Radar
Today I experienced the intersection of archaeology and technology, it's called ground-penetrating radar, and it can see underground!
Nathan Wrigley
Eclectic conversations, with interesting people, for curious minds.
Latest posts
The civic bench
During a recent walk, I discovered a simple, handmade bench in a secluded spot, offering much-needed rest. This gesture, created by an unknown individual, highlights the importance of civic acts devoid of transactional value. We need more of this.
Looking for guests for a new, non-technical, podcast
I've been mulling the idea of doing a non-technical podcast for years, but now I'm finally going to do it, and I need guests.
My three favourite bits of tech
I m surrounded by tech. Actually, it s slightly more nuanced than that. I personally don t have all that much tech compared to many of the people I know, but it s everywhere in my life, in other people s houses, in my own, or out in the wider world. I get quite excited when I see knew tech [ ]
ICE breaker
It was really snowy here last week. When I was trying to remove the ice from my car, the ice breaker broke, right through the middle of the word ICE. I took this photo on 7th January 2026.
AI and work
Back in the 1990 s (I think), there was a TV series on the BBC in which a successful business man would be shipped into failing businesses. He would examine what was going wrong and make suggestions. In an episode I ll never forget, a production line of people were making soft toys. It was work of [ ]
Pictures of snow
This post is simply some of the images that I've taken over the last few days. We've had an unexpectedly large amount of snow fall (for where I live), and I've been out with my camera capturing it.
Our closest neighbour
Earth's perspective from Mars. We're not that big! The perspective of Earth from Mars is stunning in this image captured by NASA's Curiosity rover.
More music from my son
Because I love my son, and I love music... I love my son's music.
My 2025 year in review
Reflecting upon my year with banal stats, like steps walked, words spoken, books read, and more. Do not read this unless you're really bored!
Walking on my ancestors
On a recent walk, I found myself in a churchyard. I ve been here dozens of times before. Because it commands wonderful views of the coastline, I m usually looking up and out across the sea. Today though, it was cloudy and I found myself looking at my surroundings more, looking at the ground more. For the [ ]
Working from a small bag
Over the last few years, my set of requirements for work has become smaller and smaller. This is now what I need to function as a podcaster (which is what I do): That s it. I can get it all in a tiny backpack. Who would have imagined just a few years ago that remote / [ ]
In relation to animals
The subtle, yet profound, impact animals have on my life, and how they enrich my daily existence.
#WPLDN – December 2025
Join the fun at #WPLDN's latest event featuring a unique AI contest, pub quiz, and quirky prizes for participants!
An English seaside town in the winter
I'm exploring the beauty of the charming English seaside town nearby. It's filled with lovely winter walks, historical sites, and captivating photography opportunities.
Weird English stone carvings
Explore the captivating gargoyles of York's churches, offering a glimpse into the rich history and architectural beauty of these iconic structures.
#WPLDN – November 2025
#WPLDN is a meetup for WordPress enthusiasts where attendees enjoy pizza and drinks while learning from experts. Recent speakers Graham Armfield and Rhys Wynne discussed HTML accessibility advancements and Rhys' freelancing experiences. We're seeking 2026 sponsors and invite you all to a festive special on December 11, 2025, featuring an AI contest.
Black Friday savings
On the verge of Black Friday 2025, discover how I plan to save big by buying nothing! Ingenious.
Snow
The UK in winter is not the cold place it was when I was a child. I have memories of frequent snow in the winter. Every year there was some. Many years there was a lot. These days, many years go by in which there is none. Children only see snow on the TV, or [ ]
Recycled churches
In the UK, church attendance has been in decline for decades, possibly a century. Almost nobody I know, including myself, go to church for it s intended purpose. Our villages, towns and cities are peppered with thousands of churches. Many of them are very old, expensive to maintain and trying to find a place in a [ ]
The ubiquity of walking
I m lucky enough to live in, what we call in the UK, the countryside. There is very little of the UK which does not have the stamp of humanity upon it. Our countryside is composed of farmland, stone walls, managed forest and the like. In other parts of the world you have the chance to [ ]
Being certain
I've come to the conclusion that in almost every case, certainty is misplaced, unhelpful and sometimes downright harmful. I hate to break it to you, but almost every-single-thing that you hold as immutable truth is either wrong, subject to change or something that you've misunderstood.
Have your own presence on the web
A couple of years ago a friend of mine had his Facebook account suspended. No warning or reason given. Repeated attempts to contact their support were ignored. In the end he gave up and just decided not to use that platform any more. A little while later, I had a similar experience. My account was [ ]
We are all addicted to our devices
This is going to be nothing new to you, because you already know that it s true. You know it s true for you, and almost every person you know. I consider myself lucky to have been born into a world in which there was no mobile technology. No portable computing devices of any kind. Computers back [ ]
I love sound, not just music
This might sound (!) strange, but I love music and sounds equally. My favourite sound is without a doubt that of flowing water. Not the heavy crash of a waterfall after rain, rather the sound of a slow moving river or stream moving over rocks. There is no way to explain this, it s been with [ ]
AAAT – All the AI, All the Time
Imagine being a carpenter in the age of plastic. A user of stone age tool when metal came about. Trying to advocate for the wider use of horses when the train was invented. During my lifetime, I don't remember anything replacing anything else. I will use AI. I will worry about AI. I will watch it grow, embed, concern us and amaze us. But I will need help with it, to understand it, to figure out…
The hypocrisy of buying domain names for my family
One of my pet peeves is when I come up with an idea, go to purchase a suitable domain for the project, only to discover that it s been taken and is being squatted upon. Domain squatting or cybersquatting is pretty rampant, and likely quite lucrative if you get the right domain at the right time, [ ]
Walk in the Howardian Hills
A few weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to walk more. Long walks through the magnificent countryside near where I live. However, I did not want to do loads of research into which walks I d like, map out a route etc. Lucky for me that in the UK, there s a thriving community of walkers [ ]
My son makes music, and it’s good
I never talk about my kids online. I've never posted images of them. Never mentioned their names. I figured that they needed to make their own way, to decide for themselves what they wanted to make available, when they were old enough to do so. Today, that changes for one of my kids. Meet Sam Wrigley and his music.
Christmas gets earlier each year
When I was a child, back in the 1970s, Christmas was a thing that happened in December, and most frequently in late December. Fast forward to now, the year 2025, and we've allowed Christmas to slowly but surely push further back into the year.
Pride
I know that pride, being one of the seven deadly sins (if you believe in any of that), is not always something we should aspire to, but I think that once in a while it's okay. Yesterday, my daughter graduated from university. I went, and I was very proud. That's all I have a say about that.
WPLDN, 30th October 2025
Another month goes by and another #WPLDN happened. We had Tim Nash speaking this time around and, as is always the case, he did a remarkable job of keeping the presentation engaging, energetic and fun.
We need more silliness on the web
When the internet began, nobody had the faintest idea what it was going to become. Nobody knew that we were going to be deluged by images of cats, that all the music from across the globe would be available in a heartbeat. Nobody knew that it would change politics, cause connection and isolation. Nobody knew [ ]
It’s all about the Blocks
Until now, my website was using a Classic WordPress theme. That was all lovely, and the one that I've used for years never let me down. But times have been a changin' in the WordPress theme space, and now all the interesting things are happening with Full Site Editing themes. These are themes which use Blocks to create all-the-things. It's been fun getting to grips with all this, and I think that…
Consider me ‘concerned about AI’
So, it's the year 2025, and we're all falling headlong over ourselves to implement as much AI into our lives as we can. I'm not too sure that this is a good thing. Given that we really don't know what's going on with the processes AI uses to arrive at answers, I think we ought to let humans make the decisions.
Don’t just consume, create something too
We're so used to consuming the content that other people create online, that we've forgotten the importance of creating things ourselves. Get creating for yourself.
Brilliant people
I don t really know how to encapsulate this the idea of brilliant people seems a little weird. With that said, brilliant people (I think) demonstrate these two qualities: They know that there s no point in trying to make everyone else realise how fabulous they are. They know that when they make poor decisions, people [ ]
What makes you a podcaster?
I saw a post on X the other day which basically asked the question, when can you / should you call yourself a podcaster? I ve been creating podcasts for about 9 years now, and although there might be some vanity metrics in the use of the word, the definition of a podcaster is pretty clear [ ]
Nice weekend
Some weekends are better than others. I m sure that you can agree. This one was exceptionally cool.
I went to see Hogwarts
I turned up, got my trolley ready, but it would appear that Hogwarts is only open during office hours.
Wi-Fi always
Many years ago, I was the first person I knew to purchase a Wi-Fi router. I remember people coming over to the house and asking how I could get on the internet without wires plugged into my laptop. Fast forward to 2025 and Wi-Fi, where I live at least, is more or less ubiquitous. The [ ]
Early morning
I wrote the other day about the fact that I cannot seem to stay asleep. Turns out that this has some wonderful consequences. One of the best parts of the day is the time in the house when there s nobody else around. I don t want to sound like some old curmudgeon, but I suspect you [ ]
No sleep
Over the last 9 months or so, my body has decided that a life long experiment with more or less perfect sleep was a waste of time. It decided that instead of falling off to sleep easily, and then staying asleep reliably for 7-9 hours, what was needed was a new regimen of lying awake [ ]
I had kids, now I have adults
I have kids, well, I did have kids. Now I have adults. One of the trickiest moments to navigate as a parent is when your kid, the one that you fed, picked up when they fell, soothed when they worried, no longer need you in that way. It s a strange transition. It s not unwelcome, in [ ]
People who are certain
I see this quite a bit in the industry I work in. People come along and talk with great certainty. Great certainly about their ability. Great certainty about how you should run your business. Great certainty that they have some magic insight which makes their opinion more valid than others. These people of great certainty [ ]
The algorithm of intolerance
Most people will encounter a breadth of opinions and viewpoints about almost every issue. You think one thing, and it turns out that many of the people you know think differently. Over time, I think that this exposure to alternative points of view causes you to question the certainty you have about your own thoughts. [ ]
Being important
It s nice to be important, but it s more important to be nice. No idea who said this first, but follow it, and I suspect that you ll have a jolly fine life.
Morning sunshine
In the UK, we re really quite far north. If you live in North America, take out a map and trace a line horizontally from London to your part of the world, you might be surprised just how far north we are. This means that in the summer we have long days and short nights. In [ ]
Empires
I m sure that if you were a citizen of any of the following empires at the height of their power, you d have had no idea that it was possible that the empire would one day come to an end. We are too powerful . There s no adversary in sight which can match us . We re too important [ ]
Wild
I ve no doubt that historians will look back at 2025 with some relish. So much to get their teeth into, and it s all happening so fast. History is often a case of change over long periods of time, and then so much happens in a heartbeat. I think they ll describe 2025 as wild!