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.