Weeknote 34/2025

It’s the second Bank Holiday weekend in August and it feels like early Autumn. While it’s supposed to be warm tomorrow, the leaves have begun falling and my summer shorts-wearing may soon be coming to an end.

Working in August just feels wrong. I’m not sure whether that’s because I started my career as a teacher, and therefore had six weeks off in the summer, or whether it’s just the general slowdown that happens during these months in the northern hemisphere. In addition to the couple of weeks I had off at the start of this month, I’ve definitely done less work overall in July and August. It’s just the way things go, the cadence of the year.

This working week, I’ve split my time between the following:

• Putting together a proposal for the Digital Credentials Consortium for some new work which, if it comes off, could me that WAO team up with our former Mozilla colleague Jess Klein.
• Co-working with Laura on our activist community platform work with Amnesty International UK (AIUK). We’re going to be using Discourse, so we’ve been working on everything from hosting requirements to a plan for the pilot phase.
• Collaborating with Aaron Hirtenstein on our project with SEBI-L. We’re gathering the required insights via a survey and staff interviews to put together a plan for a Theory of Change workshop next month.

I’m still in “low-power” mode over at Thought Shrapnel, and will be until September.

I mentioned last week that my son, Ben, received his ‘A’ Level results. He wasn’t happy with his Physics grade, so we had all three papers re-marked. The result? He’s moved up a grade due to them finding a couple of additional marks. That means he’s re-assessing his options, although I suspect he still wants to go to Northumbria.

My daughter, Grace, has had a busy footballing week. Even her two training sessions are an hour’s drive each way, and in addition she played in a friendly match (won 8-1, Grace scored), played in a football tournament in Bradford where the semi-final went to penalties (she scored hers but her team lost), and completed her first match as a referee. I’m pretty much a taxi service at this point.

Other than that, I’ve just been trying to keep active. I’ve completed 463 intensity minutes this week according to Garmin, which isn’t bad given that my (STILL!) undiagnosed condition means that I effectively can’t do any cardio. I’m trying my best. Keeping an eye on my heart rate seems to be the main thing.

Next week will be a shorter one due to the public holiday on Monday. I’ll be working on the AIUK and SEBI-L projects, doing some business development, helping my son get ready for uni, and driving my daughter to various venues in the North East. I think she’s got another tournament next weekend. I’m not complaining; I love it really.