spain

Sabbatical Magic

A couple of weeks ago, I kicked off my first sabbatical since starting at Automattic a little over five years ago¹.

Dan sits in front of two laptops (one of which shows a photo of an echidna for some reason), in a meeting room full of casually-dressed volunteers. — The first weekend of my sabbatical might have set the tone for a lot of the charity hacking that will follow, being dominated by a Three Rings volunteering weekend.

The first fortnight of my sabbatical has consisted of:

Three Rings CIC’s AGM weekend and lots of planning for the future of the organisation and how we make it a better place to volunteer, and better value for our charity users,
building a first draft of Three Rings’ new server architecture, which turns out to mostly work but still needs some energy thrown at it,
a geohashing expedition with the dog, and
a family holiday to Catalonia, Spain.

Dan, Ruth, and JTA with their children and a tour guide called Julie, enjoying churros in a Barcelona cafe. — You’d be amazed how many churros these children can put away.

The trip to Spain followed a model for European family breaks that we first tried in Paris last year², but was extended to give us a feel for more of the region than a simple city break would. Ultimately, we ended up in three separate locations:

Barcelona, where we stayed in a wonderful skyscraper hotel with fantastic breakfasts and, after I was able to get enough sleep, explored the obvious touristy bits of the city (e.g. la Sagrada Família³ and other Gaudían architecture, the chocolate museum, the fort at Montjuic, and because it’s me, of course, a widely varied handful of geocaches).
The PortAventura World theme park, whose accommodation was certainly a gear shift after the 5-star hotel we’d come from⁴ but whose rides kept us and the kids delighted for a couple of days (Shambhala was a particular hit with the eldest kid and me).
A villa in el Vilosell – a village of only 190 people – at which the kids mostly played in the outdoor pool (despite the sometimes pouring rain) but we did get the chance to explore the local area a little. Also, of course, some geocaching: some local caches are 1-2 years old and yet had so few finds that I was able to be only the tenth or even just the third person to sign the logbooks!

I’d known – planned – that my sabbatical would involve a little travel. But it wasn’t until we began to approach the end of this holiday that I noticed a difference that a holiday on sabbatical introduces, compared to any other holiday I’ve taken during my adult life…

Perhaps because of the roles I’ve been appointed to – or maybe as a result of my personality – I’ve typically found that my enjoyment of the last day or two of a week-long trip are marred somewhat by intrusive thoughts of the work week to follow.

Dan sits at a laptop in a hotel bar, a view of Barcelona out of the window behind him, a beer bottle alongside him. — I’m not saying that I didn’t write code while on holiday. I totally did, and I open-sourced it too. But programming feels different when your paycheque doesn’t depend on it.

If I’m back to my normal day job on Monday, then by Saturday I’m already thinking about what I’ll need to be working on (in my case, it’s usually whatever I left unfinished right before I left), contemplating logging-in to work to check my email or Slack, and so on⁵.

But this weekend, that wasn’t even an option. I’ve consciously and deliberately cut myself off from my usual channels of work communication, and I’ve been very disciplined about not turning any of them back on. And even if I did… my team aren’t expecting me to sign into work for about another 11 weeks anyway!

Monday and Tuesday are going to mostly be split between looking after the children, and voluntary work for Three Rings (gotta fix that new server architecture!). Probably. Wednesday? Who knows.

That’s my first taste of the magic of a sabbatical, I think. The observation that it’s possible to unplug from my work life and, y’know, not start thinking about it right away again.

Maybe I can use this as a vehicle to a more healthy work/life balance next year.

Footnotes

¹ A sabbatical is a perk offered to Automatticians giving them three months off (with full pay and benefits) after each five years of work. Mine coincidentally came hot on the tail of my last meetup and soon after a whole lot of drama and a major shake-up, so it was a very welcome time to take a break… although of course it’s been impossible to completely detach from bits of the drama that have spilled out onto the open Web!

² I didn’t get around to writing about Paris, but I did write about how the hotel we stayed at introduced our eldest, and by proxy re-introduced me, to Wonder Boy, ultimately leading to me building an arcade cabinet on which I finally, beat the game, 35 years after first playing it.

³ Whose construction has come on a lot since the last time I toured inside it.

⁴ Although alcohol helped with that.

⁵ I’m fully aware that this is a symptom of poor work/life balance, but I’ve got two decades of ingrained bad habits working against me now; don’t expect me to change overnight!

Dan Q found GCAAD6C El pont sobre el riu #14 Set a La Pobla Cérvoles

This checkin to GCAAD6C El pont sobre el riu #14 Set a La Pobla Cérvoles reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

My family and I are staying in El Vilosell, so this morning I borrowed a bike to take the trail over the hill from there to here. The ride was beautiful, and the easy downhill rides between cliffs and terraces more than made up for the tiring and bumpy sections of uphill pedalling. At the highest point, I met a fox, on his way to bed I guess as the sun crested the hilltops.

Despite the recent heavy rain the Set riverbed was almost dry: just a trickle of a stream. From the description, I was initially worried that the cache might be underneath, which looked challenging, but a peep at the hint reassured me that there were more-likely hiding spots.

A little finger-work and the cache was in hand. Nice spot! That’s when I discovered that there was a hole in my pocket and my pen had escaped! Oh no! I hope a photolog will be sufficient to show that I found this cache.

TFTC/GPC. Greetings from Oxfordshire, UK.

Dan Q found GCAA274 Garrigues #23 – El Vilosell

This checkin to GCAA274 Garrigues #23 - El Vilosell reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

The geokids and I are staying nearby and came out for a walk this morning to discover this under-appreciated cache. What an amazing location and such a great view! We searched many “obvious” locations without luck, then translated some logs to get a clue. We should have checked the attributes! A little danger later and the cache was in hand. SL, TFTC/GPC! FP awarded – thanks so much for bringing us here. Greetings from Oxfordshire, UK!

PortAventura

Made it through a day and a half of theme park fun with the kids. Time for a much-needed beer, then as long a sleep as circumstance will allow.

Dan Q did not find GC448J6 EL TRESOR DEL POU DEL MON

This checkin to GC448J6 EL TRESOR DEL POU DEL MON reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

The geokids and I had to give up after an extended search. We solved the riddle (we think) and counted steps, but, being unsure, hunted for a nearby map and attempted to un-do he farmer’s mistake. Still no luck. 😔 Sadly it’s our last morning in the city so this one might have to remain a blue spot on our map for a while, though I’m sure I’ll think of something I missed when I get back to my computer.

Dos Huevos

For some reason, the breakfast chef assumed that when I asked for two eggs benedict that I might want them on two separate plates. As if I WEREN’T totally planning to scoff them both myself! 😂

Dan Q found GCA8R9X Xemeneies a Barcelona #2 Foneria Giralt

This checkin to GCA8R9X Xemeneies a Barcelona #2 Foneria Giralt reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

An early morning walk from my hotel while I waited for the rest of my family to wake up brought me to this, another old chimney. I’ve really been enjoying discovering these relics of the industrial history of this part of the city.

Unusual and well-disguised cache container! 😁 First name in a clean new log sheet too; thanks to the CO for maintaining their caches! ❤️ SL, TFTC/GPC. Greetings from Oxfordshire, UK!

Dan Q found GC1788D Torre Agbar

This checkin to GC1788D Torre Agbar reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

My 7-year-old, who’s really interested in skyscrapers, was excited to point this one out to me upon our arrival in Barcelona on Saturday, observing that it looks very similar to “The Gherkin”/30 St Mary Axe, a highly-recognisable London landmark. He’s right, it does, and it’s a shame he couldn’t join me on this geocaching expedition but he was still around asleep when I set off.

I stood pretending to wait for a bus for a little while, then quickly found, signed, and replaced the cache. TFTC/GPC!

Dan Q found GC6TKBN MALIP – Monument a les il·lusions perdudes

This checkin to GC6TKBN MALIP - Monument a les il·lusions perdudes reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

After failing to find this yesterday, I came back earlier this morning for another go. Thanks to the hint, I was pretty confident I’d been looking in the right place, and a message from the CO helped confirm this (gracias!).

There are, in my mind, two significant challenges to this cache:

1. It’s a challenging and unusual hiding place and you will need to use the hint. I see from previous logs that some people used the hint… and still got stuck! Got to look around and see what it could mean. This bit… I got right. In fact, I touched the cache yesterday but just didn’t know it for sure!

2. It’s a busy area in which searching for a geocache… looks a bit suspicious! I came at almost 08:00 yesterday and, probably because it was a weekday, the area had lots of muggles. I felt self-conscious hunting for the cache and that made it harder. Coming back today an hour earlier made all the difference.

A really sneaky cache good enough to hunt for twice. TFTC/GPC. FP awarded. Greetings from Oxfordshire, UK.

Dan Q found GC1BA7C Parc central del Poblenou

This checkin to GC1BA7C Parc central del Poblenou reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

QEF while on my way back to my hotel after a morning of exploring the area. GPC.

Dan Q did not find GC6TKBN MALIP – Monument a les il·lusions perdudes

This checkin to GC6TKBN MALIP - Monument a les il·lusions perdudes reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

An extended search bore no fruit this morning. Worth help of the hint and an initial survey I was pretty confident in what kind of thing I was looking for, but though i inspected many candidate hiding places I couldn’t quite find it. Perhaps I’d do better at a less-busy time.

Dan Q found GCARWF7 Antigua Fábrica de Tallada i Lora

This checkin to GCARWF7 Antigua Fábrica de Tallada i Lora reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Visiting from Oxford, UK, I woke up early this morning and decided to come out for an explore before my partner and the children got up. A walk through the park brought me to this delightful piece of industrial history! With the hint, the cache was soon in hand and the log signed. GPC!

Hackaday

Me, hacking challenging Javascript at work: “Damn, I need a holiday.”

Me, hacking challenging Javascript on sabbatical: “Ah, so relaxing.”

Dan Q found GCAG598 Mimetic – Passeig de Gràcia

This checkin to GCAG598 Mimetic - Passeig de Gràcia reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

QEF for the geokid and I while exploring beautiful Barcelona this wet weekend. Greetings from Oxford, UK. TFTC!

Hour of Ambiguity

Here in my hotel room, high above Barcelona, I woke up. It was still dark outside, so I looked to my phone – sitting in its charging cradle – as a bedside clock. It told me that the time was 02:30 (01:30 back home), and that the sun would rise at 07:17.

But how long would it be, until then?

Daylight savings time is harmonised across Europe by EU Directive 2000/84/EC¹, but for all the good this harmonisation achieves it does not perfectly remove every ambiguity from questions like this. That it’s 02:30 doesn’t by itself tell me whether or not tonight’s daylight savings change has been applied!

It could be 00:30 UTC, and still half an hour until the clocks go back, or it could be 01:30 UTC, and the clocks went back half an hour ago. I exist in the “hour of uncertainty”, a brief period that happens once every year². Right now, I don’t know what time it is.

I remember when it first started to become commonplace to expect digital devices to change their clocks twice a year on your behalf. You’d boot your PC on a morning and it’d pop up a dialog box to let you know what it had done: a helpful affordance that existed primarily, I assume, to discourage you from making the exact same change yourself, duplicating the effort and multiplying the problem. Once, I stayed up late on last Saturday in March to see what happened if the computer was running at the time, and sure enough, the helpful popup appeared as the clocks leapt forward, skipping over sixty minutes in an instant, keeping them like leftovers to be gorged upon later.

Computers don’t do that for us anymore. They still change their clocks, but they do it silently, thanklessly, while we sleep, and we generally don’t give it a second thought.

That helpful dialog that computers used to have had a secondary purpose. Maybe we should bring it back. Not as a popup – heaven knows we’ve got enough of those – but just a subtle subtext at the bottom of the clock screens on our phones. “Daylight savings: clock will change in 30 minutes” or “Daylight savings: clock changed 30 minutes ago”. Such a message could appear for, say, six hours or so before and after our strange biannual ritual, and we might find ourselves more-aware as a result.

Of course, I suppose I could have added UTC to my world clock. Collapsed the waveform. Dispelled the ambiguity. Or just allowed myself to doze off and let the unsleeping computers do their thing while I rested. But instead I typed this, watching as the clock reached 02:59 and then to 02:00. I’d started writing during summertime; I’d finished after it ended, a few minutes… earlier?

Daylight savings time remains a crazy concept.

Footnotes

¹ Why yes, I am the kind of nerd who didn’t have to look that up. Why do you ask?

² In places that observe a one-hour shift for summertime.