Tag: weeknotes

Weeknotes #196: storms, screens and sausage rolls

Family visits, unexpected discoveries and comforting food brightened stormy days.

Week commencing Monday, 19 October 2026

Wooden-framed notice at Attingham Park, Shropshire, announcing the closure of the Mile Walk, Deer Park and Woodland Walk because of predicted high winds.
Storm Boelo was on its way, and Attingham Park’s ancient trees were taking no chances.

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.

Weeknotes #195: concrete, cans and conversations

Trains, wine, family, politics and technology made life entertaining again.

Week commencing Monday, 12 October 2026

Attingham Park, Shrewsbury. A red-brick garden wall with a central arched doorway, framed by two fan-trained fruit trees growing against the brickwork, with a gravel path leading across the lawn through the arch to more of the garden beyond, under a clear blue sky.
The arched entrance to Attingham Park’s walled garden.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 2/7 and Move 4/7. (%). Morning walks: 0/4. Office days: 0/5. Total steps: 35,769. 21.2 hours in meetings.

Life

  • To Shrewsbury. Looking out of the train window in the West Midlands, as we approach New Street, I remain impressed by the scale of the concrete viaducts being built for HS2. Delta Junction alone has 13 interconnected viaducts. Network Rail describes central Birmingham as one of the most congested parts of the British railway network, which might explain why my journey from Birmingham International to New Street was 14 minutes late. Perhaps all that concrete will eventually help.
  • Related, I bought a can of Bramble Hill rosé from M&S for the train, only to discover that canned wine dates back to 1936. Why has it taken 90 years for the world to decide this was a good idea? I’m not averse to drinking directly from one of those mini wine bottles, but at least a can makes me look slightly less like a lush.
  • Relatedly related, last week the Shrewsbury taxi driver decided I live there and commute regularly to London. I decided not to correct him. It’s nice to have a second life. This week, Jez picked me up, so my double life is on hold.
  • In real news, Andy Burnham has reopened the conversation about Britain’s relationship with the EU, just a couple of weeks after Macron described Brexit as the biggest lie of the last 30 years and said we’d be welcome back. It’s a bit like being invited back to a party after making a tearful exit, and we’ve all been there.
  • Apple announced its new HomeView, a smart home display with a seven-inch screen, FaceTime, Siri AI and shared photo albums. After last week’s comment, it could replace my increasingly useless Meta Portal, so I’ve ordered one, though the screen size isn’t as good as I’d like. Whether I need all the clever AI features when I really just want something to show photographs remains to be seen. At least I should be able to look at the pictures again.
  • OK. Somebody has definitely put something in the water: Shyam Sankar, CTO of Palantir, says AI researchers have started smoking because they’re convinced AI (Claude, probably) is going to cure cancer. H/t: Daring Fireball.

Media

  • Watched Schitt’s Creek: Sunrise, Sunset, in which Moira is invited to return to the soap opera that made her famous. About halfway through, we realised we’d already seen it, but carried on watching anyway. It’s still very funny, and Catherine O’Hara’s Moira is such a wonderful character that watching it twice hardly seems a chore.
  • Watched Ellen DeGeneres on The Graham Norton Show. After years of asking questions, she was on the receiving end. I wonder whether she was mentally marking Graham’s interviewing technique? She did ask some good questions.
  • We watched the much-acclaimed Gosford Park as a family. I loved its dissection of the British class system (even more so because of the star-studded cast doing it), but eventually I was willing the murder to happen just to get the plot moving.

Weeknotes #194: travel, tricks and traitors

Travel tales, smooth trains, pranks and festive hints brought smiles.

Week commencing Monday, 5 October 2026

Close-up of a mince pie on a white plate, with a golden-brown crimped pastry edge surrounding a pale, textured pastry top.
The first mince pie of the season.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 4/7; Exercise 5/7 and Move 5/7. (67%). Morning walks: 2/4. Office days: 1/5. Total steps: 53,097. 15.3 hours in meetings.

Life

  • Warning: I had a mince pie. There are crackers in the shops. This is not a drill.
  • Before that, on Monday, it was off to Cadogan Hall for Celia Imrie’s book tour promoting The Elegant Hustler: Adventures From a Life on the Move. The disingenuous might call it a holiday slideshow. Still, it was a relatively amusing collection of travel stories, which I assume she also covers in the book, particularly her journeys on the Queen Mary 2 across the Atlantic to and from New York.
  • Sometimes it feels like a bit of a rush getting from home to Euston. On Tuesday, a train was just pulling into the platform at Raynes Park as I arrived, and the timing at Victoria was just as good, so I ended up at Euston station with about 40 minutes to kill before my train.
  • I’ve seen more full-colour pictures of the inside of bowls than I ever thought I would or need to. Don’t expect further details.
  • Unrelated, somebody who will remain nameless stuffed a pub cushion into a colleague’s bag while we were drinking, and it went undiscovered until the victim got home. At least one other colleague appeared seriously concerned he’d get the blame, but we all know who did it.
  • My Meta Portal, which I’ve written about before, appears to be slowly dying as Meta withdraws its services. It’s now lost the ability to display photographs, which is pretty much all we used it for. It was a cracking little internet-connected photo album, and always a talking point when people visited. Apple is rumoured to be announcing a new home next week, possibly with similar capabilities. Perhaps convenient timing, though I’d rather not replace perfectly good hardware just because someone turned off the software.
  • Related, I think the device was brilliant, but that doesn’t excuse the organisation’s failures. See Media below.
  • James Cridland reckons advertising is shit now. We’re very good at targeting people with adverts, but we’ve perhaps forgotten to tell them why they should care.

Media

  • Celebrity Traitors returned, and within a couple of episodes we’d had a Traitor who told everybody he was one, another who didn’t particularly want the job, and Ross Kemp taking the whole thing extremely seriously. I think this series will be fun.
  • The Social Reckoning is a pretty compelling account of how Facebook’s algorithms helped spread extremism and the whistleblower who exposed what was happening. Having worked there, I found myself assessing how accurate the office scenes were. The biggest problem? Hardly anybody wore a lanyard. I also thought Mark Zuckerberg was portrayed as rather more robotic than he is in real life. Still, it’s a troubling reminder of what happens when engagement matters more than consequences.
  • On Sunday, I watched the final of The Great Celebrity Pottery Throw Down, despite not having seen any of the previous episodes. The contestants had to make an entire trifle-serving set, which looked much harder than it sounds. It was all rather lovely, and Liza Tarbuck is a brilliant host. I may have to go back and watch the rest of the series.

Weeknotes #193: capsules, cabaret and celebrations

Korean adventures, London culture, and thirty-five years of celebrating together.

Week commencing Monday, 28 September 2026

Panoramic view of Gamcheon Culture Village in Busan, South Korea, showing densely packed, colourful houses with blue-and-green rooftops cascading down a hillside towards the harbour, surrounded by wooded mountains.
The colourful hillside houses of Gamcheon Culture Village in Busan, South Korea, with their brightly painted rooftops and narrow streets stretching down towards the harbour.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 5/7 and Move 6/7. (75%). Holiday time Total steps: 76,009.

Life

  • We started the week in Busan, South Korea. A reminder that my Korea photo collection is on Flickr.
  • Monday started at a railway station, where we met a bus for the drive to Haeundae Blueline Park. We’d booked a sky capsule tour, one of the things we’d seen on Instagram before arranging the holiday. The capsules are colourful monorail cabins that run along an elevated track on the coastal cliffs. The track follows the route of a former railway line.
  • Busan’s Gamcheon Culture Village is known as the ‘Machu Picchu of Busan’, but thankfully without the climb. Local artists chose the French novel The Little Prince as a central motif to symbolise hope. Statues and paintings are everywhere, with queues of people waiting to have their Instagram photo taken with the character. I liked the view over the rooftops.
  • Also on Monday, we visited the observation tower in Yongdusan Park, Busan, for impressive city views at sunset. The lack of crowds made it easy to get a window spot.
  • Back in Seoul, PY surprised me by asking if I fancied trying noraebang, the local equivalent of karaoke. It literally translates as ‘singing room’.
  • Related, we realised the remote was entirely in Korean. Our translation app couldn’t make sense of the buttons, so we spent most of the half hour randomly pressing them to get something to happen.
  • Relatedly related, when I got home, I wrote about that kind of thing.
  • Tuesday’s dinner was at Ten Billion Salon, where we were the only customers. The food was delicious, so I assume they’re not empty every night.
  • The flight home took almost 14 hours and, as it was from daytime to daytime, I tried to stay awake. That’s why the Media section has so many movies.
  • We had Korea in London on Friday, with the British Museum’s Korea: 2,000 Years of Creativity, which opened on Thursday. We both downloaded the audio app to listen to explanations of some of the artworks. It’s interesting because, although various Korean museums now hold the works, most came from the private collection of the late Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee. Many had never been seen in the UK before.
  • Thursday marked 35 years together, and we celebrated with a visit to The View from The Shard.
  • Previously, 12, 13, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34.
  • Sunday, we went to see Nataylia Roni’s cabaret, billed as Divas: Celebrating the Sounds & Songs of Dionne & Diana. She’s a very talented singer, but the show itself was hard to follow and lacked cohesion. The actual Dionne and Diana songs didn’t appear until the last 15 minutes, which may have disappointed some, although I enjoyed the collection.

Media

  • In-flight entertainment:
    • Pressure (Dir: Anthony Maras) turned out to be my favourite film of all my flight movies. Who knows if Michael Fish would find the meteorological content accurate, but the drama is well done and, given the British obsession with the weather, you’d have thought we’d get that bit right.
    • In the Grey (Dir: Guy Ritchie): The relationship between Bronco (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Sid (Henry Cavill) is what keeps this movie interesting. It’s a bit like Ocean’s Eleven, with an enjoyable, if slightly ridiculous, set-up.
    • Fuze (Dir: David Mackenzie) looked a bit like a film version of Trigger Point to me, and in some ways it is. It comes with a nice twist.
    • Wicked: For Good (Dir: Jon M. Chu) was one I watched because I’d seen the first film but missed the follow-up in cinemas. Although the plot, with its links to other films and darker themes, might make for a better script, the songs fell flat for me. And by the end, I was willing it to finish.
    • Finally, I went for Border Hunters (Dir: Joaquín Islas), which looked like another shoot-’em-up action movie that would pass a couple of hours. Unfortunately, it didn’t hit the mark, and I was glad when it was over.

Weeknotes #192: tunnels, tombs and tangerines

An adventurous week exploring Korea’s remarkable heritage, beautiful scenery and delicious food.

Week commencing Monday, 21 September 2026

A traditional Joseon-era hall at Changgyeonggung Palace in Seoul at dusk, its sweeping tiled roof and richly painted dancheong eaves lit in glowing green and gold, with warm light shining through the lattice windows and a visitor sitting on the stone steps on the right.
Changgyeonggung Palace glows beneath the dusk sky.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 7/7 and Move 7/7. (100%). Holiday time. Total steps: 123,385.

Life

  • I am in South Korea. It’s really interesting. And very humid.
  • Our first hotel was very strict about check-in, so we went to buy a travel card, lost our way, regrouped in Starbucks, eventually bought the card, saw the Starfield Library and Psy’s hands, and searched the Toys ‘R’ Us Pokémon display. We failed to find what we wanted.
  • In the DMZ, we entered the Third Infiltration Tunnel and ended up underground less than 200 metres from the North.
  • Related: getting out is hard work. It’s back along the tunnel, hunched over to get through it, and then up a very steep incline to the surface in a hot, stuffy environment. I had to stop several times, which definitely made me feel very unfit.
  • Relatedly related, we peered across the border from the lookout. I think we saw people.
  • I unexpectedly saw the changing of the guard ceremony at Deoksugung Palace, which is all very traditional, then saw far too many images of Hechi, Seoul’s official cartoon mascot.
  • At Gwangjang Market, we saw a woman who’d been in a Netflix food series and ate dumplings and octopus. Although the octopus is dead, residual nerve activity makes the tentacles and suction cups squirm, twist, and stick to the plate, triggering a range of reactions. Very odd.
  • Saw the Seoul Millennium Time Capsule, buried in 1994 to commemorate the 600th anniversary of Seoul becoming the capital of Korea and set to be opened 400 years later on 29 November 2394, to mark the 1,000th anniversary of Seoul as the capital.
  • On Thursday, we flew to Jeju during the Chuseok holiday; everything ran smoothly.
  • On Friday, we explored the scenic 1100 Highland and Hallasan Mountain, visited Cheonjeyeon Falls and enjoyed ice lollies after climbing lots of steps; we shared a lively lunch at what could only be described as a service station, and in the evening, we dined at a Japanese restaurant with delicious food and not much English.
  • Saturday: visited Dongmun Market and saw, but didn’t buy, local delicacies; enjoyed coffee and local tangerine juice at the very stylish D&DEPARTMENT café; saw the Dragon Head at Yongduam Rock; and experienced a two-hour flight delay for the journey to Busan.
  • Sunday was a tour from Busan to the UNESCO sites in Gyeongju. We visited the 8th-century Seokguram Grotto and its impressive seated Buddha.
  • Also, we explored the Daereungwon tomb complex, a historic park with 23 grass-covered burial mounds of Silla kings and nobles. One of them, Cheonmachong, was open to visitors, so of course we went in.
  • Before we entered the tomb, we went to find the Cheomseongdae Observatory, which is the oldest surviving astronomical observatory in Asia. It’s fascinating to see how they looked at the stars in the 7th century.
  • Related, we ended the week at Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond. Lovely lighting.
  • The barbecue grills at Daol Charcoal Grilling, on Jeju Black Pork Street and at the unnamed restaurant in Busan were all excellent (even if the latter’s ‘black spaghetti’ dish was way too spicy for me). The Chef’s Table at Kyochon Pilbang in Itaewon is a remarkable multi-course chicken feast.

I added extra photos to a collection on Flickr.

Media

  • Watched Tuner with Leo Woodall on the in-flight entertainment. It’s about a piano tuner who has a hearing condition but perfect pitch. When he needs money, he breaks into safes because he can hear the locks clicking into place. It causes all sorts of trouble in the end. I really enjoyed it, though I was a little unconvinced by the ending.

Weeknotes #191: almost next week

Work, theatre, travel and laughter rounded off a busy week.

Week commencing Monday, 14 September 2026

A promotional flyer for "Oil & Whiskey, The Country Rock Musical" shows a couple in a tense moment, with text advertising its run at the Old Red Lion pub theatre until 19 September, sold-out notices, and a row of five-star ratings along the bottom.
A flyer for Oil & Whiskey, running at the Old Red Lion.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 5/7. (62%). Morning walks: 0/4. Office days: 1/5. Total steps: 49,925.

Life

  • Somehow I’d missed the email instruction to complete the health questionnaire ahead of my annual flu jab, but I was able to do that online very quickly in the shop.
  • The ‘town hall’ at work was quite predictable, given everything that’s going on. One comment made me wonder why we hadn’t been doing that for the last seven years, but we can’t go back in time, can we?
  • Thursday’s after-work drinks were in a Queens Park Rangers supporters’ pub near Shepherd’s Bush Market, full of football memorabilia and screens showing games. But for a Thursday night, it was very quiet, and we had a lovely time discussing everything from office matters to 80s music playing in the background.
  • Friday, my last day before my holiday, I hadn’t quite finished everything I wanted to do before six o’clock, and we had to grab some food before we dashed out the door to catch a train — not for the holiday, but for a Friday show.
  • The show, Oil & Whisky, is a country-rock musical about former lovers Zelda and Teddy, who reunite in the New York bar where they first met.
  • Related, there are a lot of people on stage, even though there are only four characters, as there is a four-piece band and a couple of backing singers. It’s really well done, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
  • Saturday, I finished some work, packed and waited until it was time to get a taxi.
  • Related, when we arrived at the hotel, we realised we’d come to the wrong branch. It was a bit of a mix-up when we originally booked: the cheaper online offer was for the one a bit further away. It was fine.
  • Sunday’s flight check-in wasn’t as smooth as hoped, and the lounge Wi-Fi isn’t really working for this update.
  • I’m stopping here because, if I move my clocks to Korea time, it’s almost next week.

Weeknotes #190: control and evacuation

Birthday adventures, theatre, music and unexpected detours made everything memorable.

Week commencing Monday, 7 September 2026

Interior of the 1936 Southern Railway electrical control room at Woking, with illuminated railway power diagrams around the curved walls and a large Art Deco uplighter beneath the domed ceiling.
The preserved Southern Railway electrical control room at Woking.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 4/7. (62%). Morning walks: 0/3. Office days: 2/5. Total steps: 53,592. 18.3 hours in meetings.

Life

  • Sedentary start to the week. At least I had my Tai Chi class on Zoom on Tuesday.
  • I’ve never been a big fan of foldable phones; I’ve always thought they were flimsy, but the promotional video and demo at this week’s launch of the iPhone Duo looked more compelling than I expected. But, at least for now, I don’t think it’s for me. One day?
  • Thursday, I know we need rain, but perhaps not on my head at that time of the night.
  • Related, I stood in the entrance of Wood Lane Tube, talking longer than I should have done, because by the time I’d walked round to Shepherd’s Bush, I was soaked through to the skin, and as I was crossing the bridge towards the platform, I watched the last train of the evening depart.
  • Relatedly related, I ended up in a FreeNow cab, which worked well. Maybe they are my new go-to ride app.
  • Unusually for a Friday, I went into the office. I decided to go in later than normal, assuming Fridays on the trains would be quieter than the rest of the week. That turned out to be a bad assumption. Not only were they much busier, but they were delayed, and we were being shuttled between platforms 1 and 17 at Clapham Junction, waiting for a train up to Shepherd’s Bush.
  • Friday evening, to see Sinatra the Musical: the story of Sinatra from the 1940s to the early 1950s, which opens with his Paramount-era stardom, the Ava Gardner scandal, the resulting commercial collapse, and his comeback. It doesn’t cover the Rat Pack years, and I think that made for a good story. He didn’t come out of it brilliantly, but not as badly as the story might have made him.
  • Also, on Friday, I published a thing about the world’s most preposterous song.
  • Birthday Saturday, a visit to the former Southern Railway electrical control room at a special open day. The control room itself is a large oval room with a white domed ceiling and a small central switchboard/control desk. Poles hold copper dishes that light the room from uplighters, rather than fluorescent tubes. The walls are lined with black control panels, each corresponding to a substation along the line. Everything was left as it was in 1997, but very much disconnected. It was beautifully Art Deco and designed to be looked at, which I guess explains the Grade II listing.
  • Birthday Saturday, lunch at Loft Sky Bar on top of the Hilton in Woking, a place with incredible views over Surrey. We could see one of the roller coasters at Thorpe Park, a tower at Heathrow and some buildings on the Wentworth estate.
  • Related, at the end we were asked to evacuate via 22 flights of stairs. I have no idea what happened, and we could see nothing, but a fire engine greeted us as we left the building.
  • Birthday Saturday, Lil Nashville in Chiswick. BBQ brisket nachos, loaded with hickory-smoked brisket, were a great sharing plate. Kerryl was performing when we arrived, and then The Wranglers took the stage with a mix of covers, including a tribute to Dolly Parton, and their own material. It was a really fun evening, and I’m glad we got to go.

Media

  • Finished Ride or Die. It’s very much set up for the next series. I hope they make it.

Weeknotes #189: quizzes, trains and tapas

Bank holidays, reunions, journeys, tapas and Rioja brighten busy week.

Week commencing Monday, 31 August 2026

Rows of vines cascading down a hillside at Hencote Vineyard near Shrewsbury, seen from the winery's terrace, with guests seated at a table in the foreground and Shrewsbury's church spires and the distant Shropshire hills visible on the horizon under a partly cloudy sky.
Hencote’s vineyard rolls down towards Shrewsbury in the distance.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 2/7 and Move 5/7. (%). Morning walks: 0/3. Office days: 1/4. Total steps: 42,930. 16.1 hours in meetings.

Life

  • Started the week with a bank holiday. We pottered around and pub quizzed. Finishing 5th was a great result, and we used the voucher from last time, when 9th got us a free round.
  • At work, we are incorporating AI properly and formally. I was a little dismissive, despite my own successes with personal AI projects. But then we started doing it, and I became fascinated to see the outcomes.
  • Was Sir Keir’s resignation as an MP, triggering a by-election, in the best interests of anybody but Sir Keir?
  • Thursday night was both a leaving drink and a reunion. I took MB out for lunch for the former, which enabled me to go to the latter.
  • Related, the reunion was in a pub with a division bell. I think it’s more than an eight-minute walk from there to vote.
  • The note from the neighbours meant we had to figure out what to do next, and there was no obvious answer.
  • Friday, all the seats in my train carriage appeared to be booked, but in reality, most of them were never used. The journey ran on time.
  • Saturday, I had to drive to lunch, so it was a non-alcoholic drink at the vineyard we visited next.
  • To compensate, I overconsumed Rioja with the delicious Spanish tapas that we had for dinner.
  • Related, the Wetherspoons afterwards was very busy.
  • Sunday, lunch was large and a good cure for the previous day’s overindulgence.
  • Related, I slept for a lot of the train journey home.

Media

  • Almost finished Ride or Die. I’m really enjoying it, and I think not binge-watching it was a good idea.

Weeknotes #188: latches and legends

Recovery, DIY success, musical memories, pub drinks and lovely lunches.

Week commencing Monday, 24 August 2026

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 3/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 4/7. (52%). Morning walks: 0/4. Office days: 1/5. Total steps: 41,876. 22.2 hours in meetings.

Life

  • PY was really not well at the start of the week, but thankfully recovered by the end.
  • Success: I fitted a new latch on the door, and it worked!
  • On Tuesday, after Tai Chi, I looked at the news and saw that Dolly Parton had died. So many people have such lovely stories about her kindness that I think her death will really leave a hole in the music industry. One of the things she exemplified was generosity: a good spirit wrapped up in a ball of fun.
  • Also, Tim Curry, the actor known for playing Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, had died. Very sad.
  • On Thursday, they’d rearranged the outdoor seating at the White Horse, adding more seats and extending the area where people were allowed to stand. Although it was quite busy, when I went inside to buy the first round, the pub was empty, but many of the tables had reservations. Standing outside is the new inside.
  • On Saturday, to Lucky Cat on the 60th floor of 22 Bishopsgate. The views are impressive, even on a dull Saturday lunchtime. Brunch was also delicious.
  • On Sunday, a tasty lunch with friends.

Media

Weeknotes #187: weekly odyssey

A lively week of pottery, work, Porto memories and sociability.

Week commencing Monday, 17 August 2026

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 5/7. (66%). Morning walks: 0/3. Office days: 2/5. Total steps: 49,517. 19 hours in meetings.

Life

  • I have decided I need to be a bit more careful with what I eat, so I am back to weighing and measuring in an attempt to stop putting on weight and hopefully lose a little before my next holiday.
  • Related, it lasted two days before I broke.
  • The pottery was collected. We did a video call to reveal the pieces to everybody. They turned out better than expected.
  • To the office on Wednesday, hello to our new analyst. Nice that she came to the bar for a drink afterwards.
  • Unrelated, PY was ill, so we didn’t make the Thursday night thank you party.
  • Hectic week at work; I am rather energised, which seems to have coincided with some others not being.
  • They came to fix the manhole cover they discovered was broken when plumbers were last here. And found new problems.
  • Drinks and dinner at Northcote Road on Saturday. I had no idea that it’s closed to traffic on summer weekends. It was really nice to get around, with lots of people at tables outside pubs and restaurants.
  • I wrote a thing about our visit to Porto: hills, bridges, rivers, and, of course, port.

Media

  • I went to the IMAX Wimbledon to see that god-tossed voyage on the biggest canvas cinema allows. I can’t decide about The Odyssey – I coped with the length, liked the cinematography and soundtrack, and am not sure about everything else.
  • Episode 3 of Downie Live: Bangkok to Bali was another good travel journey. I need to watch the finale. I fancy an international train journey.

Weeknotes #186: Portugal, port and pastel (de nata)

Fizz, animals, pottery, sunshine, coding and books lead to Porto.

Week commencing Monday, 10 August 2026

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 6/7 and Move 7/7. (95%). Total steps: 76,984. On holiday in Porto.

Life in Portugal

  • Woke up in a hotel in Portugal on Monday, had pastel de nata for breakfast, and went out in the heat.
  • It seems everything in Porto is up a hill. In all directions. Always.
  • Full marks to the tourist information, but I feel that if another customer hadn’t walked in, we might have been chatting there all day.
  • We did the wrong loop on the hop-on, hop-off tour first. Turned out to be a good decision, although it meant we were by delicious-smelling grilled seafood for the journey by the beach.
  • I learned Time Out makes more money from the Time Out Market concept than it does from its old listing business. And the one we visited was excellent.
  • Related, we tried francesinha, considered Porto’s signature sandwich. I thought of it a bit like lasagne, but made with bread. Delicious, very filling, but hardly a sandwich.
  • All the port traders are old. Monday, Caves Burmester claimed 1750; on Tuesday, Cockburn’s claimed 1815 and Croft, not the sherry, 1588. IMHO, the middle one was best.
  • There are lots of restaurants which are lovely, but not obvious from the roadside: Bartolomeu Bistro & Wine (try the Japanese-style pancakes); at Botanico and the panoramic restaurant on top of the Vincci hotel, go for the set menu.
  • The local kids jump off the Dom Luís I bridge, avoiding jet skis and tourist boats. I wonder if it’s really permitted.
  • The Douro Valley is hot and beautiful. Some of the Brits on the tour with us were loud.
  • Last week I concluded that I was no artist. At lunch on Wednesday, a medical artist claimed I was wrong and gave me a drawing lesson while we ate.
  • Livraria Lello has no association with Harry Potter.

Life back home

  • I found Little Portugal in London.
  • I paid for a new phone battery to be installed by Apple. I was surprised when it was not fully charged.

Media

  • I finished the book club book. Adam Kay’s first novel, A Particularly Nasty Case, is a farcical murder mystery, but I keep forgetting about the farce and thinking it’s ridiculous in places, which it was. And quite funny. A great holiday read.

Weeknotes #185: Apps, animals and airports

Fizz, animals, pottery, sunshine, coding and books lead to Porto.

Week commencing Monday, 3 August 2026

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 3/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 5/7. (57%). Morning walks: 0/3. Office days: 1/3. Total steps: 50,835. 14.3 hours in meetings.

Life

  • Good news from PY’s job had us drinking fizz on Monday night and eating weekend leftovers.
  • By the end of the week, I’d built an iPhone app for my own use. I discovered that, for an app to work properly, I need to pay for an Apple Developer account, even if it’s just for me. I haven’t done that yet.
  • Related, in reality OpenAI Codex built it for me. I can see why some people think this is the future.
  • Tuesday, A’s 10th birthday was celebrated with a trip to Mudchute Farm and Park. Lots of lovely animals to look at, and it’s (mainly) free.
  • Related, there is an entrance across the ASDA car park. Walk towards the hand car wash.
  • Following that, we did pottery painting. I slightly regret choosing something with curves because the place provided stencils, which would have been much better on a flatter surface. I did conclude that I was no artist.
  • Saturday, a walk to M&S and Merton Abbey Mills in the sunshine. Lovely.
  • Sunday, at the airport, we talked about a previous holiday where we had a book club, reading the same book to compare notes. PY went to a shop, and we now have Adam Kay’s first novel, A Particularly Nasty Case, for the Porto book club.
  • At the end of Sunday, we were in a hotel in the heart of Porto, and I’d read a decent chunk of the book.

Errata

  • Last week, I wrote that The Newsreader had the perfect two-series story arc and had ended where it was supposed to. Oops, the only thing that had ended was Netflix UK’s willingness to show me any more of it. There is a third series. I had mistaken “all the episodes available to me” for “all the episodes that exist”, an easy trap to fall into when a streaming service hasn’t coughed up all the money. So, my grand theory about its elegant conclusion now joins the long list of opinions confidently formed from bad information. Think of me as your badly trained AI.

Media

  • BBC Two quiz night is always fun. We remembered it this week.
  • State of the Screens: Podcasts Became TV. Ad Budgets Didn’t Notice — Americans spent 40 billion hours with podcasts in 2025. That equals Netflix’s entire 2024 TV viewing. But podcast ads brought in just $3 billion, about 1% of internet ad spending.
  • New buddy series: Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham in Ride or Die, on Prime.
  • An evening of Paul Heaton at the BBC was fantastic, even if it stopped me from packing.

Weeknotes #184: records, reading and relatives

A productive, cultured week of family, music, reading and creativity.

Week commencing Monday, 27 July 2026

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 2/7 and Move 5/7. (57%). Morning walks: 0/4. Office days: 1/5. Total steps: 42,230. 15.5 hours in meetings.

Life

  • I had a co-working partner for the first two days of the week. While I did my day job, ChatGPT quietly got on with enhancing my blog review tool and created a WordPress plugin for me. Part of the result was this page featuring a series of posts about London.
  • Related, by Saturday, I’d turned some of the work from the review project into a blog post, which has a very niche audience of me.
  • The nurse didn’t like the fact that I tried to move the seat when I sat down to have my blood test. I wonder if that’s why it hurt more than usual?
  • Heard for the first time this week: Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s Rein Me In has now spent 18 weeks at No. 1, equalling the all-time UK record set by Frankie Laine’s I Believe in 1953. As James Masterton points out in his Chart Watch commentary, it has taken 73 years for anything to match it. One more week and the record finally falls – all the more remarkable for a song that took eight months to reach No. 1 in the first place.
  • Related, on repeat for me this week: Little Miss Twain, by Shania Twain. It’s an older Shania looking back at growing up in Ontario, her mother’s ambitions for her, poverty and her route into music. A really good album.
  • Sunday brought a lovely afternoon with family. The dishes I served – turkey burgers and slow-cooked pulled pork – worked very well and had largely been cooked in advance, so there was no stress.
  • Jeremy King, on dining alone: “The problem is that you think that the restaurant is looking at you with pity, whereas in truth it is with admiration. It is so elegant and confident to eat alone, and they envy you?” – Without Reservation, highly recommended.
  • Related, by Sunday, 2026 was 58.63% complete, and finishing that book took me to 67% of the year’s reading challenge. It’s not often that I am ahead.

Media

  • Linear TV won on Tuesday night when, after we’d seen the end of The Great British Sewing Bee, the following programme about a murder in Shrewsbury piqued our interest and we stuck with it.
  • But streaming won my Friday night. I watched Heartstopper Forever, the final film in the Heartstopper story. I liked it, but I did think there wasn’t as much original content as in the earlier instalments, although it is always very nice when a story reaches a conclusion that everybody can buy into.
  • Then I thought I had an hour, so I would watch the first episode of the second series of the Australian drama The Newsreader. Having seen the first, I was intrigued to see where it would go. I ended up watching all six episodes into the early hours, the last couple from bed. I really enjoyed it, and I can see why the programme ended after two series, because its beautiful story arc comes to a close in the final episode.

Weeknotes #183: keys, leaks and a book suggestion

Tower traditions, island reassurance, gripping books and cheerful journeys delighted.

Week commencing Monday, 20 July 2026

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 6/7 and Move 7/7. (90%). Morning walks: 0/4. Office days: 1/5. Total steps: 55,645. 20.4 hours in meetings.

Life

  • The Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London is a wonderful tradition, and I am glad I got to see it this week.
  • News of another leak in Ryde midweek turned into a nice couple of days on the Isle of Wight, and no real damage was detected.
  • I took the advice of the bookseller in Waterstones on Thursday and bought Alice Feeney’s My Husband’s Wife. I’d finished it by Saturday. Maybe I should ask for advice more often.
  • In the food court that I went to after buying the book, I became transfixed by a man who sat in one of the bar-like spaces, working on a laptop with an attached second screen as though it were his daily place of work. How the entire place wasn’t reading his work is beyond me.
  • On Friday evening, I used the seasonal bar at the FastCat terminal to buy wine for the train. The front carriage was air-conditioned and almost empty.
  • Related, the man across the aisle from me on the train, all tight vest and hair gel, suddenly blurted out the theme from The Archers. It made me smile; his look was not what I expected from an Archers fan.
  • Sunday, an air-conditioned, quiet, central London pub made for a nice afternoon catch-up with friends.

Another New PM

  • We started the week with a new PM. Andy Burnham took over from Sir Keir Starmer at Downing Street after being confirmed as Labour leader last week. The former mayor of Greater Manchester becomes the 59th person to hold the office.
  • Relatedly, three hours after he stepped into No. 10, I was listening to a podcast questioning his legitimacy to be in charge. It’s so depressing: journalists creating a low-level narrative just hours in.
  • Relatedly related, on Tuesday, John Healey was named Chancellor, becoming Burnham’s first Cabinet appointment. Ed Miliband moved from energy to become Foreign Secretary, Wes Streeting — Burnham’s leadership rival before he ruled himself out — was made Defence Secretary, and Angela Rayner returned to government as Housing Secretary after her earlier resignation over her housing-related tax affairs. The ins and the outs are fascinating, but do they change anything?
  • Burnham framed his premiership as a “circuit breaker” for Britain, bringing forward “the biggest changes in the last 40 years”. I guess every PM needs a narrative now, and it better work on TikTok.

Media

  • Maria McErlane on the ’90s, talking about the Loaded magazine staff: “I was always slightly afraid of your mob. And, you know, I’m sure our paths crossed in some of the sort of ’90s bars and clubs. I’m sure, and I remember people saying, ‘Oh, there’s James Brown over there with his cronies.’ And I remember feeling frightened because I didn’t feel that you were very nice to women.”
  • Post-World Cup, why are people discussing commentators’ lip mics? Here’s a history.
  • Finished the current series of the new Bergerac. It was a bit of a step up from the first season, with a decent mystery — a groom killed at a Jersey wedding — but possibly a bit padded in some of the middle episodes.
  • And then another remake was suggested to us. This one is much more absurd: Magnum P.I.. Both versions share the sunny Hawaiian setting and the core premise of a private investigator living on Robin Masters’ estate; the 1980s original and the modern reboot feel different. No thick moustache, and a bit more action, but the reboot remains as pleasingly, comfortably ridiculous as the original.

Weeknotes #182: graduations, glasses and glory

Celebrations, socials, sport and cabaret.

Week commencing Monday, 13 July 2026

A wide-angle view inside London Stadium during the Novuna London Athletics Meet, showing the packed stands, the running track and infield with athletes preparing for a field event, all beneath the stadium's distinctive open roof structure against a blue sky.
Packed stands greet athletes at London Stadium’s summer meet.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 5/7 and Move 6/7. (76%). Morning walks: 0/4. Office days: 1/5. Total steps: 53,796; 22.9 hours in meetings.

Life

  • Monday, a drink and a bite to eat at The Leather Bottle, which I was delighted to do given I’d not left the house all day. PY had some good news, so we had another glass.
  • Proud godparents on Tuesday, as K graduated from Cardiff with an amazing degree. Seems like I know some smart people.
  • My pension adviser reckons I might live to 83. Now we’re trying to figure out when the money might run out. So, still working.
  • Drinks on Wednesday were meant to try and avoid the World Cup. We failed and got quite into it.
  • Lovely work social on Thursday. I may have gatecrashed the social committee’s post-event drinks, mainly because I didn’t clock that they were doing it.
  • Relatedly, I paid for an Uber that I didn’t take. It took so long to turn up that I hopped in a taxi. I don’t have the energy to argue with them about it.
  • I was there: a spectacular performance by Great Britain’s Josh Kerr, who shattered Hicham El Guerrouj’s 27-year-old world record in the men’s mile at the Novuna London athletics event.
  • Cabaret in the Crypt – The Best of West End Musicals, in St Martin-in-the-Fields’ Crypt café. Great performances, but the backing track made it feel less real.

World Cup Matches

  • Remember, I said this last time about the AI commentator.
  • Wednesday, COMMENTATOR: It was a game of two halves — a cagey, scrappy first period in Atlanta where neither side truly convinced, before Gordon’s thumping 55th-minute finish, set up by Rogers, had England dreaming of a first World Cup final in 60 years, only for Argentina to do what Argentina always seem to do — summon Messi from somewhere deep, watch Fernandez curl in a brilliant long-range effort on 85 minutes, and then, in the cruellest of all stoppage-time twists, see Lautaro Martinez nod home another Messi assist to shatter English hearts once more and send the defending champions through to face Spain in the final.
  • Saturday, COMMENTATOR: It was a game of two halves — extraordinary, barely believable halves at that — as a second-string England side, Kane and Bellingham both left on the bench, tore France to shreds in Miami with Rice scoring inside three minutes, Konsa heading in a second, and Saka running riot to make it 4-0 by the break, before France emerged for the second half a completely different proposition, Mbappé bagging a brace to become the all-time leading World Cup scorer and Barcola and Dembélé adding two more to have England clinging on desperately, until substitute Bellingham settled nerves with a composed finish in stoppage time to seal a quite remarkable 6-4 victory and give England third place — their best World Cup finish since 1966.

Media