Give the best of yourself to everyone!

🌈1415 – Friday, 24 July 2026 22:37

London

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful day!

But rather noisy, noisy, noisy too… as it is right now.

I’m at my desk at home in Queen Square. The pub downstairs, The Queen’s Larder, is packed with people standing outside, yapping, drinking and catching up. The pub is on the right-hand side of my window, and on the left there is the October Gallery, again packed with people. From our kitchen window we can see the gallery’s courtyard, which is very green, beautiful and surprisingly spacious.

Every evening I wonder who all these people are. Even in the middle of the week they’re all very well dressed, enjoying an evening out in the open air. It gets so loud that sometimes I joke to myself that I should climb onto the roof and pour a bucket of water over them so they’d all disperse… I used to have a similar thought every night about the Bangladeshi straight male crowd who sit in Queen Square playing cards.

Anyway, enough of my banter. Let me go and get a cold drink from the fridge. It’s 22:58 now. I’ll tell you more about my day.

Back at the desk now. It’s 23:17, and I have no idea how the last fifteen minutes disappeared. No, actually, I do know.

I got myself a drink – an Asahi – opened the bottle, sat back down at my desk and, almost out of habit, picked up my phone. Whether it was to check the time or something else, I don’t know. The next thing I realised, I had spent the last fifteen minutes scrolling through Stories.

Is there any remedy for that?

Just about an hour ago, a Bloomberg notification popped up saying that social media had become an exit strategy for a few white-collar workers. Can that really be possible? Here I am scrolling through things, and I don’t even create any content apart from this writing and blurt all my thoughts out. Blogging seems to have disappeared a long time ago, and now everyone is making videos.

But I know you’re there, and you’re reading. And I love you as much as I love myself, because you and I are one. We resonate. We see the good in things together.

I woke up today without an alarm. I was feeling good. It was about 8:40 a.m., and I had booked the day off. I still have another two weeks of annual leave to take before the end of August, so I thought I’d enjoy a random day off.

I woke up on the right-hand side of the bed, my face turned towards the wall. The first thing I consciously saw was a small framed portrait that reads “Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem”—In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

I was so glad to wake up looking at that. I can’t remember whether Astaghfirullah was already on my tongue, but as I do every day, I said Bismillah and began the day.

Next, I picked up my phone and read one ruku of Surah Al-Kahf. It happened to be the final ruku, so I finished the surah and then started it again, reading the first ruku.

After that, I read a page of the Bible – John 10 (ESV). Very, very interesting. It’s the first time I’ve been reading the Bible properly.

Then I read Dad’s good morning prayer message on our family WhatsApp group.

I then did my usual tasbeeh of 40 Surah Al-Fatihahs while looking at a picture of a flat balcony that I really like. Afterwards, I did my affirmations, got up, went to the loo and started getting ready for the gym.

But then I felt like having a coffee.

I made one.

Then I noticed some biscuits in the kitchen cupboard and felt like eating them. Usually I don’t eat anything for at least an hour before working out, but for some reason my mind just wanted food as soon as I woke up.

In the meantime, I received a work notification. Some work I’d completed yesterday had been approved, and I needed to send a purchase order to one of our contractors. I was planning to leave it until Monday, but since I’d already delayed going to the gym because of the biscuits, I thought I might as well get it done.

So I quickly logged into work, sent the document and crossed it off my list.

I got ready and left home around 10:50.

What a beautiful day.

I cycled from Russell Square to Oxford Street, to the Marshall Street Leisure Centre.

There weren’t many people in the gym when I arrived, and strangely enough, as soon as I got there I didn’t feel like working out.

I’d had a brilliant swim the previous evening from 8:30 p.m. until the pool closed at 9:30 p.m., and not even twenty-four hours later I was already back for another session.

I actually turned around and started heading towards the exit.

Then I thought…

“Well, I’m already here. Let me just do thirty minutes.”

I went back in.

I didn’t feel like lifting weights, so I jumped onto the rowing machine instead. The plan was thirty minutes.

Then thirty minutes became forty-five.

Forty-five became an hour.

I’m really glad I stayed.

I finished a solid one-hour workout, had a shower there, then headed home to change into long trousers because it was Friday prayers. I was only wearing gym shorts, and I have to wear full trousers for Jummah.

I quickly got home, changed, grabbed my bike again and headed to Holborn Mosque.

The first prayer was at 1:15 p.m. and the second at 2:00 p.m.

I arrived at 1:17.

I’d missed the first one.

So I had plenty of time before the second.

I walked up towards Holborn Underground Station, went into Tesco Express and bought a one-litre bottle of orange and mango smoothie and three bananas.

I ate two bananas, drank the entire bottle, then walked back to the mosque.

I prayed two rak’ahs of Sunnah, then the Fard prayer, and afterwards headed home.

I got back around 2:30 p.m.

Lunch was roti and gosht.

Watched a bit of television.

Tidied the flat.

Before I knew it, it was around 5:30 p.m.

My flatmate texted to say he was sitting in Queen Square, just opposite our house, and asked if I wanted to join him.

I said yes.

I walked over, said hello and sat beside him.

Then my phone rang.

It was my brother.

When I answered, Mum and Dad were already on the call too. They had both gone for their full physical health checks today, and Mum had her annual check-up following her chemotherapy. The results came back clear, and the cxxxxxr had not returned.

We all rejoiced together on the call.

Alhamdulillah.

I can’t put into words how grateful I am to God. I spent four months by Mum’s side, looking after her during her treatment, so hearing that everything was clear brought an overwhelming sense of relief. Remind yourself how precious good health truly is.

By the time the call had finished, my flatmate had already gone home.

Later, as I walked back through the house, I looked into his room to see what he was doing.

He’d bought some new albums and was listening to them.

He said,

“Come and listen to these.”

Half an hour disappeared just like that.

Around 6:30 I said I’d catch him later and went upstairs.

I ate a mango in the kitchen.

The rest of the evening went la la la la la…

I chatted with two other mates from our building.

We all ended up eating dinner around the same time in the kitchen.

The day simply drifted by.

I don’t know whether I should feel a sense of achievement or not.

Nothing extraordinary happened.

Nothing terrible happened either.

It was simply… a decent day.

I found myself thinking about my old house in Vauxhall, where I lived for seven years.

Those were good times.

Funny how, while we’re living them, we rarely realise it.

Instead, we spend so much time worrying.

Perhaps it’s exactly the same now.

Maybe one day I’ll look back at today and think these were the good old days too.

Maybe I should simply appreciate this season of life while I’m living it, and worry a little less.

If only we could all learn to be happier with what we already have.

Three things I felt grateful for today

• Grateful for the day. Nothing significant happened, but nothing crazy happened either.

• Grateful for getting a lot of domestic jobs done.

• Grateful for having friends in the building to spend time with.

What would it take for me – and for you – to wake up tomorrow ten times bigger, stronger, leaner, more muscular, more energetic, more confident and happier, to wake up early, to have a great workout, for everything to be okay with family, friends and everyone around us, then have a relaxing, relaxing, relaxing… yet productive day tomorrow?

Sign up to the monthly letter below.

Goodnight.

Good luck.

Ash Khaleem