Family:
s4 started his 6th form education. Football on Sunday. Scored a goal. Had a near miss which if it went in would have been a blinder. Top corner from outside the box. Just skimmed over the bar.
Spouse has needed to see her GP. Scans have been booked. Bloods have been done. Results to follow. It’s a bit of a worry.
Work:
A meeting on Monday threw up some unwanted surprises. By Wednesday it seemed progress might not have been as disrupted as I thought. I was very much encouraged by the interest and contribution of a colleague. Made a good start on a side project Thursday afternoon. Followed up a few small jobs that needed doing. By Friday I was feeling much more relaxed with it all.
Cycling:
Finished the week with 253k done. Aiming for 17,988k plus by the year end. That would get me over the most distance covered in a single year since 2015.
I am at 12,346k as of today. Just over two-thirds of 2025 gone (68.8% of the year has passed). There’s still 5,642k to ride in the remaining 115 days / 16.4 weeks. That’s 49.5k a day or 346k a week. At nearly 69% through the year, being at 69% of the target is a good place to be. No mad catch-up required, just sticking with it now until to the end.
Noticed a bit of lateral movement in my front wheel. Not a good sign. I have a SON 28 Dynamo Hub. There should not really be any noticeable movement after just a couple of years on the bike. The warranty is for five years. Pretty sure I will have to remove the hub from the wheel and send it away to have it looked at and serviced. Not great. Lucky I have a spare wheel and a second bike I suppose.
On a more positive note I fixed front and rear mudguards. Rivets had failed on both. Drilled the old ones out. The genius of zip ties stepped in and both mudguards are fixed in place as good if not better than ever. Easy to replace if ever they wear out. Zip ties do not wear out in my experience.
Photography:
A few portrait shots of s2 and s4. Pleased with how they came out. Experimented with some panoramas of a sunset. An action shot of a friend riding his bike. Forgot some obvious settings in a rush to get the shots. The results weren’t all that. Learning from my mistakes.
Listening:
It was a Bandcamp Friday week. Bought a few good tunes many of which feature in the list below.
Misty in Roots: 150 listens
RDH HI-FI: 66 listens
Dubkasm: 26 listens
Joseph Lalibela: 20 listens
Barry Issac: 20 listens
Yabass Yaba Radics: 8 listens
Alpha Steppa: 8 listens
RDH Hifi: 4 listens
Iration Steppas: 4 listens
YT: 2 listens
Rudy Lee: 2 listens
Junior Delgado: 2 listens
We had tickets to go a see the Twinkle Brothers performing in Brighton on Saturday. The performance was cancelled. Notified in the morning so no wasted journey. The brothers have been performing since 1962 so will be getting on a bit. The current line up of musicans supporting them are no spring chickens either. Fingers crossed they’re all okay.
Screen time:
Looked through and re-published 20 odd posts from a previous blog. I enjoyed the trip down memory lane. Especially pictures the boys had drawn and things they had written they were little. Also spent time messing with the layout and appearance of the site. A reminder that I am the biggest fan of this collection of digital artefacts. They say it’s good to keep your readers happy. I am.
Kept up with publishing a new post every day. Blaugust got me into the habit. I’m still enjoying the new routine.
Culled a few sites from the feed reader. Following just 40 now. Room for another 24. Created “staging post” folders. An intake and evaluation system for organising feeds. A little bit like the permaculture system described by Ruben at Kedara.
Begin Again. And Again. by prickly oxheart is a good read.
The tide doesn’t apologise for pulling back. It withdraws, regathers, and returns with force. Out, in, out, in — relentless, patient, unstoppable. This is what we’re actually practicing when we practice beginning: not a single heroic effort, but meeting every wave as it comes, until beginning is no longer something we do but something we are.
Totally with that. Another good reminder.
Other business:
Still going with the intermittent fasting. Only eating between 1.00 pm and 9.00 pm. Not feeling as hungry during the not eating hours. Feeling hungry feels more okay than it used to. I look forward to eating and am enjoying my food more. Not feeling a need to eat as much as I used to. It’s working out really well.