Week commencing Monday, 19 October 2026
Quantified Self
- This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 1/7 and Move 3/7. (43%). Morning walks: 0/4. Office days: 1/5. Total steps: 35,847. 19.4 hours in meetings.
Life
- Every time I visit Mum, I end up leaving with either a cake or a pie or, in this case, a cake and an apple crumble that needs cooking, so I won’t starve.
- Early in the week, it rained. A lot. I need to fix the gutter on the extension roof, but I don’t think it’ll cause too many problems before I do. Famous last words?
- Is David Lloyd the only person fighting for BBC Local Radio? It’s one of the very few unique services the BBC offers. And I don’t think it cares one bit. More of this, I say.
- Related, it’s kind of bad news for Fleabag fans on BBC Three: the BBC’s latest solution to its problem with younger audiences is to reverse its previous solution, which reversed the solution before that. I’m sure it’ll work this time.
- But great news if you are a Bangka slow loris (no, of course you haven’t heard of it): this tiny venomous primate, last documented in the 1930s, has been rediscovered in Indonesia.
- Friday, I walked up to the fish and chip shop to pick up dinner. The Shire Fryer was buzzing, with lots of people coming and going and plenty of food-delivery collections. Friday night at The Column chippy seems like the place to be.
- Saturday, I found an old portable UHF television that Jez used at some point. Of course, there are no analogue TV signals left today, but it powered up and went through its tuning sequence, only to find nothing. It was recycled. I wrote about it.
- Sunday, I learned that some software doesn’t like you photographing banknotes and sending them in emails.
- Unrelated, I also learned CoolerTron Droid H-20 is a giant Transformer-style robot sculpture created by Shropshire artist Luke Kite from an idea by Bruce Orme of Wenlock Water Coolers, built out of repurposed water cooler components, including plastic cases, lids, drip trays and cup dispensers. I saw it carrying seasonal pumpkins.
- Afterwards, at Attingham Park, the Mile Walk, which we were never going to do, was closed due to Storm Boelo, which didn’t bother us too much.
- Related, the National Trust sausage rolls were good.
Media
- Finally, on to series five of Slow Horses, which opened with a mass shooting. Jackson Lamb remains wonderfully unpleasant, and Slough House has lost none of its ability to be interestingly decrepit. And of course, the cliffhanger made me want to watch more.
- Friday night, what would happen if The Beatles had never existed? Yesterday imagines a world without The Beatles. It was an excuse to hear a lot of good songs, though the film relies on the idea that they’re guaranteed hits no matter who sings them. I’d seen it before, but forgotten the ending.
- On Saturday night, Miss Potter taught me that Beatrix Potter bought up enormous stretches of the Lake District and left them to the National Trust. I’d always associated her with small animals in waistcoats rather than large-scale land conservation.
- Weekend watching also included Marble Hall Murders; new to me, but apparently the third in a trilogy following Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders, which I have heard of but haven’t really followed. It would be fun to talk to a fictional detective as I went about my regular day.