Weeknotes #374 — The invisible pivot

Looking out from a viewing point near Ivinghoe Beacon. Photos like this never do justice to how breathtaking the landscape is in person.

One of my lifelong school friends recently lost his dad, so on Monday I took the day off to attend the funeral. It was a lovely service, with many heartfelt and moving eulogies from family and friends, and a mix of Indian and American musical influences that included Ravi Shankar and Elvis Presley. I’m so glad I went.

One of my other school friends gave me a lift there and back. I love the opportunity to spend more time with him as we never ever seem to run out of things to talk about. On the way home, I pulled out Google Gemini and asked it:

I’m in the car with my lifelong friend of 40 years. We have an hour. Please give us 10 questions that we can both answer that would possibly reveal something to each other that we might not have known. Think carefully.

It didn’t disappoint. We only got through three of them by the time we rolled back into Berkhamsted:

The Invisible Pivot: “Was there a specific moment or decision in your life—one I wasn’t there for—that you think completely changed the trajectory of who you became?”

The Silent Season: “In all the years we’ve known each other, was there a period where you were struggling significantly more than you let on? What was really going through your head then?”

The Unsung Win: “What is an accomplishment or a ‘small win’ in your life that you are incredibly proud of, but for some reason, we never actually sat down and celebrated?”

I liked the tip at the end of the list, as this is exactly what happened:

Pro-Tip for the Drive: Don’t feel the need to rush through all ten. If question number two takes you forty minutes because it opens up a story you’ve never heard, you’ve won the game. Enjoy the ride.

I spent Wednesday and Thursday in Hemel Hempstead, renewing my First Aid at Work qualification. I’ve now been a first aider on and off for 25 years, but the renewal is so helpful. Fortunately, I don’t go around putting people’s arms in slings every week, so it’s great to get some practice every three years or so. I need to find somewhere that I can store the mnemonics so that they embed themselves even deeper into my brain. One of the other trainees commented that all of us on the course were of a certain age; where are the youngsters?

St John Ambulance training centre in Hemel Hempstead. Tucked away on a residential street, you might never know that it’s there.

All of this meant that I only had two days at work, but they felt very productive. It was a good week.

This was also a week in which I:

Had an excellent coffee catch-up with our CTO. I’m feeling hopeful and confident about the future. We have some great things ahead of us.

Was pulled into some work with our Legal team.

Raised multiple queries with our technology advisory vendor for advice on tools and services that other companies use.

Met with colleagues to hear about our pilot graduate summer intake scheme that is running this year. It’s very exciting to be involved in something so positive in bringing young people into the organisation.

Joined a call to review qualitative feedback about the audio-visual equipment and support that we provide in our shared meeting rooms. We had a very useful discussion, coming up with some ideas on how we can improve the experience for the people who use the rooms.

Made some last-ditch attempts to find any relevant work experience for my son. I think young people have it really hard in so many ways compared to the simpler time when I grew up.

Met up with an old work friend who moved to Berkhamsted over a decade ago, but whom I have almost never bumped into in town. We ate at Per Tutti, where they cook a lovely bowl of pasta. Food for the soul.

Started refreshing next weekend’s weather forecast multiple times a day, crossing my fingers that it will be dry for the upcoming Big Bike Ride. I’ve also joined the WhatsApp group full of other riders who will be attempting the journey.

Media

Articles

This Reform UK picture posted by Richard Tice is obviously AI-generated or manipulated, as you would expect. But what happens when photos like these become too convincing for us to tell whether they are real or fake?

I love Matt Haughey’s “pro-level travel tips”. I may need to find a travel router, and will definitely be using ‘the pants hanger’ in future.

Video

We finished watching season two of Beef. It seemed to lose its way somewhere along the line, ending up nowhere near as good as the first season.

I’m still in love with Race Across the World. Meeting random people and staying with them in their homes, despite not being able to speak the same language, is the stuff of magic.

We’re enjoying Rooster, with jokes that come thick and fast and make me laugh out loud each episode.

Audio

As I left the office on Tuesday, I felt that I needed to put aside the podcasts and switch to some music. I put on Judy Garland’s concert at Carnegie Hall. By the time I’d made it to the train station, I’d been moved to tears twice. It’s that amazing. When I get into something, I tend to want to explore it in lots of different ways. I found out that the original mono vinyl version — the version most people will have heard over the years as the album established itself as a legendary recording — was remastered for CD in 2012. I had to buy a copy and can’t wait to listen to it. I’m going to enjoy hearing it back-to-back with the extended ‘as it happened’ CD that I already have.

Books

Still enjoying Sweating Bullets: Notes about Inventing PowerPoint by Robert Gaskins.

Next week: An online Album Club, more weather watching, and final prep for London Wales London again.