Inspired by https://tante.cc/2026/01/05/exiting-the-billionaire-castle/ I decided to write a post detailing my own attempts to stop using Big Tech tools. I also share similar caveats from that post: I am techie, and I can set things up and run them myself, and I have sufficient time/money enough to do this. Those two things alone would rule [ ]
Last week I was in Luxembourg at Foodsharing – sharing food without borders. This is some text I wrote on the way back home. Be warned, it is a long and rambly stream of consciousness. I had a lot of uncertainties about attending. I knew it was more focused on the countries around Luxembourg. Belgium, [ ]
I started out using paper to do potential layouts for the boat. I had tried using Sweet Home 3D a while back for doing a layout, but it seemed too fiddly. I gave it some more time though and got my head around it, so here s a boat layout! I chose Sweet Home 3D as [ ]
I went to the Crick boat show for the first time over the weekend just gone. It was very intense experience for me, and gave me a lot to think about. Some of it a bit overwhelming. That s kind of the whole boat experience, oscillating between excitement, overwhelm, and ignoring it all. I ll collect together [ ]
After a long process of pondering, I took the plunge, and put down a deposit to get a build slot for a new canal boat. That was scary but also felt very right. I ll share some of my initial reflections here, with more to come as the process unfolds. Needs framework To make tricky decisions [ ]
I noticed a lot of private land, and I wonder why. How did they get it? I ve read enough about the enclosure acts and the commons to know a lot of dodgy stuff happened in the past, and we are still living with that legacy (see Who Owns England and Land In Our Names for [ ]
There s a lot of horse stuff in the countryside. Bridleways (which you are allowed to cycle on, yay!), fields with horses standing around, stables, horse vehicles, fields with those white racing fences around and I never really thought much about it. I also noticed areas with a lot of posh houses and a lot of [ ]
Almost all the food I saw growing was (most probably) not for direct human consumption, but for animal feed. Huge fields of broad beans growing which they let grow, die, and then collect the beans with a machine. There was another very common plant that I haven t identified yet looks like something from the brassica [ ]
I m back home again. And as usual, lots of Things To Do in life, which right now is exciting, but can also be overwhelming. The linear life of a bike trip has a lot of appeal to me, but unlike some other trips I did not desire to continue forever. The weather was a major [ ]
I wasn t expecting to be dragging my bike through snow, but that s like life. I have enough resources to manage. I ll sure appreciate to be in a cosy house after the trip! Parts of yesterday really had me questioning what I m doing. Cycling on the side of a noisy road in the rain. Feeling cold. [ ]