stalactite and stalagmite

Instead of reporting from today's scenic beach/harbour/cafe, I thought I'd go underground. We'd decided to head for some nearby caves.

I was genuinely surprised at the scale and quantity of stalactites and stalagmites, almost from the moment we entered. I always think that stalactites have to hold on Tight - because they are the ones that hang down and stalagmites Grow upward. But that's just me*.

From the start when we were hardly a few metres below ground, we were already in vast chambers dating five or more million years ago into the miocene period. That's proper 'Planet of the Apes' territory. And I can't remember seeing real stalactites before - although I've been into other caves and mines and seen them on telly.

It wasn't just a handful. There were millions of them. All sizes and shapes, including some that looked almost like paper or cloth. The caves were around a kilometre long and descended to around 25 metres - I gather they have been formed by the pounding of the Mediterranean into the rocks.

Our guide was quite helpful, but I decided that my Spanish/German and his English didn't quite transfer the information, so I'll spend some quiet time checking the facts later.

For now, I'll just be amazed.

* others use 'c' for ceiling and 'g' for ground

sand me the wi-fi

The little footpath by the side of the villa leads to another bay and a further beach. The main bay and beach along the road seems to be known to the tourists, whilst this other one seems to be mainly known to the locals.

The whole coastline around here is small bays, some of which have received a commercial makeover and others seem to be part of various national parks and therefore protected.

Either way, we're not complaining, because we can switch from beachside amenities to quiet and secluded with just a short walk.

It's the first time I've noticed those beach umbrellas with built-in safes for wallets and gadgets - although I'm not sure about whether the accompanying wi-fi on the beach is somehow missing the point?

another day, another beach

east across the island

We're moving along today, to a new base camp further to the east. We threw everything into the little car we've hired and cut across winding roads, past fields of orange trees against a backdrop of the mountains.

The new place is spacious and airy, although the weather is so wonderful I think we'll be spending most time outside.

The view looks out towards a hilltop castle. I guess we'll need to take a look tomorrow. Fortunately there's mountain bikes waiting to be used.

Maybe that's before we try the pool here; I see there's four poster beds at the poolside to lounge upon.

But this evening we'll have a suitably late Spanish supper waiting.

sun in my eyes

It was a bit tricky starting this post because the sun was in my eyes. I'm not complaining; I've just moved a little further around. I still need to be able to reach the sangria, so it's a bit of a balancing act.

I've already acquired one of those English white wrists caused by sudden exposure to sun rays on a dutifully office based skin. Now I've cast the wrist-watch aside for a few days so we'll have to see if the stripe evens out.

Today has been filled with sunshine and beaches, even a very orange flavoured ice cream at one point. Tomorrow we're moving on, to another coastline and more areas to explore.

squirly pastries

Today's breakfast included some little squirly pastries, which I initially thought were a type of Danish pastry. They turned out to be a simple but tasty ensaïmada, which left a lingering aroma of dusted icing sugar long after they'd been eaten.

Later I noticed the same confection in shops, where they were much larger and clearly a speciality of this area. Another culinary surprise were the apparent Cornish pasties stocked in the same shops. They were actually empenadas, but the ones I've usually seen have been much smaller. Some of the ones here made Cornish pasties look small. And don't get me started on the doughnuts. Some would require two hands to lift.

I normally think of Spanish cuisine more in terms of seafood, grilled fish, paella, tapas and tortilla. Maybe the Crema Catalana would also be on the list, but that's where my Spanish pudding knowledge starts to taper away.

So then into the town, which has a large port full of fancy yachts and a cathedral which received a partial makeover from Gaudi. The cathedral is on a truly dramatic scale, with the inside draped with gold. A sculpturally interesting crown of thorns cuts across the alter, but compared with structures in Barcelona, the Gaudi influence, to me, seemed less obvious.

Instead, I found myself wondering whether the skull and crossbones on some of the graves were simply the old symbols of death, or whether when the symbol of the bones passing behind the symbol of the skull, meant a possible pirate.

ramble

Another spot of cafe society today, although this time it's in Spain. We've headed to the Mediterranean for a few days and right from the start there's a strange yellow orb in the sky that hasn't been seen so much in England.

Today we've been gently rambling the narrow streets, and there will be more of that for the next couple of days, until we head off to somewhere with a beach. Although, come to think of it, we were sipping drinks down by the harbour today whilst waiting for the sunset.

awaiting the photofit pigeons

The bike can be almost silent as it spins along the road.

I'll even make it create scraping mechanical sounds if I think I might startle someone on a quiet lane. It seems better than ringing bells or calling out which can seem annoying and almost rude.

The bike's stealth catches wildlife unawares. Sometimes a last minute flurry as birds flap from the road. Everyone says magpies and crows steal shiny objects. My silent speed shows fleeting gruesome truths of these birds attacking small rodents aiming first for the eyes.

Or larger birds of prey swooping to try to drive smaller animals out of fields towards traffic.

The 2013 edition birds are beginning to appear although everything seems later this year. It's messing with my low flying bird theory.

I reckon the newbies survive by flying above car height, which could explain the extra lane carnage usually around May. I've already seen a couple of birds crash into the glass of the house this year, bouncing away to fly another day. I'm pretty sure one was doing that territory thing and somehow chasing its own reflection. Ouch.

But not the ouch that goes with those ghostly bird imprints which start to appear on windows around now. Usually cartoon photofit images of startled pigeons.

Gatsby at the Electric

We were along at the Electric Cinema to see the new Gatsby movie. It's the right type of place for this viewing experience, with its opulent revamped interior. There's little lit tables between the armchair seats as well as a choice of sofas and beds, all with snuggly cashmere blankets in the adjacent foot tools.

Before last year's fire, which wiped out the adjacent brasserie and damaged the cinema, the beds were at the back.

Now they've been moved to the front, which I suppose optimises the view of the screen.

Our drinks were served in those fancy looking cocktail glasses too, which seemed fitting, given the nature of Baz Luhrmann's movie.

He sure knows how to throw a party and the ones in The Great Gatsby were somehow cranked right up to 12.

I felt the film divided into two main types of scene. There were the spectacular parties, swooping views of Manhattan and Long Island, and dramatic cars speeding along forming one half. Offsetting this were scenes set in smaller rooms, played very much like stage pieces. The storyline moved along in these closer segments, some of which were also done with a graceful humour.

There were also hat tips to other movies, including an inevitable Titanic moment with di Caprio.

I think most people know the Gatsby story. I wondered whether this production would tinker with the main story points, but it mainly followed the original plot.

Some of the action scenes were so vibrant and heavily cut that the acting took a second seat to other production values, which veered from hold the seat spectacular to downright cheesy. Then, occasionally, there was a scene where a more naturalistic acting could take place. I quite enjoyed these gentler and more realistic interludes which seemed to serve the exposition of the plot.

Despite car chase movies beating Gatsby in the UK ratings, there's a noticeable Gatsby vibe in some parts of London at the moment.

Bookstores are full of related novels and picture books. There's new ranges of Gatsby influenced fashion on tube adverts and on the back pages of magazines and papers.

F Scott Fitzgerald wrote this story of decadence, obsession, passion, corruption, infidelity and an inevitability.

And Luhrmann's movie uses the author's rich text floating over the last scenes. "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

I'm going to re-read the novel next. I have a feeling that I'll keep the idea of the movie and the novel as two separate ways to tell a similar story.

flickr: i'll wait before forming an opinion on this one

flickr's changed.
I'm not sure where the seagulls appeared from.

I added a cupcake. Subtle?

Evernote with Moleskine

When I'm in meetings and need to take notes, I tend to use a small paper notepad. If I'm working remotely on a headset, then I'll type directly into a laptop, but it seems rude to put a big piece of technology in front of me when I'm talking face to face.

I know this attitude is changing, and there's use of laptops, Blackberries, iPads and so on in most meetings, but they can also mask an escape to email or other disengaging activities. We've all seen those sessions where everyone has the lid opened on a machine as a kind of plastic shield to hide behind.

Of course, the direct input to a machine has its place. Maybe in a lecture setting or for a notetaker in a facilitated workshop. The key for me is that the technology shouldn't be an inhibitor to the engagement with the session. I'll use a phone as a notepad sometimes or handwriting on an iPad through Notability.

Because I tend to revert to paper for basic note taking, I thought I'd try the newest version of the Moleskine notebook, which has been my weapon of choice for years. It's small and even smaller when using the thin cahier version.

An obvious factor is that the notes are saved on paper, rather than into electronic storage. I therefore use it as a short term scratch pad more than for longevity.

My experiment is with the newest version of these little notepads, which have dotty lines and a camera friendly contrasty paper. It lets me make notes and snap them with my iPhone, straight into Evernote, which then decodes my handwriting and makes it searchable.

My handwriting isn't usually as big as the example above, which I've done for this blog. After I'd snapped it into Evernote, I typed 'coincidentally' as my first search term, and Evernote found it straight away. Text searching of handwriting - perhaps useful?

I'll see how I get on.

Further example: Searching for "eve" on the page finds "event" and "evernote"

Digital Shoreditch #ds13

I spent some fun time at Digital Shoreditch today. It's running for a couple of weeks and has attracted plenty of sponsors, being only a phone's throw from 'Silicon Roundabout' just to the north of the City of London.

This area of London had a branding makeover and its official name is now 'Tech City', with most of the offices inhabited by digital startup companies.

Set in the old town hall, yet firmly facing the future, Digital Shoreditch is a good way to look across what is happening and to sift out the real stuff.

The discussions featured the telematics of life-streaming and explored the ways commerce intercepts the shared information. A kind of Moore's Law of rapidly expanding shared personal information. A trend until it bends.

At the core, the mobile phone is the personal device. Ages ago it replaced the cigarette for fidgeting, but then it grew eyes and ears, now it knows where we are, and what we are doing. No wonder it is the subject of innovative commercial attention.

Add the cheap commoditisation of GPS chips, so that constant location data for an individual and fixed location data for 'things' creates a basis for commercial linkages.

Unsurprisingly, beer-ordering fridges tower in the examples, at odds with the large groups who still won't trust online grocery ordering.

Of course, the organisations around the Silicon Roundabout are figuring out behavioural ways to make it all compelling, rather than the trickery of today's opt in/out tick boxes. Appeal to the head and the heart. Tell a story. Get interaction over content.

So Digital Shoreditch is waving its virtual flag for the Big Data/ Cloud based/ Visual Discovery/ Near Field/ Lifestreamed/ Always On environment.

Sure, it doesn't all work reliably yet (the recent near-field double-payments are an example), but it's clear that we can expect accelerating innovation from these methods of business.