Mo'menths March 2026: Marching on

March, the month of transition, where we start to bid farewell to the cold embrace of winter and welcome the gentle warmth of Ostara. It unfortunately hasn't warmed up enough for me to put the bike mittens away, I opted not to use the mittens on a day that felt slightly warmer, and quickly regretted it and I am not making that mistake ever again. I also got a taste of the cross wind while cycling home from work over Tower Bridge, saying I didn't crash is not entirely accurate but saying I did is also not entirely accurate, but I sure hope no one was filming. This months interesting fact is, in 1907, a Freemason called William Willett got the ball rolling on daylight saving as we know it. He proposed the idea of daylight saving time in his pamphlet "The Waste of Daylight", suggesting changing the concept of time itself so that he could have more sunlight for his golf games. I believe the moral of the story is that if you want to change the world, start with your hobbies and write a pamphlet about what is preventing you from enjoying them to the fullest.

• A month that started off warm and sunny, but quickly turned into a windy and cold one, quite the bait and switch, but I guess that's March for you.
• More birthday celebrations than I can shake a stick at, with a wide variety of friends.
• Project Hail Mary movie being an absolute cinematic mastercraft, that needs to be experienced in the best screen you can find.

I went on a cycling adventure through Hampstead Heath this month with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. It was a pretty chilly day, and my bike needed a wash afterwards, but it was a great way to catch up and enjoy the outdoors. It was quite a hilly ride, and I was acutely aware of my limitations, but I pushed through and made it to the top of every hill without walking. It was a reminder than I do need to push myself more and increase my fitness, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that happening anytime soon. Overall, it was a great day and I always welcome the opportunity to invest time in my friendships, even if it means getting a bit cold and dirty in the process.

I also had the chance to celebrate a few birthdays this month, with a few friends. It ranged from a dinner at a Carvery restaurant, which was a first for me and an interesting experience, to a couple of fully catered parties with lots of food and drinks both of which were completely different from each other but equally enjoyable. This month also marked the first Alumni social event for my university, which was a great opportunity to reconnect with old friends and make some new ones. It was a really nice evening filled with games, food, drinks and lots of interesting conversations. It was a reminder of the importance of maintaining connections and investing in relationships, even as we all go our separate ways after graduation.

This month’s work centred on the Faidslounge website I built for my sister in January, and the first thing I had to acknowledge was that the foundation was doing exactly what it was meant to do. She reported that the site is working well in real use, bookings are coming through, and the response from clients has been genuinely encouraging, especially around presentation. The most common reaction has been that the site feels clean, professional, and clearly above the standard of many others in the same local space. That early validation changed the direction of the month: instead of chasing new features for the sake of it, I focused on making the existing system more resilient and more practical for everyday use. I tightened parts of the booking flow, improved location handling so what users choose is what gets communicated correctly, hardened service parsing so listings do not break when upstream formatting changes, and strengthened add-ons handling to cope with real-world content quirks like escaped formatting and inconsistent editor output. In short, March became less about launch polish and more about operational confidence.

The bigger architectural decision this month was about ownership. My original plan was to implement a CMS admin area, similar to what I use on my own site, but the more I mapped the workflow, the clearer the downside became: it would force her to manage another account, remember another dashboard, and keep track of updates in a second system alongside Cal (the booking system). That was the opposite of the simplicity I wanted for her. So I deliberately moved the project toward a single-source-of-truth model centred around Cal, then aligned the surrounding tooling and documentation to support that direction. That meant making some trade-offs and accepting a bit more setup complexity behind the scenes, but it also meant reducing day-to-day cognitive load for the person actually running the business. I added safer update scripts, built better fallbacks, removed legacy CMS/admin components that were no longer helping, and cleaned docs so the process is easier to follow and teach. It is not a perfect one-click non-technical system yet, but it is now much closer to the real goal: a stable, maintainable workflow she can learn quickly, trust in production, and use with confidence without needing me in the loop for every change.

The other big win this month was the addition of a Series support to the blog, it is something I have been thinking about adding in preparation for guides and other multi-part content, but after starting the monthly Mo'menths series, it felt like a natural fit to add it sooner while I already have the content that would benefit from it. The biggest challenge with the implementation was where to add the visual cues for the series, I wanted to make it feel like a natural part of the design rather than an afterthought, and I think I found a good balance with the current design. The other change was to the Nav bar, I added a "MS" monogram to the left, which I think is a nice touch that adds a bit more personality to the site. It has been a fun month of building and improving, and I am looking forward to seeing how the site continues to evolve and support the business in the coming months.

In the world of films, I saw 15 films this month, down from last months 16 but spoiler alert, I saw Project Hail Mary twice so technically the number is 16, and brings the total this year to 49. It would have been more this week, but I had some hush hush things I had to do that took up a lot of my time in the last week of the month, so hopefully it pays off.

The big highlight of the month was definitely the release of the movie adaptation of Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary. I had high expectations for this film, from the moment I saw the first trailer. I had never read the book and wanted to, but decided to wait for the movie, because of the whole phenomenon of book-to-movie adaptations often being disappointing, but also because I wanted to experience the story in a cinematic way. My galactic expectations for this film meant that I had to choose my go-to format for a movie like this, Dolby. I opted for Odeon West End cinema and I am happy to report that it did not disappoint. The movie is a joyful, wondrous, and deeply beautiful emotional roller-coaster that left me with a big smile on my face. The performances are outstanding, both Ryan Gosling and Sandra Hüller were forces to be reckoned with, they brought a lot of heart and depth to their characters, not to mention Rocky, the little alien that could, voiced by James Ortiz. The special effects and visuals are also top-notch, creating a believable and immersive space environment. Overall, I would highly recommend this film to fans of science fiction and anyone looking for a great story about resilience, hope and friendship. I then went back for a second viewing with a friend after I listened to the audiobook and it was just as good the second time around in the main Dolby auditorium at Odeon Leicester Square, and I am already looking forward to the third time I can see it, which will most likely be in the cinema again, it is that good.

This months theatre visit was to see Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap at St. Martin's Theatre in London. This was also recommended by the same friend who recommended Arcadia last month, so I had high hopes. The play was enjoyable, but it was not quite the masterpiece I was expecting. The plot was clever, and the performances were solid, but I didn't find myself fully immersed in the story. Overall, it was a decent experience, but not one that left a lasting impression.

In books this month, I decided to extend my pause of The Wandering Inn and instead turned it into the month of serial killings starting with Recall by JD Kirk. I chose it because it a narrated by James McAvoy, he is one of my favourite actors and I loved him as the voice of Morpheus in The Sandman. I was not disappointed, the book is a gripping psychological thriller about the nature of memory and identity, and McAvoy's narration is fantastic. I found myself completely engrossed in the story, and I would highly recommend it to fans of the genre. Next up was Let the Dead Sleep by Michael Wood, which is also a thriller, about a journalist tasked with investigating the murder of her sister by a serial killer. The reveal of the serial killer was actually a surprise and the payoff was very much satisfying. Up next was Him by JD Kirk, this one was about loss, grieving process and the role of AI in society. I don't want to say more because it might ruin the surprise, but what I will say is that the reveals were satisfying and unexpected. Continuing my detour comes Trapped by James Patterson and Max DiLallo, an audio thriller about an hostage negotiator trying to defuse a situation where the Empire State Building is taken over by a group of Russian terrorist. After that came Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, which was an awesome experience narrated by Ray Porter, sandwiched between viewings of the movie. My advice would be to watch the movie first then read the book for all the additional context. With all the debate about books versus the movie adaptations, I find there are always going to be differences because everything is quite literally spelt out for you in books and there are things that the movie can really only approximate but the way I see it, if the book adheres to its source material and keeps the tone and spirit, that's good enough in my eyes and Project Hail Mary definitely achieved that in every way.

In Music town, I was very much feeling like a Punkrocker because I listened to Punkrocker by Teddybears feat. Iggy Pop ad nauseam, and I would have kept going if I the soundtrack to Project Hail Mary composed by Daniel Pemberton hadn't been released. Holy mary do I love this soundtrack, it is a masterpiece that perfectly captures the mood and tone of the movie. It is a mix of electronic and orchestral music, with a lot of atmospheric and ambient tracks that create a sense of wonder and isolation. I would highly recommend it to fans of film scores and anyone looking for some great music to listen to while working or relaxing. I am also not exaggerating when I say that I have listened to this soundtrack start to finish on repeat for the past few weeks, it is that good.

April is a new year of sorts for everyone, starting with April Fools' Day, and I think I have a good joke brewing up for that (Spoilers!). The theatre plan for next month is to see The Play That Goes Wrong continuing the theme of shows that were recommended by the same friend who recommended Arcadia and The Mousetrap. I have high hopes for this one, as it is a comedy about a play that goes wrong, and I am always up for a good laugh. In terms of films, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is on my radar, as a fan of horror movies, and then there's Michael which should be interesting at the very least. On the reading front, I am planning to continue with The Wandering Inn and finally start book 9 of the series, Tears of Liscor, which I have been putting off for a while now. Overall, I am looking forward to another month of great entertainment and hopefully some new discoveries.

This is the third entry in Mo'menths. April follows, Ad astra!