Yvan 🔜 #EMFCamp 📞 YVAN

https://toot.ale.gd/@yvan

Allotmenter, cooker, fermenter, tinkerer ("maker"?), hacker of things and code. Posts will ebb and flow between all these and more.

Generalist sorta Computer Scientist / "Software Engineer" to pay the rent (spanning from C/C++ systems/networking to Python/PHP web malarkey.) Linux user since ~1998.

Grew up in South West Australia, on Wadandi Noongar land, but currently lives in England's West Norfolk Fenlands… due to the oddness of life 🤷🏻‍♂️ … now somewhat anchored by an #allotment 🌱🍅🍆🌽🥔🥕🧄🫑

This is /var/log/yvan — I am here mainly for myself, for my own record.

CW: Yvan can be bit sweary (he speaks En.Au), he is haphazard with CWs, and does his best with ALTs as time & energy permit. He has a strong tendancy towards pessimistic nihilism.

Ally 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸🇺🇦

#noindex #nobot

Geolocation: Norfolk Fens, England — vaguely like USDA 8b
Website: https://yvan.seth.id.au
Allotment: https://www.youtube.com/@AllotmentPostcards
Pronouns: he/him they/them whatever, don't mind

Public Key

npub13t8xasqr2n9ke0py3dj6gcxxmt9gcd0p85392z38lhahgd2nh5kqw72ksn

NIP-05 Address

yvan_at_toot.ale.gd@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsg4nnwcqp4fjmvhsjgkedyvrrd4j5vxhsn6gj4pgnlm7m5x4fm6tqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dshnawdx

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub13t8xasqr2n9ke0py3dj6gcxxmt9gcd0p85392z38lhahgd2nh5kqw72ksn

Show more details

Published at

2026-07-06T09:12:35Z

Kind type

0 Metadata

Event JSON

{ "id": "db49ec1cdc03bef75d1675d02c27ecabedfaa2f4e58d2e2203cbf57f72f85e38", "pubkey": "8ace6ec00354cb6cbc248b65a460c6daca8c35e13d22550a27fdfb743553bd2c", "created_at": 1783329155, "kind": 0, "tags": [ [ "t", "allotment" ], [ "t", "noindex" ], [ "t", "nobot" ], [ "proxy", "https://toot.ale.gd/users/yvan", "activitypub" ], [ "L", "pink.momostr" ], [ "l", "pink.momostr.activitypub:https://toot.ale.gd/users/yvan", "pink.momostr" ], [ "-" ] ], "content": "{\"name\":\"Yvan 🔜 #EMFCamp 📞 YVAN\",\"about\":\"Allotmenter, cooker, fermenter, tinkerer (\\\"maker\\\"?), hacker of things and code. Posts will ebb and flow between all these and more.\\n\\nGeneralist sorta Computer Scientist / \\\"Software Engineer\\\" to pay the rent (spanning from C/C++ systems/networking to Python/PHP web malarkey.) Linux user since ~1998.\\n\\nGrew up in South West Australia, on Wadandi Noongar land, but currently lives in England's West Norfolk Fenlands… due to the oddness of life 🤷🏻‍♂️ … now somewhat anchored by an #allotment 🌱🍅🍆🌽🥔🥕🧄🫑\\n\\nThis is /var/log/yvan — I am here mainly for myself, for my own record.\\n\\nCW: Yvan can be bit sweary (he speaks En.Au), he is haphazard with CWs, and does his best with ALTs as time \u0026 energy permit. He has a strong tendancy towards pessimistic nihilism.\\n\\nAlly 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸🇺🇦 \\n\\n#noindex #nobot\\n\\nGeolocation: Norfolk Fens, England — vaguely like USDA 8b\\nWebsite: https://yvan.seth.id.au\\nAllotment: https://www.youtube.com/@AllotmentPostcards\\nPronouns: he/him they/them whatever, don't mind\\n\",\"website\":\"https://toot.ale.gd/@yvan\",\"picture\":\"https://toot.ale.gd/system/accounts/avatars/109/796/852/286/747/908/original/c9a0d62a6c2296f6.jpg\",\"banner\":\"https://toot.ale.gd/system/accounts/headers/109/796/852/286/747/908/original/4a4643b7e21c76a5.jpg\",\"nip05\":\"yvan_at_toot.ale.gd@momostr.pink\"}", "sig": "2a05567a975c5e5c103e5a369ee3631b8968bd5de6b1008f1829396c64df765d6db3d82df479e3192f993e58f94d6833100f0aac5b73b525256a354e931a64ab" }

Last Notes

2026-06-14 14:01:07 UTC

- reply

that about sums up how I feel ever weekday 5AM when the alarm goes off. "Oh no, not again."

2026-06-14 10:59:44 UTC

- reply

it is not fantastic!
I'm not great at the old sleep, so getting even less right now. There is little traffic between about 1AM and 5AM at least (and my weekday alarm is 5AM anyway so maybe it won't be so bad, but there may be more earlier traffic on weekdays I guess.)
It'll still be louder for a while after they sweep it, but I am hoping not so loud ... or might have to start closing the window (there is also a window on the other side, but we tend not to open that one as the AirBnB out that side often has smokers in it.)

2026-06-14 10:37:05 UTC

They've "resurfaced" the road outside our place. So it is covered in loose bluemetal. Now the traffic noise is about an order of magnitude louder. 😑
It has been a couple of nights like this, hopefully they'll be sending a sweeper in tomorrow.
(Our bedroom window faces the road, road noise is normally no issue here though.)

2026-06-01 07:36:27 UTC

- reply

2.4 litre petrol, 234 g/km...

2026-06-01 06:38:55 UTC

£445 to tax the old V70 for a year!! FFS... I could buy one for that. 😅
Fix a fucking pothole maybe! (I inow that isnt how it works!)
(Annual pointless rant.)

2026-05-31 11:03:10 UTC

- reply

what glow filament are you using, you'd recommend it? I've not got a glow filament in my collection... yet, but your cheese is inspiring me... 😅

2026-05-30 13:26:58 UTC

- reply

the angle of the sun at this time of year means that the small shrub doesn't actually cast much shadow on the panel. (And the thyme in the pot can of course be moved.)
But hell, if this lot delivers 400W total in good conditions I'll be happy enough, and I expect it'll do better than that... and I have more panels I could lean up elsewhere if I need more.

2026-05-24 11:20:20 UTC

Kat just mentioned the humble chocolate eclair, a bog-standard bakery item back in Australia.
Are they a thing in the UK?
I refer to them as: a long skinny poof pumped full of custard. Back home profiteroles were always "poofs", I don't *think* this was in any sort of gay reference... but 80s/90s and all, it may well have been and just went over my head. It definitely isn't terminology I'd use directly in public these days, far too iffy.
We often had profiteroles on the menu and my mum is famous, locally back home, for her quokenbouch, must made made many many thousands of profiteroles... I used to enjoy eating the gooey bit sometimes gutted out of them... that is the sort of reason I am more profiterole shaped than an eclaire. 😂

2026-05-23 12:59:07 UTC

- reply

Met Office app has bumped today's max to 26C and Monday's to 32C. I am not convinced by that 26 right now lol.
I might dig the portable air-con out of the summer-house (current storage location)... I may still be relatively robust to the heat, but I have always preferred a cool bedroom. (I grew up without air-con, virtually nobody had air-con back home when I was a kid, I think it's a bit different now days though...)

2026-05-23 12:55:15 UTC

- reply

Anyway... it's time to do the mowing regardless. And I shall enjoy it. There's even a light breeze.
It's fine today really.
Going to be interesting to see how Monday feels given it has a max forecast 6C higher than today's! (Last I looked, Monday 31C and today 25C.)

2026-05-23 12:48:29 UTC

RE: https://vis.social/@infobeautiful/116623756727676190
It's amusing how "The Fens" - where live - is basically the lowest rainfall area in the UK.
#note18ql…gzdp

2026-05-19 13:22:30 UTC

- reply

I don't like the word "hallucinated" for this really, it feels too lighhearted... but "lied" might be worse as it kinda implies more agency... IDK.

2026-05-19 13:08:21 UTC

Yeah, thanks for that claude...
> You're right to flag that — I was hallucinating a specific URL there. Sorry about that.
Kinda like Google Search was in the 2000s, except it simply lies sometimes.

2026-05-17 15:30:33 UTC

- reply

Next up was the usual security checks, except they are super picky here and our three bags ended up being about 8 trays. They even put my drone in a separate tray to my laptop 🤷🏻‍♂️ it left us in a bit of a state of chaos (but that wasn't certainly not just us!)
Then there is outgoing French/EU border control. Which also seemed to cause some confusion and the calling over of a supervisor. I didn't really follow the French but they seemed to be surprised about something to do with *Ostraliens*, IDK, I got waved through without having to do fingerprints for some reason, they made Kat do fingerprints but that seemed to fail three times and we got waved through. (I mean, what were they gonna do... not let us *out* of the country?)
I am sad there is no longer stamps in passports. 😢

2026-05-17 15:23:58 UTC

- reply

Well that was an amusing faff!
At the desk the folks were very confused that we didn't have an ETA (we are residents, not visitors), but someone recognised the share code thing... so then they got a tablet to check the share codes manually against the Home Office website. Except the first tablet was giving them an error. They got a second tablet and this kinda worked, though it took several goes because the Home Office site itself kept giving a "Service Unavailable" error mid workflow (its like a 4 step workflow). They asked me to verify it was for residency, just verbally like.
They then updated something on their system which clearly included a manual description in French of the process and the resuult... and said the app would refresh and give us a boarding pass... except that also took a few minutes.
This all took about 15 minutes I reckon. Which is not terrible as an individual, but is terrible as a process.

2026-05-17 14:04:50 UTC

- reply

Of course the plane is delayed... by a good half hour, (it hasn't even landed at Stansted from its previous route yet), and we are at the airport safely early for the correct time... so probably an hour or more before the RyanAir desk opens.

2026-05-17 11:22:06 UTC

- reply

(That's from the RyanAir boarding pass app.)

2026-05-17 11:13:37 UTC

Well... that's not at all anxiety inducing 😬
(Have checked with Home Office website and both our visa statuses there are "settled" with all the rights, so hell knows what this is all about... 🤞🏻)
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/589/619/778/916/246/original/304e578cc6e6a1e4.jpg

2026-05-16 10:00:37 UTC

- reply

The Saturday market here is amazeballs. Good everything at generally good prices. I'd be doing my weekly shop here if I lived here.
Property prices are also a bit mad compared to the UK. You can get a pretty good "doer upper" for under 100k.
I think I could pick up enough French to get by pretty quickly.
'tis a pity about Brexit and all really.
They have excellent herbs and plants at stalls here too. Vietnamese Mint/Coriander! (One of my favourites.) Some fantastic looking tomato plants here, huge eggplants too... I'm not sure I'd bother starting my own with this available. Though these are a bit pricey, my friends bought some smaller but also very healthy ones at another stall for 1€ each, including some Green Zebra on my recommendation.
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/583/596/830/248/051/original/6c66a61fad5ed74d.jpg
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/583/604/019/184/952/original/24cb96d14c2f26e1.jpg

2026-05-16 09:29:57 UTC

Shutters in Lodève
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/583/544/176/276/895/original/efd4fdbab80a4995.jpg

2026-05-10 13:14:02 UTC

Kat has discovered that it's totally OK to take a couple of takeaway containers of home made salad through Stanstead security. It was a risk, but was well worth taking. 😅
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/550/369/714/656/239/original/1ed6d4a34d229c16.jpg

2026-05-09 10:00:07 UTC

My old "1. Drink Coffee, 2. Make Stuff" t-shirt from "Gosforth Handyman" Andy Mac is full of holes (some idiot wore it whilst angle grinding)... so I ordered a new one.
I noticed he had a revised design for his all-metric double-sided tape measures, so I got them too. Can never have too many tape measures? (I have both lengths in the former design, and all up must be well into the double digits on the things. Yet can still never find one when I want it. 🤪)
AND he's doing a deep-hole marker pencil too. I have wanted one for years, never needed to get one back in the day as I worked with a guy who had several. Never got around to get my own (but I kept my guy stocked with pencil leads of course!) Serendipitous.
I don't watch his content so much any more, but I watched a load of it when doing old British building renovations a few years ago and it was really super helpful content for that. I learnt a lot, maybe it'll even be of use some future day.*
https://gosforthhandyman.com/about-me/
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/544/012/233/136/826/original/5f0fcca93ee63f67.jpg

2026-05-07 18:37:44 UTC

- reply

I know council elections ought to be about the person more than the party... but there is also... "sending a message". It is all futile anyway. Was a nice little walk though.
Do you think I voted for "LOCAL MAN" maybe? The low air miles superhero. Support his supporting. He is a real pillar. He is a MAN and LOCAL, none of that non-man non-local horseshit.
#voting #ukpol #ukvotes #elections
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/534/727/702/563/935/original/beecea73450a81af.jpg

2026-05-07 18:29:16 UTC

We're one of the local councils in England voting today.
The options were ... uninspiring. I almost just drew a penis on the form TBH, but I have an Australian sense of DUTY to vote, so, I voted.
Which of these garbage options do you think I voted for:

2026-05-06 13:34:16 UTC

I do not have a "radio valves" problem.
And I do not need one...
But just over the way in Peterborough: *"Large amount of radio valves stored in containers in shed moving and don't want to go in skip"*
https://freecycle.org/posts/101911394
I'm not sure what hashtags to put on #radio #valves lol... but yeah, if anyone wants a "large amount of rdio valves", there ya go. The post lacks... detail.

2026-05-06 09:39:33 UTC

It pretty quickly becomes clear that Claude's coding standard is "average code found on the internet" and not "good code". 😅
And "average code found on the internet" is, generally, pretty garbage.
I wonder how/if they can actually address that. How can the statistical next-symbol engine actually be trained on what is "good" versus "bad"... how to weigh up code quality? Presumably just a lot of manual (human) tagging of data... but then who is going to be the arbiter of what is tagged "good" and "bad" for code quality, and is the person doing that job not likely to also just be a bit... average?

2026-05-05 20:36:42 UTC

- reply

I'm just overtired really, amd too many things in the anxiety queue.
Gonna have an ill advised G&T, wind down, and get to bed at a decentish time. Work from home day tomorrow too, so no 5AM alarm, hurrah.

2026-05-05 20:23:49 UTC

- reply

Also, the soil is just so fucking dry right now.

2026-05-05 20:19:48 UTC

Feel like I have been operating past my limits since the 5AM alarm today. Gym this mornning was a slog, I did everything... but cut down reps and sets.
Has taken a lot of self control to not be uncharacteristically sarcastic at people, and I probably slipped into Australian bluntness a few times. (Though TBH I find that just helps get shit done sometimes.)
Overstayed planned workday end, got home past 6pm, and as added punishment then spent 2 hours in the cold and wind on the allotment planting out broad beans, peas, spindly hopeless kohlrabi, marigolds, white borage, and some morning glory (not the weed kind) either side of the entry arch. Just desserts for the failure of a long weekend.
Home. Cold. Windswept. Tired. Fed up. Dinner is a very slap up pasta... bacon, our own preserved cherry tomatoes, wild garlic pesto, grate of parmesan, scatter of spare basil seedlings.
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/523/814/010/158/950/original/2b10fefa8f9a77a0.jpg
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/523/814/088/924/414/original/73bc3824c5ff74d8.jpg
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/523/814/150/611/047/original/014dea92bb38de1b.jpg

2026-05-05 15:04:05 UTC

- reply

yeah, I looked into this myself and decided that because I don't like poking my own eyes out with sticks the only realistic non-masochistic way with a hope in hell of working to get off of Google on the phone is to actually buy a phone matched to the purpose, either one already very well supported by PostmarketOS (my current default choice) or perhaps something that's Graphene "out of the box".
(And I say all that as a someone 30 years into life as a OS/software/hardware hacking, alternative-tech, nerd who's run Linux since the bad old days... I don't hate myself that much any more lol.)

2026-05-05 12:35:30 UTC

I think my BBQ lunch at work is looking particularly good today, bonus left over sauerkrauts from last week's big BBQ too. Grilled burgers and veg, mustard leaf and coriander from the pots I have out front of the office.
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/521/983/697/453/498/original/6c13a878467713f6.jpg

2026-05-05 09:31:58 UTC

- reply

sparced 😂 ah, good one ...
I was never a big Java fan, it felt like a wrong/bad direction to me at the time... from the more academic/CS side of the school there was a counter-push to Python, which I think mainly won out in the end (I'd left before all this played out.)
I didn't really like the idea of having a "core" language at all - and thankfuly when I was there things were still in a place where in a CS course you got exposure to a decent range ... C, C++, various assembly languages, Haskell, Prolog, as well as Perl, Java, and Python (and thanks to one particularly nerdy PhD lecturer even a bit of Brainfuck and other esoteric silliness.)
I do hope it is still more like that than how it seemed to be heading ~25 years ago. Some unis are better than others, but I think there was a general more "vocational" trend in CS (SE) education globally in that whole ".com" era.

2026-05-05 07:39:24 UTC

Relaxing long weekend Yvan?
Nah... I feel like reanimated roadkill.

2026-05-04 19:44:54 UTC

Found an unexpected gap in our photo archive, basically most of my three month NZ work trip in 2011 including the weeks when Kat came and joined me there. When we did a nice drive down the south island, saw post-quake Christchurch and drove from there down to Fjiordland and walked the Keppler Track... plus a later drive up the North island when we walked the Tongariro crossing (mostly in cloud alas!)
It's at a point now where my memory of some details of that is fading so I was a bit panicked about losing the photos.
Thankfully I have backups of backups of backups, and I seem to have found most, if not all, of what was missing on an image of my laptop drive from that time. (My backups are not well organised, and consist of different RAID arrays in different machines, and hard drives in boxes... but they mostly suffice. I do need better day to day backup schemes though.)
I miss hiking, IDK, there seemed to be so much time back then to do things. Then life happened.
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/518/002/302/279/342/original/2389d7260593e5ff.jpg
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/518/008/065/067/348/original/9eb2bb2c0c413026.jpeg

2026-05-04 14:39:26 UTC

I see Ubuntu package mirrors still seem to be fucked up.

2026-05-04 14:02:03 UTC

- reply

Time time time... sigh. Where did 3pm Monday sneak up at me from? Admittedly up a bit too late last night, so a late start today.
A bit stressed out by the time-crunch hitting the inadequately progressed To Do list.
The allotment still needs work, seeds need sowing, and car needs fixing, the week ahead needs prepping, and there's a work thing I need/want to do (to offload a chunk of anxiety).
If I swing by the allotment I'll probably get lost in it and other important things won't happen.
Sigh.

2026-05-04 13:42:26 UTC

- reply

they look good. I may be in the market for a jogging/running shoe later in the year... at the moment what I am after is what is basically my "every day" shoe, for which I prefer a mid-height lighter weight and somewhat breathable hiking "boot" (my feet just cook themselves in heavier duty leather boots). And yeah, also the earthy colour scheme. I am not a bright colours kinda person.
They do have a "Lone Peak" mid boot that looks like the right kind if thing actually.

2026-05-04 11:31:20 UTC

- reply

Ah... and the Moab 3s are available in an 11.5 on Amazon for ~£120... though not buying without trying first still applies.

2026-05-04 11:29:22 UTC

- reply

Looks like Cotswold have a "Moab 3" listed for £155... won't trust it without trying it on though (I've tried other Merrell shoes and they usually have the same issue, was just the Moab 2s that worked well for me.)

2026-05-04 11:24:23 UTC

- reply

Been wearing Moab2s for, like, a decade I think... I'm probably on about my 5th pair.
Guess I'm going to try and find a new make/model of shoe now. It's tricky as I have a wide short foot, most shoes are proportionally too narrow for me and make my feet hurt.
Guess I'll have to go do some outdoor shops and try some things on.

2026-05-04 11:20:49 UTC

Well, that sucks... the shoes I normally buy have gone from under £100 to over £300?! WTF
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/516/037/880/718/819/original/868426547e949090.jpg

2026-05-04 11:01:27 UTC

- reply

Amusingly a key motivator driving us away from the centralised Sun/Sparc systems at that time was Java. It made more sense to just run loads of commodity Linux machines.

2026-05-04 10:54:17 UTC

- reply

I am very much .com years old, plus some 😂...
The CS department at USyd was also fully SunOS/Solaris on Sparc when I started in 1999 (and at core this was still generally the case by the time I left in 2003, the key shift was workstations were mainly full Linux boxes by then rather than Tektronix "X terminals" running of the Sparc systems.)
I even got to work with Solaris pretty much through to the early 2000-n-teens....
Always wanted a SPARC box of my own but never got around to it. Thankfully I have managed to fight off the urge to become a retro computer hoarder. 😂

2026-05-04 10:39:14 UTC

Pulled out the old folio I keep next to the bed as I needed to sketch something.
Had forgotten this is an old #SunMicrosystems branded item.
Got to love the slogan:
> We're the dot in .com™
It's best to not try and think about that concept too much I reckon.
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/515/869/863/154/925/original/82e3b79f1e436be4.jpg

2026-05-04 10:12:17 UTC

- reply

I poked one hole into the centre of the bottom with a hot 0.65mm needle and another bottle with a 0.9mm needle. But I left the lid loose assuming air would probably need to get in for water to get out. I'll refill them today and try with the lid screwed tight.
We are similarly heading away, for a week mid-may, and trying to work out how we can ensure plants survive in the polytunnel/greenhouse if the weather is hot that week.

2026-05-04 10:00:41 UTC

- reply

haha, we tried an experiment much like this just yesterday... 1x 0.65mm hole drains too fast. Thinking of trying again but with the lid closed tight (we put the hole in the base of the bottle). About to read the replies to your post hoping for enlightenment!

2026-05-04 09:45:35 UTC

- reply

I will tackle repairs on most home appliances... except electric showers, the things give me the heebie jeebies... when they play up this one is always "replace it". Sometimes can be a bit fiddly with the inlet positioning, but usually you can find something that works.
Though if it is something really basic like a clogged inlet/outlet etc then that isn't so bad. It's messing with the electrics so close to water we stand under that is my limit.
Also, if it is one that heats the water, very important to match the kW of the original unless you know your wiring can handle higher.

2026-05-03 23:32:31 UTC

I think in Foundation season 3 they've fully realised it cannot be made into television and have entirely given up. They should have realised before they tried.
That said, I can detach myself from the dissonance and kinda enjoy it.

2026-05-03 23:29:32 UTC

- reply

oh, that one does hit me a bit... not had it for years, but in my few breakfast cereal phases it was always something I added to other cereals. Pretty much because my grandparents did that. I did like the stuff though.
I tried some supermarket brand alternative once and it was completely awful.

2026-05-03 21:59:17 UTC

- reply

Slap up BBQ dinner.
Chilli chicken drumsticks from the local butcher.
Allotment salad leaves, very peppery, and more so with a horseradish & mayo dressing.
Plus grilled eggplant, zucchini, and asparagus — in wild garlic pesto.
Eh, whoa, what happened to Sunday? 🤷🏻‍♂️
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/512/840/428/067/037/original/f3b33b4573bf96d5.jpg
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/512/840/473/812/807/original/34942e909c2b1141.jpg

2026-05-03 21:06:35 UTC

Yet again I find myself barbequing in the dark.
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/512/671/304/747/104/original/72fd9225a2356e5f.jpg

2026-05-03 20:14:43 UTC

Everything on YouTube, brought to you by Incogni... a few months ago it was SurfShark, wonder what Internet snake oil will some up next.

2026-05-03 19:18:01 UTC

- reply

For the pumpkin frame a third post will go in the middle, and the posts will have an extra vertical support on the acute side. The slatted folding futon frame behid will be screwed to the posts with probably every second bar punched out to open it up a bit.
I also got the last of our small raised beds positioned properly and pegged. With these two beds finished we will basically be 100% done on beds on these plots. Hurrah.
Still plenty of other site work to do though! Even had an idea for a pond today.

2026-05-03 19:12:11 UTC

- reply

Plans? Pffftttt!!
Stayed at the allotment until gone past 19:30 becuase once we got started there I didn't want to leave. The sun even shone.
So…Fox tomorrow I guess. I now have a conflict between wanting to do a "low n slow" beef rib cook, needing to drive into down for fuel & fixing a headlight on the V70, & wanting to do more time on the allotment.
The beef ribs may need to go in the freezer instead. :( As usual, despite efforts not to, I have over-planned versus my actual capabilities. Might trim and dry rub the beef ribs tonight and keep the options open. There's a chance I could do it on WfH-Wednesday actually.
Anyway, down the #allotment we got a solid start on the second "three sisters bed" (we need a better name for these two beds really, this is not accurate.) This bed will be mostly potatoes this year, with pumpkins on a slanted slatted frame down one end (where the post are), and there is going to be a bean tunnel between the beds.
Yeh, one bed is covered in junk.
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/512/219/619/697/288/original/2d1053bc897e0b6e.jpg
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/512/219/693/612/292/original/6c345e7df6ec14a5.jpg

2026-05-03 15:07:55 UTC

- reply

Four PM and all I've got to so far is prepping the car for the allotment.
TBF on myself this required taking all of the BBQ equipment from the work BBQ out of it, and because I don't want future me to hate past me quite so much I cleaned all the BBQ kit. It's now all back where it should be, with a few items in an "intensive" wash in the dishamawasherer.
Even the Weber kettle got its annual scrub-out.
Now the car is loaded with the stuff we need to take to the allotment (work coffee grounds, grass clippings from last weekend, garden tool bag, home compost) but I'm a little bushed and having as sit-down to regather a bit.
Wondering of aktchually I should crack on with Fox bits now, and just clear the way for a more full day at the allotment tomorrow as ... well, it's four fucking pee emm already. Fucksake. Etc.
Going to nip down the allotment anyway to dump all this grass and stuff, but I don't think we have the timeframe available to really *do* the allotment much use today.

2026-05-03 13:50:26 UTC

- reply

I think we'll plan to put key chilli plants into the allotment greenhouse this Wednesday and give them a big watering on Saturday before we go away... chillies are petty robust against the heat and dry and should be fine so long as there isn't any really weird really cold weather.
Meaning today I'll weed/hoe those greenhouse beds to "chop-n-drop" their current cover crops (and weeds).
Today we're hopefully also getting some first potatoes in, which is later than last year.
I figure late May bank holiday seems a good time to aim to have tomatoes in, same as last year basically. That worked well. But I'd like/hope to do the eggplants and capsicums at either the same time if not a bit earlier. Basically doing all of that the 23rd May long weekend would be the ideal.

2026-05-03 13:40:18 UTC

- reply

I worry a lot about planting times lol. But TBF we did OK last year and I've just looked over my photos and remembered that of course the allotment greenhouse wasn't even ready for use yet, and despite that we did "OK"(ish) with the chillies last year.
Yeah, so last year we planted out tomatoes on the 26th of May (late May bank holiday)... and we probably had our heaviest year of tomato production ever, so many litres of passata! (Which we're still working through and will probably last us until we have fresh toms again.)
Eggplants and capsicums didn't go out until Sat 31st May.
Pumpkins, zucchinis, and tomatillos were Wed 4th June - the first "summer" outdoor plantings. They did great.
Chillies finally went into the just-completed greenhouse on Sunday 8th June.
Bear in mind I had also just started new full-time work early April so things were fairly distracted. Did OK though.

2026-05-03 13:29:06 UTC

- reply

For the week we're away we'll pop all the plants indoors (rather than current greenhouse location) and ensure they have a good soak before we are way. It should suffice to get them through the week with adequate protection against any super-hot weather.
We have already lost some small (spare, thankfully) things in the smaller cardboard pots due to me being too distracted by work BBQ to care for them... two days is all it took to kill them with the weather we had Wed/Thu/Fri.

2026-05-03 13:27:20 UTC

Trying to decide whether it is safe right now to get toms, chillies, and cucs into the ground under cover... we're not yet past our "official" last-frost date, but frosts are feeling pretty unlikely right now.
The other factor is that in a week we are away for a week. If that week is particularly hot then the plants may not survive a week without a midweek watering.
So I think the safe bet is to start planting out in w/c 18th May.

2026-05-03 12:58:58 UTC

- reply

Well, the To Do list is going about as well as usual. 😂
The seed soaking has occurred this afternoon rather than yesterday. Okras, using up some old packets, plus some new from Kings Seeds; NZ Spinach, and Red Malabar Spinach which has dyed its water pink.
Will plant these later today, or tomorrow morning, and have got out the melon seeds we are doing this year. Just the one variety of rockmemon, and for the first time trying watermelon (to ramble down the polytunnel edges). A bit late I think, but they do grow fast. Also trying this "asparagus pea".
Today no beef smoking or Fox fixing is happening. That is punted to tomorrow, when the weather is supposed to be greyer.
Right now I am thinking about beans. We have quite a few different bean seeds. Will be planting some of these too.
It is a bit grey today, but tomorrow us supposed to be worse... so its off to the #allotment next.
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/510/740/992/145/118/original/32afe9fe6d8c8ad6.jpg
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/510/744/880/682/588/original/d9c65a21698dc55c.jpg
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/510/744/951/135/750/original/facc10aaa70c8716.jpg

2026-05-03 11:03:45 UTC

- reply

I had missed that detail, intriguing!
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/510/305/236/685/757/original/b6701df6072cad9a.jpg

2026-05-03 10:57:46 UTC

- reply

actually "north east corner" is probably a good spot for a smoker in general, IIRC that is sorta "high ground". (I should probably check if its OK to have a stinky smoker going first actually.)
I was planning in keeping close to the bar like last time, but that's not realy a necessity (and being further away may not be such a bad idea.)

2026-05-02 22:38:30 UTC

- reply

answered no/UK as I've lived in the UK for 20 years... but now wonder if that should have been no/RoW as maybe this is a thing people do as children rather than adults. Do you eat such a thing as an adult?
I've heard of the concept of course, not sure if I have ever seen anyone do it.

2026-05-02 19:22:30 UTC

Petrichor!

2026-05-02 18:20:41 UTC

- reply

Tempted to brace myself for the badness and eatch this second Dune movie next.

2026-05-02 17:44:06 UTC

The Hellboy movie from 2019 with the Stranger Things cop dude was so terrible it was entertaining. Kinda liked the cop dude as Hellboy, but also he was no Ron Perlman.

2026-05-02 13:17:45 UTC

Managed to get up in the AM, do the home watering, and make bacon baguettes. Got to the butcher noonish, got beef ribs for a home low-n-slo on the weber tomorrow. Did the veg shopping at the country stores, also got some marigold seedlings. (We have some self-seeded ones coming up now, but none of the seed I planted germinated.)
So... *"Jobs to do for the (Long) Weekend"*... very vague outline at the moment...###
Today<li>Soak okra seeds</li><li>Fuck all, mild fettling</li><li>Attempt actual relaxation</li><li>Feel anxious and guilty about it</li>###
Sunday<li>Kick off slow smoked beef ribs</li><li>Maybe sow melons (late! argh!) and beans, okra, NZ spinach...</li><li>Fix the Fox! Get the damn thing back on its wheels - cosplaying as a mechanic</li><li>Early prep/planning for France trip (Sunday week).</li>###
Monday<li>Allotment day, fingers crossed for nice weather</li><li>Not planning much more detail than that!</li>

2026-05-02 12:51:07 UTC

- reply

ah, I expect that's the area I remember from 2024, I was looking to see if something like that was on the list again.

2026-05-02 12:39:32 UTC

- reply

TBH I might just rock up with the smoker and make my own little smoky corner somewhere. A village implies other people. People are scary. 😅

2026-05-02 12:29:32 UTC

Does @npub1fak…rg6c need some sort of foodie village? I'm tempted to bring my smoker... and a pile of meat. I just need someone to bring a bread oven to go with the smoked meat 😂 Grill? Firepit?
I just searched the village page for the word "food" and that comes up blank. 🤔
Anyone else, or is this just me?
#EMFCamp

2026-05-02 11:59:51 UTC

One can hope! 🤞🏻
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/504/864/239/374/739/original/9bf4853b08a7f728.jpg

2026-05-02 10:56:12 UTC

- reply

I am OK with the "Intelligence" TBH (so long as preceded with "Artificial"!) We have been using the term "Artificial Intelligence" for decades to cover a whole variety of algorithmic approaches, I did "AI" units in Uni ~25 years ago when it was deeply uncool 😂 (Universities strugged to recruit lecturers/professors that covered the field and there was talk of retiring it entirely at my uni, which was on the start of a shift from real CS towards a more vocational engineering/IT vibe at the time.)
It's when folks start imbuing the algorithms with "feelings", consciousness, agency, etc, that I roll my eyes. Maybe we should refer to these as Artificial Agency, Artificial Consciousness... but probably it is that we should actually refer to the *people* as "Actual Victims" of a deeply unethical mass experiment perpetrated by these "AI" companies.

2026-05-02 10:05:01 UTC

- reply

I find I am getting haphazard with when to use AI, "AI" (i.e. including quotes to represent this is linited to current comon use of the term), or GenAI. I should probably stick to the latter. As a Computer Scientist I find the current generic use of "AI" annoying... but now I catch myself doing it. In fact "GenAI" also annoys me as it could be mistaken for "General Artificial Intelligence" (though it seems people are running with the AGI ordering for that now, presumably for the disambiguation)... I should probably just fully type out "Generative AI".

2026-05-02 09:56:17 UTC

I read the unhinged Dawkins thing. But we already knew that guy was unhinged.
It reminds me I watched a Hannah Fry utoob video about openclaw last night and also found it to be pretty unhinged in the terminology used to talk about the dumb ball of algorithms.
And it featured a long bit with some sort of "philosopher" who seemed to be spinning some completely reality-detached bullshit.
Just watching the world go mad around us.
The AI Mania era.

2026-05-02 09:32:47 UTC

- reply

Yeah, I think that is disproven... we reckon about 2002. So, no, I have probably not seen Gladiator.
Maybe I should? 😂
Popcorn and Gladiator night.
We can pretend we're still 20ish.

2026-05-02 09:16:25 UTC

- reply

Well, Kat reckons we saw "Gladiator" together.

2026-05-02 09:03:48 UTC

- reply

I knew it was this "Russel Crowe" guy because the staff at Toby's Estate roastery/café said so.
Just scanned through his filmography and the only thing there I particularly remember watching is Romper Stomper. Might have seen others, but they ring no particular bells.

2026-05-02 08:54:07 UTC

Saw a photo of Russel Crowe in the news and thought it was Si King. Was briefly wondering what the hell he had to do with Highlander.
This is how I've just learnt that they are "remaking" the original Highlander movie. I assume Crowe is playing the Sean Connery part, which is likely to be all flavours of wrong. Though I expect Cavill can probably do a better Scottish accent than Lambert did. May be amusing, but it is still ... kinda lame.
Amusingly there is a photo of Si King further down the same page (current BBC News main page) who, of course, now looks completely different anyway.
Dredges up an ancient memory, back when I worked in Woolloomooloo (Sydney) I would sometimes see Crowe out jogging with a personal trainer (presumably, or bodyguard? 🤷🏻‍♂️) That's probably my closest brush with "celebrity" I guess, though it was really just part of the background to me, I barely knew what a Russel Crowe was at the time (fully detached from mainstream reality freshly graduated CS nerd.)

2026-05-01 13:10:24 UTC

- reply

Rather amusingly I opened that and when I was about 80% of the way through reading it it literally vanished before my eyes.

2026-04-30 19:01:09 UTC

- reply

The pork got the weber full-charcoal-cook treatment so it looks proper proper, love me a smoke-ring.
The electric smokers are super convenient and all, but it's just not the same.
Some day I need to get myself that big old offset smoker.
(Apologies for the lack of alt text today, I have been running since 04:30, cooking for 30 people, across three smokers and a grill, whilst doing most of a full time workday. So yeah, it's a bit .... jdieindgqiisbshakkaskosoeoeokekekekwkwwkwkw.)
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/495/160/343/293/585/original/ee16f7c9bfb69b43.jpg

2026-04-30 18:49:22 UTC

- reply

We have meat.
It tastes better than it looks. 😅
I was worried about that brisket, but it has come out pretty tender & moist (well, the top bit is, hopefully the rest is too).
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/495/144/370/398/640/original/252f2c0adfe78293.jpg

2026-04-30 16:32:15 UTC

- reply

Amusingly the usual thing is afoot.
I am sat out in the glorious sunshine.
All of the Englishfolk, et al, are indoors.
That's OK, the skin cancer is all mine I guess. 😅

2026-04-30 16:13:40 UTC

- reply

STOP!
It's firepit time!
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/494/531/048/487/173/original/ceb8c87175a85e54.jpg

2026-04-30 14:49:33 UTC

- reply

Status: "the stall" - the panic sets in. (I was going to say anxiety, but the anxiety set in at about 6pm yesterday and has set up shop.)
Beef is wrapped, the good old "Texas Crutch".
Will shift the Ninja (hogget shoulder) to its 120C setting soon.
The Weber... well, it'll just do what it does... with occaisional airflow fiddling. That contains the biggest hunk of meat - the "Boston Butt" pork shoulder. It may be delayed... maybe it won't, maybe it doesn't need to be that perfec ~93C even, cooked is cooked... but I'll know the difference.
#LowNSlow #BBQ

2026-04-30 14:26:27 UTC

- reply

My office is the building in the distance. Not the paddock.
Though sometimes I might wish... 😂

2026-04-30 14:25:46 UTC

- reply

I am not typically a "morning person"*... but this doesn't mean I cannot adapt to mornings, and I have had stretches of my life where I have done early starts. Right now I am starting my day with a 5AM alarm 4 days of the week, and trying to make the other days 8AM (with varied success lol.)
Today I moved the alarm to 04:30 and I've gotta say... mornings can be pretty damn glorious and it makes me mildly lament the many glorious mornings I have missed. (TBF I've also seen some pretty good 2AMs.)
This is a photo of the office in which I work, taken at just after 06:00 today... not bad for a tech job really. Definitely my top working location, even beats a high-rise view over Sydney harbor.
* I suspect morning/non-morning people is more a result of "nurture" than "nature". In my case I pretty much literally grew up in a restaurant with chefs/resrauranteurs for parents. A post-midnight sleep cycle is pretty much baked in.
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/493/743/423/940/918/original/6b1a8a7ed2a0eea5.jpg

2026-04-30 11:56:43 UTC

"Fun" fact:
The "Ninja Woodfire" cannot "smoke"/cook below 120C in the UK version, but it can in the US version. (According to online sources.)
Why the fuck? Is there some dumb regulation that says you're not allowed to have an appliance that "cooks" below 120C in the UK (or EU)?
My workaround is I am doing the long slow part on its "dehydrate" setting, which can go up to 90C. After a few hours of heat and smoke at 90 I'll wrap it and switch to 120C to bring it up to target internal temp of ~92C.
Other than that it is a really nice little bit of kit (it does a bunch more than smoke, apparently it can "air fry" too). I am tempted to get one, though maybe the XL as the normal size one can barely fit a trimmed hogget shoulder.
Like I need more BBQ kit... lol...
(Also I think my next BBQ purchase, or build, should probably be a large offset smoker I can actually fit at least one whole brisket in.)
#LowNSlow #BBQ
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/493/529/485/859/662/original/05061a935db0668a.jpg

2026-04-30 11:28:52 UTC

- reply

ah, so that could be a good use for my bowl of beef fat :)
I made lard & oat bird balls before but the birds in my area didn't seem to like those :( picky buggers.

2026-04-30 06:46:43 UTC

- reply

three smoking devices in play
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/492/310/980/327/795/original/1880596564de28b9.jpg

2026-04-30 06:09:15 UTC

- reply

employing "the snake"
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/492/163/689/653/256/original/7894fcea34f28ced.jpg

2026-04-30 05:41:38 UTC

- reply

oh, not "lard" though, I only use that for the pork fat (whether rendered or byproduct of a roast, and not bacon fat, which is different and I just call bacon fat for want of a better term 😅)

2026-04-30 05:39:47 UTC

- reply

I tend to reserve the term dripping for beef fat collected from roasing, and use tallow for the fat rendered like this. But I think it is all fairly interchangeable!

2026-04-30 04:10:13 UTC

- reply

salad shopping
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/491/695/279/612/722/original/1f38aeb9813ef5fe.jpg

2026-04-30 03:44:25 UTC

'tis dawn's crack...
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/491/593/743/890/527/original/798e111ad49a1ab3.jpg

2026-04-29 20:59:54 UTC

- reply

yeah, think it's similar around here. A few big corporate farms, mostly in family names... but the sort of scale where they have fleets of branded lorries.

2026-04-29 20:02:52 UTC

- reply

It's at about this point I reach peak stress and wonder why the fuck I get myself into these things.
Three smokers. Three meats. Also a firepit grill and box of vegetables.
An hour from home.
Have I loaded everything in the car? It every ready? Is everything working? ....

2026-04-29 19:55:24 UTC

- reply

farming land consolidation I presume?

2026-04-29 18:41:56 UTC

- reply

oh yeah, I've know folks with "always on" agas... though they also weren't folks who really had to worry about the costs of energy. I have nostalgic a love of the concept, from the many old books (cooking and otherwise) I have read... that whole hub of the kitchen, hub of the house even, feeling.

2026-04-29 17:41:22 UTC

- reply

"Waste Not Want No" and all... I'm of course rendering the lard and tallow from the trimmings.
Though to be honest this may have cost more in electricty than the value of the product.
Also I almost never use lard or tallow.
Though I guess I have an excuse to do so now.
Tallow candle in the bedroom maybe? Because who doesn't want their room to smell like BEEF. Mmmm...
Right, gotta crack on, 20:30 bed time is a target. My alarm tomorrow is 4AM... plan to be at work for 05:30ish so I have smokers running by 06:30ish. Then gym.
https://toot.ale.gd/system/media_attachments/files/116/489/219/837/200/254/original/747e7bb4b184f53a.jpg

2026-04-29 17:40:19 UTC

In whatever random game it is that Kat plays on t'Internet she just spotted a player called "systemd".
She asked me: shall I hit systemd?
I replied: Fuck yeah, smash them, bash them... smack them down.
Kat pasted this to me:
> You used 25 energy attacking systemd and hospitalized them
Apparently the user got out of hospital but then got immediately mugged.
(I know nothing about this game thing, I am not any sort of gamer.)