I’m happily using the Quiche browser on my iPhone. My only wish is for some way to open those open tabs in my Mac.

I’ve been pursuing a strategy of focusing reading the thickest books on my to-be-read shelf this year. That’s been great but one unseen consequence is that the remaining books will eventually all be fiction. I generally prefer to alternate between fiction and non-fiction.

I’ve been sharpening the highlighter pencils!

A couple of splashes of colour among the garden weeds.

Looking forward to a glass of this later. Does the pun only work well in Scotland?

Currently cooling. Gluten-free honey and sesame loaf.

Some delicious Persian food with a couple of colleagues tonight. And we had to share a bottle of Shiraz because that’s a region of southern Iran!

My wife made a lovely coffee and mascarpone gluten-free Swiss roll today. Absolutely delicious but I can already feel the blood flow slowing down!

Stockbridge in Edinburgh today.

‘Day off’ coffee in Edinburgh

Spotted while at the GP for a blood sample.

State of the flashlights 2026. I really liked that tiny copper Muyshondt Maus for everyday use but since it broke there’s been radio silence to my support queries so it’s heading for the trash. The bigger Prometheus Beta replaces it and I’m still happy with the other two Muyshondt models for travel

Dear Microsoft. Don’t ever change… 🤦🏽‍♀️

Spring has SPRUNG

Just had the best flat white ever! In the hippest of hipster coffee shops. Their beans are eye wateringly expensive so I just bought one bag. 💰

As a stationery nerd, I’m often enticed by new mechanical pencils but keep coming back to these lovelies. I bought that Faber Castell alpha-matic when I was an engineering student in Dundee!

I agree with my wife — home is a time as well as a place.

I’ve been a fan of em dashes — particularly surrounded by hair spaces — for a very long time. I wonder if I like them enough to be flagged as an LLM AI? I just wish more fonts supported hair spaces. I generally avoid them in anything being shared.

Off to see Jethro Tull play live at the Usher Hall tonight!

My 2016 passport is valid until the end of the year but I can no longer use it to travel to EU countries — but I can to the rest of the world! Post-Brexit rule changes mean my passport with a 10 year and nine months validity is no longer valid for the EU.

North Edinburgh today.

I subscribe to the UK government’s email listing products that are recalled for safety reasons. Just ouch! ….

This weekend I read ‘Clown World’ by Jamie Tahsin and Matt Shea. It documents a four-year investigation into Andrew Tate and those men around him. It has lodged in my brain since I finished reading it because it disturbed me more than I expected and it left me feeling slightly dirty.

Updated my ‘now’ page

Amazed at the difference in ‘heft’ between these two despite them being the same size. The one on the left is being rehomed with Daughter No. 1 as the family’s other coffee geek.

In coffee-related news, I’m excited by my new Comandante C60 coffee grinder. It’s a ridiculous buy-for-life product and I’m going to wait to the weekend to switch over. No. 2 coffee aficionado in the family, Daughter No. 1, will be gifted my current grinder.

Whenever I hear people talking about the first crewed mission to the moon in 50 years, I keep hearing “crude mission to the moon”. It appeals to the bits of dirty-minded teenager that survive in my brain.

I have looked at the new Day One Gold Subscription plan and I’m not sure I see it adding much value. With no reviews yet it’s hard to judge objectively.

Over on the big blog I updated (or remixed) an old post from 2012 about the principles I try to follow when I buy stuff. I’d welcome any feedback on it.

Edinburgh now has a dedicated gluten-free bakery. It’s called Confelicity and I tried it yesterday and it’s great!

My ‘salt cellar’ by Tsubota Aya arrived early and it’s a delightful thing to use in cooking.

To Dundee, and a quick catch-up with the Master Animator. It’s always good to see their work in progress.

Updated my ‘now’ page. I’m still amazed I can do this on my phone while sitting on a train. I’m also contractually obliged to confirm that I am also looking forward to seeing daughter no. 1 (the Master Animator) in about one hour.

UK stamps are so boring compared to other nations’.

In all my years living in Scotland and drinking gin and tonic, I have never been afflicted with malaria. QED!

In stationery news my A6 pocket notebooks arrived today. From MARK + FOLD in London The orange one is glorious.

The Ardnamurchan Distillery Heritage Barley Release is one of my new favourites. Lovely flavours of digestive biscuits, marzipan and melted butter.

Although I really like using Field Notes notebooks as they are a great size, sometimes the paper is AWFUL with fountain pens.

Watching ‘Bait’ with Riz Ahmed and I think I spot an architectural Easter egg. Our hero is auditioning to be the next James Bond and lives in Trellick Tower, designed by architect Ernő Goldfinger.

I’m reading the most recent Haruki Murakami novel. I used to love his books but I’ve found the last few quite disappointing. I think it’s that they haven’t surprised — they’ve been MURAKAMI novels.

A cheeky wee negroni in my ‘Bladerunner’ style glass. 700g of stainless steel.

We’re enjoying the gift of a couple of lovely chocolate bars from Heist Chocolate.

First of this year’s homemade wild garlic pesto. Wild garlic, walnuts and pistachios, with local Anster cheese.

It’s one of my favourite times of year for cooking food. British asparagus is starting to appear, and today I’m making my wild garlic pesto that I usually make a couple of times at this time of year.

Listening to music on shuffle and some of my favourite dark lyrics came to the surface.

I’m currently having a play with Wispr Flow and Monologue on iOS, not with any intention to use them, just curiosity to see if they have any value.

I’m currently having a play with Wispr Flow and Monologue on iOS, not with any intention to use them, just curiosity to see if they have any value.

I really enjoy using the Postcrossing service and I’ve received some lovely messages Occasionally recipient’s profiles are overly prescriptive in what they do/don’t want sent to them. That takes a little of the pleasure away because I feel I have less freedom and may disappoint them with my choices

Sheltering from the rain with a new book. And a pint of Loch Leven King Slayer.

Seen in Edinburgh