week-in-review-3
type: Article
content: Got offered a ride to Greece a couple of days after the border opened, started prepping to leave, then the border didn't open; prepped to stay another 2 weeks. Coronavirus cases are rising in Albania, SURPRISING NO-ONE exactly two weeks after they lifted many of the restrictions. Against my basic instincts, I did go out a lot this week because everyone is acting like everything is back to normal and it's easy to get swept up in. Probably should stop that. Some of the going out was to work from cafes because my internet went out though. I'm back on nodejs stuff again.. Also did a bit of editorial work on the DID spec, and hacked on sloph apps (it's been a while). Watched Fargo and Jaws (and Stargate Atlantis). Swam in the sea and sat on the beach. Crocheted some things. Went to a paddleboard yoga class! I didn't even fall off. It was early in the morning and the sea was so calm, but still ridiculously warm. Fighting an ongoing war with local mosquito population, which is managing to move in droves into my flat even though I keep all the bug nets on the doors and windows closed all the time. I'm very good at catching them in a wee glass and putting them outside, but they thank me by whining around my head at night and eating me. Got a haircut!!! Communicated with "bzzzz?" and hand gesture. Then the lady was spontaneously inspired to plait the hair that was left and it looked really cool. Made food..
name: Week in review: 15 - 21 June
published: 2020-06-21T23:59:59+02:00
tag: ods
tag: nodejs
tag: food
tag: vegan
tag: albania
tag: travel
tag: week+in+review
tag: life
tag: hacking

week-in-review-4
type: Article
content: An up and down week of not knowing whether or not the Greek border will open for Albania. Getting frustrated at nodejs. Tinkered a bit with sloph posting apps. Crocheted a lot. I can do a chainless foundation row now! Easily? I couldn't do this before. Did it with a half double crochet. Realised I can just make doughnuts. Made them twice. So good. Can't believe I never did this before. Watched/rewatched Man From Earth, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moneyball... Stargate. Swam in the sea. It got really really hot. ... i dunno, i lose track. my brain is fried.
name: Week in review: 22 - 28 June
published: 2020-06-28T23:59:59+02:00
tag: ods
tag: nodejs
tag: hacking
tag: travel
tag: albania

intermission
type: Article
content: Breaking news: I'm back in the UK. I flew back from Tirana, because travelling overland would have been next to impossible, not to mention rather foolish. The flight was early evening, and through a beautifully clear sky. We followed the Adriatic coast, which I know well from having spent literally weeks of my life bussing up and down it. Over the Alps, which were grandiose and snow-capped. France was quite flat and boring, but still very clear. The Channel had lots of boats on it. And then we approached a wall of grey, obscuring all beneath it. Aha, this must be England. We descended, and dark churning clouds on the horizon, backed by a red sunset, was a burning apocalyptic vision. Outside the airport the sky haphazardly threw handfuls of cold water at anyone unfortunate enough to be standing under it. I put on a jacket for the first time in months. And felt... welcomed. Lots of people have said they're happy I'm back (maybe they're just being nice), but I'm quite sad about it. I'm back for specific and worthwhile reasons, but as I posted the last of my Albania photos this afternoon, while looking out at a mostly grim, overcast sky, I wondered if I have made a terrible mistake. I haven't. I'm not back, it's just an intermission. I'm confident that the nomadic life across continental Europe I love will resume sometime next year, albeit limited by the pandemic and brexit. The next few months are uncertain in new ways. I don't really know where I'll be for the bulk of my time here yet. But in the meantime, I will be spending precisely the last two weeks of my twenties in government-mandated isolation in rural Lincolnshire. Gorging on vegan cheese.
generator: no-ceremonies-are-necessary
name: Intermission
published: 2020-07-28T18:12:37+01:00
tag: travel
tag: life
tag: coronavirus
tag: covid19
tag: flight
tag: uk

overstaying
type: Article
content: I've been to Albania a couple of times in 2019 for short visits, or on my way to somewhere else. I was looking forward to spending time on the coast, so finally in March 2020 I managed to head out for a month-long stay. Or so I thought. Not long after I arrived, the coronavirus lockdown began. As 3 months approached, I emailed local authorities and quickly obtained a visa extension 'until travel restrictions are lifted'. After a while commercial flights from the capital to some other countries started to run, and I wasn't sure how long I could push my overstay (usually, the fine for overstaying is €500 per day!). But lots of expats kept telling me it would be fine. Around the 4 month mark I was stopped by police in town and asked for ID, and fortunately had my printed visa extension email on me, which was enough for them, so then I was less worried. In the end I needed to head back to the UK for other reasons, and stayed in Sarandë for five months in total. For the first few months of lockdown, everything was closed and there was no public transport, so I wasn't able to see much of the country. Later when inter-city travel restrictions lifted I took a couple of cautious road trips. In any case, there were definitely worse places I could have been stuck. Where? I spent most time this year in Sarandë. It is a smallish seaside town, quiet in the off season, and a little smelly and loud in the town center from an excess of construction and road traffic. After a week in the center I snapped from this, and managed to move south to the outskirts. It's also smelly in the more rural outskirts from locals burning trash. But at least it wasn't so loud. My new place was right in front of the sea, close enough to hear the crash of the waves from the balcony, and a short scrabble from a little rocky beach that was mostly empty until July. There was no disadvantage in my opinion to being a 30-40 minute walk from the town center. When running, the local buses stop nearby. There's a…
generator: no-ceremonies-are-necessary
name: Overstaying in Albania
published: 2020-07-31T15:01:48+01:00
tag: travel
tag: albania
tag: sarande
tag: lockdown
tag: coronavirus
tag: covid19
tag: tourism
tag: castle
tag: beach

week-in-review
type: Article
content: Packed up and cleaned my flat. Roadtripped to the Greek border.. and back again. Unpacked. Had a little jaunt with Albanian police thanks to walking past the buses with my backpack. Came to nothing. Not a very productive week; a bit of nodejs. Attended most of the DID WG remote face-to-face. Swam in the sea.. Still a heatwave. Did paddleboard yoga. Enjoyed a storm at last. Made more doughnuts. A bit of hacking on sloph apps. Watched Shanghai Fortress and Big Fish.. and Stargate.
name: Week in review: 29 June - 5 July
published: 2020-07-05T23:59:59+02:00
tag: hacking
tag: albania
tag: yoga
tag: life
tag: week+in+review
tag: travel

week-in-review-2
type: Article
content: Finished the terrible merlin book. Didn't have to move flats at the end of the week; small stress removed. Started S3 of Dark. Went to Ksamil for a morning on the beach. Got my APish food posting client working again. Did nodejs stuff, sadface. Made more doughnuts, burgers, a lemon drizzle, other things... Did paddleboard yoga.
name: Week in review: 6 - 12 July
published: 2020-07-12T23:59:59+02:00
tag: albania
tag: hacking
tag: travel
tag: week+in+review
tag: sloph
tag: food
tag: vegan

week-review-13--
type: Article
content: Swam a bunch. Generally trying to make the most of Sarande. Did paddleboard yoga. Went a few times to Salad Farm, especially when home internet went out. Worked from balcony, on OpenActive nodejs stuff. Got some of my ActivityPubish posting clients back up. Refactored a lot of shared functionality into a library (ERH). Made tasty food, including agar agar adventures. Watched lots of Stargate and a whooole bunch of movies.. Almost finished my crochet cardigan. Made plans to leave Albania..
generator: no-ceremonies-are-necessary
name: Week in review: 13 - 19 July
published: 2020-07-19T23:59:59+02:00
tag: travel
tag: life
tag: hacking
tag: food
tag: week+in+review
tag: ods
tag: albania
tag: nodejs

week-review-20--
type: Article
content: Worked way too much on Open Active. Ups and downs with nodejs. On schedule if nothing explodes in my face, but things keep exploding in my face. Swam a lot, it was really hot again. Ate in Salad Farm a bunch. Jellified a ton of stuff with agar agar. Went into the hills to try to see the comet (didn't though). Baked some good stuff. Improved what my /eats and /stuff pages look like. Finally finished all of Stargate Atlantis. So I watched all of all Stargate during lockdown. Except the movies. Will it never end. I like it but I can't believe the sheer volume. Also finished attaching sleeves to my crochet cardigan. Hiked up to the Monastery of the 40 Saints for wonderful Sarande views. Started on a page that lists all my blog articles by title, which really is just highlighting how I've only been communicating by week-in-review and photo posts for a while now. Need to step my article writing game back up.
generator: no-ceremonies-are-necessary
name: Week in review: 20 - 26 July
published: 2020-07-26T23:59:45+02:00
tag: albania
tag: sarande
tag: open+active
tag: crochet
tag: ods
tag: week+in+review
tag: vegan
tag: food
tag: hacking
tag: travel

20s-review
type: Article
content: I left home aged 18 to study for a BSc in Web Technology at the University of Lincoln (UK) because that was what I liked to do for fun. I didn't have much of a plan or a goal, and haven't ever since. I spent my twenties with one thing leading to another, not trying to steer myself in any particular direction. I don't think I ever had an image of what life would be like when I reached 30. I am privileged and fortunate to be where I am. When I turned 20 (2010), I was at work in London, doing a 3 month Google internship. I chaired a team meeting for the first time ever. It was a small group, some of whom were on video in Zurich and Vienna. (They didn't know it was my birthday.) When I turned 21 (2011), I woke up before dawn and took a hot air balloon flight over the Nile in Egypt with my sister. We were on a 3 week overland trucking trip through the Middle East. When I turned 22 (2012), I was sick and stayed in bed at home in Edinburgh with Kit, a bit sad at not being on a coach to Birmingham with the kids doing the Young Rewired State hackathon whom I'd been mentoring all week. When I turned 23 (2013), I was in Birmingham, helping out at the finale hackathon weekend of the Young Rewired State kids programming week. When I turned 24 (2014), I was in London. I spent the summer there working on Semantic Web Stuff with industry leaders at the BBC. When I turned 25 (2015), I was visiting my Mum in Lincolnshire on the way home to Edinburgh, having attended my highschoolbestfriend Polly's wedding a couple of days prior. When I turned 26 (2016), I hung out in Boston (US) cafes by myself, and in the evening ate blueberry pie in Veggie Galaxy with my friend Ned (who didn't know it was my birthday). When I turned 27 (2017), I was at work as a software developer for OCCRP in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Nobody knew it was my birthday until I found out two of my colleagues had their birthday on the same day, so we all went out for drinks in the evening. When I turned 28 (2018), I was alone i…
generator: no-ceremonies-are-necessary
name: 20s in Review
published: 2020-08-10T21:17:44+01:00
tag: quantified+self
tag: logs
tag: week+in+review
tag: life
tag: travel

lockdown-balcony
type: Article
generator: no-ceremonies-are-necessary
name: All the photos I took from my balcony during lockdown
published: 2020-08-03T21:54:01+01:00
tag: travel
tag: life
tag: lockdown
tag: coronavirus
tag: covid19
tag: albania

two-kidneys
type: Article
content: I was born in a hospital, but since then I've spent almost no time in one. Until Wednesday this week, when I achieved lots of exciting medical firsts. Don't worry, I'm healthy! Which is exactly why I'm finding out if I'm eligible as a kidney donor. I had blood taken for the very first time.. and then the second, third, fourth and fifth times. In between I was injected with something radioactive (GFR tests, to measure kidney function). I had a chest x-ray, an ultrasound (confirmed: I have two kidneys! Good to get that one checked before they bother with the rest), an ECG (when they stick little pads with wires attached all over you, and the output is a printed chart with squiggles on), gave them a urine sample, and tons of blood work. Besides finding out immediately that I had the right amount of kidneys, I'll get the results in a couple of weeks. In between blood tests I read a book in the sun in the hospital garden, which was very pleasant. For the first blood test, I was helpfully distracted after they found out it was my first ever time having blood taken. Later on I found it more helpful to look at the needle than look away, so when it stung or ached I could see why (in one case, because she was wiggling it around a lot). It was also interesting to see the different ways different people took the blood. I have no idea why this is. One time, the person wiggled the needle a lot and pumped the uh.. the thing where the blood goes, and it took quite a while. The next time, a different person stuck the needle in a slightly different place and it spurted out really fast and was done in a couple of seconds. Two days later, my right arm which had two needles in is bruised around the vein and a bit tender, and my left arm which had 4 needles is much less bruised. Not sure what variable causes that. The sort of scariest part of this is that I might find out I have some condition or internal fault that I had no idea about til now. The process is coordinated by someone with …
generator: no-ceremonies-are-necessary
name: I have two kidneys
published: 2020-08-14T17:55:53+01:00
tag: kidney+donation
tag: life
tag: medical

vegan-albania
type: Article
content: During five consecutive months in Albania this year, plus shorter trips last year, I have done a lot of eating in Albania. Mostly I cooked for myself, because a large chunk of that was during the coronavirus lockdown. But when things started to open up again, I did eat at restaurants a few times. I'll round up some of these experiences here. Skip to: Eating out Groceries Tirana Shkoder Sarandë Përmet The Riviera Gjirokastër It's worth noting that 'vegan' is unlikely to be a well-understood word (though some places do know it) but 'vegetarian' is fine. Don't assume that because you start ordering a bunch of vegan dishes, and asking to remove cheese from some things, they'll get the gist of your requirements - be specific about everything. I never had a problem modifying dishes in restaurants, and waiters in touristy places spoke good English. Personally in the Balkans I don't ask too many questions about butter, and like to imagine that since oil is cheaper it is probably used for cooking most of the time. I also look for traditional recipes online for local dishes to get the impression if they're probably vegan before I go somewhere to try them, so I don't have to have too detailed a conversation about it in a restaurant. But that's because I'm conflict-averse and socially awkward. I drank the tap water in Sarandë and experienced no ill effects. You might hear otherwise from other people. Lots of locals and expats alike buy 8L bottles of water for home (which are very cheap). A better option to both of these, if you have the opportunity to drive into the mountains, is to fill containers up with fresh mountain water from a roadside spring. They're easy to spot and well-used. Eating out Traditional Albanian food is limited for vegans, but what options there are typically consistently delicious. Vegetables are fresh, local and seasonal, and Albanians have a habit of baking things for hours using lots of fresh herbs. One thing I quickly learnt the hard way in Shkoder wa…
generator: no-ceremonies-are-necessary
name: Vegan in Albania
published: 2020-08-04T12:57:20+01:00
tag: shkoder
tag: permet
tag: gjirokaster
tag: tirana
tag: sarande
tag: albania
tag: vegan
tag: food
tag: travel

week-review-10--
type: Article
content: Turned 30. A couple of days around Nottingham: one in hospital for tests of my eligibility as a kidney donor, dinner at Annie's and then the train to Edinburgh. Took most of the week off work, but did some internal Co-op stuff. Edinburgh! Ate lots of good things and saw friends. Hiked along the coast from Portobello to Prestonpans. Crocheted a lot, including a full crochet-in-bed day at the weekend, which was pretty excellent.
generator: no-ceremonies-are-necessary
name: Week in review: 10 - 16 August
published: 2020-08-16T23:59:59+01:00
tag: travel
tag: life
tag: food
tag: vegan
tag: week+in+review
tag: crochet

week-review-17--
type: Article
content: Enjoyed having a house to myself. Did some work on the OCDS Data Review Tool. Read A Thousand Splendid Suns. Propped up the Edinburgh vegan takeaway scene to the best of my ability. Ate amazing food from Seeds for the Soul, Biff's Jack Shack, Black Rabbit, ConsiderIt, Holy Cow. Visited a baby (and grownup friends) in Falkirk and took offerings of crochet. Ran a couple of times and ached a lot. Crocheted some cool patterns to make into a french press cosy. Walked from Prestonpans to almost Longniddry. Walked around Holyrood Park, and along the Union Canal. Saw a few people I haven't seen for a long time.
generator: no-ceremonies-are-necessary
name: Week in review: 17 - 23 August
published: 2020-08-23T23:59:59+01:00
tag: travel
tag: life
tag: food
tag: vegan
tag: week+in+review
tag: crochet
tag: friends
tag: uk
tag: edinburgh

week-review-27
type: Article
content: Drove to Tirana, then flew back to the UK :( Commenced the last two weeks of my twenties, in government-mandated isolation. Wrote up a post about the 5 months I spent in Albania. Worked on OpenActive Co-op stuff. Enjoyed Friday off as a the whole co-op was closed for a self-care day. Tried to re-engage with DID stuff I've been dropping the ball on lately. Made a nice list of articles by title on my site. Cooked for and hung out with my Mum. Enjoyed the one day of summer. Did some crochet.
generator: no-ceremonies-are-necessary
name: Week in review: 27 July - 2 August
published: 2020-08-02T22:24:54+01:00
tag: sloph
tag: albania
tag: uk
tag: covid19
tag: coronavirus
tag: crochet
tag: ods
tag: cooplife
tag: week+in+review
tag: vegan
tag: food
tag: life
tag: travel

week-review-3-9
type: Article
content: Ate lots of vegan junk food. Wrote about food in Albania and everything else I did in Albania. Did lots of OpenActive nodejs stuff.. and finally finished! The bulk of it, anyway. And then actually started to take some time to think about Co-op stuff again. I've been drafted into the Resilience Group rotation, which is the emergency subgroup who think about how to keep us all functioning during current crisis.. Made exciting plans for when I can come out of isolation next week... Crocheted two things. Enjoyed limited sunshine. Started reading A Close and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (on actual paper). Watched all of season 2 of The Umbrella Academy. Made a silly toy for generating simple unicode charts..
generator: no-ceremonies-are-necessary
name: Week in review: 3-9 August
published: 2020-08-09T21:15:15+01:00
tag: life
tag: hacking
tag: food
tag: vegan
tag: week+in+review
tag: ods
tag: crochet
tag: uk

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