Weeknote 15

Rail strike, work-team social and Glasto on TV

Rail strike

This past week was a reminder to me of just how dependent I've been the past few years on a frequent, reliable train service in to London and beyond. I speak none other than of the British rail strike, which resulted in a complete shutdown for most of the railway network, including here in West Kent.

Prior plans I'd made for going to a comedy night with Kevin Bridges at the Soho Theatre, before the strike was confirmed to take place, meant I'd to make alternative arrangements. This included a pricey hotel stay in London, plus taking the only public transport alternative of a once-daily commuter coach to Canary Wharf. Thankfully, despite there being a tube strike too, there was a minimal service running on the Elizabeth Line for me to reach Central London in next to no time from Canary Wharf.

Work social

Later in the week I was able to reach Central London again by a rare running train service to meet up with my work colleagues for a day of internal process discussions, drinks, food, and lawn bowling. I do so miss these opportunities to more regularly meet in-person with the people I work with day-in day-out. Lunch was at Dishoom. I'd forgotten just how good it is there for the choice of drinks, food, and atmosphere, like few Indian restaurants I know within London or much further afield.

TV viewing

Following a busy few weeks out and about, my regular television viewing resumed this week with the welcome return of The Hotel Inspector and watching through a couple of episodes from Conversations with Friends. Glastonbury on iPlayer also didn't go amiss, with me watching live performances of the Fouls and a brief sample of Bonobo's new album, Fragments.

Accessibility writing

Over the weekend I put the final touches to my accessibility culture talk I'm hoping to give at a couple of conferences this year as well as at work. Finding the right frame of mind to write any kind of talk is most of the challenge, along with a location away from home and full of the right vibe for writing and presenting ideas.