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...in which I don't go up mountains

Category: Other Stuff

Coronavirus apps

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I collected some links about apps people have been developing in connection with the coronavirus pandemic:

Coronavirus App Links

Here’s a little challenge…

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Here’s a little puzzle that has been entertaining all kinds of people I know during lockdown!

It’s harder than it looks:

algebra picture puzzle

I think it’s 43… 😁

Answer in the comments?

And if you know where this came from, please let me know as I’d like to find more of them!

Photo: Mothers Working from Home with Kids.

Remote Working and Home Learning links

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Photo: This is definitely how organised my family life is.

How’s everyone finding it, working from home through the apocalypse?

The Apocalypse: I expected Zombies and Anarchy. What I got was no cycling and no toilet paper.

Also a million browser tabs

One challenge I didn’t expect was a virtual avalanche of constantly updating incoming information. There has been so much to take into account in this transition from normal everyday life to a combination of lockdown, home education and simultaneous working from home.

Soon I had an impossibly unmanageable number of browser tabs open and it couldn’t go on. So here they are: a collection of useful links that I am listing here to clear the decks in my browsers.

Photo of pies and the number Pi

Happy Pi Day!

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Happy Pi Day!

My favourite apron: I bake π


It’s March 14th: Happy Pi Day (3.14) to all my lovely readers (just me then!). I’ll be scheduling this to publish at 15 hrs, though sadly I can’t stretch the next part of the time to 92 minutes…

(If I could fit 93 minutes in an hour, I’d be smashing it as a management consultant).

Instead, I’m spending my day at a Scottish Unitarian Churches’ Communications, IT and Social Media Workshop, but I’ll be having some friends round for pie later on (check out the awesome pies my kids made in the main photo!)

Cat sitting in front of a fan heater

Central Heating and Cat Videos

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Our boiler broke down last week. Thinking about it, it’s probably winter when most people’s boilers break down, because that’s when they’d be getting more use. But my goodness, it’s also when you appreciate it being fixed the most!

In the meantime, I’ve been very lucky to be lent a heater by one of my GITS teammates, which has been greatly enjoyed by all the family, and especially our cat Spot*:


Spot enjoying the heater. Thanks Shane!

Beach scene with clouds that look like gradients

Mindfulness Meditation Practices

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Let’s get some perspective…

Here are some resources I’ve collected to help with mindfulness meditation, metta bhavana (loving-kindness), relaxation and focus. I hope they’re helpful.

A boy with a tower of Jenga blocks

Mindfulness in Education: a Free Back to School Kit for Teachers, Students and Parents

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Recently, I was lucky enough to take part in a mindfulness meditation session arranged by the University Chaplaincy as part of Mental Health Week. It was a very peaceful break in the day, and definitely one of the nicest ways of raising mental health awareness.

I have always been a fan of mindfulness, or ‘Buddhist Meditation on the Mindfulness of Being’ as it was called when I first tried it at Glastonbury in the 90s. I’m an old hippy, I’ll own that.

But meditation practice has had very beneficial effects in my own life, in improving focus, reducing stress, and generally re-evaluating my perspective on things. For the last couple of years, I have been going to weekly Mindfulness @ Lunchtime meditation practices at St Mark’s Unitarian Church whenever I could get there, and I’ve found these sessions very helpful. So I was very interested to see this offer from Mindful Schools, encouraging the practice of mindfulness in education.

But how is it being used? Here’s an example for teachers:

Pause and Check In

Follow this link to find a 3 minute sample guided mindfulness meditation for teachers at the beginning of the school day from Mindful Schools. I found it through a LinkedIn advert. It’s short, and I really like it:

Pause and Check In: 3 Minute Mindfulness Meditation

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