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Elen & Basket

@merryhel.bsky.social
84 followers 108 following 53 posts
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
That's beautiful - so much energy.
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
And came with an odd form of grief, making a long term plan accepting that places may not return to what I knew as normal in my lifetime.
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Yesterday I found myself deciding not to apply for a job in a beloved place further south because of the heat over the last few summers. First time it's really felt like a deciding factor.
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
It seems I didn't know the difference between bosons and bosuns, so I'm disappointed to hear this won't mean pirate stories.
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
How about a functional lighthouse, a dog, and Fraggles?
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Lady Bee Middlemast-Neal @mistyswoman.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Brit here - well, English of course. This is fucking hilarious. youtu.be/W5Y8JwEzuvA?...
youtu.be
How The UK Works 🫠.
YouTube video by Jimmy Rees
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
*now that's slowed down to a few years
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I have a mini tradition of re-reading LotR every time I move house* because of this - I find a new perspective on it every time.
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
*Full of posh sorts who don't need to worry about ever having a livable salary.
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Unless things have changed quite a lot recently, publishing is... not a good reflection of the general public* anyway.
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Emma Jacobs @emmavj.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Forget pervert glasses - what about smart plugs? Me on domestic abusers taking over home devices as.ft.com/r/8f4ab2f1-4... How smart tech is being weaponised in the home
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Thanks for this - looked it up, new fan.
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
I can't find the post again, but to the guy - a Scot, I think - who posted lyrics to Frank Turner's 'Demons' as a comment recently, thank you. New fan!
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
It's strange to me too. I'm wondering if these people ban their friends from ever talking about their work as well. Arrive at pub, how are you, 'Well I had a mad day at... Oh.'
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Or onto a bot with a woman's name, even. www.askamanager.org/2024/01/men-...
askamanager.org
men are hitting on my scheduling bot because it has a woman's name
A reader writes: I have sort of a strange situation. I provide consulting services for (mostly) small business owners. This generally involves scheduling some meetings, and I have an email “Personal A...
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
I've never been quite sure whether it was an early lesson on the fallibility of my teachers, or top sarcasm from my tutor.
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
I love this and have sent your card version to a few people in difficult times (who also loved it).
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
An A grade and a compliment on my understanding of the elliptical nature of Conrad's writing. For a 6th form assignment where I wrote the arrival and departure of an older Marlow, but skipped the middle purely because I was writing at 3am on deadline day after the pub and ran out of ideas & fucks.
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Is there anything readers (buyers) can do to help change that? I have no idea who we petition!
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
10p on parthenogenesis for me, please.
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Yes. Medical care should have no relation at all to guilt, or number of accusers. He reported distress and they failed to respond, which breaches their duty of care.
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Happy birthday, and many returns!
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Happy birthday, and many returns!
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Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Some people say we don’t build beautiful things anymore and, like, lol. Motherfuckers, we built this:
A graph from Our World In Data showing a precipitous drop in child mortality starting in the late 1800s going from an average of 48% to global rate of 27% in 1950 to the 2020 infant mortality rate of 4%, with some countries having a rate as low as 0.3%
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
And you're choosing to represent this horrific case with a picture of sunlit hills because... ?? Really? Your AI bot didn't have anything else tagged as Scotland?
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Hayley @writagal.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
This entire culture of refusing to hold men accountable for their actions is literally destroying the world.
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samcannonart @samcannonart.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Just in case you need to hear it today..... “I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.' Hafez ***needsaclick*** to see it all.
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Nancy Hey @worklifeyou.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
This is such a wonderful research finding. Ocytocin is the baby cuddles hormone known as the love hormone. You can get sprays of it. This finds that the hormone plus loving touch and words help wounds heal faster. Love for the win
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Yeah, what did the Romans ever do for us?
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Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 23/01/2026
This is a gorgeous essay. “So much of politics is taking action but not getting what you want.”
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Beautiful. Are the birds for the eider ducks who also helped him stay warm? They're nicknamed Cuddy ducks in Northumberland.
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Ooh thank you, didn't know that!
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
Just bought, thank you. On Kobo, since I'm avoiding Amazon.
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Kristi Yamaguccimane @wapplehouse.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Oh my god oh my god oh my goddddd the local aquarium has three new born otters and they CHIRP
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Thank you, this is so lovely.
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mo 🐀 @ranyart.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
In June I finished a poem about being suicidal and the tiniest things one can use as a carrot to keep themselves going, and here at the close of the year I am finally (mostly) ready to share it
the case for living 

Sometimes a breeze blows on a sunny day.
A pollen-covered bee crawls gracelessly
across a poppy, loading up on food
to share with all her sisters in the hive.

The first tomato of the year is ripe,
ready for salt and slices of fresh bread.
The juice drips, tart and sweet, down to your wrist 
before you have the chance to lick it clean.

You laugh, undignified and far too loud
as you remember what your best friend said
when you were young. She's long since passed, of course,
but every burst of laughter brings her back.

It's not enough, and yet it's all we have,
each too-small seed of joy unearthed from soil
watered more often by our tears than rain
and melting, soft and fragile, in our hands.

In lack of hope or some great blessed plan,
we hold and kiss and keep them while we can.
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
one unexpected outlook change from being a dad is taking the self care people 10x more seriously when it comes to dealing with weirdly directed anger and rage (including Online). many angry posts should have been naps or little packets of crackers
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
Marvellous, moving and wise column by @martinsandbu.ft.com:
ft.com
Why your AI companion is not your friend
First, tech companies usurped the meaning of ‘friends’ and ‘connection’ — now they are coming for ‘companionship’
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John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
Sir Terry Pratchett is best understood as one of the most interesting, deeply ethical practical (I would say Pragmatist but I cede to actual experts) philosophers of the late 20th Century who just happened to work in deconstructed fantasy literature as his medium.
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Oh thank you for this! I have thought of the devil hiding in the stray holly sprig every year when I take down the decorations, but didn't remember enough other details to try and find the story. How lovely to read it again. This absolutely made my day!
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Jarod K. Anderson @jarodkanderson.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Aragorn: “Legolas! What do your elf eyes see?” *Distant naked orc cartwheel contest* Legolas: “Uh, regular Tolkein stuff. Rocks. Clouds. Trees with rich history and whatnot.”
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
😂
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Brian Hughes @bmhughes.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Absolutely, and for houses. Moving to the Thames Valley was WTF, it's water, it's not supposed to leave marks on things.
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Not In Our Name (NION) Women @nionwomen.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Over 60K women have signed our letter standing with the trans community. We've had enough of anti-trans rhetoric claiming to speak for us. If you agree... 📰 Read their article here: tinyurl.com/NION-PN-60K ✍ Sign our letter: notinourname.org.uk 📣 Share widely #StrongerTogether #TransAwarenessWeek
NION logo
In the news
Pink News logo
mobile phone with headline: 60,000 cisgender women write powerful open letter in support of trans community: 'We have had enough'
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Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 14/11/2025
The BBC was founded to “provide impartial news”. If it's going to be the UK's biggest media organisation, it has to do its job right. Hold the BBC to account 👇 action.goodlawproject.org/tell-the-…
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Elen & Basket @merryhel.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Thank you, this all sounds like good reason to read her so just ordered both of those.
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