John M 🇬🇧🇺🇦
banner
john0109.bsky.social
John M 🇬🇧🇺🇦
@john0109.bsky.social
Dad, RAF Veteran and survivor of numerous Leeds United ups and downs. Lover of nature, history, books and making miniatures. 75% English, 15% Welsh, 10% Odds & Ends.

Just looking for things to make me smile...or think...or think and smile.
As it's #ThrowbackThursday here I am with the family heading for Bridlington beach. Smartly dressed, one and all! Oh yes, that's me in the pushchair.
#seaside #holiday #photography #Bridlington #Yorkshire #1950s
December 18, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Sandringham House on a sunny June day.

#HappyThursday everyone! 😊

#WeekYforYearPast
#AlphabetChallenge
December 18, 2025 at 8:41 AM
As it's a cold, dreich December day here in the UK, what better than to look back to a sunny August day on the Rhine.
#HappyWednesday all you lovely BlueSky people out there! 😊

#WeekYforYearPast
#AlphabetChallenge
December 17, 2025 at 3:43 PM
It never quite seems fair. 😢
December 17, 2025 at 9:33 AM
A waltzing Firefly? That's a 10 from me!
December 17, 2025 at 8:46 AM
I think I must have been in 'be careful what you wish for' mode when I posted this back in January. I refuse to be downhearted. 👍 #lufc
December 15, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Happy #BlueSkyMonday everyone!

"Love is all you need" ♥️

#WeekYforYearPast
#AlphabetChallenge
December 15, 2025 at 11:50 AM
@heisholt.bsky.social "Lær mer norsk" - Det er mange år siden nå, men jeg husker denne læreboken veldig godt! 😊
December 15, 2025 at 8:34 AM
I always felt that Patrick Bamford's brief flirtation with plastic chickens was slightly unsettling. I do hope he's over it now. #lufc #CamdenMarket
December 14, 2025 at 11:18 AM
A bit of a Christmas cheat today. 🤔 🎄

#WeekXForXmas
#AlphabetChallenge
#stamps #philately #stampcollecting
December 14, 2025 at 8:30 AM
The Dutch war film, The Forgotten Battle (De Slag om de Schelde - Netflix 2020) was a pretty good effort at showing the war from a Canadian perspective. With Hollywood nowhere in sight. 🇨🇦🇬🇧
December 13, 2025 at 6:15 PM
I honestly don't know how old this Nativity set is, but the original box says it came from Woolworths. Anyway, it's time for its annual appearance...

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekXforXmas
December 13, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Some of this aerial view might look familiar perhaps. I've circled where the Norths had a house, retail shop and workshops. #batley
December 12, 2025 at 3:54 PM
My all time favourite photo from the family album could be a scene from Dodge City but in fact it's from the Wild West of Batley, Yorkshire. My great grandfather's brother William North with the staff of his joinery business, taken about 1874.
#OldPhotos #FamilyHistory #Genealogy #VictorianPhotos
December 12, 2025 at 2:58 PM
You know we're in for a rough winter, flu-wise, when the BBC lets Dr Chris out of his cupboard. #SuperFlu 😷 #StaySafe
December 11, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Don't quite know what it is but there's just something incredibly sexy about a page of Brewster Buffaloes in Finnish markings. 👀 💙

(Page from "Finnish Aces of World War 2", Osprey Publishing)
#aviation #aircraft #WW2 #avgeek 🇫🇮
December 10, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Growing up not too long after the end of #WW2 my childhood #aviation hero wasn't Douglas Bader, "Cat's Eyes" Cunningham, or Johnnie Johnson. After reading his autobiographical "Fighter Over Finland" it was definitely Eino Luukkanen. 👍🇫🇮
December 9, 2025 at 8:56 PM
In Jan 1943 Dad joined his last ship, HMS Moyola, operating as escort to several Atlantic convoys until June when the ship was re-deployed to the support of over 20 convoys between the UK and West Africa. Here the threat was not only u-boats but also 'Condor' bombers.

#RoyalNavy #WW2 #Veteran
December 9, 2025 at 2:00 PM
After my father-in-law qualified in “Higher Submarine Detection” he was posted to HMS Boadicea which deployed to the Med in support of the allied landings in North Africa (Nov 1942). This included the rescue of 449 survivors from the torpedoed troopship “Viceroy of India”.
#RoyalNavy #WW2 #Veteran
December 9, 2025 at 1:32 PM
If you're interested in reading some background to #RoyalNavy escort operations during #WW2 I can recommend Nicholas Monsarrat's three-part autobiography, published together as "Three Corvettes". He went on to write "The Cruel Sea" on which the classic movie was based. Also recommended!
December 9, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Just a bit late for a Happy Monday, but I knew I had some Papua New Guinea stamps lurking somewhere! This set of Kingfishers from 1981. Happy Tuesday!
December 9, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Looks good!
December 9, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Dad served on HMS Kipling from Nov 1940 until Dec 1942 and saw plenty of action in the Mediterranean. In May 1941 Kipling rescued survivors, including Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten, from sister ship HMS Kelly which had been attacked and sunk by German bombers.

#RoyalNavy #WW2 #Veteran
December 8, 2025 at 6:36 PM
HMS Ivanhoe, my late father-in-law's first ship which he joined in April 1939 at the age of 18. Ivanhoe survived an attack by German bombers at Dunkirk in June 1940 but later that year had to be scuttled after striking a German mine off the Dutch coast. #RoyalNavy #WW2 #Veteran
December 8, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Not too bad, thanks!
December 8, 2025 at 2:13 PM