Weeknote 21/2021
I’m composing this weeknote from our holiday home just over the border into Scotland. Prices are as eye-wateringly expensive as you’d imagine during a Bank Holiday weekend when overseas travel is severely curtailed.
Nevertheless, it’s important for Team Belshaw to get away somewhere, given how much time we’ve spent in our house during the pandemic. I may have painted my home office mental health green, but that only goes so far…
This week, I have managed to take it easier than most and indeed managed to clock up a mere 13 hours of work. A few Catalyst meetings, some internal co-op stuff, and a smattering of client work has taken a back seat to exercise, reading, and a wonderful shopping trip to Newcastle with Hannah, my wife, on Wednesday.
That trip was the kind of thing that was so normal pre-pandemic but this week felt so liberating. Just buying a pair of trainers in person, sitting in a coffee shop, and browsing things in a 3D space registered high on my novelty meter.
The other thing I did on Wednesday was to go for my second Covid jab, after getting a text message invitation a few days earlier. They’ve brought forward the second doses due to the new variants popping up, so I had my second 10 weeks (rather than 12 weeks) after the first. Apparently, they’re planning to shorten that to eight weeks soon.
Given I took it a bit easier on the work from this week, I ended up writing more, updating extinction.fyi as usual along with publishing two posts here:
Having a bit more time on my hands made me want to share some of the articles and blog posts I’ve been reading with a bit of commentary. After a brief experiment with Pocket, which I use for saving articles to read later, I decided that the natural place to do this is, of course, Thought Shrapnel.
I’ll not list these every week, but here’s what I’ve shared there in the last few days:
- Improving VO2max through blood protein analysis
- 3 ways to live a happier life
- Maplessness
- Digital fashion is another example of a nascent industry beset with inequalities
- Sky explosion
- The impact of decision fatigue
- Wherefore art thou, privacy?
- Badges everywhere!
- GCHQ violates our privacy
- Rat Race 2.0
- Volcano-powered electricity
- A web-based commonplace book
- Mastering a 5,400-character typewriter
- Working from near home
- Life should contain novelty
Next week, I’m spending most days chilling out with my family, especially as Hannah starts a user research contract with NHS Digital the week after.
Photo of some curious chickens near where we’re staying.
