Day: 6 July 2025

Weeknotes #128: hot, pride and a balcony scene

Hot week, great theatre, Pride celebrations, and connecting with friends.

Week commencing Monday, 30 June 2025

A scene from the revival of "Evita" at the London Palladium shows Rachel Zegler performing as Eva Perón, addressing the crowds from an ornate stone balcony in front of the theatre, to the public watching from below. She is wearing a white strapless gown with her blonde hair styled in a period-appropriate updo, surrounded by classical columns and architecture.
Rachel Zegler performing as Eva Perón

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 6/7 and Move 6/7. (81%). Morning walks: 0/3 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 2/5. Total steps: 78,733

Life

  • Despite many things I have written about being – or not being – in the office for work, I did two days; my step count shows it.
  • It also helped, as the office is air-conditioned. This week has been very hot; the fan was needed in my home office, and lots of water was consumed.
  • We’ve had the government for a year. Has anybody noticed anything different? Where are the promised changes?
  • Robot update: the robot hoover ran on Monday, quite impressively mapped the room, and bumped into everything.
  • Tuesday, to Sohoplace to see The Fifth Step, a play about how people handle their demons in the context of alcoholism and recovery. It stars Martin Freeman and Jack Lowden. It’s good and thought-provoking. 3/5 stars from me.
  • Wednesday: divisional all-hands meetings. But drinks in the evening with Mark B. Very glad I was able to catch him while he was in the country.
  • Related: I was delighted that I kept an eye on the time and did not miss the last trains from Shepherd’s Bush.
  • Thursday was another office day. And more drinks in the evening with Andrew and Sarah. It was nice to sit outside. And now we know why A went to a Taylor Swift concert.
  • Friday to Central London. Dinner on Argyll Street was timed to finish just before Rachel Zegler appeared as Eva Perón on the balcony of The Palladium Theatre. Much more impressive than I thought. And they had to close the roads for the twenty minutes the crowd is there. It will be interesting to see it from inside the theatre next week.
  • Saturday, Pride. The Big Gay Brunch was fun, but too early for even non-alcoholic drinks. The breakfast buns were excellent.
  • Related: Phil found a route around the parade so we could get across to Piccadilly, avoiding crowds. It’s quite impressive how quiet London can be, even two streets back from a million people.
  • Dinner at Meson Don Felipe. Excellent food. We felt a bit ignored by the staff.
  • Sunday, Country on the Common. It rained on the way in, the bar staff managed to ignore me, and I was not feeling the vibe. Left and took a train to look at the river. Headliner Noah Reid had withdrawn from the event. I notice no refund was offered.

Media

I Used To Blog

I used to blog when blogging was something that people who believed in the open web did. It was when I believed that having a place to write was good and that personal publishing was a democratising force.

I used to blog when blogging was something that people who believed in the open web did. It was when I believed that having a place to write was good and that personal publishing was a democratising force.

I used to blog when conversations happened, and ideas were shared across blogs, not as trolling comments or 140-character part-thoughts.

I used to blog when trolls lived under bridges before the mainstream thought of trolling as an activity you needed a keyboard to engage in.

Some of my early blogging is cringeworthy and lacks substance, but the point was to share an idea, thought, or experience with the world. Or with yourself. It was the status update before there was such a thing.

Very occasionally, I still write something here in a way that might be considered a blog. I wish I had the patience and time to write more. I admire the people who still do it.

Even less often, I look at other places in case any artefacts remain that should have migrated here many years ago. I rarely find anything.

Sometimes I visit my own website just to look at the Blast From The Past section. It’s a list of blog pieces I wrote on this day of the month in previous years. It’s a nostalgia trip: something like opening a teenage diary or journal and feeling vaguely embarrassed at the person you used to be. I didn’t keep an adolescent diary, so I’ll spare you that. This is the closest you’ll get.

Today, I arrived here and discovered 6 Blast From The Past entries: 5 of which all date from 2005. My Blast From The Past is really a rather narrow view. The blogging years were really 2003-2005. But 5 entries in a single day were unusual, and when I look closely, I find that these entries would be on Twitter today. Aside from a separate post about the G8 summit, they are all a countdown to the announcement that London had been awarded the 2012 Olympics.

Perhaps, tiny updates like this work better on Twitter. There, they are posted in real time and shared with others who may be witnessing the same thing. But Twitter makes it really hard to get a sense of my past. I wish they’d do a better job of surfacing my history. I love being reminded about things like I was today.

Interestingly, I don’t really need the Blast From The Past section to remember that day, but it is useful to remind me that it is today. The memory is very vivid. I wish I had blogged during the actual 2012 Olympics in as much detail. I wrote a couple of things. Not much.

Of course, I remember the next day too. For very different reasons.

A Few Moments Of Reflection

the olympics are coming to london!

Earlier: Wow

Now: Wow. Wow.

I am speechless and excited right now. I still think it would be fantastic for London, but it’s also brilliant for the rest of the UK. The bid team did a brilliant job. Seb Coe has made himself a hero for a second time. Roll on 2012.

But this is going to encourage a lot of whinging, I know it is. Yes, people are going to whinge, we’re British, and we love whinging. Yes, some people may not think this is a worthwhile thing. But I disagree. It’s a great thing.

Elsewhere: Anna celebrates too

and in pictures … elsewhere: Awarded to the city of …

Preliminary Vote

Hold Your Breath …

In all the excitement I had missed the fact there was a preliminary vote and we weren’t certain of making it this far:

There are a few gasps in the press room as Madrid exits the vote, as some Spaniards at the back had earlier given some noisy support during its bid presentation. We now have the London-Paris finale that the whispers in the past few hours had indicated [source].

Aggghh … the tension.

What Have You Done Today?

I have two countdowns on the go right now. Today is the day for one of those countdowns to reach 00:00:00. Rachel Stevens and Melanie C will be performing live in Trafalgar Square later today (see here) as we wait to find out the result of the race to host the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. Watch the London2012 videos and keep your fingers crossed for us. I’ll be updating later.

The G8 Summitt

I didn’t watch Live8 at the weekend. Unlike Live Aid, I didn’t get caught up in the moment.

Live8 Logo

I didn’t watch Live8 over the weekend. Unlike Live Aid, I didn’t get caught up in the moment. I am too cynical now, and while I believe it was set up for all the right reasons, it was hijacked. If every one of those performers had given up all the revenue from increased record sales in the next 6 months, then I would have been less cynical. If the ‘Multi-millionaire rock stars performing in Philadelphia’ gave back their free gifts worth $12,000 (£6,800) [Source], I would have been even less cynical. 

Alexis Petridis, in The Guardian, says, “even the most cynical observer would be forced to admit that, even judged on music alone, Live 8 has been a remarkable day”, but, unfortunately, I heard very little. Still, I have higher hopes for today’s G8 Summit. Really, I do.

The Day F1 Came To London

More pictures from the Formula One event in Regent Street, London

One thing is certain: the crowds arrived. There were thousands of people lining Lower Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street. People were on the roof, on the balcony, or hanging out of a window. People were climbing lamp posts and traffic lights. People perched on almost any structure that didn’t move and on top of many that were plainly unsafe. We waited until almost seven o’clock for the great roar of the F1 race cars to be heard. Mansell, Button, Montoya, Coulthard and Brundle – to name but a few. The noise, the smell: it was fantastic F1. To be honest, I eventually moved to the big screen on Piccadilly as they passed so quickly that you missed a great deal and I wasn’t at the front of a crowd. The atmosphere was pretty good-humoured – apart from some lunatics climbing on top of a newspaper seller’s wagon – and everybody seemed to enjoy it. After an hour, it was, more or less, finished, but the crowds seemed to hang around central London for a good while. Perhaps one day a race will really take place in London.

See also: Formula One Comes To Regent Street
BBC Sport: What price a London GP?
This is London:Eddie supports London Grand Prix

Formula One Comes To Regent Street

London-based fans of Formula 1 racing are in for a treat today as the Regent Street F1 parade takes to the streets at 6pm.

There is a real sense of excitement in the air around central London today. My office is at Piccadilly Circus, and today is the day that Formula 1 comes to town! F1 cars will be parading (as there really is no racing) around the area (basically Regent Street and Lower Regent Street) from 6pm tonight. As I went to buy my lunch, there were already people taking up their positions. The roads are being closed, the barriers are being put in place, and the inevitable advertising signs are going up. Jenson Button and David Coulthard are among the current F1 drivers taking part. Nigel Mansell is driving for Jordan, and I saw team boss Eddie Jordan being interviewed on Lower Regent Street while out walking. I just need to decide what time I am leaving to get a view.