September 2023
This month started with Jack starting to crawl properly. It’s exciting to see him get moving so quickly. We’ve had to buy door gates and start child proofing the living room and his bedroom. The weather in early September was great, so we spent some time in the park with Jack out on the grass. He’s looking a lot less like a baby now. We’ve been re-watching videos from the start of the year, which feels like a lifetime ago.
We’ve had some help from the grandparents this month which enabled us to head out for date night, and a bonus meal with Jac. It’s nice to be out with both H and friends. We ate at tapas3 by Crosscauseway, which I recommend for low-key delicious Spanish food. Harriet also discovered 101 Bakery in Newington, which makes great vegan cinnamon swirls.
As every other month, I still haven’t got back into running regularly. I did manage a few good runs, and went over the back of the Braids. I am going to have to skip the Dramathon that I had previously signed up for, as October is too busy to take a trip, but I want to get some winter training in. I have ordered a running buggy for Jack, so I’m hoping that helps combine looking after him and my training time into one block.
At the end of the month we took a road trip to St Albans for a memorial for Harriet’s Grandpa who died earlier this year. We spent a night in Harrogate on the way down, where I managed to sneak in a cup of tea with Aileen, and a night/morning in York on the way back where Jack met Mia for the first time. It was nice to see all of Harriet’s old family photos, and Jack had a lovely time playing with his Uncles and Aunts.
EdinburghJS
We’ve been going from strength to strength with EdinburghJS, the Edinburgh JavaScript Meetup. Last month we moved location to FanDuel, where we will be for the foreseeable future.
This month in addition to our regular monthly meetup we will also be running a Saturday Code Jam, helping people make personal and portfolio websites using the Astro framework. I’m really excited to be putting on a weekend event. It feels like a big step to move beyond the monthly meetups. One reason I wanted to start with a “personal sites” event is that I have hopes that we can create a networked community of people publishing creative works, coding and side projects on their own sites. My theory is that this might facilitate new connections and learning between members of our community, helping build a creative scene. The only way to find out if this theory is right is to do it, so please come and join us on the 28th.
Reading
This month I read:
- The Good Life, Robert Waldinger & Marc Schulz on the Harvard study on happiness. Turns out relationships are important.
- The Restless Republic, Anna Keay. I’m just about to start an OU Course on the UK 1789-1914, so what better to do to prepare than read about a totally different period of British history?! The book was excellent, and I’m following it up by reading The Blazing World, Jonathan Healey.
I also picked through The Creative Act, Rick Rubin, as it was on Kindle sale. Not something that needs to be read in one go.
