xai – Stilgherrian

27 April 202528 April 2025

Weekly Wrap 778: I take the ferry to Manly during an inside-out week, for some reason

It’s a beach scene, looking out onto the ocean with small, gently-rolling waves washing up on a yellow sand beach. The water is turquoise in the shallows, grading to a deep blue on the horizon. Overhead, threatening clouds billow and brood, although for the moment the beach itself is in sunlight. In the right-hand foreground, an older man in dark green t-shirt and brown shorts carries a red and yellow surfboard toward the water’s edge. Never change, Manly. Minutes after this photo was taken, the entire scene disappeared into a grey blur of drizzle and cloud.

My week of Monday 21 to Sunday 27 April 2025, like the one before it, was inside out. It’s the public holidays and the weekend days which have been busy, with fatigue hitting during the week. So it was a trip to Manly on Tuesday, and podcast work on the holidays.

30 March 202506 April 2025

Weekly Wrap 774: Magpies are so talonted, yeah?

Close-up photo of the feet of an Australian magpie perched on a wooden doorframe. On each foot, there are three curved toes with claws in front of the wooden frame and one behind. All is shiny and black. Slightly out of focus in the upper background is the lower part of the bird’s body, white feathers below and black chest and wing feathers above.

During my week of Monday 24 to Sunday 30 March 2025 the numbers of my magnificent Magpie Army started to swell again, with 18 of them visiting the other morning. I took a photo. I also produced a podcast, launched a crowdfunder, and squeezed out a newsletter.

09 June 202409 June 2024

Weekly Wrap 732: A remarkably productive start to winter

An 8-car NSW TrainLink V-Set stands at Wentworth Falls station on a wet foggy night. The lights glisten off the wet platform, and everything is silvery grey except the purple interior of the train visible through its windows. The platform is deserted except for, in the distance, the guard in his hi-viz vest.

My week of Monday 3 to Sunday 9 June 2024 saw the production of three podcasts, two of which have already been posted, with the third appearing tomorrow morning. My need to nap most afternoons also declined, which I imagine is a Good Thing.

03 June 202403 June 2024

Weekly Wrap 731: Two kinds of cloud plus some rain, no podcasts, but a catch-up is imminent

Looking across a rain-soaked concrete plaza to an abstract stainless steel sculpture, then a step up to a railing labelled VIEWING PLATFORM. Beyond that, nothing but a pale grey void, because we're inside a cloud.

My week of Monday 27 May to Sunday 2 June 2024 was dominated by poor sleep patterns, which I’m putting down to the start of the cooler weather. The podcast production schedule was pushed back, and productivity was low. But I am happy enough.

12 May 202426 May 2024

Weekly Wrap 728: Wet weather fails to dampen my enjoyment of social activities

A photo taken at night. An ambulance surges through water, with spray coming up a metre along its side.

My week of Monday 6 to Sunday 12 May 2024 was both busy and wet, the latter being due to the rain rather than anything I did. See the photo above for evidence of how Sydney’s drainage systems can’t cope. And of course I turned One Million Years old. Kinda.

28 April 202401 May 2024

Weekly Wrap 726: Evidence of progress in Croydon and hints of progress in my own world

Abandoned Shop, Croydon. On a bright sunny day, a view of a typical early 20th century corner shop with maroon tiles on the lower part of the walls, and terrible peeled white plaster above. The windows are boarded up, and the doors sprayed with graffiti. And yet on one side wall there's still a bright mural of bird of paradise flowers.

My week of Monday 22 to Sunday 28 April 2024 was busy with social things clustered around the Anzac Day holiday, but I still managed to clock up some billable hours. Indeed, I seem to have broken through whatever psychological barrier was limiting my work. That said, this Weekly Wrap is still mostly links to other things. Enjoy them, OK?