Weeknote 170

Taking a pause

• Spent much of the past few days sheltering from the European heatwave which hit London over the past week. Managed to battle through it working from home and taking heed of the do not travel advice from Transport for London and the train companies.
• Bagheera the cat was struggling with the heat too, making the most of her cool mat and lying on anything remotely cool like the coffee table.
• Last weekend, went for a very long walk with my friend Rishee along the Grand Union Canal from Little Venice out as far as Greenford and the home of London's beaver haven. From Greenford we hopped onto the little‑known, still‑unelectrified Greenford–Ealing shuttle, then picked up the canal again from Hanwell to Brentford, finishing with a very well‑earned drink in a shaded pub garden with good food too.
• Finally had a cooler Sunday for some cycling. With disruption on the mainline to Stevenage, I ticked off another rail route out of London by taking the slow train via Hertford. Met with my friend Barry for a nice catch‑up over coffee at Spokes. Can’t believe ten years have passed since we organised Homebrew Website Club London together!
• It's been a tough couple of weeks for job and personal reasons, not helped by some significant setbacks in trying to sell my apartment due to the ongoing cladding-related issue. All rather overwhelming and extremely stressful in the hottest June we've ever had.
• Pausing these weeknotes for a bit while I regroup and rethink plans in light of recent life events.