5️⃣ Week 260 - Five

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!