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.