Journal
Fells, forests and family
L's first proper trip away — two nights in a Yorkshire cabin, off-grid, with Poppy, a fire pit facing the valley, and an unexpected film crew on the hillside.
Read postArchitect at Microsoft · Manchester, UK
Hi, I’m James. I build things and write down what I learn.
I write about the apps I build, the AI I wire up, the smart-home projects I tinker with, the food I cook, and the photographs I take.
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PhotographyVisiting Clarkson's pub, The Farmers Dog
A short stop at The Farmers Dog in the Cotswolds with Poppy in tow. A pint of Hawkstone, a quiet table, and a dog who behaved better than the queue outside.
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JournalHow I Fixed My Beloved Sage Oracle Touch Coffee Machine
Fixing a solenoid fault on my Sage Oracle Touch and the memories it preserves.
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App DevEvent access management Power App with external barcode scanning for passes
Building a kiosk Power App for event entry. External barcode scanners feed a hidden text input — fast, contact-free pass scanning for 500+ attendees.
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Smart HomeSmart dog training buttons
Smart pet buttons for our 8-week-old puppy Poppy. A Sonoff Zigbee button hidden inside a paw-embossed RF case, wired up to Home Assistant for text-to-speech.
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Smart HomeCan you IoT an Airwick air freshener?
I IoT'd an Airwick. An ESP32, a 5V relay, ESPHome on the firmware, Home Assistant on top. Aesthetics non-negotiable; the unit had to look stock.
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Smart HomeTurn lights on and off with Windows Hello
Sit down at the desk, Windows Hello unlocks, the monitor backlight comes on. A Task Scheduler trigger calling the Home Assistant REST API, wired through one piece of 1990s VBScript.
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Topics
Pick a thread, follow it
Six places I write about the most. Each topic page collects every post in that area, newest first.
- App Dev 2 posts
Twenty years of patterns I’d recommend, and a few I wouldn’t. SharePoint, Power Platform, React, Astro, Azure.
Explore - Smart Home 4 posts
Home Assistant, ESPHome, soldering iron in one hand, schematic in the other.
Explore - Photography 5 posts
Fuji, GoPro, phone snaps. Photo stories about place, people and light — not gear.
Explore - Cooking 3 posts
Cooking is how I switch off. The dishes I keep coming back to and the kitchen science behind why they work.
Explore - Journal 3 posts
Travel, family, opinions, the odd #mtblife ride log, and whatever else doesn’t fit cleanly elsewhere.
Explore - AI & Copilot 0 posts
What I’m building with Copilot, agents and LLMs every day. Less hype, more wiring diagrams.
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