In meetings at work, for my actions or actions that I need to follow up on etc. If I am prepared, I will add them to an existing document that we are working from in the meeting or will create a specific actions email as we go. If I am not prepared, it will be notes jotted in a physical notebook. In either case, I will then copy any actions for me to MS TO Do - which is one of the very few relevant apps that we have available on both the locked down phones and laptops. Just occasionally, it is more appropriate to make notes directly in the TO Do app.
Generally for non-work stuff, I will use Google tasks - since it available on all platforms and integrates with the calendar etc. I would love to find a good alternative to google and have tried a few over the years, but have never found anything that I can get to at work and on all platforms at home and will integrate with a calendar that is also available on all platforms - including those that my SO uses - as well as this.
The majority of notes that I make these days are either things that I have to do or are updates on the status of particular projects or systems though.
Bbc Radio 4 have any number of dramas in their back catalogue. One that I particularly enjoyed is Alan Plater’s - available on the Internet archive, I find.
Then Orson Welles original War of the Worlds by the Mercury Theatre on the Air in 1938 is well worth a listen. That is available in several places around the Web.
Then, of course, there is Big Finish, who started off doing Doctor Who audios and have produced hundreds over the years - far more hours than there are of T V Doctor Who, classic and new - but they also produce a lot of other dramas, based on other properties and some completely original.
Overall their earlier ones are where the standout tales are, but they are fairly reliably entertaining throughout.
Last was in May this year and the next - probably just camping - will be in September.
I am very fortunate in having a friend with a holiday chalet. A group of us go down to open in up and stay for a week or two most years. The only cost is the fuel to get there.
My SO and I usually aim to get another week away - maybe camping, maybe a holiday cottage - later in the year too.
We are in the UK and always go to other location in the UK for holidays. Neither of us have flown since the '90s and have no intention of doing so again.
Personally, I always used to carry a paperback with me and would read in the odd moments that this writer seems to recall as being so dull and soul destroying. I still do carry e-books on my phone of course and use them in exactly the same way - but also with the option of doomscrolling, of course.
As for TV, I was never one for TV - or radio - as background noise. With fiends, I had a bit of reputation of going round and turning such things off when I entered the room, so that we could talk without distraction. I would ask them first, of course.
For this kind of thing I (eventually) use a basic Pomodoro method: Set a timer for 20 mins and make a start on one of the jobs. You can do pretty much anything for just 20mins - and with some of these kind of things that have been hanging around for a while it could just be a question of working out exactly what you do need to do and getting stuff ready to do it next time etc.
Either way, work at it for 20mins. Then your timer will go off and you can stop and reward yourself - if you want to. Chances are, that by the 20mins mark you may well be stuck in and might just want to push on and get it done - then get your reward.
Strict Pomodoro is to work for 20mins then break for 5 and repeat, but that depends on the situation.
They can sleep for longer. There is the incident of a Egyptian snail that was collected for the British Museum in 1846 - seemingly dead - and which then woke up in 1850.
Another BF listener here - I really liked Walker and McGann on screen in Annika too.
Otherwise, my SO and I have the Ted Lasso finale lined up. The third season (yes, I know, but I agree with the Americans that there is a distinction between series and season) has been a necessary conclusion to the material in the previous two, but not without some fun moments.
And - in terms of other UK TV - we are just on to season two of Jam and Jerusalem which I totally missed at the time but am enjoying now.
Otherwise, in non-UK shows, Drops of God and Shrinking are the clear highlights in our lineup at the moment.
I have a Plex server for film, tv, audiobooks and music and and a Calibre server for ebooks. I have shelves for my physical book collection that now need re-organising, since I have recently moved. Getting the Plex and Calibre server up and running was a lot quicker, I have to say.
At some stage, I expect that I will move to Jellyfin, but Plex is still ok for now.
I have three "!subscribe pending"s in my list after a session of joining a few days back. For me, they are showing up in my sidebar and I can post to them as usual, it seems. It is just that they don't change from 'pending'.