weeknotes – Hello Curns

Weeknotes #161: Guinness, gardens and guilt

Daffodils, culture, nostalgia, and small victories over self-doubt

Week commencing Monday, 23 February 2026

Vibrant pink orchids clustered densely in dramatic low lighting at Orchids After Hours, Kew Gardens, with glossy green leaves and moss visible between the stems. — Orchids glowing after dark at Kew Gardens.

Quantified Self

This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 6/7 and Move 7/7. (95%). Morning walks: 3/4. Office days 1/5. Total steps: 59,055. 20 hours in meetings.

Life

Good sign: there were daffodils on my Monday-morning walk. Does that make it spring yet?
Bad sign: the third tax-bill revision. Every time I provide more information to claim they are overcharging me, it goes up. I’d be daft to try to fight it again.
New audiobook: Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years by David Litt. So far, loving it.
I wrote over 2,000 words for last year’s ‘Yearnotes’. Nobody else cares, but I like reading back my older Yearnotes.
Pub on Wednesday to meet a former colleague. The place brought back memories. I used to go there in a previous job when colleagues and I did not want to be in either of the two bars directly next to the office. Given where it sits, surrounded by offices that have long since disappeared, it is impressive that it is still going and still very busy.
Lessons I can’t seem to learn: I did need to get over the guilt that takes me to a pub and results in a missed train and a bus that gets me home at 1 a.m.
Friday night: Orchids After Hours at Kew Gardens. The theme this year is the biodiversity and cultural heritage of China. There are a large number of native Chinese orchids on display, but I imagine it’s only a fraction of the 30,000 orchid species that one of the videos said have been discovered. Not sure I’d identify orchids without labels.
Saturday: Guinness 0%, which I found indistinguishable from the regular pint, but it seems to take even longer to pour.
Midnight is a new pop-opera by American singer Todrick Hall. An advanced workshop version is being performed at Sadler’s Wells East. Wow, it’s amazing, even though it needs to shed 30 minutes of running time.

Media

Watched the final episode of Small Prophets. Surprisingly captivating and confusing in roughly equal measure.
Also saw Banned in the 80s: Moments That Shook Music, a documentary revisiting the controversies that reshaped music during the 80s: Relax, I Want Your Sex, I Want to Break Free. Plenty of Mary Whitehouse references. Oh, the culture war!
Episode three of Heated Rivalry. Yes, we’re not binge-watching it like the rest of the world. The focus shifts in this one, away from the main Shane and Ilya storyline, to follow hockey player Scott Hunter. Another life lesson: apparently, adding an extra banana to a smoothie makes you extra attractive.

Weeknotes #161: Concorde, curling, and crypts

Morning walks, culture, books, parties, theatre, and perspective.

Week commencing Monday, 16 February 2026

Interior of St Martin-in-the-Fields church filled with blue, green, and violet light projections during the Luxmuralis “Space” light and sound show, highlighting the ornate vaulted ceiling, chandeliers, classical columns, and a seated audience below. — Cosmic light washes over St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Quantified Self

This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 7/7 and Move 7/7. (100%). Morning walks: 3/4. Office days 1/5. Total steps: 81,336. 15.8 hours in meetings.

Life

Oh, look, back to the morning walks. How long will I last? It really is better to be outdoors first thing.
As a long-time fan of radio, I’ve wondered how we’ve got to a point, almost 30 years after DAB’s introduction, where FM is still a thing. The government is consulting again. Reddit is, of course, saying, ‘but what about in an emergency’, which is really a rather bogus argument, as James Cridland once pointed out.
Relatedly, on that same Reddit thread, somebody talked about building a crystal radio: “There’s probably something to be said for having a communication medium that you can receive on bits of household scrap.” And that tells me that we all live in a bubble where our own experiences are deemed the norm.
I finished a book. It was Jonathan Glancey’s Concorde, The Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Airliner. I started this in lockdown, so it’s been five years of reading. I faltered in the early stages because it was quite technical in its history of supersonic flight, but I found it easier once Concorde arrived. It ends with the author’s downbeat take on the bland planes in our skies today and a lament that, in the UK, the infrastructure that helped create Concorde is no more.
Thursday, to St Martin-in-the-Fields for Space by Luxmuralis, a light and sound show. It begins outside the church before moving into the Crypt, and then up into the main body of the church for a fifteen-minute piece set to music that traces the creation story, the Big Bang, and ends with an image of Earth seen from space beneath a galaxy of stars. I enjoyed it. We sat through the light show twice.
To L’s postponed Christmas party on Saturday night. Great to catch up with people we only see once a year, and the curling was on in the background — it turned out that quite a few of us had been following it. Team GB’s men had made it to the final, though it wasn’t to be gold for them.
Best not to check about the crazy man at the bus stop on the way home. Quite relieved there was security on the bus.
To the Theatre Royal Drury Lane for To Maury With Love, a one-off celebration of the composer Maury Yeston’s eightieth birthday. There was a full orchestra on stage, and the music, however unfamiliar, was lovely.
Yeston wrote a Phantom musical based on the same source material that Lloyd Webber adapted. The interesting backstory is that Lloyd Webber’s version became a phenomenon in part because the novel was already in the public domain in Britain in 1986 but not yet in the United States, where the rights holder had originally approached Yeston to work on it. Yeston has called his Phantom “the greatest hit never to be produced on Broadway”. I guess you have to have an ego.

Media

My YouTube week: I watched the final DownieLive episode of the train journey from Europe to Asia, which sent me off to watch the stunning luxury train journey in Vietnam and the impressive ways you can use a Swiss rail pass. The lot is going on my bucket list.
More Olympics: the Women’s Freeski Big Air final from the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at the Livigno Snow Park. The commentators’ enthusiasm helped make it a fantastic watch.
Really enjoying Small Prophets, Mackenzie Crook’s BBC Two series about a man who turns to alchemy and homunculi in search of answers after his girlfriend disappears.

Weeknotes #160: almost perfect weeknotes

Curious coding, cultural moments, and quietly celebratory evenings.

Week commencing Monday, 9 February 2026

Promotional A-board sign for the musical 'Already Perfect' showing three male performers, positioned on a tiled floor alongside other advertising boards for a restaurant, gaming arena and bowling venue. — Theatre meets pizza: an entertainment complex advertises everything at once.

Quantified Self

This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 15/7. (71%). Morning walks: 0/4. Office days 1/5. Total steps: 38,516. 11.8 hours in meetings.

Life

I think I “vibe coded” this week. At least, I rambled into an AI assistant chatbot thing and ended up with working software.
Related, the post I wrote about the experience must have partly been inspired by watching that programme about Pompeii.
And no, the name Algorithmus wasn’t mine. I asked an AI, which came up with far more detail than I wanted: “Instead of a lightning bolt, he carries the Monolith—a perfectly smooth, black slab of obsidian that reflects the viewer’s soul back at them (while recording the data)”.
Research by Clarion Security Systems estimates that more than 942,000 CCTV cameras operate across London. Smile, you’re on camera.
Related, I learned that AI-powered emotion analytics software, which is supposed to be able to tell if you’re having a bad day at work, is an industry valued at approximately $9.13 billion. Keep smiling, the camera’s judging you.
I’ve not yet completed 2025’s yearnotes, but I did the annual book photo. My previous yearnotes can be read here if you’re wondering what I am on about.
And concrete lovers are rejoicing, as the 1960s Southbank Centre, which includes the Hayward Gallery, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall and skatepark undercroft, has been Grade II listed.
The King’s Head Theatre is no longer in the King’s Head pub. But we still saw Already Perfect, the autobiographical musical written by and starring Levi Kreis. His life, growing up in rural Tennessee, enduring six years of conversion therapy, being expelled from a Christian university and later working as an escort in Los Angeles, is a million miles from my own. It’s heavy in places.
Thursday, to the pub. An evening of putting the world to rights and a relatively civilised departure. On the way back, I remembered to pick up a copy of The Evening Standard for PY.
Saturday, lovely food to celebrate the Lunar New Year: various dumplings and buns, and a hot pot brought to the table for us all to help ourselves. It was a very pleasant evening, although poor W spent most of the time in the kitchen.
Sunday, I was planning to tidy and decided to start with a box of old photographs. That morphed into a day of scanning and organising pictures so that I could get rid of the physical prints and free up some space.
Since we were out on Saturday night, we decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day today with a delivery from Sticks’n’Sushi. At £82, it’s not cheap, but it is some of the best restaurant sushi I’ve had.

Media

On Tuesday night, we ended up watching (most of) The Truman Show. It is interesting how clearly it predicted the world that followed. In 1998, when it was released, “reality TV” was still new, and the idea of being constantly watched felt dystopian rather than aspirational. Now, every influencer is Meryl, delivering product placements directly to the camera.
On the train home on Thursday, I resumed the Game Changers Radio podcast and learned more about Brisbane radio than I strictly need to know.
Lots of Winter Olympics coverage watched: Friday, I didn’t understand the description of any of the Snowboard Half-Pipe final, but the commentators were infectious, and the excitement was incredible. I could have watched all night.
Sunday, we watched Team GB make history by winning two Winter Olympic titles on the same day for the first time, as Matt Weston and Tabitha Stoecker clinched mixed team skeleton and Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale won snowboard cross gold.
And our men’s curlers suffered their second defeat but, hopefully, remain on course for a semi-final place, with an extra-end loss to Switzerland.

Weeknotes #159: buns, binge, bridges

Rainy week, resilient leaps, food risks, thoughtful station tour.

Week commencing Monday, 2 February 2026

Modern entrance to London Bridge Station with glass canopy and metallic lettering on beige brick facade, Union Jack and British Rail flags visible on left — Not falling down: London Bridge Station stands strong

Quantified Self

This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 4/7. (62%). Morning walks: 0/4. Office days 1/5. Total steps: 41,471. 15.3 hours in meetings.

Life

I was at home for much of the week. I went to the office once. I am not sure I left the house on weekdays other than for a small shopping run. It rained a lot.
Related, they’re still working on the water pipes in the street. Their digging has blocked a storm drain. I have to leap puddles to cross the road.
Relatedly related, I don’t leap well, and I discovered my shoes are not waterproof.
We got a gigantic hot cross bun this week. It wasn’t quite as good as I’d hoped.
Food-related, on Tuesday my Vietnamese pho had been sitting on the hob for several days. I survived its consumption.
Sunday, to London Bridge Station for a tour, where it ceased to be somewhere to pass through and became something to look at. The tour focused on the station and its immediate surroundings: the arrival of competing lines, the coexistence of two stations, and the long process that eventually fused them into the sprawling place we know now. Very well done.

Media

I watched, more or less, the entire season 4 of Bosch in a binge this week. It might explain why there’s not a lot else to say.
I also discovered there were a few episodes of Love, Victor I hadn’t watched, so I finished them. Love, Victor seemed a little too neatly tied up at the end. I suppose that’s good for the kind of show it was. It’s a shame they didn’t take it for another couple of series.
We watched an episode of Roman Empire by Train with Alice Roberts. It has a lot about the Roman Empire and is presented by Alice Roberts. There’s really not much train in it.
Related, the episode focused on Pompeii, which looked absolutely amazing. Even though it’s being horrendously overrun by tourists, it seems like a place we should visit.

Weeknotes #158: still out after dark

Thoughtful outings, cultural highlights, and small wins amid winter evenings.

Week commencing Monday, 26 January 2026

Colourful light installation reflected in water at Canary Wharf's Eden Dock at night. Vibrant rainbow beams of red, blue, yellow, and green light form geometric patterns across the water surface, with modern office buildings in the background and spectators viewing from behind barriers in the foreground. — Amplitudes transforms Eden Dock with rainbow light reflections.

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.

Weeknotes #157: enjoyed, bought book

Thoughtful culture, good conversation, strong performances, and quietly satisfying social moments.

Week commencing Monday, 19 January 2026

Sondheim’s twisted fairy tale magic illuminates The Bridge Theatre.

Quantified Self

This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 5/7 and Move 6/7. (86%). Morning walks: 0/3. Office days 2/5. Total steps: 56,651. 16.5 hours in meetings.

Life

I think this is the new world: The only way to counter “move fast and break things” is to move fast and fix things, and I don’t think enough people realise it.
Do you know your Iceland from your Greenland? If you are trying to get your hands on land, it would be sensible to know which land you are getting.
Monday, to the Bridge Theatre to see Into the Woods: visually impressive, with great performances. A revival that balanced the wit and the dark themes. Kate Fleetwood as the Witch is a joy. Delightful.
Wednesday, to see Jake Humphrey and Damien Hughes talk about High Performance. Essentially, it was an interesting 75-minute discussion trying to flog you a book. And it worked.
Thursday, to drink Beamish with people in central London. They served Irish crisps. Huw tried to say something in Welsh, but I didn’t understand.
Related: before we met in Covent Garden, we discovered the bowling alley near work has a bar that, it seems, nobody knows about.
Saturday, fixing email issues. And then to The Ivy Tower Bridge for their £19.17 two-course menu. Naturally, we didn’t just stick to that and ended up with a bigger bill. There’s a certain irony in going for the cheap menu and spending considerably more.
Sunday, to The Crazy Coqs for Behind the Mask, their Phantom of the Opera event. Quite different from the other events we’ve been to. We really enjoyed it. There were some incredible voices performing. Greg Castiglioni, who is playing in The Phantom of the Opera in Vienna, sang “Music of the Night” in German.

Media

With appropriately planned catch-ups, we were only one episode of The Traitors behind on Friday night, so we watched through to the end. The people I wanted to win, won.

Weeknotes #156: frozen trousers week

Domestic resets, transport surprises, thoughtful work moments, and reassuringly good food

Week commencing Monday, 12 January 2026

"A yellow sticky note on a dark grey surface with a handwritten checklist in blue ink. Four checkbox squares are drawn on the left side, with the first and fourth boxes ticked. The text reads 'Performance Review' and 'Checklist 2025'. — Review time. Get ready!

Quantified Self

This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 6/7. (76%). Morning walks: 0/4. Office days 1/5. Total steps: 37,715. 16.5 hours in meetings.

Life

There was a lot of post-Christmas washing done at the start of the week. We went from smelling of pine needles to smelling of laundry conditioner.
I had to freeze some trousers. It didn’t work as well as I had expected.
Note to self for next time: get the printing ready, pay for it at home, and then walk to the library with the code that unlocks the documents. I think that would be easier.
The government has announced it will build a new railway between Birmingham and Manchester. It’s not HS2, honest.
It’s performance review time at work. We have a process that encourages reflection on the year, and I took time to prepare my thoughts. The effort felt worthwhile; for once, I had something proactive to contribute when the meeting itself came around.
I went for drinks. Discovered that younger people don’t know how the BBC is funded. Not much hope for the BBC if this is the opinion of future generations.
Related, sensibly rejected the suggestion to move on to a later-opening bar.
A very productive Friday. Surprising.
Sad news arrived: Zipcar confirmed it is shutting down in the UK. Disappointed.
Got to Euston on Saturday morning and wished I owned a car as all services were suspended. Then, miraculously, my train left, and I was only ten minutes late.
The suitcase was delivered to Shrewsbury.
Saturday, the dish of “belly pork bites with black garlic glaze, chilli, spring onion, parsley and caramelised onion aioli” was delicious. If small.
Sunday, the lamb roast was the opposite: a huge portion. Also, very tasty.

Media

By the end of the week, we had caught up with the broadcast version of The Traitors and now we can’t run into spoilers. It’s very good, but bad for my blood pressure.
When in Shrewsbury for the weekend, we watched the semi-finals of the Johnstone’s Paint Masters snooker championship. I was so hooked, I started watching the final on the iPlayer on the train home on Sunday.

Weeknotes #155: innuendo, interruptions, and insights

A reflective week of culture, transport mishaps, and quietly pleasing observations

Week commencing Monday, 5 January 2026

A large-scale photographic artwork composed of a grid of panels showing repeated newspaper headline posters. The word 'MURDER' appears prominently in red capital letters throughout multiple panels against a black and white background. The headlines reference various crimes and incidents including student murders, jogger attacks, and police investigations. Two suited male figures appear in the central panels of the grid composition. — Tabloid headlines transform urban tragedy into a visual cacophony. Gilbert & George, London Pictures series (2011)

Quantified Self

This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 6/7. (71%). Morning walks: 0/4. Office days 1/5. Total steps: 49,424. 18.8 hours in meetings.

Life

This year, I am tracking a new QS metric: the number of hours I am in calendared work meetings. I thought it would be interesting to see.
The story of Markdown reminded me how much simpler the web was when self-publishing began. I still write these notes in Markdown.
Monday’s pub quiz provided a high score for us, but no prizes for third. I was pleased with myself for identifying “A Kind of Hush” in the music round, but immediately irritated that I said it was by the New Seekers when it was, in fact, The Carpenters.
Tuesday, it’s bigger, better, glitzier, and (probably) more expensive than ever. It’s a smut-filled delight, anchored by the King of Innuendo: the Palladium panto, which I reviewed for you.
Thursday, people had said Daniel’s Husband was good, and I am delighted to have kept to my “don’t read any details” rule because this play benefits from that lack of pre-knowledge. But you can read my spoiler-light review.
Friday night, there was a tree on the line. We were diverted and then terminated early. As much as I love it, sometimes train travel is a frustrating pain.
Saturday, I said “good morning” to a bus driver when it was clearly afternoon, found out the coastal path is now named after the King, and had a lovely time by a wood fire.
By the wood fire, I talked about my recent radio stats post. PY thought an interesting additional view that would give better context would be to understand how much time we were spending with each type of audio. So, the chart’s here on page 11. Sixty-five per cent of our audio consumption is live radio, plus another 3% for catch-up.
Sunday, Gilbert & George use the Evening Standard, and probably other newspapers, headline boards as part of their art. There’s an upcoming generation that won’t understand what they are and, therefore, the inspiration for the art.
Related, very glad I got to see the G&G exhibition. It’s big, bold, and probably not as controversial as it might once have been.

Media

Grantchester is back. There are almost as many murders here as in Midsomer. And the vicar is still allowed to interview suspects. Cosy fun nonsense.
We started series two of Blue Lights. I’ve forgotten much of the first season, so I can’t work out what’s new and what’s recurring. Definitely not cosy.
We started The Traitors. This is the first time I have watched the non-celebrity version. Don’t tell me.

Weeknotes #154: here comes another one (year, that is)

A gentle, celebratory start to the year, filled with shared rituals.

Week commencing Monday, 29 December 2025

Distorted fisheye reflection in a gold Christmas tree bauble showing a person holding a phone taking a selfie, with Battersea Power Station's iconic chimneys and blue sky visible in the curved reflection, framed by green pine needles — Battersea Power Station captured in spherical festive form.

Quantified Self

This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 6/7. (76%). No work this week.Total steps: 62,837

Life

Hello 2026! Aren’t you looking fine?
Monday afternoon, we all walked to The Lockdown Bakehouse, where there was cake and coffee. When we returned, we watched Peter Ustinov in Death on the Nile.
Tuesday, a matinee performance of Disney’s Hercules (the musical). It’s the everyday story of the son of Zeus being stripped of his immortality as an infant, who must perform a series of heroic feats and prove himself a “true hero” on Earth to reclaim his place among the gods on Mount Olympus. You see this kind of thing everywhere, every day! Review: it’s not on the level of The Lion King.
Bong: I went outside so that I could usher in the New Year when Big Ben bonged for the first time in 2026. Champagne and music on television, plus we used the last of the indoor fireworks outside to create our own tiny display. People gradually drifted to bed over the hours to 3 a.m.
Related, I was in the kitchen by 8:30 a.m. to cook the breakfast I promised everybody (although people took a while to appear).
Friday, Battersea Power Station has been beautifully decorated for Christmas. We didn’t buy anything in the shops, preferring instead to stand and look at the turbine halls in their glittering glory.
Saturday, rather than doubling back underground, we decided to walk from Marylebone to Waterloo. It turned into a really pleasant route through Mayfair, across Piccadilly and down towards the South Bank. The sky was a clear blue, the air crisp but not cold, and the streets were busy enough to feel alive without being pre-Christmas crowded.
Sunday, we took the tree down. The room felt bare without it.

Media

NYE: Kiss Me, Kate, filmed live in 2024 at the Barbican. Adrian Dunbar, from Line of Duty fame, starred alongside Stephanie J. Block. Brilliantly done; I now wish I’d seen it live.
New Year’s Day: watched the new Knives Out film — Wake Up Dead Man — on Netflix. It’s full of odd characters and a plot with twists, but, strangely, Benoit Blanc is pretty much absent for the first third.
Sunday, Marty Supreme on the big screen. See it for the style and the performances, but make sure you have a comfy seat and don’t expect to fall in love with the hero. I wrote a fuller review.

Weeknotes #153: it’s Christmas

Warm, festive moments, small surprises, and quietly satisfying Christmas rituals.

Week commencing Monday, 22 December 2025. Happy Christmas!

Illuminated Christmas tree decorated with multicoloured fairy lights in blue, green, red, and yellow, adorned with baubles and tinsel, with a glowing green tree decoration visible on a table to the right — Festive illumination reaches peak sparkle and bauble saturation.

Quantified Self

This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 7/7. (76%). Morning walks: 0/3. Office days 0/3. Total steps: 33,347

Life

How did it get to Christmas week so quickly? Yesterday, Kylie was announced as the Christmas number one. I assume it’s because it’s probably included every time anyone asks Alexa to play Christmas songs. Clever marketing.
Related, at least it’s on YouTube if you don’t subscribe to the Amazon Music service.
A giant hole emerged in a Shropshire canal.
All week, at about 4 p.m., I turned my attention to activating Christmas lights to run on timers (six hours on, 18 off). I strung a new set around the back garden, only to discover they require a much larger battery than the ones I had to hand. The timer had to wait a day, which felt mildly annoying but also very normal for this stage of December.
Monday, the Christmas food was delivered by Sainsbury’s. Unexpectedly, it fit in the fridge.
Related, Tuesday, PY made mince pies, which filled the house with a properly Christmassy smell.
Relatedly related, Christmas Eve began with PY heading to Waitrose at nine to collect the turkey bauble. We’re not doing a whole turkey this year, mainly because some guests aren’t fans, so chicken will be doing the job for them.
Also on Christmas Eve, I suggested Greggs’ festive bake for lunch, which felt seasonally appropriate. PY returned with a cheese and onion slice and one with beans in. It was only later, while chatting with P&J, that it emerged he hadn’t realised there was such a thing as an actual festive bake. He thought I was asking for a Greggs’ bake in the festive period.
Christmas Day: lots of food prep, lots of eating, and some hilarious indoor fireworks. A lovely day spent with lovely people.
Sunday, I attempted to navigate various stations step-free and relied heavily on lifts. At Victoria, that means navigating a slightly bewildering network of lifts between levels to reach the ticket gates and the mainline platforms.
Reminder to me (and anybody who knows of a memorial bench): Open Benches.

Media

I mentioned before that I only started watching Stranger Things this series, but it is good, even if I am not really sure what’s happening. Obviously, Tiffany’s I Think We’re Alone Now is a massive part of the joy.
The video reminds us that, in the 80s, pop stars made videos in shopping malls and we all thought it was cool.
Jemma Redgrave playing Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is fantastic in The War Between the Land and the Sea. Ditto Russell Tovey. However, it’s another series where the ending seemed rushed or incomplete.
Boxing Day movie 1: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie. It’s a fairly convoluted made-for-TV story about the band trying to get back from a European concert in time for Christmas, rediscovering their bond as brothers along the way. It’s light and festive, with some catchy songs. Entirely disposable, but enjoyable enough.
Boxing Day movie 2: The Accountant 2. The original felt more focused on the accounting side of things, whereas this leans much more into being a buddy movie, with a slightly tangled plot centred around identifying the people in a photograph. I still enjoyed it, though.
Saturday: we watched Wonka. It’s an origin-style story in which Willy Wonka, played by Timothée Chalamet, arrives in an unnamed European city to open his dream chocolate shop. Things don’t go to plan. It’s easy to see why it was nominated for Outstanding British Film at the BAFTAs. A warm, feel-good film that fits neatly into this quiet, between-days stretch.

Weeknotes #152: lights, pies, and platforms

Festive routines, thoughtful volunteering, good food, trains, lights, gentle cheer.

Week commencing Monday, 15 December 2025

The Pullman dining experience on a platform next to The Inspiration Train

Quantified Self

This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 7/7. (81%). Morning walks: 0/3 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 2/5. Total steps: 64,664

Life

I started the week by chopping veg for a beef casserole and setting it going in the slow cooker. I was keen to make something that felt at least marginally healthier than the previous evening’s dinner, so I stacked it with extra vegetables and kept the meat ratio relatively low. It looked promising for most of the day, but when I checked it later, it had turned a bit watery. I thickened it up and added some mushrooms in the final hour, which rescued it nicely. In the end, it was lovely.
We eventually decorated the Christmas tree, but went for more lights and fewer baubles than usual. I really like it, although I am glad we did add some decorations, as it looked a bit sad in the daylight.
Tuesday’s technology team meeting was accompanied by coffee and mince pies. My colleagues didn’t win, even though they were nominated.
Related, we don’t know what they were nominated for, so we don’t know which award they lost out on. But it was nice that they were recognised for something.
Wednesday, I took a volunteering day, where I helped out at the Merton Memory Hub’s Christmas party. Four of us from work were there to help set up and serve snacks. There was a choir, and we sang Christmas songs together. Everyone was lovely, and it felt good to be involved in something genuinely worthwhile.
Thursday, the usual bar was closed for a private event. So we found somewhere else, and my round was still nearly £30.
Friday, I thought the Post Office would be rammed, but I was helped really quickly, and the package was, indeed, delivered on Saturday. After last week’s frustrations, perhaps my faith in Royal Mail has been restored.
That evening, to Soho, where the Christmas lights are based on drawings by a local primary school. I think they’re charming. Apparently, only six designs were chosen from more than a hundred entries, making them feel even more special.
Saturday, I took a regular commuter train to London’s Victoria Station. But there were three special trains in the station that morning. I was there for the Railway 200 Inspiration Train, which was on a platform right next to the British Pullman dining train, where guests were being serenaded off on their voyage.
And sensibly, a few platforms away, Santa’s Steam Express was being readied by the elves. If there hadn’t been adequate platform separation, there might have been a clash of Santas.
After Saturday afternoon’s Christmas lunch with friends, we tried to find somewhere nearby for a drink, but most Wimbledon pubs were already full. Eventually, we found a table at The Alexandra that was free for an hour before a booking was due to arrive, which was enough time for a drink before we all went our separate ways.

Media

We watched Spirited again, the 2022 Christmas musical comedy loosely based on A Christmas Carol. Obviously, the Good Afternoon song was still funny.
A bit more Stranger Things. I’m starting to enjoy it.

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.

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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.