Quick question: what do you get when you mix heat, a sweaty foreigner, and a sunny seaside town?

Yeah, if you said me, you would be correct.

This week was a bit of a weird one because I had a relatively last-minute trip to London for a doctor’s appointment for a surgery I need to have in September.

Nothing dramatic really.

The appointment only lasted about 30 minutes.

But I was in London from Monday to Thursday with my mum regardless, so we thought we might as well make the most of it.

Which, in my head, meant a nice little break from work, walking around with my camera, maybe even wearing a hoodie because it is the UK and I am delusional.

Instead, London decided to become an oven.

HEAT

I somehow travelled to London during a heatwave.

And not a cute little British “oh no, it is 24 degrees” heatwave.

Actual heat.

The same heatwave where England broke its June temperature record type of heat.

Fair to say I probably lost a kilo or two in sweat.

The worst part was our hotel had no AC.

Which, to be fair, makes sense most of the year.

It is the UK.

How often do you really need AC?

Turns out, quite badly when you are staying in a high-up room during a heatwave and every single part of the building has been designed to keep heat inside.

Who would have known.

BRIGHTON

As you can imagine, London and its lack of AC was not exactly the biggest vibe, so Mumzy and I decided to visit Brighton for the day on Tuesday.

And Brighton is honestly one of the strangest places I have ever been.

Not bad strange.

Good strange.

But strange.

Between the narrow winding streets, the pier, the old seaside feel, and the general weirdness of the place, it felt like a time travel portal into the early 1900s.

I have lived in Liverpool and Manchester, and both of those places have their own thing going on, but Brighton felt completely different.

Even the people felt different.

Not in a bad way.

More like everyone there had accepted they were a bit odd and nobody was pretending otherwise.

I really like that.

We also went to the Royal Pavilion, which might be one of the strangest buildings I have seen.

From the outside, it has this Indian / Mughal-inspired palace look with domes, minarets, and all the extra bits you do not expect to see in Brighton.

Then you go inside and it is full of Chinese-inspired interiors, dragons, lotus lamps, rich colours, and rooms that feel like you are eight years old again, realised your mum’s card is connected to your phone, and went ham buying every paid game in the App Store.

Plague Inc was amazing.

Oh, just me?

Anyway.

It was originally built as George IV’s seaside pleasure palace, which is possibly the most rich person sentence ever written.

They were not just building houses.

They were building entire fantasy worlds because they were bored and rich.

Must have been nice.

Twats.

NOTE: As of writing this, standard Royal Pavilion tickets are roughly £20 per person and can be reused for up to a year if bought directly through the Pavilion. Highly recommend going inside if you visit Brighton!

CAMERA

You do not know me yet, but over the last year I have really gotten into photography.

I am still not sure if it is because I like the art side of it, or because I have a bad memory and like having proof that I actually went outside.

Probably both.

Either way, I brought my Fuji XS20 and Olympus Mju II with me.

I am still waiting for the film photos to come back, but the Fuji shots came out quite cool.

Mostly Brighton, because London was more of a survival mission than a photography trip, but I did still get a few there too.

Also big up Fuji, because somehow the camera did not overheat once.

I might have been dying, but the camera was completely fine.

Priorities, I guess.

BACK TO GIB

After London, I came back to Gibraltar and got sick.

Yeah, I know. A bit of an abrupt end to this weekly entry.

But the reality was not very glamorous.

Runny nose, coughing, and no taste.

All the good stuff.

At least I felt guilt-free watching all of Your Friends & Neighbours on Apple TV.

So just to clarify, Week 1 was not a big business week.

It was not a productivity week.

It was not a “here is how I changed my life in seven days” week.

It was a spacer week.

London, Brighton, heat, photos, and a doctor’s appointment.

And me ending the week in bed wondering if my immune system had handed in its resignation before I could.

But honestly, that is fine.

Not every week needs to be deep.

Some weeks are just life happening, and if this whole project is meant to document my life properly, then these weeks count too.

NEXT WEEK

I was going to talk properly about my first business in this weekly entry, but it deserves its own entry plus this is already a bit too long.

So if you want to know the actual plan for escaping the 9-5 matrix I am currently in, and the exact first steps I am taking to do it, tune in next week.

Whether you are curious, building something yourself, or just want to copy me before I know what I am doing, feel free.

Because next week, the true fun starts.

We start building.