Hi, I’m Alex. Welcome to my website!

I’m a software developer, writer, and a hand crafter, and I live in the UK. In my day job I build software for digital preservation, and I think a lot about archiving and long-term systems.
This website is where I share stuff I find interesting or fun. That includes notes on technical problems I’ve solved, personal reflections or thoughts, and fun toys that I’ve built.
I’m queer and trans, and my pronouns are “they” or “she”.
I hope you like it!
My writing
My life
My archives
Recent articles
Monki Gras 2026 “Prepping Craft”
When safety and normality are slipping away, how do we make our code, our communities, and our lives truly resilient?
The selfish case for public libraries
I don’t use libraries out of a sense of civic duty; I use them because they make me a happier, more adventurous, and more prolific reader.
Dreaming of a ten-year computer
Modern computers are more powerful than I know what to do with, but the norm is still to upgrade every few years. I want my current computer to last a decade, and I don’t think that’s unreasonable.
Gumdrop, a silly app for messing with my webcam
When it’s dark, a large computer monitor is a fun way to make the room change into different colours.
The bare minimum for syncing Git repos
I don’t need GitHub or a cloud service to keep my Git repos in sync – files and folders work just fine.