Weeknote 04/2025

26 January 2025 • 4 min read • Weeknotes / weeknote / work

And what I won't tell you
I prolly never even tell myself

— Mac Miller (Come Back to Earth)

This week has been an emotional rollercoaster. It all started on Monday with Trump’s inauguration, which was enough to dampen anyone’s mood at the start of the week. I tried running on the treadmill at the gym, but after just half a kilometre, my heart rate spiked above 160bpm. So I stopped, miserable about my health prospects.

Thankfully, my mate Aaron messaged in the afternoon, asking if I wanted to join him for a walk up The Cheviot, Northumberland's highest summit. It’s strange, but I’ve never been to the trig point at the top. The walk and the conversation were exactly what I needed.

Photograph of The Cheviot with clouds at the top

Wednesday was Ben’s 18th birthday. I don’t usually mention his name on this blog, but since he’s officially an adult now, I figure it’s about time! It’s a huge milestone for our family, and I couldn’t be prouder of the young man he’s become. I won’t go on about how fast time flies, but I did get a little misty-eyed when we went through the photo book I’d put together of his first 6,575 days on Earth. At his request, my wife, Hannah, made hima Tiramisu cake which was incredible.

Later that evening, while he was at basketball training, I watched PSG vs Man City in the Champions League. What a game! It was 0-0 at half-time and ended 4-2 to PSG. It reminded me of eing at the Parc des Princes last November. My daughter joined me for the game, still a bit under the weather from a cold that had kept her home from school.

Thursday brought us to the funeral of our next-door neighbour, who passed away suddenly a few weeks ago. He was always a friendly guy, although we hadn’t known him long since we only moved here last April. The venue was packed, and we squeezed in at the back to pay our respects. It was a sobering moment, and with a couple of cardiology appointments coming up next month, I’ve decided to hold off on running until I have more information.

The mood lightened that evening with some axe-throwing at The Gate in Newcastle. I’ve only been once before, more than a decade ago while in Toronto for a Mozilla work week. It was a lot of fun! At one point, Ben threw an axe so hard that it lodged deep into the wood, pulling the backboard off when he tried to remove it!

Afterwards, we headed to Dabbawal for some Indian food. Ben had a few beers, Hannah had a cocktail, and my daughter (still recovering from her cold) and I didn’t drink—she’s underage, and I was driving. The food was good, but not quite as amazing as the takeaway we had from their Jesmond branch last month on my birthday.

Friday was insanely windy. The wind had been picking up overnight, and it really disturbed my sleep. I’d honestly take almost any other kind of weather over wind. It affects me for some reason. So, I started the day tired and a bit emotional from the events of the previous days. The local high school our two attend was closed after a risk assessment deemed it unsafe to walk between buildings or drive on-site. They both worked on some online tasks instead.

Despite all of the above, I still managed to work on a few bits and pieces, including finishing the Friends of the Earth article on Harnessing AI for Environmental Justice. The main event of the week, though, was the four-hour workshop we ran for Amnesty International UK. This was the final stage of a selection process to help them build a new community platform for activists. They paid us for the work, and I really enjoyed the session. It was split into three parts: I led the presentation, Laura guided the activities with activists, and John handled the Q&A. We’ll find out on Tuesday if we’ve been successful.

After that, it was nice to unwind at the pub with Ben for a pint and a few games of pool. The aim is to improve his pool game so that, by the time he heads to university, he can hustle the other students. I suspect he’d like to do the same with darts, too.

After all this, it was nice to be able to go down to the pub after this with Ben for a pint and a few games of pool to unwind a little bit. The aim is for us to improve his pool game so that by the time he goes to university he can hustle other students. I think he'd like to do the same with darts, to be honest.

Yesterday, my daughter’s team played with only 10 players and a year up, but they absolutely smashed the opposition 12-2. Three players scored hat-tricks, and she scored one and was named Player of the Match. Despite still being under the weather, she did brilliantly while wearing the new luminous-yellow boots she received for her birthday a couple of weeks ago.

Ben’s basketball team narrowly lost in the playoffs to a team that had beaten them fairly easily last week. He scored three baskets and made four assists—he gave it everything, and I couldn’t have asked for more.

I’ve been a bit slack with posting to Thought Shrapnel this week, although I have (with the help of my little robot friend) redesigned the format of the automatic email newsletter that goes out every Sunday. You can subscribe here.

More sports today, both of the junior type and on TV, before some PS5 action with my gaming crew. Always a good end to the week.

Next week, I'm not sure what I'm working on to be perfectly honest. Crossing my fingers about the Amnesty gig, I guess, doing some bizdev, and potentially applying for some jobs (once more, with feeling).