• I’ve replaced my aging running/commuting bag with a fancy new one. I’ve yet to try it forced full-to-bursting with laptop, clothes, towel etc it feels a lot flimsier than my last one. But also, light/fast/aerodynamic. The best thing of all about it is that it doesn’t smell really really really bad.
• The snow didn’t really hit London, but Jack Frost almost got me on the way to work. As I galloped past a small family on the school run I slipped on some unseen ice and came close to going full Bambi. Luckily a hawthorn or some other english-native-spiky-bush came to my rescue as I lashed out and grabbed it.
• Messages came bursting onto my phone from a load of friends who were watching the Macc/Crystal Palace soccer football game. “The Biggest Upset in FA Cup History” was led by the team closest to my childhood home. Watching that game with my middle-kid made me feel very proud. And also like I should probably still support them every now and again rather than only when they’re on BBC 1.
• A substantial amount of my time went into discussing with the subscription support team how the Guardian physical newspaper can get delivered to our apartment. Them arguing that there is not an accessible post box, me saying they can buzz our 24/7 security staff. After a fair bit of research it turns out the delivery team could just get into our internal postbox easily enough for them to be happy. Obviously, on delivery day the newpaper was just helpfully lobbed over the external gate, lying on the granite in the mizzle.
• The older kids and I watched back to the future together. I thought it would have themes that were too old for the 5-year old (plus lots of swearing and trad gender roles) but she loved it from the moment she saw the car that went back in time. Everything before that was far too slow for a movie by modern standards, but the intro (the insanely large guitar amp), Marty’s skateboarding while holding onto cars, and anything to do with the Delorean went down very well.