diff --git a/src/content/blog/2024-12-01-vibe-check-20.md b/src/content/blog/2024-12-01-vibe-check-20.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..13f8d9e --- /dev/null +++ b/src/content/blog/2024-12-01-vibe-check-20.md @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +--- +title: 'Vibe Check #20' +date: 2024-12-01T08:09:08.851Z +slug: 2024-12-01-vibe-check-20 +author: Thomas Wilson + +--- +I used to write a *Vibe Check* blog post at the end of each month. I haven't written one for six or seven months, and I miss writing them. But also I have been busy. + +![Mists on the River Thames](https://www.herearethose.photos/api/files/9efeb603-e2e9-4176-b21c-136e78cd04f4/cdn?viewport=lg) + +![The view from Brill Hill](https://www.herearethose.photos/api/files/87680c45-66f0-4ea5-bab1-ee72a86cbe05/cdn?viewport=lg) + +November 2024 was a very autumnal month. Here in Oxford it's been blustery, and it's been flood-y. Parts of the Tow Path, both up- and down-stream have been intermittently under 5cm-50cm of water for the last couple of weeks. We had a flurry of snow a couple weeks back, too - making the world crisp and etherial for a few hours. + +It's also been my penultimate month at my current job. In the new year I start a new position, returning to a more leadership-y role. I wanted the transition from *Head Of* to *Senior*, but I don't think it matches my sensibilities. I am, for better and worse, unable to see something and *not* voice my opinion of it. I know about grasses and fences, but I'm hopeful that being able to lean into this a little more will make me happier. + +It's winter, and so I have adopted my favourite winter sport: knitting. This year I'm learning to make socks. Having started one on double-pointed needles (DPNs), I frogged it… + +> Another word in knitting for “undo”, is “rip”. When you are undoing stitches, we often say you are “ripping it”. IE: “Rip it, Rip it” sounds like “ribbit ribbit” and that’s how we get the term Frogging. ([knittinginthepark.com](https://www.knittinginthepark.com/to-frog-or-not-to-frog/)) + +I've now started again on circular needles: the ones are that two needles, connected with a little cable running between them - though "cable" in knitting means something else. I forget how good knitting is for mostly-listening work meetings. It's something to do with my hands, and helps me focus, and not want to check emails/slack (which I would never do in a meeting, obviously). + +Christmas approaches. I think the household will see its first decoration before the sun goes down on Monday (it is Sunday as I write this). I *love* Christmas decorations. Make the house all cosy and bright, as the rhythms of the natural world continue to slow themselves. I find the first six weeks after solstice the most difficult - nature needs a rest, as we all do, and as it lies in wait of for friendly conditions. It very sensibly seeks to wait-it-out. + +I am reminded always of how much more harrowing winter would have been for my ancestors. How lucky I am to live in a time with fairy lights and central heating, microwaves and freezers. \ No newline at end of file