Weeknote 57

Leaseholder joys

A dreaded letter from my apartment's management company fell through the letterbox this week demanding yet more money. It seems the previous owner of my apartment had some outstanding fees which I'm now expected to pay on top of the exorbitant service charge that's around 1k more annually than I'd expected.

Web conference at the Barbican

For a third weekend in a row, I returned to visit The Barbican in London. This time I was attending State of the Browser conference for its second time in two years at the venue. Aside from a somewhat faulty projector, the event went without a glitch, and with a good balance of talks from different disciplines across the web industry.

I was particularly pleased to see my long-time friend, Ana, give her first conference talk, which was incredibly well-prepared and fun! She's been on quite a journey of personal/professional challenges over the years since I first met her at a Homebrew Website Club in 2018 so it's particularly pleasing to see how far she's come.

It's always a pleasure to attend State of the Browser and bump in to lots of people I've got to know over the past ten years. Since the pandemic, I rarely see many of these people in-person other than at such conferences.

Viewing pleasures

Celebrity Race Across the World made its premier on TV/iPlayer last week after being delayed due to the Moroccan earthquake recently. The show's one of my favourite viewing pleasures, along with many things travel-related on streaming platforms that inspire me to visit new places. I've been catching up with YouTuber, Steve Marsh, on his adventures to the Isle of Man during a stormy week of weather. I'm yet to be convinced a visit to the Isle of Man should be at the top of my travel agenda on places I've never been to!