Friday, 25 September 2026

The NEXT strategy, announced in June at the company's biennial franchisee convention, is built around upgrading food quality, value, hospitality, and menu innovation. Wednesday's event filled in the operational details: McDonald's intends to streamline how its kitchens run, roll out a new restaurant design format, deepen staff training programs, and broaden adoption of ArchIQ, its AI-driven platform that handles functions like drive-thru order-taking.#

The design of the new "restaurants" looks decent too – better than the current ones. The playground for kids might even return (which I have mixed feelings about).#

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I don't know why the headline mentions Burger King. I mean they're both fast food burger chains. But Burger King isn't even in the same league. Though apparently in the last quarter McDonald's global sales grew +1.3%, whereas Burger King's grew +8.6%. So maybe they are catching.#

I ate a McDonald's yesterday, and briefly considered Burger King instead. But the only thing BK has going for it over the Golden Arches is the nice smoky (and I'm sure entirely artificial) flavour of its burgers. The chips aren't as good. And the nuggets are abysmal.#

To be fair though, I'm a big fan of the rebrand they did a while back:#

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I've got so many domain names (mostly clowes.something). But sometimes I wonder if I should of just used subdomains instead – and had all my various online presences under "one roof". clowes.me, blog.clowes.me, notes.clowes.me, photos.clowes.me, thoughts.clowes.me, etc.#

However, I didn't get the clowes.me domain until... 11 years ago (geez, I didn't realise it was that long ago). But my original personal domain – elliotclowes.com – I got over 19 years ago! That one always felt a bit too long to use for subdomains (blog.elliotclowes.com seems too long).#

Just stumbled on an old Tumblr post with a photo of my EDC (every day carry) from the 7th of December 2013:#

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• Then: iPhone 5. Now: iPhone 15.#
• Then: Longines Legend Diver. Now: various watches, but I still have the Longines (though considering selling it)#
• Then: Tom Ford FT5178 glasses. Now: Still have these glasses, but I don't wear them. My prescription changed and I fancied a thinner pair. Currently wearing some Gucci frames.#
• Then: Hard Graft iPhone case. Now: I used this for years. But modern iPhones got too big for it. I now have a rubber case on my phone and a separate wallet. #
• Then: Fisher Space pen. Now: Still owned, but it's a bit small and uncomfortable to write with. My default now is the uni-ball Jetstream 101.#
• Then: Remove Before Flight keyring. Now: Still used! I purchased a pack of five of them and I'm currently on my third one I believe.#
• Then: Field Notes Expedition edition. Now: I still love Field Notes and have used them on and off down the years. In fact, I currently have two on my desk as I write this (see photo below).#
• Then: Dog tag. Now: still owned, but no longer in use. It was a bit cringey.#

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I feel like people do their best not to sneeze (or hide it) in an office to avoid the awkwardness of the "bless you's".#

Because it can be weirdly awkward (at least in my opinion).#

No one's sure if they should be the one to say "bless you", so sometimes no one does.#

Sometimes multiple people say it.#

Sometimes everyone pretends to ignore it.#

Sometimes people seem slightly disgusted (especially in certain sunlit lighting when you can see a salivary spray of mist).#

Then when the person sneezes more than once there's a whole new world.#

If it was just five seconds prior, are they still protected by the first "bless you".#

If it's two basically back-to-back, does one "bless you" cover it.#

A god forbid you sneeze more than three times.#

People start spinning in their chairs to look.#

People start making jokes.#

Luckily I'm yet to really encounter a loud sneezer. Everyone seems to try and muffle it as best they can.#

I’ve taken a risk and purchased another book about walking. I’ve tried to read a few down the years. And failed.#

I love walking. But prose about it really does little for me. Walking somehow transcends language. And the written word can’t capture what it is to walk.#

Books about it tend to say a whole lot of nothing.#

I’m only 5 pages in on this new one and I know I won’t last. It’s too poncy (though it is written by a philosopher, so what did I expect).#

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Late dinner tonight as Abigail wasn’t hungry when I got home from a day in the office.#

She’s cooking. Tacos.#

I’m in the bath. I’ve just started reading Samuel Pepys for the first time properly.#

It’s very handily got lots of footnotes giving context and explaining people, events and things. However, there’s so many that it kind of ruins the flow of the reading. And his now out of date language can making it slightly tough anyway. So it’s swings and roundabouts.#

I’m reading each entry once pretty much all the way through. Then re-reading it, consulting the footnotes on second go.#

I’ll say this for Samuel, he wrote with brevity. I’m sure he was using a quill in poor lighting on expensive parchment, so it makes sense.#

Must go. 5 minutes until dinner.#

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