A short weeknote this week as I had an injection into my wrist on Thursday and I’m still resting it.
I was in Bristol on Monday and Tuesday which coincided with the Bristol Light Festival. On Monday evening we went to the Left Handed Giant brewpub which was being used as a huge ‘screen’ upon which animations were projected. A great brewpub and an amazing light show.
The injection I had was steroids to treat a tendon in my left wrist. Guided by ultrasound it was incredible to see the needle approach the tendon and then the steroid liquid surround it. The needle was incredibly fine, but on the screen it looked like a drainpipe.
I woke Friday morning without pain in my wrist for the first time in months, so it looks like the injection worked.
On Friday night we celebrated Chinese New Year. OK, it was an excuse for a ‘slap up’ takeaway, but it was lovely to sit down as a family and spend time together as we’ve got some busy weekends coming up over the next few weeks.
On Saturday I watched the Miners Strike 1984 documentary series on Channel 4. I was 13 when the Miners Strike started and it’s fair to say it helped define my politics. I didn’t think I could loathe Thatcher more than I did, turns out I was wrong. The episode on the Battle of Orgreave is extraordinary.
This afternoon we watched Killers of the Flower Moon. An amazing story in the truest sense of the word, with typically brilliant performances from DiCaprio and Di Niro. Yes, it’s long but it’s definitely worth the investment of your time.
It’s odd writing this weeknote in Bristol, describing last Monday, which also found me in this lovely city.
On Monday I worked from the agency offices, sadly our plans for the day were derailed due to sickness so I ended up spending the day in a large meeting room all on my own.
The evening, however, was much more pleasant with a lovely dinner at The OX with the team I worked with both on the Tredz redesign and now in my current role. A fun night with smart people plus good food, what’s not to like?
Due to the change of plans, I headed home early on Tuesday rather than occupy a meeting room.
Wednesday started very oddly. I woke up feeling a little rough, got up and immediately had a massive nosebleed. And I do mean massive, it was literally poring out of my face taking a good 15 minutes to subside and stop. My wife estimated I probably lost between one and two pints of blood, which may explain why I felt a trifle ‘odd’ for the rest of the day.
My wife was wonderful in looking after me, but I am a little concerned about how quickly and efficiently she could clear up so much blood ;)
Thursday was derailed by the rumours and then news that Lewis Hamilton was leaving Mercedes and moving to Ferrari in 2025. As a house of F1 fans, and varying degrees of fandom for Lewis and Ferrari ranging from respect to obsession it was a busy day on the family group chat.
Thursday evening I attended Made In MK a local social/networking event. This was the first one I’ve attended since Covid and instead of being held above a brewpub was held in X+Why a new co-working space in Santander’s Unity Place building. This venue change seemed to shift the dynamic from social to networking so I didn’t stay late.
I’m not a ‘networker’ and I recognise that I’m unlikely to find work doing what I currently do at an event like that, so it’s fascinating to watch those who are there to network, especially as so many appear to be quite terrible at doing so.
One encounter was particularly interesting, we were approached by somebody who said they were and ‘coach’ and upon finding out what my friend did immediately blanked him, simply based on his ‘job title’. The irony is that he’s far better connected in MK than me and far more likely to be able connect the ‘coach’ with potential clients. How we chuckled.
Friday evening was one of those nights that is unplanned but turns out to be great fun. My daughter and I are both remote workers and since she started working remotely we’ve said we should do ‘after-work’ drinks on a Friday – this week we finally did.
We were going to walk over to our closest pub, but it’s not brilliant so we decided to head into Stony Stratford, a small town near us and the home of the Cock and Bull story, and check out opening night of Have I Got Brews For You a new craft beer bar.
The bar was great and absolutely rammed, so good to see support for a local independent. With both Deya and Verdant on draft, there was much Untappd action, and it seems I have been using Untappd for 10 years now!
I initially started using it so I could track what I’d tried at The Euston Tap and not repeat myself. I have no idea why I’ve stuck with it for so long, but as a registered beer geek, it’s both fun and useful in equal measure. Checking now I see I’ve checked in 1,266 different beers.
After Have I Got Brews For You we wandered down to Calcutta Brasserie for dinner. My son’s plans had changed so he was able to join us which added to the unplanned and fun nature of the evening.
Saturday was a relaxed day, with us all experimenting with wife’s new Instax Wide camera – Fuji’s modern-day answer to the Polaroids of old.
In the afternoon I watched the rugby, Italy were surprisingly solid, the best I’ve seen them play. England played better than I expected, but were sloppy to concede a third try in the final minutes of the game.
Today we popped out for ‘brunch’ at the Super Sausage again, the last time for a little while or I fear for my arteries.
I then packed and hit the road with the SatNav Fairies taking me on a new route across the Cotswolds to the M5 and down to Bristol. I must say the Cotswolds looked particularly good in the low winter sun. I do like that part of the country.
I’m back in Bristol for a couple of days this week and next working with our agency team.
It’s funny, I’ve been here dozens of times now on my own and just twice with my wife, but it feels more like one of our places than a solo destination. Which I rather like.
It’s been a fairly quiet week, but one where lunches have paid a prominent part.
On Tuesday I met my good friend Andrew F for lunch, he’s working with a client in Milton Keynes at the moment which is giving us extra opportunities to catch up, which is always a good thing.
Thursday I’d been due to meet Christian H for breakfast, but it seems by planning breakfast we upset the Lunch Gods and he was taken ill. Next time we’ll meet for lunch…
Then on Friday I caught up with Mark W, we had intended to meet at Canal St coffee but upon getting there first I found it utterly rammed with not a single table free. So sadly we had to relocate to Out of Office, which is the second class option these days. Milton Keynes needs more coffee shops…
The lunch highlight of the week was Saturday’s lunch at the Ivy Brasserie in Cambridge. My wife had spotted an excellent fixed price menu with two courses for £19.17 marking the year the Ivy opened, so we thought we’d take advantage of such a tasty offer.
However, with my typical erm enthusiasm I turned what should have been a bit of a bargain in to a three digit lunch, although to be honest it was still excellent value.
The food was delicious, the service was perfect and delivered with both personality and care and the surroundings were suitably ‘Deco’ feeling for a 1917 menu.
Adding to the food centric week we’ve had, on Friday we popped along to Eat St. MK, a local street food event.
My son took his camera along and captured some superb images.
Tonight I dined alone, but I dined at Cargo Cantina on Wapping Wharf so I dined well. The loaded nachos were amazing as was this elderflower and jalapeño margarita.
Another short weeknote after a short week ending with the dreaded lurgy.
Scary Fast?
I picked my MacBook Air up at the end of last week, and must admit I didn’t like it.
The 13″ MacBook Air feels just right, the 15” feels too big and larger than 15”, the proportions just felt off to me.
I had a 14” MacBook Pro when I was still self employed and much preferred the design and feel, not to mention the beautiful screen
Fortunately Apple had their Scary Fast event at which they announced new M3 powered MacBook Pros, so for a few hundred pounds more than the Air cost me I will now get a Pro.
I just need to see whether ‘Space Black’ is a fingerprint magnet or not…
Bristol Once Again
I drove down to Bristol Tuesday evening and had my longest trip to date at almost four hours, there just seemed to be traffic everywhere.
After that drive I didn’t fancy heading out into the rain so ordered room service and crashed out.
Wednesday was a doubly good day as it marked both the kick off of a major project and the first time I’ve had my team together in reality not a glowing rectangle.
I’m a big fan of remote work when deep work is required, but when collaborating creatively you cannot beat being in the same room together. It’s almost as if we’ve evolved over thousands of years to be the social creatures we are.
Sadly I woke up feeling terrible, lurgy not hang over, drove home and collapsed into bed which is pretty much where I spent the rest of the week.
As I mentioned in my last weeknote we visited Bath for a few days as part of a mini tour of the West Country.
A few highlights from our trip.
Bath
It was nice to revisit Bath, although it feels more touristy with each visit as it slowly morphs into a Georgian theme park.
On Saturday evening we found a fabulous Spanish restaurant Pinxto Bath and had one of the best Spanish meals I’ve ever had including Spain.
My favourite part of Bath is Queen Street, I’ve joked that I could live there quite happily, which has two great pubs in the The Raven and The Salamander (the better of the two), a fabulous place for brunch and lunch in Wild Cafe and quiet possibly the finest bookshop this side of Foyles in Mrs B’s Emporium of Reading Delights.
All of which were frequented and enjoyed.
On our last morning in Bath we watched the Abbey gradually emerge into view as the fog cleared and then headed over to Bristol.
Bristol
It was nice to be in Bristol and to be able to explore it more and do some ‘touristy’ things.
I think the last time I visited SS Great Britain was probably the early 80s when it was still pretty much a hulk being rescued. It’s now fully restored and a really great experience – highly recommended.
The next morning we walked up to Clifton via Constitution Hill which I assume is thus named as its test of one’s constitution.
We had breakfast and excellent coffee in Foliage Cafe and then walked over to Clifton Suspension Bridge which still slightly boggles my mind it’s so high over the gorge.
My Dad lived in Clifton for a period in his youth and used to drink in the Coronation Tap, one of only two places I had a drink with him, I was keen to revisit it but alas it was closed until the evening.
Cirencester
We drove home via Cirencester which has popped up on one of those 10 Best Places to Live type lists, so we thought we’d check it out as a possible move location.
I immediately felt young and poor, there seemed to be a startlingly high number of gents outfitters specialising in bespoke tweed and red corduroy trousers, and it was notable that every bank still had a high street branch there.
This tells me their customers are old and high net worth.
The beginning of the week saw me back in Bristol for a couple of days of workshops with Nomensa, a creative agency I’m working with.
Monday night we had dinner at The Coconut Tree an excellent Sri Lankan restaurant – superb food and lovely service.
Tuesday night I was flying solo and headed over to Wapping Wharf, a very cool collection of restaurants and bars all inside shipping containers.
I’ve always loved Bristol. My Dad was evacuated from London to the West Country and grew up in and around Bristol. He moved back to Bristol after a short period back in London and met my Mum when they were both working at Bristol University. As a child we used to visit my Dad’s mum, spending weekends in Bristol, Bath and Keynsham.
Bristol was weaved through the early part of my life, and it’s been lovely reconnecting with it over the last couple of years.
London
Thursday I was in London for Interact, Nomensa’s annual UX conference. It was a really good day of talks and great being at a conference I wasn’t running. I wish I’d thought to count the number of times AI was mentioned, as a drinking game it would have been carnage.
90s rave detroit techno wednesday morning
Spotify has a cool new feature called daylist and I’m really enjoying it. Your daylist is an automatically generated playlist that changes through the day with morning, afternoon, evening and night versions based on what you tend to listen to at that time on the day in question.
So far my daylists have been pretty good with a nice mix of old and new tracks. My only concern is that if I then listen to the daylist it will confirm to the bot that is what I listen to and gradually reduce the new and prioritise the listened to, which I’ve always felt is the risk of AI generated playlists and timelines – confirmation bias induced ever decreasing circles.
The daylist names are entertaining in their own right:
analogue minimal techno monday afternoon
krautrock motorik thursday early morning
groovy eclectic friday afternoon
frutiger aero breakbeat Saturday night
bells instrumental afternoon
Mind you confirmation bias induced ever decreasing circles isn’t a bad name for a playlist either…
I picked my MacBook Air up at the end of last week, and must admit I didn’t like it.
It was nice to revisit Bath, although it feels more touristy with each visit as it slowly morphs into a Georgian theme park.
We had lunch at 
Spotify has a cool new feature called daylist and I’m really enjoying it. Your daylist is an automatically generated playlist that changes through the day with morning, afternoon, evening and night versions based on what you tend to listen to at that time on the day in question.