Weeknotes #116: quiz, beers and dumplings

Enjoyed sunshine, pub quiz, colleagues’ drinks, and homemade dumplings.

Week commencing Monday, 7 April 2025

This image shows the modern skyline of White City in London. The view captures several contemporary high-rise and mid-rise buildings under a bright blue sky with scattered white clouds. A construction crane is visible on the left side, indicating ongoing development in the area. The skyline features a mix of architectural styles, including a prominent glass skyscraper in the centre, cylindrical structures, and angular office buildings with glass facades.
The modern skyline of White City in London

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 4/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 3/7. (48%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 36,322

Life

  • When I asked my doctor if I should try to use my private medical, she didn’t hesitate to recommend it. I found out the process, but didn’t jump to use it.
  • Pub quiz week: Joint 7th sounds poor but is, in fact, excellent—like winning. Our musical round was a let-down, and I missed the obvious Boney M song in the mix.
  • The Technical Design Authority review meeting missed a crucial piece of data, resulting in many extra meetings and work this week (and probably next).
  • The weather has been decent this week. On Thursday, we were able to eat lunch while sitting on the balcony, looking at the high-rise buildings being constructed around White City.
  • Drinks with commercial colleagues at the Exmouth Arms near Euston on Thursday evening. It’s a little hidden away and turned out not to be as rammed as some pubs we had walked past. We secured some seats inside and, later, a booth. A very impressive list of beers is available, so I am not sure why I went for the Madri: I guess it is a known quantity.
  • On Saturday, we attempted to make Chinese dumplings: it was much harder than it seemed, although the handmade ones were better than those made with a plastic crimping tool.

Media

  • Friday, I was a bit tired and had an evening to myself. I’ve been rewatching episodes of The Blacklist. I am now at the point, towards the end of series 2, where I stopped watching when it was initially on Sky. All the episodes will be new to me from now on, but I am glad I rewatched them as I’d forgotten the backstory. I thought I’d settle in and watch a couple of episodes before I made dinner. Instead, I binged on eight episodes back-to-back, something I doubt I would ever have been able to do before streaming.