Yes, I’ve been on the ice with skates!  To call it skating is probably a stretch - I entered through one gate onto the ice, and about 15 minutes later exited via the next gate along. Unfortunately, due to logistics and a lack of skates, that was the full extent of my first skating session, but clearly it was a solid start. Or at least a start.

This was all at the McCormick rink in Waterloo. The plan was to hire some skates from the attached library (that’s how things are done here - they do also have books) and then head on to the ice for a 45 min public skate. Unfortunately, the library only had very small skates that were closely matched to my skating ability but not my shoe size. Nova and I tried another library before determining that all adult skates in the region had already been hired out. That meant I had to borrow the ones that Oliver was himself borrowing to get some ice time. 

By the time I made it back to the rink, Oliver was flying around (this is relative, but it certainly seemed impressively confident to me), but he generously offered to give me a go. I think it was worth it for him just to watch me try to put the skates on, but that was as nothing compared to my entry on to the ice and subsequent slow progress along the boards. This might not be news to most of the readers of this blog, but ice is slippy; getting your balance is not easy for someone starting out at 52 years of age.

I did though manage to stand and begin to inch my way along. I was overtaken by many children, parents carrying children, and other people learning to skate. I tried out a sort of in and out skate manoeuvre, that seemed to work a bit. But I could not get the hang of the push off that Chrissy was trying to get me to do - mostly because my feet seemed glued to the ice. My brain did not comprehend, or consider it a good idea, for me to lift one of my feet up. 

The biggest challenge when a small child approached from the other direction with a penguin (like a walker on ice), requiring me to skate away from the boards. Somehow I managed that, as you can see below. But that was it for my first time on the ice. After that great bit of skill it was back to the side and off for me.

Amazingly, despite having seen my skating performance, Dawn has offered to help me improve. It’s probably because she can’t believe it and really needs to see it for herself. But I intend to take her up on the offer.

Skating aside, a lot of time over the last couple of weeks has been taken up with festivities and Christmas pudding and cake. I’ve managed to keep up with my stretches and walking every day (it was -15C when I went out yesterday, so I consider that quite the achievement). 

I’m also up to date with reading and my chess studies. The former, because I got a few excellent books for Christmas, including Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which is on my #52in52 list. The latter, because I had a few people around who wanted to actually play some games over the board. I managed to beat Jackson (although honestly he mostly beat himself by thinking he’d lost when he hadn’t) and then tried out some d4 openings against Oliver without any success. He’s too good for me to wing it these days. I only managed to beat him when I switched to black and played a solid, unadventurous game.

French and piano have suffered over the holidays, as has my exercise regime. I started out on Elise Joan’s Lava program proper yesterday (having completed the preparation classes a couple of times), and did an indoor cycle as well. Now I need to make sure I get back into the routine of doing some exercise every day.

A regular correspondent has asked for an update on the various new habits that I adopted as part of this #52in52 challenge. I realise that I’ve stopped reporting on them, but fear not - I haven’t stopped doing them. Well, that’s not strictly true, my piano playing has stopped for the last few weeks, which I’m a little annoyed with myself about. I must start that again soon. And I’ve definitely missed the odd week of French listening. But almost everything else I’ve kept at. 

I’ve actually been doing some French every day using the Duolingo app, and most weeks I’ve found time to listen to an episode of the Duolingo podcast as well. I wouldn’t say I’m proficient though (or close to it), but I’m assuming I must be improving.

I’ve also been doing some chess study on a regular basis - most recently using the chess.com app, which has some good lessons and puzzles. I occasionally play against the computer as well. I’m not sure I am really improving overall though - some days I play well and understand a chess position. Other days I’m pretty hopeless. I’ve also followed the World Chess Championship, which is instructive - even if doesn’t actually involve the best player in the world.

I have been reading every day. I recently finished Douglas Brinkley's Silent Spring Revolution, about the political steps that were taken in the years following the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. It’s quite uplifting, although the cross party coalitions formed and consensus does paint the current political environment in a poor and dispiriting light. There are also parallels between now and the oil shocks of the early 1970s when the "EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] became a scapegoat for consumers ravaged by inflation and high prices at the pump."

When I got back from my recent trip to the UK I read Henry Dimbleby's Ravenous, which is a fascinating look at the way we feed ourselves (as a society) and use land generally. He was a speaker at the annual conference of the Agricultural Industries Confederation that I attended this year (in my role as consultant to them) and was very good. The book is UK-focussed but has lessons that I think are applicable anywhere. Basically, we need to get better at using our resources and learning from nature; and probably all of us need to eat less meat (aside from any ethical considerations, it’s just not an efficient way to feed ourselves).

Finally, I'm attempting Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in the original old English. That’s a challenge that I am tackling in very small steps. 

Fitness-wise - I’ve been stretching every day. That seems increasingly necessary first thing in the morning. I’ve also kept up regular exercise, as well as my daily walks (despite scandalous suggestions to the contrary).  That's become a little more challenging over the last few days with snow and -15C wind chills.

Most of the exercise routines  I do are part of Bodi. Over the summer I’ve completed both 4 Weeks of the Prep and 6 Weeks of the Work - in both cases not for the first time. They’re really good at getting my stamina up, but I do find that I need to balance my workouts with more movement based exercises these days. For that, I’ve revisited some of Chalene’s Piyo classes, as well as Amoila Caesar's Chop Wood Carry Water. I recently started Elise Joan's Lava. I may not survive that. 

Despite not keeping up with all of my existing habits, I’ve taken on a new one - writing something every day. Close followers of this blog may be skeptical of that, given how infrequently I’ve been posting here recently, but I have in fact managed to write at least a few words every day for the last month. A lot of the writing has been about the app that I’m developing for Diderot - I’m actually trying to document the process. I’ve also written a lot more actual Diderot entries as well, largely based on the old slides that my Dad has been uploading.  

Here’s my most recent Diderot entry:

Not quite sure when this was taken.

But at some point I need to return to some of the big ticket items (or Lorraine will lose all faith in this journey). I had hoped to have made my Vegas trip by now, which was going to tick off a few things, but hopefully I can get that done in the New Year (assuming the US doesn’t implode). In the meantime, now that winter has arrived in Canada, I have skiing and ice skating on the agenda. Two other things I might not survive.

I was invited to attend the AIC’s annual conference again this year, and for the first time since 2019, I was able to go. The AIC represents the agri-supply industry in the UK, and I’ve worked as a consultant for them for over 20 years. The night before there is always a dinner, and it’s now a black tie affair. I don’t think I’ve worn black tie since my university days, and then I always opted for the clip on bow tie. So I decided that this was an opportunity to learn a new skill - how to tie a proper bow tie. 

First step, buying one.

Fortunately as I was in the U.K. for this challenge I was able to quickly procure one from Marks and Spencer.

Second step, fail hilariously in multiple attempts to actually follow the instructions on the box.

Step three, YouTube. Honestly, I’m not sure what people did before YouTube videos - this must have been one of those skills passed down through the generations. Even with YouTube it took a number of attempts to get anything resembling a normal bow tie.

Probably would have been better trying it with a shirt. On the actual evening I think I managed to pull it off. 

So not bad. But actually the chief advantage of a real bow tie is that towards the end of the evening you can pull one end of the tie and leave it casually draped around your shoulder - thus demonstrating your bow tie-ing prowess.  

Bow ties are now obviously cool. I should probably get more.

One of the aims for this year was to be more consistent with my writing. I started off strong, but clearly over the last couple of months I've not managed that. In part, that's because I've been caught up in some development work that has been taking up a lot of my spare time; but it's also because I haven't put in place the right routines to ensure that I write regularly. Given that this is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) it seemed a good time to attempt a reset on this. So, at least for the month of November, I will try to write something every day. That should mean that I have some content for this blog every week again.

Of course, I also need to get on with the items on my #52in52 list, so that I have something to write about. Lorraine has already questioned whether I am slipping significantly behind. Fortunately over the last couple of weeks I've had Oliver on my case to make sure I got some things done.

The first of these was spending some time on a golfing driving range. I've never played golf, beyond the odd pitch and putt or crazy golf game. It's not something I'd even considered much, but Oliver has been a regular at the driving range in the UK with some of his friends and he decided I needed to add it to my list. 

It was a good one too. We went to a local driving arrange that's attached to a crazy golf course we've done multiple times before. All very friendly and straightforward - we were able to hire the necessary drivers with our large bucket of balls, and there was plenty of space given that we turned up in the middle of a weekday afternoon. I'm not sure I'll make it as a golfer, but driving a golf ball was strangely therapeutic; and there was the odd swing that made me think I might be able to get a bit better at it. I can see how it becomes mildly addictive to some. I could definitely be persuaded to go back.

Even better though was our impromptu trip to the Grand River for some canoeing. This is something that has been on my list from the start - but I was getting nervous as summer slipped into fall and I still hadn't arranged anything. But finally we had a couple of warm October days and so after finishing work early on the last of them, I persuaded Oliver to come with me to the Canoeing the Grand office to try to get a canoe before they closed for the day. It was about 4pm by the time we got there, but Shelly was wonderfully welcoming and suggested a relatively short stretch of river that would get us back in time. 

So we signed up, collected the necessary canoeing equipment and headed off in a pickup to our starting point, with our designated canoe in the back. (Bonus first for Oliver - he'd never been in a pickup truck before - which is probably astonishing to anyone living in any part of North America). Upon arrival, we had to portage our canoe down to the river - and let me tell you I'm glad we both work out - and then, after a quick photo op, we were pushed out into the river. 

It was a beautiful afternoon - actually perfect for canoeing. Warm, but not hot; a beautiful light and no bugs. Oliver was in the lead position in the boat, and I was tasked with steering from the back. (Obviously I completely mastered that and any course misdirection was the result of Oliver's over-enthusiastic paddling.) It was incredibly peaceful - just us, the river and the occasional bit of wildlife, including a beaver (which we native UK'ers found very exciting). We even navigated a bit of faster water without capsizing - we felt that we were white water rafting, although others might disagree.

We made it back in just over an hour, and realised we probably could have just let the boat do all of the work and made it in good time. Highly recommended though, as is Canoeing the Grand. I'd definitely go again - although perhaps when the warm weather returns.

A later addition to the list, but until the other weekend I’d never actually attended a wine tasting.* (That I can recall, which I think should be a caveat that I attach to everything on my list.) Fortunately, our friends Cindy and Matt had a voucher for just such an event in the Niagara region. So on a recent Saturday we met up and headed over to the Vineland Winery.

Actually, the meeting up process afforded me another new experience - leaving our car plugged into a public charger. We met Cindy and Matt in a carpool car park, which was actually full except for some electric car parking spaces. You were supposed to be plugged in and charging though, so I had to register and set up a ChargePoint account. That all seemed to work and I was able to tap the device, release the charging cable and plug in. Unfortunately at that point we had to pick the pace up to be on time for our wine tasting slot, so I didn’t check the car was actually charging before we left. It wasn’t. It just looked like it was. So, not a problem but not a complete success either.

We did though make it to the winery almost completely on time. We were given a glass of sparkling rosé as soon as we walked in the door and joined up with the rest of the tour just outside.

Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and had some interesting anecdotes about his connection to the winery. We got to try a good selection of wines, from that first rosé all the way to a fulsome red. Fortunately the tasting was spaced out a little by the different stops on our tour, which ended in a rather extensive cellar. Actually it ended in the shop, because all tours end up in a shop. We were tempted by the large $300 bottle, but not nearly enough to buy it. Instead we went outside into the glorious sunshine to watch a wedding and play a few rounds of a get the beanbag in the hole game. There's probably a proper name for it.

After that and some sobering up, we headed off to find some waterfront to have the picnic that Cindy had packed. It was lovely to be sitting by the water, looking out to lake (not sea, of course). A very relaxing and enjoyable way to end the whole experience.

And the car was fine when we got back to it. If no more charged than when we left it.

I've not been so good at ticking off items on my list recently. Or of writing about what I have been up to. I am though still striving to make the most of opportunities that come along, and keep up with the habits I started with. I don't practice the piano as much as I'd like, but I'm continuing to work on chess and French; and I read for 20 minutes every day. I've also not yet missed a walk.

I very nearly managed to make some headway last weekend though. Chrissy and I booked a trip to Las Vegas so that I could visit a casino, visit the Hoover Dam and see the Grand Canyon. Bonus: Oliver was there on the first leg of his trip across America. Unfortunately, the last minute nature of the arrangements and slower than expected US visa processing meant that I didn't get the necessary authorisation to travel in time. Fortunately we've been able to just postpone most of the arrangements, so we're hoping to head there in December. Oliver had to make do on his own, which he seemed to do very well. He's since been to San Francisco and is currently in Boston.

When he makes it to Canada, I've got him lined up for some canoeing. I haven't told him that yet, so unless he reads this it will be a bit of a surprise.

Speaking of reading, I've made a start on the Canterbury Tales in the original Old English. Not particularly fast going, but - a bit like Ulysses - the rhythm of the writing pulls you along and provides a level of context and understanding that would be difficult to elicit from the words alone.

I’ve been taking walks at different times of the day, including a few at night. They were mostly out of necessity, having reached the end of the day without having ticked off my walking habit. But night time walks have a different feel - more reflective, calmer even. Except for one occasion when the sky was being lit by intermittent lightning and the noises of the night were disturbed by bursts of thunder and increasingly restive leaves on the trees. That wasn’t as calm. 

I’ve also been trying to pay more attention to the wildlife, especially the birds we have close to us. And I’ve been taken with the movement of flocks of birds in the sky in a way I never have before. I feel like they’re acting out a kind of natural poetry. A conversation on the wind. 

There’s also been some more work in the long-running garden makeover, with lots of new plants going in. Not quite as exciting as the boardwalk, I know. Don’t worry, there are some more paths to come.

All of which is to say that I’ve done little to tick off some of my grander #52in52 items this week. 

I am though completely back on track with my habits. French, piano, Diderot etc all done. I’ve also just about finished another interesting book on social media - Filterworld, by Kyle Chayka. The last few chapters in particular were very good - especially on the subject of curation. He makes the comparison of algorithmic recommendations to DJs: “DJs work to highlight the unfamiliar and unusual. There’s no guarantee you’ll like what they play, but the hope is that you’ll at least be interested in it.” In essence, some of the things we come to love we may not have liked to begin with, and that sometimes we need to be challenged. Skipping through tracks on Spotify or scrolling through Instagram doesn’t give us that opportunity. 

Speaking of curation, here are a few things that I came across over the last week or so that I thought were interesting:

• This is a site you're only supposed to visit once:
  https://onlyvisitonce.com/
• This is the problem with cars:
  https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/cars-have-fucked-up-this-country
• This is a very unusual approach to computing that somehow manages to feel futuristic and old-fashioned at the same time:
  https://dynamicland.org/2024/Intro/

Finally, the artwork here probably appeals because I miss the sea.
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/09/david-cass-light-on-water/

Also speaking of curation, I've just downloaded Kanopy to our Apple TV. It's an alternative to all of those streaming apps that you have to pay for. It includes a set of TV series and movies which are available for free via your library (well, here in Canada anyway). I've had a quick look through and there's a lot of interesting content that I haven't seen much elsewhere, including the BBC TV series The Prisoner and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Excellent.

Libraries are cool.

I finally got back into the swing of #52in52 last week, with a legitimate big ticket item from my list - going to watch the Blue Jays! There were seven of us in attendance - although I think most of them had been before. Still, it was a first time for Oliver and me. 

Fortunately we had Dawn with us to make sure that everything ran smoothly. She was also properly kitted out - the rest of us just had caps until Oliver decided to get an Ernie Clement top. Suitably inspired, Ernie hit a home run; as did George Springer, which I was happy about. I’m a big fan of George’s. I may even have to get one of his tops. 

The stadium is pretty impressive, especially with the CN Tower beside it. We managed to get a good look around as well, including up where they record the TV show. 

It was a great game to watch (although an unfortunate result) and a really good day out. I’m certainly keen to go back again.

In other #52in52 news, I’ve ticked off poker from the list! I brought in some experts to help me learn the basics of the game. Fortunately they did not take me for all my money - mostly because we weren’t actually playing for money. 

I didn’t have the stamina for one of their late night sessions, but I have found an app that seemed to be OK for just playing a few hands.

Offsuit - Texas Holdem Poker Game

Learn poker and play with friends.

Offsuit

Next I guess I have to try an actual casino. Low stakes though…

As well as the big game and the poker, I’ve been branching out on my walks recently. In the last couple of weeks that’s included a quick jaunt around Waterloo park with Oliver and Sophie (which included a notable visit to the Clay and Glass museum at the end of it);  a short hike through Elora Gorge, culminating in a closed bridge (fortunately we were able to successfully re-trace our steps); and a visit to Hockley Valley. 

Walking every day is one of the things that I've managed to do consistently since the start of this #52in52 journey, and something I really enjoy. Even if it’s just a quick walk around the block before going to bed.

I’ve been pretty good at keeping up with my habits, but I’ve definitely found it harder to keep up with writing about it all. I think that’s in part because I’ve had a lot of work on that has been drawing from the same well as the energy required to write. Good in a way, because that means there’s a lot of potentially interesting work; but not so good when it comes to me documenting this #52in52. 

Although I have been generally good on the habits, I did fail on my French listening and chess study last week; and didn’t get as much piano practice done as I’d like. I did play another chess game though - this time with Oliver. He was playing pretty well, until he did the same thing as me when I played my Dad the other week, and blundered a piece. 

Oliver and I also went for a 5K run, to see if I was ready for the step up to 10K. Unfortunately, despite feeling OK and beginning to pick up the pace on the third kilometre, I ran into my old knee problem - basically the knees just go from under me and it becomes quite painful to carry on. In the end, we finished the 5K, but with quite a bit of walking. The next day Oliver set off and completed a 10K on his own - the first time he’d done it. Can I count that? 

Finally, I’ve finished the book by Jenny Odell I mentioned last week, called Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock. I’ve also read her How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. Both highly recommended, especially if you feel there’s never enough time.

My reset has continued for last couple of weeks, certainly in terms of notable #52in52 adventures. That's partly because of new projects at work, catching up after being away, and a general lack of focus on my part.

I did however finally launch Diderot by adding paid tiers to the website. What is Diderot? It's a site I created to provide a place for everyone to store their memories. It allows you to record a short recollection of a particular moment in time, to which you can also add a place, people and photos. You can create your own personal timeline, share memories with friends and family, or publish your memories anonymously to everyone on the site. 

To get people started the system provides multiple questions that you can answer. Such as, “What could you see out of the window of your first bedroom?”

Everyone has a story. Everyone’s life is interesting if we take the time to ask the right questions and listen to the answers. There are many places where you can read about the lives of the famous. Diderot is meant for everyone else.

So please try it out and let me know what works and what doesn’t. No need to sign up for a paid subscription - there’s a free tier that does almost everything. I'm using it with my parents and some friends and it's already providing me with great memories and new insights.

More features are planned, as and when I have the time, including audio and video recordings.

Speaking of websites, I also wanted to mention a few sites that I’d recommend. 

If you're at all interested in technology I try to always read both of these:

• https://pluralistic.net: Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. His take on the technology questions of the day is usually way ahead of that of most people.
• https://www.404media.co: 404 Media is a journalist-founded digital media company exploring the ways technology is shaping–and is shaped by–our world.

For those more interested in life and culture:

The Marginalian

Marginalia on our search for meaning.

The MarginalianMaria Popova

The Marginalian is compiled by Maria Popova and I can't recommend it enough. She calls it, "a record of my reading and reckoning with our search for meaning: sometimes through science and philosophy, sometimes through poetry and children’s books, always through the lens of wonder."

Alternatively, if visual art is more your thing, this is usually good:

Colossal

Colossal is an international platform for contemporary art and visual expression. Our coverage explores visual culture through the latest in art, modern craft, design, sustainability, climate, street art, photography, illustration, science, and animation.

ColossalGrace Ebert

Back to #52in52.

I’ve mostly kept on track with my habits, although ironically I didn’t post much to Diderot over the last couple of weeks. I also fell a little short on my piano practice. Failing is part of getting better though. Also, I’m currently reading a very interesting book about time and how we use it, which questions the need to fill every moment of every day with something, which I think is a nice counter-balance to this #52in52 initiative. Details to follow once I’ve finished it.

This week I have poker and a visit to a baseball game planned; plus I've already snuck in another 5K run. So there should be more to read about next week!

After the excitement of the last two weeks, I’ve taken a bit of a breather this week, just focussing on getting back to my habits, restarting my exercise regime after a couple of weeks off, and planning some future activities.

I did though begin the week with some active chess study, by playing my Dad on Monday morning before catching a train to London and the start of my journey back to Canada. Unfortunately, despite a reasonably solid opening, I managed to blunder a piece, leading to a swift resignation. So work still needed there.

I’ve started reading through some of Jan Timman’s The Art of Chess Analysis, for some variety. It may help.

I managed to keep up with the piano in the UK, and while there I also discovered my old copy of Czerny’s 101 Exercises, with comments from my music teacher in them. It’s good to know that I’m still making the same mistakes over 35 years later.

I also found a short piece I used to be able to play, Tarantella, so I’m working on that as well as the exercises now. 

I’ve kept up with the walking and stretching, and I’m currently reading some science fiction as a break from my #52in52 reading list - Hyperion, by Dan Simmons. Very good. It follows a similar structure to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, so now I’m wondering if I should read that next. I’ve definitely read some of it before but I’m not sure if I’ve read it all. Are books that I want to re-read allowed?

More French phrases, from this week’s Duolingo French Podcast:

• Dans la vie, tout peut changer en un instant.
  In life, everything can change in an instant.
• La vie est pleine de surprises.
  Life is full of surprises.
• Ils ont vraiment été là pour moi.
  They were really there for me.
• Je veux le raconter aux gens.
  I want to tell people about it.

I also posted a new Diderot entry last week about riding my bike around Yelverton with my friends Clive and Peter. It was in response to the question “When did you feel most independent as a child?” - and out on our bike adventures around the village was definitely it for me.

Elsewhere, the house has also been undergoing a bit of a reset. We hired a dumpster and managed to fill it in a couple of days. Now at least we have space to sort through the stuff that's left.

Not sure what’s happening next on the #52in52 list, but Oliver is arriving on Sunday, so helpfully we can tick off a few things next week.

There’s a lot to fit in and this is a bit late. After Stonehenge on the Saturday, and the visit to Whipsnade Zoo on Sunday (not even on the list), I followed up on Monday with more walking with a trip to Ashridge Forest (also not on the list). I used to go there with Oliver and Amy when they were young. A very nice relaxed day. 

Tuesday I headed off from my Aylesbury Travelodge to one in Covent Garden in London. I had an early check in so that I could dump my bags and head off to meet Lorraine for our Tower of London trip (on the list!). 

Before heading off to the Tower we grabbed some street food from Borough Market, which is worth being on anyone’s list, although wasn't actually on mine. We managed to pick a very messy pulled pork burger, although it was excellent. The market was packed though - school holidays I imagine. 

Then it was on to the Tower! I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Other than knowing that the Crown Jewels were there I didn’t know much else about what was on display. But I was really impressed. The first thing we saw was a clever video presentation in the Bloody Tower. Then we took in the Crown Jewels, walked around the battlements and went up into the White Tower. Everything was really well done. Like Stonehenge, the Tower was busy, but still it didn’t feel uncomfortable walking around. 

We finished with a walk around the moat. A great day, followed up by a beer on the way back to Covent Garden and ramen in a small restaurant near my hotel. Also very good!

Oh, and I got to try out some archery!

Wednesday Amy had planned to come down to wander around the British Museum with me. Unfortunately she wasn’t feeling too well when she woke up so I set off on my own. I had a quick breakfast there and then took a look at the Michelangelo exhibition, some early British history (neatly connecting my visit with the Stonehenge trip on Saturday), plus a visit to the members’ room (in an attempt to justify my ongoing membership), and a photo of the Rosetta Stone for Amy. 

After that I did a relatively rapid walking tour of my old UCL university haunts before a late checkout and continuing my journey on to Norwich. 

Not all of this relates directly to my #52in52 of course. Nor does the journey to Warwick to see Oliver graduate - although that was the main reason for my trip to the U.K.. All worth mentioning though I think. Here’s the graduate with me and Amy. 

With all of this going on my habits have taken a bit of a hit. I’ve just about managed to do some piano, keep up my walking, stretching and reading. But chess study ended up being put on hold.

I did get in my French listening though. 

• C'était comme un grand jeu.
  It was like a big game.
• Ce jour-là, pour la première fois, je me suis senti différent. 
  That day, for the first time, I felt different.
• Il pense à l’avenir, aux conséquences.
  He thinks about the future, about the consequences.

The weekend was a little quieter, which is probably just as well. I was sorting a lot of old photos, books and tech equipment at Mum and Dad's house. I was also importing a lot of old slides to Dad's computer. All of which means I now have a wealth of information for Diderot entries. Which should make up for the fact that I haven't posted anything on that site this week.

When I wasn't doing that, I was being looked after very well by my parents.

Next week may be a bit quieter.

I’m back in the U.K. and as I write this on Sunday evening I'm about to head off with Oliver and Amy to the restaurant I mentioned a while back that I used to frequent in Caddington. Update: The same people were working there as before and they remembered me, even after all these years, which was nice. We got my favourite seat and they remembered my preference for a Cobra. Didn’t actually remember my name though - they had to ask…! 

I landed in the U.K. in the midst of a global IT crisis - the result of too many people relying on Microsoft servers, really. Fortunately my flight was unaffected and other than a lot of extra people being in the terminal at Gatwick I escaped the whole thing unscathed. I even managed a traditional British Breakfast at Wetherspoon’s. 

The delays and general travel disruption did persuade us that heading straight to Stonehenge was probably a bit of an ask; so we postponed that until the Saturday. The only downside to that was that Amy wasn’t able to come with us, as she had extensive other plans. 

So Saturday Oliver and I prepped and headed out first thing (actually about 11am - I had a little jet lag). The journey was, fortunately, uneventful - even though we drove past quite a few delays. Upon arrival we were encouraged to pre-book (...!) so that we could join the shorter queue. It worked a treat though, and after a quick dive into the exhibition, and pause for a sandwich for Oliver, we set off on the “30 min” walk to the henge. I’m not sure what that estimate was based on, but a mere 40 odd minutes or so later we arrived. 

And despite the number of tourists it is an impressive site, with plenty of room to take it all in. We took a number of photos. 

Ok the way home we also drove past Silbury Hill and West Kennet Long Barrow, just to finish off the ancient Britain tour. 

Despite the international travel I managed to keep up with my habits this week. It meant getting my piano practice and chess study in early, although I only managed my French listening on Sunday evening (just now in fact). 

Speaking of which, your French phrases for this week:

• C’est la chose qui me rend la plus fière.
  That's the thing that makes me the most proud.
• Donc, au début, c’était dur.
  So, at the beginning, it was hard.
• Quand on commence, on ne peut plus s’arrêter.
  When we start, we can no longer stop.

My habit tracker app is not enjoying the change in time zone though, so it's a little difficult to work out what I have and haven't done. Also, my general workout regime is now slightly on hold, even if my step count has been up for a couple of the last few days. Still stretching though.

The walks over the last few days have been extensive - other than the Stonehenge hiking challenge,  Oliver and I spent a few hours on Sunday wandering around the Whipsnade Zoo - mostly because Amy works there and I wanted to see her at work. Eventually she joined us to give us a guided tour of the aquarium and butterfly house. 

She wasn’t entirely impressed with our efforts to find all of the other animals. Oliver was mostly focussed on the cheetahs and the red pandas, which we did find. 

I’ve moved on to reading The Communist Manifesto. Quite fascinating. It’s certainly a product of its time but some of the issues it raises with society remain relevant today. Not a long read given the impact it had. 

I'm a bit late posting this, as I've been busy with this week's adventures. Stay tuned!

The day, as recounted by Mr Bloom and other protagonists and narrative devices, is over. There is no simple way to describe what transpires over the course of that day and over 700 pages. On some levels, very little - a burial, the conversations of people at work and in various less salubrious establishments or walking down the street. But just as it does for most of us, so much more is triggered by each of these interactions, and the book becomes a cacophony of interweaved memories and thoughts, some more coherent than others. Some barely coherent at all. I feel like you could read Ulysses many, many times and something new would always reveal itself. Indeed, on more than one occasion I experienced that when just re-reading a page. I’d recommend it, if you like that sort of thing. 

I had plans this week for some bike maintenance, but I never quite had the time to get the parts I needed; and we decided to do a bit more work on the house - putting some new flooring down in another bedroom, putting up some shelves and starting to tackle all of the things that had been thrown in the furnace room over the years. It’s a lot. We’re definitely going to have to hire a dumpster. Also, we discovered what looks like a small leak in the roof - so that will be fun to get sorted out. The two re-floored rooms look good though. 

I did find a handy video to show how to fix a grip shift cable though: https://youtu.be/v-6Yw0vY0xk?si=X-rRH0XszUDw8WCF

And then I found another YouTube channel with lots of very useful bike maintenance info: https://youtube.com/@davidarthur?si=NsZbNkbyU95x_GQB

More archery this week too. Only Chrissy and I were available, so Lily was able to focus on our form quite a lot. I switched to using finger guards, which made a difference; and my posture was corrected a little (when I remembered). By the end we were firing off arrows to the end of the range and I only had to climb up to fetch an arrow from near the roof once. That's on hold now though as Lily is off to support Eric Peters in Paris while he competes in the Olympics. We had a short chat with him while we were there - he was showing us some of his equipment. I hope he does well - we'll be supporting him from afar.

Chrissy and I also managed to pop back to the Indian restaurant again this week. The waiter was a little surprised we were return customers given they'd only been open just over a week or so. We have plans to be back again this week, so perhaps it will become a place where everyone knows our name.

The other habits were just completed on time. Sunday involved French listening, piano practice and some chess study, but I managed to get it all done. I've started working on some piano scales to try to improve my basic left and right hand coordination, which remains poor. 

I played through a fascinating Karpov game. He was a master at keeping tension in a position. 

Taimanov-Karpov, Moscow 1973, Nimzo-Indian Defence
(p.76 for those of you following along in Simple Chess by John Emms)

I felt my French listening was a little better this week. Although it may have been the topic. This week's French phrases:

• Mais je voulais que ça change.
  But I wanted it to change. 
• Je me suis sentie à ma place.
  I felt I’d found my place. 
• Tout le monde partage.
  Everyone shares. 

And so to this week, when I will be travelling back to the U.K.!  I’m hoping to visit Stonehenge and the Tower of London. Details to follow. 

Not actually going to Korea - just wanted to clear that up. But I did have a Korean guide for my first visit to a Korean BBQ. Hee very kindly offered to accompany Chrissy and me, and to help us navigate the experience. Without him it would have taken a lot longer to order; and we'd have had little idea what to choose from the menu. As it was, our table quickly filled with all manner of sumptuous dishes. I’d name all of the dishes if I could, but I genuinely have little idea. A lot of the side dishes come automatically as part of the meal, including some amazing glass noodles. We also had a type of miso soup and a large bowl of cold noodles to accompany the beef and pork that Hee cooked for us on the central grill. There was also an amazing pancake-type side dish that I loved. Highly recommended - especially if you can find a friendly Korean to accompany you. 

Daldongnae

Daldongnae0

We followed it up with a traditional Korean dessert from the store next door. It’s basically frozen flaked milk, served with different toppings. We had red bean. Really good but I don’t know how we managed to eat any of it after the main meal. We were so full - and Hee says it’s common in Korea for people to do multiple rounds, moving from place to place and with large amounts of alcohol to fuel it all. 

Snowday

Experience a taste of Korea in Toronto! Indulge in the exquisite flavours of Korean Bingsu paired with artisanal coffee and tea at our welcoming cafe. Join us for a delightful blend of cultural richness and culinary excellence.

Snowday

One round was enough for us. But it was all excellent. 

Fortunately I’ve been following quite a rigorous workout routine recently - great for burning all of those calories. This week I finished the course, which culminated in something called the crucible, involving 800 reps - including 100 pushups and 100 burpees. It’s a bit brutal, and I’ll admit that for the pushups in particular I needed a few breaks. Quite satisfying though - and I can see the improvement in my overall fitness. I’ve done the course at least once before; but it’s not something I’d want to do all the time. 

I haven’t included my general workout routines in the #52in52 list because it’s something I’ve done for a long time already. But I thought finishing 6 Weeks of the Work was worth noting. 

Incidentally, there are some great programs on the Bodi platform. My favourites are:

• 4 Weeks of the Prep
• 6 Weeks of the Work
• 10 Rounds
• Chop Wood, Carry Water
• Liift4
• Liift More
• Sure Thing

Also, for those that want more of Dawn’s running tips from last week:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9LYTIZxWze/?igsh=bGRqaDdxeGI1dHJ2

I’ve kept up my other habits this week. I’m close to finishing Ulysses, which remains absolutely intriguing. I’m not sure I’ve read anything like it before. The closest I can think of in terms of depth that I’ve read recently, is The Luminaries - which I enjoyed thoroughly but felt I only understood on one or two of the many levels at which it operated. I remember the book I read after it feeling very lightweight by comparison. But The Luminaries is still a much more traditional book than Ulysses, which is poetical as much as anything else. 

I made the mistake of finding an audio recording of the Czerny studies this week, so that I could hear them with the correct phrasing and speed. As I suspected, I’m playing them at about half of the speed they are supposed to be played. It increases the challenge a little (a lot). Fun though. 

This week’s French podcast introduced some interesting phrases as usual. By common request, I’ve included translations this time:

• Maintenant que je sais tout cela, beaucoup de choses ont changé.
  Now that I know all this, a lot of things have changed.
• Notre lien est venu naturellement.
  Our connection came naturally. 
• Je me suis sentie libre. 
  I felt free.

Archery returns for the last time this summer next week, as our coach is off to Paris for the Olympics (not to compete, but to support someone at the range we go to who is). I might try one of those finger guards this time. 

No progress on The Lords of Midnight this week. Lives remain in the balance.

I've always been hesitant to take things apart. I am not a natural born tinkerer. I want things to work for as long as possible and my assumption has been that the best way of ensuring that is for me to intervene as little as possible in the operation of said thing. The exception to that has been computers - perhaps because I was brought up on Sinclair devices, which traditionally have required some intervention just to keep working. Even then though, my interventions were born primarily out of necessity rather than curiosity. 

I'm trying to change that though, which is one of the reasons why I've started my bike maintenance project as part of my #52in52.

On Saturday, I thought I'd start simple and remove the back wheel from my test bike and check the inner tube. So I set up a temporary stand for the bike, so that I could work on it easily, and removed the nuts holding the wheel in place. I also worked out how to loosen the brake pads enough to pull the wheel out. I then used the tire grips that I'd optimistically purchased with my own bike to remove the tire from the rim. Not too difficult once I got the hang of the hooking motion required to lever the tire off.

Perhaps more surprisingly, I was also able to put everything back together again. But although the wheel still spun, I quickly realised the gears weren't working. It didn't take me too long to notice that in fact the gear wire had frayed and snapped, so hadn’t been working before I took the wheel apart. So now I have something for part two of my bike maintenance project. 

In other news, I’ve been back to the archery range. Chrissy joined in this time, and was - like Sophie - considerably more elegant and accurate than me. I tried out a new grip on the bow string and managed to be less accurate than last time and to end up with bruising on my fingers. But we’re going back again in a couple of weeks, so I still have the chance to improve!

The Lords of Midnight adventure continues. So far, I’ve managed to avoid any confrontations. Luxor is recruiting more troops to the cause and I’ve sent Morkin far into the deep north. Rorthron the Wise and Corleth the Fey at this point are just wandering around aimlessly. They need to show some focus. A new recruit, The Lord of Gard is on his way to reinforce the Citadel of Shimeril. 

I hope Doomdark isn’t reading this blog.

I used to live in a village in England that had a Bengali restaurant. For a while I was a regular visitor to the restaurant. Frequent enough that when I walked in the staff would start pouring me a Cobra beer. Usually I would sit and chat and then take the food home to eat. Sometimes, less often, I would eat in. It was the closest I’ve come to that place where everybody knows your name.

Finding places like that is definitely part of the #52in52 intent, even if it doesn't relate to anything specific on the list. I think we might have found a restaurant that will make that list near us in Waterloo:

Oh Bombay Waterloo | #1 Best Indian & Hakka Restaurant

Enjoy the fine dine at Oh Bombay Waterloo - Indian & Hakka restaurant. Install our app to order authentic Indian food & earn rewards.

Oh Bombay Indian & Hakka Restaurants

It’s part of a franchise chain I think, but this is a new location. The welcome was excellent, including the co-owner coming over to speak to us; and the food was superb. We’re looking to go back as soon as possible. 

I think I spotted a Cedar Waxwing the other day. And I bookmarked this page: How to Observe and Appreciate Birds - Atlas Obscura. Is this how birdwatching starts? 

Speaking of advice, Dawn posted some good tips for getting back in to running on Instagram, but AFTER I’d decided to go out and just run 5K. Short version, that’s probably not the best way to start. 

Dawn has good fitness tips. 

I’m almost 3/4 of the way through Ulysses.

Habits ticked off again this week.

Here are your French phrases:

• Big Sun a été un très grand défi.
• La musique me donnait la chair de poule.
• Je voulais raconter une histoire avec le son et l’image.

A bientôt!