Happy Halloween 2026

Mark and Lucy had all of us round for an all day Halloween bash 'for grown up'. Mark knocked up a steak and chips lunch so good that I thought I'd died and gone to heaven, but it set us all up for our pumpkin carving workshop. Jenny brought over a set of pumpkin carving design books from the 90's which instantly cast my mind back to the one Mum used while I was growing up. We each picked a design and just went at it, I opted to do a owl design which looked fiddly, and at one point I really feared I bit off more than I could chew, but it came out really well. In fact, we all nailed it! 

We put them out on the road for the world to enjoy and to signal to trick or treaters that we we're up for visits. The house got loads of attention, thanks massively to our pumpkins, the compliments kept rolling in. Once the knocking settled down I offered to do some tarot readings by candlelight which was well received. The night winded down in front of the telly with Mark showing us Widow's Bay and I already want to watch more. 

Such a cosy Halloween with friends, basically the perfect little Saturday. 

20 Years Since the Wii

At almost exactly 4am this morning I was jolted awake by a thought. Not a noise, nor a bad dream. A simple thought came into my mind as my eyes opened:

The Nintendo Wii came out 20 years ago.

I know that's a bizarre metric to live my life by, but I actually found it hard to quantity that fact. I can remember looking forward to that console, reading press articles about 'The Revolution', as it was once known as. I remember the games Louis and I played on launch and the subsequent titles we enjoyed in the coming years. I remembered the bonus applications like the Mii, Photo and Map Channels. I remembered waggling the controller, learning how to use motion controls on Christmas Day. 

All these thoughts came rushing in, keeping me from going back to sleep. The tape player if my memory kept getting fixated on that timeframe of two decades. I had to do the maths over and over to make sure I was right too. 

Eventually, the sensation passed. I got up, went to work and then met up with Dan and Rebecca in the evening to listen to an orchestra play some video game music from the Witcher. Guess how they opened it? By informing us that the game was enjoying its 10th anniversary.

I started to spiral again.

Pop culture is valuable to us because it acts as a tidemark for our time in Earth. We can point to a fixed era on the spectrum of the human experience and say that's where we were. Some feelings are so intense they drag other memories with them, a chance to revisit a silent nostalgia that makes you whimsical for the good old days. 

Admin-ish

For the first time in almost a month, I felt like I could finally catch my breath at work. I made my to do list and struck everything off of it. Now I just have all the admin-y, paperwork filing-y stuff which I'm admittedly quite rubbish at (always room for growth). Going into tomorrow though I won't feel stressed or swamped. I can start enjoying my work a little more, after all, I'm not in this line of work to feel like I have a stomach ache all the time.

Quite, Quiet, Busy.

With no one around in the office I thought I could finally do a bit of catching up but somehow the day still evaporated from under my feet. The centrepiece of the day was decidedly the crew drinks which I just about managed to make after rushing home. I thought I'd only be out for one, but I got suckered into some reminiscing chats with old colleague and then getting unofficially adopted by the AD team (as is standard for me somehow). A good night enjoyed by all, I did plenty for the inter-department relationships and got a couple of drinks out of it too. 

Serenity Soon?

Things are starting to get a little easier now at work. Things are settling in and I found a workflow that is serving me a little better now, mostly thanks to me using my pocket size journal as my to-do list which I always keep handy before things fall out my brain. There was also a coffee truck on site which really lifted the mood. I still managed to do ten thousand steps, pretty good considering it's an office role. Tomorrow everyone is out on the road proper, which leaves me to catch up with all the things I've been putting off doing. Here's hoping for some serenity.

Rain Dodger

Before we had even turned over today I had driven a Luton van, fixed a printer and dodged a few thousand raindrops. It was non stop for me today as we got everyone up to speed with the rhythm of the shoot. I was kept on my toes by almost everyone but I batted away every curveball, including late script pages. Knackered now and it's only the first day of filming.

Delicious Blue Pills

Rebecca bought a pack of those cold and flu tablets with the night time blue pills in (the kind without caffeine and knock you out). Well I took a dose before bed last night and woke up in a different timezone... Literally because the clocks went back too. So I slept for a solid 11 hours and felt like a million dollars. My head felt congested still but I had all my energy and senses back. A walk up and down North Street cleared my airwaves and an arancini ball warmed me up good. 

Back home we watch the original Friday the 13th which I was lead to believe was a bit rubbish but we had a great time watching the counsellors get picked off one by one! Might have to watch a couple more of them now. The last jumpscare really got us good too.