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Jan

@janbarrrker.bsky.social

Under-employed guerrilla. Litterpicks a lot. Loves urbex, street art, art installations, theatre, brandalism, the built environment, graves, gardens, stout & The Archers. Prefers Concrete to Countryside. Equal parts Joseph Bazalgette/Joan Jett

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Jan @janbarrrker.bsky.social · Jan 12

First litterpick of the year. We could've easily filled another bag.

Mostly #plastic drinks bottles, cans and the usual food packaging.

Glass bottles: 1
Disposable vapes: 3
Notes: able to spot #litter in hedges previously hidden by leaves.

Pink rubbish bag containing mixed waste next to a pair of litterpickers against a public litter bin.

Reposted by Jan

nigeblog

@nigeblog.bsky.social

As no one in the UK seems to have this book I bought some stock direct from Fantagraphics in Seattle and paid to have them shipped over here. If you want one there's an eBay listing below...

www.ebay.com/itm/17761336...

November 25, 2025 at 7:03 PM

Jan

@janbarrrker.bsky.social

Still some colour in the garden! 💗

November 25, 2025 at 7:07 PM

Reposted by Jan

Holly Brewer

@earlymodjustice.bsky.social

To “my students and to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so.”

www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...

I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. The Results Were Shocking.

"Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead."

www.huffpost.com

November 21, 2025 at 12:22 AM

Jan

@janbarrrker.bsky.social

Ringo Starr is 85 i.e. the average age of a care home resident.

Would anyone presume he or Mick Jagger (82) or Shirley Bassey (88) want to sing wartime songs?

Less Vera Lynn, More listenin'!

November 20, 2025 at 8:46 PM

Reposted by Jan

Dreadnought Holiday

@dreadships.bsky.social

Whatever else comes out once the attack on the ECML train last night, this alone is a credit to the train crew, driver, and signalling team.

Huntingdon was the first possible stop. In a highly stressful situation and improvising a plan the train lost just 3 minutes vs line speed to get there.

Snippet from Real Time Trains showing the Azuma was one minute up from Fletton Junction onwards, and arrived at Huntington 3 minutes after it was originally due to pass.

November 2, 2025 at 10:17 AM

Jan

@janbarrrker.bsky.social

Utterly horrific news coming from Huntingdon this evening.

RMT Union @rmtunion.bsky.social · Nov 1

Stabbing on train

RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said: “I am deeply concerned to hear reports of multiple people stabbed onboard an LNER train tonight.

“The thoughts of everyone at RMT are with the victims, train crew and all the emergency services dealing with this unfolding incident.”

November 2, 2025 at 12:18 AM

Jan

@janbarrrker.bsky.social

Has Liz Truss been given a job as a Logistics Manager?

"Truck hauling ‘aggressive’ monkeys thought to carry hepatitis C, herpes and Covid overturns in Mississippi with at least one on the loose"

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Truck with monkeys thought to carry Covid and other diseases crashed in Mississippi

The truck carrying Rehsus monkeys from Tulane University in New Orleans crashed on Interstate 59

www.independent.co.uk

October 28, 2025 at 10:22 PM

Reposted by Jan

Chris Lamb

@chrislamb.com

Friend! I just walked past the foe…

Jacobite reenactment soldiers with their muskets drawn - standing under trees and fighting for the pretender

September 20, 2025 at 2:28 PM

Reposted by Jan

muirneag.bsky.social

@muirneag.bsky.social

September 10, 2025 at 10:22 PM

Jan

@janbarrrker.bsky.social

My face when I read about a local organisation struggling for volunteers when they didn't reply to any of my emails offering to help...

August 23, 2025 at 10:54 AM

Jan

@janbarrrker.bsky.social

Something to aspire to @nigeblog.bsky.social ...

Experience: I rent out my mohawk as a billboard www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

August 16, 2025 at 8:07 AM

Jan

@janbarrrker.bsky.social

Spotted a shoplifter in Iceland?

No you didn't.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Iceland supermarket offering £1 reward for reporting shoplifters

The company estimates that shoplifting costs its business around £20m each year.

www.bbc.co.uk

August 15, 2025 at 7:07 PM

Jan

@janbarrrker.bsky.social

Youngest bairn is 20 today.

In my head she's still a baby.

Happy birthday Georgina!

August 10, 2025 at 5:08 PM

Jan

@janbarrrker.bsky.social

I loved watching reruns of the early episodes of Brookside but it's time for me to stop watching as it's all downhill from here.

And, oh my days, the Rogers are the most boring family ever!

July 23, 2025 at 9:24 PM

Jan

@janbarrrker.bsky.social

The YouTuber sub-set of white, middle-aged men who specialise in "I went to Britain's worst/toughest" are utter pricks.

July 20, 2025 at 11:07 AM

Reposted by Jan

womensartbluesky.bsky.social

@womensartbluesky.bsky.social

The Faroe Islands have a unique summer tradition where a large rock in Sandur is yarn-bombed by local women, inspired by a local legend about a "Troll Woman's cave"...... #WomensArt

Photo of a large boulder covered in knitted and crocheted patterned material, among other uncovered rocks on a grassy surface under a pale sky

July 19, 2025 at 4:54 AM

Reposted by Jan

Kevin Cantú

@killerswan.bsky.social

this reminds me of something on TikTok this week:

May 25, 2025 at 9:16 PM

Jan

@janbarrrker.bsky.social

Happy 25th birthday to my Bastille Day baby 🎇

July 14, 2025 at 8:25 AM

Reposted by Jan

Susannah Walker

@susannahwalker.bsky.social

Probably worth also saying that I didn't write this book in response to The Salt Path, but rather because I was infuriated by more than one male writer who managed to just slam out the front door and walk for days and weeks, without having to think about school pick ups or ballet lessons.

So often a book will begin with a man walking out of the door with scarcely a mention of the family left behind him. Only as the narrative goes on does a picture form, of the crumbling house in need of renovation, the garden which has to be tamed, never mind the children who have to be fed, taken to school, have their uniform washed, be driven to and from clubs and matches and friend’s houses. Someone has to remain at home, but this work goes on invisibly while the gentle author is at liberty to find himself in the landscape, away from the sapping effects of home and womankind. In one of my favourite examples, a man returns home at one point in his walking narrative to find his wife, who has been left in the as yet un-renovated house, digging a potato patch while the children run wild on the trampoline. This domestic picture gladdens him; that she doesn’t beat him to death with a spade is a perpetual surprise to me.

July 11, 2025 at 3:32 PM

Reposted by Jan

Susannah Walker

@susannahwalker.bsky.social

Although I am very much the antithesis of RW in that I didn't want a journey, just to go for a sodding walk.

Which is probably why she sold so many books and I didn't. Although I still prefer my taken.

When a man goes for a walk and then writes a book about it, as so many of them do, they rarely present any justification for what they have done. These authors simply want to follow old tracks, or to investigate where a Roman road or highway goes or trace a line up the centre of the country and then tell you about it. Sometimes they want to swim. But they are not asked why they are doing this, or what their personal journey is. It’s fine for a man to go out walking.
Women, though, must have a reason, to serve them as a passport, the chit which permits them to leave home. They should be coming to terms with grief, or trying to right a wrong, or perhaps they have lost everything and have no choice in the matter but to walk. Whatever the circumstances, the crucial thing is that there must be some. Unlike men, women have to justify what they are doing: simply wanting to walk isn’t a good enough excuse. And it’s certainly no reason to write about it.

July 11, 2025 at 3:32 PM

Reposted by Jan

Susannah Walker

@susannahwalker.bsky.social

I am in the rare position to combine two Bluesky storms because I have written a book which is about being a woman walking, but there is no point in my persuading you to buy it because it was published by #Unbound.

Although if anyone is a publisher and wants to run the paperback, I'm here for that.