Wishing all kinds of plagues on the revolting American tourists in the hotel rooms opposite and next to me.
After gathering in the corridor and swapping endless inane bullshit and “Night y’all!” at the top of their voices, they’re now in their respective rooms, blaring their music and TVs. Oblivious to anyone else who might be in the same hotel.
And a call to reception resulted in a call back “confirming that there is no noise”. WTF?!
🇮🇪 When in Rome…
It’s crucial to enjoy a Guinness when back home in Dublin. It’s practically the law!
🏳️🌈 It’s National Coming Out Day.
I’ve previously explained that ‘coming out’ isn’t so much an event as an ongoing process. Every official who wants to know the details of your next of kin. Every form looking for your marital status. Every stranger at a party who asks about my ‘wife’.
I wrote this back in 2019.
📸 Looking down on Howth as we approach Dublin Airport
All in all, a pleasant flight over from London City. Passed the time with some political podcasts, a bit of planning, and a healthy dose of daydreaming. Before I knew it, it was time to prepare for landing in Dublin.
✈️ Next stop: Dublin
📸 An early start this morning! The scene as I left home to make my way to London City Airport for my flight by to Dublin. Beautiful clear blue skies, so I’m hoping for a smooth flight.
📸 The sun did, in fact, eventually make an appearance over London today.
I snapped this as soon as I got in from the office and it reminded me to sit down, take a moment and be grateful. There were lots of items left on my task list, but there’s always time to sit and taken in this view.
There are, in fact, still loads of things remaining on my task list. And there always will be.
But I enjoyed the break by the window.
🍽️ Busy preparing dinner, then the next episode of ‘Agatha All Along’. Tonight’s feast: homemade roasted vegetables, some humous, and a two-people helping of falafels. I’m using my weekend trip as an excuse to eat all the perishable (lovely) things in the fridge.
Such a good, sensible boy.
✈️ Staring the weekend in the face
Present day me would love nothing more than to cancel the whole thing and spend the weekend lying down somewhere comfortable.
👉🏻 Read on…
🧠 Another evening when my thoughts turn to simplifying my life and deleting some social media accounts. There are just too many of them for me to maintain, too many subscriptions, too much…hassle.
📺 Finally settling down to watch the season finale of Slow Horses. So, so excited. Without a doubt the best thing on TV right now.
📸 Just arrived home to this view. Dropped everything to enjoy it for a few moments.
🇯🇵 Giving up on Japanese classes
I’ve tried to learn Japanese several times over the last few years. I’m determined to be able to navigate Japan in Japanese. But after several attempts, I’ve finally decided to give up on live classes. That doesn’t sound like the kind of thing someone who loves learning languages would say.
👉🏻 I’ve basically had enough of dealing with inconsiderate and entitled students. Read on for more.
📸 Just passing through…
📸 What’s that? Nothing. Just a giant rubber dock floating by West India Quay…
✏️ The week that was…
🍿 Off to see “Joker: Folie à Deux” shortly. If I can peel myself off this sofa, that is.
📸 One of the new Nature Rising installations in Jubilee Park, Canary Wharf. It’s giving a lot of Doctor Who vibes…
⚡️ Looks like I can finally update my M4 iPad Pro to iPadOS 18. While I’m glad I didn’t get caught up in all the ‘bricking’ of iPads that was going on, it’s still nuts that the latest iPad Pro can only be updated nearly three weeks after the OS is released.
Anyway. I just know that my life will be changed forever by the addition of a calculator app.
📸 I wasn’t expecting to, but I’ve just spent a very pleasant couple of hours in the sunshine on my balcony.
Writing, planning for the week ahead, and doing some basic admin. All the time enjoying the view, while trying to ignore the noise coming from the building site below.
But seriously. Where was this weather in August?! Anyway, I’m glad I was at home to enjoy it and not stuck in my office. Now to pack away all my work ‘stuff’, and start my weekend.
The irony that I’m writing about wellbeing and self-care on my professional blog, while sitting here with a head cold, isn’t lost on me! Still, I’m feeling a lot better this morning, and I don’t have to leave the apartment. And you can bet that my weekend will be starting early this week.
👋🏼 Don’t let the door hit you on the way out…
West Ham owner says non-dom crackdown is driving wealthy from the UK:
David Sullivan, the British businessman who co-owns West Ham United football club, has cut the asking price of his London house by £10m and has blamed the promised crackdown on non-doms for rich people leaving the country. Sullivan, the chair and biggest single shareholder of the Premier League club, has reduced the price of his 21,000 sq ft town townhouse in Marylebone to £65m as he said he had to be “realistic” about market conditions.
📸 I stepped out onto the balcony to check out the beautiful sunset. It’s strangely quiet outside, considering it’s London in rush hour. No complaints from me - I’ll take it!
I’m wishing I could sweat out this cold in the sauna in my old apartment building.
My routine was simple. I’d bring a book or a magazine, an alcohol-free beer (chilled to the max in preparation), and toddle down to the sauna for about an hour. Several sessions in the heat. Several very cold showers, then a relaxing sit on the bench in the men’s changing rooms. And I would sleep like a baby each evening I did that.
👉🏻 Read on…
📸 There are blue skies… right above the mass of clouds.
