Jonathan Rothwell - jonathanis.online

Jonathan Rothwell

A dance floor in soft focus. People in dresses and suits are dancing.

Weeknotes 2022.31: Ending 15 long years of refusing to dance

I have not danced for 15 years, until Friday, when I was at a close family member’s wedding. I have resisted it for a long time, for a reason I can pinpoint exactly: year 7 dance classes in 2005, when we were made to do a warm up dance

Weeknotes 2022.30: Ten years later…

I realised last year, as bunting went up at my local shopping centre (Westfield Stratford) indicating it was its 10th anniversary, something quite frightening: I’ve now lived in London for a full decade (less the first few summers and that year I was commuting in every day) and in

A small strawberry hanging off a plant in a wooden tiered planter.

Weeknotes 2022.29: Living in a tinderbox

We survived the hot temperatures on Monday and Tuesday, but it was grim in our non air-conditioned flat. Even now it’s still much too warm and the fields everywhere look parched. Some of the plants on our balcony haven’t survived and have turned to a brown crisp. Hopefully

Weeknotes 2022.28: Leaving the Plague Zone

I’ve been laid up with COVID this week. I don’t recommend getting it, and especially not during a heatwave. Thankfully I had someone who did a very good job looking after me, a sympathetic employer, and access to testing. I also recovered quickly enough that I was OK

(Delayed) weeknotes 2022.27: An non-exhaustive list of things I saw last weekend

(as recounted under the influence of COVID. May not be especially coherent. Sorry.) A flower stand at Liverpool Street, A Crossrail driver who told people where to get on the Heathrow Express at Paddington if they had a lot of money to waste, Two people with suitcases messily clustered around

Looking up Park Street in Bristol towards a sunset. A neon sign with a picture of a ship reading "MAURETANIA" is lit up.

Weeknotes 2022.26: A week in the west

Bristol is a delight, albeit with some puzzling and haphazard urban design. I took a lot of photos. My ankles are still sore from all the walking (19.5km on Friday.) What’s interesting was that despite the hilliness, there were a lot of people cycling (and it wasn’t

Looking down Park Street in Bristol at dusk. In the distance, the city is lit in golden light.

Bristol impressions

I've been out in Bristol for the best part of a week (first for work, and then for a brief city break.) It's a city of street art, hills, dodgy pavements, and gulls (oh god, the gulls)—plus an increasing, uneasy awareness of its own history in the slave trade.

A corrugated wall, with vegetation, reflected into a river.

Weeknotes 2022.25: What an awful week

It hardly seems worth documenting the minor annoyances I’ve experienced this week when so much genuinely awful stuff (the US Supreme Court jeopardising the life of anyone with a uterus, an attack on a gay nightclub on Oslo, the continued wicked violence of the United Kingdom government against refugees

Weeknotes 2022.24: Some internet archaeology

I made my touring bike sad by not riding it for a full six months or so. While fixing a puncture on my other bike, I got Taran the tourer out of the bike cage today to test it—the tyres are still fine, the chain is still OK, but

Weeknotes 2022.23: The Ponds

I have swum[1] in the ponds that are in Hampstead Heath and which you have probably seen in a movie[2] Forgive me it was terrific So cheap[3] And so cold[4] 1. for the first time in my almost 11 years in London ↩︎ 2. SCENES OF A

Silhouetted lavender against a grey sky, arching upwards towards the sun.

Weeknotes 2022.22: a dispatch from Normal Island

My participation in the Platinum Jubilee celebrations has been: * getting an extra bank holiday off work * getting 15% off on the suit & shirts I needed to buy for a wedding * eating 1 cupcake and 1 dessert from a certain large supermarket that had various Union Flag-themed decorations * heading out to

Close up on a woman's eye as she holds a tiny vial of blood up to camera.

Why did I feel bad for laughing at THE DROPOUT?

⚠️Content Warning: This post briefly discusses suicide in the context of THE DROPOUT, which represents a real event where someone ended their own life. If this is likely to be triggering or upsetting for you, please do not read and seek professional help if you need it. There’s a

Close up on a small table lamp with a copper lattice circular design around a tall filament bulb in the centre.

Weeknotes 2022.21: Going about on 72 (and 2) wheels

It’s been a long time coming, but Crossrail is finally here. I took my initial trip on Tuesday. On Saturday evening, we went across to Paddington for a date night, and had another go. It was very popular with cosplayers from MCM Comic Con at Custom House, and the

Close up of Elizabeth Line moquette on a train seat, with a white, grey, and royal purple pattern, with red and gold flashes.

Crossrail impressions, day 1

Whitechapel station is practically unrecognisable from when it was one of my regular haunts. The narrow staircases and passageways are gone. The new, cavernous ticket hall makes the old one feel like a public convenience. The steepness of the escalator shaft down to the new Crossrail platforms is also a

Weeknotes 2022.20: The Southeastern Shuffle

I’ve had to get the train twice this week. Neither time went especially well. On Tuesday that was missing my train and being delayed 20 minutes because I had to explain to the gateline assistant that yes, I am allowed to take my bike on a London bound train

Weeknotes 2022.19: Back to Normality(?)

I’ve been ‘out out’ four times this week. Campaigning event and then dinner with some friends on Wednesday. A colleague’s leaving drinks on Friday. A walk around Richmond Park yesterday [https://www.jonathanis.online/richmond-park-photodump/] . I forgot how exhausting social interaction was and I genuinely don’t know

A view to the west from Richmond Park of trees, grass, buildings. An air traffic control tower is on the horizon.

Richmond Park photodump

My only previous visit to Richmond Park was that Christmas Eve (2019) I decided to cycle to my parents' place to avoid crossing a picket line on the trains. Rushing through at the golden hour in winter, in head-to-toe lycra and trying to avoid getting wiped out by oncoming cars,

An arched aisle in Winchester Cathedral made of light-coloured stone, with a flag hanging partway along.

Impressions of Winchester

We took advantage of the Rail Sale [https://www.gov.uk/government/news/over-one-million-half-price-rail-tickets-in-first-ever-great-british-rail-sale] (not to be confused with RailSail) and visited Winchester on Monday, a city I'd only ever visited once before. Here's a photo dump from the day—cathedrals, churches, and courtyards. Enjoy. Beams from St. Lawrence's Church.

Sigrid, a white cat, rides away from camera in the basket of a Lime bike, being ridden by Travis, who wears a coat and a cap.

Weeknotes 2022.18: A Rest

I’ve had the week off work, and have mostly failed to clear my to-do list, because of various dramas, but oh well. The election happened [https://www.newham.gov.uk/council/local-elections-2022]. I’m going to reserve judgment about what happened in other boroughs, but suffice it to say

Weeknotes 2022.17: Escaping to the provinces

To start a much-needed bank holiday weekend, we visited my parents in the arse-end of Surrey. The weather was nice enough to enjoy the garden, we went to a restaurant that was startlingly good, and were pleasantly surprised to see a number of new independent shops springing up. Said town’

From above, red tulips and white albums in a vase on a dinner table, with coasters scattered around it.

Weeknotes 2022.16: Life treads upon life

An early Bulb Watch for this week: against all my expectations, the tulips have flowered (along with a few alliums, enough for us to fill a vase for a dinner party.) Rather entertainingly, though, they’ve actually ejected the cyclamen that I’d put in the pot so it wasn’

An apple tree in startling pink blossom with a clear blue sky, with a bird and two jets flying overhead.

Weeknotes 2022.15: Spring will spring, no matter what

The world feels as if it is spinning apart, and it’s not doing wonders for my mental state. It is at least a comfort to know that spring is here. The world keeps turning and the trees keep blooming. I’ve visited the bluebells at Wanstead Park [https://www.

Panoramic view of a deciduous woodland with a carpet of bluebells below it on a cool day.

Bluebells in Wanstead Park

I cycled over to Wanstead Park yesterday to record a cycle route for our Newham Cyclists YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCULkPELLfKRz_UivZ4dUYEA/featured] to the bluebells at Chalet Wood [http://leytonstone.net/bluebells/], and it was so stunning that I went over again today with my partner

Weeknotes 2022.14: four seasons in a week

The weather has run the gamut. We’ve had rain. We’ve had thunder. We’ve had sun. The world seems like it may be spinning apart, but spring is here… at least for now. Halo Infinite remains delightful. Some of the dialogue towards the end is genuinely heartbreaking. Maybe

A silhouetted projection of a pale sphere against a shaded pink and purple background representing sunrise/sunset.

Weeknotes 2022.13: As Steve Jobs Intended

Having not got my Xbox out of its box for the past 5+ years (at least since I moved away from Forest Gate, possibly longer) I discovered that Xbox Cloud gaming exists, and works pretty well. As a result, I’ve been able to play Halo on my iMac with