window of the Galilee porch and dark, threatening clouds behind
Man in a kilt and a T-shirt taking a selfie in a mirror. The t-shirt says WRONGPOP in pink heavy metal style writing.
A black and white photograph of a sweet pea flower. There are a few rain drops on the petals. Boiling rage, model's own.
Simon Farnaby as Death in the Stupid Deaths section of Horrible Histories
A female Araniella cucurbintina spider - it is bright green with yellow legs and a red blob on the end of the abdomen. This example is about 6 or 7 mm long and quite round, which would make it a female. Males are smaller and thinner. It is making a web between a Himalayan honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa) flower and leaf. Himalayan honeysuckle is also called spiderwort, interestingly enough. The flower is a deep pink colour surrounded by pink bracts and more buds. Has long ends to the petals so looks almost ragged. The leaf is broad and deeply veined.
Same picture as the other day - tabby cat lying against my leg on a bed. I am wearing a kilt and a Hawai'ian shirt
Idiot in a kilt and Hawai'ian shirt lying on a bed with a tabby cat lying alongside him. Kilty man is tall, showing that the cat is a big fella.
Idiot in White Star Running vest stood on a bridge over a river, taking a selfie.
Double headed eagle cast into the reinforce of a cannon cast in Russia in 1802 and captured at Sevastopol in 1855. Now a lawn ornament in Ely.
Idiot in white trousers, white shirt and black waistcoat playing a black tabor pipe and a brown tabor. They are stood in a sunny pub car park in the Yorkshire Dales.
A car dashboard. The thermometer reads 36.5°
A group of baby Araneus diadematus, or diadem spiders (also known in the UK as garden spiders), in a web
Coton Morris dancing a stick dance at the canal basin in Skipton. They are all in white with black waistcoats
Two purple cerinthes
A five string banjo on a stand. It sits behind my chair in my office so I can play in my breaks or if I see anyone I am not related to. The floor is herringbone brick pavoirs, the walls are white painted matchboarding.
A grey heron in flight
Right hand trunnion, set on the trunnion plate of the slide (there is no trunnion hasp or fittings for one, so the gun was secured another way). The markings are in Cyrillic, but they translate as 30 pounds - that is the weight of shot, a measure of the calibre of the gun (although it is more likely to be 30 funt, which is about 27 lbs or 12.3 kg), which in modern terms would be between 145 mm and 152 mm (5.6 to 6 inch) 252 poods - this is the weight of the gun. About 4125 kg 1802 - this is the casting date.
Some red cabbage sauerkraut fermenting in jars. Some of the brine has bubbled over. It is purple.
A sculpted head on the springer of the chancel arch of a medieval church (St Faith's, Kelshall)
A readout from a www.findmypolitics.com survey I am a democratic socialist, broken down to 100% left wing in economic terms, 60% libertarian in social terms , 60% pro-liberty in terms of civil liberties, exactly balanced between globalist and nationalist in governance terms and have a 5% distrust of the system. Which is probably fair...