June 2025

Technology ecosystem, JS, Walking in the Dales

I started the month with a lovely break to London with Harriet. I think this is our “babymoon”, but whatever you call it, it was a chance to eat some good food and lie in bed for a couple of hours longer than we usually would.

A bust and animal skulls — Hunterian museum

The Ambassadors by Holbein — The Ambassadors

We are starting to prepare for the arrival of Baby #2 - clearing the house, retrieving Jack’s baby stuff which has been in storage, and attending a “birth yoga” workshop together. This time round things seem to be moving faster than last time. Life is a blur with a toddler. We’ve had a lot of lovely days with Jack, particularly with the warm weather, pottering around the local area, swimming, and getting to sit in a fire engine at the Meadows Festival.

Jack climbing on a fire engine — We spent a long time with the fire engine

Work has been busy implementing a logistics web app and a WebRTC Calling system. I’m continuing to explore how AI workflows can assist in coding, combining CoPilot, Claude Code and Codex. I am unlikely to have contract availability for the rest of the year, but if you want to chat please do get in touch.

JavaScript Meetups

I organised two JavaScript meetups in June. The first was conversations about AI at GlasgowJS and the second was Geo and JS at EdinburghJS.

This month I was pleased that we had two guest hosts: Robbie at GlasgowJS and Amandine at EdinburghJS. It’s great to be able to provide the opportunity for others to be involved. It takes the pressure off me a little, and helps make the meetups more sustainable. Again, I’m grateful to our hosts and sponsors: BJSS and TravelPerk.

I’ve scheduled social events in both Glasgow (hosted by Kelsie, Sergio and Victoria) on the 15th and Edinburgh (hosted by Me and Allan) on the 22nd of July.

I also represented Scottish Technology Club and the JS meetups at a “Digital Drop In” organised by Gordon Guthrie, in an attempt to bring the tech ecosystem into better contact with the Parliamentary ecosystem. The main points that I emphasised to Parliamentarians was that technical meetup groups are an important and occasionally overlooked part of the “tech startup” strategy; that meetups are often in need of venues and small amounts of money; and that the current ecosystem funds don’t seem to be “right sized” for ongoing, sustainable community groups. I’ll hopefully work on this more over the next year.

This month I also moved the Scottish Technology Club website from a Markdown-based system to a database-backed system. This will hopefully give me the flexibility to automate a little more, and to give selective access to organisers and helpers in the future.

Running, and the great outdoors

My running, yet again, seems to have not gone too well this month. I have done some light runs, and the Solstice on the Segment run with Gordon/Interval Running, but my back has been injured after helping a woman chase her hat that had blown away in the wind (the day after running down Arthur’s Seat, coincidence?!).

I managed a walk with Aileen in Swaledale at the end of the month, a fairly light 10km at the north of the Yorkshire Dales. A lovely part of the country, and a long-overdue catchup.

Reading and Watching

This month I read:

Growth: A Reckoning, Daniel Susskind. A tour of the ideas around growth and progress.
The Technological Republic, Alexander C. Karp, Nicholas W. Zamiska. Founders of Palantir think we shouldn’t take military technology and strength for granted.
Why The Allies Won, Richard Overy (started, continuing my exploration of war that I seem to be doing over the past few months)
On the Calculation of Volume I & II, Solvej Balle. Enjoyable fiction exploring seasons, daily ritual, memory, persistence. Now to wait for the next five books in the series.
Everything Is Tuberculosis, John Green. Light narrative about TB.
Pathogenesis: How germs made history, Johnathan Kennedy (started)

I also watched the first season of Andor, and started on the second. Thanks to Allan and Michael for pressuring me into it (although Harriet did comment “is this a recommendation to watch Star Wars from a guy who has a Star Wars room in his house”).

I’m looking forward to seeing folks at the EdinburghJS social in July, until then 👋