Day: 14 July 2024

Weeknotes #77: we were on a boat

Celebrating, enjoying nature, music, and exploring with great company.

Week commencing Monday, 8 July 2024

Raising a glass in celebration while on a boat on the Thames

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 5/7. (76%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 74,672

Life

  • I didn’t mention it last week, but on Sunday, we arrived at Friary Island in , where the family was staying to celebrate C’s 80th.
  • On Monday, we took a small boat onto the Thames, and the weather was mostly kind to us. Phil superbly navigated Romney Lock, Windsor, Boveney Lock, and Bray Lock while I enjoyed the view and, later, the bubbles.
  • Tuesday’s trip to Windsor was more inclement. But the Starbucks was really friendly, and the Windsor Farm Shop provided lunch.
  • The train home was on Wednesday morning. It was a bit of a walk from the accommodation to the station, but we made it in good time. The afternoon was spent clothes shopping.
  • Thursday was another day at the office, followed by an extended drinking session in Shepherd’s Bush. But thanks to Uber, I made it back.
  • On Friday, we went to see Stevie Nicks at Hyde Park. The whole site was wonderfully themed, the support from Brandi Carlile was excellent, and Stevie Nicks was brilliant. Harry Styles joined her at the end, which sent a gasp rippling through the audience.
  • To The Island on Saturday via Gunwharf Quays, where they did not have the shoes I wanted.
  • On Sunday, we went to the dinosaurs at Fossil Beach. It was a lovely walk, although we didn’t quite take the whole cliff-edge path to Freshwater. Later, the walk to Yarmouth was sunny; the café we found at the end of the walk will be revisited.

Media

  • Sunday, we watched the Euros final. Runners up in Europe is excellent. The nation seems disappointed.

Two Minutes Silence

At 12 noon, a bus stopped across the junction, and the driver switched off the engine. A silence descended upon London.

Just before 12 noon today, my colleagues and I walked onto the London street outside the Holborn office where we work. It was a bright, hot, sunny day in Central London. The kind of day that has you sweating within moments of being on the street. When we reached street level, we walked into a crowd of people who had come from the buildings all around. These were office workers whose desks are probably just metres from mine, but I don’t see them. I probably walk past them most days as I approach the door to the office, but I just don’t see them. Today, we stood crowded onto the street together.

At 12 noon, the bus turning the corner in front of us stopped, and the driver turned the engine off, right across the junction. The taxi at the traffic lights opposite didn’t move when the light turned green, and the cyclist near him didn’t try to jump the red light. Most of the pedestrians who were walking stopped.

A silence descended upon London. Not the silence usually associated with a city. A city’s silence is usually punctuated by horns and alarms, by mobile phones ringing or engines passing. No, this silence was eerily silent, but it was silent.

And we bowed our heads to remember.

It was a moment when this huge, diverse city that I call home was united in thought. It’s a moment I don’t think anybody who was there will forget.

About Jon

There’s always an About Me page. This is one version of mine.

Hello!

It's probably about time that I introduced myself. I am Jon, and this is the latest incarnation of my home page, which has existed in various guises since about 1993. I used to have a blog here, but I've moved much of that content elsewhere, and when it's all finished, I'll post a link here.

I was born on September 12th 1970 in a place just outside Wigan in Lancashire, and I lived there until moving to Shrewsbury, Shropshire a little before my fourteenth birthday. I went to Meole Brace School and on to Shrewsbury VI Form College. In my spare time, I answered the phones, played with tape and made coffee for BBC Radio Shropshire.

I studied in Scotland at Stirling University and, following graduation with a degree in Film and Media Studies, I moved south to London. I have lived in Earlsfield ever since.

I have spent time working in satellite audio distribution for the radio industry, online publishing for offline magazines, and for software companies that worked in the online space. Right now I work for an American software company that produces software for the online advertising industry.

Number One

I decided to look up what was the number one UK single on this day in 1982.

I got more than you
And you can set it free
I can catch the moon in my hand
Don’t you know who I am
Remember my name

Well, for no reason at all, I decided to look up what the number one UK single was on this day in 1982 (I don’t even know why I chose that year). Well, it’s a bit of a minefield as it somewhat depends on which chart you count as being the “official” chart. Still, it would appear that it was Irene Cara and the theme from Fame, which is, of course, one of the greatest records from my childhood.