November 2021
November has passed fairly uneventfully. The Autumn colours arrived, and the morning light in the Meadows was often glorious.
I have a few more pieces of client work coming in to Telaco, so I’m getting busier. I have some leads for interesting projects in the new year. December is usually quieter for work, but it looks like I’ll have a filled schedule in January. I’m mostly focused on quick prototyping of apps using NextJs, and am building my TypeScript experience.
We marked the passing of a month in the new flat. Thanks to Pete for the pizza-cutter flatwarming gift! I’ve started to get my new office in order with some new bookshelves and lights. It’s becoming a cosy and productive place to work and read. I even got a second office chair so I can share the space well with Harriet.
We took a weekend wander out at Dalkeith Country park, with lunch at the Restoration Yard. Another weekend, we drove down to Manchester/West Didsbury to have an early Christmas dinner with friends. It was great to hang out, especially after the lack of social events last Christmas. I took the opportunity to run through West Didsbury and along the Mersey for a while.
Both Harriet and I got our Covid boosters, which was very welcome. I felt much more confident being social, so returned to both EH3 Milers and Edinbar Runners. Omicron is a little concerning, so we’re going to take it easy in December to ensure that we can take our planned holidays.
We ended the month with friends visiting - the first guests to stay in our new guest bedroom. Edinburgh delivered a wet, snowy and cold walk up Arthur’s Seat - but I guess that’s just part of the experience!
In November my reading pile included:
- Exponential, Azeem Azhar
- Reflections on the Revolution in France, Edmund Burke, paired with Rights of Man, Thomas Paine, with additional notes by Christopher Hitchens
- Empireland, Sathnam Sanghera, as part of an attempt to read around the history of the British Empire, to understand our history and development
- How Democracies Die, Steven Levitsky
- The Scout Mindset, Julia Galef
Wishing you all a good December, and a very Merry Christmas.
