Week commencing Monday, 29 September 2025
Quantified Self
- This week: Stand 4/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 6/7. (66%). Office days 2/5. Total steps: 52,319
Life
- Sad news. Patricia Routledge dies aged 96. Forever etched in my mind as Kitty: A shifty-looking youth in plimsolls came and waggled my aerial and wolfed my Gypsy Creams, but that’s the comprehensive system for you.
- Straight from the office on Wednesday to our anniversary dinner — a gorgeous little restaurant in Soho. Our table was on the ground floor; it’s intimate and a bit stylish. PY went to look at the outdoor terrace, which he said was great. The meal was mainly shared plates, which got a bit complex on the small table. We started with English sparkling to toast the years.
- Related, the service was exemplary: attentive and efficient.
- In the office twice this week. Much excitement about the big party on Thursday night, which I skipped in favour of a train and ferry to the Isle of Wight. The next morning, there was no gossip, but also a very quiet group of colleagues.
- So, ID cards are back on the table. I expected more discussion this week. Maybe I missed it, but I did read about how they will work. And I wrote a thing.
- Related, the gov.uk wallet is new to me — an interesting concept.
- A Canadian TV network has admitted its TV business may not survive another five years. Ouch.
- On Saturday, we discovered that bacon cooked in the air fryer makes much less smoke and is still delicious. We repeated the process on Sunday morning before the boat returned.
- If the Christmas countdown began last week, the Christmas World visit this weekend was good. The lack of festive music made it feel off, but I don’t blame them for not using those playlists just yet.
- Engineering works meant the train journey home went the long way round. We stopped off in Woking to see Christine and David on the way.
Media
- Contestants on this week’s Only Connect had never heard of The Golden Girls sitcom. Ouch again.
- Only Murders in the Building continues to be enjoyable, but I am wondering how long they can keep the interest with the theme. The robot concierge amused me.
- We started watching more Slow Horses, but we are a season behind. Season 4 is, thankfully, still great.
- Taylor (at this point, do we need to say Swift?) released her twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl, and managed to appear on most of the major breakfast music shows on radio. Although not with Scott on Radio 2 — he’s on holiday, so she’ll have to wait for that interview to be played next week. I wonder how the PR negotiations went on that one? I haven’t heard the album yet.