Daynote - Wed 2 Jul

Got up very late today, I think I needed it though because I feel a lot better today after my Scandinavian headcold. Sometimes you just need to listen to your own body and take the lie-in.

So, no walk again, but I've done some fiddly little admin tasks that have been hanging around for ages and I'm feeling fighting fit for tonight's event with Iain MacGregor, which is at 1930hrs tonight at the Harbour Chapel in Dunbar. I'm really looking forward to it.

ON DECK: Zero words this morning. Sometimes it happens. But, as noted, some annoying admin done. Back on it tomorrow, with files duly organised and pencils sharpened.

LISTENING: I really enjoyed this episode of the 5AM Storytalk podcast with screenwriter Joe Barton, who wrote BLACK DOVES (a show I also really enjoyed). Just an absolutely fascinating look into the world of film and TV in the UK.

WATCHING: More of THE BEAR last night, including an episode we only realised was 1 hour 10 minutes long (normally they're 35 mins max) when we got to the end, because it was completely captivating. So good.

READING: More of THE POWER OF THE DOG last night. Loving it still.

KIT: What's this? A new heading? Indeed. I'm a big researcher, because I hate wasting money on crap stuff. More than once, friends and family have said I should also recommend stuff in my blog posts, because they've tried my recommendations (made in person) and thought they were great, so I figured I'd add a heading for the odd time when I want to recommend something. At some point I'll organise myself to get affiliate links set up, but I haven't done that yet, so this is just a pure-as-the-driven-snow unsullied recommendation.

I have a lot of travel coming up and I like listening to podcasts or watching stuff on my laptop when I'm stuck in hotel rooms, but I always forget to take a bluetooth speaker, or I don't want to take the big, brick-like Anker ones we have in the house. So after a bit of research I settled on the JBL Go 4. It arrived yesterday and it's ideal. Weighs a little over 200g, fits in the palm of my hand, great sound, a companion EQ app that didn't require me to register (yet another) account and opt out of marketing emails (which is a small miracle these days) and it arrived 100% charged. Highly recommended.

LINK: As part of my travel speaker research I checked out the excellent OneBag subreddit and saw a post from Jeremy Maluf about his permanent travel single bag setup. It's a very, very specific kind of lifestyle that I 100% do not want to live, but I do think extreme travellers like this can help normies like me by basically stress-testing bags, tech and other bits of kit. There's loads of gimmicky crap out there and I find lists like this very useful for zeroing in on the things that might be a bit more expensive, but won't self-destruct on my second trip with them.

UP NEXT: Tonight's event, then back to it tomorrow. Another podcast interview coming up on Friday, then this weekend is my first weekend a) at home or b) without any plans in over a month. So I suspect we'll be tidying up the garden a bit so we can have folks over for a barbecue while the nice weather lasts.

Onward!