Chad opens an event at Newspeak House At the top of Brick Lane on Bethnel Green Road in east London the streets are lined with four-storey buildings tightly packed shoulder-to-shoulder, alternating brick and plaster. At street level there are pizza parlours, cafés, vinyl record stores, and a shop that sells terrariums. One building, measuring four gabled windows across with two wide storefront windows at the ground level, has nothing in the display for sale.
Dolls are out for #ひな祭り Doll Day! We brought the entire set over in the 19 boxes we sent from Japan in 2024. We didn’t have space to get them out last year in our tiny condo. This year we still don’t have a rack for the whole set, so just the Empress and the Emperor are out. 🎎
Excellent evening of co-op showcasing, solidarity, and FOOD at www.solidstate.coop tonight! #SurreyBC
Updated my Interesting Conferences 2026 doc with a few things. Let me know if I should be aware of more! #events
What an up and down day. Early morning went into surgery. Woke up around 4 feeling good. Decided to relax and watch a film. Oh whatta film! boxd.it/DUHM
We just happened upon this Senegalese place so decided to take the opportunity. Had some Senegalese Jollof rice and veggie fataya, with Bissap Hibiscus juice and a lovely drink made of baobab fruit!
An unexpected thing happened to me on my first trip to London earlier this month.
I stayed in Brick Lane close to the venue (which I will write about separately!) for the event I put on. The first four days I stayed in the area prepping for the event and meeting people, so pretty much just work work work… but after the event was over (and I finally got a full night’s sleep) I had 3 days to explore the city, which I did mostly on foot.
Easy to digest, but some difficult subject matter (power harassment/abuse) that was not for me. Some people gave it 5 stars so it touches others. I just hope everyone is okay.
Had some epic anime clouds above the city today. Gorgeously warm and bright for Feb 🌞
Of course I did mettā meditation this morning. Easy to spread the loving kindness on this day: our 20th wedding anniversary. 🎊 What an adventure it has been since that cold day in Kingston ON when we walked through snow in our wedding kimono. 👘 Can’t imagine what the next 20 will be like! 🥰
📸 Finally uploaded all my photos from London: 278 photos 24 vids. That is down from 1200+… I also broke them up a bit into British Museum, St Paul’s, and stadium tour, but this is the super album. Give it a quick scroll: www.flickr.com/photos/sa…
#poetry
My visit to the British Museum really inspired me to learn more about early British History, so I picked up A History of Britain: Volume 1 by Simon Schama 📚
I always said I would come back to this wonderful book… and now it has been 15 years. I am re-reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke 📚
Just arrived at YVR. Some shots from the Arctic for you: mountains of Greenland, sea ice, arriving over Canada. Finally the islands of the west coast as we turn to land at YVR.
Okay one last point ☝️🤓: a luggage trolley on the tarmac. Cheers London! It was a blast and I hope to come back soon. See ya’ll on the other side of the Pacific in 9h55m 👋
Back home from 6 hours at the British Museum, walking Leicester Sq, Trafalgar Sq, down the Mall to Buckingham, and then taking the tube back to East London. Just relaxing at the hotel and importing the 453 photos I took today 🫨 So far my whole trip count is 1185. And I was working!
Oh it is #superbowl across the pond today? Haven’t taken any recent owl 🦉 photos but here is the owl cafe in Kyoto
