Day: 12 May 2024

Weeknotes #68: eurovision and neon

A vibrant week filled with diverse experiences and enjoyable moments.

Week commencing Monday, 6 May 2024

A decorated car outside KOYN Japanese: a celebration of the artistry of Japanese cuisine
KOYN Japanese

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 5/7 and Move 7/7. (86%). Morning walks: 2/3 (happy to have restarted the trend). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 67,658

Life

  • Bank holiday Monday. It rained, quite a lot. I stayed inside, quite a lot (but not entirely).
  • As it turns out, the washing machine was not fixed by fluke as I thought last week. Awaiting another engineer.
  • Tuesday was sunny. I did a morning walk again and it felt good. It felt even better to do it again on Wednesday.
  • Even if you don’t like Eurovision, you should have watched it for the amazing sets & Petra Mede. Sweden knows how to do it. The final was fun and, for once, the winner was in my top 3.
  • Related. For the first time in many years we watched it away from our house at the home of friends. As we were not entertaining, and as they provided a helpful scorecard, we watched every song. Some of them felt much longer than three minutes. The accompanying food was lovely.
  • Dinner with Greg on Wednesday night was Japanese (Koyn) and wonderful (both in company and food). Also, expensive. But as it’s our once-every-two-years meet-up, I’m OK with that.
  • By the end of Thursday I was tired so skipped the work karaoke session. Probably for the best.
  • Went to hire a mourning suit in Wimbledon on Friday evening. They were closed. Met PY and sat in the – very small – beer patio at All Bar One. Spontaneous and fun.
  • Managed to do the hiring on Saturday. But it will be delivered the day before it is needed. Nervous.
  • Sunday, on the way back from our Eurovision stay, to God’s Own Junkyard: a treasure-trove of neon. Wonderful, evocative and bright.

Media

  • Shardlake on Disney+. Although it was the monks being investigated, I couldn’t get Cadfael out of my head. This is probably more gruesome. Good characters, interesting plot. Set-up for a second series?

All lit up

On returning from our evening watching Eurovision with friends in North London, we stopped off at God’s Own Junkyard: a warehouse tribute to neon. I’ve always wanted to visit and, despite the bright daylight outside, the multicoloured lights were fantastic. The contrast between the signs for wedding chapels and those gentlemen’s establishments of old Soho was beautiful.

A yellow neon sign saying Are You Getting Enough at God's Own Junkyard - a museum dedicated to neon signs.
Are You Getting Enough
A white neon sign saying Love Rocks at God's Own Junkyard - a museum dedicated to neon signs.
Love Rocks
A red neon sign saying Top Of The Pops at God's Own Junkyard - a museum dedicated to neon signs.
Top Of The Pops
A white neon sign saying Your Favourite Sins at God's Own Junkyard - a museum dedicated to neon signs.
Your Favourite Sins
A red neon sign saying Together in Electric Dreams at God's Own Junkyard - a museum dedicated to neon signs.
Together in Electric Dreams
A neon Top Of The Pops sign at God's Own Junkyard - a museum dedicated to neon signs.
Top Of The Pops

Office Alone

I’ve been in the office alone all day today – with Radio Four as my only company.

Today has been a very strange day. I have been alone in the office; all of my colleagues are on the road or on holiday. Despite previous thoughts of working alone and/or from home, I can categorically say that I like the stimulation of the office environment, and I am pretty certain that I won’t be looking for employment from home in the future. I currently work in a small four-person office space, and even that gets very difficult at times. Since early 2002, I have worked with three other people in two different jobs. I think next time I will be looking for something larger. If you work alone or from home, how do you manage it?

While sitting alone this afternoon, I started listening to Radio Four for a little bit of company and was reminded how good PM was as a news show. I don’t believe there was anything that stood out today – apart from the obvious talents of Eddie Mair – but I can recommend it if you’re in need of company! Also, while I was working through my tasks earlier, I got a call, which means I will be attending a hastily organised meeting in Rome on Friday morning, so I will be spending this evening trying to get as many of my belongings into the smallest possible bag that I can. It is at times like this that I wish my employer had purchased a lighter laptop for me.