Shorter posts, links, or thoughts. No schedule, not heavily considered.
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A day that changed my world
I woke that Saturday morning before my alarm, had I set one, would’ve rang. I lay in bed for a moment. I can still remember that feeling of the bed being perfectly warm, not too hot, not too cold, and no matter which way I moved I was instantly comfortable. I fought the easy desire…
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A year in the past
The dusty, decrepit past slides out of view as a brighter, fresher, more inviting future beckons you over the horizon. So is the story the New Year likes to tell, a narrative that talks of new beginnings, better versions of yourself, I know, it’s just the earth moving around the sun, but that doesn’t stop…
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Digital Curation
I’ve done it again. Made plans with myself to do two things, both of which have been bubbling along in my head for a few months now, both of which will take a fair amount of prep work, but it feels like the right time to do them. Not in an ‘ohh it’s almost the…
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Legacy
What am I leaving behind? Looking back over the past year, the most tiring part, physically and emotionally, was clearing out my Mum’s flat. Whilst Mum and Dad had done a LOT of clearing out before they downsized, it doesn’t take long to build up more stuff, more detritus. Even after my Dad passed and…
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Saying goodbye to Alan
I wrote this a few months ago, I had planned on posting it but never did. I think, if I’m being honest, I was just done with funerals and death and dark questions around WHY certain people died. Alan’s funeral was on 30th June this year. But I realise now that I should still share…
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What kind of man?
As a chronic over thinker (much of which I’ve inflicted on you here, dear reader) it’s fair to say that how to be a good father and how to set a good example to my son, are major topics in my brain on any given day. I replay moments wondering how to do better next…
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Systemised Unspending
Many years ago I downsized where I lived, I got rid (sold/donated/trashed) a lot of stuff and, for the most part, I’ve not missed any of it. Since then I’ve built up more stuff again but with a slightly different slant and I’m confident that I don’t have the same volume, and the things I…
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Jack is Four
So much I could say here; four years since he arrived, so many milestones passed in this last year alone. I could write about how well he’s doing, how much I love him (more than I ever thought possible), and how much of a cheeky chops he is turning out to be (which shocks no-one…
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The shape of grief
It would’ve been my Dad’s birthday yesterday, he would’ve been 79. I didn’t post about it yesterday, more by happenstance than planning, but I did think about him and one thing struck me. I think more about my Dad on any given day than I do about my Mum or my sister. Now, I’m not…
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Between
I am not currently employed. I will be again soon, and I’m excited to start a fresh at a new place but, for now, I am a man of leisure. It does not suite me. I feel somewhat conflicted most days of how to spend my time and I entirely blame my parents for this.…
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Missing Mumsie
It all started with The Crystal Maze on Channel 4. It was 1990, and we only had four TV channels to choose from and The Crystal Maze was a fun game show. In it, the host (Richard O’Brien) would take the contestants through different zones, and they’d have to partake in different categories of games;…
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Paying Attention
My son has never known a world without mobile phones, without screens lighting up, without his Mum and Dad using them on and off throughout the day. For me, notifications are still something I view as an interruption, an annoyance. Notifications are something that I tolerate to allow me to have a tiny computer on…
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The Morbid Truth
I will consider myself lucky if I see my son reach the age of 35. That’s 33 years away and by that point I’ll be 83. I will consider myself lucky if I see my son reach the age of 30. That’s 28 years away and by that point I’ll be 78. I say this…
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Time to move
Well, not right now, but sometime in the next few years at least. Maybe… probably… I dunno, I’ve given up trying to plan too much too far ahead so let’s call this future dreams that we hope will come true (note: a lot of this is, in reality, grounded in boring things like money but…
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My Mac Apps 2025
UPDATE: This post was super useful and made setting up my new MacBook Air (15″) super easy a few weeks back. I’ve switched out a couple of apps, and added one for those of us who have a ‘notch’ on their laptop screen. I use iCloud for Documents, almost entirely use default Mac Apps these…
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Songs that last
Both my parents were musicians, my Dad played guitar and banjo (and once appeared in his folk band on the same bill as The Corries), my Mum played the piano, both sang in local and national choirs; vague recollections of my Uncle conducting them both in Paisley Cathedral for a performance of Handel’s Messiah, a…
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26 years and counting
My appetite for writing down my thoughts continues unabashed. Admittedly a lot of what I’ve been writing about recently has been very private, given the utter shit life has thrown our way through October last year to even the last couple of weeks of this year but, as it does, things are levelling out. I’m…
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Vera went to Mull
Back from a glorious week on the beautiful island of Mull, part of the Inner Hebrides, a three hour drive punctuated with a 45 min ferry crossing. It’s our second holiday here with family, the first was in 2022 with a very young boy, a big tent, a night in an Air-BnB, and a night…
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The Accidental BA
I wrote this piece for the BA Digest, replicating here for posterity. I wasn’t always a Business Analyst. I started my working life as a technical administrator; essentially a technical dogsbody for a small I.T. firm, a bit of database work here, a bit of user documentation there, and it was the latter that took…
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Clearing Out
I’ve been a bit more active on social media recently, mostly as a way to share thoughts as I go through a variety of processes that all kinda suck but all need done, you know the type, all the adulting paperwork stuff that you just plough through because you have to. The current focus, and…