iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

I very often disagree with @lewisgoodall.com but he’s a great political writer, and often so precisely accurate that it stings. open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

I'm old and cynical now, but every so often a scribe can still make me gurgle with joy. Just look at that <s>, yearning to fill the line. Le Mans 227, fol. 46r.

Latin word "fecistis" written with a gorgeous final round s in a twelfth-century hand.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

It’s not gonna be a good year for me…

Screenshot showing my word of the year, which is “crestfallen”.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Today’s last day of playing in London was all about @taskmaster.tv at the awesome live experience in Canary Wharf. Staff were amazing, and the tasks were a joy.

Simon and Drew lounging elegantly in the Taskmaster caravan.

Team photo at the end of Taskmaster tasks on a throne with Greg Davies and Little Alex Horne next to us.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

Absolutely loved @britishlibrary.bsky.social’s #medievalwomen exhibition. Beautifully put together. Moving to be in the presence of Julian of Norwich’s Revelations and so much else. But the smells were my favourites.

Simon in front of the British Library’s sign for the Medieval Women exhibition.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

This is an outrageously beautiful raw and real book of short stories about queer life and love in Nigeria, and it’s made me cry a lot. I’d struggle to recommend it more. www.waterstones.com/book/9781399... www.thalia.de/shop/home/ar...

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

I’m a 43 year old man who’s worked in Germany for 7 years and this will never not be funny.

Pizza place advert with “knobi Brot” (German for garlic bread) advertised as the main item.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Multiple hot drinks, loud singing along to Bowie songs, and post it scribbling later, I at least am thrilled by the breadth and brilliance of the field…if still a little overwhelmed by the task of wrestling it into order. #medievalsky #ISSEME2025

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Right, I’ve got markers, Big Paper, many coloured post its, biscuits and coffee. Will they be enough to sort out 100-odd abstracts into a plausible programme for next year’s International Society for the Study of Early Medieval England conference @hhu.bsky.social in July? #medievalsky #ISSEME2025

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

When your trains home are all delayed by half an hour and the delay is steadily increasing, it’s all made a little bit better by having some Glühwein.

Christmas mug of Glühwein outside Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof, with Christmas lights.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Brilliant to be hearing about the exciting doctoral work being done by our own wonderful @moritzdraschner.bsky.social at today’s @hhu.bsky.social Medieval English Colloquium.

Moritz Draschner with the first slide of his presentation on Floris and Blanceflour.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

It’s raining, which means it’s game night - with Domus Domini where we get to play at being daughter houses of Peter the Venerable’s Cluny.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

At Langendreer endstation.kino for a film evening. Which feels very arty and not like the kind of thing we normally do at all.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Here’s Wilfrid the leopard gecko sending joy and good vibes.

Leopard gecko standing in their feeding pot with mealworms.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Our last big activity today has been sharing ideas about teaching approaches in the Medieval English classroom, which has generated lots of buzz and exciting ideas.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

We’ve had the pleasure during the conference of looking at creative work produced by Kerstin Majewski’s students at Bochum - and now we’re awarding the one voted best a prize!

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

And now we’re back for the last full paper of the conference: Melanie Sprau telling us about her doctoral work on Binomials and Multinomials in Didactic Literature, focused on Elyot’s The Gouernor.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Such an incredibly well-catered conference!!

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Moritz’s own doctoral work is focused on the English, Dutch and Norman traditions interwoven across the Channel and North Sea

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

And now Elliot Worrall is telling us about his doctoral work on the Scandinavian traditions within the project #medievalsky

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Moritz Draschner’s telling us about the use of OCRKit Pro and Transkribus as part of the project of editing 40 different versions of the text.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

And first up is the brilliant Lindsey Jackson, considering What we talk about when we talk about damage in manuscripts and manuscript conservation.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Great to be at Ruhr Universität Bochum for the second day of the 24th Studientag Englisches Mittelalter #medievalsky

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Next up at SEM XXIV in Bochum, and the last paper on this first day, is Carolina Ruthenbürger, talking about translating and transforming Alexander in Middle English alliterative poetry.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

After a coffee break with oodles of homemade cake, we’re on now to the second session to hear from Jena’s Larissa Pia Zoller on the Reeve’s Tale and Studentenabenteuer A.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

And now we’ll be treated to Laura Frölich’s poster on the production of truth in England and Germany #medievalsky

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

The anonymous object is transformed by a written gloss which gives it contextual significance and meaning. #medievalsky

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 08/03/2024

I fucking love tulips. What perfect little buggers they are. It’s clearly spring now.

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Simon Thomson @scfthomson.bsky.social · 14/02/2024

Hey! Look at this #cfp for a #medieval workshop in @duesseldorf.bsky.social in May. Your travel and accommodation is on us, provided you want to talk about medieval romances across borders.

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