Week note — week commencing Monday 6 April 2026
What is this?
Every week I look back at the previous seven days and forwards to the next. Work and adjacent things, running and health, culture, home improvements, and personal stuff. Read none, some or all – sharing in case it helps someone else out there.
Previous week: Week commencing Monday 30 March 2026
tldr
Easter in Sussex, Crawley away, five-hour drive back (The Cure/Depeche Mode), Gareth from uni days, 45.53km, garden seeds, Taskmaster, Northern News on toilets, Blue Lines at 35.
Health and running
By the end of the week the body felt good overall. Earlier in the week, less so.
The usual right knee was slightly there, and the tendon at the bottom of my right leg was slightly sore, but nothing that stopped anything.
Got out five times across the week for 45.53km total.
- Monday 7.09km in Billingshurst.
- At home: Wednesday 8.67km, Thursday 8.02km, Saturday 10.56km (added a bench to Open Benches too), all heading west towards Bingley.
- Sunday 11.19km eastwards. Was going to Apperley Bridge and then turn back but didn't realise there was a half marathon going on so turned back early rather than run into the mass of racers.
- Rest days Tuesday and Friday fitted around shutters quote/Gareth/football/other commitments.
- April after two weeks: 77.71km (week 1: 32.18km, week 2: 45.53km).
- Tracking towards a realistic target of around 175km for the month, which would be solid given Easter travel and house stuff.
- Year to date: 446.75km – comfortably between 1,600km and 1,800km for the year if this pace continues.
Ordered some new Asics Novablasts and a pair of Asics Trabucos while Sportsshoes were doing 20 percent off at Easter.
Not sure about weight. Half in denial.
Probably ate more bread than I should have.
Work
Monday and Tuesday were days off.
Friday was one of those days there were plenty of after-work sessions, one session being very heavy going. A bit of work seeped into the weekend, because if I didn't do it it'd be living in my head all weekend.
Realised this week it's about 12 years to the day I left Home, which seems a long time to be "doing my own thing".
Socialising
We were away for Easter weekend: Easter Monday morning started with a short drive from Billingshurst to Amberleyvillage to look at the church and the lovely thatched roofed houses, before saying bye to Becca and Rory (our hosts for the weekend) and heading to Crawley for the Grimsby game. No one else from the Cod Almighty crew was at the game so I wrote a match report on that one. Crawley crossed off the away grounds to go to.
Nearly five hours driving back after the game, had a good singalong to The Cure up to and along the M25, then Depeche Mode for the M1.
Caught up with Gareth — a long-term friend from uni days, haven't seen him for a lllllooooooooonnnnnnng time — and his family on Tuesday afternoon as they were Saltaire way. Came away with the mission to get a few of the old uni crew together for... a... something.
Was a supportive husband and watched Arsenal and Sporting's European Cup quarter final on Tuesday night, then the Porto v Forest Europa League quarter final on Thursday (and not because there's support for Forest in this house). Arsenal v Bournemouth was on the TV on Saturday lunchtime while we pottered around in the garden. The Gunners are making hard work of wanting that title.
Saturday Town were home to Crewe, watched on TV as couldn't get two tickets together. Very good, very satisfying, despite giving away the two late goals. We're a place outside the play-offs, just below Chesterfield. Guess who we play next.
The boy and his girlfriend came round for dinner; nice to see him. What the fuck is all this having to put two Nintendo Switches next to each other to eject, unload and load though.
Sunday night NBA: Brooklyn Nets (my team) and Dallas Mavs (her team) finished their seasons, both failing to make the play-offs. Both teams were going to finish 13th in their respective Conferences, but Mavs won their last game, so they ended up twelfth and the Nets thirteenth. Just had to go one better, didn't they. I stayed up (11pm on a Sunday!) to watch the first quarter of the Nets game, like some sort of tribute. They started strong but were well on their way to losing by the end of the first 12 minutes. Until October, boys. 🫡
Mind and culture
No progress on reading more Chief Engineer this week. Bit stuck on it.
New series of Taskmaster landed and it was a hoot. (It's on YouTube too.)
Started watching Everybody's Live with John Mulaney as some light relief.
Very much enjoyed listening to the podcast Northern News (Acast / Pocketcasts / other podcasts places are available). The amazing Andy Zaltzman was on, championing "human ingenuity in the face of disappointment". He also made a really good point about the lack of investment in public toilets – they are rarely a thing these days.
Massive Attack's Blue Lines is THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OLD.
Managed to avoid watching Hot Tub Time Machine 2. It wasn't hard.
House, home, maintenance
Had someone round to quote on shutters for the windows. Need to get the windows finished off before pursuing but have idea of costs now.
Weekend pootling in the front garden and back yard. Nursing seeds, getting another salad box going (trying to do a new one every 3-4 weeks), planning where strawberries and tomatoes could go, working out what growing boxes I still need to make, that sort of thing.
This coming week
Running: 48-56km planned across six days.
Kitchen window gets installed on Tuesday, then straight to Chesterfield for Grimsby away in the evening.
Date night on Thursday evening.
Agile in the Ether at lunchtime on Friday.
Grimsby away at Gillingham on Saturday. I've looked up how to get there by train and how much. I shouldn't go. There's other stuff to do. (BUT! I've never been...)
Sunday: Man City v Arsenal on TV at 4:30pm.
Need to buy some potato tubs as my ex-wife thinks she gave away my others, gah.
Buy wood for the next load of planters.
Resist/give in to buying a season ticket at Blundell Park for next season.
Hunt down some tiles for a splash screen in the kitchen.
STRIP THE DOORFRAMES MORE.
Sort some stuff out for May (like tickets for Interesting).
Think about a break in June.
Oh, and some work.
Easy peasy.