Now..

Inspired by https://nownownow.com/about and my utter hatred of social media (aside from Blue Sky & Mastodon..) here’s what I’m up to at the moment (Feb 25)

Living

Thin Lizzy on our first venture out onto the canals near Derby

Living aboard my narrowboat Thin Lizzy in a marina. Community is pretty good here and I couldn’t live without the fibre optic internet!

Had my Boat Safety Scheme inspection recently which went well, so I can move on to having her hull ‘blacked’ and then the solar install. Also probably need a new stove fitting before next winter and am looking at a Salamander Hobbit or a diesel powered heater. Neither are very eco-friendly but boats don’t have many other options…

Reading

Reading Minority Rule by Ash Sarkar and it’s absolutely fantastic. Describes how the Left have ended up arguing over pronouns and who’s the biggest victim while the billionaire Right pillage our societies. Also just started What’s your dream by Simon Squibb.

Watching

Really enjoying the new Daredevil after a slow start, and Nosferatu was stunning. Excited about seeing Flow as well. Bounced off the Terminator anime after the first episode as it was winding me up. Watched the Die Antwoord documentary recently which was utter madness and would recommend.

Cycling

Just bought my first road bike – a Cannondale Synapse 105. It’s from a local charity that recycle donated bikes to raise funds for the Rotary club. it’s an absolutely lovely bike with upgraded tyres and pedals from stock, and I can’t stop going out on it! Invested in some moderate Lycra and clip-on shoes and might be going on a ride with the local cycling club soon 😀

Work

Under my sustainable web design & development brand Intention, I’m working on healthcare websites via an agency, regularly updating around 50 WordPress installs for clients, and various small business design & build projects.

I signed up for Bluesky and met lots of other sustainable web designers/developers which is fantastic. I also joined the Better Business Network and made some good connections there. I need to market Intention better and work with more sustainable clients.

I’m starting to think WordPress is losing its way and plagued by security issues and am looking for cleaner, faster content management systems to run my own sites and certain client sites.  ClassicPress is a fork of WordPress without Gutenberg etc – more here. Also looking at Grav and Kirby CMS’. I developed a ClassicPress theme called Archetype over xmas which has been received well.

Plastic Recycling

Inspired by Precious Plastic, I’ve been collecting milk bottle tops from the marina cafe with the intent to melt them down and injection mould some boat related products. A neighbour invested in this shredder help us process them and a small injection moulding machine will be next. Looking at setting up a ‘community interest company’ to organise this project.

More info on the Intention web design blog.

Future Plans

Sent off for my EU passport with an eye to emigrating to Portugal to set up an off-grid digital nomad/yoga farm inspired by Project Kamp. The UK’s miserable weather for half the year, rapid slide into neoliberal fascism and state of NHS/pension system is getting so bad I don’t want to live here any more and certainly don’t want to retire here.

Game Mapping

After creating a pacific island atoll type map for Unreal Engine called Atoll. I’m working on a Stalker/Chernarus type map (for Operation: Harsh Doorstop, a Patreon funded free shooter game engine) with larger more detailed terrain, gloomy weather and animals that respond to player activity. However I have hit all kinds of performance issues I need to learn how to fix, and also asset import issues because Unreal editor 4.25 is stupid.

Gaming

Playing regular Arma3 milsim games with 3 Commando Brigade, which involve a slower more tactical pace than CoD/Battlefield etc. We use real life tactics and games can involve 70+ people when we play with other units.

Arma Reforger is coming on nicely with ACE and RHS mods already in use, and some good teamwork on public servers from German Tactical Group and WCS.

EcoNotts

I run a directory called EcoNotts for local eco minded businesses and other organisations and it’s growing nicely. There’s a monthy newsletter if you’d like the latest eco news from Nottinghamshire

BanSUVs.org

Over half of new cars sold are SUVs and the pollution from building and running them, the danger to cyclists and pedestrians and their influence on traffic issues are unforgivable. Electric SUVs just exploit people and environment in different ways and are no better. This site collects together data and reasons to ban these ridiculous vehicles from towns and cities. Fuck SUVs.

Freelance Freedom

I’ve had this freelance focused blog for a while now and used to interview fellow freelancers. I’m thinking of focusing it more on community now either face to face for accountability and coworking, or online for support and accountability. All the options seem to be Big Tech though – Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, Discord etc. who try and sell us access to our own audiences. I’m pretty sure none of us want or need another online group to remember to log in to, to get what we need. Maybe Discourse or Signal/Telegram group?

Linux

I can’t stand Microsoft and Windows that is always getting in my way and collecting data as well as forcing ads on us when we’ve paid for their product. Also sick of Apple’s bullshit with planned obsolescence and non-repairable products that don’t last as long as they used to. The memory failed in my £800 Mac Mini within 18 months and was pretty much a doorstop until I repaired it with iFixit’s help.

I’ve dual booted my PC with Ubuntu Linux and now use it for some of my work tasks and gaming, and my Macbook Air with Linux Mint. It’s been a steep learning curve but can use both machines at least part of the time and it’s given the Macbook a new lease of life.