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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Maybe Sharp over-estimated the number of people reading poetry for its contemporary social news updates? #poetry #LouisMacNeice

In 1971, remembering her relationship for a BBC radio show about MacNeice, Sharp recalled receiving a copy of The Earth Compels, dedicated to her and containing the poem ‘Leaving Barra’ with its concluding two quatrains about Sharp:
And you who to me among women
Stand for so much that I wish for,
I thank you, my dear, for the example
Of living like a fugue and moving.

For few are able to keep moving,
They drag and flag in the traffic;
While you are alive beyond question
Like the dazzle on the sea, my darling.

The book had been
sent to me from Louis, and I was on the Underground. In fact, I was on the Northern Line going home from Charing Cross, and I was absolutely appalled when I read it. I really felt I couldn’t go out again. Everybody would be sort of pointing, saying ‘that is the woman who left Louis’. You know, that sort of thing.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

After Nancy Sharp married Bill Coldstream they went to Bude to tell her parents. It didn't go well...

When the newlyweds arrived in Cornwall they were met at the door by her mother who said to Nancy, ‘I can do nothing with your father’ . . . A scene worthy of Victorian melodrama ensued, beginning with the father shouting: ‘You cad Sir! You might as well have brought her in dead on a stretcher!’ To which Coldstream responded, ‘I’m very sorry, sir’, which made Nancy furious with him in her turn for being so spineless.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

This arrived this morning. Which is great. It's not as if I have work to do or anything... #booksky #ThursdayNext

The US edition front cover of Jasper Fforde's Dark Reading Matter.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I like to imagine Dick Davies and @fletchsport.bsky.social commentating on this last wicket stand. 🏏 I do hope there were people there to enjoy/suffer it.

Derbyshire v Essex, Chesterfield, August 06 - 08, 1947. The Essex first innings scorecard. Look at that tenth wicket partnership.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Working on the page proofs, I was looking forward to arriving at this story. Once again, it didn't disappoint.

Whatever the circumstances, when the newlyweds arrived in Cornwall they

were met at the door by her mother who said to Nancy, ‘I can do nothing with your father’ . . . A scene worthy of Victorian melodrama ensued, beginning with the father shouting: ‘You cad Sir! You might as well have brought her in dead on a stretcher!’ To which [William] Coldstream responded, ‘I’m very sorry, sir’, which made Nancy [Sharp] furious with him in her turn for being so spineless.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Here's a screenshot of the ToC to whet your appetite. You'll recognize some very impressive Caribbean theologians on the list. There's also a terrific contribution from a seminary student and some reflections on Anglican education in the islands, as well as a contribution from a remarkable Bajan.

The Table of Contents for the book: Introduction: The Anglican Church in the Anglophone Caribbean: Historical and Cultural Contexts
Chris Fauske

Chapter 1: The Anglican Church in the Caribbean: Still a Potted Plant?
Carlton Turner

Chapter 2: Transatlantic Evangelization? The Afterlife of William Marshall Harte's Lectures on the Gospel of St. Matthew
John T. Gilmore

Chapter 3: “To Love Ourselves as We Ought”
Henry Kennelly

Chapter 4: Architecture and Spirituality in the Anglican Church in Barbados
Henry S. Fraser

Chapter 5: An Introduction to Frank Hassell's A Brief Outline of History and Data on the Work of the Anglican Church in Saba, 1777–1977
Chris Fauske

Chapter 6: From Congregation to Clergy: Tracing the Contributions of Women in the Anglican Diocese of Trinidad and Tobago, 1910–2023
Janelle Duke

Chapter 7: An Anglican Childhood in Trinidad
Sharifa Balfour

Chapter 8: Anglican Education in Grenada: St. George's Anglican School
Jude V. Nixon

Chapter 9: Engaging in a Theology of God, Slaves, and Sacraments: A Study of Anglicanism in the Caribbean
John Holder

Appendix A: A Brief Outline of History and Data on the Work of the Anglican Church in Saba, 1777–1977 by Frank Hassell

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The Nancy Sharp book is all-but-done. She loved reading the Queens of Crime, and I worked in both a Christie and a Sayers reference, but failed on Marsh. So, of course, now it's too late I find one. She would have chuckled knowingly. #booksky #arthistory

That was why I left the Slade, really, Mr. Alleyn. The instructors just used to come round once in a blue moon and look at one's things and sigh...

The cover of the forthcoming book on Nancy Sharp, A Life Without Compromise. The front (right) is an early self portrait and an image of her from a black and white photograph. The back (left) is one of flower paintings (she excelled at these) and some quotes about her.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Oh lord. Not those two! We usually did better. Two I knew and enjoyed working with/for, one doing his best Eric Heffer impersonation.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

This arrived a couple of days ago. Evening into night shift babysitting the House to make sure the wedding goes off without damaging it, so a perfect time to read on. It is, of course, excellent so far. @nightwatchmanxi.bsky.social @camsell59.bsky.social

Issue 55 of The Nightwatchman. Its (dare I say it?) iconic cover is a shade of turquoise this time.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Autumn is icumen in. First sighting from our back patio.

Autumnal gold leaves towards the right of a tree otherwise still green. The tree is a maple.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This arrived. It's likely a terrific read. But I might never know as @anniechave.bsky.social wrote 'Good luck to Essex!' on the back of the envelope, which is a low, low blow. Especially as she wrote it after our performance @somersetccc.bsky.social. Am rethinking my relationship with the magazine.

The latest issue of County Cricket Matters. The photo is of the Derbyshire v Glamorgan match at Repton School earlier this year.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

First look at the cover for the forthcoming book. Out toward the end of next month if all goes well. I will, of course, be shamelessly promoting this and linking to pre-order options, etc. But, for now, enjoy the image if you do, and I hope you do. #artherstory #arthistory #c20britishart.

The cover for A Life Without Compromise: Nancy Sharp and a woman's fight to live, love & paint. The front cover (right) shows her looking up from a black and white superimposed on the only known self-portrait. The back cover (left) includes three select quotes about why you would like the book, set against a painting of hers, 'White Campanula’. She was an exceptional illustrator and painter of flowers.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

'Scotswoman'. I suppose it can be a job description.

A memorial plaque to Jane Haining. White text on black.

A mural in Paisley celebrating/memorializing Jane Haining's life. It describes her as 'A TRULY GREAT SCOTTISH HEROINE' and depicts four key places in her life (and death), her birthplace in Dunscore (the cottage top left), the school in Budapest where she was the Matron (top right), the mill where she worked for 10 years (bottom left) and Auschwitz, where she was killed (bottom right). In the middle is an image of her at two different ages and a picture of school children.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

My Presbyterian aversion to prayers read from a book was shaken by a deep, strong masculine voice... He didn't sound as if he were dying...or as if he had a train to catch. From my limited experience, that was the way most Anglican clergymen prayed. [Full text and source in alt text.]

At the service I attended, my Presbyterian aversion to prayers read from a book was shaken by a deep, strong masculine voice leading the service and praying from up in front, and I recognized the sincerity and devotion in that voice. He didn't sound as if he were dying either, or as if he had a train to catch. From my limited experience , that was the way most Anglican clergymen prayed. (p. 14)

Quote from Love in Jacob's Tent by Clara Buley, in " 'Marvelous how God looks after us' " by Amy Cunningham in The Historiographer 66:3, summer 2026, pp 1, 7-9. ⚓️

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Never forget how Micheal solves the Trolley Problem youtu.be/R-5pO8FO6_E?... #thegoodplace

Michael (Ted Danson) demonstrates the solution to the trolley problem: scythes/knives attached to each trolley wheel, thereby allowing as many as possible to be killed.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

When there's no play at Chelmsford, other pleasures can be addressed. @slightlyfoxed.bsky.social

The cover of the newest edition of Slightly Foxed. A green maze with a fox barely visible in the centre and a hound sniffing by the main entrance. Three other hounds are visible on the viewer's lower right edge of the maze.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I once spent the day here doing some research on cricket in Massachusetts in the 1870s and '80s. Found absolutely northing but had a wonderful day. The collection itself is full of fascinating material. Recommend it. #archivehour

The research center in Sharon, MA. of The Trustees of Reservations. It was formerly the Sharon Sanatorium for Pulmonary Disease. the image is of a large white house settled behind a field of blue and red meadow flowers.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

The Banshees are working on their social media, seemingly, so I can't tell what they think officially, but here's the clear-as-day statement from the club a bunch of the women I coached in college went on to play for. Proud of them then. Proud of them now.

The Boston Women's Rugby Club statement of purpose/identity. Fifty years old this year, btw.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

We had smoke. We will have smoke. But right now, it's pretty good to be here.

Trees against a clear blue sky. The sunset light illuminates the central band in a brighter tone than the rest of the vegetation.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

That's the great thing about us: once our country's done and dusted, we have no trouble supporting the next Scandi standing. Just don't use the flag, maybe?

The Kalmar Union flag. A red cross on a yellow background.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Here's the deer again, just because...

A very young fawn we have just rescued from her visit to the beach (taken while her mother was foraging and juvenile curiosity got the better of her), where she then became stressed and confused because of all the people trying to pet it (really?) and take photos. It's standing up, looking at the camera and partly camouflaged by the vegetation. It's thinking about following us back whence we came, but, second time around, it's going to think better about its possible options.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Not sure The Guardian's got this right, tbh.

The Guardian's commentary describing Belgium's third goal as a calamity.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Carolyn Trant, author of the exceptional Voyaging Out, is curating an exhibition about EQ Nicholson and John Craxton at The Grange, Rottingdean, near Brighton, where the Nicholsons lived. It opens July 18. First image below has alt text. The second doesn't (length) but it lists many of the events.

The front cover of the brochure for the 18 July - 29 August exhibition on E. Q. Nicholson to be held at The Grange, Rottingdean. Basic details are on the back cover. A more complete program is on the next image. A QR code for more information is the third image.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Good call. Here's mine from VM på Ski 1982, where I spent both the women's 30K and men's 50K outside the stadium helping with parking. I was trackside by the church the men's 4 x 10K and that was fun. Anyway, Heia Norge! 🇳🇴

A stuffed, stylized moose from the 1982 world Nordic ski championships held in Oslo-at Holmenkollen. He's showing his age, but he's up for the soccer.

A closer look at the face of a stuffed, stylized moose from the 1982 world Nordic ski championships held in Oslo-at Holmenkollen. He's showing his age, but he's up for the soccer.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

A day off. Time to contemplate the demise of an era. 🏏 #England

A cup of cappuccino on a metal table outside one of the better coffee shops in the area.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

The first review is in for the Anglican Church in the Anglophone Caribbean: Historical and Cultural Perspectives. And it's a good one. tinyurl.com/4s53yuum. Do let your library know, especially if it's TEC or other #Anglican church related. ⚓ Published by Bloomsbury, if you want to place an order.

The cover of the book The Anglican Church in the Anglophone Caribbean: Historical and Cultural Perspectives. A pencil sketch of St John's Church, Barbados, is the main image, below the title and above the editor's name.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Had forgotten this, from Interesting Times. By #TerryPratchett, of course. #teaching

"But I decided to give it up and make a living by the sword."

"After being a teacher all your life?"

"It did mean a change of perspective, yes."

"But... well... surely... the privation, the
terrible hazards, the daily risk of death..."

Mr. Saveloy brightened up. "Oh, you've been a teacher, have you?"

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Here you go: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Han....

In another legend which has become widespread, the first man to lay his hand on the province of Ulster would have claim to it. As a result, the warriors rushed towards land with one chopping off his hand and throwing it over his comrades and thus winning the land. In some versions of the tale, the person who cuts off his hand belongs to the O'Neills, or is Niall of the Nine Hostages himself. In other versions, the person is the mythical Érimón.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Forgot to mention last week that this came. Always good to see. Thank you @nightwatchmanxi.bsky.social @oldebor.bsky.social et al.

Issue 54 of The Nightwatchman with its iconic image of a nervous batter under a helmet, his eyes the same colour ad the magenta/purple (?) strip bearing the magazine title.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Two more pics from the scene. The nesting pair are on the left. That's the male doing his best to protect nesting mum and the eggs from a few dozen school kids quite keen on playing various ball sports in the very near vicinity. On the right, you can see he's a tad perplexed about it all. #plovers

On the bottom left a male Piping Plover stands watch to protect the nest and female plover toward the top right of the image. Everything else (and much of both Plovers) is sand coloured except for the bits of wrack and drift wood in an exciting shade of pale brown and the few tufts of dune grass around the nest and doing its best elsewhere, along with some sort of pale green plant I have no idea about. But mainly sand and easy to miss birds.

A male Piping Plover stands watch to protect the nest and female plover toward just out of the image. Everything else (and much of both Plovers) is sand coloured except for the bits of wrack and drift wood in an exciting shade of pale brown and the few tufts of dune grass around the nest and doing its best elsewhere, along with some sort of pale green plant I have no idea about. But mainly sand and an easy to miss bird. He's being brave but he's not sure about how long he can keep it up.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Day for the school kids. I got to spend most of it making sure balls and children didn't ruin things for this #plover and her mate. Four eggs being incubated. They are very brave, staying on the nest and standing guard. #birds #birdsky @chicagopiping.bsky.social @nycploverproject.bsky.social

A female Piping Plover incubating her eggs on the sand, protected by some dune grass and a few bits of flotsam. If you stand more than a few feet back, she's really hard to spot. There's a male standing guard just out of frame. Every now and again they switch roles.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

And I did actually try, given my baseline knowledge. Definitely not a soccer person, eh?

A screenshot shot showa score of 4 out of 26 and the comment, Ah well. You tried.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Here's an injury cause I would not have believed had the player involved not been one Derek Pringle. From the current of @ccmatters.bsky.social, as told by Gladstone Small.

Warwickshire declared and that lunchtime, David Brown took a message from England captain, Bob Willis. Brownie, we ve got a problem here. Derek Pringle injured his back writing a letter after practice today.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

@thegrumbler.bsky.social doing sterling work as always delivering the (too often depressing) roundup pointed out this post on the other site. Perfect.

Derek Pringle asking Essex Cricket "Does he ever play for Essex?" in response to their post that Jordan Cox is in the England A side.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Look what came. Perfect timing: I am on historic house watch duty tonight while a bunch of people I will be happy not to get to know attend an overpriced wedding that pays our bills. Was going to rewatch Ecclestone's Dr Who, but am now going to start with this. Thanks @anniechave.bsky.social.

The cover if the current edition of County Cricket Matters. The issue's hed is From Red Spring to White Summer. There is a list of some of the contributors below that. The image is A Study of The St Lawrence Ground, Kent CCC by John Butterworth.

Btw: I had sent Annie an article that would, I gather, have appeared this issue had not someone come up with something more timely. I look forward to discovering which article it is.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Word salad at its finest: thebulletin.org/2026/06/why-...

NSF is not cancelling the Ocean Observatories Initiative. All previously collected OOI data will remain accessible through the OOI Data Center. The decision to descope aligns with NSF’s wider strategy of a nimbler approach to prioritize support for evolving scientific priorities and emerging technologies, as well as smart lifecycle management within its research infrastructure portfolio. NSF remains committed to ocean science and will continue working with the scientific community on high-priority research objectives

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Here's the picture, because why not?

Neil Wagner in an Essex shirt, ball in hand, ready to start his run up.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Meanwhile, great news: essexcricket.org.uk/2026/06/03/g...

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Bodø/Glimt football club has something to say.

A cut out silhouette of an adult holding the hand of a child silhouette. The adult is uncoloured but may be wearing a football strip. The child is painted in rainbow colours. Below them is a two-deck sign reading BE CAREFUL WHO YOU HATE / IT COULD BE SOMEONE YOU LOVE. The silhouettes and banner are at the front of a section of the football stadium full of fans in yellow, Bodø/Glimt's team colours.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Not the question, exactly, but it reminded me of this story from the tail end of the 1960s:

Farrukh Dhondy brought with him to the teachers’ room an extensive engagement with racial activism, including contributing to Race Today as a writer and editor. And it was this activism which led to one encounter that underscores the lively nature of the school in those years: In the face of the British Black Panther Movement’s splintering into more than one faction, the central committee retaliated by sending three Panthers armed with machetes to Archbishop Temple’s School in Lambeth, where Dhondy was Head of English. Their express purpose was to threaten to kill him, but they had not counted on the Lambeth Sixth Formers who, eager for a fight, offered to take them on. [Robin Bunce and Paul Field, Darcus Howe: A Political Biography (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2004 [https://perma.cc/6JDJ-45GW]).

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

We lost our buoys to the storm, despite investing in heavier anchors and chains over the winter. We had trees down across access roads. Power went. I was well drenched before we opened to the public who (wisely) didn't come. But I came home to this, so, yeah, good day. @slightlyfoxed.bsky.social

The cover of issue 90 of Slightly Foxed, a blue door in a cottage wall.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

If anyone knows what these are and why they have washed up here on São Miguel, I would appreciate the information.

An unidentified gelatinous mass on a black lava beach.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Because it's morning in the Azores, and we have just arrived.

A Portuguese custard tart on a blue plate. One of the very best reasons to visit Portugal.

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Chris @missingintheslips.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

The WDP might have been a bit harsh in describing the London Radio Dance Band's contribution to the broadcast, but well done our most famous cricketing reverend. #cricket #Essexccc [From today's Guardian]

14 May 1927 | Ninety-nine years ago on Thursday, the first BBC ball-by-ball coverage crackled on air. The experiment was low key - coverage of Essex v the New Zealanders at Leyton by the Rev Frank Gillingham, who played for Essex between 1903 and 1928 whenever he wasn't in the pulpit. The BBC was unsure that the cricket would be interesting enough to sustain a whole programme, so his broadcasts, live from the pavilion balcony and sadly lost to posterity, were interleaved with the London Radio Dance Band.

"Deathly dull" was the verdict of the Western Daily Press, but there was enough promise for the Beeb to continue with the experiment - snippets from the Roses game at Old Trafford, then the Test trial at Sheffield. Gillingham lost his commentary gig after displeasing Lord Reith by reading out the advertisements seen around the Oval. Ball by ball, however, would never look back.

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