Category: All
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I Tried to 3D Print Fridge Magnets. It Spiralled Into Non-Repeating Chaos
This started as a project about fridge magnets. But really—it’s about what happens when an idea grabs hold. When you don’t know the final shape, only that you have to keep going. It’s a story of obsession, creative persistence, and how sometimes, you only see the full picture once the final tile slides into place—and…
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Breaking the Chaingang
When I first rode the Oxford chaingang, I got dropped in the rain and finished last. I loved it anyway—and I never got dropped again. Over time I found a way to win, week after week, on the same stretch of road. Everyone knew what was coming, but no one figured out how to stop…
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Shellacked: The Turtle and the Duck
We all polish parts of ourselves before we share them — stories, ideas, a piece of who we are. But even friendly taps can leave marks. This is a fable about care disguised as critique, and what happens when quiet damage goes unnoticed… until it doesn’t.
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That’ll-Do-ism: A Manifesto for Good-Enough Creativity
This isn’t about cutting corners. It’s about knowing when to stop sanding. A short manifesto on progress, imperfection, and the power of “That’ll do.”
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The Festive 500: Cold Legs, Cracked Tyres, and Christmas Magic
500km. Eight days. One tyre explosion. This is how I tackled the Festive 500 — and what it means to push through when things feel impossible.
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Scrum Fables: The Biscuits Are Yours
Something is deeply wrong in Dunwell. Biscuit shelves stand empty, ginger nuts have vanished without a crumb of explanation, and Chocovia has proudly announced that all biscuits—every biscuit—have been replaced by a single, supposedly perfect one they simply call “The Biscuit.” But Dunwell has never been the sort of town to accept nonsense quietly. And…
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The Hug That Already Knew
Some hurts aren’t really about sore legs, and some comforts aren’t really about soup. Sometimes the truest gift is a hug that already knows.
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Scrum Fables: It’s a Wonderful Lemonade Fountain
Not every difference you make will be noticed. But just because no one says it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Silence is not the same as absence.
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Scrum Fables: The Parsnip Lecture
Not every challenge is an opponent. Some, like the parsnip, don’t need conquering at all. They just want to join the soup. Sometimes the thing we brace ourselves to fight is really just waiting to play on our side — if only we let it.
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Scrum Fables: The Unicorn Fix
In software, people chase unicorns. In real life, sometimes the unicorn is just duct tape with sparkles. You can wrestle with a problem all week and get nowhere — until something silly or unexpected shifts your perspective. That’s when you find the “unicorn fix”: a solution that feels too perfect to be real.
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Different Strokes (Part 3): A Different Kind of Luck
Recovery came slowly. The fear faded. And in its place, something quieter arrived — not joy, not relief, but a strange sense of gratitude, and a different kind of clarity.
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Scrum Fables: Flight Club
Chaos is loud. Success is quiet. It’s easy to think the noisy, messy teams are more exciting — but the best work often feels almost boring. Things don’t break. Customers are happy. And being in a team like that is anything but dull.
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Notes from the Ward (and the Great Biscuit Ranking of 2025)
On the surface: it’s about hospital biscuits, bed-baths, and heart monitors. Underneath: it’s about patience, surrender, and the healing power of Fruit Shortcake.
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Scrum Fables: Market Day
Deadlocks don’t always break by force. Sometimes the smallest gesture — an unasked kindness, a quiet first step — is enough. You don’t have to tell others the way forward. You just have to walk it, and let them follow.
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Different Strokes (Part 2): The Surgery and the Self
Eight days after a diagnosis, I was scheduled for major surgery. What followed was needles, scars, a chorus of chainsaws in the high-dependency unit, and more tea and biscuits than I thought possible. But also: a chance to rethink how we talk about strokes—and how much a single word can define, or misdefine, a life.
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Scrum Fables: Mission Improbable
Spy gadgets? Check. Evil lair? Check. Ducks with clipboards? Check. But sometimes the hardest thing to see… is the obvious.
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Medical Scans, Ranked by How Much They Feel Like Wetting Yourself
I tried CT, MRI, and ultrasound—and rated each one by how much they messed with my senses (and dignity). Spoiler: one felt suspiciously like wetting yourself.
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Scrum Fables: The Nimble Plane
Principles are sturdy things — but with enough twisting, you can make them say whatever you like.
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Different Strokes (Part 1): Clots, Wards and My Lovely Veins
It started small: a tingling hand, a dizzy spell, a moment of confusion. Easy to brush off. Until one Sunday morning, it wasn’t. This is what a “minor” stroke looks like— and why the small stuff matters more than you think.
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Scrum Fables: Splashback
This one’s based on something that really happened — just with fewer hedgehogs. When people don’t communicate well, small frustrations can snowball into tension… and sometimes into public fireworks.
Davide la Locomotive 