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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp

@janevsw.bsky.social
448 followers 151 following 1.2K posts

Retired rare books librarian, formerly Institute of Naval Medicine civvy, thwarted medievalist, enthusiast of history, cooking, words and singing, writer, occasional poet, permanently on wheels; married to retired PO (Comms) RNR, signal engineer, bass.

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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
And I!
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Trundled back from Evensong round the landward side of the Royal Garrison Church yesterday evening.
Roofless building and trees silhouetted against sunset glow in cloudless sky, nearer branches black overhead.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Mrs Jarley's Waxworks - as in "The Old Curiosity Shop"? (I think that's which Dickens)
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Alternatively, suggest to your papa that he might replace the missing pane of glass in your window.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I too have never seen it before and yes, it punches.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Are you sure the first one has not a typo for "decompose another"?
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
And no, "predilection" does not mean THAT. Tsk.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
... disapproving, as we do, of both ouija and poetry.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Actually it's Harrison Birtwistle time-travelling from the future...
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Hence the knitwork beneath the table.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
openpoet.org/poems/106842
openpoet.org
OpenPoet - Open Poetry Project
Explore thousands of classic public domain poems from renowned poets throughout history. Read, discover, and enjoy timeless poetry accessible to all.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"And oh, Father Christmas, if you love me at all, Bring me a big, red, india-rubber ball!" (A.A. Milne)
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Said advantage no longer applies, of course...
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I was never just a girl!
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
*undergo
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
My blood pressure also dives when I have a GA, scares me enough to be super-reluctant to undergoing another.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Should add, ♿️.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Foiled in my cunning plan to go out for a pint (of milk) 🙄
scaffolding and barrier across a pavement with other builders' clutter on right and brick buildings across the street on left. No ramp down from kerb or dropped kerb nearby.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I have a copy of Molly Hilton: library assistant (author Bertha Lonsdale) in which it is pointed out that the advantage of librarianship is that you don't need a degree to qualify....
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
That said, I'm sorry for any child that has to endure him as a father
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Well, given I'm in Portsmouth till June, I'm glad someone's cleaned him off the streets...
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
My mum hated yogurt so we had to eat it 🙂
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
And needs his ass handed to him on an assiette.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Nah, it's the shrivelled skin and bones of the hand that arrived in the glove .... 😶
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Much appreciated! At least now I am retired I don't have that any more, but I hope I can speak for those in the same position.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
And disability interviews: I must persuade Scylla/employer that disability doesn't stop me doing this job, vs I must persuade this Charybdis/benefits interviewer that disability does have a big impact on my ability to do certain things.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Borden on the murderous, you might say ...
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
It's when people start asking whether you can screw the inscrutable that you know there are problems...
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
If you've got it, flout it...
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Has the baby recovered from being hit on the nose by a jeroboam?
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Dammit, why do all the good go first?
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
If I'm on the laptop, I can't get in with something until I've sorted out the missing bit that is holding me up. But with pen and paper I just scribble on, and do the editing when I type it in to the document.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
If it be confidential enough for a threesome and a bit of flagellation thrown in, the choice is yours.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
But please make sure she can breathe afterwards...
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Good for you!
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I'm 65 and tired of having to educate everyone about disability let alone everything else. Am I allowed to hand the torch to the young and energetic?
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Agreed
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
🤣
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Well I could always skive off it 😁
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
What can you do against that level of engrained belief?
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Indeed I am - freshers' fair tomorrow
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Thank you. Realise that not since 2020 have I been out and about on my own in a wheelchair except in one very small town where I know most of the people I might meet ... this feels big and trafficated and scary *gulp*
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
That type of person isn't the type of person any decent military wants, unfortunately - takes too much time and energy to train an unwilling recruit. Although I take the point you're starting from.
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I've been moving into my student room at Portsmouth *flappity-flap-flap-flap* M.Res. here I come (fingers crossed).
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Dearly as I love my husband .... only he could pack the soap flakes into a cardboard box open side down ❤️
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
No, Aunt Ephelia, no! You may disapprove of male unmentionables, but you shall not take a hammer to my only remaining image of dear Frank - my 'Apollo in a Landscape'! #GirlsOwnCC
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Reposted by Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp
Hassinator @hassinator.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
a great letter in the times today. perhaps worth sharing in these troubled times. #RNLI #heroes
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Both with horses...
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Although I have just realised that I saw Monica Dickens and my brain told me Monica Edwards!!
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Jane Wickenden / Jane Stemp @janevsw.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Thanks! Possibly not something I will seek out (unless I ever write a novel with horse-riding) but I will keep my eyes open in passing.
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