Hi Everyone,
I hope you’re doing ok.
I love the Christmas tree decorations in the photo. The little owl peeking out. Look at his eyes! And then there’s cocktail! I’m reliably informed that it’s a Negroni (gin based darling). The Bauble may have come from the Howell’s department store in Cardiff which sadly closed it’s doors for good years ago. It was a rabbit-warren of a place with windows looking out over rooftops. I thought it was magical, even in my thirties. If you could find the Christmas decorations room you’d know it had the air of an old business board room with dark wood panneled walls and high ornamental ceilings and lighting. I loved it.
Our friend came to stay for Christmas this week. This is an annual thing we do and so as soon as she arrives Christmas officially starts. So Christmas started on Wednesday. By Thursday we’d watched our first Christmas film and by Friday were having dinner conversations such as “Would cars be permitted in law if they were invented today?”. I’m not sure they would be, cars made legal that is. When cars were first introduced into Britain their speed was constrained by the Red Flag Act which meant a person holding a red flag had to walk in front of the car to warn people it was coming (there’s a little more to the Red Flag act if you want to research it). In over a hundred years we’ve only got to 70mph. While I’d personally love to go faster (safely), we’re actively reducing our speed for all sorts of good reasons (including efficiency challenges for electric cars). The question of whether they’d be made legal or not came to me the other day while driving along a narrow country road north of Cardiff. As another car came charging down the hill towards me, I couldn’t help but notice how narrow the two lane road was. The other car’s wheels so close to the edge of the road, it would only take a momentary lapse of concentration to catch a wheel on the verge, sending the car across the road and straight into… me. So if we knew everything about cars that we know today but hadn’t invented them yet, I reckon we’d struggle to pass them into law. And I wonder what would the world be like these days if we hadn’t invented cars? Would everything we need to live on a daily basis be closer to us? Would public transport be light years ahead of where it is now? Would we have invented electric motors? This is just a weeknote so I’d better stop there. Let your mind wander, see where it takes you.
We had our booster jabs on Wednesday. My wife had appointment at a local pharmacy. Mine was on the 29 Dec. I went with her and due to a few no shows I walked right in and out again a minute later. This is in stark contrast to some friends experience who waited for over an hour a few days later at the mass vaccination centre. I also went for a flu jab, arriving too early and having to wait 45 mins. Doh! Read the instructions better next time Robins (they did say the correct time).
I didn’t go to the gym this week as I’m waiting for my booster to take effect but I have been mountain biking many times around the local woods, the Garth and twice to Cwmcarn. Most of those rides were very wet especially the final one of the week to Cwmcarn. The puddles were so deep it was like having a bucket of water thrown over you as you rode through them. And it was brilliant! Being outside in the elements, decent wet weather gear keeping us reasonably warm and dry. The mist hanging in the trees. Just one or two other bikers out there. And a new trail to try out!
One of my personal rules is that when I’m on leave, I’m on leave. However, I did check in with a pre-xmas deadline that the teams were working towards and the progress was excellent completing and releasing all the software updates by the end of the week. Nice work teams!
Speaking of rules. I’ve got one rule when it comes to buying presents for my wife. I should always have one more present for her than she has for me. It’s worked well so far (21 years). This did leave me with a last minute rush for a few little extras but I managed it and can’t wait for Christmas day.
Be excellent to yourselves and each other,
Si
