We completed the UK census last week. Online – nice and easy. This once-a-decade occurrence goes back a couple of hundred years, with its roots even further back in the Domesday Book. There are rumblings that it may be the last one, with manual entries by each household giving way to administrative data gathered by the government in other ways. This might make economic sense and be more efficient but I for one like participating in a societal ritual going back that far. It feels very civic rather than invasive, whereas combining and combing my data from different official sources feels less so.

Everywhere you look now there seem to be hints of a sci-fi future emerging in our cities. Will this future be built by the people for the wellbeing of the people, or by corporations for the wellbeing of their bottom-line and shareholders? Or a little of column A, a little of column B?

I've always preferred light themes but playing around with the Lagrange browser I really enjoy the way it presents the text-based Gemini space with its Colourful Dark theme, each capsule looking slightly different.

...is how the croup cough is described. All I know is that it certainly sounded alarming coming from my upset baby at 3:30 in the morning!

I seem to be into poetry writing at the moment. This morning I was up early, sitting in the rocking chair with a sleeping babe, drinking my coffee. I typed out four different haikus on my phone, all trying to capture this early spring morning in Cardiff as seen and heard through my window. It's apparently a favourite physical setting of mine for poetry writing, having also composed poems last August and another in February.

You look at me - Your eyes widen as you take in The beard – full and mature now (White hairs to be found)

A confession – I'm rubbish at taking notes! The idea of something like a Digital Garden or the Zettelkasten Method “second brain”, as has been mentioned by other bloggers, sounds rewarding but the discipline and effort involved is massively intimidating... and if my note-taking history is anything to go by, unrealistic for me!

Tired gritty eyes Parents greet the new morning Joyful baby smiles

Some reflections following a Freakonomics podcast episode^[1] I just listened to and a Read.Write.as blog post^[2] I just read. Something that puzzled and frustrated me in my five fantastic years in the US was the tendency of some (not all) Republicans to use Western European countries (particularly Nordic) as examples of Socialism. This was usually when talking about Democrats suggesting higher taxes and/or funding social policies to reign in perceived market failures and decrease inequalities – as an example Obamacare = socialised healthcare = Socialism.

Tonight my baby daughter worked out she could slap her hands against the surface of the water in the bath and make big, noisy splashes. What fun! What mess! Water all over the floor! I was going to post about something else but the simple joy of this eclipses other topics and is sending her tired parents to bed with smiles on our faces. We did manage to film a little of it on The Canadian's phone so it'll be a memory we can keep revisiting.