Notes

The best designers of my generation are thinking about how to make buttons look the same as other buttons. That sucks.

Happy Max DNF day, to those who celebrate.

Pushed the button and shipped the first update to Indiekit of 2024. Introduces post type plug-ins as well as improvements to the first run experience and documentation. Also, now available in Swedish!

I have great admiration for those who believe they can conduct a phone call while travelling on the Brighton Main Line. I gave up on that idea years ago… wait, tunnel!

Tony Robinson single handily ruined/improved this one day each year, as I can never get through it without singing “it’s Pancake Day, yes it’s Pancake Day, it’s p-p-p-p-p-p-Pancake Day”.

Formula 1 car liveries in 2024: you can have any colour, as long as it’s black.

I really hope HISBE can get back on their feet. Not only because I depend on them for my many refills (and with it my much reduced consumption of plastic), but I think their model of local, ethical and sustainable shopping makes a lot of sense.

2024 has already got off to a winning start: Pret have started serving their legendary Roasted Tomato and Egg Mayo Baguettes again. Missed you!

In a rare case of watching a popular television series, I binged both seasons of The Bear over the Christmas break. Everything written about this highly acclaimed show is true. It’s a love letter to Chicago, the hospitality industry and the act of making and serving food. Beautifully staged yet incredibly stressful to watch, while Fishes is the chaotic high point, Forks was easily my favourite episode from season 2.

Starting to wonder if I have a slight manic tendency towards web development. I have limitless feature ideas, improvements and bug fixes I want to address across a growing range of personal and open source projects that, alongside work too, comes at a cost to my overall wellbeing if not kept in check. Time to touch grass.

Fair to say that my Duolingo year in review (I’m a world champion language learner, apparently) is less embarrassing than my Apple Replay year in music where the top artist, song and album spots have all been taken by Steps. 😂

I wonder if anyone can help me solve this long-running conundrum. I can’t get new emails when I’m in my bathroom! I can browse the web, update RSS feeds, use apps etc., but my email server fails to respond when I’m sat on the loo. How is that possible!?

Every TypeScript project on GitHub might as well include a CONTRIBUTING file that states ‘Ha ha, nope’.

Using this verbose and complex meta syntax (that offers little over what can already be achieved with documentation, commenting and JSDoc) is nauseating gatekeeping.

The sooner this ludicrous, frustrating and wasteful fad passes, the better. Fuck TypeScript, and all those who perpetuate it.

What Deutsche Bahn gives with one hand (train arrived in Frankfurt 2 minutes early), it takes away with the other (connecting train to Brussels has been cancelled). 🙄

A beautifully unexpected series of talks at border:none today. With the theme of retrospection and finding our place in the world, at times the talks were very personal and deeply moving. That being said, I’m planning on skipping the sessions tomorrow morning so that I can visit the DB Museum! 🚂

The week I find myself nursing acute neck and shoulder pain has unfortunately coincided with a week spent carrying a heavy backpack and travelling across Europe by train. My hotel bed in Nuremberg had better be comfortable!

Seriously considering a trip to Nuremberg to attend IndieWebCamp.

And so concludes my participation in Micro.blog’s September Photoblogging Challenge. I’ve added all 30 entries to this collection.

Just sampled The Menu which was deliciously dark, and very moreish.

Unfollowing connections on LinkedIn is my new jam.

Not even Monza curses can stop Verstappen and Red Bull. Invincible.

Passed over, under and through the Alps having departed Como to arrive here in Zürich, the penultimate stop of my trip. Lots more to say about my travels through just a small part of Italy, and maybe I’ll write about them soon. But once again, as soon as I find myself in a German-speaking part of the world, I feel like I’m with my people. I’m already home.

Reading about the new identity for BBC Cricket, realise that I now much prefer the newer blocks logo to the old one. I didn’t take to it originally, but thought best to reserve judgement. Not only is it bolder and more balanced, it’s also wiped away the unsightly stain of Gill, which is no bad thing either.

This Sunday has been vastly improved by having actual Steps perform in my back garden. Kinda. I could hear the band rehearsing this morning, and can hear them performing now, all the way from Preston Park. Brighton Pride clearly has a great sound system! 🌈🎶

Watched Barbie and wow! Brilliantly bonkers and self-referential, if not dark and uncomfortable in places. Great music and choreography, plenty of unexpected cameos for British viewers, and enough commentary about capitalism and the patriarchy to keep Guardian journalists gainfully employed all summer long.

One from the archive: Flipping the bird

Watched James Graham’s new play Dear England at the National Theatre this evening. This is a story about Gareth Southgate giving the national men’s football team the freedom to win, and the country a lesson on how best to lose. When our political leaders are so easy to lampoon, it’s these young men who provide the moral leadership now.

Engine failure for Max, and a maiden win for Lando at his home Grand Prix? Yes please.

I don’t often recommend hotels, or make return visits, but just checked out of Hotel Casa in Amsterdam for the third time. I love staying here; it’s modern and stylish with a lovely cafe, restaurant and rooftop terrace. Located outside the canal ring, it’s relatively peaceful, too. I’ll be back!

Do billionaires dream of spatially augmented sheep?

This latest Black Mirror episode is totally fucked up.

Can’t wait to see what courageous new e-waste Apple is about to unleash onto an undeserving planet. Silicon Valley’s inability to solve real-world problems seemingly has no limits; book a restaurant table in San Francisco, but now with a bit of glass stuck to your face? Cool.

Watched all 8 episodes of Colin from Accounts yesterday evening. Brilliantly written with crude humour in places, the story grabs your attention and doesn’t let go. Plus it has a Border Terrier in a leading role. Reminded me a little bit of Catastrophe, which is no bad thing.

If you had told my 16-year-old self that I would end up more excited by Eurovision than the coronation, I’m not sure he would have believed you. But here we are.

Lovely evening over at Lewes Depot to watch The Big Lebowski again, but this time on the big screen. Such a fun story with crazy characters, backed up by a brilliant cast with superb direction. Also, and only just realised this, Roger Deakin’s cinematography, too. The perfect movie? The Dude abides.

Back in Birmingham, and for the first time since the redevelopment of Paradise Circus and Centenary Square. This area is now completely unrecognisable, but undoubtedly for the better.