Weeknotes #142: Signs of the times

Lively week of theatre, travel and nostalgia

Week commencing Monday, 6 October 2025

A steam locomotive pulling passenger carriages along a single track through lush green countryside, billowing white steam into the air. Passengers are disembarking and walking along a concrete platform beside the train, with trees in full summer foliage surrounding the rural station setting
The Isle of Wight Steam Railway at Wootton station, where locomotives still produce their own clouds.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 6/7. (76%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 54,220

Life

  • Monday’s pub quiz was the first we’ve done as a foursome for a while. This week seemed very hard, but with a bit of luck on the wipeout round, we came 3rd.
  • Sign of the times: the Reform Party are putting electioneering leaflets through the door. What bothers me most is that their description of London is not my lived experience.
  • Wednesday night at the Trafalgar Theatre to see Heartstopper’s Joe Locke in Clarkston. Locke confirms his stage chops; he’s good, even if the character is not a million miles from his Heartstopper role. But Ruaridh Mollica is a revelation as Chris — all brooding tension and coiled anxiety.
  • Thursday evening to the Isle of Wight. Managed to make the earlier FastCat, which makes all the difference. Why does my Wightlink app continually show an expired ticket pass rather than the active one? It makes the moment of ticket scanning a lottery.
  • It was the Ryde Beer Festival — although we ended up with cider at The Star on Friday. Sadly, it wasn’t very busy, and as the northerners in the middle had another drink, their conversation became louder than the musician.
  • Another sign of the times: MTV to axe its music TV channels in the UK. I’m surprised this didn’t happen a while ago. Does anybody watch music anywhere other than YouTube and, in my case, old BBC Four reruns of Top of the Pops (lots of 1990s-era episodes this week).

Media

  • Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast on the train. Radio 1’s Greg James was the guest, primarily promoting his new book. The overall message is about “not letting go of that inner child” and navigating “how to grow up without growing old.”
  • Still haven’t heard The Life of a Showgirl, although I did listen to some of the Scott Mills interview with her.