May 2025

Family days, Tectonic, London

One of the things that I appreciated most in May was the family time we spent together. It’s amazing how ordinary days with Jack and H can end up feeling deeply fulfilling. Early in the month we took Jack out for his first evening meal as a toddler - an early dinner at Matto Pizza; visited the Garden Cafe at Archerfield, with a small playground and gardens; got sandwiches from the new Toscano Sandwiches place in Bruntsfield; went to the Botanics (I do not recommend the cafe there, expensive for tiny portions); cycled to Torduff and Clubbidean reservoirs, stopping at Clubbiedean cafe (service from a window with a few seat); and looked after one of Jack’s pals for an afternoon. He’s at a really charming age, chatting away, asking “how does it work”, spotting different cars, and running around with so much energy.

Archerfield Walled Garden — at Archerfield walled garden

Sandwich bags from Toscano — Sandwiches from Toscano

One of the other big pieces of family news is that we are expecting again - with a new baby arriving towards the end of August or early September.

This month has been busy, as I’ve taken on more work to fill the bank account before our new arrival. I’ve been working on projects with clients with a focus on DevOps, CI, Terraform, plus some front-end work in React. We had a GlasgowJS event on building a game engine, and an EdinburghJS on State Machines with XState. I missed the Edinburgh event due to a family event, but caught up on the live-stream. At the end of the month I attended Tectonic Night Summit in Glasgow, where I got to spend more time hanging out with volunteers from our community, also catching up with Michael Hayes who runs RookieOven.

With people at Tectonic Night Summit having beer and pizza — At Tectonic Night Summit

Samuel presenting his talk at GlasgowJS, pointing to the screen as the audience looks on — Samuel presenting at GlasgowJS

In personal non-family life, I’ve been trying to keep up my running, but the weeks have been a bit variable. I managed a ParkRun, a couple of loops of Arthurs Seat (I saw a terrapin in the Loch!), and some routes over the Braids. I also ran into an old friend from Leighton Buzzard who was running Edinburgh Marathon.

People assemble at ParkRun at Holyrood Park — ParkRun around Arthurs Seat

A terrapin in the loch, sitting on a rock — Terrapin in the Loch!

In reading and watching I read: Wages of Destruction by Adam Tooze which was an excellent tour of the economics of the Nazi war machine and how it influenced their military strategies. On a similar topic I also read Freedom’s Forge by Arthur Herman on the organisation of American industry during the war. The scale of the effort was fantastic.

In TV we watched The Chestnut Man (Scandi-noir detectives), Mindhunter (abandoned, I didn’t get into it) and Luther: Fallen Son (weird story, but entertaining).

At the end of the month Hazza and I also got away for a trip to London which I covered in my journal. A great end to the month, and a lovely start to June.

Hazza enjoying brunch in London — Hazza in London

My month notes aren’t usually the space to talk about world affairs or politics, but I wanted to acknowledge the turbulent times that we are living in. I always try to keep in mind my core politics of freedom and responsibility, currently being denied to so many. I am also aware of my limited circle of influence. I can still do my part, so this month I made a donation to MSF to help with relief efforts both in Gaza and in other places around the world.

In June I have more client work, two JavaScript meetups, and starting to get the house in order for our new arrival.