Day: 1 March 2026

Weeknotes #162: Guinness, gardens and guilt

Daffodils, culture, nostalgia, and small victories over self-doubt

Week commencing Monday, 23 February 2026

Vibrant pink orchids clustered densely in dramatic low lighting at Orchids After Hours, Kew Gardens, with glossy green leaves and moss visible between the stems.
Orchids glowing after dark at Kew Gardens.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 6/7 and Move 7/7. (95%). Morning walks: 3/4. Office days 1/5. Total steps: 59,055. 20 hours in meetings.

Life

  • Good sign: there were daffodils on my Monday-morning walk. Does that make it spring yet?
  • Bad sign: the third tax-bill revision. Every time I provide more information to claim they are overcharging me, it goes up. I’d be daft to try to fight it again.
  • New audiobook: Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years by David Litt. So far, loving it.
  • I wrote over 2,000 words for last year’s ‘Yearnotes’. Nobody else cares, but I like reading back my older Yearnotes.
  • Pub on Wednesday to meet a former colleague. The place brought back memories. I used to go there in a previous job when colleagues and I did not want to be in either of the two bars directly next to the office. Given where it sits, surrounded by offices that have long since disappeared, it is impressive that it is still going and still very busy.
  • Lessons I can’t seem to learn: I did need to get over the guilt that takes me to a pub and results in a missed train and a bus that gets me home at 1 a.m.
  • Friday night: Orchids After Hours at Kew Gardens. The theme this year is the biodiversity and cultural heritage of China. There are a large number of native Chinese orchids on display, but I imagine it’s only a fraction of the 30,000 orchid species that one of the videos said have been discovered. Not sure I’d identify orchids without labels.
  • Saturday: Guinness 0%, which I found indistinguishable from the regular pint, but it seems to take even longer to pour.
  • Midnight is a new pop-opera by American singer Todrick Hall. An advanced workshop version is being performed at Sadler’s Wells East. Wow, it’s amazing, even though it needs to shed 30 minutes of running time.

Media

  • Watched the final episode of Small Prophets. Surprisingly captivating and confusing in roughly equal measure.
  • Also saw Banned in the 80s: Moments That Shook Music, a documentary revisiting the controversies that reshaped music during the 80s: Relax, I Want Your Sex, I Want to Break Free. Plenty of Mary Whitehouse references. Oh, the culture war!
  • Episode three of Heated Rivalry. Yes, we’re not binge-watching it like the rest of the world. The focus shifts in this one, away from the main Shane and Ilya storyline, to follow hockey player Scott Hunter. Another life lesson: apparently, adding an extra banana to a smoothie makes you extra attractive.

More Politics

According to the press there will be an anti-discrimination bill protecting religions but not gay people.

Last week I made note of Brian Sedgemore’s comments in the House of Commons when the debate on the Prevention of Terrorism Bill was in place. I also suggested people may have lost interest in politics. Well, when politics is as blatantly vote-grabbing as this piece in the Sunday Times reveals, it’s no wonder:

This week a new bill giving Muslims protection against religious discrimination will be published, but there will be no equivalent right for gays, as had been planned by ministers.

[Source: Sunday Times: Discrimination bill snubs gays to save Muslim vote].

I guess I should be angry and write to my MP or something, but I am resigned to the fact that nothing will happen, and it will make no difference. It’s the obviousness of the whole thing that frustrates.

St David’s Day

Fewer posts at the end of February.

February started so well on this site, and then I faded by the end of the month. I am not entirely sure what led to this state. It’s a double-edged sword – or some such saying – as during the time I could have been writing here, I have been at the gym, which is proving more enjoyable than you might imagine. For those of you who know me, you’ll understand what a surprise that is to me. However, I do want recommendations for the perfect tracks to fill an hour in the gym and stick on my mp3 player. Sky News can get quite depressing when you are on a treadmill.

I have managed to say very little about marriage in San Francisco – except to say congratulations to Jase – because, frankly, a lot of other people were saying it better than I was. I decided I want to go to Paris again, but instead booked a holiday to Orlando.

So, I’ll leave February by saying congratulations to The Lord of the Rings on winning 11 Oscars. Not because I, for one moment, think anybody from that film will read this, but because I enjoyed the trilogy very much indeed.

Anyway, I predict an interesting March. I hope it’s reflected here.

Ben Affleck In Tight Leather

Ben Affleck in tight leather – why are you looking for those pictures?

Ben Affleck in tight leather

Looking at the referrer logs for this site, a lot of people are getting here thanks to my mention of Ben Affleck in tight leather (I assume in my Daredevil review). If you really want a picture of Ben Affleck in tight leather, go here, here or here.

The official Daredevil site is here. Enjoy