Just fell over getting on a train as I’m so tired that my miss judged the step up. That was embarrassing and now my leg hurts.

I need to find a new pair of jeans. Everything in the shops is very wide or baggy of leg. It a very long time to convince me to abandon flared or baggy cuts for the skinny back at the turn of the millennium. If only I had kept my wardrobe from the early 2000s.

It fascinates me. She had Irish parents but was born in Middlesbrough then a year later was on a boat to America. My great uncles were born there but my great aunt was born back here so they didn’t stay long! No records for people leaving America but I believe it was when the Titanic sank.

from outside

Showers and plunge tubs

Sauna and cold plunge was good for my brain. I’m going to become a sauna regular here. This one has an excellent set up with good changing areas and a fire pit to sit round. Beautiful window in the sauna looking out on woodland.

Ooh yes! This will hopefully fill in some gaps in my family history research. Currently got big gaps. My great grandmother was a child in New York for their 1910 census but they came back in 1912, and lots of the family had gone back to Ireland by the 1920s.

Yoga mat with text on floor saying let allll of that sh*t go

Cafe table with coffee and cinnamon bun

Resetting my nervous system after a hard week of thesis writing #PhDSky Picked a mat with a good mantra today at my morning movement class. Decided to stay afterwards for a coffee and vegan cinnamon swirl.

Poster for Robin Ince author event

An evening listening to @robinince.bsky.social without having to travel more than a 5 min walk. My thoughts have been racing all day yet somehow like swampy slime at the same time. But that was like pushing the reset button on my brain.

Sauna session booked. Between yoga and walking down the canal for sauna time I’ll try to do a focused writing session. Day off to watch football all day planned for Sunday.

Today was a very bad PhD thesis writing day and a bad mental health day. But I’m going to meet friends for a Robin Ince author talk tonight and I have yoga booked for tomorrow. Tempted to book a sauna for tomorrow too.

Paying attention to this thread as I’m getting extremely weary of my usual playlists.

This week is annual leave for thesis writing. So far I’ve not gone near the data chapter I promised my supervisors I’d work on. But I’ve had two productive days on other chapters so far.

Every penny kept away from massive data focused scholarly publishers who continue working with ICE, among other groups dedicated to harming our communities, is a win.

📚

www.ifla.org/news/the-shr...

@academiclibsnorth.bsky.social are offering 10 sponsored places for both presenters and delegates at this years conference, "Reimagining Openness in Academic Libraries". The deadline to apply if the 29th of April.

academiclibrariesnorth.ac.uk/conference/a...

Massive wild fire burning all night. The entire valley is cloaked in smoke. My eyes are stinging and burning. My heart breaks for all my beautiful bird friends.

A barometer for my mental health is how lax I become with eating dairy chocolate in the office. Lactose intolerant person punishing themself from the inside with chocolate.

Oh no I missed the deadline as been hyperfocused on LILAC and ALN. But my idea was very vague anyway 🫠

Since last Friday I’ve spent 1 night in Newcastle and 3 in Sheffield. Tonight I’m staying in Liverpool. Looking forward to a solid week of sleeping in my own house next week.

why is the only non-sad thing he can imagine going to the moon?

like why can’t it be high-speed rail? awesome public housing communities? great cinemas and libraries and public spaces? a rejuvenated postal service finding new ways to serve the public? technology for people not profit?

"All mushrooms are edible but some only once": rethinking information literacy in leisure contexts through hobbyist mycology, Laura Williams. #Lilac26 Laura Williams is a PhD student in the School of Information Journalism and Communication, but this presentation was not about her PhD to...

My talk about hobbyist mushroom enthusiasts was live blogged by @pammckinney.bsky.social who has done a fanrastic job along with @sheilawebber.bsky.social at documenting #LILAC26 information-literacy.blogspot.com/2026/04/all-...

Slide deck skills run in the Potter family

It was a lovely privilege to have my friend, former colleague and fellow PhD student @woodsiegirl.bsky.social introduce my talk at #LILAC26 Our opportunity to clear up any confusion by our spookily similar names and career paths over whether we are the same person.

Standing in front of ‘all mushrooms are edible but some only once’ talk presentation wearing a mushroom print shirt

Presenting in large room

Two #LILAC26 talks delivered and I’ve loved bringing more leisure research and embodied info to the info lit community. Extremely grateful to the School of Information, Journalism and Communication at Sheffield for funding to attend.

Hearing about the experiences of a dyslexic student taking an information literacy module. Reflecting on how dyslexia shapes information seeking and use of university systems. As a fellow dyslexic student I’m familiar with these institutional issues! #LILAC26

I always like to be able to link my conference talks to the keynote. This morning Matteo Bergamini has delivered the ultimate gift by using mushroom foraging as an analogy when talking about media literacy. #LILAC26

A pleasure to introduce Matteo Bergamini for our Day 3 keynote! Matteo is now talking about the spectrum of spectrum of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, and how these are shaping radicalisation and political polarisation #lilac26

Bateson would have been a good fit for this keynote.

Love that Sheila has started this information literacy keynote with some classic theory of the definitions of information. I’ve been grappling with those Marcia Bates typologies during my PhD. The information part of information literacy is fundamental. #LILAC26

It’s so refreshing to be in a university building without overheating

I can’t knit or crochet as many librarians do at conferences. So I’m folding a book hedgehog as my way to support focus during talks. Making this #LILAC26 InfoHog out of an old ASLIB Proceedings 🦔

"AI is here, we can't put the toothpaste back in the tube."

When I accidentally squeeze out too much toothpaste, I don't then shove it all in my mouth. I wash it down the plughole.

#UKSG2026