I spent quite a bit of time last week debugging a problem that was stopping me publishing anything. Although I eventually solved it, it was a problem which Netlify had accidentally introduced and which they fixed the next day. I could just have gone to bed instead.

There’s a lesson there.

I finally sorted out the abysmal chaos in my office. For weeks – months, even – I’ve felt overwhelmed by the clutter. I could barely even get to the other end of the room.

Yesterday, in about half an hour, I sorted it all out. I boxed up things that I don’t use often, and transferred them to the loft. They’re actually more accessible now, and I have room to move around.

I feel a lot better.

We visited the newly-reopened Old Justice pub on Bermondsey Wall. This was saved from being turned into flats, and the developer was even forced to restore the panelled interior they’d unlawfully torn out. That must have cost them a fair amount: there’s a lot of hardwood in there.

We’d intended to meet up with a friend for a game of cards, but arrived just in time for the weekly pub quiz, so we took part in that instead. We did well in the first half, but didn’t keep it up for the second half, despite a good showing on the James Bond theme song segment.

It’s a very friendly pub, and they have a great selection of beer. It’s about half an hour’s walk from ours, so not exactly local, but not too far away either. I hope they do well.

In other pub-related news, I spotted one of our local pubs, the Ship and Whale, in the Gold, with its name digitally altered to the Royal Arch. I’m not sure where it was meant to be, because you can’t easily run to the Silverlock Estate from there.

The Gold is the most compelling thing I’ve watched in ages. We watched it two episodes at a time. There are some weak points: the repeated speechifying about class becomes trite, and I find it hard to believe that any judge would tolerate such long and self-indulgent sermons from the dock. Nonetheless, it’s good TV.

I’m mostly ready for our holiday in Australia. I’m not looking forward to the flight: twenty-six hours, with a refuelling stop in Singapore. At least it a) leaves at a sensible time in the evening, so we don’t have to get up early, and b) Crossrail finally opened so there’s now decent public transport to Heathrow that isn’t either the dawdling Piccadilly Line or the monstrously overpriced Heathrow Express from Paddington, London’s least central station.

I am looking forward to being somewhere warmer, to visiting some places I haven’t been before, and to seeing some of my family for the first time since 2019.