Jeremy Benson

A picture a week for 2026: 43

Ft. that photo of me and @imcmillan.bsky.social.

Football: some things I’ve been thinking about. #LCFC

Late stroll. A solitary sad brown leaf on the road ponders its life choices. The dark house looms silhouettily befront a dark sky. An ink-blotty shadow is a memory of words that never were. Two one-eyed bikes abreast appear to be a single creature wobbling towards me. @imcmillan.bsky.social

Defeated in a drawn-out battle, deeply unpopular with the public, yet stubbornly refusing to accept their actions were wrong, or the authority of the judicial process: Manchester City is like Charles I - which, given how that ended for him, they might want to reflect on. @davidallengreen.bsky.social

Former doors: an occasional series. #exdoors

Ooh, maths tingles 🥰⚡

Ben Hur took his old vehicles to the charioty shop.

Double furry stiles with autumn leaves. @lakesstiles.bsky.social

How did a puzzle about crossing seven bridges give birth to a whole new branch of mathematics? You can read about about Euler, the Bridges of Königsberg, the Bridges of Kaliningrad and the origins of graph theory in my latest Substack post: kityates.substack.co...

Had this idea in lockdown, half-built it, forgot about it, remembered it again, though might as well finish it.

Matchday. I went to Kenilworth Road when young, as my nearest league ground growing up, but today is my first visit for over 40 years & my 1st as an away fan (I have a soft spot for Luton but not today). A win would add evidence that Martin & his team are coming good, & I’m daring to hope… #LCFC 🦊💙

More Thames at night. #London

Late stroll. The storm has taken a break from storming. A train grumbles late into the station. The dancing hedge-leaf shadows make a squirming caterpillar on the pavement. A forgotten fading paint-man sighs in the disused carpark. The distant hiss of the main road’s presence. @imcmillan.bsky.social

#FingerpostFriday

The Thames at night. #London

#AdoorableThursday Lamport

Those links between words: Bridges across silences For poets to walk

Benjamin Britten taking a break from working on the War Requiem.

Time travel - 21st Oct 2018 Go to your library, put in today's date (not year), pick a photo, edit/not edit, and post.

‘…the question of whether protein-enriched oat bars count as flapjacks for tax reasons (answer: no, largely because the Court tried the oat bars and did not find them “to be of a standard to be served to guests as a treat with afternoon tea”. Yes, this happened.)’ @timharford.ft.com

Benjamin Britten taking a break from working on the War Requiem.

🧵

Terrible experience this morning when a totally unknown dog got into my house, chased the cat and got muddy paws on the sofa, then disappeared. I was out of the room but Rory told me all about it.

Late stroll. The bush hugs a lamppost close, and gets a sharp shadow in return. A row of barbed metal figures on a fence is stopped still, mid-dance. The bin alone, forlorn on the path. A light bounces runningly towards me. The proud treetrunk shows off its leaf-tattoo. @imcmillan.bsky.social

There are 80 balls to be picked in tonight’s Round One draw (including representatives of every place I’ve lived in my life), which means that the process will take ages, and that the chances of my teams meeting are quite limited. #FACup

Slow palimpsest.

I blame @levparikian.bsky.social for introducing me to the Hundred Hunt - a challenge to find in the wild all numbers from 1 to 100, with non-obvious uses - so I’ve been doing that for the last few months. I’ve now got 90 of the 100, including all up to 66. The remaining ten will, I fear, be tricky…

18.10.16 beat Copenhagen 1-0 in Champs League. We were poor 1st half until Mahrez scored just before break. 2nd half better - Slimani goal wrongly given offside & Schmeichel made a great save. We have more points in CL than PL & 1 of only 3 unbeaten teams. Away fans loud. #LCFC #Impossible10YearsOn

Do watch this lovely little film about a group of Afghan girls learning to surf in North Devon.

Simple but effective. @lakesstiles.bsky.social

Former doors: an occasional series. #exdoors

When I first went to a match at my hometown club, Harborough Town, they were in the 7th tier, 6 leagues below Leicester. Now that distance has halved, and both teams are in the FA Cup First Round draw on Monday. And I don’t know whether I want them to play each other, or what I would do if they did…

Early stroll. A distant motorbike at the very edge of audibility. A winding trail of fallen leaves. The neon language of the tanning shop. Those Belisha beacons blink endlessly at each other. I saw that dropped pencil on Friday.

Do watch this lovely little film about a group of Afghan girls learning to surf in North Devon.

The leap second is officially dead, avoiding the potentially catastrophic risk of a ‘negative second’; in a few thousand years our distant descendants may come to regret this day. If it was the starting point for a sci-fi story it might be considered a bit mundane, but it’s actually true.

Matchday, my 3rd at the KP in a week. Will be good to catch up with friends. Of course we’ll probably lose the game, because that’s what mostly happens these days. It’s not impossible we’ll win, which would be a nice surprise. But it’s not the main thing, & in the end doesn’t really matter. #LCFC 🦊💙

#FingerpostFriday

1,900 year-old Roman birthday invitation! 🎉 🥳 From Claudia Severa to her friend Sulpicia Lepidina, it’s one of the earliest known examples of writing in Latin by a woman! Found at Vindolanda fort, it gives a glimpse of social life on Rome’s northern frontier! 📷 me #RomanFortThursday #Archaeology

A good read. I broadly support FoI, but when I was in Gvt I used to worry about getting a complex FoI/subject access request that could tie up huge amounts of staff time, & seriously affect the ability of a small policy team to do the core job. It must be worse now. I don’t know what the answer is.

Stile-spreading. @lakesstiles.bsky.social

Today's the 960th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, so obviously I'm reposting my scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry in Playmobil.

#AdoorableThursday Brixworth

I will be disappointed in you, BlueSky, if no one does the joke about the sequel.

Late stroll. Autumn chill palms at my face. Rusty western sky signals the disintegration of daylight. Two roadwork barriers were laughing so much they fell over each other. The pothole has been expertly framed in gilded spraypaint. A tree wears a leaf-shadow-moustache. @imcmillan.bsky.social