2021 Lockdown - Back to school! And WordPress updates incoming next week.

Hi folks,

Updated working arrangements

I hope you have been OK during the UK lockdown these last few months. You've all been incredibly patient with me as I work reduced hours and supervise my kids' remote learning. It's been fun, and stressful, and educational.

However, as you probably know, things are about to change. Schools are re-opening from Monday the 8th. Both my kids will be in their primary classrooms for most of the day, and I shall be able to work more hours, and fairly normal hours. For a while, at least.

So from Monday, I'm back on a schedule as follows:

• Monday: 09:30 - 17:30
• Tuesday: 09:00 - 14:30
• Wednesday: 09:00 - 14:30
• Thursday: 09:00 - 14:30
• Friday: 09:30 - 17:30

BUT...

This is a really short school term and Easter holidays start just three weeks later, so I'm expecting to have some time off between 2nd and 19th April, though exact dates have not yet been decided here.

WordPress v5.7 released March 9th

This is also just a notification to you all that the next major version of WordPress, version 5.7, is scheduled for release on Tuesday March 9th.

Most of the changes won't affect you, but the key things you may notice are:

• The Block Editor (sometimes called "Gutenberg") continues its evolution and will have some changes - hopefully for the better.
• There is a new feature that allows administrators to send password reset links to other users. So if one of your staff is locked out, you can quickly send them a password reset by email rather than directing them to the password reset screen for them to request it themselves.
• There are some changes to the password reset screen itself - I actually gave some input to this change!

Software updates are good things - they keep your site safe and give you new features. And for those websites I look after that aren't automatically updating, I'll run this update as soon as I feel like it's safe to do so.

The update will be released on the evening of the 9th, so if you wake up to any problems on the 10th do let me know and I'll help get things fixed for you.

Thanks again. Spring is here! I hope this season is a good one for you.

Ross