Weeknotes 301

Last year I booked the first full week of October off work, then cancelled it at the last minute because I felt like I had too much on my plate to step away for that long. This year I booked it off again, and if anything my plate is fuller this time, but crucially I made a conscious effort not to care more than anyone else for no reason, so I went through with it and have actually had a proper break. Growth?

I’m honestly never happier than when I’m doing nothing. No plans, no obligations, no calendar reminders, just each day stretching out ahead of me to do with as I please. True freedom.

I consequently have little to report. I did make it to the gym the standard three times, but instead of splitting my workout into thirty minutes of fretting about work followed by thirty of audiobook listening, I treated myself to a full hour of Bee Speaker each time. After a long slow burn I’m closing in on the ending at last.

I also treated myself to a pair of fancy Bose noise-cancelling headphones — on sale because a newer model came out — to use at the gym. In most respects over-ear headphones are objectively worse for exercise than in-ear ones but the cone of silence they produce is pretty incredible. Sweaty ears are a price I’m willing to pay for respite from the din of grunting, clanking, shit techno and phones on speaker.

Tasks and treats expand to fill the time available. On Tuesday I ran a delivery errand, dropped my bike off to have a broken spoke repaired, bought a cookie on the walk home, and sat in the sun at Arnold Circus to eat it.

After collecting the bike on Wednesday I stopped in at Okja for an almond croissant and was given a sample of their chocolate hazelnut spread “to try at home”.

On Friday I cycled to Black Cat for lunch and then enjoyed an unbelievably large slice™ of social from Ole & Steen.

What a great holiday.

I also played a lot of Ghost of Yōtei. It’s an excellently-designed game and I’m really enjoying it.

I watched Sinister, which was silly but satisfyingly spooky, and The Autopsy of Jane Doe, which I got ten minutes into before realising I’d already seen it but couldn’t remember any of the details so watched the rest anyway. It’s alright, short and creepy and effective.

It feels like a bit of a failure to unintentionally rewatch something. Maybe I should track what films I’ve seen so this can’t happen? Or maybe it’s okay to rewatch an unremarkable film if my memory of it has become so faint that it’s like seeing it for the first time anyway.

Look, I’ll not be taking any questions about this, but my breakfast cereal of choice for decades has been All-Bran: it’s crunchy and malty and tastes the same as it did the first time I tried it from my grandpa’s bowl as a kid. I usually have a few boxes in my pantry so I don’t run out unexpectedly, but that supply has dwindled because it’s consistently out of stock every time I do an online grocery order.

Yesterday the situation became so dire that I had to cycle over to the Big Whitechapel Sainsbos to pick up more. And that’s how I found out the product I’ve relied on all my adult life (“All-Bran Original”) doesn’t exist any more and has been replaced with a reformulated variety (“All-Bran Fibre Plus”) which is basically awful.

I don’t know what I’m going to do about this. It’s mildly upsetting to have a foundational piece of my daily routine disrupted by some uncaring conglomerate. I suppose I could just learn to choke down the inferior substitute (“made using the latest technology which reduces production time”) but I’m going to see if I can find a more palatable version elsewhere before I entirely surrender. I’ve already bought a box of Sainsbos own-brand flavour, and I’ll investigate what other store brands exist. Be sure to tune in next week for more exciting unbranded bran stick updates.

Ruby drama: everybody sucks here.