Barry Frost

🥅 Week 268 - Goals

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 13:38:00 GMT

I waved off my wife this weekend as she tackled the Commando Series 6K race in Kent. Before leaving, she cursed her previous willingness to sign up, but she completed the course and her team all seemed to enjoy trekking through rivers and mud. No, I will not be joining them next year.

This week I went to the gym twice for my lovely swimming-sauna-steam routine, and while L was commandoing, I took C for his weekly Saturday morning swimming lesson. Normally his mother takes him, and so I had to navigate the shoes off-on-off-on-off-on changing room rules to get him poolside. This week he competently completed backstroke with one arm and a float.

Just two weeks after I saw Gene in Valencia, I saw them again. I do see other bands, it’s just that it’s been 20+ years since they’ve toured regularly and you never know when your last Olympian will be, so I’ll keep buying tickets. There were five of us this time at the historic Roundhouse, with strong support from Rialto and The Slow Readers Club. It was the second night of two and the setlist included a new song among 22 rarities and favourites. Fully worth getting home at 00:30.

H’s Sunday football mercifully kicked off in the afternoon, and after last week’s 0-0, they managed to find the net a stunning nine times, winning 9-1. H was very happy with his brace, including a left-foot hook, and all of the squad worked hard throughout. His coach was beaming.

Proper honest football, unlike the continuing farce of Man City in the Premier League.

❓ Week 267 - Quiz

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 15:32:00 GMT

First, a small personal note on the news this week that Man City have been found guilty of 114/115 breaches of Premier League financial rules. Supporting Arsenal during the period (and beyond), and watching City pip us to titles and cups while cheating, has made me so angry. I missed out on those highs, as did my sons. Nothing short of removing the owners, scrubbing the records and relegation will be enough.

In happier news, we had our final secondary school open evening for H before his choice is due. He seemed comfortable visiting the school buildings again, the headteacher spoke well and any doubts were erased.

I drove H to his latest football match, away at Whetstone. His team annihilated the opposition 0-0. I’ve never seen such a one-sided draw. The keeper was superb and the posts and bar somehow kept them out. H was man-of-the-match. My parents had come to see him, so he was a little disappointed not to win for them. However, a strawberry milkshake after at Honey and Cream made up for it.

In what is becoming a regular thing every other Sunday, I joined local dads for the pub quiz. We’re still referred to as newcomers among tables of grizzled veterans, yet secured a stunning second place. Our impressive knowledge of TV comedians, film, history, food and Japanese cover songs won us a coveted Toblerone.

🎶 Week 266 - Festival

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 09:35:00 GMT

I’ve been a fan of Gene since the mid-nineties and have seen them live many times, always in the UK. This week I travelled to València, in the east of Spain, to Visorfest, a festival for 80s/90s bands, to see them abroad for the first time.

I flew out on Thursday evening with Andy, enjoyed some local beers and tapas, followed by lunch the next day in Colón Market. The festival site was next to the beach in very warm temperatures, and sensibly timed to start at 6:30pm as the sun was setting, finishing at 2:30am. A bit late for us ageing indie fans, but much less sweaty than during the day.

Hoodoo Gurus, New Model Army and The Damned played on day one, followed by Ocean Colour Scene. 18 year old me hated OCS, and although I put that to one side, it was only when they played The Riverboat Song and that one about a train, that I begrudgingly enjoyed them.

The second night was more my cup of tea: The Wannadies, Gene, Ride, and The Manics. We were very near the front for Gene’s set which included a couple of songs they’ve not played in years. They were very tight, more so than when they reformed last year, and Martin was enjoying himself, coming out at the end in a València football shirt.

I’ve uploaded a few more photos of Gene on stage. I’m now pretty knackered after three late nights in a row, but it was well worth the effort.

🏀 Week 265 - Basketball

Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

L found a basketball stand/hoop offered for free from a local family and set it up for the boys on the patio. I grumbled because it’s further creeping Americanisation of our children, but I have to concede it does get them active and playing together outside.

I visited the school for H’s latest assembly where each child read out their own themed poetry. Not many of these left for him before he’s off to secondary school. This year he’s been voted house captain, for which he proudly wears a yellow badge on his uniform.

It was 2/2 wins for H’s football team, this time playing at home. The 2-1 win made up for the painfully early 8:30am meet. Their smaller pitch was side-on to the stand so parents could comfortably watch from a seat. Luxury. My parents also drove over to watch, and we took him to a local cafe for a chocolate muffin and orange juice to celebrate.

This week’s TV: we blitzed through the superb final series of Colin From Accounts, finished the reasonable run of Reachers, and began the new Slow Horses.

👾 Week 264 - AI

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 16:27:00 GMT

This week, I was invited to a roundtable event in the Haymarket Hotel in London. The topic was (unsurprisingly) AI and how it had affected our operating models. I enjoyed it. There was an even split of optimism vs pessimism on a future with AI. We had a good cross-section of ten friendly leaders, and I was pleased that I held my own in the discussions, coming away with some potentially valuable new connections. Even though it’s an expensive slog travelling into town, it was worth the effort building up my network.

For the first year in a while, I didn’t watch Apple’s annual iPhone event live, but I caught up after. The Duo is fascinating, as much for the new UI and conventions that the form factor brings as for the new hardware. It’s not for me, though. I’d prefer Apple continued iterating: I’d love to see the screen folding technology used in a smaller flip-style device. Meanwhile, my 16 Pro is fine for another year.

It was H’s first football match of the new season on Sunday. We drove him down to Barnet and met the other parents for the first time in the car park. It’s a new team and the boys are also still very new to each other. The first half was scrappy as a result, but in the second half it all started to click and they won 6-1. Early weekend kick-offs are more enjoyable when our team wins!

👦 Week 263 - Sons

Mon, 07 Sep 2026 15:25:00 GMT

The new school year began, with my boys now in years six and four. L is also back teaching on selected days, so I’ve returned to drop-off duties when she’s working. It won’t be long before neither son holds my hand on the walk to school, so I need to remember to savour it 🥹

After a week of holiday-recharging and mild excess, I had two intensive park kickarounds with H and two swims at the gym to get me back on track. My breaststroke rhythm is getting better: despite the pool traffic, I’m averaging 1,000m in 30 minutes. However, my footballing strength/speed advantage has evaporated and H is now regularly beating his old man in our 1-on-1 matches.

I joined my first CTO lunch club Zoom on Friday. Room topics were on (inevitably) AI, and finding a new job as a CTO. The attendees were friendly and had varied experience levels. After years of imposter syndrome at tech events, I’ve finally reached a stage where I’m comfortable speaking up and feel that I belong.

Two hard-fought wins for the Arsenal: away at Villa and at home against Chelsea. H was especially pleased by the latter result so that he could maintain bragging rights with the misguided group of Chelsea fans in his school class.

We took H to his youth media day at Potters Bar Town FC, his football club for the new season. After team photos, the coaches gave the parents a mild lecture on our expected behaviour(!) while the boys had mini-matches on the pitches. I skipped the parents v coaches match, sensibly leaving it to the twenty-something dads.

I ended the week with the pub quiz at The Goat. Our team was down to just four, compared to an average of eight grizzled veterans in the other teams. We finished second-from-last, winning a bag of popcorn, which I take as a moral victory.

🏖️ Week 261 - Beach

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I’ve been away on holiday, so sorry if these weeknotes are a little late. I was a little busy holidaying.

We were in Porthtowan, a little town on the north coast of Cornwall, staying in a cottage right by the beach with my parents.

I squeezed myself into a wetsuit and surprised myself enjoying bodyboarding. The boys built sandcastles and explored the caves. We played cricket and football on the sand. And we ate hot pasties from the local shop. Perfect. More on our holiday next time.

The Premier League is back. Arsenal opened the season and continued their good form at home to Coventry. And FPL is also back. H is already obsessed.

One nice bit of site news: my work page is featured on Sifa’s integrations page.

📍 Week 262 - Cornwall

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

We continued our holiday in Cornwall.

The weather was mostly sunny all week, but on one cloudy, drizzly day we drove down to Falmouth on the south coast. The National Maritime Museum was fine, but didn’t grab the boys’ interest. We walked up the hill to Pendennis Castle and sheltered inside from the rain.

L took us down to St Ives via the St Erth park and ride train. St Ives’ narrow streets were far too busy for me: so many dawdling day-trippers and dogs. We escaped to the Tate for a nose around, and had a picnic overlooking nearby Porthmeor Beach.

Porthtowan food recommendations: coffee and ice creams from Moomaid at the Beach and Seasmiths’ fish and chips.

It was lovely for us all to spend time with my parents. Dad spent all his summers in Cornwall as a boy, and he was excited to show his grandsons the beaches and discover the mine caps on the cliffs.

The journey home yesterday took us over eight hours, most of it in driving rain, and we were very happy to be home again, and to sleep in our own beds.

Finally, a very happy 50th birthday today to my old pal, Mowatt 🥳

5️⃣ Week 260 - Five

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:34:00 GMT

Unlike many whose first thought was impending armageddon, when this week’s government-triggered mobile alert came through to our phones, I was sitting next to my wife and my assumption was that she had somehow caused the noise by watching an annoying Instagram Reel. Sorry, L.

We took the boys into London to visit the Prehistoric Planet exhibition at The Lightroom in King’s Cross. It included stunning floor-to-ceiling immersive dinosaur visuals and music by Hans Zimmer. It was another boiling hot day, so we kept outdoor time to a minimum and sat inside for tasty food at air-conditioned Rotunda.

The swimming pool at the gym was suddenly closed this Saturday. Was it a Code Brown? I asked the receptionist who claimed ignorance. The pool was open again the next day, but I skipped a visit to allow the chlorine to work its magic just in case. Two visits this week.

This season, H will be playing for Potters Bar Town Youth, and I took him along to watch the men’s 2-1 win against Aylesbury United. It’s a friendly little non-league club: good facilities and easy to drive to and park. However, the main reason for our visit was the star presence of the Premier League trophy, resplendent in red and white ribbons for the Arsenal. We had our photos taken with it, H wearing my original 1992 Arsenal home shirt, and both of us wearing cheesy grins.

Talking of Arsenal, it was an impressive start to the season, emphatically beating our assumed main rivals, Manchester City, 3-0 to win the Community Shield.

This week marks five years of publishing weeknotes. I’ve written almost 70,000 words in total, averaging 270 a week. Other than family, I’ve written most about Arsenal (115 times), then school, gigs, films, and this website itself. I’ve moved from talking about Twitter to Mastodon to Bluesky, and although I try to use a unique emoji each time, my most common are 🎄, 🥞, 👓, 🤔, 🤕, 🎸 and 🥵. Thanks for reading!

🏊 Week 259 - Swim

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

After our anniversary weekend in the Cotswolds, I drove home while L picked up the boys and continued on to a lodge in the Forest of Dean with her parents. For me, this meant a few nights of currys and quiet, and working from home during the day, while they were away.

I’m now officially a gym person: I paid for a full membership when my trial ended last week. I’m settling into a routine and I’m starting to enjoy the feel-good endorphins after each visit. I want to lose a bit of weight and improve my general fitness, so I’m continuing with the swimming first. Twice this week.

I continue to tinker with my new website, although it’s felt good to let it breathe this week. Like these weeknotes, its primary audience is me, collecting my content together, and I have a few other ideas to add in the coming weeks.

Somehow L and I skipped the Handmaid’s Tale when it was first on. I remember us watching the first episode and deciding it was just too bleak. We’ve given it another try, and although it’s no cheerier, the acting and storylines make it all worthwhile. 1.5 series down, 4.5 left.

We all went down to the Emirates on Sunday for our annual pre-season friendly, this year against Borussia Dortmund. We thankfully sat in the West Upper shade on a scorching day, although the ineffectual air-con on the train home was our payback. We got to see new signing, Bruno Guimarães, presented to the crowd, and the Premier League trophy was pitchside. The match sadly ended 2-3, but hot dogs were eaten, replica kits were worn, and we all got to see the Arsenal together.