Parsing data, and REDACTED

Writ large, today was nice: some time out on the green near the house, plenty of sun, my daughter is starting to take her first tentative steps. But it went down sharply after the (UK) Government's briefing this evening. More on that later.

I've made good progress with my Conky configuration; really happy with how it's shaping up. I'll probably put it on GitHub when I'm done, just because I'm looking for an excuse to learn more git. (It sounds like there is an opportunity at work for someone with a good handle on version control systems.)

The subproject of interrogating the Met Office's API is coming along as well: I'm able to get XML and JSON through the browser, at least. The Python code that I cobbled together from Stack Overflow posts is close as well, I think. From my limited debugging skills, I think I'm getting a 403 response, possibly because I look dodgy without the proper headers. Work to be done. I'm wondering whether it might be simpler to write a script, potentially around jq, seeing as I only want a few fields that I'll then use in Conky. I really need to learn Python properly, though, and there's nothing like a practical project to facilitate that.


I don't know what to say about my behaviour earlier this evening. I'm ashamed of it. I have apologised to both my son and my partner. In the moment, I was so angry; I imagined all sorts of things: punching bags, running until I couldn't draw breath, smashing out all the vitriol in my head on a keyboard. The latter worries me, though. I'll be applying for another visa later this year, and I know minor things can influence those decisions (e.g., cautions from the police). It feels like I've been walking on eggshells for five years now, and I don't want to mess that up on the final stretch by saying things about this Government in the heat of the moment.

I think one of the things I find most upsetting about all this is that, to my partner, most of what I do is broadly similar to my son's tantrums. I'm completely failing to communicate how my anxiety is crippling my ability to properly research this situation. Combined with little information through official channels, and I feel like we're making the decision on whether to send our kids to nursery next week blind.

I could say more, but I probably shouldn't. And I need to get to bed.

End of Day 15

— jlj #100DaysToOffload

I'm writing this as part of the 100 Days To Offload project; join us at: https://100daystooffload.com/