Carol

@beilinglaoshi.bsky.social

477 Followers 245 Following

Higher Education, GenAI in education, English for Academic Purposes, gardening/environment and personal stuff. Based in Wolverhampton, England. Same handle on Twitter and Mastodon

Screenshot from Severn Trent website giving planned repair date

Screenshot of email from Severn Trent Water saying, "you can help by using less water while this hot, dry weather continues."

7 second video of water bubbling out of a small circular manhole, which has been painted blue

Stripey orange-and-brown cinnabar moth caterpillars feeding on ragwort

A large pot of water heating over a coal fire in the Crown and Anchor bar

Two burnet moths attached to a grass stem and to each other

Burnet moths feeding on pink clover flowers

Attached to a grass stem, a papery cocoon (empty) where a burnet moth pupated

cinnabar moths feeding on clover amid other meadow flowers

Durham Cathedral rising above the banks of River Wear, pictured from Prebends Bridge

A folded bamboo mattress topper made of small bamboo tiles woven together. Made in China and sometimes called a 'mahjong mat'

"Dear Donald Potus on your birthday.
Hair is wispy,
Skin's gone crispy,
Now you're 80,
Don't be so hatey."

Secateurs lying at the end of a Lutyens-style garden bench surrounded by tumbles of cerise rambling rose, in Carol's garden

Self-seeded fox-and-cubs growing in front of fish wall art on a fence in Carol's garden

Delicate pink whorl - the Duchesse de Montobello rose

Ladybird poppies growing in Carol's garden

White rambling musk rose glowing in the morning sunlight in Carol's garden

Soft-petalled creamy-pinky-white climbing rose against the blue early-morning sky in Carol's garden. Her name is Madame Alfred Carriere

White cat with ragged black ears sitting peacefully on a bench in Carol's garden, surrounded by sun-dappled greenery. He lives with my neighbour but treats my garden like his own

Morning by the pond in Carol's garden

Empty blackbirds' nest, fallen to the ground in Carol's garden. A neat circle of grasses and moss, lovingly shaped

Three baby coots swimming in a row in Wolverhampton's West Park. Their little heads are red

Morning sunlight filtering through leaves and flowers in Carol's garden. Pink and blue bluebells, Welsh poppies and the verdant spears of crocosmia leaves. In the background a bird bath and orange rosenkugel

Short clip of orange-tip butterfly dancing around a female, who is resting on a rose leaf in Carol's garden

Screenshot of a Taylor and Francis homepage featuring the greeting 'Hi, User'

Magnolia stellata blossom, pink against the blue sky in Wolverhampton's West Park

Trees and ducks reflected in the little lake in Wolverhampton's West Park. In the centre, a fresh lemony-green weeping willow

Conifer, pink currant blossoms and black bamboo soaring into the blue sky in Carol's garden

Scarlet-blossomed Japanese quince catching the sunlight in Carol's garden

Screenshot of Google Maps (near Birmingham Moor Street station) featuring an 'assignment help' service

Generated headline: "Labour's Marxist obsession with Misrosoft Teams is a historic disgrace"

A vase of open daffodils on shelf by window

Screenshot of Copilot chat. Carol says "I can't find the Study and Learn mode selector in my Copilot chat interface. I have an institutional Education license." Copilot response: "You’re not doing anything wrong — many institutional (Education / A3 / A5 / Microsoft 365 University) tenants do not yet have access to Copilot’s “Study and Learn” mode, even though Microsoft has publicly announced and even activated it for general consumer accounts."

Graph from inequalities.ai showing ChatGPT's view of the physical attributes of people in Wolverhampton UK

Snow-sprinkled white hellebore in patio pot

Mural near the Molineux stadium, Wolverhampton, picturing an elderly woman, young man and girl looking upwards with admiring expressions. The live models pose beneath it, grinning happily.

Screenshot of a Bluesky language notification

Neighbours' security lights reflecting off the snow, viewed through a sleet-spattered window pane

A pair of snow-covered Crocs, neatly abandoned in West Park

Sculpted shrub dusted with snow, in West Park's flower garden

Two ?ravens searching for food on the snowy lawn outside West Park tearooms, Wolverhampton

Screenshot of a Cookidoo (Thermomix) recipe for Chupe de locos

The original recipe (in Spanish) contains crema de leche, huevos cortados en laminas, and 12 locos

Snip from a translated recipe. Includes heavy cream, 4 eggs cut into sheets, and 12 crazy people

Solitary Welsh poppy (yellow) blooming among the fallen leaves in Carol's garden

A one-day West Midlands bus ticket featuring the words AULD Adult

Two bags of snacks: (1) Off the Eaten Path pea & bean sticks, (2) Tyrells posh prawn cocktail flavour crisps

Ruba Khalid read her poem at the webinar today:

Sometimes I open a notebook by candlelight.
Sometimes I write in the margins of memory.
The power fails before I can finish a sentence.
It hangs there—half formed, a bird trapped behind glass, waiting for someone to set it free.

They call it academic integrity.
I call it holding on to the last pieces of myself the war has not claimed.
It is writing the truth when my hands tremble.
It is refusing shortcuts when the internet is a ghost.
It is breathing between explosions.
It is pressing a pencil to paper while the sky falls apart.

Some rise before dawn to knead bread.
I rise before the next explosion.
I gather fragments of thought that might otherwise scatter and vanish.
Integrity is not a rule.
It is resistance.
It is saying no to the war’s expectation that I be hurried, desperate and careless.
It is living, in small hours, in small acts.
Each word is a rebellion.
Each sentence is a small flame.

When the sky falls in Gaza, I want my words to stand upright.
I want someone, somewhere, to read them and remember:
Even in destruction, creating is defiance.
Even a trembling sentence is a heartbeat.
Even silence can be an act of courage.

I write because I must.
I write because the war cannot take this from me.
And maybe, just maybe, these words will wait for someone, like a small gift left in the rubble, and whisper:
You are still human.

A slide by student Shrooq Abu Dahrouj. Her text:
Challenge: There has been limited internet access. Every time the connection dropped during a live session or an exam, I felt a surge of stress and fear, knowing that the clock wouldn’t stop for me and that all my efforts could vanish in an instant.
Problem: This makes it extremely difficult to attend live sessions, submit assignments, or even complete exams on time. These limitations constantly test my commitment to academic integrity, especially when it would have been easier to give up or seek unfair help.
Response: To manage this, I plan ahead as much as possible, downloading materials in advance, organizing my study schedule around the few hours when I expect internet access, and keeping open communication with my instructors about any delays or difficulties.

A slide by student Roa. Her text:
Challenge: Balancing Academic Deadlines with Honesty with the Demands of Survival in Gaza
Problem: The hard labour created by the genocide, like the stress and time to bake one’s own bread, severely cuts into study time. The internet is like a ghost, and the repeated evacuations and constant fear make it difficult to keep track of everything.
All of this cuts into the time we have to study, making plagiarism and shortcuts a temptation.
Response: Despite these pressures, I am committed to maintaining my academic integrity. I view my studies as an act of resistance – a way to hold onto my identity and future that the genocide cannot steal from me. I cope by reimagining what study means. I can’t have long, uninterrupted sessions, so I seize the moments in between.

Heavy beige squash about a hand-span long with postcard addressed to Carol

A bounty of gleaming brown fresh conkers, salvaged from the gutter of a busy road near Carol's house

Yellowing sunshiny acer leaves frame a pool of blue sky in Carol's garden

Speckled Wood butterfly basking on wood offcut in Carol's garden

Overgrown lavender in Carol's front garden

Cinnabar moth caterpillars feeding on ragwort, Holy Island, July 2025

Close-up of willow leaves bearing green-pink pea-sized lumps

Wildlife pond in Carol's garden, completely dried out for first time ever. Marginal plants withered and reeds trampled by wild animals searching for water

Fishing boats moored on the blue sea, with old stone wall, pineapple may and rough grass in the foreground.

Screenshot of restaurant website promoting its 'tight-lipped traditional Indian flavours and recipes'