This is my “now” page inspired by Derek Sivers. It answers “what I’m doing now?“. My life, projects and priorities. I post an update here every 1-3 months.
What’s up as of September 2026?
September has had a distinctly medieval flavour in our house. It started with castles, found its way into a book series and our car speakers, then out into the woods, and somehow into our kitchen before anyone else is up. My son has been leading most of it, and I’ve mostly been following, which turns out to be a very good place for a parent to be. The thread running through all three updates is an old one: real skill is built slowly, by hand, and usually with someone alongside you.
📖 A Ranger in the Back Seat
My son has been living in the Middle Ages lately. We're regulars at Hever Castle, and a couple of recent trips to Battle, where 1066 actually happened, keep giving him new questions. He wants to know everything: what people ate, how they slept, what they fought with, and why.
Then he found Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan and absorbed (there's no better word) all twelve books in English. When we were choosing the next Polish audiobook for our drives, he asked whether it existed in Polish. It does, as Zwiadowcy, and a few chapters into Ruiny Gorlanu (The Ruins of Gorlan) the whole family was hooked.
It follows Will, a small orphan turned away from knight school, who ends up apprenticed to Halt, a hooded Ranger the villagers are half afraid of. The Rangers turn out to be the kingdom's scouts and archers, and there's a dark lord gathering an army beyond the mountains. Classic stuff, done very well.
What surprised me is how much of it is about growing up. Halt rarely lectures; he shows. The rejection that crushes Will sends him towards his real gifts, and his rivalry with Horace, the big Battleschool kid, turns into friendship only through danger they face together. There's even a running joke I loved, for obvious reasons: Halt makes Will brew coffee again and again until he gets it right.
Flanagan wrote these stories for his own son. In our house, it's the son pulling the father in, and before long, out into the woods.
🏹 Built, Broken, Rebuilt
A few weeks in, my son announced he wanted to build his own bow, and asked for my help. Rather than hand him answers, I showed him how to research with AI: which wood works best and why, with links to sources and photos so he'd recognise the trees outdoors. His notes pointed to ash, and he asked for a sourcing mission, very Ranger, so off we went to the nearby woods.
The first bows didn't last. One snapped after a handful of shots, so we sat down, wrote notes and worked out why: the stave was uneven and the force was concentrating at the top, right where it gave way. Then the bowstring proved far too flimsy, which meant a second supply run, this time to the local shop, for… washing line.
He now has a working bow and has moved on to arrows, running the same loop: build, shoot, note what failed, make the next one better. He's enjoying the process as much as the results. And the best part, for me, is the hours we spend offline together with our hands busy. I can't think of anything more important.
🍳 An Apprentice at Breakfast
I haven't asked him whether the book has anything to do with it, but I have my suspicions. A few weeks ago my son asked me to wake him every morning when I get up to make breakfast for everyone. That early start isn't always easy, but it's the quietest part of my day, a small mission before the house wakes up. Now he shares it with me.
I've been teaching him sequencing: the longest job goes first. The omelette goes in the pan, then we make sandwiches while it cooks and the kettle boils. Along the way come the small things, like how to hold a knife and how to cut different vegetables. We joke that he's my apprentice, and I'm fairly sure he knows exactly who I'm playing.
Halt's lessons, and I hope our kitchen's, run against much of what kids hear from their screens: that a good life is bought, fast and on display. Mastery is slow, and it comes from repetition. Making beats buying, patience doesn't need a screen, and you don't have to be the loudest to lead. Old lessons, slowly slipping out of everyday life, and I'm glad a medieval story brought them back into ours.
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#blog
This page is inspired by Derek Sivers “now page” movement.
Updated: 29 Sep 2026
