After Trump I and now Trump II, I have decided to exit the USA from a business perspective. I don’t actually live there. It was with a heavy heart because I’ve had many a good time in the US. And, who knows, those good times may return in future. Under Trump’s orders a bunch of thugs, in the guise of ICE, entered...

The Chinese year of the Snake has been a good one for me. I wonder what the year of the Horse holds in store. Maybe it’s best not to know. On the whole 2025 was good. I launched a new website, The Markdown Handbook, and began writing a travel blog (to be announced). Oh, and my late-life career as a gardener finally...

For a short time this blog was part of the IndieWeb that vast sprawling network of websites that considers itself as separate from the corporate web. They publish on their own site first then, optionally, elsewhere. In that way they ‘own’ their content. And no one can take that away. Which is all good. But then I...

Obsidian is a great note-taking app, but is also a great way to manage your tasks Task managers have been around for years, but back in the day they were simply called ‘lists’. First, there was pen and paper, then computers and, as far as I can recall, the first to cover that situation was todo.txt, a plain text...

With all the controversy surrounding WordPress at the moment, it wouldn’t surprise me if there were people out there looking to jump ship. I think Matt Mullenweg spat his dummy out, personally; he’s like a smaller version of Elon Musk, and everyone knows what a deluded individual (I’m being nice here) he is. These...

Bulova Surveyor: it’s striking pistachio dial may not be to everyone’s taste, but it suits mine. Shot with Ricoh R10 Model: Bulova Surveyor 96B427 Case dia.: 39mm Movement: Automatic Water resistance: 30m Strap size: 20mm Category: Dress Price: £219 (RRP £279) Available from: Amazon UK Rabbit holes (distractions)...

Rotary Avenger Sport: prefers a quiet life Model: Rotary Avenger Sport GS05480/65 Case dia.: 38mm Movement: Quartz Water resistance: 50m Strap size: 18mm Category: Dress Price: £74.98 (RRP £118.30) Available from: Amazon UK Racing retro aesthetic is how the marketing people put it. But for a firm that saw its...

Rotary Seamatic: the near-perfect watch that’s let down by a number of niggles Model: Rotary Seamatic Strap automatic watch, GS05430/79 Case dia.: 42mm Movement: Automatic Water resistance: 300m Strap size: 22mm, not 20mm Category: Diver Price: £171.75 (RRP £229) Available from: Amazon UK I like the fact that it is...

Orient’s automatic diving watch hits my sweet spot Model: Orient diving watch FAA02007B9 Case dia.: 41mm Movement: Automatic Water resistance: 200m Strap size: 20mm Category: Diver Price: £148.33 Available from: Amazon UK Sport, scuba diving, rough-and-tumble gear, elegant nightwear, this is a go-anywhere watch if...

MarkText offers a clean, simple interface that you can hide with the flick of a quick key, and its free for use on Mac, Windows and Linux devices MarkText is a markdown editor, not unlike Ulysses, IA Writer and Bear. But unlike Ulysses, IA Writer and Bear, and many others I could name, MarkText is a free open source...

Berny’s Automatic Dive watch with its misaligned day mode Model: Berny Automatic Mechanical Dive AM7081M-YE Case dia.: 42mm Movement: Miyota 8205 automatic Water resistance: 200m Strap size: 20mm Category: Dive Price: £67.50 (RRP £120.99) Available from: Berny This watch from Berny is my first step away from a...

Journal app: upload to your server and it’s just there on all your devices Kev Quirk’s journalling app is genius. I like the way he thinks. He doesn’t want, or need, the likes of the Day One journalling app, “too much going on, and I don't like the fact I'm sending my journal to a 3rd party”. Agreed on that. All he...