Jeremy Benson
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jembenson.bsky.social
Jeremy Benson
@jembenson.bsky.social
Adviser @aqaeducation.bsky.social, MAT and @RSPH.bsky.social trustee, ex-senior civil servant; classical music, #LCFC 🦊, England⚽️🏏, walks, photos, words (no politics); husband, father, generally curious

https://substack.com/@jembenson
📍 Leicestershire, UK
Here’s one I took a few months ago.
February 3, 2026 at 11:09 PM
Thank you! I think I assumed the ‘museum of random stuff in my bedroom which my parents were patiently shown round’ thing was just me so I was particularly pleased to hear the discussion about thing 6.
February 3, 2026 at 10:19 PM
There too today.

Wordle 1,690 4/6

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February 3, 2026 at 6:08 PM
I have a ‘place’ for most things, where I try and put them, and can therefore normally find them. It’s not terribly sophisticated but it generally works.
February 3, 2026 at 7:48 AM
I left about the same time and did kind of write an essay about it.
So farewell then, X-Twitter
On 1 January 2025 I pinned a post on Twitter (now rebranded for some reason as ‘X’): ‘Happy new year!
jembenson.substack.com
February 3, 2026 at 6:19 AM
(The audio wing is the wing that contains a bird’s ears. There’s a book called ‘Flight’ that explains it all.)
February 2, 2026 at 6:19 PM
I found today’s puzzle distinctly annoying, but got there in the end. Five Club’s not somewhere I want to spend too much time in though.
This took me a lot longer than it should have done. No spoilers, but it’s a fairly common word that doesn’t follow a typical pattern so I had to work through lots of options before I found it. But the streak’s still going…

Wordle 1,689 5/6

🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜
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⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
⬜🟩🟨🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
February 2, 2026 at 6:07 PM
There’s something wonderfully evocative about the name ‘Candlemas’ isn’t there? In reality the day itself - typically grey, cold and damp, like today - rarely lives up to the promise…
It’s Candlemas, end of the 40-day Christmas season, so time to take down Christmas decorations. Medieval Christmas started late December and continued through January, but now Christmas can start in November then stops as the darkest, coldest month of the year starts. Not sure that’s an improvement…
Why you should leave up your Christmas decorations until February
To bring cheer to the winter months, follow medieval tradition and keep your Christmas decorations up until 2 February
www.english-heritage.org.uk
February 2, 2026 at 6:04 PM
2.2.16 beat Liverpool 2-0. A memorable victory over a mostly poor Liverpool, with an astonishing 30-yard volley by Vardy from a 60-yard pass by Mahrez. We haven't conceded at home in the league since mid-Dec. So we're 3 points clear at the top of the table with 14 to play.
#LCFC #Impossible10YearsOn
a goalie jumps to catch a soccer ball on a soccer field with ads for steel.com and lg in the background
Alt: That Vardy goal as a GIF
media.tenor.com
February 2, 2026 at 7:26 AM
Wouldn’t the designs have been documented?
February 1, 2026 at 9:40 PM
Do you mean tacit knowledge? - wisdom developed through experience that the engineers knew without even knowing they knew, and perhaps couldn’t have written down even if they had thought there was any reason to. Unless there was detailed documentation of that it would probably need to be relearnt.
February 1, 2026 at 8:30 PM
Here’s where the deed itself happened.
Today I visited north North Northamptonshire, including Fotheringhay, whose castle (just a mound remains) saw the birth of Richard III (1452) & execution of Mary Queen of Scots (1587); and Collyweston, where Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Richard’s nemesis Henry VII, lived at the end of her life.
February 1, 2026 at 7:57 PM
‘Early Stumble. The eccentric patterns on the corridor carpet guide me to the 1970s. Behind each numbered door a new day’s tale unfolds. The lift presents an array of enticing button-options; I choose a G. A white-haired man in the mirror. Tea impatiently waits for me to take my seat for breakfast.’
February 1, 2026 at 5:46 PM