There's something oddly beautiful about the way unexpected events line up. Take last Monday, when Storm Éowyn's electrical antics and a recent obsession with poi led to what can only be described as a serendipitous evening of not setting myself on fire.
For the uninitiated, poi is the art of …
On Saturday morning, at 6am, I started running. That is pretty normal for me. What was different this time was that I was starting from the Riverside Museum in Glasgow and was about to run 57 miles to Edinburgh.
I had entered the Glasgow to Edinburgh Ultramarathon organised by GB …
I remember when I first started university in Edinburgh. Many of the students from further afield made comments about how beautiful the city was. Having grown up in a town with similar architecture, it just looked normal to me.
I was blessed to live in such a beautiful place, yet …
I realise that 2 months have now passed since I last posted anything here. Unlike when I was posting every day, I've had plenty of ideas of things I want to write about. What I have not had is the energy or patience to sit down and write anything.
Initially …
Yesterday was one of those days that no mater what I touched, it seemed to break. Both personal life and at work, I had a couple of big things break on me that were a pain to fix. By lunch time I was at a stage where I didn't want …
I don’t know what is special about today, I thought these things were supposed to happen on a Friday, but it turns out that both me and my wife may be getting made redundant.
Up to 200 jobs likely to be axed at Grangemouth refinery site as pandemic bites …
Over the weekend I enjoyed a beer with my dinner as a form of celebrating the end of another set of night shifts. One of my kids asked what I was drinking, and I was looking for a description. What I initially wanted to say was:
Beer: A drink for …
To say that this week was interesting would be an understatement. I had started the week worrying about overpaying for some Perspex for the windows of my shed. I had replaced two panes a few years ago. Between then and now, the price had more than doubled. I wonder what …
At the start of the year my ability to do push-ups was pretty pathetic. I had been enjoying doing a weekly circuits session at the company gym for over a year. I had noticed a improvement in most of the exercises. But not push-ups. I was happy to do any …
Today I am 33⅓ or 100/3.
My birthday is in the darkest part of December when people are rather busy with some other annual event. As a result, I haven't had a party to celebrate in many years now.
This year, I realised that I turn 33 ⅓, and …
I decided to stop posting daily and use the extra time to work on other things in the evening. I wanted to see the effect of changing how I use my limited resources of time and focus.
The first night was very successful. At the time when I would normally …
One of the main components of the Stoic philosophy is the dichotomy of control. The vast majority of things that happen are not under our control. We may be able to, at best, influence things. The things that are under our control are very limited and essentially boil down to …
I feel like I want to complain. Last weekend we were away for our winter trip. I remember going skiing during these trips when I was younger. But we haven't had anywhere near enough snow in recent years. This year, after the holiday, on my first day back at work …
I think I have paid my tax for last year. This is the first time I have actually filled in a tax return for myself, in the past I have always just relied on the PAYE calculations.
Despite the website saying "you do not owe anything", I was still uncertain …
I have stated this before, but I am a slow reader. Couple that with commitments and life in general, reducing the amount of spare time I have, it takes me a while to get through a book.
I had borrowed a book from the library that was due to be …
Today we received a letter in the post from an old friend. Someone who we used to spend a lot of time with but now live far enough apart that we are lucky if we meet once every couple of years.
The letter was handwritten and only the size of …
One of the job requirements of being a parent is reading aloud to your kids. Unfortunately, it is something that I am not really competent at. I have tried reading silently but the kids are having none of it.
During my wedding, I had a short reading to deliver. As …
I like my coffee. When out and about, particularly in cold places, I find it difficult to resist buying a coffee (as long as they are selling anything that isn't instant). I do however get rather frustrated when they serve the coffee in semi-spherical cups.
Whenever I read something that I had previously written, I almost always end up cringing. Sometimes I don't remember writing it and I wonder which idiot it was that wrote it!
I am not just talking about the old blog posts, but almost any writing, old procedures I have written …
After the workout, the muscles in your arms are complaining that you are holding a cup of coffee.
I have a problem with my wedding ring. No I haven’t lost it. I do like wearing it. My problem is that my fingers are not always the same size. I think this is true for most people, though most people just find that their rings get very tight …
So today was my first parkrun in almost exactly three months. What happens when I don't run for three months? I managed a personal worst. My time was 22 seconds slower than my very first parkrun which was after nearly 10 years of no racing.
Never mind, I can't change …
I am noticing lots of people complaining about the state of the world, good riddance to 2019, hopefully the next year will be better. I fear that we are too quick to dismiss the progress that has been made. This could be progress on a personal level, as a society …
It is amazing the amount of effort required to keep things simply running. The huge variety of jobs that need to have someone doing them at all times of the day and night, every day of the year.
Ten Years ago, I was about to spend my first Christmas away …
I was already feeling smug enough at getting our Christmas grocery shopping done first thing on s Sunday morning when the shop was quite. It just doubled when I went past another shop this morning about 9am. The queues were ridiculously long and I was really glad that I didn't …
Continuing on with my series of posts on Making the Most of My Time, I have decided to review the activities I spent my time on and consider whether these activities add true value.
Today was the last Tuesday morning Gym session of the year, so today's post will look …
It is easy to forget what Stillness and Calm can feel like. Particularly a sustained period of stillness when life revolves around two noisy kids.
I had the opportunity to sit in complete stillness and calm for an hour today. No phone to distract me. Just sitting and having to …
Following Sunday's post, I am continuing to review the activities I spent my time on and consider whether these activities add true value.
Today's post will look at how much time I spent maintaining a personal web server.
My personal web server acts as a private …
Following Sunday's post, I have decided to review the activities I spent my time on and consider whether these activities add true value.
Today's post will look an my news consumption habits.
The reasons most people give for watching or reading the news is …
After yesterday's post, I have decided to review the activities I spent my time on and consider whether these activities add true value.
The first activity I want to consider is my cycle commute.
Time wise, it takes about 15 minutes to cycle to work …
There are lots of personal projects I want to work on. There are lots of skills I want to learn. And this is a great time to be around. There are so many opportunities to learn so many different skills for free. The barrier to entry for many projects has …
I have just been made aware of "Giving Tuesday", coinciding after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It is a day to donate to a good cause instead.
By sheer coincidence, I did my annual charity allocation early this morning. I have a CAF1 account and make regular payments into …
It has to be said, salted caramel is horrible. It is not as if I am afraid to try a new thing, I have tried it multiple times.
It tastes horrible. Every time.
It is the same with salted chocolate as well. I just don’t like the taste of …
Mayby the mistake I discussed yesterday was not such a bad one. If I had booked the correct tickets, I would have been stuck in London when this happened:
West Coast Mainline passengers 'stranded for seven hours'
Hundreds of passengers on the West Coast Mainline have been stranded for hours …
Back in August, I made a mistake. Part of me wants to forget all about it. Ignore it, pretend that it didn't happen.
But I have been fairly vocal that we should be learning from our mistakes and ideally, learning from other people's mistakes. If course that only works if …
Tonight I hosted my third IChemE Members group committee meeting as chair. I had mentioned previously that I used to be able to chair quick meetings that didn't overrun. The Scottish Members Group meetings are notorious for overrunning, so I knew it would be a challenge. In the first two …
I ended up alone the n the house for about an hour this morning. Rather than rushing around in an attempt to get some housework done, u took the time to relax and read.
I had a long list of articles that I had wanted to get around to reading …
I spent my day off work attempting to rebuild a web server. As usual with these things, my initial estimate for duration was significantly off. Lots of silly problems and unexpected errors to get past.
In the end, I got to a stage where Ihad to decide if I was …
For the last couple of weeks, I have experienced mild pain when walking about as a result of the accident. Today I also experienced mild pain, though it was different.
Yesterday was the first time I made it back to a circuits class in the gym and today's pain was …
I had the day off work and the kids were in nursery, so we took the opportunity to go to Ikea mid-week sans-kids. I was somewhat surprised when I got out of the car:
Apparently the IKEA just outside Edinburgh opened 20 years ago. Of …
Sometimes you wake up and just feel rubbish. I have wanted nothing more than to curl up and feel sorry for myself.
Luckily I am an adult with adulty things that get in the way of just lying around. Things like looking after the kids and doing household chores. Fulfilling …
After Tuesday's crash, I was told to keep moving. I attended yoga as normal both on Tuesday and today.
I am not sure if the exercises are helping with my recovery, but they are very good at letting me know what bits of my body hurts.
I was involved in a crash this morning. As I was cycling to the shops, a slight detour on my way to work, I was turning right at a roundabout. As the person on the roundabout, I am supposed to have right of way. But you only truly have right …
I normally enjoy listening to the Proclaimers, but there was a point when they were played recently and I really wish that they weren't on.
Everyone else was enjoying the song, but I was driving. All I wanted to do was tap my foot to the music, but that would …
I have just started a new coding project and I am in one of the worst phases. Before starting, I was full of ideas and enthusiasm. I could envision the finished product. I could imagine all the extra bells and whistles that could get added.
And then I started to …
This evening, I was at a meeting in Edinburgh, around the are I spent a lot of time as a student. As I passed a shop, I instantly remembered walking to it the night after I moved into my flat in second year. I remembered the heavy rain that didn't …
All my employer pensions make the assumption that I will retire at 65. I have realised that if I were to retire at 65, I have just passed the halfway point between my birth and my retirement date.
It is kind of scary when I think about how much the …
I have recently signed up to a website for an organisation's alumni. After proving my identity and successfully logging in, I am faced with one of life's dreaded tasks:
Filling out my profile, including a short bio.
Does anyone actually enjoy or at least not hate filling these things in …
Today, rather than cycling 10 minutes down the hill to the refinery, I drove 45 minutes to another site to attend a trial at a suppliers factory.
When I arrived, I was informed that the test had been cancelled. Everyone else on the team was informed, I just got missed …
Ten years ago I started my first "proper" job. My first job after graduating, in the world of chemical engineering. I, along with about 20 other recent graduates, arrived at a conference center in the middle of the countryside near Peterborough to start working for British Sugar.
When I first …
