Tag: christmas

Weeknotes #97: Christmas and my leg

A lively week with food, fun, and festive adventures!

Week commencing Monday, 25 November 2024

A gigantic illuminated Christmas Bauble in the grounds of Waddesdon Manor as part of the light show
A nighttime photograph of trees in the Waddesdon Grounds illuminated by red, blue and green lighting
Outside Waddesdon Manor, the house is bathed in projection telling the Sleeping Beauty story
The snooker table at Waddesdon Manor, decorated to tell part of the sleeping Beauty Story

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 6/7 and Move 7/7. (95%). Morning walks: 0/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 63,828

Life

  • Observant readers will note this is the first week in a while where my exercise streak has been broken. It’s frustrating, but there’s a reason.
  • Related, at the start of the week I renewed my gym membership, even though I have hardly visited this year because of my shoulder. I vowed to do better next year.
  • Relatedly related, I injured my leg on Wednesday (ironically on the way home from my Tai Chi class). Somehow my leg disappeared from under me on some stairs (did I slip, miss a step?), and I was suspended above ground by holding onto the railing. I have been unable to walk without pain for the rest of the week.
  • Before I fell, I’d been stuck on a train that didn’t move for about an hour due to delays. Waterloo was in chaos. People were angry. I always feel sorry for the platform staff on nights like this.
  • There are Christmas songs on the radio.
  • Delay repay update: Transport for Wales did receive my delay repay request forwarded from Avanti, but won’t process it until they know how to pay me. Even though they may conclude not to pay me.
  • I hobbled around the office on Thursday before heading to Carnaby Street for Thirsty Thursday drinks. I was early, so enjoyed my first Five Guys burger.
  • Related, the Carnaby Street lights are a bit disappointing when compared to last year’s colourful extravaganza. Apparently, they are energy-efficient and will be reused for years.
  • Friday, dinner at the new branch of Scott’s in Richmond was delicious. Their festive lunch menu is served until 5:30 pm, and the fillet of pollock with cauliflower and woodland mushrooms is lovely.
  • Related, the fried Brussels sprouts with kimchi dressing are even better.
  • Relatedly related, the off-festive-menu oysters were better again.
  • I was taken to a comedy show at Richmond Theatre. I’d never seen, or heard of, Henry Rowley before. Described by Sky News as “The British ‘posh boy’ who became one of the year’s breakout TikTok stars”. I really enjoyed it.
  • Related, didn’t feel old. So, that was a win.
  • In spite of my inability to walk well, Christmas at Waddesdon is fantastic. The interior has been decorated for Christmas, inspired by the Sleeping Beauty story. There are more Christmas trees than I have ever seen in a single house. An outdoor light trail, projection, and Christmas market are great.
  • First mulled wine of the year has been ticked off.

Media

  • Listened and watched quite a bit about green energy, starting with Zero Bills homes: Getting rid of energy bills for good, a podcast by Octopus Energy. The basic idea is that modern, well-insulated houses, with the right set-up, can offset their entire electricity bill by providing power to the grid at times of peak demand.
  • Which led me to an episode of the Everything Electric Show about a B&B that runs with very low running costs thanks to a low-energy set-up: Low Energy Bills! This B&B Makes It Possible!
  • Related, Just Have a Think: Global Energy Market Disruption. This man has THE PLAN!! discusses Octopus Energy’s CEO Greg Jackson and how the company plans to revolutionise the UK energy sector.
  • On a train, I finished listening to Toto Wolff (Team Principal & CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team) on High Performance – a fascinating insight into how to be better.
  • My new favourite podcast is Dish! I am working my way through the back catalogue. This week Sara Cox was cooked mackerel with a watermelon rojack, but you know she’d have been just as happy with chips and gravy.

Weeknotes #48: Am I allowed out?

Week commencing Monday, 18 December 2023

Christmas wrapping paper

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 3/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 4/7. (52%, I was ill). Morning walks: 0/5. Plant diversity: 19. Total steps: 47,242

Life

  • Made it to Christmas Eve. Not the Christmas we were planning. But, we’re ready for tomorrow and, in the end, I watched a lot of excellent stuff on screens which I’ve documented below.
  • I now know why I was exhausted yesterday. Less about the late nights last week more about COVID. Not good this close to Christmas. Monday afternoon and Tuesday were the worst days, but there was light at the end of the week. I checked, there are no rules only recommendations now.
  • Related, nobody wants to see me sneeze on conference calls. Camera off.
  • Related, all my social events cancelled. A lot of time at home. The room in which I work is very warm compared to the rest of the house.
  • I was well enough to finish the shopping on Saturday and Sunday. Turkey acquired (too big for two).
  • Administration 1: I had the wrong dates on weeknotes #46. The error lives on with The Wayback machine.
  • Administration 2: Re-reading my 2020 Instagram retrospective I had a wrong date in the text for the 2019 entry. Corrected; this mistake also lives on.

Media

Archive

To save the links getting lost in the future I checked the Internet Archive to see what they had saved for the posts linked here. YouTube links don’t seem to archive well so I don’t list them. If the source above no longer works, these should.

Weeknotes #46: 30 plants and a wonderful Christmastime

Week commencing Monday, 4 December 2023

Singers at TheCrazy Coqs annual Christmas songs night, 2023
Festive tunes

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 6/7; Exercise 7/7 and Move 7/7. (95%, happy with that). Morning walks: 3/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Plant diversity: 30. Total steps: 73,718

Life

  • My app tells me how many plants I have eaten in a week. The theory is that more diversity is better for you. I need to aim for 30. I’ve added it to the quantified self check list.
  • Finished work early on Monday. Decided the tree decorations needed tweaking. Flying Santa doesn’t fly on this tree. Sad-face emoji needed.
  • Tuesday to King’s Cross to meet Florent for a quick drink. He was at a drinks reception and it took me a while to find him.
  • Interesting thoughts about using AI to write: Why should someone bother to read what you didn’t bother to write?
  • Thursday, the decorations outside the office was nice. There was a meeting where the basic discussion has been happening for years. I believe we will solve it eventually.
  • Train disruption on Thursday evening: I wonder if it’s possible to solve these issues on the railway network or will it be like this forever?
  • Merry and Bright was a wonderful community lantern parade which, thankfully, happened between the light rain showers.
  • Heavy rain showers on Sunday meant I was soaked walking down Ryde Pier. Dried out by the time the train got us home.
  • The West End singers who perform at The Crazy Coqs each month are great. The annual Christmas-themed evening was wonderful. The homemade kebab I made when we got home, delicious.

Media

  • Monday, E4 started Modern Family from the pilot episode. Amazing how many of the characters were well-formed from the beginning.
  • Why Benedict Evans is Leaving Twitter. Whatever you think of the ‘blue bird’ site today, this is worth a read.
  • Crunch and Roll: Jo Russell sold insurance by day, played music on the radio by night.
  • The giggle was an amazing episode of Dr Who. So much to process.

Archive

To save the links getting lost in the future I checked the Internet Archive to see what they had saved for the posts linked here. YouTube links don’t seem to archive well so I don’t list them. If the source above no longer works, these should.

Weeknotes #45: internet writing

Week commencing Monday, 27 November 2023

London is all decorated for Christmas
London is all decorated for Christmas

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 7/7; Exercise 5/7 and Move 6/7. (86%). Morning walks: 3/4 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 1/5. Total steps: 72,752

Life

  • I spent a long time this week going through my blog archives. A blog from the early 2000s is fascinating: mainly a collection of links to interesting things happening at that point in time (with little commentary) and of its time, sometimes more thoughtful and sometimes a personal journal.
  • Related: I’ve probably forgotten more plays and films that I’ve seen than I remember. Shame I didn’t diary/blog for my whole life.
  • Relatedly related: I’ve been looking for ways to combine my internet writings – and maybe pictures – in a single place. There’s no obvious solution.
  • Rooting for Matty in the Bake Off final because he seemed like the underdog and, if you’re not following it too closely, why not cheer the underdog? Also, nice smile.
  • Thursday night couldn’t do Nando’s with the team as we did The Real Greek instead of Thirsty Thursday. Behind me in the queue, “I thought the Elgin marbles were marbles: the round things”. Then I read this. Smiling all evening.
  • London is all decorated for Christmas (see photo)

Media

Archive

To save the links getting lost in the future I checked the Internet Archive to see what they had saved for the posts linked here. YouTube links don’t seem to archive well so I don’t list them. If the source above no longer works, these should.

57 days until you know what

When the clocks go back it means another – and much more fun – annual tradition: Christmas songs.

The clocks have gone back. The mornings are now a little lighter and the commute home is a little darker. I wrote all about this last year in It’s Not (All) About The Farmers.

The days are getting shorter which means Christmas is getting closer. We’re already starting to see festive articles being published; if you are looking for the 10 of the best Christmas cards or 10 Best Women’s Christmas Jumpers then there’s already an article for you.  

But I’m not reading about those. When the clocks go back it means another – and much more fun – annual tradition: Christmas songs. As I said last year, “If you love Christmas songs and have never read the Fizzy Pop festive blog then you should go and do it right now”.  And, as last year, if you’re on Apple Music I am going to try and keep updating the Apple Playlist of the musical selections made.

It’s Not (All) About The Farmers

The clocks changed. Here comes festive fun.

The clocks went back last night. Thanks to the marvels of jet lag I missed it and saw no benefit to the extra hour in bed. I’ll spend the rest of the week trying to determine which devices don’t automatically reset themselves and I’ll find my kitchen clock out by an hour until next weekend. Then, when I realise, I’ll struggle to synchronise the clocks on the top and bottom ovens. Admittedly, nothing compared to the 379 clocks that need to be adjusted at Windsor Castle. I wonder who adjusts HM’s bedside alarm clock? Truly, first world problems.

Timezones are fascinating. I’ve spent my life trying to remember if it’s during the ‘spring forward’ phase or the ‘fall back’ time that we don’t adjust the clocks at the same time as my colleagues across the Atlantic. I never remember. But, I think it’s now. I do know that all of our meetings are messed up for a week now and nobody is in the right place at the right time.

I feel that, for as long as I can remember, it’s been assumed that we in Britain change the time because of farmers or school children. Lighter mornings mean fewer accidents, or something like that. It always sounded plausible but I am not sure I was convinced. Today, the Telegraph notes that, back in the early 1900s, William Willett “wanted to stop Brits from wasting valuable daylight hours” by staying in bed in the summer months and introduced the concepts of daylight savings time. So, really, it’s all about combatting laziness (or, to put it another way, our health and well-being). What I never knew was that the concept of British Double Summer Time, helpfully, BDST, was introduced to help save fuel during the post 1940 war years. by making Britain work on a 2-hour offset against GMT. It seems we are always tinkering with time.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

With the nights drawing in and the world donning a Halloween mask, my thoughts turn to Christmas. Although I have not seen that many Christmas treats in the supermarkets yet, I did spend some of yesterday in the local B&Q DIY superstore looking at Christmas lights. As the Most Wonderful Time of Year is rapidly approaching, it’s time for me to start hunting out the Yuletide musical delights uncovered at My Festive Fizzy Pop. It’s a bit of a guilty pleasure. With just 57 days until Christmas, it’s time to start building this year’s playlist of new Christmas music and My Festive Fizzy Pop is the perfect place to start. If you love Christmas songs and have never read the Fizzy Pop festive blog then you should go and do it right now.

I am unashamedly a fan of Christmas tunes. I do, however, limit my consumption to only the newly released songs in November. Come 1st December, however, the Christmas back catalogue will be playing for the majority of my listening hours. Look at my Last.FM stats for 2015 and 2016 and you’ll see the December spikes. Most of these tracks are songs from the my ever-growing festive archive. The most limited version of the archive (which contains the material I will actually listen to) is running at almost 48 hours of total listening time. Better start now.

The year I am sharing the 2017 new Christmas music collection (which is, mainly, new versions of the old songs) via Apple Music. I think you find it here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/playlist/my-festive-fizzy-pop-2017/idpl.u-d89AZtMG155g

And let me be the first to wish you a very Merry …. (maybe not).

#SOLS

Sermon of the last Sunday is my weak attempt to make sure I a am not thawing the hosting fees for this site away by ensuring there is some new content every month (yes, I’ve turned all modern media and refer to this a content). The #SOLS tag helpful links to the others (although I must remember to go and tag the missing one).

Effect Xmas

I never knew I didn’t know this.

Recently I may have professed that I knew the difference between affect and effect and it is confirmed for me today online at Common Errors in English. I did not think that Xmas was a way of removing the Christ from Christmas but more of a lazy person’s way of avoiding writing letters. Turns out, I was wrong and the X is an abbreviation of the Greek for Christ [Source]. Just goes to show that I know nothing.

Happy Christmas

I am in Javea on Spain’s Costa Blanca for Christmas. The usual grey skies and frost of a British Christmas Day are part of the experience for me and have been all my life. The sun and the warmth were a little disorienting at first. Now, of course, I realise Christmas is still the same.

I am in Javea on Spain’s Costa Blanca for Christmas. It’s very different yet very similar. I have family around me. We had turkey and all the trimmings yesterday and opened presents around a (paper) tree. We have plenty of (cheap, Spanish) wine, Christmas pudding and mince pies. The sun, however, is shining and we are able to sit outside and sit in the warmth (if there is a sheltered spot from the wind).

The usual grey skies and frost of a British Christmas Day are part of the experience for me and have been all my life. The sun and the warmth were a little disorienting at first. Now, of course, I realise Christmas is still the same.

Happy Christmas.