Cycles: 20250224-20250421

Spring has finally sprung!

Since I made my last entry to cycles, the seasons have made a dramatic change and as one friend pointed out, “I thought I was slipping into a deep seasonal depression, turns out I just needed some sunshine”. Amen to that!

Lewes is beautiful in Spring. We’re gifted to have two cherry trees planted outside of our home and they are in full bloom. This time of year will always remind me of returning home from Japan with a newly adopted appreciation of hanami, the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers.

I’ve been taking great pleasure in observing the activity in our wildlife pond. What first appeared to be a fairly lifeless vestal of water is now teeming with life. Water insects, snails and plants are starting to settle into their new habitat. My neighbour gifted me a small aquatic plant late last year and has finally settled and starting to spread. At some point I’ll add more plant life around the edge and below the water line. There’s an occasional seed swap event in Lewes, I’m wondering whether that might extend to pond swap too.

The immense weight of the jasmine has finally triumphed over the puny trellis. This victory has given us the impetus to finally address the confused piece of ‘crazy paving’ and island of grass. As we’ve regained a good proportion of light that was blocked our neighbour's trees, we’ve decided to erect a wooden bridge for the jasmine which will double as a natural shelter to enjoy the evening sun. In our excitement we paired our summer jasmine with a winder variety. As the previous planter had completely rotten, it was time to get my hand dirty and build a new home for them both. Summoning my inner Peter Marigold, I gathered up the wood I’d been hoarding for years and made something I rather like the look of.

Some of the other planters I made a good few years ago have been moved too. They barely survived being relocated to the other sunnier side of the garden and I’ll be surprised if they last into next year. Nevertheless they’re providing safe passage and hideout for the garden toad(s) and I’ve just planted two new tomato plants from Lewes’ small but very friendly garden centre. The tomato plants did so well last year that I’ve got high hopes for them. Out of the eight seeds I’ve sewn, only the mooli radish has seemed to have germinated.

Pretty much all of my digital routines have taken a back seat. I’ve been incredibly busy since late February but I’m really keen to break the seal again on writing again as there’s plenty to talk about; Research by the Sea, my new job at Waitrose & Partners and other thoughts.

There’s far too much that has happened over the past few weeks in one round up post. Here’s a quick round up of some posts that are either in progress or on my todo list.

• Harry Potter & the Stochastic Parrot
• Reflections on Research by the Sea
• How I curated a research conference
• Kanban and the design process
• Remembering in-person research

Aside from a wonder ride to Eastbourne with the lovely Andy Keetch, I’ve not been riding as much as I’d like. But now the weather is better and I’ve scored a ticket to Brother in the Wild Dorset I’ve got every bit of motivation I need to get back in the saddle.