I took the first photo, and then a little while later I looked at my phone. I realised I’d taken the second one too.
Category: Uncategorized
Hockney on an iPad
He started doing these pieces at the beginning of last decade, which in itself is extraordinary.

And you can tell how they’ve been produced, some are a little garish but this is true to the form. They have immediacy. There are a lot of them. I liked the one above in particular. The ongoing green, with the central waterfall (which I’ve only just noticed), is broken asymmetrically by the yellow and red cars. The transient figures blend into the green, as does the car and the truck on the right. This one is softer.
The paint lines are interesting, because they are scribbles. Or single lines. And they give up the form the most. Which can have appeal.
I have one as the background on my phone, and another as the background on my iPad.
Lunch break
15:14: get on the metro, put down my bag and take off my hat. Lean back on the door.
15:16: train at Diego de Leon.
15:20: a man moves around his electric scooter on the metro, it looks heavy. He turns with his back to me.
15:22: we’re at Alonso Martínez; electric scooter man gets off, a man asking for money gets on. He says that he can’t get work.
15:25: the doors try to close but second guess themselves. They move back, and then, finally, close. I’ve been standing here for ten minutes, although I’ve moved halfway across Madrid.
15:36: reef falls off the door as I walk in.
15:38: take my coat off.
15:47: I put the kettle on.
15:50: bite into a burger, kettle’s boiled and washing machine whirring in the background. The kitchen is lit in blue fluorescence.
16:05: listening to Sunny Afternoon, I drink my cup of tea and think about my lesson later.
16:07: Gloomy Sunday comes on.
16:11: I put a USB stick in my computer to move some materials across.
16:12: received a Facebook message from David.
16:21: uploading an article on nature vs nurture onto class blog.
16:24: moving my hair around.
16:27: I can hear an email notification on my iPad, and then on my phone. I wait for it to arrive on my computer, it doesn’t.
16:28: I find something I like in teaching unplugged.
16:32: it arrives on my computer, not before I pour myself two glasses of water and walk back from the kitchen. By which point I’ve already checked my phone.
16:51: Honey on toast.
Cafe breakfast, Doctor’s advice, and Cycling
Today, I’m eating breakfast in a cafe. What a luxury! I’ve had a cortardo and a flat croissant with marmalade. I have a book with me but I haven’t opened it. Instead, my wallet needed reorganising.
I’ve had some advice from the doctor (via my lovely mum) regarding the silly thing; I feel more at ease now.
And I’ve been able to collect my BiciMAD card – after my email was entered incorrectly last Thursday.
And freedom. Stomach acid too!
Monday morning
I’m drinking my second cup of tea.
I’ve sent some messages to my mum, explaining how I am feeling. And I’ve sent an email asking for help with long term planning. In an hour, I’ll be getting ready to leave for work.
Right now, I’m drinking.
Something silly happened yesterday, that I don’t want to repeat because I’m trying to forget about it. But it’s bothering me.
I’m looking forward to having a coffee between lesson 1 and 2. When I come home tonight it will be half ten and I’ll have finished lesson 5. Hunger will probably bother me most at that time.
Right now, I’m listening to NTS (Charlie Bones).
I’ve been reading Emmanuel Carrère essays this morning. Yesterday, I went to Flores. Pedro Almodóvar y Jorge Galindo at the Tabacalera twice – to try and forget. I got the most from it the second time, when I went at 17:47ish. After that, I came back to my apartment with a paper full of the paintings and pinned various pages to my wall. While wearing a Fulham hat and being on facetime to my family, together watching old tapes (of fourth birthday parities, nursery plays, days not doing much at home) being digitally converted. It was sweet.
I’m in Madrid and I miss my family.
My First Blog Post
Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
Introduce Yourself (Example Post)
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
Why do this?
- Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
- Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
- Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
- What topics do you think you’ll write about?
- Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
- If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?
You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.



