By the end of my first day in the Netherlands I d ridden through an underground cycle tunnel beneath the River Maas, crossed a bridge built solely for cyclists and parked in a bike garage with space for 13,500 bicycles. One of my guilty pleasures is reading accounts of other people s long distance cycle tours. On [ ]
Five weeks ago our CEO issued a challenge:Pair up with someone in your timezone. Pick almost anything. Ship something valuable in a month. Just define a metric that tells you whether it is working. We re calling it Radical Speed Month. Reading the challenge, a whole wave of emotions washed over me. First: tiredness I [ ]
My favourite local ride is short but varied. It begins in urban Chesterfield before quickly reaching quiet countryside on the edge of the Peak District National Park. Along the way there are steep climbs and fast descents, cycle paths and busy roads, and even a serene stretch along the canal towpath. Starting at the railway [ ]
Remote work means I could work anywhere. Most days I choose the same place. Occasionally, I choose not to. I like my office. It’s quiet, predictable, and set up exactly how I want it. Despite that, once a week I pack up my laptop and go somewhere else. A recent post from Henrique about his [ ]
A few weeks ago I wrote about picking up a pen and some watercolours after more than two decades of not drawing at all. Since then, I’ve kept going. As I ve continued, I ve noticed a few things change. I think more deliberately about which lines deserve emphasis and which can fade into suggestion. I’m also [ ]
Everyone who grew up near Hardwick Hall, like I did, knows the saying Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall. Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, a contemporary of Bess It s a playful little rhyme about Bess of Hardwick’s famous house and its numerous large windows. The windows were a status symbol in Elizabethan England. It s [ ]
Git config files support conditional includes and one of the conditions supported is the git remote url. This is interesting because one of the most common reasons for having a .gitconfig file is to store your email address. I version control my dotfiles and I was left with a choice of either: Neither is ideal [ ]
I read 37 books from 21 different authors, 15 of the books were rereads of books I ve read in previous years I ve now read the nine full books of the First Law series and enjoyed every one of them. The first trilogy is still the stand-out though. I love the character arcs, the subverted expectations [ ]
Aside from user-interface sketches and diagrams of computer systems, I don’t think I’ve drawn anything for 23 years since the moment art became optional at school, and I gleefully threw in the brushes. At the time, I found art frustrating. I wanted to reproduce the ideas in my head, or the basket of fruit [ ]
Valentines get-away February brought a chance to spend some time alone with Sara during an overnight Valentine s break in the Peak District. We decided to walk from Hope, up Lose Hill, along the Great Ridge and then down to Edale. I ve never walked the ridge from east to west before. The walk up the hill [ ]