miscellanea

• The EUROLAS API has endpoints which respond with 6XX status codes. I hate this so much because it violates the HTTP spec, even though browsers (and other clients, I'd assume) technically support this.
• my sticker project showed up in Hugh's Year in Review blog post! 🥰
• I'd like to visit the Watercress Line in Hampshire
• I agree that we need to normalize declaring software as finished.
• interestingly, sumatriptan (a specialised headache painkiller) and LSD are both derived from ergot
• Anna's Archive has scraped and backed up the entirety of Spotify.
• some wet wipes are actually flushable!

musings

• I'd like to work on an open employee handbook for where I work, like cal.com or Basecamp
• there's a gym at the building at work, so I might start exercising soon
• Is it just me, or is the Grinch everywhere this Christmas? I've noticed they've struck deals with Primark, Asda and McDonald's at the very least
• similarly, everything has some sort of "wrapped" this year. it includes my pension, my bank, LinkedIn and even work.
• the one year I manage to get tickets to the London New Year's Eve fireworks is the one year I’m either not going to be in the country for New Year's or not going to do something for New Year's. Also ew, Ticketmaster is handling the ticketing
• I'd like to go to the National Theatre in 2026, as well as to do more small community theatres
• there's a new Knives Out film, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, coming out soon. I'd be down to see it
• Flume’s Helix reminds me of a Shepard tone, because it sounds like it’s increasing forever
• I want to spend 2026 figuring out the foundations of my life. I feel I experience my life in smears, with some periods in sharp focus. everything feels like a pressured race against time, and somehow then everything comes together in the end, and then it’s onto the next one. I'm not sure whether I'm happy living like that, and I'd like to try something different
• I need to pack and prep for Congress next week! I'm excited.

misadventures

• I spent a good chunk of this week ridiculously unproductive, because of the super-flu that's been going around
  • I haven’t been drinking enough water because I feel lethargic. I definitely need to take better care of myself
  • had a migraine. luckily, I had some migraine-specific painkillers which worked just like magic
• spent some of this week working on writing some asynchronous Python in Airflow DAGs, and the syntax is shockingly similar to JavaScript
• filed a confirmation statement, and did some assorted paperwork this week
• found out you can paste GIFs into confluence replies, which has been brilliant stuff for me but a struggle for whoever's responding to my comments on engineering proposals
• made a foray to Tesco for some printer ink and envelopes on the weekend. although I got the envelopes, it turns out printer ink is now only available online!
• saw a bloke colour grading soft core pornography on the tube. never change, London
• given the recent furore in the UK about digital ID, I thought it would make sense to understand what good digital public services look like. for that reason, I've picked up Platformland: An Anatomy of Next-Generation Public Services by Richard Pope. from what I've read thus far, Pope appears to be an advocate of digital identity if it's used to make interactions with government easier and used for tasks which can only be accomplished with digital identity. determining right-to-work is just not one of those
• I told David I was ill, and he understood I had a craving for shortcrust pie, so arranged for lunch on Friday at The Coal Hole. it was really nice to catch up with him before Christmas, and I even got recommended another restaurant to take Hugh to
• spent Friday evening and Saturday in Cambridge with Mac.
  • went on a two hour walk on Friday night, and we hunted for stickers around the city
  • had two scrambled eggs on toast with salmon at a cafe for breakfast on Saturday
  • had some interesting discussions on Saturday, including "what’s the point of learning to play an instrument if you're not a musician?" I'd like to do a s elf-paced intro to philosophy course to better understand how thinking works, and answer interesting questions like that
  • crashed out with sinusitis after my cold on Saturday evening, and had to go to the pharmacy to get some penicillin
• I slept really badly on Friday night, which means I had to play catch-up with my sleep on Saturday, which means I didn’t get up in time for the first leg of the 455 farewell trip on Sunday.
  • in hindsight, my initial plan to be at Cambridge station by 7 o’clock was quite ambitious. however, I managed to join Willow for the second leg of the second trip
  • all legs of the charter service were on Real Time Trains, which is pretty cool!
  • bought £30 of raffle tickets, but ended up winning nothing. that being said, the Branch Line Society (the people who chartered the 455 train) seem run raffles every fixture they run so I might join them for another in the coming year
  • I've discovered my biggest pet peeve is doors that slam