This week was the 11th year that I’ve had my current allotment. I was trying to find a photo or two of what it looked like when I took it on, however there seems to be a gap in my photo library around that point – I’m guessing that they’re still on whatever phone I had at the time, and are in our loft. I did however find this short video which was taken around the 26th July that year. Things have certainly changed since then.
As the year clicks past the half-way point, it’s been hot, the insects are biting and it certainly feels like summer. I’ve had no meetings this week, but lots of client work to do and so far I’m on top of it.
I’ve read three books this week (although two of them were rather short). David Hewson’s “Devils Fjord”; Georges Simenon’s “The Flemish House” and Stephen King’s “The Colorado Kid”. They were all good, but I probably enjoyed Devil’s Fjord the most.
The allotment is doing really well despite the heat, we’ve had a really good crop of potatoes and the summer vegetables are starting now. I’ve picked more gooseberries than I can count and I’m planning to make some gooseberry chutney, but for now their in the freezer as I really don’t fancy working in a hot kitchen in this weather to make it, plus I need to get some ingredients. Pickled gherkins are also on the list, which are a little easier to do, just as soon as I get enough to fill a jar or two.
I wrote and linked last week to pieces about Kindle licenses and e-book DRM in general, and then this piece was linked to in Robin Sloan’s excellent newsletter. It isn’t anything new or that I didn’t really know about – although I wasn’t aware of what happened with copies of 1984 and Animal Farm. Kind of ironic that it would be books by George Orwell that it happened too.
How To Grow Your Own Medicine Cabinet.
Electronic Scrapbook 
Yup, digital media is a double edged sword. It’s convenient, but undependable. I don’t use a Kindle or other e-book; not since my Franklin eBookman. Back in the days of the eBookman, ebook flies were actually downloaded and saved to your home PC. But, today, I’d never pay for an e-book. If I can’t download it to my own PC, I’m not interested.
But downloading is not enough. I always tell people, once you have something in a digital file on your PC, burn it to a CD or DVD. Because, if you’re not backing up your files to some sort of permanent storage medium, it can still disappear in a flash and lost.
Best of all, if you can, always buy a physical copy of the books, movies, music, etc. that you want to keep and own. Media on magnetic disk or flash memory should always be considered to be “temporary”.
Yes I agree, having a physical copy of something is always better than digital. Thinking about it though I have a lot of old cassette tapes of music that I’m not sure I have anything to play them on. I’m obviously not missing them though. Digital is fine, but when you only own a licence and can’t make a physical copy you’re always reliant on someone else.