Weeknotes 235

Hello. First weeknotes under a Labour government.

Yes, the results of the UK general election provide plenty to worry about, but I’ll gladly take the win. It’s a relief to no longer have the Tories in government, and I’m delighted to be entirely rid of famed oxygen thieves Liz Truss, Penny Mordaunt, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Gillian Keegan, Grant Shapps, Michelle Donelan, Thérèse Coffey and friends. I’d dearly love to never hear their names again.

Also, the lettuce won.

Politics aside, it’s been a long week and I’m pretty exhausted. I haven’t worked from home for a couple of weeks and it’s been surprisingly intense to be in the office full-time. The early mornings at the gym are a good investment but they don’t help with my energy levels in the short term.

In defiance of my previous rhythm I did Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday at the gym to make it more tolerable. The choice of weekdays doesn’t matter so much when I’m cycling to the office every day anyway.

I’m down another 1kg. 🤷🏻‍♂️

One effect of the fair weather is to bring out the fair-weather cyclists; compared to a month ago, there are now at least twice as many bikes on the road during my morning commute. This is something of a mixed blessing because, while there’s undeniable safety in numbers, there’s also a higher proportion of people who are either insufficiently confident or intentionally careless in their riding, which tends to further antagonise the already puce-faced drivers of Norton Folgate and Bishopsgate.

I continue to give everyone else a wide berth and move respectfully but decisively. I’m not dead yet.

A brief downpour yesterday gave me the opportunity to watch my gutter drain for the first time.

Pure bliss.

I initially published last week’s notes without an actual recipe for the chocolate torte, which is annoying behaviour, so I added it afterwards. You should try making it because it’s quick, easy and delicious.

My dad’s been in the hospital for the last couple of weeks but is back home now and doing fine.

I am neither clever nor credulous enough to be able to enjoy Real Art but I do appreciate drawings which are amusing and occasionally rude. That information explains why I went to EartH (do you see what they did there?) in Dalston on Tuesday night to see a Q&A with Mr Bingo at Nicer Tuesdays. It was a fun conversation and I got a beer and a tote bag so I was happy even though the preceding two talks came close to depleting my will to live.

Afterwards I walked home and dried the washing-up with a David Shrigley tea towel.

On Wednesday I met Jo for a beer or two at the taproom. He also unexpectedly brought me cake! Very good show.

I think Olivia Cooke won me over in episode three of House of the Dragon. I’m a bit worried they’re trying to sneak in some new characters this season — mate, there are already more than enough characters! — but getting to see the excellent Milly Alcock again made up for it.

I played Twelve Minutes and found it intriguing at first but eventually got bored and frustrated by its endless, directionless repetition. I had fun the first few times round the loop and then gladly gave up when it became a chore to execute the same fiddly actions and hear the same tedious dialogue for the hundredth time. It’s a badly designed game which expects you to guess how to make the cat hair moustache by simple virtue of being patient enough to try everything, and I am neither patient nor virtuous.

Oh well. I should’ve learned my lesson about time loop games from, er, Outer Wilds, Deathloop and Returnal. My mistake.