Rsonal on Shafiq Alibhai

What people in their 40s wish they'd known at 25

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 14:50:22 +0000

I was reading through some Reddit threads the other day — you know the ones, where people ask “what do you wish you’d known at 25?” — and I found myself nodding along to a lot of it. There’s something oddly comforting about reading advice from people who actually lived through the decade you’re currently in. Not theorists, not podcasters, just regular folks who figured some stuff out the hard way.

Starting a new contract — what I wish I'd asked sooner

Thu, 22 May 2025 12:07:12 +0200

I’ve been on enough contracts now that I’ve started noticing patterns. Some good, some not so good. This is a collection of the things I check before signing, and the things I wish someone had told me about earlier.

Before you sign

There are three administrative questions that can catch you out if you don’t sort them early. The first two are about checks — whether the client needs a BPSS or DBS check done, and whether they’re going to organise it. The third is about timing. Some start dates are real, others depend on the client actually getting you a laptop and sorting your access. If their setup process is slow, your start date slides whether they realise it or not.

Book Binding

Thu, 22 May 2025 11:53:25 +0200

Bookbinding is a hobby I picked up during lockdown. It’s tactile, it’s slow, and the finished object is something you can hold. Here’s what I use.

Equipment and materials

Glue strips — 50-piece packs of hot melt glue strips (285mm). I’ve ordered these from eBay and AliExpress. They’re cheap and work fine for pamphlet stitching.

PVA glue — Artway Strong PVA, 1 litre. White, works on fabric and paper. From Amazon UK.

Resources for International Trade in the UK

Thu, 15 May 2025 14:33:28 +0200

I’ve been looking into international trade for the UK and collected a few useful resources along the way. Nothing original, just links that might help someone starting out.

Training and courses

Think Sandwell – International Trade – A Typeform questionnaire from the Think Sandwell programme. Seems aimed at businesses in the West Midlands looking to get into export.
Black Country Chamber – International Trade Training – Structured courses on the mechanics of trading internationally. Covers things like documentation, shipping, and compliance.

Self-Promotion at Work

Thu, 15 May 2025 14:30:04 +0200

Self-promotion gets a bad reputation because people confuse it with boasting. Done well, it’s just making sure the right people know what you’ve done.

Use “I” when it’s your work

If you led the project, say “I led the project.” Saving “we” for genuinely collaborative work means your individual contributions stand out when they matter.

Performance reviews are your moment

If your organisation does annual reviews, prepare a list of accomplishments before the meeting. Don’t rely on your manager to remember everything you did over twelve months.

Book Publishing Process

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 09:24:49 +0000

The stages of publishing a book, in rough order:

Writing — research, drafting, revising until you have a complete manuscript.
Editing — developmental editing for structure and narrative, then line editing for prose, then copyediting for grammar and consistency.
Proofreading — final pass for typos and formatting errors before anything goes to print.
Design — cover design and interior layout (fonts, margins, page breaks).
Production — printing or e-book formatting. Offset lithography for large runs, digital printing for shorter ones.
Marketing — promotional materials, advertising, media outreach, social media.
Distribution — getting the book to readers via publishers, online retailers, bookshops, or direct sales.

Writing

Start with a concept, do the research, outline the structure, then draft. The first draft doesn’t need to be good — it needs to exist. Revision comes after. Get feedback from beta readers or a critique group before you consider the manuscript finished.

Bathukamma

Sat, 12 Oct 2024 10:50:01 +0000

Bathukamma is a flower festival from Telangana. Women stack seasonal flowers into tiered arrangements, sing songs while dancing around them, and at the end of each day float them in water. It runs for about ten days in the autumn, usually September or October, and coincides with the end of the monsoon when flowers are at their peak.

The name comes from “Bathuku Amba” — may she live long — and is directed at Goddess Gauri. It’s not a festival with a single grand ceremony. It’s something that happens in neighbourhoods, courtyards, and public squares across Telangana, with each group making their own arrangement and singing their own songs.

The House That Bends

Fri, 11 Oct 2024 10:50:01 +0000

Introduction to Maison Horta

Maison Horta is one of those buildings that makes you stop and stare. It’s on a quiet street in Brussels, tucked away behind what looks like an ordinary façade, but step inside and the whole thing opens up into something that feels almost impossible — a house made of curves, light, and ironwork that looks like it’s growing out of the walls.

Victor Horta built it in 1893, right at the tail end of what we now call Art Nouveau. The style is easy to recognise: flowing lines, organic shapes, a deliberate break from the stiff, symmetrical architecture that came before it. Horta didn’t just adopt the style — he helped invent it. Maison Horta is his first major work, and it’s still one of the best examples of what Art Nouveau could be.

Colouring book pictures for toddlers

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 15:07:01 +0000

I spent last weekend trying to find decent colouring pages for my toddler and ended up making my own. The ones you download from the internet are either too fiddly — tiny intricate patterns designed for adults who want to unwind — or they look like they were drawn by someone who has never actually seen a lion.

So I generated ten simple pictures. Big outlines, thick lines, nothing that requires a magnifying glass and a steady hand. The idea was that a two-year-old could pick them up, scribble inside the lines if they felt like it, or colour the whole page blue and call it done. Both are valid approaches.