I am excited to say that 10,000 Delights, Vol. 1: A Very Incomplete Guide to the North Downs Way is now published and available to buy from Amazon (all regions). This volume comprises all the North Downs Way stories I have written so far, and even though you can, of course, read them for free on this site, I hope you will consider buying the book to support my creative endeavours. As the title suggests, I do intend to keep on compiling the stories thematically into oversized ‘zines. I will likely release Vol. 2 later this year. It’s more expensive than I hoped (£14.99) but that’s because I chose the ‘premium colour’ option so the photos wouldn’t look rubbish. Despite Amazon’s claim to give writers 60% royalties, they get to that figure by some jiggery pokery (in my opinion as a bookkeeper of several decades standing!) and so I get £3.37
Flat Adder wasn’t always flat, nor an adder. He had an unfortunate accident in his 32nd month which he has miraculously managed to transform into good fortune. This is why no one argues with him about his claim to adder-hood. There is too much to admire to quibble over such insignificant aspects of his personhood. Being flat allows Flat Adder to see into another dimension which is 42 seconds ahead of ours, but otherwise exactly the same. As a result, a great many people come to visit Flat Adder so that they might know their immediate future. He has to speak really quickly to say the future before it happens, and if anyone knows adders, they’ll know how difficult a feat that is. All snakes are languid in nature and therefore not moved to particularly fast speech. As a result Flat Adder speaks in part-sentences. He’ll get out the first two
I should say off the bat, that I am ‘pro AI’, whatever that means. I use both Claude (my favourite as it is a terrible flatterer) and ChatGPT, although not yet enough to get a subscription to either. This underuse is due to the work that I do, as well as the limitations of my own imagination in respect of how to fully use AI to augment and enhance my life. Fundamentally, I think we all need to get adept at integrating AI into our lives because we are on a precipice, and those who do not understand how to incorporate AI will get left behind. What follows are some thoughts on how AI is currently impacting certain aspects of higher education in the UK, and how it could fundamentally transform HE altogether. Namely, coursework assessment at present, and the structure and function of education in the future. Students’ use of
Since my Hoka Tor Ultra Hi vs Inov-8 RocFly G 390 GTX gear review post is quite popular, I thought I would do another one for the Hoka Trail Code GTX. Sadly, my Inov-8 RocFly G 390 GTX died in May after about 6 months of weekly walks, so I bought the RocFly G 390s as they were half price. However, they only lasted about 3-4 walks before the sole peeled apart. I sent them back and got a no-hassle refund, and I wasn’t too sad as they weren’t that comfortable anyway. I needed a new pair pretty much immediately, so I went to the Hoka store in Covent Garden with the intention of buying another pair of Tor Ultra Hi. Alas, they didn’t have any, so my second option was the Kaha 2s. Yeah, no. They felt like orthopaedic shoes: massive, heavy, clunky, and not at all agile. I can
It has been a little over a year since I started my writing walking project and I am taking a hiatus for a little while. I want to compile a ‘zine (or two?) from what I have written thus far and don’t have the time to make that and write new stories, alas. The first ‘zine I have planned is called A Very Incomplete Guide to the North Downs Way which will feature all the stories I found on my walks along that long distance national trail. I am not sure how I will get these printed yet, whether I’ll use some print on demand service or if I will just stock them myself, but if you would like to support and buy a copy of the ‘zine, please get in touch and let me know. I want to do full colour, but that may make them prohibitively expensive. I will