Weeknote 124

• Now in my second week at the same job as before, but now within the Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation, progress is moving slowly with the new systems and clunky virtual machine.
• At home, I've been catching up on Criterium Du Dauphine on TV and making detailed travel plans for next month's Le Tour in Northern France with some help from ChatGPT.
• Also on TV watched the finale of Race Across the World ending in India. Predicted correctly early on the pair I thought would win.
• Thursday brought the heartbreaking news of the plane crash in India. It made me reflect on the countless flights happening around the world and recall our journey a year ago—returning from Italy to Gatwick, arriving to long queues at immigration at the same time as the Air India flight from Ahmedabad had landed that day.
• Reflecting on another tragedy, Saturday marked the eighth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire. I chose to visit the site to pay my respects. It feels as though many around me no longer think about it much, yet I still reflect on that horrific event often. It fills me with both anger and sadness, especially as I live in an apartment block where some combustible materials have yet to be removed.