2025/10/03

Long day today. Woke at 6:45am with just 4 hours sleep, locked up the house and took a taxi to Belfast Central Station. Had booked the wrong bus so went an hour early in the hope they let me on it. Didn't pick up any food or drink as I wanted to be among the first to board in case the bus was full. Was allowed on by sheer luck as the driver checked everyone's tickets but mine as the bus was 2 minutes past departure time by the time he got around to me. My suitcase was really heavy and it was a struggle manoeuvring it around. Got lost in Dublin airport but finally found the checkin counter. Was really exhausted with pushing the bag around and it was barely 10am! Cleared security, picked up a meal deal the shop was near the restaurant area and the independent seating was far away. Even more exhausted, I finally was able to eat and rest for a bit. My flight was delayed by 2 hours thanks to the raging storm, but there were no announcements and there were passengers for multiple flights waiting so there was no room to sit either. I didn't want to risk missing my flight announcement so had to stand or walk to stay comfortable... There were no cafes or restaurants in that gate area (it was the last gate on that floor, everything else was a floor above). Once boarded the plane was on the apron for another hour waiting for the weather to improve. Once it took off (a very uncomfortable takeoff feeling like a roller coaster) and the meal was served I finally felt a little better but was so exhausted I was completely sore. Landed 2 hours later, and the walk to immigration in Istanbul airport was also extremely long as all the counters except the last one were closed. Through immigration I collected my bag which was another walk back the same distance. With my suitcase I had to struggle to get to the exit. The entire airport was not air conditioned. At the exit I went through the green channel where I was stopped by a policeman who sent me to the red channel. In the red channel they scanned my bags and asked me to empty my suitcase. I Spent a good half hour emptying it and then repacking it. Thankfully I had a bag inside the suitcase so it was easier to repack into 2 bags. Outside the arrivals section there was a large hall with a few restaurants. Lugging even more bags now I tried a few, and all had staff but said they were closed. Finally found one open restaurant, where I had a sandwich and bottle of juice and rested till I had the strength to get going again. the exit leading to taxis was another long walk away (literally at the end of the hallway). on the way I inquired the cost. the fare mentioned at the counter was much lower than uber showed on my phone so I walked to the taxi counter and took the first taxi. Checked in seamlessly at the hotel and literally collapse at midnight. Shruti insisted I should shower (I was stinking from perspiration anyway) but I had to sleep for an hour before I even had the strength to get out of bed. I decided to run a hot bath to relax my sore muscles and it definitely gave some relief but I was so tired my muscles cramped and I literally had to struggle to get out of the tub. Probably my most exhausting day in as long as I can remember! Slept finally at almost 2am.

2024/06/23

Woke up at noon, and met the Cavehill walking club at cHILL at 2pm. Had an iced latte with all the works (caramel sauce and whipped cream). Then cycled all the way to Bangor, a cool 29km one way, with some patches that felt more like mountain biking than my usual style of riding - quite a challenge! Had fish and chips at Bangor and cycled back, only stopping at Victoria park for a bit of rest and to eat the fruit I had packed, and finally at Ben Madigans as Shruti and some of the walking club had met up there for a drink. The total ride was a little over 60km, which made it my 3rd longest ride of all time!

2024/05/05

off to Spain! flight at 6am from Belfast International Airport, and I did something crazy-ish: drove to the airport, dropped shruti off with the bags, then drove about a mile away to a spot I scoped out on Google maps to be legal to park, unfolded my cycle from the boot, and cycled to the airport! chained my cycle next to another one, and we were off on an uneventful but tiring flight to malaga. landed at 9am, took the bus to Marbella (and literally missed one bus by a minute!), dropped our bags at the Airbnb (Marbella is very hilly!) and then headed out to grab a bite at a street side cafe. walked around a little more, made a dinner reservation at a highly rated tapas place, headed back to the bnb, checked in, and took a quick nap. was so sleepy though, we couldn't bring ourselves to wake up for the dinner reservation at 7pm, but thankfully they allowed us to move it to 9pm and we were ready and fresh by then. after the relaxed dinner, we walked around a bit and clicked photos before heading to our Airbnb. super start to our vacation! 

2024/04/27

woke up early, but then got back into bed and finally was up at about 10. had breakfast, picked up simon from the city centre and headed to ikea. met few others from the cavehill walking club at holywood at 3pm and went for a long walk + run. got back home at about 5:30, got some odd jobs done around the house and then headed back out to jay's place. spent a good couple of hours chatting, unsuccessfully tried to jumpstart his car, and finally took out the battery and brought it home to charge as it was completely dead. leftover fish curry with diced boiled potatoes for dinner while I revised risk assessments and route plans for next week's led rides (there are going to be 3 of them!)

2024/04/26

woke up after 10am. wanted to do so much today but somehow couldn't find the energy. defrosted the fridge (which took a good couple of hours if not more), had leftover fish curry for lunch, and felt like I needed a nap again! slept till past 5pm, and then cycled to the city centre for "critical mass", a fun cycling event where people turn up on the last friday of every month in summer, cycle around the city centre accompaneid by music played on a loudspeaker (mounted on one of the cycles) and headed to a pub with the cyclists after the ride and some photos. cycled home around 9pm, dinner and youtube, and that's another day done!

2024/04/25

shruti woke me up earlier than I'd have liked, as she wanted to be dropped off at work. headed off to holywood retail park after that, did some grocery shopping, enjoyed a free latte at ikea, something I rarely get as it's only offered on weekdays. shopped for more odds and ends for the house, got home and gutted and cleaned about 1kg of fish - my first attempt at doing so. took way longer than expected, as i kept forgetting stuff, and had to go back and double check every fish (there were about 12 - 13 fish). was super hungry so chucked two of them in the steamer and ate them before I resumed cooking the rest. made goan fish curry out of a recipe I found online. spent another hour or more cleaning the place as I somehow felt the smell of fish had permeated the kitchen. headed off to the city centre to pick up Shruti from work. she got a free slice of birthday cake from the cafe she is a regular at, and we shared it before driving home. picked up Simon as well, and the three of us enjoyed the fish curry rice with feni and tonic on the side - a proper goan dinner! Simon said the curry was authentic (a little on the spicier side) but the rice was al dente. stayed up super late as I couldn't sleep.

2024/04/24

did odd jobs around the house, oiled both cycles, assembled the scarifier, was going to test it but had the overwhelming urge to have a nap. woke up at 4:30pm, headed to carrickfergus for an evening sail. was nice and sunny, force 4 winds, and we had a brisk sail across the lough, getting as far as ballyholme before we turned around and got back at 9:30pm or so.

2024/04/23

Today was my first day off work. Was planning on starting off at 9am as I would on a work day and hit the ground running, but laziness got the better of me and had a lie-in. Had loads of things to do but ended up barely doing anything. This is exactly what I hoped wouldn't happen on my time off, but this is what inevitably does. Went for a live gig in the evening, "Postmodern Jukebox" - it was a late birthday surprise for Shruti, and I managed to keep it a surprise until we were in the car on our way there. Had a blast, got home, but was divertged from an early night in by the warning that my phone is very close to being out of memory - literally under 1gb left. Another late night trying to free space.

2024/04/22

today was my last day at Citi. I attended the standup call from home, typed my farewell mail, set a timer to send it when I'm on my way to office, and then cycled to work. didn't really have much to do, but time flew and I ended up being in office till 4:30pm! cycled home, had dinner, then went to the mechanic to check on progress with fixing the bike - not before the weekend is what he said. disappointing, because I had hoped to get some riding done during the week. got back home and tried to assemble the electric raker/scarifier. gave up about 1/3rd way through and decided to do the rest tomorrow. I wanted to sleep early but somehow ended up being up till 1am anyway. I feel relaxed though.

2024/02/12

Today was my first day of "Engineering Excellence level 3" training. Started at 8:30am, and it was a real struggle to get to office in time! Thankfully, this week is some sort of school break, so there was far less than usual traffic. The day went great, training was really engaging, and I'm looking forward to 3 more days, before I'm back to work as usual! Did groceries on the way home (basically was supposed to buy 5 things I had missed out yesterday, but ended up buying a whole bag of stuff... story of my life!), cooked dinner for Shruti (Paneer masala), ate my own "Lunch" for dinner, because I wasn't hungry during my lunch break in office... and finally did some odd jobs around the house. Have to sleep early, my eyes are already burning from sleep deprivation, and I have an early start tomorrow as well!

2024-02-11

Continued my spell of feeling under the weather by sleeping in today. I got out of bed at literally noon, made myself a cup of tea, and before I knew it, it was 1pm. I wanted to meet the cavehill walking club folks at cHill, and the walk there was painful thanks to the corn. I put myself through it though, instead of doing the easy thing and cycling or taking the motorbike, as I had been using the corn relief plaster for a week ad wanted to see if it had helped. It hadn't. Painful as ever, if not worse. Spent an hour at cHill with the walking club, all of whom were glad to see me aftyer my hiatus of about 2 months. Walked back home, loaded the motorbike with empty bottles and cans, and headed to refill quarter for a much-delayed zero-waste shop. Then did the rest of our grocery shopping, rode to the city centre to pick up Shruti from after her German meetup, and headed to hey boba for bubble tea. Hey boba had been shut for renovation for the last few weeks, and it was nice to be back! Also, Shruti ordered something different from her usual "roasted oolong" milk tea - something called "honeydew melon", which I found a surprising choice as she doesn't like honey. It was good - much better than my favourite "thai milk tea". I think I'm going to head there and order a whole large one for myself very soon! Picked up some random chicken handi masala and cooked chicken handi, initially following the instructions, but then just did my own thing. It turned out super spicy, but great! Showered and went to bed, super tired and in anticipation of tomorrow's training. Big week ahead!

2024/02/10

This week somehow felt me feeling very drained, for reasons I cannot fully put my finger on. I think the lack of activity due to the corn in my left foot is taking its toll on me. Anyway, I slept for pretty much the entire day. After lunch, I was back in bed as I did not have the energy or motivation, and has a splitting headache. I was supposed to go for Bill Bailey's "Thoughtifier" show in the SSE Arena in Belfast at 6:30pm, and my initial plan was to take the bus (so leave at 4pm), then switched to cycling in (so leave at 5:30pm) and finally I took the motorbike at 6:15pm for the 6:30pm show! Made it on the stroke of the minute, but all in vain as the show did not still till about 8pm! This was my first ever big ticket comedy show, and I didn't know what to expect - at least some sort of opening act? There was none. Even the seating was cramped and uncomfortable, with my fingers going cold from the alcohol-free beer I was sipping on as there was no arm rest on the chair, let alone a cup holder. It was pretty much a filding garden chair, and I was shoulder to shoulder with the people on either side. Bill Bailey lived up to expectations, although I must admit there were bits where his performance kinda fell flat. Few and far between, but still. Definitely not making it to the special DVD, in my opinion! Rode home in 1 degree with my summer gloves without my thermal undergloves on because I wanted to pee and also wanted to get out of Titanic quarter before the traffic leaving the parking lot clogged the road. Feels kinda irrational in retrospect! But yeah, Bill Bailey! Given a slew of bad luck that usually surrounds big ticket events I've paid fair sums of money for in the UK, I was half expecting something to go terribly wrong, (I even spent 3 quid on event insurance!) but it all went off without a hitch.

2024-01-08

Struggled to get out of bed. Didn't have the energy to pack lunch, even though there was food in the fridge. Didn't even pack my usual nuts - just a banana, apple and orange and milk to make my coffee in office. The weather had gone to -2 at night, so I was very nervious about taking the usual way to office as it involves a steep descent on a road that isn't gritted. Took the other way with less steep slopes, and thankfully there was no black ice. However, I still can't explain how I ended up on the wrong road, headed in the direction of the city centre instead of to office! Stopped at the side of the road, and joined my first meeting of the day from my phone using my helmet bluetooth intercom. Reached office a little before 10am. Tried to get stuff done, but my eyes were burning and I was feeling weird. Checked with the nurse (who normally only sees people with an appointment, but I told her I just need my temperature checked as I think I have a fever). She seemed to be trying to hide her irritation, saying even if I have a fever it wouldn't matter - I shouldn't be in office if I'm not feeling 100% as there's loads of mild/asymptomatic infections going around at the moment. Turns out I did have a mild fever. Told everyone I'm not well and headed home. Took the rest of the day off and rested. Ate leftovers and drank plenty of my spiced concoction in the evening, and felt a lot better. Still feel like I'm in some sort of daze but I just cannot pinpoint it - never felt like this before, especially on and off for so many days. Covid test showed negative, thankfully. Hope tomorrow is better!

2024-01-07

Woke up at 8:30am, which I had assumed was the absolute latest I could be up without holding everyone else up (we were supposed to be out of Portpatrick harbour by 10am, as the tide was falling, and we risked scraping the bottom on the way out!). Turns out I was not the last to wake up! Made a beeline for the bathroom, was ready for breakfast, and had almost finished when a couple of guys returned from their morning walk/photography. So much for being early. Hugh was trying to hide his worry of getting the boat scraped on the bottom, and we did manage to get out of the harbour without incident at about 10:45am! There was no wind to speak of, and the tide was with us at the start and against us towards the end, so we motored to Carrickfergus without incident, making it with about half an hour to spare before dark. Motoring on such flat seas was so boring that I even had a few short naps on the way, before I took the helm for the second half of the journey! Had a cup of tea (which we made as we were heading to Carrickfergus but which I couldn't drink as we had arrived by then), packed up and made sure I didn't leave any belongings behind, and rode back home, stopping for groceries on the way. Once home, I was so tired I literally crashed at 6 or 7pm, only waking at 3am because I was so hungry. Today would have been dad's 78th birthday, and was exactly two eyars after his funeral.

2024-01-06

Woke up well after my 7:40am alarm (I dismissed it in my sleep, had a nightmare, and woke up at 8am!). Thankfully everything was packed and ready for me to leave, but I had no time to grab a bite before I left. Turns out I had not read the email saying we had to arrive at 10, and I had arrived at 9 instead! Got on the boat, met the crew (most of whom I had never met before, only one familiar face, besides Hugh, the guy whose boat it was), had tea and a light snack, and set off for portpatrick at 11am. The winds were good, we averaged 6 knots (maxing at close to 9), arriving at portpatrick well ahead of schedule and with plenty of light. Tied up and secured, settled for a cup of tea, followed by spiced hot water (the concoction I've been sipping on all week to keep my cold at bay) while others broke out the Guiness, etc. Dinner was at the Crown Hotel, and the menu was realy enticing - I finally picked venison, although there were at least 5 other options I was seriously considering. Went for a brief walk with a couple of the guys, then headed back to the boat. People were drinking alcohol free prosecco, and I joined them after another cup of my spiced concoction. Once the prosecco was finished, someone opened a bottle of French red wine. I declined, as I didn't want to ruin my sleep by drinking any more alcohol, but everyone said the wine was really good, so I poured a bit into my mug. Ended up chatting till almost 1am, which is not what I expected given how badly I slept last night!

2024-01-05

Woke up with a bad headache and feeling very week - slightly dizzy. Had my lunch box, fruit and even milk for my coffee packed before I went to bed, but it didn't seem like I'd be able to survive the day in office. Texted my maanger saying I'm not feeling well enough to go to office today, and went back to bed, hoping I'd be better after a nap. Woke up at 3pm! The headache was different, and I tried getting as much liquids in as I could, as I thought it could be a combination of dehydration and not having eaten anything since last night. Didn't feel much better till maybe 6 or 7pm. Took the lights off the Christmas tree and the stairs, logged in to submit some work so that others could pick it up next week in case I countinued to be unwell. Was feeling better so decided not to cancel my weekend sailing trip, although I was nervous given the weather was predicted to drop below 0 on Saturday night. Packed my bags and in what seemed like slow motion - in hindsight, it really felt like I was still not fully functioning.

2024-01-01

Happy new year! And what a way to bring it in! We danced till a little past 1am, then rode back home (so a ride to start the year as well, yay!) while our friends partied on till 3am. Settled in for a quiet drink (Cabo and coconut water, would have been a coco-loco if I added cream!), and eventuallywent to bed at 3am or maybe even a little later. Woke up past noon and didn't really do much all day. I had promised Shruti we'll go swimming, but at 3pm the plumber (who we had been chasing for over a month) messaged to say he was free and could get the new shower fitted to the ensuite. Since we couldn't go out, we spent the day at home - cooked pasta for lunch, did random things around the house, looked into applying for a tourist visa for Spain (we couldn't, as appointments haven't been released for the year yet!), called mom and spoke for a fair bit, and finally watched "Back to the future" with Shruti. We both really enjoyed the movie, and I can see why it's regarded a classic. Remembered dad, today marked two years since that day he was admitted to the ICU. I still remember them not answering the phone when I called to wish them a happy new year, and Kevin eventually calling back from outside Karuna hospital saying that dad had been admitted. That was probably the worst new year's day I have experienced so far. Anyway, back to work tomorrow, need to look sharp!

2023-12-31

Last day of 2023! Dropped the bike at the mechanic's (he lives in the next lane) and walked to upper cavehill road. Headed up cavehill with the cavehill walking club, and we were rewarded with a crisp, clear noon with lovely views from above while it rained on parts of Belfast! Picked up the bike after the walk, and hung out with the walking club at cHILL over coffee. As I was riding back home, the accelerator started turning freely and stopped responding, and I was left suck at the junction! Called the mechanic, and while I waited for him, a passer-by who saw me stranded, came over to help. He saw the problem and immediately identified it as the heated grips coming loose from the accelerator base plastic, but he didn't have any tools or anything to fix it (he was visiting his mom on the next street when he saw me stranded!). The mechanic arrived, and super-glued the heated grip to the accelerator base plastic, and I was back on the roll. Headed home, grabbed a quick bite while Shruti got ready, and set off to shop. We picked up a cast iron casserole from Ikea, and a quick drying towel from Decathlon. We planned on dropping off a few things at one of the charity shops in the city centre but they were all closed. Grabbed a (very disappointing) bite at KFC and headed home to shower and get changed. Blogged and grabbed a quick nap while Shruti got ready. Headed off to the city centre, where we had booked tickets for a nightclub which had been hired out for a private "bollywood dance" party to bring in 2024. It started off supoer empty with nobody on the floor, and we found it weird as all the other people were very young (they looked like university students). The dance floor began to fill up, we started dancing, and eventually our friends turned up as well. By then it was so packed there were times when we struggled to move, let alone dance! Felt like a throwback to when we had gone to Kelly's in Portrush to catch Paul van Dyk, although Paukl van Dyk was miles better than this bollywood dj who was mostly playing punjabi songs and crappy remixes of old bollywood songs. Still, the dancing was great, and we really rang 2024 in in excellent spirits!

2023-12-30

Struggled to get out of bed. Was supposed to drop Jay's drill machine back at his place but the weather was so bad I waited an hour for it to subside before I could bring myself to bring the motorbike out of the shed and ride over to South Belfast! Picked up groceries and headed back home. Shruti made chicken fried rice out of the last of the Christmas leftovers. Nichola came over and picked us up, and as the rain had subsided and the sun was out, we went for a walk around waterworks instead of going for coffee. We spotted Conor walking Pablo up cavehill road, called out to him and he joined us for a round of waterworks too. We then grabbed coffee and brownies at cHILL with Nichola, before heading home. I rode out to South Belfast again, this time to buy a pair of winter glvoes as my current pair had the gore-tex layer detach. Winter gloves were super expensive though, at with gore-tex gloves starting at over £150! Instead, I ended up buying silk inner gloves for a tenth of the price, with the refund I was supposed to get for a defective pair of overgloves. Hopefully that sorts me for the winter. Spent the rest of the evening syncing the photos I had added/updated from one hard disk to another.

2023-12-29

Last day of work for 2023! Wasn't feeling too great, struggled through the day, took a long nap during my lunch break, and tried to wrap up work before logging off - but simply couldn't. sorted photos and deleted old emails. my google photos + gmail space usage is at 96%, and it keeps going up no matter what I do! might have to pay for more space next year, despite all my attempts (and hours) spent clearing stuff up.

2023-12-28

Felt better today. Worked from home. Got some (but not much) work done. Slept off straight after work due to the cold and headache. Woke up, blogged on the main blog, and went back to bed.

2023-12-27

Woke up at 7am feeling absolutely terrible - nose completely blocked and a bad headache. Drank some hot water with mulled wine spices and went back to bed. Woke up at 9:30, aiming to start work, but I felt too terrible. Went back to bed, and felt terrible even at noon. Was too bad to even login and send a message saying I'm unwell. Finally got out of bed at 3pm, nose still running but no headache, thankfully. Spent the evening drinking hot fluids. Once I felt better got down to sorting the fat bundle of documents that I had simply put away on the 25th - it was over 6 months of documents! Shruti and I made a pact we will sleep at 11pm, I really feel like I need all the rest I can get. Don't want to take another sick day off! 

2023-12-26

I woke up feeling better than the last few days, again close to noon, but thankfully there wasn't much to do other than eat leftovers, do dishes, clear stuff, speak to mom, Kevin and Brenna, and watch some YouTube. Still felt tired though. Was glad to call it a night! 

2023-12-25

Christmas day! Woke up at past noon, possibly close to 1pm, with the realization that our guests will be over in 4 hours! The chicken had overflowed the slow cooker (how did it expand? I was expecting it to lose volume to steam!). Shruti was busy preparing the starters, I was juggling the chicken, moving stuff into place for the large number of guests (had to take out chairs and a table from the shed), applying finishing touches to the place such as moving the couch, putting up lights in one of the windows, assembling the rug, etc etc. One last room had not been tidied - my office. That was the last thing I had to do, by which time we were expecting folks to arrive. I literally found time to call mom in the last few minutes before the first of our guests arrived, and she didn't answer! The rest of the evening was a party to remember, with about 18 of our friends and their kids over... don't think we've ever had so many people under one roof, ever! Everyone loved my cake and mulled wine, and while I did get some compliments for the chicken, I didn't really think it was my best to begin with. Shruti's starters were a definite hit too. Time flew and people began to leave at 11pm or so. After everyone had left, we got down to clearing and cleaning. At about 1am I literally gave up and told Shruti I really couldn't do any more, and went to bed. Merry Christmas! 

2023-12-24

Woke up with a bad cold and bit of a headache. Spent the day at home, putting stuff in order in preparation for tomorrow. The bookends arrived today so the last of the records were finally arranged on the bookshelf. Time flew! Started preparing the chicken for tomorrow at 9pm or so. Shruti chopped the onions and garlic, and I did the rest. At close to 11pm it became obvious the 3kg of chicken I was planning to cook wasn't going to fit in the slow cooker (it was going to hold closer to 1.5kg, which was a surprise to me as it was a 3.5 litre slow cooker!). Finally had to do half the chicken in our biggest pot. Watched the Vatican Christmas mass (which we finally found a version with an English voice over - on doordarshan of all places!). Fast forwarded through most of it, and had a discussion with Shruti about religion and traditions afterwards. We slept at close to 2am, after a bit of adjusting the chicken around. I finally loaded most of it (maybe 2.2kg) in the slow cooker.

2023-12-23

Woke up at 8:30am, as I had set an early alarm - basically I was supposed to head to St George Market to pick up 1kg of mutton. Long story short, mutton is hard to find here and my friend Mani found someone who supplies mutton to order - except they decide when, and it was today, one of the most busy days of this month. Got ready and was about to leave when I realized the door was dry and so it was a great opportunity to stick the hook to the door so I could mount the wreath back on it. Aunty Kitty called to wish us happy anniversary while I was sticking the hook. I spoke to her on speakerphone while sticking it, getting ready, leaving, and even riding to the market. Picked up the mutton, stopped for some last minute groceries (basically stuff on the list that I somehow forgot yesterday!), got home, changed, and left again, this time with Shruti and headed to Holywood ("The Dirty Duck") for our anniversary lunch. It was super good! After lunch, we walked in to the town centre, had a coffee at Cafe Nero, walked around a little more, browsed a few charity and antique shops, and then walked back to the motorbike. Wore our helmets and gloves, and at the very last moment, somehow managed to lock the bike keys inside the lockable fairing container! We took the train and then bus home, I changed, took a portable charger, headphones and the spare set of keys, hopped on to the bus and then train back to Holywood to unlock the bike, and ride it to do even more grocery shopping (I had forgotten some things off the list in my hurry to get home to get to lunch on time), then went to Jay's place to pick up his drill machine, bits and stuff, and finally got home at almost 9pm. What a day! Spent the rest of the evening with Shruti, watching youtube, talking, dancing, sorting records, clearing stuff from the living room. Not what most people would associate with celebrating an anniversary, but we did spend quality time together and that's what matters the most. Happy seventh anniversary to us!

2023-12-22

Worked from home today, didn't feel too great, got some work done but not as much as I'd have liked. Thought I'd get some tidying up done after work but only managed to cook and eat dinner and sort out a handful of records. Called it an early night - big day tomorrow!

2023-12-21

Worked from home today. Thanks to me forgetting to cancel our HelloFresh subscription in time, we ended up with a week's delivery of meals. Shruti and I made the Thai style sticky noodles. The stuffy nose didn't seem as bad as the last few days, so I set off on the cycle after dinner. Picked up some odds and ends from the supermarket, bubble tea from Hey Boba, and cycled home. It seemed too early to go to bed, so I started sorting records. While a record was playing, I tried assembling the topbox mounting plate/adapter. One thing led to another, and I tried fitting it to the motorbike in the rain. Had to give up because one of the bolts was turning without loosening and I couldn't access the nut at the other end to stop it. Lost track of time, went back to sorting records (these were the last few so the most difficult to categorize/sort as I tackled the easiest ones first). 2/3rd of the last shelf of records are still left to load on the bookshelf, but I'm now 3 bookends short. 4, if you count the other shelf where I used books instead of a bookend. Going to be tricky loading the rest of the records without bookends to hold them up! No idea how time flew but it's now super late to go to bed.

2023-12-20

Dropped Shruti to the city centre for her doctor's appointment and headed to work. The first half was pretty much entirely meetings, and I left a little past noon to pick Shruti up from the city centre, head home, and work from home for the afternoon. Shruti picked up a "Christmas dinner" toastie from the Christmas market and packed it very nicely for me to eat at home. It's her favourite thing to eat at the Christmas market and I think it's now mine too! Left home at about 5:30pm to head to Dundonald - we met Ruth for bowling at Dundonald Ice Bowl. I played terribly! It turns out that whenever I bowl, the ball swings towards the left, and I cannot control it. I maanged to figure a somewhat passable strategy of using the heaviest possible ball, but even then, I'd usually just miss completely and either overcompensate or undercompensate for the spin and get the ball in either gutter. One whole hour of bowling and I'm no better now than when I started! We then headed to Cyprus Avenue for dinner and Nichola joined us there. It was Ruth's birthday and when Shruti mentioned it to the waitress (who coincidentally was also Shruti's friend!) we were treated to a glass of complimentary prosecco and some bread-like thing that was somewhat like foccacia. Nice! Dinner was good too, but we were absolutely stuffed thanks to the 3-course offer. They took forever (45 minutes to be precise) to bring our bill once we finished, so we were back home at almost midnight! Just peeled off our clothes and jumped straight into bed.

2023-12-19

Today was slightly better than yesterday - so glad the cold wasn't anything worse. The work day passed in a blink, possibly thanks to meetings. Dropped Shruti off to the gym and went off to do grocery shopping. Brought as many things as I could fit in the motorbike's panniers, picked her up, unloaded groceries, and headed off for another round of shopping. This time it was only one pannier full, so yay! Finished leftovers for dinner (need room in the fridge!), uploaded dental insurance claims as the deadline is a week from now, and off to bed after a quick shower. I feel drained, and tomorrow is going to be an early morning as I have to drop Shruti at her doctor appointment before I head to work.

2023-12-18

Woke up with a stuffed left half of my nose and a bit of a headache. Struggled through most of the day, but gave up around 3:30pm and had a nap. had a dream about finishing work and charging my phone and laptop. woke up and actually got some work done. also sorted a few records but didn't put them on the bookshelf. tried to get a few more things done around the house but everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, so gave up. 

2023-12-17

Slept in again, thanks to a headache and a stuffy nose and many dreams that left me unsettled (but I can't recall now). Missed the cavehill hike. Focussed on getting small things done around the house, and eventually got out for a walk. Picked up bubble tea from my favourite "hey boba" and then walked to/through botanic gardens. It was drizzling and cold-ish so we decided to walk around in ulster museum instead. Did a bit of a jog because I was in my running shoes and Shruti reminded me I could! Walked down through botanic to Cafe Nero as Shruti wanted one of their Christmas specials. Tasted a bit of her "Panettone Latte" and it was delicious. Got home and spent the rest of the evening sorting records and arranging them on the bookshelf, while watching Ghostbusters afterlife. The weekend really flew by!

2023-12-16

Woke up super late, close to noon. Spent the day assembling the bookshelf, the last of the new furniture for this month. I have a feeling this will be the last one for a while - at least, we don't have anything planned for the near future. Moved the amp to the new bookshelf, and reconnected everything other than the turntable, which unfortunately is too far from the amp now by about a foot. Sorted and loaded about 1/3rd of the records onto the bookshelf. Tried to figure ways I could get the turntable to work with the amp without buying new wires. I might be able to use a preamp box in bypass mode as a way to join two RCA cables together! I also have way more cables than I need, although I think some of them are of very poor quality and could be given away... still, you never know when you'd need them in a pinch (as I might, today)!

2023-12-15

Worked from home again. Had a terrible headache after noon and nothing was helping - finally took a 2 hour nap and felt a lot better. Wrapped work at around 6pm and assembled the smaller shoe cabinet. Was much quicker today because I remembered the steps from the other one, and I was also not sleepy. Finished at 9pm, cycled to the corner store to buy milk and bread, and then cycled over to a friend's place to say bye as they were going away on vacation for a month. Sat around for over an hour, had a cup of tea, then cycled back home a little past midnight. There goes my plan to catch up on sleep tonight!

2023-12-14

Worked from home today. Once work was done, assembled a shoe cabinet, mostly by myself, with the music blastic out loud until Shruti came home (at around 10:30pm). Finished assembling the shoe cabinet past midnight! At one point I was so sleepy the screwdriver kept slipping from my hand and falling off - thankfully no damage done to the shoe cabinet.

2023-12-13

Went to office for the third day in a row today. Think 3 days in a row really wears me down. Look at how spoiled I've become, until the pandemic I'd happily go to office all 5 days a week! Today was an early start as I had to drop Shruti at the city centre for her doctor appointment and then get to office early as I was interviewing students for 10 month placement. Got to work with just enough time to prepare, but as this was the second time in a few weeks I was doing interviews, my preparation was super quick and it went nice and smooth. I even made myself a large coffee that I sipped on while interviewing the first couple of candidates! I realized I prefer interviewing in person instead of over zoom. For some reason (maybe because I was so tired and somewhat sleep deprived), I didn't have lunch today. Just fruit! Finished work, picked up Shruti from her office, dropped her off at the gym, only for her to find out that the swiming pool was closed till 8:30pm. As a result, I also missed my wednesday evening cavehil walk with the club. Got home, ate my "lunch" for dinner, and was going to head to the "cHILL" cafe to meet the walking club, when my phone rang just as I was getting ready to leave, and I got too late to make it. Spent the rest of the evening talking to Shruti and watching youtube. Today was my last day in office for 2023, as we've been allowed to work from home for the rest of the year. Feels like 2023 is drawing to a close when the "last of the year" things start happening!

2023-12-12

Went to office again today - this time not because of anything in office, but because I had to get to east Belfast after work. I was supposed to cycle to work today - pumped the tyres, filled my cycle waterbottle, but when it was time to leave, it started raining, so I decided to take the motorbike instead. By that time, it was clear I'll be late for work, so I decided to join my 9:45am call from my phone and speak via the headset in my helmet. I was ready to leave, but "zoom" has such a terrible UI that if I left, I wouldn't be able to join the call on the way. So I waited in the driveway for the call to start, and left once the call was on! Interestingly, the call lasted the exact duration of my commute, and I disconnected right as I got out of the parking lot and to my desk. We went to Zizzi for a team lunch - our first ever, as we're finally a team big enough to actually make going out worthwhile! Had duck leg confit, and I must say, duck might be one of my favourite things to eat! After work, I headed to C.S. Lewis square for the Santa cycle ride organized by Sustrans. There was quite a turnout, and I was "ride assistant", tasked with staying at the very end of the group to make sure there are no stragglers. Couldn't take any photos/videos myself due to my responsibilities, but a few were captured by other volunteers. Fun memory! I should have come better prepared - others wore their Santa hats, Christmas jumpers, etc. At least, I had my (borrowed) bike decked up in multicoloured lights, so yay! Did groceries, got home super hungry, and cooked turkey mince in vindaloo masala. Turned out super spicy!

2023-12-11

Went to office today. Got delayed on my way in as I was stuck behind a learner driver who took forever to take a right turn from our lane on to the main road! While I was frustrated and watching the clock, I remembered how nerve-wracking such junctions were when I was just learning. I'm glad people were considerate and patient when they waited for me, and today was my turn. Today was the secret santa for my floor, and I got some very interesting gifts! Well, you can't go wrong with a box of ferero rocher, but I also got a gift set of perfumes (it was a largish botle, so maybe eau de toilette? need to have another look before I put it away!) and most interesting of all, a card that said "merry christmas brother" - with some really fancy calligraphy inside! Everyone around was really confused/surprised by the card - do I have a long lost brother in office? After work, I rushed home to pick Shruti up and head back in the direction of office. Today was the last day of "Globe Cafe" for the foreseeable future, a bittersweet evening to end over 10 years, 5 of which I attended. It was nice to meet the old timers, plenty of whom have become our good friends. Globe cafe usually winds up at 9:30pm, but this time the volunteers didn't ask us to leave as they usually would, and we were there till past 10. I was super tired and really needed to go to bed by the time we left!

2023-12-10

Woke up at 10am, not sure how. The cavehill hike was to be at 11, but Shruti wanted to be dropped at the gym first. We were running late, but I managed to drop her at the gym, ride back home, change from riding gear to hiking gear, hop on to the cycle, pedal as fast as I could, and get to the start point just 5 minutes late! It didn't look like there was anyone around and I was about to turn around and head home disappointed. I wasn't expecting people to leave after just 5 minutes! Turns out they were just waiting in their cars as it was raining. It was 6 of us, and we started hiking, but about 15 minutes in, people felt like turning back as it was raining too heavily. I was prepared for the rain though, and was really looking forward to doing the whole hike as it'd been a while. Thankfully, Conor was happy to hike all the way to the top too, so it was just the two of us for the rest of the hike. We did it in good time, and headed to the cafe "cHILL" for a coffee after. We were having such an interesting discussion that time flew and I headed back home at after 2:30pm! I was supposed to drop Shruti to her German meet-up at 3pm, and she was ready and waiting for me. Unfortunately the folding cycle developed a puncture on the short way home. I located the puncture, marked it and filled the tyre with air in the hope it props it up until I could patch the tube. Unfortunately the puncture was so large that air was audibly escaping it, and I could even feel the air escape! A problem for another day, I guess. Left on the motorbike, dropped Shruti off (there was terrible traffic!), headed to refill quarter, and sure enough, I had forgotten the flaked almonds there. Went for a short ride that turned into a long ride because I had completely lost my sense of direction and was riding away from Belfast instead of towards it! A couple of road closures didn't help. Once I finally found my way back to Belfast, I picked up my favourite bubble tea, picked up Shruti, and headed home. I had my first bite of the day at 6pm, and surprisingly, I still wasn't hungry! Made chicken thai curry (Shruti made the rice), and then got to work on the cake. Tried making an experimental eggless cake with 1/4th of the batter, while the rest was the usual. Didn't really factor in having to cool the cake down before going to bed, and the cake also took 25 minutes longer than the recipe predicted. Must have been all the brandy in the batter! Either way, the eggy cake looked good... the eggless one, not so much. I'm sure it'll taste fine though!

2023-12-09

Woke up super late (past noon, for sure!). Made bhurji of the last 7 eggs in the house. Today was Aaron and Nirayle's wedding - Kevin, Brenna and Mom attended and apparently had a blast. Went to refill quarter to buy ingredients for the cake, grocery shopping (because the cake needed eggs, of course!), got back home, started mixing the cake batter... and realized one of the ingredients (flaked almonds) was missing! I was sure I purchased flaked almonds, and I had thankfully asked for a bill that had it listed and paid for. Turned the kitchen upside-down, even woke up Shruti who couldn't remember seeing it. Had to abandon the cake half mixed. Thankfully I hadn't added the eggs yet, so it was safe to keep out for a day.

2023-12-08

Today was Michael's funeral, but I couldn't join the zoom as it was at 5:30am UK time. Unremarkable day at work (from home). Logged off at 5:15 or so, as we had to drop off a courier and pick up a wreath for our inner door (because one cannot be too Christmassy!) Back home a little before 6, quickly got changed and set off again - my friends Jay and Namratha had invited us over to dinner. It was raining, we were running behind schedule, buses were running behind schedule, and refreshing the bus timetables revealed the bus that ran nearest to our home has been almost discontinued - the last service leaves at 5:51pm! There was also a 1 hour wait for a taxi. We finally got a bus, and reached an hour late. Had a yummy dinner, and a drink or three from Jay's collection - it was a limited edition whiskey that had to be ordered a few years in advance as they only release a batch every 5 years! Well worth the bus ride (although Shruti might have differed on that point). Don't remember when I slept, but it definitely was late!

2023-12-07

 Unremarkable day working from home, and after work we had our office Christmas dinner. Took the bus in, and surprisingly was the second to arrive despite being just 7 minutes before our reservation! The dinner was at "Coppi", an Italian restaurant, and I must say, this might have been the first dinner in Belfast where nothing I ordered was served with potatoes! Also, we had to order on the spot, which was a refreshing break from the norm - I never really got the idea behind ordering my dinner a month in advance! The staff somehow also forgot to put my drink on the bill, and so, they said I don't need to pay as everyone else had paid for their drinks. Felt weird to drink for free, but yay! It was barely 9:30 or so, so people wanted to grab a drink at a pub before heading home. Unfortunately, every pub in the area was so packed we couldn't get in, let alone get a drink! After three pubs, I decided to head home (others didn't give up so easy and were still wandering around Cathedral quarter looking for a pub when I left). My bus passed by literally as I was waiting to cross the road to get to the stop, so I had to wait 20 minutes for the next one.

2023-12-06

Woke up feeling a little sore (but not as bad as after last week's run!). Took the motorbike to work. Went grocery shopping in the opposite direction of home, because I felt like a bit of a ride. It started pouring on the way home, but at least I got a ride out of it! Working from home the next couple of days, so it's going to be at least 5 days before the bike is out on the road again. The true test of the new battery! Didn't feel like doing anything productive once I got home, so I watched some British comedy from the 70s and a couple of documentaries on youtube. Cooked pasta for Shruti's lunch but apparently she forgot it's her office's Christmas lunch tomorrow! Might have eaten it myself, if it wasn't for the number of goodies I purchased today (a stuffed venison joint, venison steaks, duck breast!). I finished the "wild boar rillette"  today after saving it up for a few months. Yummy!

2023-12-05

Woke up with a message on my phone informing me that my childhood friend (and neighbour for the first 20ish years of my life) Michael Fonseca had passed away. Cycled to work today. Really put some energy into it, and realized the max cadence I'm comfortable at on top gear gets me to exactly 33 km/h. So I guess that's my speed limit of sorts! Didn't plan on running (if I did, I'd have taken the motorbike to work) but ended up running 3k anyway. At the end of 3k my legs were already sore - that's a first! Attended a Kotlin meetup after work, the first half of which was about Kotlin Multiplatform (a newish Kotlin based technology that allows multiple native UIs to be built using as much or as little code sharing as desired). Seemed similar to Flutter, which I had first heard of at a meetup a year (or maybe a couple of years?) ago - but they claim it's better, obviously. The second half was about what a couple of newish users of Kotlin liked most about the language. Cycled home around 9pm, cleared up about 300gb of space on the hard disk by deleting more duplicates. This is such a time sink!

2023-12-04

Rode the motorbike to work today, because I thought I'd go run in the lunch break. Unfortunately there were too many meetings! Didn't really get much work done during the day, but a couple of hours in the evening after most people had left, helped. Had a relaxed evening with Shruti thanks to her cooking dal and rice before I even got home and there being enough leftovers (mince and chicken) for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. We pretty much spent the evening talking and watching youtube together. I had done a duplicate check on one of the hard disks (the 4tb one) yesterday - it took 3 hours to scan - and tried to make a start at going through the duplicates and deleting them today. Think about 200gb of duplicates deleted so far. Will do the rest later this week.

2023-12-03

Stayed up for a bit and finished assembling the centre table. The last bit was the trickiest and I should have done it when Shruti was awake - still, I didn't feel like sleeping with the job half done. Woke up at 10am and went hiking up cavehill with the club. Wasn't expecting to feel so awake! Went for coffee after the hike, and finally got home at 2:30pm. First meal of the day at 3pm, must be a record of sorts (not really, I'm sure). Loads of stuff to do, and Shruti made a massive list. Got the steamer working, steamed the curtains, cooked chicken katsu curry, fixed the doorbell with wd40, cycled to the shop and purchased milk, went through this box which had loads of stuff which has been lying around, sorted out things we don't want, put loads of stuff on freecycle, and sat to delete emails because my Gmail is actually running out of space. Three hours of sorting and deleting emails freed up barely 1gb. And this was after going through 11 years of email! 

2023-12-02

All nighter, after ages! Put up lights and decorations, changed the curtains. Tried multiple times to import my old blog posts but didn't succeed. Slept at maybe 7am and woke up at noon. Assembled the centre table. Shruti doesn't like the table as it was advertised as solid oak and turned out to be plywood. Still, it's decent value for money so we decided to keep it. Should have realized it was too cheap to be solid oak - black Friday sale notwithstanding. Cycled to the city centre to meet cycling volunteers from Sustrans for a couple of drinks, then met the Cavehill walking club for their Christmas dinner followed by a DJ session. Danced at least an hour, maybe two. Danced so much I drank around a litre of water! Got a lift home with one of the club's daughter, whose car boot was thankfully big enough to squeeze my folding cycle in. What a night! 

2023-12-01

December is here! Opened the cheese advent calendar for a nibble of red Leicester. Sleepwalked through the day despite having 8 hours of sleep. Logged off early (at 4pm) and slept 5 hours! Started cooking at 9:30pm because I felt I had the energy. Still mentally drained though - turned on the PC and forgot to play music, forgot my tea halfway through, forgot to add salt to the mince I was cooking for tomorrow. Broth from the mince and leftover pizza for dinner. Might put the lights on the Christmas tree before I go back to bed.