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Dampening the Hacker’s Fire
Ten to fifteen times a day, seven days a week, I receive a mail from my server - where this small blog is hosted - warning me that someone, somewhere, is trying to break into my system and take over what I have built during the last few years. I could, perhaps, feel a certain level of pride that my server, out of all the servers in the world, has been selected for this elite attention....
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No Birthday Cake
I had plans for today, carefully made well in advance. As I wrote in an earlier post, I was going to give out a special lunch for my work colleagues, to celebrate the end of my sixty-fifth year of life. Those plans had to be cancelled, and new plans made: the union has called us out on strike for a day and there is a certain obligation involved; I pay my dues, and it is for this reason that I pay those dues....
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Taking to the Streets
As a child, when I still imagined that television was interesting, I sent a great deal of my time ensuring I would not have to go to bed too early by watching the adult programmes; that is, those documentaries and news bulletins which I equated with being an adult, as opposed to what we now understand to be adult (sexual / violent) content. I gained, over several years, a very solid view of what the world was like: Thunderbirds was never going to be able to rescue us....
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The Crowded City
Every city is different, not just from its historical origins, but also the very manner in which it presents itself to the world. The people within are different too: subtle changes in fashion; accents and regional dialects; awareness of local history; acceptance of outsiders. The list might go on for several pages, if we put our minds to it, and not just from the things that we see as long-time residents or regular visitors, but also the characteristics which remain in the minds of those who come as tourists, no matter how briefly....
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It Isn’t All Tourism
When I visit a new town or city, I tend to spend hours just wandering round the streets randomly, looking at the people, the shops, the architecture, the little things which come together to make a community within a city centre. I note the people standing in front of churches and museums, town halls, ornate buildings with a long history which contribute to the whole atmosphere, posing with their cameras or, more often, their mobile telephones to either capture memories, or to prove they were there. I see people consulting maps and tourist guides, going from one well-worn area to another, queuing up at museums, pushing heavy doors open to…
