5.7 — weeknotes — Christmas — Eurovision — Taking IoT for a Walk — #washingmachinegate
Been coming in a lot over the last couple of weeks — 3 days last week and 3 days this week on the train and no dramas which is always good. It was also a four day week last week, which was nice after a great weekend in London. A mix of culture and cocktails…
Last Tuesday was Budget Council, one of the most important meetings of the year as the budget is approved for the next financial year. Some nice words said at the start of the meeting as well for Clive Palfreyman who is leaving in a few months to go to Southwark. Boooo… (really pleased for him of course 😊)
Friday saw another visit to Hounslow house as we are taking IoT (Internet of Things) for a walk, genuine engagement with the community, with PETRAS — the national centre of excellent for IoT. We are part of a research project that will help us engage members of the community on our journey for Internet of Things — we will be going on a ‘walkshop’ around Hounslow later in the year to look at real (and fictional) examples of IoT — and reviewing thoughts, the ethics, the data and so on — will keep you posted on this one!
Friday afternoon was the long awaited Christmas Lunch — the train strikes got in our way over December and January. We went to a pub on the river in Isleworth for some food — was great! Disappointed by the lack of Christmas crackers though…
Busy week this week…
Kicked off the week with the Digital Inclusion Group with updates on the work that we are doing in Hounslow, that fed into the Member Strategy Board on Tuesday — some great updates in all areas — connectivity rates, devices and skills! Another good board — a number of actions to sort to progress in a number of areas.
Microsoft came to Hounslow House on Thursday afternoon to discuss a range of themes with us from improving some of the core infrastructure elements, through use of data and customer journeys to social value and AI! Cover a massive amount in a few hours. Have to say, I am genuinely quite excited at the range of opportunities that we may be able to progress — even if we could progress a quarter of them I will be pleased! My proudest moment in Hounslow though as I managed to get the technology to work in the Borough Emergency Control Centre and I have never been able to before!
Ended the week with a great ‘In Conversation’ with the Housing Department — the Assistant Chief Exec led the session updating everyone on the Housing transformation — I am currently senior responsible officer for the housing system changes — so we updated with the latest. So much enthusiasm and so many great ideas coming forwards!
All the joys of the snow this week as well, just as you think it is getting to spring we get a day or two of snow, luckily in the south we appear to have got off quite lightly…
#washingmachinegate continues — engineer last week and another this week — eventually they have thrown in the towel, condemed the washing machine and getting me a new one… Should be here on Sunday — so fingers crossed with that. They didn’t seem too impressed with the gaffer tape…
City Fibre have been digging up the road this week laying new fibre — very exciting — but challenging to get in and out of the road — and on bin day! But I couldn’t get annoyed as we have been trying to get more fibre in the ground in Hounslow…
Eurovision entry for the UK was released this week — how exciting!
Tune of the week: Mae Muller — I Wrote A Song | United Kingdom 🇬🇧 | Official Music Video | Eurovision 2023
