Weeknote 116

Frustrations with tech and NHS inefficiencies

• At work, we're starting the process of transferring staff contracts to DSIT, along with everything else. As part of this, we've had to repeat our right to work checks. Frustratingly, the outsourced website form is poorly designed, without a way to review and change what you're submitting. It uses AI-powered checks, which sometimes fail to recognise first, middle, and last names in passports correctly, meaning additional evidence has to be submitted.
• A long awaited hospital appointment of mine was cancelled on Tuesday. The hospital didn't automatically send me a new appointment, so had to phone them up multiple times to sort things out. I've now to wait until June.
• Midweek, I met up with a friend for pizza near the office in Wapping, at Motherdough Pizza Neapolitan. The pizza was decent quality overall, though a bit heavy on the dough and a little light on the toppings.
• On Thursday, I went to the O2 Academy Brixton to see Night Tapes supporting Franc Moody. Unfortunately, the venue doesn’t have the most suitable sound system for their style of music—or for much vocal-driven music, for that matter—unless there’s a highly skilled sound engineer on hand. I think I was probably the only person in the audience who wasn’t there for the main act, and ended up having to ask the army of security staff to let me out.
• Taking advantage of the lovely weather this month, I went cycling with my Columbian friend on Sunday. We caught a packed early-morning Southern train to Hassocks, and it wasn’t until later that I realised why it was so busy for a Sunday morning — the Brighton Marathon was on. While our ride wasn't quite marathon-level, we did manage the steep climb up to Ditchling Beacon, before doing a circuit round to Lindfield for coffee and bacon rolls at The Black Duck.