Not laptops

began my school days with a notebook. Then notebooks. Pupils like myself learned how to read and write. We used notebooks. We had a blackboard, later a whiteboard (for health reasons). It generally worked. It can still work.

Earlier this year I used a notebook extensively to take notes. This week I begin turning those notes into digital articles. It’s not about copying the thing word by word. Typing is faster than writing and gives more time to consider one’s choice of words or which words are most important to capture.

Nostalgic. Yes, but it works.

Time flies

can’t believe it’s almost mid-September (in a month with 30 days 15 is halfway). We’ll be in 2027 within 3+ months and it already feels cold.

2026 was exceptionally productive for me – probably most productive since I was a teenager.

The other day, on the way back home, I recalled all the many activities I did when I was 15. I can’t believe I managed to squeeze in TV, computer games, tennis etc. into my day/s. It’s not that these recreational activities were “gainful” (probably a waste of time more than anything else), it’s just that I didn’t let school and homework take over my life. I did that in moderation. I even used to work out in school (with the facilities available). Towards the end I swam there.

I think my efficiency is peaking right now.

Many people still remember how they first heard about it (and where)

still remember how I found out about the 9/11 (2021) attacks. I was likely on a plane at the time, flying back to Manchester. After I had landed and picked up my suitcase the cab driver told me that a plane hit a building in the US. I assumed it was 1) a small plane (one person); 2) only one collision; 3) an accident.

When I arrived home I began to realise what happened. Maybe some of the collisions happened after my landing^*. I never checked and compared the times; the media focused on entirely different aspects (not the exact times).

That was 25 years ago. I was a student at the time. The world has changed profoundly since then, and not at all for the better.

____

^* If the air crew (onboard in English airspace) knew about what happened, then they chose not to tell passengers. That’s understandable. Panic is a safety hazard.

Death came

ur next-door neighbour died this weekend. She was almost 80. We didn’t get along (almost nobody got along with her, both past and present), but at times like these we must all be human beings and compassionate towards grieving relatives. This was not shocking or surprising because this past year the ambulance came here a lot and there was gradual deterioration, often very loud screaming and doors being slammed.

My thoughts about this situation are very complicated. I don’t believe people suddenly become saints or impermissible to criticise because they die. But common sense or popular sayings urge us to keep quiet if we have nothing positive to say.

Rianne will pray for her. We hope her husband can cope.

Look ma, no Facebook!

allery has been installed in this site since 2012 or 2013. This past week it passed 8 million views for pertinent pages, now clocking at 8012k.

Gallery is hardly maintained anymore, so the gallery we have installed here will need format-shifting and exporting some day.

Time to get back to pen and paper?

e all have moments like these, irrespective of our age (though age can impact frequency, severity and so on). Let’s be honest with ourselves, as this is quite common: We enter some room, sometimes the kitchen, and then we forget some of the tasks or the sole task.

It happened to me yesterday. I knew I wanted to get something from the fridge, but could not recall what. Turns out, it wasn’t food. It was a filter agent for the water of the fish and also for the shells/snails.

I remembered or recalled this only a day later because the same observations (or needs) rekindled that same memory and obvious desire, based on a necessity.

Sometimes I wonder if I should carry a notepad and pen with me. Besides, I need to make a list of things to buy too (I used to do this with a piece of paper), e.g. also some dishwashing gel and decent high-capacity backpack. We also need to find more bottles of the thing/s for the fish and some seeds for the birds. “Sweepy” seems to have just laid eggs, so we must assume she feeds chicks somewhere and must therefore be fed as long as she has appetite.

I think I’ll eventually, perhaps some time very soon, get back to carrying paper and pen; it’s the only way to avoid forgetting things I want to do, say, and so on.

Mobile phone? No, thanks. Overkill.

“The freedom of immobility” is what Mr. Self has just called it. “Smartphones advertise themselves as “mobile,” yet that actually translates to “inescapable.” You’re expected to answer emails on the train and handle text messages while out to dinner. A corded phone, by contrast, physically ties you to a wall. That coiled plastic cord isn’t a leash; it’s a built-in boundary that protects your peace. When you leave the house, the phone remains behind. You become unreachable, untrackable, and present in the real world.”

A pen and paper do not “talk to you”, they are there to aid the brain by offloading lists or thoughts.

It’s now open!

OME months ago major overhaul began in the area shown in the above article – an historically significant structure that underwent very significant changes since around January (I’m way too young to have any fond memories of it or to have taken train journeys from it). I wrote about it in relation to the Banksy exhibition and today there was a grilling event, with pleasant-smelling smoke coming out of the building.

More importantly, the coffee shop has opened to everyone.

“A new coffee shop is set to open in the former Mayfield station ticket office,” says the above.

There are still more trees left to be planted near the pavement, but it is overall work well executed. They took one of the ugliest corners of Manchester and turned it into a gem. We saw it gradually, in slow motion so to speak, turning from dust to gold.