Tag: weeknotes

Weeknotes #151: festive, with food and song

Seasonal pleasures, good food, small frustrations, and festive moments gently accumulating.

Week commencing Monday, 8 December 2025

Fine dining dish called The Midnight Duel featuring pigs in blankets, roasted artichoke, black garlic and carmelised mushroom
The Midnight Duel from Six By Nico’s Nutcracker menu

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 5/7. (66%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 48,189

Life

  • I listed some electrical items on eBay. They’re first-generation Lightwave smart sockets: far more than I actually need. eBay rejected my first attempt, and I still can’t work out why. Possibly it was because I included a link to the online manual on Lightwave’s own site, which also sells switches and sockets.
  • I am having issues with Royal Mail deliveries. Every time I call, I get the ‘high volume of calls’ message and then they automatically hang up. It’s very frustrating. No wonder people are buying from Amazon: when a recent delivery went wrong, they resolved it within ten minutes of my contact.
  • However, the items eventually arrived, although not until the seller had shipped another, which I then had to ‘refuse’ from the postman.
  • I put coloured lights around the front window at Christmas. For once, I was organised and did it before the Christmas tree was delivered, and it was so much easier.
  • Wednesday, while searching for something on YouTube, I kept being served the same advert for an alcohol brand. When I tried to block it, I noticed my settings were set to block personalised ads, which I think should exclude age-restricted advertising. I complained to Google and YouTube and, somewhat surprisingly, by the end of the day they upheld the complaint.
  • The tree arrived, was put into its stand, and instantly made the room feel different. It wasn’t decorated by the weekend, but every so often the smell of pine drifts through the house. So, that’s festive.
  • I wrote about Piccadilly Radio a few weeks ago. I’ve written about Timmy Mallet before. This week, listening to some archive audio, was the first time I’d heard him referred to as ‘Tim’ on air.
  • Related, the story of finding that audio is lovely.
  • Drinks and dinner in Carnaby Street on Thursday. The Christmas lights are up, and they’re excellent this year: giant crackers strung overhead. Plenty of people were stopping to take photos, and it felt properly Christmassy.
  • Friday, Six by Nico’s festive menu. I enjoyed all the courses. The opening Christmas tart, served in a little gift box, featured baked Gruyère with a smoked Parmesan jam, and it was excellent. The carrot tartare was the most interesting dish of the evening. The Midnight Duel, which was pigs in blankets, was the most overtly Christmassy. The Frozen Lake, a sea bass dish, was served with a theatrical misty effect. Slightly showy, but also very good.
  • The next day, another good meal at Sebastian’s Italian in Richmond. I was introduced to a basil smash gin and tonic, which I liked immediately.
  • Shame the cold/flu that’s going around led to the cancellation of the annual Stoke Newington party. We’re aiming for January.
  • Sunday evening, we went out to The Crazy Coqs for the annual Christmas selection. Mark had put together an excellent set of Christmas songs from musicals, and it immediately put us in a festive mood.

Media

  • The final of Race Across the World: I still can’t quite work out whether the sprint to the finish was a bit contrived, given that the teams weren’t allowed to travel overnight beforehand. Even so, we thoroughly enjoyed the series.
  • We also finished Down Cemetery Road. It’s been very good overall, but the final episode left quite a few things feeling unresolved. I don’t think they were deliberate loose ends for another series; it just felt incomplete.

Weeknotes #150: advent, parties and failed electronics

A festive, food-filled week with minor mishaps and gentle seasonal momentum.

Week commencing Monday, 1 December 2025

Christmas wreath decorated with red and gold baubles, pine cones, berries, and evergreen branches, illuminated by warm lights
Our party wreath brings proper Christmas cheer indoors.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 4/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 3/7. (48%). Morning walks: 0/3 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 2/5. Total steps: 41,628.

Life

  • Advent is here. Our calendar contains coffee pods in a caffeine countdown to Christmas.
  • The work Christmas party was lovely, but the wine kept flowing on our table, and I lost track, so I was well lubricated. The next day was very quiet.
  • As a result, the office also felt quieter than usual on Thursday, probably because most people had been in on Tuesday for the party.
  • Thursday’s dinner was with J&J at Rosa’s Thai. My Thai calamari starter was smaller than I had hoped. I had the Pad Kra Prow Gai for my main. It carries a three-chilli rating, but the waitress assured me it was not too hot. She may have been right, although by the end I needed to cool down. It was delicious all the same.
  • When I sat down at my desk on Friday morning, I discovered that my wireless mouse had stopped working. To get onto the morning calls, I had to dig out a wired one from the cupboard behind me so that I could click the ‘join meeting’ button. No idea why, but it’s a dead mouse now.
  • When I had a mouse, I wrote a thing inspired by last week’s trip to the Piccadilly Radio exhibition in Manchester.
  • Saturday afternoon was a very productive clear-out of cupboards because on Sunday I’d reserved a Zipcar to take things to the recycling centre. We have a lot of dead electronics, and the mouse was added to the pile.
  • We had planned to buy a Christmas tree from the pub on the corner on our way back from dropping the car off. When we looked, the trees were as expensive as the ones we usually buy, which are delivered and placed in their containers for us. PY bought us breakfast at the Raynes Park Tavern while we considered our options, and in the end, we decided to stick with a delivery. It arrives on Wednesday, which gives us a little more time to clear a space.

Media

  • I’ve seen the London play, but not the previous series, and I am joining PY in watching Stranger Things. I’m not sure it matters that I have no real backstory knowledge.
  • I’m still enjoying Down Cemetery Road, but we’ve caught up and are now at the mercy of Apple’s weekly drops.
  • Sunday evening with Russell T Davies, Russell Tovey and Jemma Redgrave in a series. What more could you want? The first two episodes of The War Between the Land and the Sea dropped. Really well done.

Weeknotes #149: 261 metres medium wave

A varied, nostalgic week of theatre, travel, culture, and small amusements.

Week commencing Monday, 24 November 2025

Clear cassette tape labeled 'Piccadilly Radio Presentation' showing analogue tape reels and counter markings, displayed at exhibition with yellow background
Piccadilly Radio nostalgia preserved at Manchester Central Library.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 6/7. (%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 60,736

Life

  • Monday, Murder She Didn’t Write (Duchess Theatre) was a one-night-only, improvised comedy murder mystery, structured like an Agatha Christie whodunnit, where almost every element of the plot is created live in the moment. A Whose Line Is It Anyway? for cosy-murder fanatics: genuinely hilarious.
  • Disconnected ideas: my bank is so concerned about fraud that it flagged a payment from my account to another of my accounts as fraudulent. It then answered with the name of a bank I don’t technically bank with when I tried to call. But at least the team knew I was on hold for 25 minutes.
  • Related: everybody tells me the last person who tried to ‘fix’ my guttering was a cowboy. They then turn out to exhibit similar behaviours. Ah.
  • Wednesday, to see Starlight Express in its new Wembley home (again). What I said last time stands. The cast still makes a concerted effort to get the audience to cheer for the trains and clap along, and tonight, just as on the last visit, they succeeded only with a minuscule portion of the crowd. Why they cannot induce more vocal support for the engines is beyond me. But I still loved it.
  • I avoided a work social because, by the end of the day, I was exhausted.
  • Forty minutes on hold with HMRC, and I didn’t get the answers I was looking for. At least they’re going to send me a letter.
  • Saturday, to Manchester mainly to see the Piccadilly Radio exhibition at Central Library. It’s only a small display set across three listening posts in the library’s main entrance. Fascinating to hear and see all about Piccadilly from an audio collection now curated by the library. It took me back to my childhood.
  • Afterwards, we walked to another library, the John Rylands Library. It’s a beautiful building, one of the finest neo-Gothic examples in Europe, and inside it felt closer to Dracula’s castle than a building of learning.
  • Lunch in Manchester was at Sexy Fish. It had a great vibe and fantastically friendly service.
  • Sunday, to the Ideal Home Christmas Show. We ended up with an LED Christmas tree light, and there were plenty of present options: perfume, solar panels, hot tubs, toys, cake mixes, and electronic chopping devices. These shows are always fun, and we did come away with a few bits, but they’re also full of things we would never want.

Media

  • I continue to enjoy Celebrity Race Across the World.
  • More episodes of Down Cemetery Road. I’m finding it intriguing and tightly put together. I can see the quirky echoes of Slow Horses, although it’s very much its own thing. Emma Thompson is excellent.

Weeknotes #148: crooners, donors, and dystopian disco

Enjoyable week of music, theatre, volunteering pride, and small seasonal pleasures.

Week commencing Monday, 17 November 2025

Two performers in futuristic cyberpunk costumes at a dystopian bar set. One performer stands on an elevated platform wearing fishnet stockings, metallic blue accessories, and knee pads, whilst the other sits on the illuminated bar counter in similar edgy attire with protective gear. Behind them is a dark bar backdrop with neon yellow signage advertising signature cocktails, shelves displaying quirky figurines and glassware. The aesthetic combines industrial grunge with neon lighting in green and yellow tones.
Dystopian bar vibes: where fashion meets the future’s downfall.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 5/7 and Move 6/7. (81%). Morning walks: 0/3 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 2/5. Total steps: 60,828

Life

  • I used to volunteer for The West Shropshire Talking Newspaper. This week, I learned it’s been been awarded The King’s Award for Voluntary Service: the highest award a local voluntary group can receive and equivalent to an MBE. Well done all.
  • I baked blueberry muffins on Monday, and they turned out edible. Well done me.
  • I’ve been hunting for Christmas crooners music on vinyl this week. On Monday, I secured some Johnny Mathis albums from eBay, failed to get anything on Saturday as the shop had closed last year, and was more successful on Berwick Street on Sunday.
  • Our first Sunday record-shop stop was Reckless Records. While I did not manage to find any Christmas music there, I did pick up the coveted 7″ version of one of my childhood favourites: Boney M’s Ma Baker. Don’t judge me.
  • After I pulled out of giving blood earlier in the year because I was ill, and then they cancelled an appointment, I finally gave blood for the seventh time. This appointment went smoothly, though we both had to complete additional screening due to our trip to Argentina.
  • Drinks on Thursday started in a busy pub where we were sat in the draught from the door, and ended in a quiet, cosy pub with heat. And a bus ride to Waterloo gave me plenty of train options.
  • On Friday, we headed down to Tottenham Court Road to catch Oscar at the Crown. The venue is hidden — a purpose-built space in a basement beneath the shops.
  • The show is set in a dystopian future under a fascist regime, with the action taking place in a secret bunker. Amid sequins and storytelling, the people hiding there recount the rise and fall of Oscar Wilde, all set to an original electropop score.
  • Related, when we first arrived, the place was worryingly deserted. I was concerned there would only be a handful of us. Thankfully, just enough people turned up to allow us to move around with the action and still get a decent view of what was happening.
  • On Saturday, Halfway to Heaven was operating a one-in, one-out policy. We went to the festive bar-tent across the road: a touch soulless. It became slightly uncomfortable when a large group of underage lads arrived, sat down at a table, and attempted to get themselves served at the bar. A couple of them were successful, but the others were left with nothing to do. We all had a passing thought that they might cause trouble, but they became bored and left.
  • Later, the French onion soup was delicious.

Media

  • Watched the first episode of Down Cemetery Road on Apple TV. Emma Thompson stars in a thriller by the writer of Slow Horses, so I have high expectations.
  • The way they film the landscapes in Celebrity Race Across the World is one of the best things on TV.

Weeknotes #147: Christmas lights and chain-bridge sprints

Busy week of travel, festivities and small triumphs despite winter weather.

Week commencing Monday, 10 November 2025

A purple-rimmed mug of mulled wine with two cinnamon sticks and an orange slice, photographed from above on a wooden table with colourful reflections
First mulled wine of 2025 at The Star, Ryde.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 4/7. (62%). Morning walks: 0/3 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 2/5. Total steps: 62,071

Life

  • Monday was pub quiz. If you recall, ninth is the place we aim for because the prize is good. We were joint ninth this week and lost at the tie-break (answer: I Will Survive).
  • Trains and tubes home from the office were overcrowded on Wednesday and Thursday. Despite interesting days in the office, the unpleasant commute makes me want to stay home.
  • But the train to The Island was not too busy, we made the connection and had a lovely Chinese takeaway.
  • Friday was rainy, but we avoided storm Claudia, which didn’t make it quite this far south.
  • Saturday was clearer for the Christmas lights switch-on in Newport, followed by my first mulled wine of the year back in Ryde.
  • And on Sunday, after a walk and Mexican breakfast in Cowes, I broke my rule about not running for a bus when we had just three minutes to make it from the Chain Bridge to the bus stop. We made it.
  • Another BBC Director General has gone. Nice piece from David Lloyd, “His job is too much for just about any human being, because the BBC itself is now unmanageable”.
  • Related, “The BBC belongs to all of us, and it is under attack as never before”.
  • Is road pricing coming? I’m intrigued by this discussion about the window of opportunity to make a change.

Media

  • We watched the Only Murders in the Building series five finale. Although it’s all a bit contrived by the end, I think the series may have redeemed itself in my eyes.
  • OK, I got hooked into the last-but-one series of Slow Horses. Although I think a few things weren’t wrapped up by the end, it didn’t spoil it. I was hooked. Should I buy the books?
  • And I am back into the groove with the Game Changers podcast thanks to a long train journey on Sunday evening.

Weeknotes #146: Luka, universe and ants provide a musical soundtrack

Energetic week of great gigs, sharp humour, and cultural reflections

Week commencing Monday, 3 November 2025

A concert photograph showing a large crowd watching a performance at the Hammersmith Apollo. The stage is bathed in dramatic red and orange lighting with beams cutting through atmospheric haze. Multiple spotlights create geometric patterns across the venue. The band's name "ADAM ANT" is visible on illuminated panels on stage, with silhouettes of performers and their equipment visible through the colourful lighting. Audience members in the foreground are holding up phones to capture the moment.
Adam Ant commands the Hammersmith Apollo stage.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 2/7 and Move 6/7. (57%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 38,773

Life

  • The average age of the performers at the excellent gigs I went to this week was 68.
  • Monday, to the Royal Albert Hall to see the last date in Suzanne Vega’s tour promoting the album Flying with Angels. It was a fantastic gig with a very appreciative audience.
  • Related, I looked it up and was surprised to discover that Luka only peaked at number twenty-three on the UK charts. It’s so ingrained in my memory that I assumed it charted higher. I wonder if twenty-three would be considered a hit these days?
  • Friday, Toyah was the support act and was brilliant. I loved the autobiographical stories between songs. Also, she opened with my favourite: Good Morning Universe.
  • She was supporting Adam Ant in Hammersmith. I can see where Johnny Depp stole the look. All the hits, ending with Stand & Deliver.
  • October: a month of live theatre, reviewed.
  • An email from John Lewis, with the subject line, “Watch our new Christmas ad before anyone else.” It links to a web page saying I need to watch it in their app on my phone. So I went to YouTube and there it was on John Lewis’s own channel for everyone to see. The ad’s OK. Great song. But the drive-me-to-the-app nonsense is marketing madness.
  • Inspires belief in the confidentiality of it all: “To complete your confidential ten-minute survey, please enter your work email address below.”
  • I feel the boat may have left the port: “Sky, BBC and ITN call on Starmer to ‘stamp out’ Big Tech’s ‘anticompetitive behaviour’.”
  • Ssshh! I feel the cat may be out of the bag: Apple’s new Siri will secretly use Google Gemini models behind the scenes. No secret — everybody’s reporting it.

Media

  • Tuesday marked twenty-two years since Channel 4’s Brookside bowed out. Hollyoaks became their main soap. I discovered that, as part of Hollyoaks’ 30th celebrations, Brookside Close was revisited in a couple of episodes. I watched the first crossover episode. I had no idea about the storyline, but it was good to see Sheila, Bobby, Barry, Billy, Sinbad and Tinhead all back on screen — and that little bit of the theme tune. Nicely nostalgic.
  • I came late to this series of Bake Off, but I enjoyed the final and am reminded that nice people make interesting telly.
  • They were nice, even though they were Celebrity Traitors. We’d caught up in time to watch the final on the day of transmission. Superb.

Weeknotes #145: Not Based on Fleetwood Mac. Honest.

Autumn warmth, theatre nights, city lights, and thoughtful cultural reflections.

Week commencing Monday, 27 October 2025

A carved Halloween pumpkin with triangular eyes and a jagged, toothy grin, illuminated from within by a warm glow, sitting on a dark surface against a white brick wall.
Halloween Toothy Terror

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 3/7; Exercise 1/7 and Move 3/7. (33%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 23,036

Life

  • I can tell the clocks have gone back. It feels like autumn. It’s maybe my favourite time of year.
  • Also, pumpkin-carving time.
  • Monday, to see Stereophonic, a West End transfer of a Broadway drama that takes a fly-on-the-wall look at a fictional 1970s rock band struggling to record an album. It’s not based on Fleetwood Mac. Honest.
  • I imagine the playwright felt the best way to convey the endless grind of studio recording was to make the audience feel it too — it was long. But not based on Fleetwood Mac. Honest.
  • Sad news. Prunella Scales died this week. Loved for Fawlty Towers, but I really warmed to her in the canal journeys she did with her husband, Timothy West — beautiful, slow television that’s becoming rarer by the week.
  • The new breed of city-haters don’t want us to know that homicide rates in London are lower than all major US cities, and at a ten-year low.
  • I was in town on Thursday night. All was lovely. The Regent Street Christmas lights might have been under test. Carnaby Street lights are up, but not on.
  • Also in the news, the council that might have fined a woman £150 for pouring coffee down the drain — and later said they weren’t going to do it — said people should talk to the council, after all, they are “human beings and … don’t bite”.
  • In an article declaring that ‘world-class’ architects have been chosen for Oxford Street’s pedestrianisation, I also learned of plans to pedestrianise more of Soho, with Stephen Fry quoted as saying, “London is at its best when it gives space to people.” Which I can agree with.

Media

  • We spent midweek finally catching up with everyone else watching The Celebrity Traitors. It’s very well done.
  • More about advertising: “the industry that taught the world about purpose has misplaced its own.” Are agencies just talking spreadsheets now?

Weeknotes #144: the cloud ate my speaker

Tech frustrations, good theatre, tidy cupboards, and excellent Sunday pastries.

Week commencing Monday, 20 October 2025

A tall tree displaying brilliant red and orange autumn foliage against a dramatic, cloudy grey sky. In the bottom left, a section of a brick building with white windows is visible.
Autumn is putting on a dramatic show in Raynes Park.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move /37. (62%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 40,851

Life

  • Frustratingly, I learned that my perfectly functional SoundTouch speaker is about to become an electronic brick. They can no longer “support the cloud infrastructure that powers this older generation of products”. This is not how Tomorrow’s World said the future would unfold. Also, very annoying.
  • Relatedly, unrelated: the Amazon Web Services outage shows infrastructure is at the mercy of American Big Tech. It’s bad for us all.
  • I really want to know if, when launching their newest thing, OpenAI wanted “Vibe Lifing” to become a thing. I suspect yes.
  • Oh, it’s not just agencies, Steve: “Have you ever looked up during an internal review and wondered ‘who the ✱✱ are all of these people?’”. Yup.
  • I think we might have had “one for the road” more than once on Thursday night. But Friday was actually a really interesting day at work, and I didn’t notice I was tired.
  • But then The Producers at The Garrick managed to keep me wide awake: I’d give it all the stars. I thought it was wonderful that it still works as satire. Who’s doing that kind of comedy today?
  • The Raynes Park branch of Lockdown Bakehouse had a steady stream of customers on Sunday morning. Great to see a new business in the area.
  • Later that day, quite a bit of “cupboard sorting”. Maybe I’ll start a TikTok; it seems like something that could make me a cleanfluencer.

Media

  • We are coming to the end of this season of Only Murders in the Building and, while I am still enjoying it, the robotic concierge character has stretched this one a little too far.
  • We have jumped on the Celebrity Traitors bandwagon—binging four episodes this weekend. I think we both wish there had been a few more hours (even if we did get an extra one on Saturday night). Don’t tell me anything.
  • And still no Taylor listening.

Weeknotes #143: from Bacchae to Bruce

Theatre, art, laughter, and music define a lively cultural week.

Week commencing Monday, 13 October 2025

Five male performers singing enthusiastically into microphones on stage at The Crazy Coqs, with a red curtain backdrop and neon signage, performing songs from Bruce Springsteen's catalogue
Performers belt out The Boss’s greatest hits with unrestrained passion at The Crazy Coqs’ Bruce Springsteen tribute evening.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 6/7. (81%). Morning walks: 0/3 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 2/5. Total steps: 62,275

Life

  • Monday was a day of meetings. Quite glad I finished at 5:30 p.m., as trespassers at Clapham meant all the trains were messed up and we really crawled into Waterloo. Any later would have been bad.
  • The Bacchae at the Olivier, at the National. Not much ancient in this Greek tragedy: it’s loud, contemporary, and full of attitude. All modern language, plenty of swearing, and bursts of rap and spoken word. I had no expectations going in, which added to the enjoyment.
  • Back to the National again on Wednesday evening. This time, the Lyttelton, for Shakespeare. Hamlet is bouncy: all bravado, beanie hats and oversized jumpers, a performance full of energy and humour. Ophelia’s descent into madness was raw. But it dragged compared with the energy of The Bacchae.
  • Frameless. Saturday, a wonderful immersive art experience near Marble Arch. You should go.
  • Who knew that the Lucky Saint company, known for alcohol-free beer, operates a licensed pub in Marylebone called The Lucky Saint? We were definitely on the alcoholic beer: it served a rather good pint of Beamish.
  • Also, the clock finally got replaced. It’s surprising how often we looked at the space where the clock used to hang.
  • It’s 23 years since one of my favourite stories on the Internet.
  • Sunday, lunch did not have the most auspicious of starts. We had to keep asking, but the food made up for it in the end. Still, a central London restaurant that couldn’t serve coffee at the end—really?
  • The weekend ended on a high: Crazy Coqs’ Bruce Springsteen night. I hadn’t realised how many songs I actually knew—or how much I enjoyed them all.

Media

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.

Weeknotes #141: A shifty-looking youth and an air-fried rasher

A joyful week of celebration, reflection, and festive discoveries shared.

Week commencing Monday, 29 September 2025

A close-up photograph of a charred aubergine dish topped with colourful microgreens in shades of green and pink, sesame seeds, and dots of red sauce, served on a pale ceramic plate with decorative sauce dots around the edges.
Bantof Restaurant Soho’s Tahini Aubergine.

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.

Weeknotes #140: from deadlines to finish lines

Festive anticipation, teamwork, laughter, family meals, and rewarding volunteering moments.

Week commencing Monday, 22 September 2025

Collection of Vitality 10,000 finisher medals with red and black lanyards displaying '2025' and event branding, arranged in a radiating pattern on the fence awaiting distribution to race participants
Finisher medals await their well-earned recipients at the 2025 Vitality 10,000 in London.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 2/7 and Move 6/7. (66%). Morning walks: 0/3 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 2/5. Total steps: 43,109

Life

  • Back to work was hard on Monday, but I managed to get through it and am back to making progress with some big initiatives.
  • Related, I am counting down to Christmas. It’s the fun 100 days.
  • Good news: British Airways have already confirmed they are paying out for both the lost baggage and the flight. I wrote-up the second-week of the holiday. It was probably all in last week’s notes, so you might not need to go and read the new words.
  • Thursday: “Fancy a quick drink after work?” turned into a mini product team evening—and maybe one too many. A good night after all.
  • Friday dinner in Woking with family was from the nearby Lebanese restaurant. What appeared not to be enough food turned out to be too much.
  • Caterina’s birthday drinks were in The Crosse Keys in the City. The cavernous ex-banking hall turned Wetherspoons was a very impressive space. Lots of prosecco made for a lovely afternoon.
  • Sunday, we were volunteering at the Vitality London 10,000 run. We gave finishers their medals. A lot of ribbon and metal needed unpacking from boxes, separating and stacking even before the first runners commenced. Some of those who had opted out of medals were not happy when they couldn’t receive one, but they can apply afterwards—and there were spares. Much fun congratulating people who’d finished.

Media

Weeknotes #139: missed views, found falls

Adventures, airports, waterfalls, and re-entry — travel tales beautifully grounded.

Week commencing Monday, 15 September 2025

Tour boat full of tourists wearing orange life jackets approaches the base of Iguazu Falls, with massive waterfalls cascading over tiered basalt cliffs surrounded by lush green vegetation and mist rising from the churning water below
Tourists aboard a boat excursion approach the thundering cascades of Iguazu Falls on the Argentina-Brazil border, where getting soaked is not just likely—it’s the entire point.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 6/7. (76 %). Total steps: 77,891

Life

  • The week started back in a Patagonian national park with a hike up for a view that was lost in the clouds. The other English speaker on the bus didn’t seem that interested in the tour.
  • In the evening, I ate my steak while one of the local strays laid his head on my lap for as long as the steak was on my plate. As soon as it was gone, he lost interest. Nobody seemed concerned. Can you imagine the health-and-safety implications in the UK?
  • Tuesday was a fly day: fly back to Buenos Aires but don’t leave the airport before taking off again bound for Iguazú. The views from El Calafate Airport were great. In Buenos Aires the lounge was packed, and it was dark by the time we landed in the north.
  • PY’s ‘bucket list’ used to include a trip to see the Iguazú Falls. It’s not on the list anymore as we crossed it off on Wednesday.
  • So much to say about the majesty of the falls: panoramics from Brazil, close-up encounters in Argentina. The boat ride, or ‘Grand Adventure’, was stunning, and you really appreciate the power of the cascades.
  • My diary entry for Thursday’s return to Buenos Aires is entitled Three countries, two beers, one perfect pizza. The Tripoint is very impressive, the restaurant with the river views was a find I wish we’d made a day earlier, and the pizza experience at Pizzería Güerrín on Corrientes Avenue seemed authentic.
  • Friday was a return flight. Iberia seats were more exposed to the aisle so I didn’t sleep well. Or maybe it was the hours of turbulence that kept me awake. I was very ready for the landing.
  • Related, on Saturday morning we were almost first in the lounge and first in the shower queue. I had a little bottle of plane wine on the last leg of the holiday back to London, even though it was only 10 a.m. It felt like yesterday.
  • Sunday brought a gentle re-entry to London life. In a bid to keep busy, we decided to visit the This is Oxford Street event, where the street was closed to traffic and given over to music, food, fashion pop-ups, and other entertainment — a glimpse of what full pedestrianisation might mean.
  • Related, if this is what it means, it’ll be a bonanza for the retailers: the place was packed.

Media

  • I finished The Janson Directive and can confirm that it was meaty enough that the other books were unnecessary baggage.

Weeknotes #138: nothing lost but my heart

Lost luggage, perfect steaks, tango nights, glaciers, and joyful discovery.

Week commencing Monday, 8 September 2025

Large living sculpture spelling 'BA' covered in dense green vegetation and plants, with person - the author - standing between letters in Buenos Aires city centre, buildings and blue sky in the background.
Proof that Buenos Aires is literally growing on you.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 6/7 and Move 7/7. (96%). Holiday time. Total steps: 105,183

Life

  • We’d done twilight check-in. We woke at 3 am. All was on plan until the email explained our first flight (to Madrid) was cancelled and everything had to be changed. We opted not to go back home, but spending an entire day at Heathrow was harder than I expected, even with lounge access.
  • Related, I imagine if I were in corporate espionage, I’d sit in the BA lounge listening to all the calls.
  • The flight stopped in Rio, where most of the passengers disembarked, while only a few continued. Somebody had left duty-free items in the overhead locker above me, and they had to be removed before we could depart.
  • At baggage collection, it soon became clear that I wasn’t going to get a suitcase. I was remarkably calm. They were remarkably good at getting it to me.
  • Day one: after clothes shopping, dinner was Parrilla Don Julio, a steak restaurant ranked number 10 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2024. It’s obvious why. This will not be a meat-free holiday.
  • On day two, even though we’d just arrived, we crossed the Río de la Plata to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. Easy to travel. Beautiful old town.
  • Thursday: a tourist bus ticket took us to La Boca, specifically El Caminito, the little street that has become one of Buenos Aires’s most distinctive sights. The corrugated-iron houses, splashed in bright reds, yellows and blues, felt like they had been painted to lift the mood of anyone passing by.
  • Dinner was a tango show at La Ventana — powerful, elegant dancers paired with live musicians, singers and even bursts of Argentine folk. We were surprised by the Don’t Cry for Me Argentina portions, having been told the country didn’t really take Andrew Lloyd Webber’s interpretation of its history to heart.
  • Birthday Friday was a lot of great things, but the chef’s counter at Fogón Asado — a twist on Argentina’s traditional barbecue, with about ten guests seated around the open fire as each cut of meat is prepared in front of us — was a real highlight treat. It’s very up close and personal with the chef and the sommelier. Luckily, they were both lovely.
  • Saturday: a flight south where my luggage kept pace with me. It wasn’t beef here; it was lamb.
  • The week ended with Los Glaciares National Park in Argentinian Patagonia. Stunning.
  • If travel teaches anything, it’s that a lost suitcase is just the first chapter of a much better tale. Argentina might have stolen my heart.

Media

  • After boarding, before sleeping, I watched The Salt Path and The Amateur. They passed a few hours of the flight to Buenos Aires.
  • I am not reading as much on this holiday as I had assumed. On the 14-hour flight I read nothing. At least I’ve started The Janson Directive, and it’s a meaty enough book that it might last the trip and mean the other books were unnecessary baggage.

Weeknotes #137: From tiebreakers to take-offs

Lively week of quizzes, theatre, good company and smooth travel

Week commencing Monday, 1 September 2025

A view across Heathrow Airport's car park at dusk, with rows of parked vehicles in the foreground and aircraft visible on the tarmac beyond the perimeter fence. The sky displays soft pink and blue hues as evening approaches, whilst planes and airport infrastructure create a silhouette against the horizon.
The airport winds down for the evening as viewed from the Thistle Hotel

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 6/7 and Move 6/7. (90%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 69,528

Life

  • Once again, the week started with a quiz. And again, we ended up in the ninth-place tiebreaker (as a reminder, that’s good). The lady who answered ‘Tainted Love’ was too quick off the mark for Ben. Always fun!
  • I had a Christmas planning session with my brother. It’s only just September.
  • Unusually, I had an office day on Wednesday. The journey to the Barbican that followed should have been straightforward. As it was, I ran into the auditorium just in time for the house lights to go out.
  • Related, Sean Hayes is very good in Good Night, Oscar. Lots of discussion afterwards about whether it was based on a true story (yes) and whether he really could play the piano (also yes).
  • Thursday was one of those office days where I said what I really felt and then apologised for it. I don’t think I should have done. But all good.
  • Related, as a consequence, the work social in the pub could have been messy but ended up being very restrained.
  • I finished Friday on time, which must be a first before a holiday. We went to visit a new pub, The Leather Bottle, and it was nice.
  • Related, on the way home, we picked up a ‘hot honey’ pizza and then noticed ‘hot honey’ is everywhere. Is it a trend I am missing?
  • Saturday: is it unusual to admit I find my dentist funny and enjoy going?
  • A lovely lady in NatWest helped me with a banking problem 25 years in the making. All will be resolved.
  • On Sunday afternoon, the Heathrow T5 pods marked the start of the holiday. In the restaurant, it was busier than on previous visits. The planes were taking off in the other direction.

Media