Tag: weeknotes

Week commencing Monday, 1 July 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 4/7; Exercise 1/7 and Move 4/7. (43%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 0/5. Total steps: 38,383

Life

• Mum and Dad arrived to make use of the anniversary gift and enjoyed the afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason. The day before, dinner at a local Korean restaurant was mediocre.
• While they were eating finger sandwiches and buying tea towels, I went to the physio about my shoulder. It was supposed to be a seminar but because so few people were booked on it we all got a personal consultation. I think I will have some kind of injection to see if it helps.
• Wednesday, we all had delicious Mediterranean but, perhaps, I ordered too many dips. I enjoyed it.
• Mum & Dad took the train back on Thursday morning. I went to vote. I am not sure if it was tactical or what I would have done anyway.
• Evening drinks at The White Horse meant I was spared the big 10pm exit poll TV shenanigans. When I got home I did stay up watching too many results while flicking between channels.
• Friday, Closer to Heaven at The Turbine theatre is good. Frances Ruffelle excellent as Billie Trix. It’s the third version we’ve seen and I’d recommend this one. We has cabaret-style tables but kept the little card to say no interaction. In hindsight, that was the wrong decision.
• Sunday, Thames-side to an Airbnb in Wraysbury for C’s birthday. The house is nice with a view of the river, the pub had great service and great steaks.

Media

• I find most political reporting frustrating to listen to. So I heard almost nothing this week apart from episodes of The Rest is Politics and I watched their Channel 4 televised shows.
• The exception to politics was Game Changers Radio: Melbourne Radio Wars which is getting really good.

Week commencing Monday, 17 June 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 5/7. 76%). Morning walks: 0/3 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 0/4. Total steps: 76,589

Life

• Did you return last week for the thrilling finale of the Washing Machine saga? I forgot to add it to my weeknotes. They sent a new machine. It’s remarkable how, when it’s not working, the effort engulfed my day-to-day. Whereas after they had replaced it, not a second thought. This one has a digital countdown—genuinely 21st century.
• I read today about Sir Rod Stewart’s need to defend his support of Ukraine after he was apparently booed at a concert in Germany on Friday night. Sad world in which we live.
• Related, I mentioned Rod Stewart this week 22 years ago. I just came across it by accident. Not sure why you’d be interested.
• According to The Mirror, a sitting Prime Minister has never lost their seat at a general election. Could tactical voting mean it happens this time? I suspect not, but I do wonder who might lose their seats.
• Wednesday evening to the Isle of Wight. There were some tight connections but I thought I’d make the 7:20pm sailing only to be thwarted one station away. So, I went and did my grocery shopping. Apple Maps’ directions to Tesco were lousy (including trying to send me through a park with locked gates).
• Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Isle of Wight festival. The weather, atmosphere and music were all great. My feet hurt from the amount of standing I needed to do. It was a painful walk to back to the bus on Sunday evening. There were a lot of highlights. I need to write up the experience.
• Related: Souther Vectis ran an excellent service.

Media

• I watched a video about dishwashers and discovered my machine has space for dishwasher powder in the first wash before the pod is released. Hat tip: Tom Scott.

Week commencing Monday, 10 June 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 1/7 and Move 5/7. (62%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 43,073

Life

• Back at the Monday night quiz. I mentioned before that there are prizes for 1st, 2nd and 9th. Last time we lost 9th on a tiebreak. This time we won it. I am remarkably delighted about being very middling.
• Tuesday night to see The Finellis Musical at Wonderville. It’s a fun show with great performances and wonderful vocals. It does need trimming but don’t let that put you off: every musical starts somewhere and you’ll see the potential and watch great singing. If anything, it feels big for the venue but go and say you saw it there.
• Last week, the British Prime Minister left D-Day 80th anniversary events in Normandy early. It’s still rumbling on for Rishi.
• Thursday night out with work and I ended the evening in a bar on Regent Street. It was remarkably quiet.
• Also social Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Friday, dinner with family at a pub in Woking, we ended up measuring each other’s ears. Sunday afternoon with friends was warm enough to sit in the garden.
• We only watched a bit of the football. And then a repeat of Midsomer Murders.

Media

• I watched The Rest Is Politics: the Channel 4 screening of the podcast. I saw it live on Tuesday. Two smart people talking but I think it works better in audio. They will make a good pair as part of election coverage.
• On catchup, Jonathan Groff in an excellent Doctor Who was better than the all live #BattleForNumber10 which was the big election piece of the evening.

Week commencing Monday, 3 June 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 2/7 and Move 4/7. (62%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 46,266

Life

• You want a washing machine update? Ask next Monday evening.
• I completed Trevor Horn’s book. The chapter on Frankie Goes to Hollywood made me listen to Two Tribes 12” (Annihilation Mix). Which brought all sorts of childhood memories flooding back.
• Monday night, to see Heathers The Musical. Really well done, but I am glad I watched the movie a few weeks ago. Doing the second Act only wearing your pants is a feat for the performers concerned.
• Starlight Express is a wonderful musical if you’re prepared to just accept people on roller skates are trains. I loved it at the Apollo Victoria. I liked the new 2024 version in Wembley.
• I don’t often read restaurant reviews and I don’t know why I stumbled on this But, “Nosebleedingly expensive” does seem to describe a lot of London restaurants at the moment.
• Drinks in central London on Thursday night were good. Nice to catch-up with former colleagues. I bought one big round which included a subset of people and it was £37. When did drinking in a pub get so expensive?
• Ended the week singing more 80s songs in The Crazy Coqs’ Stock, Aitken and Waterman show.

Media

• On the train on Thursday, I tried to catch-up on the remainder of Sounds of the 80s when Jason Donovan joined Gary to co-host on his birthday! As always, wonderful 80s music. I didn’t quite finish it.
• Started watching Lost Boys and Fairies billed as, “The tender, glittering story of gay couple Gabriel and Andy’s journey to adoption”. There’s a bit at the end of the second episode that makes me not want to start the third because I am not sure I want to know.

Week commencing Monday, 27 May 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 6/7 and Move 6/7. (86%). Morning walks: 0/3 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/4. Total steps: 74,977

Life

• A general election was called last week. Apparently, the man in charge of everything didn’t check the weather forecast before announcing it in the rain. Several hours after the event, I was told, and I still haven’t seen a picture of him in the rain. I didn’t mention it in last week’s notes because the only thing that will change between now and ‘the date’ is that I’ll despair more about the people in power. As a result, I resolved to spend more time in my garden.
• Bank holiday Monday to the Bembridge street fair. Just thinking about the human fruit machine, and I am still laughing. Lots of people and packed buses. Lovely community spirit.
• Related, we walked out towards the pier and lifeboat station. Lovely scone with a peaceful view of the water.
• I discovered, by scrolling to some obscure part of the NHS app, that my physiotherapy referral for my shoulder had been cancelled because I didn’t have an appointment. I called to ask why I’d not been asked to make one. After much computer clicking, I finally have an appointment (albeit for a telephone consultation). It’s a start. Yay.
• Are you here for the washing machine content? This week, a different engineer was sympathetic to the saga. New drum. The machine is not working—parts are out of stock. I can’t face the call queue.
• Difficult meeting on Wednesday. It will not be resolved quickly. Work to put in, so I went for a walk on Cannon Hill Common. It’s looking very lush and green.
• Friday night to buy paint to patch up some walls.
• On Saturday, we tried to picnic on the beach, but the wind was against us.
• On Sunday, I sat in the marina-side bar and drank wine before the train home. The sun shone. A lovely way to end the week.

Media

• Sounds Of The 80s with Jason Donovan is the music of the last bits of my teenage years. Also, the best song that was a hit but nobody remembers because “double a-sides” are not a thing the kids understand.
• Years ago, I was in Australia. I wrote about Kyle & Jackie O. Now they are being networked to Melbourne. The podcast charting the change is brilliantly produced with lovely levels of anorachness.
• Beers were cancelled on Tuesday night, but this video of Carol Voderman was shared, “the most dangerous people in this country are women post menopause. Because they don’t give a shit”.

Week commencing Monday, 20 May 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 6/7. (81%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 60,984

Life

• Interesting new project on the agenda at work this week, but it feels like a tight timeframe. Let’s see.
• The washing machine saga continues. This week’s engineer didn’t even open the machine before declaring a different part was needed. Booked for next week. By the weekend, my complaint had resulted in some compensation, but the machine remains unusable.
• Related, the call centre I spoke to told me, no, I could not speak with a supervisor because the person I was talking to was “perfectly trained to help me”. I believe she had heard my, “but you’re not” response before.
• I gave blood again on Wednesday. I hadn’t thought the pain in my shoulder would stop me, but the staff were wonderful, checking that the “giving” position wouldn’t hurt me.
• Related, the nurse and I both agreed that a shoehorn was an amazing invention.
• Relatedly, related. Can you get orange-flavoured Club biscuits anywhere other than blood donation centres?
• Friday night train not as busy as expected. The ferry, on the other hand, was much busier. A sunny weekend on the Isle of Wight.
• The drinks and snacks at the place with the award-winning chef were nice, but not stocking Island produce because it’s ”everywhere” was, in my book, poor form.

Media

• We’re going to see Heathers, The Musical in a few weeks. I hadn’t watched the movie before, so we did. It’s dark and very 80s. You wouldn’t get away with some of that today.
• Previously, I wasn’t liking this series of Doctor Who. This week, 73 Yards was a masterpiece.
• Andy Burnham, on James O’Brien’s Full Disclosure podcast was a great listen.

Week commencing Monday, 13 May 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 4/7. (62%). Morning walks: 1/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 43,881

Life

• The highlight of the week was The King’s Garden Party. And it was in the bright sunshine – glad I took sunglasses. I didn’t know what to expect. I dressed in full-on mourning suit and didn’t feel out of place even though I was in a minority. I feel honoured to have been there. A bunch of famous faces seen and on the correct side of the line for the King to talk to the people I went with.
• Related, the top hat was new to me and I probably shouldn’t have bothered, but it was an experience and I don’t know if I’ll ever get a chance again. In the evening, my back hurt from the upright posture required to keep the hat on. Jealous of the people who make it look effortless.
• Relatedly related, I might have been the only person to transport my top hat to and from The Palace in a Sainsbury’s foldable shopping bag.
• Obviously, I had to have cucumber sandwiches when eating at The Palace. Excellent.
• Otherwise, a very normal week.
• Related, trains on the way back were so disrupted they removed Clapham Junction from the stops. Thank Uber for the ride home.
• The washing machine saga continues. On Monday, an engineer discovered a fault with the machine that required a new part. An hour later, the insurance company rang. I thought they wanted to talk to me about the repair, but it was an excuse to upsell me more insurance. I declined several times for the recording.
• Monday night was quiz night. After our disappointing performance last time, we did good. Pulling Terry Jacks, Seasons In The Sun, out of the hat helped make us joint ninth. Ninth is a specific goal of this quiz. We lost it on a tiebreak.
• The UK’s sunniest place has been named (and it’s not Cornwall), says Metro. Yay for Shanklin!
• Fun with ChatGPT. I asked what’s good AI. It said ethical AI should properly attribute but couldn’t provide attribution for its responses. I asked if OpenAI was, therefore, unethical. “Not necessarily” was the answer. It amused me.
• I watched the Google IO event and was impressed by the Gemini capabilities. Then I asked ChatGPT and Gemini to describe an image. Only one AI came close and it wasn’t Google’s.
• Weekend, to the Isle of Wight. The fridge has stopped opening while we have been elsewhere. The resulting stink from off food was unpleasant. One nudge of the temperature button and all was functioning. Less said about the weekend the better.

Media

• Doctor Who: We watched Space Babies and The Devil’s Chord. These feel very different to anything that’s been before. In particular, The Devil’s Chord had no sense of jeopardy and the Hairspray finale was more High School Musical than time travelling Doctor. Thankfully, Ncuti saved the episode by being brilliant.
• Trying to get through Trigger Point. Will persevere.

Week commencing Monday, 6 May 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 5/7 and Move 7/7. (86%). Morning walks: 2/3 (happy to have restarted the trend). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 67,658

Life

• Bank holiday Monday. It rained, quite a lot. I stayed inside, quite a lot (but not entirely).
• As it turns out, the washing machine was not fixed by fluke as I thought last week. Awaiting another engineer.
• Tuesday was sunny. I did a morning walk again and it felt good. It felt even better to do it again on Wednesday.
• Even if you don’t like Eurovision, you should have watched it for the amazing sets & Petra Mede. Sweden knows how to do it. The final was fun and, for once, the winner was in my top 3.
• Related. For the first time in many years we watched it away from our house at the home of friends. As we were not entertaining, and as they provided a helpful scorecard, we watched every song. Some of them felt much longer than three minutes. The accompanying food was lovely.
• Dinner with Greg on Wednesday night was Japanese (Koyn) and wonderful (both in company and food). Also, expensive. But as it’s our once-every-two-years meet-up, I’m OK with that.
• By the end of Thursday I was tired so skipped the work karaoke session. Probably for the best.
• Went to hire a mourning suit in Wimbledon on Friday evening. They were closed. Met PY and sat in the – very small – beer patio at All Bar One. Spontaneous and fun.
• Managed to do the hiring on Saturday. But it will be delivered the day before it is needed. Nervous.
• Sunday, on the way back from our Eurovision stay, to God’s Own Junkyard: a treasure-trove of neon. Wonderful, evocative and bright.

Media

• Shardlake on Disney+. Although it was the monks being investigated, I couldn’t get Cadfael out of my head. This is probably more gruesome. Good characters, interesting plot. Set-up for a second series?

Week commencing Monday, 29 April 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 4/7. (62%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 46,663

Life

• Finally, a scan on my shoulder. I am reminded how big, complex and unnerving hospitals can be. Now, the wait for the results.
• It’s always amusing when a train service blames congestion on a line where passengers have sat for 20 minutes without a train passing. I understand the blockage might be elsewhere, but that doesn’t stop me laughing.
• The washing machine was fixed by fluke. The blocked drain crew that arrived on Monday did not understand what they were called out for, but they inadvertently poked something in the pipes, and it worked.
• Related, we spent a week figuring out how to put the units back together. By Saturday, I let PY do it.
• On Friday, I went to a crypt with a silent disco. It was silent only in so much as you needed headphones to hear one of the three DJs. It was loud because there was no music to drown out everybody’s awful singing. Fun.
• Dinner on Saturday night in Wimbledon Village. I was too tired to participate properly, so I was home before the end.
• Sunday, with more energy, we bought some plants and put them in the pots for the summer. We managed to eat breakfast outside until the clouds came.
• Oh, and ticked, hopefully, the right boxes on the three voting papers we were given. By Saturday, Sadiq was selected.

Week commencing Monday, 22 April 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 6/7 and Move 6/7. (90%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 65,257

Life

• Tuesday was St George’s Day and also BBC Radio Shropshire’s birthday. I found some tuning guides produced in the 80s by BBC Engineering Information which got posted around. They seem quaint now.
• The washing machine engineer did not fix the washing machine. Saturday spent, partly, in a launderette. £1 a minute seems to be the going rate for everything.
• Thursday, farewell drinks with a colleague. Started earlier than usual Thursday drinks and ended later. There were no trains home from Clapham Junction by the time I got there, so a taxi was needed.
• Related, Friday was my most productive day for weeks. I am not sure how that could be but I powered through quite a lot of writing.
• Stand, for 2 hours, at The Bridge Theatre to watch Guys and Dolls, they said. It’s immersive theatre par excellence, they said. Get out of the way of the rising and falling platforms (aka stage), said people dressed as NYC cops. Be right up close to the action that the cast talk to you, in full character, as they pass. Join the cast dancing at the end of the show. It’s was a wonderful way to spend a Friday evening and wholeheartedly recommended.
• Sunday, boat trip cancelled but we went out east anyway. Westfield Stratford was busy, the sun came out for coffee on The Milk Float and The Great British Garden a hidden gem that proved London 2012 keeps on giving.

Media

• Rory, Alastair and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan spoke for The Rest is Poltics: Leading. Interesting to hear just how much – or little – power the Mayor has?
• 30 years after Jurassic Park, you’d hope mankind was smart enough to know that, (1) if you work with dinosaurs your facility will be destroyed, and (2) the largest dinosaur will have a its eye right next to you but not see you. Jurassic World Dominion did not understand this. The reprise of every set piece was annoying but, somehow, in a bad movie the cast were terrific. Campbell Scott’s Dr. Lewis Dodgson, played as Tim Cook, genius.
• A-ha meets Doctor Who in a fabulous version of Take On Me. All the doctors in sequence.
• For the first fifteen minutes, I thought Dead Boy Detectives was going to annoy me too much to stay with it. And then it didn’t and turned out to be fun.

Week commencing Monday, 15 April 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 5/7 and Move /57. (76%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 59,328

Life

• I won’t beat myself up about the last few weeknotes being late. At the start of the year, I told myself completion was better than meeting the self-imposed weekly deadline. But I’m sorry, me.
• Monday was Quiz night again. This time, we struggled. We lost count of where we were placed. Last time, we started strong with the ‘name the celebrity from their eyes’ round. This time, scoring 7 out of 10 on that round put us on the back foot.
• Thursday was the first time I’d forgotten my pass when going into the office. It was easy enough to get a temporary replacement, but it was hard to return when reception wasn’t staffed.
• Friday night was pizza night in Ryde. It was lovely after a few drinks in a pub and sausage crisps. Saturday night was Chicken burger, delicious but not home-cooked.
• Related, Colin Hall and Bob Harris were in conversation on Saturday night about the songs The Beatles Gave Away—several fascinating stories. However, if you are booked for further tour nights, be warned: these two can keep talking.
• Relatedly, related. The bar flooded before the break, so interval drinks were in the gallery, where there was exciting art: walking around with a glass of wine made me feel like I was at a preview event.
• Completed eight out of the nine murals painted for the Ryde Art Trail. The missing one was in a venue that wasn’t open on Sundays. Impressive art.

Media

• Saturday Night Live sketches have been amusing PY for weeks. I must admit Beavis and Butt-Head is funny.
• Christian Wolmar, writing for the Irish Independent, on congestion charging, how the argument against the charge was lost in 2003 and why the 21st Century “must be the century of sustainable transport”
• I could not listen to the related Radio 2 documentary, The Songs The Beatles Gave Away, because it doesn’t appear to be available anymore.

Week commencing Monday, 8 April 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 3/7 and Move 3/7. (57%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 39,179

Life

• A week where my shoulder continued to give discomfort, I stayed at home for much of it. Friday brought news of the scan in a few weeks.
• I had the first of what will become a series of financial pension reviews. Would my pensions work better for me if they were consolidated? This question remains to be answered.
• Avanti West Coast has queried my Delay Repay request, stating they want more information. They keep asking for a copy of the ticket even though the machine at Shrewsbury ate it, and the website says a Collection Receipt is sufficient. Grumble.
• I wish I had said I was going to Shrewsbury rather than asking. In the end, all was well, but for 24 hours, I was annoyed with myself.
• Seeing people in the office is always lovely, but I had quite a gap in the afternoon where I had no meetings. I used the time to walk around and chat with people. It felt simultaneously productive and unproductive.
• Lots of bowls of Vietnamese pho made from the chicken stock we got from last weekend’s roast. Endless nighttime loo visits.
• Related, Boys on the Verge of Tears at The Soho Theatre: a one-act, almost two-hour performance with five actors playing all the parts, entirely set in a men’s toilet. Lots to think about.
• Post-show French onion soup with gruyere cheese croutons was everything I wanted: very thick and rich.
• Three Sundays in a row: tonight, an 80s party night at The Crazy Coqs with a bunch of great songs.

Media

• All Of Us Strangers: After watching it last week it’s been on my mind all week. Friday, I watched the excellent “Behind-The-Scenes Broadcast Special” on YouTube. It’s such an interesting film to think about. And it was filmed in the director’s childhood home, which makes it even more fascinating. The YouTube algorithm served up an interesting collection of clips featuring the film’s stars appearing on The Graham Norton Show.
• Sunday night was the Olivier Awards on ITV. Lots of exciting musicals won, but Sunset Boulevard won the most awards. Tom Francis reprised Sunset Boulevard, starting outside the Royal Albert Hall and walking into the main auditorium (a version of how it was staged at The Savoy, even down to the cardboard Andrew Lloyd Webber. It’s very impressive).
• Apple Music has a new personalised play list: Heavy Rotation and I am loving it.

Week commencing Monday, 25 March 2024

Quantified Self

• This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 7/7 and Move 6/7. (95%). Total steps: 102,234

Life

• Holidays are relaxing, but the presence of a hot tub vastly improves relaxation.
• Finding, what seems like, authentic paella is harder in Lanzarote than I imagined. Maybe it’s not a thing here.
• Related, it’s definitely not at a waterfront restaurant in Arrecife.
• The Arrecife branch of Zara is not permanently closed as some apps said. It’s moved to the mall.
• Related, I did not indulge in the McDonald’s food. But my resolve may have been weaker if they’d had milkshakes on the menu.
• Walking with toes in the sea is remarkably calming. The foot rinsing showers are super handy.
• A museum told me that the first aircraft to pass over Lanzarote were Zeppelin airships, and they used to drop mail by parachute as they passed overhead.
• Related, the bus should stop at Museo Aeronáutico del Aeropuerto de Lanzarote. I felt like I would be stopped by the police on the walk from the terminal.
• Relatedly, related: Buses run to a different schedule on Maundy Thursday. Even the bus drivers didn’t know when they should go.
• A couple of walks to Playa Honda and beyond took us past the modern airport. I still enjoy watching the planes coming and going while trying to work out where they may be flying to or from (there’s an app for that).

Media

• I was increasingly absorbed by Robert Elms’ London Made Us. “A cab diver stuck in a morass of road works and construction jams once said exasperatedly to me, ‘London is great, but it will be better when it’s finished.’ But of course the opposite is true, London will be finished when it’s finished.” (p291)
• Bryant & May Investigate White Corridor is another wonderful book in the series. Even in Lanzarote, the descriptions of the snowstorm were chilling.
• Beyoncé released Cowboy Carter while we were away. Wow, that’s a long album. Apparently, she recorded 100 songs for it. Thank god she could edit some out. I need to listen it more.
• The only TV I watched while away was The Life And Death Of Lily Savage and I am glad I did. What a great story.