Alasdair Craig

The week of Mar 9, 2026 – Mar 15, 2026

Monday: Gave after-work spinning a skip — preferred to go at midday for a light stretching workout.

Tuesday: Another day of ISP emails. Susan at home managing the contractors. Louise popped round to collect garden chairs — she’s taking strain. Supper in the garden on a warm night.

Wednesday: Really hot day. A fairly good work day despite continuing IT problems. Midday gym. After-work chores in preparation for the contractors. Supper outside at 30°C after 8pm.

Thursday: A busy work day with lots of distractions. Susan kept an eye on the workmen on the first day of painting and waterproofing.

Friday: Another disrupted work day, though managed to get some development done. Susan is feeling the strain of having contractors in the home.

Saturday: At home while the contractors and painters finished what turned out to be a three-day job. Mostly okay but unhappy with some of the finishes. A very tiring day.

Sunday: Formula 1 watching. Lunch at the fish restaurant at Riverlands. Workshop time. Collected microwave from Claire. More DIY getting the house back to normal. Very tired.

The week of Mar 2, 2026 – Mar 8, 2026

Monday: Not the best day at work — distractions and IT problems. After-work spin class.

Tuesday: Two walks down the road. Feeling a bit down — little seems to be going smoothly.

Wednesday: A hectic day of IT troubleshooting that gave me a headache. Managed to get to gym for a light workout.

Thursday: Work from home day. A quiet day for a change. Booked the car rental for June. A pleasant, slow evening.

Friday: Gym. Demonstrated the parking bay side project. Colleagues were fairly interested. The tree with the borer beetle was cut down.

Saturday: Watched the first F1 qualifying of the season. Gardening and DIY chores. Dinner at the Brasserie with Claire and Chris.

Sunday: A very busy DIY day getting ready for the painters and waterproofers. Mac the gardener was here too. A tiring but productive day.

The week of Feb 23, 2026 – Mar 1, 2026

Monday: After-work spin class. Feeling depressed about the pending loss of the tree to the borer beetle.

Tuesday: Two walks down the road. Collected the burglar bars from the workshop after work.

Wednesday: A day of IT changes at work with all the expected setbacks and stresses — don’t enjoy it. After-work burgers and beers at Jack Black with Tinky, Anthony, Penny and Craig. A successful day for Susan at home with a window replacement and door realignment and servicing.

Thursday: Work from home day. IT problems with the VPN not working, though thankfully sorted out early. After work, applied another coat of paint to the window aperture.

Friday: A pretty good work day. After-work drinks. Relaxing evening.

Saturday: Final coat of paint on the window aperture. Accompanied Susan to meet a buyer for her old iPhone. Reinstalled the burglar bars. Spent some time in the workshop soldering the broken parts of the brass hookah. Some skirting board repairs. TV watching.

Sunday: Bought skirting board and cut it to size. Lunch with Paul and Julia at Furley’s in Noordhoek. Chores.

The week of Feb 16, 2026 – Feb 22, 2026

Monday: Lower back pain. Gave spinning a skip.

Tuesday: Busy work day. The back pain remains, particularly at night.

Wednesday: I think the back pain has triggered sciatica down my thigh. Did 30 minutes of sciatica exercises at gym. Made my TFSA yearly investment.

Thursday: Susan home from her trip with her mom. We went to the SA Astronomical Observatory night tour — interesting and fascinating.

Friday: End of sprint. Two walks down the road. After-work beers was fun.

Saturday: A very busy day. Hired a ladder and fixed our drooping — and therefore dripping — gutter. Cleared the dead creeper foliage. A short stint in the workshop. Grocery shopping. Snorkels braai.

Sunday: Another busy day. Spray-painted the burglar bars and painted the window aperture — two coats of each. Rob & Marian chat. Discovered we have the dreaded borer beetle in one of the garden trees.

The week of Feb 9, 2026 – Feb 15, 2026

Monday: After-work spin class.

Tuesday: My car’s Android Auto has stopped working — the Bluetooth connection fails each time. Tried three different devices. Prawns for supper as a treat.

Wednesday: Fixed the Android Auto problem by resetting the car’s settings back to factory defaults. Gym. After-work cooking class at Julie’s — Asian street food, which also doubled as an early Valentine’s outing.

Thursday: Work from home day. Not a bad day at all — got quite a lot done. Made a start looking for car rental.

Friday: Gym. Sad news from Steph that Jay’s dad has passed away. Feeling a bit down. End of a long week.

Saturday: Valentine’s Day. Breakfast at Four&Twenty in Wynberg. A little time in the workshop. Paul had to cancel his braai due to severe abdominal pain — turned out to be kidney stones; he’s been admitted to hospital. A marathon TV watching spell. Takeaway from Tai Pei.

Sunday: Saw Susan off on her trip to Knysna to help Claire with packing. A little time in the workshop, tech recycling drop-off, grocery shopping. Slow afternoon at home chilling and doing chores.

The week of Feb 2, 2026 – Feb 8, 2026

Monday: After-work spin class — quite tough.

Tuesday: Two walks down the road today. A nice fish delivery.

Wednesday: Such an easy experience syncing Thunderbird to Android once already installed and configured on Windows. Not feeling 100% but still managed to get to gym.

Thursday: A serious email spoofing problem at work today. Susan collected my 3D print — glad to say it fits well. Washing machine problems, though resolved; made a note to clean the debris filter every three months.

Friday: Gym. Enjoying work. Tired at the end of the week.

Saturday: Spent the morning looking into LM Studio and running a local LLM. The plumber came to work on our sewer manhole — impressed with the work he did and feeling a little more optimistic about the pipe. Nice braai just the two of us.

Sunday: Went to see Nuremberg at the Labia with Susan, Claire and Chris. After grocery shopping and a light lunch at Kauia, I was shocked at the R150 parking fee at Lifestyle on Kloof.

The week of Jan 26, 2026 – Feb 1, 2026

Monday: Very sad news for a work colleague — a death in her family. After-work spin class.

Tuesday: Ordered a roof rack from Holdfast, sight unseen — hope it fits. Haircut.

Wednesday: Received a couple of 3D printing quotes — more expensive than I was expecting. Gym. Feeling positive about work.

Thursday: Work from home day. Good progress at work with an unexpected feature. Collected my new roof rack kit. Date night dinner at Dashi Tapas Bar.

Friday: Gym. Susan had a night out with her girls group. I installed the new roof rack — impressed with the build quality of the Holdfast brand. At the same time, annoyingly noticed scratches on my car that I don’t recognise.

Saturday: Visited an antique shop in Hatfield to try to sell Mom’s silver-plated cutlery and some of her jewellery. The jewellery sold but there was no interest in the cutlery. Coffee at Oasis after donating books. Lazy afternoon at home reading and braaing.

Sunday: Walk around Rondebosch Common. A little time in the workshop. Grocery shopping. Wraps for lunch. Photographed and inventoried the silver-plated cutlery. Chores. Rob & Marian chat.

The week of Jan 19, 2026 – Jan 25, 2026

Monday: After-work spin class was a really rough one — going to feel it tomorrow.

Tuesday: Donated blood — donation number 115. Getting acquainted with AI code generation.

Wednesday: Men’s birthday dinner at Banana Jam — a pleasant evening. Good friends Russell and Tina were there; good people.

Thursday: Work from home day. Council people came to inspect the sewer manhole but wouldn’t do anything, claiming the problem isn’t on the council’s side. Later in the afternoon a window contractor came to quote on a new window. No date night this week.

Friday: End of sprint day. My demo went well. Got to gym as well.

Saturday: Struggling to find roof racks for my Suzuki — Thule can’t help, the dealership option is both expensive and ugly, and Holdfast don’t have much information. Lunch at Mozambik at the V&A Waterfront. Casual afternoon.

Sunday: A little gardening. Took Susan to the nursery and to Cavendish. A pleasant afternoon of chores.

The week of Jan 12, 2026 – Jan 18, 2026

Monday: After-work spin class — quite a tough first one of the year.

Tuesday: A slow day at work. Made a start on the paper cross-sections for the design of a 3D-printed projection I have in mind.

Wednesday: Not the best day at work — diverted into other things like licensing problems. Gym. Came home to a chilled evening.

Thursday: Not having much fun at work. Dinner with Claire and Chris at Our Local on Kloof Street — a nice place.

Friday: Made some headway at work for the first time this week. Good gym session. Grocery shopping afterwards and some TV downtime.

Saturday: Did some CAD work designing the boot cubby. Grocery shopping at Riverlands followed by coffee at Vidé. Dinner with Brian and Di and a little Kruger trip planning.

Sunday: Breakfast at Kalk Bay Bootleggers — seeing Terry for the first time in years. Gardening chores. Time in the workshop. Chores and Rob & Marian chat.

The week of Jan 5, 2026 – Jan 11, 2026

Monday: Back to work. Gym at midday. Susan starts her fast; I start a bit of a diet. Feeling good.

Tuesday: An unusually chilly day. Pleased to be working on something new. Getting a stye in my eye.

Wednesday: Tried three pharmacies to get stye medication — none would dispense without a prescription. Quite peculiar. Still managed to get to gym.

Thursday: Work from home day. Got my car washed at lunchtime. Our usual Thursday date night didn’t really happen — too early in the new year for that. Still a pleasant TV evening.

Friday: The stye seems to be healing by itself. Went to gym. Evening braai at Gill and Brenton’s — good fun. Didn’t have any beer in an attempt to get back to the weight I was at a year ago.

Saturday: A very nice day. A few hours in the workshop. Then made nice wraps using tuna, coriander, spring onions, green peppers and sweet chilli sauce. A casual afternoon in the garden, some jacuzzi time, and then an ostrich steak braai.

Sunday: Another good day. Some gardening. Jacuzzi time. Chores and a lazy afternoon. Rob & Marian chat and TV watching. A very relaxed weekend that I’m appreciative of.