Happily Imperfect

I have, technically, four bikes. My wife has, technically, four bikes. I say technically because I only use two of them, and she only uses one, although one of her other two is being kept for the future. We do not use all of these bikes. My bikes: A Triban road bike – my trusty steed! A Trek mountain bike – brand new. A Specialized Hybrid —bought in 2012— that is now costing me more to repair than it is worth, time to say bye bye. A Carrera road bike – bought secondhand as a cheap bike for my…

“The Cave” by Mumford & Sons Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What’s your favorite song about letting go? For all they have been pilloried, their first album was wonderful. My favourite track leapt out at me on my first listen, although it took a few more listens to figure out why. My first marriage was coming to an end, I think we both had started to feel it but hadn’t yet figured it out. In hindsight I put a fairly negative spin on something that wasn’t…

I’ve written about this before1. I like change. I also like routine. That puts next week at odds as, with Becca having started her new job as a teaching assistant and Jack starting school, the timings of my day will be changing. Bar Monday —his first day at school!— I’ll be doing drop offs in the morning and picking him up when he finishes at three. Two days a week he will be in early (breakfast club from 8:15am) and staying late for after school club until 5pm but, regardless my usual work…

“Little Fluffy Clouds” by The Orb Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What song makes you feel connected to nature? Nature, to me, is something to bask in, something to enjoy. I love spending time in nature, wandering through woods, cycling trails, but my earliest memories of connection to nature were formed in my childhood home. Summer evenings, a rug on the grass, the heat of the day simmering down, lying back and watching the sky. Acres of blue, spots of…

This is my rebuttal to a response of my response to a response about a post (Andreas, look what you’ve started!). One thing that the internet never fails to remind me of is that I tend to see the world in broad brush strokes whereas many see it in intricate detail and hold their view as unassailable. I say “there is no bad Porsche 911 model” meaning that even a bad one is still a freakin 911, and the comments light up with “well, actually the early built 1977 models were awful”, and I roll my…

“It's My Party” by Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What’s a song you’d want to hear on your birthday? I can almost feel my wife rolling her eyes. I am not a fan of my birthday. Not for any age related denial reason, just because I feel long past the need to have any hoopla to celebrate the day —there is likely more deep seated reasons for that, likely something about never having felt validated and seen enough— but the fact…

When Jack goes to bed, some nights Becca and I find we have some time to chill out together. Right now we are using that time to rewatch Ted Lasso from the start before we start the new season. It’s such a comfort blanket of a show, brings such joy, and I forgot how good and funny it was. In the episode we watched last night the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer and gold, known as Kintsugi, gets a brief mention. It’s something I’ve heard about before, and I can recall losing…

“Movin' On Up” by Primal Scream Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What song makes you feel like you’re breaking free? Avoiding the Queen loaded phrasing of the question, I found myself wondering what breaking free actually feels like. As a completely unrepressed white male, the only things I’ve ever really broken free from were of my own making and tend to be accompanied with as much shame —that I got myself into that situation— as elation at being out of…

Dense Discovery is, and I’ll quote the lovely website here: One email worth opening, every week Thoughtful links across design, tech, culture and art – hand-picked weekly to inspire reflection, not reaction. And yes, you should go and subscribe right now (I’ll wait). I’ve been a subscriber since February 2023 and the eagle eyed among you may have noticed that I’ve mentioned DD a few times, usually linking to an article that has made me think and consider various actions and activities that form…

Via Matthew Cassellini as I tend not to follow or read much about Meta these days. Mark Zuckerberg has penned a very long manifesto on the future of AI. I’ve had a skim through it, then got bored and asked AI to generate a summary for me. It gave me this: “It is simultaneously a philosophy of AI and an extremely effective piece of corporate positioning.” “AI is going to become extremely powerful. We don’t think we should slow it down. We think it should be open and available to everyone, with…

Leaving sucks. But there’s no other way. As long as you keep throwing money at the corporations who treat you badly, why would they change? Andreas on 82MHz Apple got the message from me: I’m done with it, its products, and its services. I’m just one little drop in their trillions-valued bucket, but I’m content with that. Stan on Creolened I love a provocative title —so clickable!— and what better a topic to get our teeth into but technology, and Big Tech at that. To be fair, Big Tech companies…

“Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What’s your favorite song about second chances? As someone who often stares at a blank page, who tends to start new ventures by writing about them, and who has had many second chances throughout his life, I can feel the beginnings of that sense of “ok, let’s go again” in this song. The fact it is a glorious, uplifting, positive affirmation of grabbing that second chances, of using it to…

Rewatching the old seasons ahead of the new one. Wow. I forgot how good this was. The way each character develops, the moments of chaos and moments of calm. The way it feels so real, so fucking raw at times. And then there is the Christmas episode which remains a very easy way to get my blood pressure up. Not to mention the cast, the writing, the production, the soundtrack. When good TV is good, it can be the best. Thanks for reading and keeping RSS alive. Visit my site for more.

“Confess To Me (feat. Jessie Ware)” by Disclosure Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What song makes you want to stay up all night? It’s time to leave. Almost time to leave. But the music is still playing. The floor still pulsing. You aren’t that tired, are you? Maybe one more song. Ohh this is a good one. Right time go… wait, ok after this one! OK, definitely time to go. Except, is this a new mix? Ohh this is gooood. No, I need to go. Fine, one more song……

Sophie Woods completes Via Alpina endurance challenge in record 29 days – BBC Sport — Another gruelling world record smashed by a woman. More proof they are NOT the weaker sex. From the front of the choir: What else can your singers do without you? — I like posts like this which feature life lessons from a specific practice, that we can all benefit from. Two Minutes and 42 Seconds in Heaven — “I listened to it and said, in my rich and sonorous timbre, in my typically concise and…

Our week in Nethybridge is at an end, Jack has had an amazing time, and I’ve enjoyed the change of scenery even though I’ve had to work through the week. The immediacy of quiet roads and trails made nipping out on a bike a real pleasure. And the countryside is beautiful too, which makes the still smouldering wildfires all the sadder. Every time we come up here it brings such a welcome change of pace and, whilst we wouldn’t uproot our lives with Jack as he starts school next week, I can see it…

“Dignity” by Deacon Blue Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What’s a song you associate with your hometown? The town I grew up in, like many a small provincial town, is slowly morphing into yet another satellite town. The pubs are closing, the high street is being dismantled, and soon enough it’ll just be retail parks and houses. The town I grew up in still had some industry, a large bottling plant and whisky brewery dominated one end of the high street. The…

I’m pondering removing badge notifications —those little red numbers if you use iPhone— from all my apps. I already keep my phone on silent and only allow a few core apps to display a notification. I think removing the badges is the next step. I’m try to get to a state of only picking up my phone and checking an app when I choose to, rather than remaining at the behest of apps. I have a fear I’ll miss out on something but my life is very routine and predictable so I think I’ll be ok. Wish me…

“It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. Tell us about your very favorite holiday / Christmas song. But it’s August! I guess if you buy into it, Christmas can seem like the most wonderful time of the year, and if it’s beginning to look a lot like that time of year, then it’s usually when the same raft of songs appear on the radio. Runner up: Marshmallow World because it’s magical and fun! I think for most…

“I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (Live)” by U2 Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. Share a song that feels like a prayer. That isn’t by Madonna? Hmmm (I mean like a prayer sure does feel uplifting, right? What a song!) In that case I’ll take a specific version of a song that always makes me feel uplifted and joyous —I don’t pray, is that what it feels like for believers? The original version of this lives on a classic album, a top 20 of all time…

“California Dreamin' (Single)” by The Mamas & The Papas Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. What song makes you think of your parents? My Dad loved folk music, my Mum loved pop. They had a lot more depth to their musical tastes of course —both enjoyed classical music and sang in choirs— but those are the genres I associate with both. This song instantly takes me to our family home, the tape deck in the kitchen is on, it’s summer and the windows are open. As…

AI continues to be a hot topic. Be it the OpenAI/Apple spat, or the latest (clever) anti-AI pushback, or how it won’t ever attain consciousness, or how it feels to have people think your art was generated by AI when it clearly wasn’t. Elsewhere I find myself experimenting with some apps for my Mac. A window switcher, or a window switcher that does lots more clever stuff I may not need, as an alternative to AltTab. Training myself to use DropOver more. Pondering DockFlow (a dock switcher for…

The heavens have opened, thunderstorms are threatened, and yet the wildfires still burn —the rain is useful but gets caught in the pine forest canopy and not enough of it falls onto the still burning peat below. It was sunny this morning though, and so I took my new shiny gorgeous mountain bike out for a proper trail ride. I had planned for 30-40 mins as I only had about 90mins free in my day over my lunch hour. 1hr and 13mins later… I guess I was having too much fun bobbling along trails,…

My son turns 5 in October. He starts school in a couple of weeks. He has a tablet — Amazon Fire for Kids — and knows how to flick around the Photos app on my phone. Yet I’m already thinking about what the internet will look like when he’s old enough to be online without me hovering nearby. Will it be a place he can explore, or a place locked away behind layers of verification and proof? He is growing up with technology that, at times, still feels fantastically magical to me. I remember having…

My son turns 5 in October. He starts school in a couple of weeks. He has a tablet — Amazon Fire for Kids — and knows how to flick around the Photos app on my phone. Yet I’m already thinking about what the internet will look like when he’s old enough to be online without me hovering nearby. Will it be a place he can explore, or a place locked away behind layers of verification and proof? He is growing up with technology that, at times, still feels fantastically magical to me. I remember having…

This is a good thing. A very good thing right now. When we arrived in Nethybridge you could see the low hanging smoke that was still rising from the remnants of the wildfires here, one area reignited yesterday too, this is far from over. But through the night and, as I type at 9:11am, it’s been raining steadily. This is the forecast for the day and it’s very very welcomed here. There is an area still closed, local businesses are suffering into their third week of closed doors and lost revenue.…

I may — and I retain the right to reverse this decision — be stopping my week notes posts.I find them useful in terms of looking back over the past week to reflect on moments from my life, the media I’ve consumed etc, but by and large they are starting to feel a little performative. I’m posting them because I feel like I should because it’s part of the cadence of my website. Except, it isn’t really. I only started them recently and whilst I’ve done recap style posts in the past, they didn’t…

Life Notes Very busy at work, lots going on so been struggling to find time for any other activities, not read much, not commented on many blogs, just keeping ticking along with my ‘move every day’ target, which has spread to other habits including a daily journal, and Crucial Tracks entry every day too. Jack has finished Nursery. Time flies. In two weeks he starts school. SCHOOL! Alas I couldn’t be there for that — I had to travel to Blairgowrie for my monthly visit to the office — but he and…

From my brother-in-laws house you can see the smouldering landscape, a thick white smog sitting on the surface of the hills. In the village, fire engines and emergency services remain, whilst life continues around them. We are here for the week —alas I still need to work— and it’s always so quiet and peaceful, from the moment we arrive I can feel my shoulders drop. Hoping to fit in some rides when I’m here (a short one the evening I arrived done already) as the roads and surrounding area are…

I’ve got a lot going on at the moment which means I’ve not been posting here. Big whoop, right. Yeah, work is busy. At home we are in the last week of Jack attending nursery (his last day tomorrow!) and we are spending next week in Nethybridge —yes the one that was evacuated last week cos of the wildfire in the Cairngorms. I’ll still be working but at least it’s a different location, different (quieter) roads to ride on my bike. As ever this blog is the place that gets dropped, but that’s only…