where the story began
When I started my MA course in Creative Writing, I told a few people the story of how I started writing. I had an inspirational teacher at the age of 9, that's the shortest version.…
interstitial
Interstitial spaces are defined by what they are between. They are non-places, between other, proper places. Here is one. In web design, an interstitial meant a “please wait” screen displayed to deter the user from closing the browser whilst the…
exponential growth
Yes, it's a post about the COVID-19 pandemic, because this year nobody is talking about anything else. But I've been holding off because the situation changes every day…
under the bridge
Down at the end, round by the corner, close to the edge, just by the river.…
the map’s in your soul
I found this quotation about novel-writing from E.L. Doctorow and immediately liked it. It reminded me of a car journey I once made, when I was a PhD student. I needed to return to Newcastle, but there was a very heavy fog; I didn't realise how heavy, until I got out of town…
a history of chares
Following my map research last month, I grew increasingly interested in Newcastle's geography and how it came into being.…
map research
I've written about my contributions to OpenStreetMap before. Surveying the ever-changing Newcastle Helix site for OSM, I noticed that part of Corporation Street no longer exists on the ground, bulldozed to make way for a new building that is just being started…
fading light
I've taken a lot of photos that I'm very happy with since updating my phone a year ago…
invaders on the streets
It all started in July, when I took a photo of what appeared to be a space invader in the middle of a Union Jack, high up on a wall on Pink Lane.…
thought experiment
Latency, in computer networking, means the delay between preparing to send information and the start of the transfer itself. It was a term borrowed from biology, where latency is the delay between stimulus and response.…
sedimentary
It is hot even under the trees in Central Park. People are strolling, having languid conversations on the lawns, or dozing off on an outcrop of warm Manhattan schist.…
being a writer
I've noticed one or two of my Creative Writing classmates referring to themselves on social media as a writer. Perhaps it jumped out at me. Obviously I write (the evidence is right here), but I don't really think of myself as a writer.…