Steph Gray
@lesteph.com
Digital, woodworking and eco dad living (repair cafe, EV, solar, heat pump) in south London. Work-wise now: celebrating 200 years of rail, commemorating VE Day and troubleshooting tech/supplier/team issues. https://stephgray.com/now
"This out-of-whack/back-in-whack cycle is not a source of motivation. It is motivation. Annoyance is the only truly renewable resource known to man."
Lots of quotable bits, which you may enjoy if you're having a frustrating day: www.experimental-history.com/p/thank-you-...
Lots of quotable bits, which you may enjoy if you're having a frustrating day: www.experimental-history.com/p/thank-you-...
Thank you for being annoying
OR: whack 'em if you got 'em
www.experimental-history.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:28 AM
"This out-of-whack/back-in-whack cycle is not a source of motivation. It is motivation. Annoyance is the only truly renewable resource known to man."
Lots of quotable bits, which you may enjoy if you're having a frustrating day: www.experimental-history.com/p/thank-you-...
Lots of quotable bits, which you may enjoy if you're having a frustrating day: www.experimental-history.com/p/thank-you-...
I’m part of this group coaching/support network of mid-career, mid-life men - someone described the sessions today as “nourishing” which is spot on. New people are joining soon, so if you’re interested (some £ involved) check out and contact Ben for a chat: www.leanmindway.com
LeanMind | Achieve Clarity Now
LeanMind: a private network to stop the drift and reclaim agency, impact and joy. Join the community for guidance and support today.
www.leanmindway.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:39 PM
I’m part of this group coaching/support network of mid-career, mid-life men - someone described the sessions today as “nourishing” which is spot on. New people are joining soon, so if you’re interested (some £ involved) check out and contact Ben for a chat: www.leanmindway.com
Reposted by Steph Gray
A bit long term, but my favourite version of "how poor the past was" is in this chart.
Working hours go up (peaking at a 66 hour week), real wages go right.
Working hours go up (peaking at a 66 hour week), real wages go right.
November 10, 2025 at 2:40 PM
A bit long term, but my favourite version of "how poor the past was" is in this chart.
Working hours go up (peaking at a 66 hour week), real wages go right.
Working hours go up (peaking at a 66 hour week), real wages go right.
GSA lawyers have sent a takedown request for my little archive of the 18F site. Sadly will probably take it down, but remarkable they care that much about defunct agency content online 🤷🏻♂️
November 6, 2025 at 7:29 PM
GSA lawyers have sent a takedown request for my little archive of the 18F site. Sadly will probably take it down, but remarkable they care that much about defunct agency content online 🤷🏻♂️
I like the idea of 'sailing a building', via the Scope of Work newsletter: architects, builders and tradespeople can construct it but contented living in a building takes another set of skills and aptitudes.
www.scopeofwork.net/how-to-sail-...
www.scopeofwork.net/how-to-sail-...
How to Sail a Building
Domestic calm is what I'm after, come hell or high water.
www.scopeofwork.net
November 4, 2025 at 2:26 PM
I like the idea of 'sailing a building', via the Scope of Work newsletter: architects, builders and tradespeople can construct it but contented living in a building takes another set of skills and aptitudes.
www.scopeofwork.net/how-to-sail-...
www.scopeofwork.net/how-to-sail-...
Introduced to this delightful post-Beeching ditty by Flanders and Swann via @gidcoe.bsky.social on Sunday:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6OH...
#railway200
www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6OH...
#railway200
Flanders and Swann - The Slow Train
YouTube video by Alan Moores
www.youtube.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Introduced to this delightful post-Beeching ditty by Flanders and Swann via @gidcoe.bsky.social on Sunday:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6OH...
#railway200
www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6OH...
#railway200
Considering just commenting 'Congratulations on your well-earned retirement' on every LinkedIn post from now on to see what happens.
October 29, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Considering just commenting 'Congratulations on your well-earned retirement' on every LinkedIn post from now on to see what happens.
Reposted by Steph Gray
I blogged - about problems, answers, plans and the illusion of control
open.substack.com/pub/harrymet...
open.substack.com/pub/harrymet...
The Answer and The Plan
Problems, answers, planning, and the illusion of control
open.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 5:10 PM
I blogged - about problems, answers, plans and the illusion of control
open.substack.com/pub/harrymet...
open.substack.com/pub/harrymet...
Reposted by Steph Gray
There's a cool new clock at London Bridge called Rail Clock! I've made an online version of it: railclock.matteason.co.uk
Code here: github.com/matteason/ra...
Code here: github.com/matteason/ra...
Rail Clock
A reproduction of the Great British Railways clock
railclock.matteason.co.uk
October 16, 2025 at 11:09 PM
There's a cool new clock at London Bridge called Rail Clock! I've made an online version of it: railclock.matteason.co.uk
Code here: github.com/matteason/ra...
Code here: github.com/matteason/ra...
via @whatleydude.com, this documentary on company car drivers of the early 1990s is a proper time machine, both in terms of cars and culture. The whole thing is excellent but spare a thought for the chump who got the Maestro:
youtu.be/niA9fFdvp8E?...
youtu.be/niA9fFdvp8E?...
From A to B Tales of Modern Motoring - Over The Moon With The Cavalier (1993)
YouTube video by ROVR
youtu.be
October 7, 2025 at 9:10 AM
via @whatleydude.com, this documentary on company car drivers of the early 1990s is a proper time machine, both in terms of cars and culture. The whole thing is excellent but spare a thought for the chump who got the Maestro:
youtu.be/niA9fFdvp8E?...
youtu.be/niA9fFdvp8E?...
Deserves more cultural appreciation and celebration in the UK than he gets, I think. A favourite with cleaning pros (and repairers) and for good reason.
🥳 Happy birthday Hal.
🥳 Happy birthday Hal.
October 2, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Deserves more cultural appreciation and celebration in the UK than he gets, I think. A favourite with cleaning pros (and repairers) and for good reason.
🥳 Happy birthday Hal.
🥳 Happy birthday Hal.
This time last week, I had a little #Railway200 moment, wondering what George and Robert Stephenson would have made of me driving my car onto a train in a tunnel under the sea, to cross the channel in half an hour. Still magical.
Happy birthday, trains. 200 years young today.
Happy birthday, trains. 200 years young today.
September 27, 2025 at 7:14 PM
This time last week, I had a little #Railway200 moment, wondering what George and Robert Stephenson would have made of me driving my car onto a train in a tunnel under the sea, to cross the channel in half an hour. Still magical.
Happy birthday, trains. 200 years young today.
Happy birthday, trains. 200 years young today.
This weekend's the big anniversary of 200 years of the railways. From the poet laureate and Michael Portillo to podcasts, artworks and hundreds of brilliant local events, it feels like it's been an anniversary well marked:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vMo...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vMo...
2025 Highlights so Far
YouTube video by Railway200
www.youtube.com
September 25, 2025 at 10:15 AM
This weekend's the big anniversary of 200 years of the railways. From the poet laureate and Michael Portillo to podcasts, artworks and hundreds of brilliant local events, it feels like it's been an anniversary well marked:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vMo...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vMo...
Today on Steph's random Marketplace finds: get your 1m x 1m slice of vintage French goat art.
A stylish montage photo and listing that prompts many questions...
A stylish montage photo and listing that prompts many questions...
September 22, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Today on Steph's random Marketplace finds: get your 1m x 1m slice of vintage French goat art.
A stylish montage photo and listing that prompts many questions...
A stylish montage photo and listing that prompts many questions...
What's the best Linux option to recommend to someone repurposing a reasonable Windows 10 laptop ahead of the October apocalypse? Linux Mint or something else?
September 15, 2025 at 9:01 AM
What's the best Linux option to recommend to someone repurposing a reasonable Windows 10 laptop ahead of the October apocalypse? Linux Mint or something else?
Reposted by Steph Gray
Slogan ideas…
“Smoking hot body or your money back”
– crematorium
“The first one’s on the house”
– chimney installers
“We’re not afraid to raise a few eyebrows”
– plastic surgeons
“We’ll help bring out your inner child”
– maternity ward
“There’s no turning back now”
– neck brace manufacturers
“Smoking hot body or your money back”
– crematorium
“The first one’s on the house”
– chimney installers
“We’re not afraid to raise a few eyebrows”
– plastic surgeons
“We’ll help bring out your inner child”
– maternity ward
“There’s no turning back now”
– neck brace manufacturers
September 10, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Slogan ideas…
“Smoking hot body or your money back”
– crematorium
“The first one’s on the house”
– chimney installers
“We’re not afraid to raise a few eyebrows”
– plastic surgeons
“We’ll help bring out your inner child”
– maternity ward
“There’s no turning back now”
– neck brace manufacturers
“Smoking hot body or your money back”
– crematorium
“The first one’s on the house”
– chimney installers
“We’re not afraid to raise a few eyebrows”
– plastic surgeons
“We’ll help bring out your inner child”
– maternity ward
“There’s no turning back now”
– neck brace manufacturers
Via @jeremycaplan.bsky.social's newsletter, the SingleFile browser plugin looks to be a fantastic quick-scraping or archiving solution. Just right-click on a page and save out an HTML file with inlined-images and dependencies: www.getsinglefile.com
SingleFile – Effortlessly Save and Preserve Web Pages
Save an entire web page with all its resources in a single HTML file with SingleFile.
www.getsinglefile.com
September 8, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Via @jeremycaplan.bsky.social's newsletter, the SingleFile browser plugin looks to be a fantastic quick-scraping or archiving solution. Just right-click on a page and save out an HTML file with inlined-images and dependencies: www.getsinglefile.com
Reposted by Steph Gray
Fancy a change? Seeking air traffic control for DHSC digital projects - small to large, mostly national not NHS-facing. Open to all flavours of ddat specialists. flexible, diverse team based in London and Leeds. Talk to me, or to one of the team. www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cg...
September 5, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Fancy a change? Seeking air traffic control for DHSC digital projects - small to large, mostly national not NHS-facing. Open to all flavours of ddat specialists. flexible, diverse team based in London and Leeds. Talk to me, or to one of the team. www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cg...
Inspiring day at #Fixfest2025 in Hackney, the global gathering of people from the repair movement, from BackMarket to academics, and lots of inspiring Repair Cafe folks. Conversation ranged from Linux kernels and toasters to the realpolitik of EU directives
September 5, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Inspiring day at #Fixfest2025 in Hackney, the global gathering of people from the repair movement, from BackMarket to academics, and lots of inspiring Repair Cafe folks. Conversation ranged from Linux kernels and toasters to the realpolitik of EU directives
Has anyone I know successfully applied AI to transcribing handwriting from images? I've had the best results from Pen2Txt but something with an API would be better if it exists.
September 4, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Has anyone I know successfully applied AI to transcribing handwriting from images? I've had the best results from Pen2Txt but something with an API would be better if it exists.
Looking forward to a night out at the BFI tomorrow, watching highlights from railway films through the ages: player.bfi.org.uk/free/collect... #railway200
Railways on Film
Tracking shots: cinema and the railways have enjoyed a long journey together, starting in the Victorian era and yet to hit the buffers.
player.bfi.org.uk
September 1, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Looking forward to a night out at the BFI tomorrow, watching highlights from railway films through the ages: player.bfi.org.uk/free/collect... #railway200
I've written about one of the most moving digital projects I've ever worked on, Letters to Loved Ones, and how it's made me think about the Second World War generation in new ways:
stephgray.com/2025/08/the-...
stephgray.com/2025/08/the-...
The Letters
Photo: Harry Woolacott, my wife's grandfather, and her aunt Tessa, c. 1942 As Helpful Digital, my team worked on the 75th anniversary of VE & VJ Day in 2020, which was sadly overshadowed by the pandem...
stephgray.com
August 15, 2025 at 10:41 AM
I've written about one of the most moving digital projects I've ever worked on, Letters to Loved Ones, and how it's made me think about the Second World War generation in new ways:
stephgray.com/2025/08/the-...
stephgray.com/2025/08/the-...
Reposted by Steph Gray
I ran the numbers on the UK government's recommendation to delete old photos and emails to save water in data centers andymasley.substack.com/p/contra-the...
August 13, 2025 at 4:49 PM
I ran the numbers on the UK government's recommendation to delete old photos and emails to save water in data centers andymasley.substack.com/p/contra-the...
Reposted by Steph Gray
My wife shared this with me and I’m tellin you… it’s worth the read.
August 13, 2025 at 2:55 PM
My wife shared this with me and I’m tellin you… it’s worth the read.
A striking photo of a surrendering Japanese navy commander in August 1945 sent in to Letters to Loved Ones this week:
ve-vjday80.gov.uk/letter/ken-b...
ve-vjday80.gov.uk/letter/ken-b...
August 6, 2025 at 8:48 AM
A striking photo of a surrendering Japanese navy commander in August 1945 sent in to Letters to Loved Ones this week:
ve-vjday80.gov.uk/letter/ken-b...
ve-vjday80.gov.uk/letter/ken-b...