Weeknotes 55

I started a new work project properly this week. We’re back at the Government Digital Service working on the publishing platform. It’s been really fun meeting the current developers and doing a little bit of pairing. Their docker based development environment made getting everything running locally fairly painless. I’m also enjoying having 2-factor authentication via a Yubikey hardware key. When I unplug the key almost all services fail to authenticate, and I am truly disconnected from work.

This week I finished up the data support project with Sports England governing bodies. Over the last 2 months I’ve spoken to data professionals at 8 different SGBs, some on several occasions, and it’s been a joyful and enriching experience.

We celebrated F-‘s birthday on Sunday at the Peggy Jay Centre on Hampstead Heath. A- and I spent two days baking and decorating the cake which F- greeted with studied indifference. It was lovely to have a room full of friends and family though. It wasn’t really possible for us to do this kind of thing for the first couple of years of his life, so I plan to make up for it now.

N-‘s school broke up at lunchtime today for the Easter holiday, so we went to the garish Babylon Park amusement arcade in Camden. The best value-for-money game I’ve found is air-hockey: we get to play against each other and each game lasts for a good 10 minutes or more. Sadly, N- is quite taken with the robot-claw machines which offer a scant 5 seconds of entertainment for the same price. I will impart my Yorkshire-man monetery values upon him if it’s the last thing I do.

I got accepted onto the clinical trial I mentioned in last week’s notes. This followed an exercise capability test at a swanky Harley Street facility last Friday. I’m due to take my first dose next week. If the next time you see me I’m sporting 3 arms and glowing fluorescently, keep it to yourself yeah?

I’ve told some friends that I’ll be releasing an EP of music next week, so am now on the hook to do so.

Late to the party, I took up Tom’s recommendation to watch Bobby Fingers. Most of the week has been spent watching Bobby Fingers or telling other people to watch Bobby Fingers. WATCH BOBBY FINGERS.