Barry Frost

Barry Frost -

Week 207 - Yurt - 2025-08-10T21:31:28Z

• I had a busy few days of work at home while the rest of my family joined L's parents glamping in Northamptonshire. They stayed in fancy yurts with beds and a hut with a kitchen. I was jealous of their campfires and days out, but I did get to enjoy some peace and quiet and my choice of evening TV.
• I rewatched Rogue One in a new light after finishing the excellent Andor series which is its prequel. The storylines and the characters had more context and colour knowing their backstories.
• All four of us went down to the Emirates to see Arsenal's preseason friendly against Athletic Club. We can say we were there to see Gyökeres score his first goal as Arsenal won 3-0. The sun was shining, everyone was in a good mood, I had a couple of pints and the boys enjoyed their hot dog and burger. Not bad. Even L conceded she's starting to enjoy watching football.
• The Frost boys were proudly wearing our home shirts (including my new Gyökeres shirt, my first club shirt in 21 years); Mummy was stylish in her matching red trousers and white t-shirt.
• Before the match we stopped off at the Armoury, Arsenal's club shop, but it was dangerously(?) full and after queueing to get in we could barely move inside to browse, let alone buy anything. It was always going to be busy given the number of families with cash to burn, but it was a shame the boys didn't get to spend their pocket money.
• On the Sunday we drove over to my parents' as did my sister and her family. We enjoyed my dad's quiche, played table tennis in the garden, played Scrabble and Switch indoors and sat in my sister's new Kia Niro EV. I set up CarPlay and her dashcam, even though she said I wouldn't be able to work it out. Incorrect.

No title - 2025-08-10T18:25:57Z

Frost boys wearing our Arsenal shirts, climbing the stairs into the Emirates Stadium. Dad wearing 14 Gyökeres, sons wearing 9 Jesus and 11 Martinelli.

Week 206 - Spicy - 2025-08-04T12:29:29Z

• I spent the day at the Oval on Thursday for the first day of the fifth test of England v India. The weather forecasts were dreadful but we had mostly a full day's play in the dry, apart from a crazy period where I put on suntan lotion and then ran for cover ten minutes later when the heavens opened. You could see people in the stands opposite putting up their umbrellas as the rain swept viciously towards us seconds later. An excellent day of cricket, picnic food, pints and catching up with Andy.
• England had the best of the first day, restricting India to 204-6, but eventually lost on the fifth day in a stunning last-wicket/six-runs finish. Test cricket is the best cricket.
• The physio gave me more exercises for my elbow. It seems to be a tiny bit straighter.
• It was our eleventh wedding anniversary on Saturday. Jim from next door babysat the boys while we went out for the very tasty tasting menu at the White Hart in nearby Welwyn. We opted for the wine pairing: the spicy jalapeño margaritas with the tomato and avocado ice cream starter were my highlight.
• We took Ubers to the restaurant and back. After previous poor experiences of cancellations or long waits it looks like local coverage is now much better.
• I gave L colourful flowers (ones with the "least pollen and flowers smell" - my instruction) and she bought us tickets to see the Wes Anderson: The Archives exhibition at the Design Museum in November. I'm very excited about this. I dropped some very heavy hints.
• We watched The Accountant 2 (meh) and many more Sopranos. Meanwhile I finished reading Julia which I really enjoyed. It dovetailed respectfully with Orwell's 1984 but had its own perspectives and conclusion.

Week 205 - Ticket - 2025-07-27T20:54:46Z

• I was one of the lucky few to see Oasis on the first night of their reunion tour at Wembley. Andy and I met up with Matt who put in all the effort last year to get the golden tickets. Oasis were very good as expected, the setlist was spot on... I just couldn't tap into the communal joy of the 90K around me dressed head to toe in Oasis gear having the best night of their lives. 15-year-old me would have loved it. Maybe it was too popular. Maybe I'm just a music snob.
• Our cat Poppy has started to wee in her bed. We've tried a few different things to stop her: new beds, new blankets, even a night light in case she's unable to find the cat flap to go outside. So now we've disposed of the bed altogether and put a blanket in a different corner for her. Let's hope that's done it.
• I had my first physio session for my elbow injury, and now have daily arm exercises to do. I go back next week.
• We spent Sunday doing hard labour. My parents visited and my dad brought a pneumatic drill, his electric saw, a pick-axe and a sledgehammer to help us remove some concreted-in posts, a fence and gates. We now have more space at the end of the garden, although my arms are scratched and my muscles are sore. Good exercise for this desk jockey.
• And an amazing end to the week with the England women retaining the Euros in Switzerland. My boys were jumping around the living room during the penalty shootout. And nice to see both goal-scorers and the penalty kick winner were from the Arsenal.

No title - 2025-07-26T20:24:30Z

Oasis - first night at Wembley 2025

No title - 2025-07-25T10:50:04Z

I’m off to Wembley later to see Oasis 🥳 which completes the Britpop Big Four of gigs within the last two years: Blur (Wembley in 2023), Suede (Ally Pally in 2024), Pulp (O2 in June) and now Oasis.

Week 204 - Kong - 2025-07-21T18:06:35Z

• I took the day off on Tuesday for a well-needed lunch in London with old friends/colleagues. The sunny weather had ended but we still polished off many bottles of wine inside and outside. We should probably try a new restaurant and pub, but it's all perfectly adequate and it's the company that matters after all.
• We booked a specialist cleaner who came to clean our embarrassingly dirty oven. It's remarkable being able to properly see the food you're cooking through the glass door.
• It was "Funky Hair Friday" at the boys' school. They styled their hair into Mohawks and L sprayed them red which I told them was in tribute to Freddie Ljungberg.
• Elbow update: I've booked a physio session next week to help with my goal to straighten my wonky arm.
• The boys pooled together their pocket money to download Donkey Kong Bananza on the Switch 2. They're both several worlds/layers deep now and thoroughly absorbed. It looks stunning but is a little too involved for this 2D gamer.
• It was our local village fair on Saturday, starting with a parade along the High Street in heavy rain. We joined the school group wearing our waterproofs and holding umbrellas, but by the time we arrived at the fairground C was soaked through and asking to go home. The sun came out later on, but by then he was dry and happy on the sofa (playing Donkey Kong of course).

Week 203 - Alarmed - 2025-07-14T14:15:04Z

• I got through to the final boss elbow consultant. He made my arm click when rotating but was optimistic I'd be able to fully straighten it after physio. No further hospital visits needed until a three-month check-up.
• I discovered something about our house alarm. With my brain preoccupied with my orthopaedics appointment, I left the house mistakenly alarmed. The cleaners, who have a key but no alarm fob, arrived while I was out and triggered the alarm. It did its job perfectly, however it really does sound for a long, long time!
• We've received three kitchen bins this week. The first was returned because it was too white, the second was the right colour but delivered badly dented so went back, and the third is mildly dented but we're far too tired of talking about bins to return it.
• Maybe I was a little too excited about Windsurf which has now effectively been dismantled by Google. My personal subscription has just renewed so I've got time to research alternatives. I'm currently looking at Anthropic's Claude Code which is more expensive but seems more stable.
• I joined Andy, Ben and two Tims to watch Surrey ease to victory over Glamorgan in the T20 at the Oval. I was dreading the 30C heat but thankfully we were in the shade. Plenty of refreshing Brixton beer also helped.
• Wrapping up the week in style, I wore surgical gloves and a face mask, and double-lined a bucket with carrier bags to tackle my least favourite chore: disposing of the solidified turds Poppy the cat had buried in the gravel down the sides of the house. She is a prodigious poo-er.

Week 202 - Garden - 2025-07-07T14:04:15Z

• I've been tracking my blood pressure twice a day for the last couple of weeks. It was prompted by a routine check-up where my BP was measured at 167/94. Worryingly high. I bought a home monitor (it connects to my phone, obvs) and averaged a reassuringly normal 135/70. Back at the doctors surgery, however, I recorded another 160+ systolic and learned a new term: white coat syndrome/hypertension. Carry on.
• The boys decided to spend their pocket money: C bought a Minecraft Lego set while H chose Swingball. I made the mistake of thinking we could hammer the traditional version with a spike into our lawn, however the house builders clearly thought dumping their rubble 10cm under the turf would be fine, making it impossible to put it up. Thankfully we could exchange it for one with a weighted base (as L suggested to start with...) and H was finally able to smash his tennis ball around.
• We spent a couple of evenings reading and talking about local secondary schools. It feels like a hugely important decision to get right. A long way to go.
• I watched Gladiator 2 on Friday. It was just fine. And we started series four of The Bear. It continues to be stressful, wonderful and very watchable.
• Last week we waved goodbye to the boys' playhouse; this week my parents visited to help deconstruct the double-decker pirate ship my dad had built them. What took us two weekends to screw together (plus my dad's many days cutting and painting the wood) was gone in an hour. We'll turf over the bare ground to make a bigger space to kick a football.
• With the garden increasingly more grown-up, L's attention turned to new garden furniture. This could get expensive and complex. Just where are you supposed to store all the cushions?

Week 201 - Mice - 2025-06-30T15:15:28Z

• I've been hearing scratching noises in my office wall recently, especially behind one of the power sockets. I unscrewed the face plate to see little droppings and be hit by the smell of urine. Mice 😡. Underneath the building I found they had chewed through its membrane and left more droppings. A couple of strategically placed traps laced with peanut butter thankfully did the trick 🪤
• Elbow news: I had another x-ray and a CT scan at the hospital. The good news is I won't need surgery and can start physio, but the doctor warned there's a chance I may not be able to fully straighten my arm again. Irritating.
• I saw a video about a house fire where the smoke alarms had expired. This scared me into immediately ordering replacements for mine which had just passed the maximum 10-year point. You should go check yours.
• I've enjoyed being Not At Glastonbury in front of the telly this weekend. Pulp, Weezer, Shed Seven, Libertines, Wolf Alice, Prodigy - all excellent. New-to-me that I enjoyed were Royel Otis.
• I'm trying a new diet to stop me snacking. Breakfast is porridge with a banana, lunch is scrambled eggs with half an avocado, then I have something different for dinner. It's a bit of a faff to prepare but it's healthier and more filling than toast and sandwiches.
• We waved goodbye to the boys' play shed on Sunday. A local family came to dismantle and take it away. I wondered if our children would be upset but they shrugged and disappeared back inside to play Minecraft and FC Mobile.
• It's blisteringly hot next week. Now that Glastonbury is finished we can go back to talking about how hot it is again.

Week 200 - Super-soaker - 2025-06-22T19:44:40Z

• It must have been hot this week: the bedroom Dyson fan was turned to 10, curtains were shut in the daytime and the paddling pool was dragged out for the boys.
• Broken elbow update: it's less painful now but I still can't straighten my arm. The hospital consultant wants me to return for a CT scan to see whether there's a bone fragment blocking the joint. I might need my first ever surgery. Gulp.
• L drove home to Wiltshire on Wednesday for a very middle class gig: Sting at Westonbirt Arboretum with her parents.
• Meanwhile I met Andy at Leicester Square Theatre for Stewart Lee's rescheduled Man-Wulf show on Friday. Stew was on top form. Is age mellowing him? He seemed to be enjoying himself, interacting with the audience more than ever and even bravely executing a costume change on stage where he ended up in his pants.
• Saturday cricket club has started up again for the boys. It's good exercise for them, but a 9am start is rather unkind on us watching parents.
• We then popped a few doors down for a barbecue with neighbours. The children entertained themselves with trampolines, another paddling pool and super-soakers, while their parents sat in the shade enjoying a few refreshing drinks.
• So this is weeknote 200. It's a nice round number to take stock. I'm aware I've let posting slip to Monday a few times, but I'll keep going if only because I enjoy looking back. Thanks, as always, for reading.

Week 199 - Bucket - 2025-06-16T20:00:38Z

• Pulp were even better than I expected at the O₂. Andy, Matt, Mike and I joined the other nineties indie kids, along with a surprising number of younger fans, for two sets of Pulp's excellent new (number-one) album and the hits. The songs were super sharp, even though Jarvis and co are in their sixties now. It was so good that I didn't even mind the £9.75 Budweisers or congestion at North Greenwich station that meant I missed my train. Worth it.
• It turns out the elbow I hurt a couple of weekends ago playing football is in fact broken. The minor pain hadn't gone away and I'd not been able to straighten my arm, so I booked a video physio on Wednesday morning to see what she thought. Her advice was to go straight to A&E. Five hours later the x-ray confirmed a fracture of the radial head.
• I now have a cuff-and-collar sling which I'm mostly wearing. I can also claim to be super tough from walking around obliviously with a broken arm for 11 days.
• I have a new book to read: Julia, an alternative story of Orwell's 1984 which I'm first re-reading so I can remember the finer details of the plot.
• We all spent Saturday afternoon getting a little sunburnt watching H play an under-9s/10s tournament at his new football club. His team were Juventus and did very well, finishing runners-up out of 12 teams.
• For Father's Day I received beers and snacks in a metal bucket (nicer than it sounds), a t-shirt and fancy shampoo. The boys, as always, had no idea what had been bought for them to give to me. We then spent the rest of the sunny Sunday at my parents' along with my sister's family. I gave my dad his own beers and a pair of slippers. Thank you, Dad, and thank you L for driving and for my presents.

Week 198 - Gaming - 2025-06-08T15:59:44Z

• We have a Switch 2! I missed the pre-orders and so assumed I'd have to wait, but on launch day I found one in stock at Argos for next-day delivery. It arrived late so I set it up ready to surprise the boys on Saturday morning. There has been a _lot _of screen time for us all since.
• Mini-review: it's very familiar for owners of the Switch. Everything outside is a little better: the build quality, the screen size, the joy-cons. It's the beefed-up power and graphics that make the difference.
• I bought it bundled with Mario Kart World. It's an evolution of the already excellent last edition. The graphics look gorgeous in 4K with the extra power. No slowdowns apparent, even with all 24 karts on screen. The free roam feature is fun, but it's the multiplayer grand prix races that we've spent most time on. Daddy is mostly the winner, but it's getting closer.
• I also paid the £8 upgrade fee for "Zelda: Breath of the Wild" to get the Switch 2 edition. I started again from the beginning. Time spent loading seems much briefer and fights with gangs of Bokoblins are silky smooth. The visuals were stunning enough on the Switch but are also even better in 4K on the TV. I just need to find time to play it!
• My left arm is still fairly sore from last weekend's hyperextension mishap. The swelling at my elbow is stopping me from straightening my arm, so I'm eating with a fork in my right hand and trying my best not to sleep on it. I now at least have a dramatic yellow bruise to prove I'm injured.
• Then I decided to go all-in on the self-punishment with back-to-back appointments at the dentist for a check-up and hygienist session. Ouch.
• Last weekend it was H's football prize-giving; this Saturday was C's turn. We were all at the rainy Knebworth Recreation Ground at an ungodly 8:45am to see him receive his very first sporting trophy. He was so proud. Next week it's time for cricket.

Week 197 - Elbow - 2025-06-02T14:03:59Z

• Another welcome Bank Holiday Monday. The sun was shining and so I took my youngest across the road to the park with his brother's bike to learn how to ride it. He did well, and almost got to the stage where I could let go, but he was tired by then, and we decided to try again another day.
• The rest of the week was half-term school holidays so L took the boys to her parents' in Wiltshire for a few days. Her brother was also visiting, meaning another chance for the cousins to play together and gallop around the house.
• Which also meant I had a quiet, empty house back here. Not quite a holiday for me - I was still working - but I took the opportunity to watch evening episodes of Andor and read Mickey 7 in peace.
• We hate looking for family holidays. We can never decide where to go, and even when we shortlist a hotel/destination we find reasons to talk ourselves out of it. We've been half-looking since last summer, so I'm mightily relieved/skint to be paying a deposit for a week in August on the "family side" of Ibiza.
• H is nine-years-old; I am quite a bit older. I need to remember this when playing football with him in the park. On Saturday, chasing after the ball, I slipped, broke my fall with my hand and hyperextended my elbow (twisted it back). It's now swollen, sore and I can't straighten my arm. This follows my sprained ankle in April. What a wally.
• Nurse L made a sling for my arm with a triangular bandage so that I could go to the annual youth football presentation day and see H collect his little trophy. I must have sheepishly explained what happened to local friends a dozen times, but at least I had a hand free to enjoy a pint of cider in the sunshine.

Week 196 - Glasses - 2025-05-26T08:57:22Z

• I've been enjoying a nostalgic look back through archives of the Warwick Boar – the student newspaper I worked on from 1997 while at university. I wrote a few music reviews and interviews, but my main job was production editor, responsible for design and layout using Quark XPress 3 and Photoshop on dusty old PCs. I'm still proud of some of the pages I designed, especially the music section which we usually spent more time on, listening to CDs in the crowded office with a few beers.
• I've accepted the inevitable: reading is easier on screens and print when I'm wearing glasses 😞. I'm not too vain to wear them - I quite like my pair's style - but it's annoying to have to keep them nearby. I now need to buy a few more pairs to keep around the house/office.
• L got a handyman to visit and seal and re-felt the shed roofs. Hopefully that's put an end to the leaks and rotting floors.
• I watched Arsenal Women's Champions League final on TV with my boys. Arsenal put in a brilliant performance to beat a strong-looking Barcelona 1-0. So many happy faces, and it was nice to celebrate the club winning a major trophy. The men finished second in the league again. Next year?
• Meanwhile, I won all my FPL mini-leagues: against old colleagues (back-to-back wins 🏆🏆), new colleagues, and my family. Very satisfying. Is my footballing knowledge supreme or was everyone lazy? Overall, Ludicrous Display finished in the top 71K.

Week 195 - Winners - 2025-05-19T11:32:39Z

• The last time I saw Rialto was in the nineties with Andy while we were students. We saw them again this week at Scala. Big tunes, still tight, although played with just the one drum kit these days. It was a bit quiet - the whir of the AC fans was audible - nevertheless it's nice to hear old favourites again.
• I'm trying to eat more protein for breakfast, starting with two scrambled eggs and half an avocado. I've felt more full and my energy levels seem higher mid-morning. The extra preparation and clearing up time is worth it so far.
• I've been coding/vibing again, this time on a live calendar feed to remind us to put the bins out. It would be better if the council exposed this themselves so I didn't need to scrape my data. It would also be better if they didn't keep changing their CMS each year. They're now on their third (or maybe fourth) iteration of a waste collection "portal" that now, for some reason, loads the data for each page via Ajax/XHR (or whatever we call it these days). Once I'd worked out how to source my data, I poked at Windsurf's AI agent to write the code to scrape it, make sense of the data and create an ICS.
• As I continue to noodle around with my website I've been experimenting with Datasette to create a queryable archive from my data stored around the internet. For example, I've imported my check-ins from Swarm and bookmarks on Pinboard. I currently host this data as posts on my main website itself, but I'm not sure it really belongs there.
• It was a busy weekend of activities. While mother and oldest son participated in a local Pretty Muddy 5K race, I took youngest son for cake and juice and then to Lego club in the library where the theme was monuments (C built a Colosseum).
• Then, on Sunday, H played for Codicote Lions U9s for the last time before he moves clubs next season. It was a local youth football tournament with a dozen teams - and his won! After an unbeaten group stage the Lions won both their semi-final and final on penalties. Shootouts are a brutal experience for children (and watching parents) but the euphoria of winning helped. He was so pleased to end his time with the Lions on a high. Well done, H!

Week 194 - Flowers - 2025-05-12T16:26:33Z

• Yet another welcome bank holiday Monday to start the week. Ignoring the boys' protests, we dragged them away from their devices out to Hitch Wood for a stomp around. The bluebells are out in force meaning that our children were forced to pose next to pretty flowers for photos. Will their torture never end?
• New gadget: I've bought a 5-in-1 Anker USB-C hub to plug into one of the ports in my Studio Display to provide Ethernet and USB-A ports. I had maxed out the display's miserly three ports and so this little hub works nicely to free up two.
• I've been kicking the tyres of 11ty and Astro as I ponder what to do with the ~10K posts on my website. A build time of two minutes each change would be too frustrating which is why I went down the dynamic route last time, however I want to use a git-based workflow for writing longer posts. More experimenting to do.
• Arsenal sadly exited the Champions League to PSG who were the more effective team over the semi-final tie. Expensive new signings are needed this summer.
• Much like the pros on Wednesday, I was knackered after a Saturday afternoon of football over the park with H and his friend and his friend's dad. Two hours of 2 vs 2 is a bit much for us old men.!
• We wrapped up the week with lunch to celebrate L's mum's birthday at The Greyhound pub near Tring. Our boys are susceptible to car sickness and despite taking travel tablets, just half an hour in to the journey poor C needed me to stop in a lay-by on the A41 so he could barf (thankfully outside my car). Apparently my driving was to blame. With his tummy empty he was ready to tuck into his lunch.
• We then stretched our legs around another wood - nearby Wendover Woods - which promised the reward of ice creams at the end.

No title - 2025-05-06T21:09:51Z

OpenAI buys Windsurf for $3B. Not bad for "just" a VSCode fork. As an early Windsurf paying customer, I'm curious but wary of what comes next.

Week 193 - Repair - 2025-05-04T21:01:51Z

• It's been shorts weather. Lovely.
• I decided to invest in our backup setup at home. Although our Macs and photos are backed up to a 2TB iCloud+ account, I wanted local backups with Time Machine. So I've set up a Synology DS223J NAS with two Seagate IronWolf 4TB drives in RAID 1. ChatGPT wanted me to go for a beefier Synology model, but this is perfectly adequate.
• We had our annual call with our financial advisor, seeing where we are financially for the future. Thankfully, despite the markets tanking recently, all looks fine. While in my head I'm barely an adult, it surprises me to see how we're ever closer to retirement.
• The flush buttons on the downstairs integrated toilet were suddenly ineffective. Fearing an expensive plumber call-out and wall damage I had a go, removing the faceplate and panel inside, then gently pushing down the float which had become stuck with limescale. For once my amateur DIY worked.
• I normally spend Saturday mornings watching my oldest son's football; this time it was his brother's turn, playing in a little tournament for his club's under-7s. The coaches charitably paired him with the four strongest boys but let's just say he didn't quite match them for skill - or effort! His team won, but he was more concerned about getting home to play Minecraft.
• Returning home from the football I wheeled out the barbecue for burgers and sausages in the sunshine. As is the way, we cooked and ate far too much, and after clearing up we had a well-deserved snooze on the sofa.
• I've been watching a fair amount of the snooker. As I write this I have one eye on the final. While I'd love Mark Williams to win it, Zhao Xintong is playing beautifully and deserves his (current) 11-6 lead.

Week 192 - Smell - 2025-04-27T20:11:54Z

• Poppy the cat had a couple of accidents this week. First, she wee'd on my pants left in a washing pile in our bedroom. The smell was too unpleasant (I promise, it was cat wee!) and I had to throw them away. She followed that up with vomiting in the doorway of H's bedroom. The stain has thankfully mostly gone after several rounds of wet-vacuuming. Poppy is now firmly banned from upstairs.
• I've started a new project at work which includes colleagues in Asia and the US. Unfortunately this means there is no time where our working days overlap. I joined an 11pm 😳 meeting with our CEO this week, but I'll need to stagger future calls or ruin my sleep.
• I had my first lunchtime walk since twisting my ankle. I'd missed getting outside and getting some exercise in the fresh air. After enjoying a few Easter eggs I need to get back to a healthier routine.
• My parents visited on Saturday for lunch and to watch H's football team win 5-3. This was his last league match of the season and also his last match for his team: he's been accepted at another nearby club in a higher division. It was down to his mum and me to deliver the awkward news to his coaches.
• Sunday was a wash the car and kick around a football in the sunshine kind of day. Apparently Liverpool secured the Premier League title? I wasn't watching.