Last week Cheltenham hosted it’s annual literature festival and I was able to make it a long to a couple of events. First up was a discussion on Agatha Christie featuring Poirot himself, David Suchet.

It was a fun evening hearing about the efforts Mr Suchet went to in order to portray Hercule Poirot consistently over a period of 25 years. I would’ve loved to have seen the notes he made after reading all of the Poirot books that culminated in a list of 92 things he would need to bring his character to life. The most famous one for me…

Poirot doesn’t run.

The second event I made it to was to see the wonderful Charlie Mackesy. He has a new book out, but hearing about his creative process was both inspiring and humbling.

I’ve come across many artists and designers in my life. Most have a common trait, they are generally very self effacing, preferring for their work and others to be in the spotlight. Charlie takes this to a whole new level. As far as he is concerned he is just a man who like to draw and made a book.

The fact people enjoy his work so much speaks to it’s quality, but also it’s message. I first came across Charlie just before the pandemic when he released his first book, I had been through a difficult time and his work was comforting and encouraging. It seems I was not alone in finding that.

Blogtober is forcing me to put more thought and effort into posting to my blog each day. I haven’t managed to post as often as I wanted so far — last week I managed two in a row, and then things ran away from me. I posted yesterday, though, so here’s to a new streak.

I’ve noticed a new pattern of behaviour is starting to establish itself. I’m using Obsidian more than I have for a long time and with it the new unique note function. When I realise I haven’t written for the day I hit Cmd-N which triggers a new unique note that sets the title to YYYY-MM-DD HHmm and I start typing. That’s how I ended up posting yesterday’s post They’re home at last.

At the very least, it gets me writing and I keep going until I’ve formed some kind of idea. If I can’t make anything coherent I leave it and come back to it another time. Once I’ve written something I’m ok with I will give it a title and publish it to my blog and then file it into my blog posts folder. If it doesn’t get that far, then I leave it in the root of my vault and I can come back to it when I’m ready.

I’ve always been conscious of not posting for the sake of it and I hope that this pattern of behaviour that I’m developing will help that. It gives me a space for ideas to incubate and I expect that if I can’t formulate a post from today’s writing, I can revisit one from another and see how that evolves.

It takes time to find what you want to say, and allowing the space for that to happen is important. In the past, I’ve not allowed that space and have consequently lost the initial post idea to the black hole of the rubbish bin. Equally, I’ve often rushed something and posted before a thought was fully formed—putting it out into the ether and then failing to return to give it the attention it deserves. I would like to change both of those things which is the aim behind making a belated start to Blogtober. I want my blog to be a place to share thoughts and ideas as well as events and activities. In order to achieve that I need to give myself the space to ruminate on things.

Whilst I worked this morning I had on in the background a live stream of the news. I don’t normally watch the news, I prefer to read it after things have happened but this morning I wanted to know what was happening as things unfolded.

I’m talking about the release of the Israeli hostages who have spent 736 days in captivity. Held by Hamas, in underground tunnels, starved of food, daylight, and many other things we take for granted.

I cannot imagine the relief their families must be feeling.

I cannot imagine the grief the families of the remaining 28 hostages whose remains they are waiting to be returned.

Two years it has taken for all the hostages to be released. A war which could’ve ended at any time in that time by Hamas releasing them. For now a fragile peace is in place. I can only pray that it continues.

Already there are talks on going for the second stage of the ceasefire. The disarmament of Hamas and their stepping down from any form of control in Gaza. This will be the biggest obstacle for those involved to over come.

There are already reports of Hamas attacking rival tribes and executing “collaborators” in Gaza City. It does not look promising. How do you persuade a group whose sole existence is founded on the distraction of a group of people? I can only pray.

There’s nothing quite like it. The click of a lid as it pops off, the scratch of the nib on the page, and the slow progress made through a notebook. Over the summer I’ve turned more and more toward the analogue than I have the digital and I’ve come to the realisation that what they say is true. It really is easier to think on paper than it is on screen.

I’ve always had a notebook with me since my later years at school, back then it was called a sketchbook, but it equated to the same thing. I used it to explore ideas and to work out problems, since then my use of it has evolved and it now includes a journal like element as well. In fact I’m slowly developing my own version of the bullet journal, but that’s for another post.

What I wanted to talk about today is how using my fountain pen and notebook make me feel. There’s a steadiness about it that I find difficult to put in to words. A feeling that I am creating something more lasting, even if most of what goes into my notebooks is fleeting, it feels like a body of work is building. Like I’m part of something bigger.

One of my favourite artists I Leonardo Da Vinci, not for his paintings, but for his notebooks. I first came across them in senior school and I’ve been fascinated by them ever since. How he used them to explore ideas, to think, to draw, to document, to do keep a record of everything he did astounds me. I think in some way that is what draws me to the idea of keeping a notebook. It’s why each day I turn to a fresh page, write the date, and begin using it throughout the day. Almost every day something gets written down, and on the rare days nothing gets written, that’s ok, tomorrow is another day and there will be something to go in it then.

I discovered this morning that there is a thing called Blogtober and it got me thinking, perhaps I should try and take part this year. I might be a week late in finding out about it, but if I can take part for the rest of October then why not?

One of the things I seem to struggle with regularly, is a desire to blog but never actually doing it. Most days pass by with me thinking I should write for my blog today, but then I never do. I don’t know what the block is, whether it’s a feeling of not knowing what to write, thinking that what I have to write is a bit bland and meaningless, or simply hiding from what I want to say. Whichever one it is, I don’t think it’s worth while.

I’ve been blogging in some form or another for roughly 20 years now, in fact I think my very first blog would’ve been setup in the summer of 2005. That means I missed an anniversary this summer. The first post I have a record of is from 2006 I know I was posting long before that, I’m sure somewhere I have a proper archive of those early posts which I should try and dig out. It would be fun to look back on.

This is a very roundabout way of saying that I plan to try and post every day for the rest of October in the hope that it will help me build something of a habit again. When I first started blogging I used to post multiple times a day, that tailed off when I left university and social media took over, but now that I’m largely off all the major networks I’m more interested in reviving old habits and seeing where things go.

It had been a long day. The drive back from the office hadn’t been smooth sailing, traffic was heavy with a sudden downpour only serving to compound the issue. Disconnecting his phone from his car he noticed a new notification from How we feel, taking a moment he found tired and logged the emotion.

As he approached the door he heard the familiar click as it unlocked itself, stepping inside the door the sound of the disembodied voice echoed down the hall… “Welcome home Ezra, it looks like you’ve had a long day at the office.” Flopping down on the sofa he heard the soothing sounds of his favourite Ludovico Einaudi album begin to gently play over the speakers in his living room, the lights dimming to a warm glow. He checked the time, 20:15, “Siri, message Michael to apologise for missing home group and tell him I’ve only just got home.” “I’ve sent a message to Michael”.

Prising himself off the sofa he walked over to the kitchen, the glow of the lights brightening and the kitchen ones turning on. Opening the fridge, he sighed. He forgot to buy dinner on the way home, “Siri, order my usual from the Chinese.” “No problem Ezra, I’ll let you know when Hakka Chinese responds”.

Back to the sofa, he turned on the TV, the music stopping automatically and the lights dimming again. The words What would you like to watch greeted him? with next episodes of the three shows he was working his way through beneath them. A notification pops up in the top right of the screen “Hakka Chinese has accepted your order, it will be delivered in around 30 minutes.”

“Time for a shower” he says to himself aware that the music starts playing over the speakers again as he makes his way to the bathroom.

Showered and changed he plops himself on the sofa again just in time to see the status of his food order change to Your rider is nearby, please keep an eye out for them. Before he’s had chance to pick what show to watch a new notification pops on screen from the doorbell and the voice says “Ezra, your food is here”.

I’ve been thinking about the smart home a bit of late, and I can’t help but think what we have isn’t really that smart. The thermostats are no better than the dumb ones people have been using for decades. The smart bulbs are cool, but are they really better than a normal one with a dimmer switch? The various sensors can be useful, although when one of mine recently fell off the door frame thanks to the heat I’m not sure how helpful the notification I received was.

The devices we have in our home to make it smart, are only smart once we’ve programmed them and set them up to do what we want. That begs the question, what would make them truly smart?

At the moment everything feels segmented (this might be because I’m using HomeKit) and silo’d to certain devices. Some of the elements in the scenario above don’t feel that far away now they are because devices don’t talk to each other properly.

It feels like a situation where the pieces are already there but they haven’t been put together in a cohesive manner yet. Fore example, if music is playing on my HomePod controls appear on my iPhone, but timers don’t… if there’s a timer on my iPhone but I’m watching TV using an Apple TV nothing happens when it goes off. Why doesn’t the TV pause and a stop/repeat UI appear on the TV? Chances are I’m cooking so need to pause what’s playing anyway. I can receive notifications from my iPhone on my Mac, but not on my iPad or Apple TV. Why can’t that technology allow the live activity from a food delivery app sit discreetly in the corner of my Apple TV?

These are just small pieces of low hanging fruit that don’t feel like big asks (famous last words) and I’ve not doubt that a proper smart home could do even more. Really all I want a little quality of life enhancements that don’t cost the earth to setup and that just work out the box.

It’s raining outside but it’s still a balmy 18 degrees. Whilst the rain is refreshing, and the plants really need a good soak, it makes inside humid, especially in this coffee shop. It’s not my usual morning coffee spot, but the batch brew is nice and the music is creating a nice ambience. The drum beats mix with the clatter from the espresso machine and the hubbub of people chatting.

There’s an interesting mix of socialising and solitude. People on their own are smiling to themselves as they tap away at their phones, the couple in front of me sits opposite each other but they don’t converse. Little words between each other, whilst holding their phones. Together but separate. Connected but not present. It reminds me of the pub I used to work in when I was eighteen. Beer replaced by coffee. Newspapers replaced by phones. Crosswords replaced by games, or perhaps digital editions. On the surface not so different, but yet it still feels like it is.

I remember seeing a photo of a train carriage in America from decades ago. People on their commute all reading the newspaper catching up with the world before their day at work. It’s a similar scene today.

We may decry the effect that our devices are having on us, our ability to concentrate and focus, the most connected to the outside world we’ve ever been with the highest rates of loneliness we’ve ever been aware of. I don’t want to minimise those thoughts, but I wonder how different we really are to the people in that photo from 60 years ago? Perhaps it is the speed of things that is the real problem. There is no need to wait for the newspaper the next morning to get an understanding of what is going on in the world. We can see it happening in front of us, in near real time, with all the inaccuracies that we can dream of. No one goes back to correct or check, there’s no verifying, just moving on to the next thing. Even people who care about certain causes don’t take the time to learn. They feed upon the fire hose of opinion, of misinformation, there is no time to study or learn. Instead they must signal where they stand and move on.

It is sad, but I get it. Everyone is busy. Not everyone has the ability or desire to inform themselves fully before forming an opinion. It is easier to react and move on with the day.

The couple in front of me have been replaced by a Dad and his Son. Coffee and apple juice, sharing a pastry together. A moment of connection in a world of solitary people, they bring a smile to my face.

It’s hot in England at the moment. The country is being hit by another heat wave with temperatures sitting at around 30 degrees. It’s not the hottest but the heat here is different to other places.

Looking at my weather app it tells me Cheltenham is going to have the same high as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv today and I find my wishing I was facing the heat there rather than here. Tel Aviv might be sticky but at least it’s by the sea, the beach a short walk away, paddling in the warm Mediterranean waters a nice way to cool off. Jerusalem is high up, its heat is drier, the evenings cooler. It’s a gentler and more relaxing heat, like a good holiday.

This morning isn’t so bad. I stood at my sliding door eating my breakfast, some Greek yogurt with blueberries and almonds, listening to the world go by. It was oddly clam and tranquil. I could hear birds twittering away to one another. The traffic noise was gone, maybe everyone went to the office early or has stayed home inside where it’s cooler.

There’s a man replacing a windscreen at the end of the road. I can’t hear his radio, perhaps he doesn’t have one on. He seems engrossed in his work. The new windscreen held up on a rack as he polishes it, paying attention to the finish making sure there are no streaks. The only sounds I hear now are my fan and the scrape of my spoon on my bowl as I finish my breakfast. It’s time for a coffee and to get back to work.

Back at my desk to do some work I’m drawn not to the messages on Teams or my design in Figma, but to Ulysses. I start a new sheet and begin typing this. I want to capture the feeling of this morning before the real madness begins. My first call is at 10:30 and then it’s back to back until 14:30.

The events of this weekend seem to weigh heavy on me. Glastonbury and the BBC have a lot to answer for. Our politics may not be similar, but how they can justify the hate speech that they gave a platform to makes me feel sick. What’s worse is the number of people who joined in. My country disappoints me more than it ever has at the moment. It feels like society is crumbling.

I’ll open my Bible for a few minutes and then get to work once I’ve published this. It’s the only thing I can think of to stave off the spiral of despair.

Interesting post from Jim Nielsen about interoperable apps, although I’m not sure that’s the right term. When I first saw the title and screenshot I thought it would be a post about apps which work together well. Instead it’s more a post about flexible standards allowing for flexible user choices when interacting with that data.

I love RSS for this reason. I use Feedbin to hold my data and then I can choose any RSS app I want so long as it allows me to sign in to Feedbin. It’s why I’m still using Reeder Classic. Likewise with email, I use Fastmail as my data store and then I can use any app that supports IMAP or JMAP to interact with it. I’ve recently switched back to Obsidian again for this reason. The app sits on top of a structure made up of markdown files and folders. I can open the same structure in another markdown app like iA Writer and it will work (mostly) with all my data.

When you take the time to sit down and think about it, there are other systems like this. calendaring (via CalDAV) and contacts (via CardDAV) work this way as well. It would be so great to see this approach adopted for things like tasks, time tracking, and read it later apps. I’d just like a bit more flexibility on how I interact with that kind of data as well.

It’s been an interesting start to the day, one which has felt like 2008 all over again. I sat down at my desk with a morning coffee, opened my RSS feeds and went through opening stories into Safari when I came across something that seemed interesting. Two of those articles led me to two new blogs, personal blogs, from people I’ve never come across before. Now my feed reader has two extra subscriptions to keep track of.

Back in the early 2000’s while I was a student and at the start of my design career, this was a regular occurrence. Blogs would reveal more blogs, which would reveal more blogs, and at the end of it all I would feel inspired and ready to create a post for my own blog. Much like today. In that sense it feels like nothing has really changed. The internet, if we let it, can still serve up new surprises and new interesting people in a way that nothing else can. The small, personal, internet that is.

The last 15 years or so has been damaging to the personal internet. We have surrendered ourselves to the behemoths of social media, falling for the promise of easier connections, when in reality those connections are shallower and don’t last. People get drowned out in the noise and lost in the algorithm. That’s why mornings like this feel more special. Like a mini-revival is taking place. Most of the personal blogs I followed nearly 2 decades ago are gone now, sadly, but new ones are springing up and old timers are returning. People are scrabbling about in the back of the cupboard, finding the old hat buried at the back, dusting it off, giving it a clean, and starting again.

It actually makes me happy, which feels odd to write, but it’s true. I like finding new blogs to read, people to follow, photos to look at. It reminds me that despite all that’s going on in the world, it still keeps spinning. People keep creating, sharing their experiences, and more (please more) often than not there isn’t any politics in sight. It’s like a new renaissance is bubbling up, and I’m here for it.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the two new blogs I found that triggered this post:

• The first by a photographer called Adrian
• The second is by Bijan Sabet

Both linked to by Om on his new blog.