This week was big.

Not in a work sense, but because it was National Day week.

If you’re from Gibraltar, you already know.

If you’re not, let me explain why the 10th of September is the best day of the year.

NATIONAL DAY

National Day marks the 1967 referendum, when Gibraltar voted overwhelmingly to remain under British sovereignty. Every year since 1992, we celebrate by covering the place, and ourselves, in red and white.

When I was younger, that even included the sky. Thousands of red and white balloons would be released every year.

It was so sick.

That doesn’t happen anymore though :/

These days, the celebrations usually start with a family BBQ at the beach or a big lunch out.

At least we’ve kept the tradition of drinking far too much alcohol.

Growth.

Anyway once everyone’s eaten, the celebrations carry on around town. There’s music and events throughout the day, followed by fireworks and a drone display in the evening, so there’s pretty much something for everyone.

But the thing about National Day is that the hype takes over well before the actual day arrives.

You spend the whole week leading up to it thinking about how you’re celebrating, what you’re putting on the BBQ, what you’re drinking, where you’re going, and who’s going to be there.

I love it. Although spending more time thinking about how good the spicy chorizo is going to taste than actually designing isn’t particularly helpful for the Clickrabbit design sprint.

So whilst I wasn’t in a work mood, I still wanted to make something. Preferably something that got me out with the camera, taking in the build-up around Gib, rather than sitting at my desk looking at pixels.

And with flags hanging from practically every balcony, I had an idea.

A FLAG MADE OF FLAGS

This might sound weird, but the flags are probably my favourite part of the whole build-up.

You can be doing something completely normal, walking to work or heading to the shops, and just glancing around you’ll catch Gibraltar flags, Union Jacks, and red and white bunting everywhere.

It makes the whole place feel so much more connected. Everyone’s doing their little bit to get ready for the same day.

I see it every year, and it's still so cool to see.

Some people go absolutely crazy with it though. There are patios that look like they’ve got a flag for every member of the family.

I wish they’d leave everything up, but the flags start disappearing shortly after National Day. So I wanted to photograph some before they came down.

Somehow still managed to get heckled by a woman for photographing flags.

Anyway drumroll, please...

Ta daaa.

That was probably the most anticlimactic reveal I could’ve managed.

Sorry {{firstName}}, I’m running on fumes. But yes, here it is. One big Gibraltar flag, made from photos of all the little flags I’d found around Gib.

Absolutely marvellous.

Jokes aside, I’m quite happy with how it turned out.

And with that done, it was time for the actual day.

FROM THE BEACH TO EL KASBAH

As always, my day started at the beach with a family BBQ. A few beers, good food, and an especially nice spicy chorizo.

Chorizo is honestly my weakness.

After a swim, I headed home to get ready, then made my way to El Kasbah for a street party.

A little explanation for anyone who’s never been.

Before it became El Kasbah, it was called the Hole in T’ Wall, and the name still suits it perfectly. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but once you’re in, you never quite know how the night’s going to go.

Whether it’s a slightly weird, artsy wine and poetry event or just a normal night, you get caught up in whatever’s happening and somehow spend the whole night there.

That probably explains why I’ve spent far too many nights there this past year.

It’s a bit of a black hole, but definitely fun.

As for the street party, it was run by a local DJ duo called Disco Works, and they were really good.

I’m usually not too into the music at these events because it tends to be mostly techno, and I like my music with a side of lyrics. But these guys had a good mix of both.

Half the fun of these events is bumping into people you’d forgotten existed. I love hearing what everyone’s been up to.

Somewhere between the music and catching up with everyone, I ended up drinking way too much, as per tradition, and spent the next couple of days recovering.

THE AFTERMATH

A lot of that recovery involved watching the new season of The Gentlemen on Netflix.

If you’ve never seen it, it’s honestly such a good show. I love the editing style.

Eventually though, I had enough energy to open something other than Netflix, so I managed to revamp the Clickrabbit Notion workspace.

I wanted somewhere organised and simple to write down how Clickrabbit will actually work in the backend before getting back to designing it.

I also moved the project management from Notion over to Linear, but writing that sentence has made me yawn, so we’ll leave that story in the archives.

So yeah, not much work got done this week, but I had a really good time.