Weeknotes 207

Well done gang! We made it through the solstice and out the other side.

Happy Christmas Eve. And what could be more festive than pointlessly maintaining a strict weeknotes schedule? Nothing. 🎄

I’m visiting my parents. I didn’t bother getting a tree at home because I knew I’d be spending Christmas with them, but this year they didn’t bother getting one either, so no tree for me. 🚫🎄

On Monday I met Chris & Leo in Spitalfields for a chat over a tasty Chinese lunch, then after work on Tuesday I met Joe in Soho for more chat over one too many (i.e. three) beers while he was visiting from Australia. That’s lots of chat but it’s probably good for me.

Then back that way again on Wednesday for the now-traditional Covent Garden pre-Christmas beer & dosa with my brother. By this point I was nursing a mild hangover and probably could’ve done without the December tourist crowds. Still, it was nice to exchange gifts and be mildly merry.

During a momentary lapse of judgement I bought a gift card for an online store from my local Sainsbury’s and quickly regretted it. I’m 99% sure it’s not going to work because, according to the various receipts, they successfully charged me money but failed to activate the card.

Trying to get them to fix this in the shop really highlighted the disconnect between retailer and product: they know exactly how to deal with potatoes and bin liners but as soon as it comes to selling something ephemeral they’re completely helpless. They basically failed to do anything, and they also have a no-refunds policy for gift cards, so I’m stuck with a probably-defunct Christmas present for now. Lesson learned.

Anyway, I’ll find out tomorrow whether my suspicions are correct. It might be fine. Sometimes things are fine. Right?

My rental car for this trip is the first electric vehicle I’ve ever driven. The first five minutes were a bit stressful (how do I even start the engine? having started the engine, how do I then go forwards?) but it’s been quite nice since then.

I collected the car at 5pm in Waterloo and wasn’t sure whether I could legitimately avoid the congestion charge by sitting in the car for an hour before driving anywhere. I decided to just pay it and get on with my life.

I experienced the customary range anxiety on the drive down, watching the estimated number of miles left in the battery slowly catch up with the actual number of miles left in the journey, and made it with a few kilowatt-hours to spare, like some kind of gritty cyberpunk protagonist, probably.

I finished Alan Wake II and have thoughts, but I said I’d stop banging on about it, so I suppose I’ll compromise and save them for yearnotes instead.

Speaking of which, I’m already dreading next Sunday’s punishing weeknotes/yearnotes combo. See you then!