There have been some lovely sunrises this week, orange and purple skies showing off the clouds.

Pissing down now, mind. But great earlier. #4seasonsin1day

Great start to the season for Hull City, totally demolished Man United for a deserved win – hope they can keep this up!

Since I’m back into the English football I thought I’d also resurrect my old Fantasy League team name and set up a (fairly small) private league at work. (It makes more sense if you know your Ukrainian teams from the 90’s)

Our old toaster gave up the holy ghost recently and we treat ourselves to a new one. I also decided to splash out on a new bread knife that could actually cope with tough sourdough crusts.

It’s revolutionised my toasting habits!

Funny how small changes can make a big difference…

They are starting to announce bands and standups coming to Wellington next year and I am giving the Visa some hammer getting in quick!

Lined up so far:

• Simple Minds and Gary Numan
• System of a Down and Faith No More
• Squeeze
• Kevin Bridges

Keeping eyes peeled for more!

I’ve created a monster – The Duchess is now enhanced with AI. She’s been using ChatGPT for lengthy conversations about all kinds of things since I installed it on her tablet, even to the point of suggesting he (she reckons he’s male) should have a name. At least she’s not asking me to looking into articles and products she’s seen on Facebook any more now that her new best friend can do it for her. (Not jealous at all)

My new role has also come with a heavy use of AI to speed up my productivity and it’s literally causing me a pain in the neck. I’m getting into a flow state for a prolonged period which means I’m not taking regular comfort breaks, which means by the afternoon I’m hunched up like Jack Welsby and heading home with neckache.

It’s also meaning I’m spending long periods deeply concentrating on the task at hand which, while great for getting stuff done, is meaning by Friday morning my brain is fried and I’m sitting in meetings not able to take things in. The last couple of weeks I’ve had to leave early and head home for a nap. Poor old thing.

The good news is I’m now 10 weeks into the 13 week probation period, and as long as I don’t feck anything up badly in the next 3 weeks I’ll be able to work from home 3 days a week, which means I’ll have more flexibility in taking doggo out for a walk to cool my brain down and get some steps in, take a lunchtime nap if required to recharge, and get four or five commute hours back.

Tech companies would be in big trouble if they took AI away from their engineers, especially the developers who rarely write a line of code themselves these days.

Having had to take a couple of days sick leave this week due to Aggressive Stage Four Man Cold I was a bit worried I wouldn’t make it to see Peter Hook at The Opera House last night, however with a combination of Big Boy Pants and Nuromol I managed to get out to see him again.

I won’t post pictures because it was pretty much a rerun of the concert 2 years ago, same band, same lighting. However I must confess to enjoying the first gig more as he played just the hits, whereas this time the first half was performing one New Order album in full, and not one I’m particularly familiar with. He also didn’t have much interaction with the crowd like last time, nor did he play Blue Monday which, given he played 32 songs over 2.5 hours, could easily have been slotted in for one of the lesser tracks.

Also experienced my biggest annoyance at gigs – a couple sat behind me talking constantly. Who are these sociopaths that spend hundreds of dollars to go to a massively loud, crowded location so they can have a chat?! Dickheads that’s who. I spent the second half of the gig stood at the back where the sound was a little better and could beat the rush out the door.

As per every 80s rock and punk gig I go to there was a group of men “blokes” down the front, all nodding their shiny cueball heads to the music. One old guy was giving it the full Bez treatment, quite impressed he didn’t put his back out.

I’m definitely no longer gig-fit, with sore head and ears the following day. Overall 8/10. Next up Simple Minds & Gary Numan in February.

The Duchess was up for a jacket potato for dinner yesterday but stipulated she didn’t want too large a potato. To ensure we got the portion size correct I did her a line-up to select the perfect size. This worked, though she did spend the evening snacking so I suspect she chose unwisely (Indiana Jones reference).

PS: The pedantic among you may take issue with the relative sizes of options 2 and 3 – I would just suggest that the photo is misleading and that potato 3 was larger in the dimension you couldn’t see in this photo.

PPS: She chose option 2.

Since watching a great film earlier this year about tourettes — I swear, highly recommended — I’ve been interested in the Hull-born actor that played the lead role so convincingly (with a strong Glaswegian accent too).

Now forget Hollywood stars or Oscars, he’s now been given the ultimate honour – he’s had a phone box named after him on Holderness Road. It doesn’t get bigger than that…

This is how The Duchess spends most of the match when Leeds Rhinos are playing, stood up because she knows it’s lucky and will lead to a try. She also gets up close to the TV for a more immersive experience, and provides a secondary commentary on what’s going on, why the ref is wrong and predicting who’s going to score next.

… who this is referring to, right?