Weeknotes #1

OK, I’m doing it. I’m jumping on the weeknotes train. Next stop: frequency anxiety! 🚂

Folks may notice that I’ve given my corner of a web a little upgrade. This wasn’t only to create a better representation of me, but also to allow me to more easily publish straight to the web.

Previously my dev setup was rather complex. Though I’m still using Kirby, my previous workflow meant I had to pull from and push to GitHub to do literally anything, which somewhat defeated the point of having a web-based, flat file CMS. As I stupidly never created a correct .gitignore file, anytime I wanted to publish straight from Kirby’s web interface it created massive git issues. Git isn’t the problem per se, but it definitely became a blocker when needing to bridge the gap between wanting to write something versus actually writing something.

So, this new version of my site should allow me to write… more. And not just think piece-y stuff where — if I’m honest — it’s a bit like keeping up with the Joneses. I just want to write a little bit more about the things that interest me, and not feeling like a lab mouse in a cage, awaiting the piece of cheese reward that is the ‘clap’ mechanism on Medium. I tip my hat to folks like Paul and Jeremy here, those who write for the love of writing, not the click bait.

Anyways, I digress. Back to weeknotes! Theme-wise I was considering some sort of framework. A retro-style stop, start, continue? A ‘what went well/not so well’ approach? Or am I once again over-thinking it? Here we go...

Last weeked was Mother’s day. We went for a lovely walk in the South Downs, Seven Sisters. We visited one of the lovely churches in Westdean. It was a lovely spring day with lots of sunshine and a bit of wind. A fellow visitor told us there was a dead bat around the back. Curious (and yes, a bit macabre) we ventured behind the church to find the little thing, only to then see that it was alive... barely. After much worry about what to do next (and from which my 6 year old was beside herself at the thought of this little bat dying) the neighbour next to the church kindly took it in to nurse it back to health. Thankfully it all ended well, and my girls ended up naming the bat... Batallion.

Here’s a pic. I believe it’s a Brown Long-eared Bat (Plecotus auritus)

Work-wise, my pivot from Visual/UI/Product(?) designer to Business Director continues. I’m aware I’ve not said much about being back at Clearleft, so will expand on that in due course. For now though it’s great; the the old faces mixed with many new makes the agency feel new and different while retaining some of the old vibe. There's a lot to be done, so I'll leave it there for now.

Hmm. Not sure about that first pancake. Will try to do better next week.