New Phone – who dis?

I was lucky enough to get a new phone for Christmas. It’s sleeker, faster and – most significantly – has a much better camera than my trusted old Poco F3, which lasted a whole 4 years.

The only issue with the new sparkly phone is its smaller memory size. I could have got one with a larger memory size, but that would have added a whole 50% to the price of the device.

So rather than throwing money away, I decided to use this as a downsizing, streamlining opportunity.

I use a lot of apps. But a lot of the lot, I don’t use very often. And so – and yes, it’s a work in progress – I have chosen not to load a lot of those occasionally used apps onto the new phone.

It’s actually rather liberating. Goodbye, UberEats. Goodbye, DJI Go 4 and Marine Traffic.

And several (or more) others.

And goodbye heaps of unnecessary music on my music streaming app. I’ve been unknowingly hoarding. And why? I’ll keep a couple of playlists, and I’ll ditch downloading the rest. I can always choose to grab the odd album on mobile data, and we all spend a lot of time in and around WiFi these days.

I’ll manage.

So this phone (and by extrapolation, probably my whole life going forward), will be faster, sleeker, speedier and just better than previously. Happy days.

Another Bonjourr upgrade

Still my browser window minimalist background app of choice, Bonjourr has just had another upgrade.

It now has a Pomodoro timer.

What that?

The Pomodoro timer is our first new widget in quite a long time, we’re really excited about it! If you’ve never heard of the Pomodoro technique before, here’s the short version: it’s a time management method where you break your work into multiple intervals, for example: start working for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break, work again for 25 minutes until the timer rings, take a longer break and repeat.

This structured approach can help you stay motivated, avoid distractions and overall get more done in less time.

And loads of other nifty features, including a lot of new personalisation options.

Incredibly, it’s still completely free, although you can (and should) (and I have) donate if you are using it and feel so inclined.

So much nicer than a plain browser window when you open it up, it’s absolutely a 6000 Recommends…

Dotting i’s

Finally, the final instalment of my Chilli advent calendar review.

Previous reviews: 1, 2, 3.

Three to go (I thought it was two, but there was a bonus 25th box too!).

And those three were:

Jalapeno Sauce. It’s Jalapeno Sauce, but it’s SOOOO smoky with it. A delicious variation on a common sauce, and it works.

Jalapeno Slices. Much, much nicer than the shop bought ones. And you wouldn’t think that sort of thing would be very noticeable. But this is another product that I’ll be exploring further.

Craken. It’s just incredibly dangerous. Like Hydrofluoric Acid, but in Chili form.
I literally can’t manage more than the tiniest amount. And even that hurts.
Lethal.

Too much for me, but if you’re a hot sauce connoisseur, you might want to test yourself against this one.

As I mentioned before, it’s been a really interesting experience trying out these products that I would never usually dip into. The idea of one a day, and the little tester size vials and jars is a real winner.

Thanks, family.

Happy New One

Welcome to 2026!

No fireworks in Struisbaai, because of ongoing Fun Sponge activity.

I’m writing this last year (always dangerous), so who knows how this one started, but I think that we can all agree that 2026 can’t actually be worse than 2025, right?

Whatever you have planned for the next 365 days, whether it be big or small, I hope it goes well for you and yours.

Happy New Year, readers.

14 up

Twice the famous lemon and lime soft drink.

Fourteen years of (at least) a post a day, as mentioned here.
And there are no signs of stopping [audience groans].

Obviously, that’s far too many posts to go through individually, but we have had:

Some football
Some lockdown exercise
An occasional view
Some menacing trains
A bit of physics
Much parenting stuff, and
That Chinese restaurant

Stick with us (it’s actually just me, sorry) for much, much more. Probably.

Here’s to the next fourteen years.