Month: May 2025

Weeknotes #122: scans, scissors, and second place

Tests, travel, music and cheese

Week commencing Monday, 19 May 2025

This vibrant concert photograph captures the Scissor Sisters performing at The O2 in London on 23rd May, featuring a spectacular stage design dominated by an enormous illuminated scissor prop that towers above the performers. The stage is bathed in dramatic red lighting with atmospheric smoke effects, creating a theatrical backdrop of concert lighting rigs and towering equipment. Band members are positioned across the stage beneath the glowing scissor sculpture, which serves as the centrepiece of their elaborate production design, perfectly embodying the band's signature blend of glam rock theatricality and pop spectacle.
Cut Above the Rest: Scissor Sisters Slice Through London

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 7/7. (86%). Morning walks: 1/5 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 0/5. Total steps: 56,823

Life

  • On Monday, I underwent a CT scan related to my cough. It was over quite quickly. I’m not sure how I felt about it. I think I was expecting it to feel like more of a moment, but instead it was just something that happened, and then it didn’t.
  • Relatedly, on Thursday, I had a lung function test. I had no idea I could breathe out for so long. It was their first appointment of the day, and the clinic was locked when I arrived. Eventually, I was let in, and it was all over quickly—if a fifteen-minute wait for a test dose of medication counts as fast. There’s something faintly ridiculous about being coached through deep breathing at 8:30 in the morning.
  • Monday evening was another of our monthly visits to the pub quiz. Ben joined us, so it was a team of five. Inexplicably, we came second, which means there’s a round of drinks next time we go!
  • Mum and Dad arrived on Thursday and visited the Chelsea Flower Show on Friday. I thought they’d be more impressed with the dig garden than they were. So, we took them to a garden centre on Sunday.
  • On Saturday, we took a bus to Wimbledon Village, tried empanadas at the shop on the high street, went for a walk to Wimbledon Common, stopped for a drink at Canizaro House, and bussed home.
  • The cheese came out again, and we had leftover Eurovision cheese fondue and raclette. It was delicious. We’re now in that post-Eurovision phase where leftover cheese becomes its own food group.
  • Friday night was Scissor Sisters at the O2 with PY and Mark. Before the show, the drinks in the O2 Blue Bar were nice, and we had excellent seats. Scissor Sisters were fantastic. I wish I had just a small portion of Jake Shears’s energy.
  • And, just before they are to be taken back into national ownership, SWR announced superfast onboard WiFi—but only as far as Basingstoke (which won’t help my south coast commutes)!
  • The New European: “Inexplicably, energy cooperation – which is essential to the UK’s future economic growth – has attracted barely a tenth of the column inches as has fishing, an industry which employs fewer full-time fishers than there are tattooists in the UK. But any long-term EU deal needed to explore these questions.”

Weeknotes #121: it’s eurovision time

Eurovision fun, successful chilli, sensor woes, and work thoughts.

Week commencing Monday, 12 May 2025

This image shows a festive Eurovision party buffet spread across a dining table covered with red and blue checkered tablecloths. The table is laden with various foods including cheese and charcuterie boards, salads, dips, bread, and Swiss-themed items (with small Swiss flags visible). There are also cupcakes on a tiered stand, wrapped presents, purple decorative elements, and party accessories scattered throughout. The abundant spread suggests a well-prepared celebration with both savoury and sweet options for guests.
Eurovision buffet

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 6/7 and Move 7/7. (95%). Morning walks: 4/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 64,365

Life

  • I pay for one of those insurance policies that sends somebody to fix plumbing or electrical issues. I’d booked someone to fix the sensor that turns on the bathroom light. It needed replacing. But now it turns off too quickly, and I don’t think I’m covered for another call-out.
  • Related: it’s not a setting on the sensor.
  • I went to see a consultant about my cough. More tests are booked. It’s getting (slightly) worse. It was a lovely walk up to the hospital.
  • Tuesday and Thursday evenings were Eurovision semi-finals. They were a lot more fun than I remembered and gave me a chance to see the songs before Saturday.
  • Saturday was the Eurovision party. The weather was nice, so people could sit outside if they weren’t that keen on watching. We rigged up multiple speakers.
  • Related: we retrieved the lockdown projector and projected the image onto the kitchen units for those at the end of the room.
  • My slow-cooker bean chilli with vegan cheese was a huge success and very easy to prep in advance.
  • We didn’t get the cocktails in a can out early enough, so most people didn’t know we had them.
  • The winner was Austria with the song Wasted Love, performed by JJ. The Austrian in the room was very happy.
  • Work-related: How can traditional British TV survive the US streaming giants?, and Microsoft is – again – killing an advertising product. I know what it’s like; if I can help anybody affected, contact me.

Media

  • The sixth episode of Doctor Who was watched on catch-up on Sunday. The Interstellar Song Contest featured the Doctor and Belinda attending a futuristic Eurovision-style song contest and a plot to kill trillions of people. Cameos by Rylan Clark and Graham Norton were quite good.

Weeknotes #120: Sunshine on The Island and a new Pope

Sunny long weekend with good food, travel, and relaxation.

Week commencing Monday, 5 May 2025

This image shows a coastal scene at Ryde on the Isle of Wight, featuring a sandy beach with calm blue waters under a partly cloudy sky. Two colourful kites - one teal and one with red, white and blue stripes - are flying above the water, suggesting kitesurfing activity. Several small sailing boats can be seen dotting the horizon, whilst the foreground shows the sandy shoreline. The scene captures a typical day of water sports and leisure activities along this popular stretch of the Solent.
Kites on the beach at Ryde

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 2/7 and Move 4/7. (52%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 38,784

Life

  • A quiet week. White smoke was rising.
  • A lazy bank holiday. We walked into Wimbledon, picked up steaks, and not much else.
  • My local Co-op still has empty shelves after the cyberattack. It’s odd.
  • I skipped our Cinco de Mayo social and spent the evening on a train to Portsmouth Harbour. Glad it ran to time.
  • The ferry to the Island was busy, but fine.
  • We spent most of Saturday in the sunshine with drinks, watching the kite surfers. A proper sunny day.
  • Sunday breakfast at RT Café Grill was delicious. We sat outside and soaked up the weather.

Media

  • Conclave is a Vatican thriller directed by Edward Berger. Ralph Fiennes plays Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, overseeing a secretive 72-hour papal election. Timely, and very enjoyable.
  • The best transport for cities: trams?
  • Doctor Who: The Story and the Engine mixed African folklore with classic Who mythology. I really liked this one.
  • Still loving Race Across the World, this time from Sanya to Shangri-La. As always, beautifully shot.

Weeknotes #119: Draw Me Like One of Your French Musicals

Volunteering celebration, good company, and fun-filled musical weekend.

Week commencing Monday, 28 April 2025

Promotional sign for the musical Titanique at the Criterion Theatre in London's West End. The show, which combines the story of Titanic with Céline Dion's music, is currently running at the Criterion Theatre. The blue sparkly background displays "Enough hits to sink a ship!" in elegant script above "MY HEART WILL GO ON" in bold white lettering, advertising the comedic jukebox musical parody.
Near, Far, Wherever You Are… You Can Hear Céline

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 3/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 4/7. (52%). Morning walks: 0/4. Office days 1/5. Total steps: 45,714

Life

  • It’s been almost two years since the King’s Coronation. PY and I spent part of the day volunteering as wayfinders for visitors on the South Bank. In January, we were delighted to learn that volunteers had been awarded a Coronation Medal—a longstanding tradition dating back to King Edward VI in 1547. We collected ours on Tuesday.
  • We had a ‘happy path’ discussion at work, aiming to understand the ideal workflow without failures and to facilitate early testing. It’s a concept that always amuses me, and thirty minutes was too short a time to reach a solution.
  • Drinks on Thursday night, where I was (almost) persuaded to apply for an old job, but I think that was just the combination of drinks and good friends.
  • Saturday, to Woking, for a family barbecue, where there was too much fantastic food. Nice to see everybody. Way too stuffed to eat in the evening, but we could catch up on Doctor Who.
  • Sunday, to see Titanique, a jukebox musical blending the story of the Titanic with the music of Céline Dion. It’s a comedic take on the film; Céline Dion is portrayed as having survived the sinking of the Titanic. Enjoyable and much funnier than I expected.

Media

  • In End of the Street Linda Melvern tells how Rupert Murdoch moved his newspapers from Fleet Street to a new, technologically advanced plant in Wapping, bypassing traditional union agreements, triggering a major industrial dispute marked by mass picketing and violent clashes. Ultimately, the move broke the power of the print unions and transformed the British newspaper industry. It’s a story of making a big business change and its brutal consequences.
  • Lucky Day is the fourth episode of the current Dr Who series in which The Doctor and Ruby fight an anti-UNIT conspiracy theory and a campaign of disinformation against them. Set in the current year, bits of it felt too real. The Little Mermaid’s Prince Eric was the villain.