Neil Scott

I am on an information diet again, which gives me more time in which to write longer blog entries. It doesn’t really seem fair that because I am reducing the amount of information that I consume, the four people who read this* should have to endure more. Sorry about that.

Part of the diet included uninstalling my stats programme, which was gradually becoming an obsession. In case you are interested, half of my 30-or-so hits a day came from google, where I appear to be very popular with the following search terms: “best free fonts“, “how to eat a car“, and “Deborah Curtis“. I’m sure a better man than me could fangle a way to optimize the content better, but I’m not bothered. The longer I write this, the less I care whether it is read.

Of course, I wince at the solecisms like everyone else but I am ever-hopeful that through this daily practice my writing will eventually get the point where it is fresh, fluent, and insightful. Rhodri once mentioned that he was worried that the practice of daily (paid) blogging had drained his well of words, as if he had used up his allotted amount and would thenceforth have to grunt. I don’t quite agree with this zero-sum idea of words but it is galling when you see your thoughts arranged into the same constricting constructions.

I walked to work this morning for the first time. Compared to cycling, walking is slow, meditative, and mindful; you can absorb the sights and smells, exercise different muscles, and can even practice your Spanish in peace. It is all part of my push to increase the amount of attention I pay to things. See also Will Self’s great tomhodgkinsonesque piece in the Standard about how the Government are anti-walking because they can’t tax it.

* Hi Barney, Laura, Rhodri, and Rob.