Week commencing Monday, 26 January 2026
Quantified Self
- This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 7/7. (81%). Morning walks: 0/3. Office days 2/5. Total steps: 51,782. 14.5 hours in meetings.
Life
- Hello February! Where did you come from?
- Here’s a story about social media’s made-up lies about immigrants in London. This should be a bigger story because thousands will have seen the original fibs (original reporting by London Centric and ht to The London Minute for linking to it).
- Monday afternoon, I chat-botted with Bose support to see if there was anything that could be done about the terrible battery life in my very old noise-cancelling headphones. They gave me a sequence of things to try (plug, unplug, pair), and they came alive. So far, the results are very positive. They may be salvageable.
- Monday evening, to Canary Wharf to see the Winter Lights. It’s an event that’s been running in January for a few years and is very suitable for dark winter evenings. It can get very busy, so we thought trying a Monday night might be better. Still plenty of people, but no overcrowded areas like in some years.
- Ironically, a non-light art piece, “Whale on the Wharf”, was my favourite.
- A leaving do had been planned for this week with no firm day. Today, we agreed to meet tonight. So I found myself drinking Black Heart stout at the BrewDog in The Sidings below Waterloo Station.
- Related, Frickles tasted more of the batter than the pickle.
- Relatedly related, bowling was fun. So was the slide.
- Thursday, fun with AI that wouldn’t revert to the working version of the code, even after I explicitly gave it the last working version.
- Later, nice to be in the pub with colleagues: it’s why I go to the office.
- Friday, to Southwark Union Theatre to see Why Would We Care?, a new British musical premiering there, exploring themes of power, control, and the cost of a “perfect” society. Fun, but needs work.
- Saturday, Number One, London (Apsley House) is worth visiting. Lots of impressive ‘history stuff’! And pictures of Napoleon. And an overly large statue of Napoleon. It’s also very unshowy, in spite of the world-leading art collection, and you could be forgiven for missing it.
- I could have missed The Destination Travel Show as we really didn’t find South Korean inspiration.
- Sunday, an evening of musical performances at Love Life: West End Unites Against Cancer, a star-studded benefit concert coinciding with World Cancer Day.
- A lot of stars of recent big musicals were on the line-up: Nicole Scherzinger (Sunset Boulevard, Cats), Tom Francis (Sunset Boulevard, & Juliet), Diego Andrés Rodriguez, Bella Brown, and James Olivas (Evita), as well as West End favourites, including Carrie Hope Fletcher and Jordan Luke Gage. Very, very, good.
Media
- We watched more episodes of Blue Lights, but I am not sure either of us was fully engaged.
- Later in the week, the first episode of Heated Rivalry. I knew very little about it ahead of watching, except that it was recommended by Amanda, and the TV series has catapulted the story into the stratosphere.
- The book apparently perfected a specific trope: the grumpy vs sunshine—or, in this case, the arrogant chaos-agent vs the repressed golden boy—dynamic. This TV adaptation debuted with a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which seems remarkable. I need to watch more; they say episode three is where you get hooked.
- Also, two episodes of Alexander Armstrong In South Korea, where the presenter embarks on a three-part travelogue across South Korea, exploring the contrast between ancient traditions and futuristic K-pop culture. Some inspiration for our trip.
- Related, watching Alexander Armstrong watching YouTube “mukbang” star Heebab perform “broadcast eating” did not make me search it out.
- Hoorah. Game Changers Radio is back after the Christmas, and for them, summer, break.