27.11.17 — Journal

What’s in Your Bag?

One of my favourite tech blogs, The Verge, has a series entitled “What’s in Your Bag?” in which they invite their employees to share what they carry with them on a daily basis. I’ve always been a keen reader of these articles, as I’m fascinated by what people actually treat as indispensable enough to carry with them at all times.

To this end I thought I’d share what I carry with me in my day-to-day life here in the busy city of Madrid. I may not be as huge on tech as some of the guys over at The Verge, but I think I carry my fair share of interesting bits and bobs. So what exactly does a designer carry around with him? Let’s dive in…

Herschel Pop Quiz Backpack

Just before moving out to Spain I bought a new one of these, but my last one lasted me the best part of four years. It holds my laptop or iPad perfectly, I like the design and its size is nicely compact for everyday use, but I’ve found I can cram a surprising amount into it when travelling.

iPad Pro 13” with Apple Pencil and Keyboard

Instead of my laptop I usually just throw my iPad in my bag, as my MacBook is quite heavy and its battery pretty dreadful, and the iPad does everything needed on a daily basis. At work I use it as a secondary monitor for my iMac (thanks to the great app Duet), and after work I can set up my keyboard in a café and do some writing, or use the Pencil to doodle as I speed along on the Metro.

Leuchtturm1917 Dotted A6 with Schneider Xtra 805

This handy little notebook is dotted which can work perfectly as a grid for designing on or as lines for longer form writing, and I its compact size makes it the perfect go-everywhere pad. In this pen I firmly believe that I have found the best pen in the world, as it sits somewhere between a gel pen and a standard ball point, making it smooth and perfect for both writing and sketching design ideas.

iPhone X and iPhone 6

Whilst some may have been drawn in by the big screen or gimmicky new features like the so-called animojis, I mainly upgraded to this phone for its camera, and so I now find that my trusty Canon 500D gets left at home. The iPhone X presents a sizeable upgrade over the iPhone 6, which although suffering a broken home button and a two hour battery life, still gets thrown in my when I need to use it as my Spanish mobile.

Bose QuietComfort 35 II

Another recent purchase, these replace a knackered pair of Beats, and are a treat I bought myself from duty free just before boarding my flight out to begin working here. After years of catching my headphone wire on door handles, it’s nice to pop them on and wander around the city without a care in the world. I find the sound quality excellent, helped in no small way by the noise cancelling which works incredibly well.

Arial by Sylvia Plath

A collection of poems rather than a novel, I find I always have time on the metro to read even just a short poem on my way to work. Plath’s work might not be the most jovial or uplifting, but I find each piece to be somehow beguilingly haunting and beautifully written. I’ve also noticed that as I’ve read each one so many times I am able to half recite them as I read, which gives me a sense of calm familiarity as I traverse this foreign city.

Solan de Cabras Water

Of course I’m not so wasteful (or for that matter rich) as to buy these with any kind of frequency, rather I just keep topping the thing up with tap water to keep me hydrated as I sizzle in the sun. At 60 cents a bottle it’s cheaper than a proper reusable one, and although I’ve been told I’ll catch some kind of desease by reusing it, I wash the thing on a regular basis and to my knowledge I haven’t died yet.

Keys and Cards

Wherever I go I like to keep a copy of both my personal cards and my new shiny (literally) ones from Erretres. These sit alongside my transport card, which at 20€ a month for unlimited travel within the entirety of Madrid is an absolute steal. My keys (one of which is a USB memory stick, look closely) sit on a metal ring which for some reason I decided should be huge, and so sourced from eBay some years ago. Don’t ask.

Apple Watch, Sunglasses and Ring

I can’t say I rate the Apple Watch, as these days I pretty much just use it to check the time and occasionally read a text message. The sunglasses are just an 8€ pair I bought from H&M in Lisbon after I forgot to bring any, and so here the ring is probably the only thing I actually value. It was custom made from the smelted wedding rings of my grandma and grandad, and then bashed into this custom design by our family jeweller.

And thus concludes a tour through my bag. I’m always interested to see what everyone else couldn’t live without, so if you have made your own little collection then get in touch! I shall be back to my regular schedule of updates from my day to day life pretty soon, somehow this week has become much more hectic than expected…

20.11.17 — Travel

An Asturian Reunion

After a weekend out of the city, a full day of work and then having to cook two meals once I rocked up at home, I have only just now managed to sit down at my laptop for the evening. Adult life is indeed hard, and the whole “you can eat sweets for dinner whenever you want” expression fails to mention that you have to actually buy the sweets yourself…

Anyway, I’m not here to rant, rather to share that this weekend I spent a lovely couple of days traversing Asturias with my friend Kevin, who I saw last time I was up in Oviedo (and other places for that matter) back in July. This involved heading straight from work at 3pm to the northern train station of Madrid, Chamartín – but not before a quick stop to pick up a thank-you gift in the form of a napolitana de chocolate (a chocolate filled pastry) from the famous Madrid bakery La Mallorquina.

Arriving pretty early to the train station (British style), I proceeded to immediately manage to get lost, getting my bearings just in the nick of time to board my train. It was pretty quiet, so before we’d even cleared the city centre I’d found myself a comfy double seat to kick back and enjoy the views. I’ve noticed that sunsets here in Spain seem to always feature a short-lived shock of pink and purple, which is a feast for the eyes as well as the camera – photo to come later in the post!

Four hours of sketching new website ideas later, I arrived in Oviedo train station and set about finding Kevin. A surprise hug nearly had his phone crashing to the ground (note to self: do not surprise people whilst they are texting), but we were soon wandering the streets of the gorgeous city, gossiping and laughing as if we’d last seen each other yesterday.

That Friday evening we ate pizza near Kevin’s house and decided to have an early night to make the most of Saturday, but the habit we acquired in Leeds of chatting away into the early hours is a habit that will indeed die hard, and so we wound up waking up more around midday on Saturday than in the actual morning. Oops!

Once we’d eventually showered and left the house, Kevin revealed that we were to catch a train to visit the coast. I was super excited as it’s been so long since I visited the beach, and we were soon whirring even further north. It was on this train that I actually got round to taking one of the first half-decent photos of the trip…

We soon arrived at our stop, and getting off I still had no real idea where we were – and I couldn’t see any coast. A quick consultation on Google Maps directed us northwards, and I soon began to see what kind of place we’d rocked up at. It was a small town near the city of Avilés, a kind of coastal suburb with a mix of huge industry and pretty little seaside houses. We passed these, wandered across a car park full of surfers (getting changed no less, avert thine eyes!) and then headed over the sand dunes and on to the beach.

We’d arrived at a stop called San Juan de Nieva, a kind of ugly industrial spot, and so I had not imagined that a walk down the beach would ever be this beautiful. In fact, I have never been on a beach with such a beautiful sunset and with so few people around. The lack of noise and movement meant that we could enjoy a super chill stroll along the sand, watching the sun set and the waves crash. I’m trying my best not to get way too poetic, but it really was the stuff of fairytales.

As usual we were running late against the setting sun, but we agreed that time is never wasted when you spend it discussing nonsense for hours on end. We eventually reached a lovely little town called Salinas, where we went exploring further. The setting sun had me worried for the quality of the photos, buy the camera on my new phone has done a surprisingly good job of taking in all the light possible.

After following the road around, we found a little cove which looked cute but also a little bit like a death trap with the rising tide, and so we opted to walk through a tunnel cut through the cliff and see where it led to exactly. It eventually opened out to reveal an eerie sight; a factory, complete with dual chimneys, silhouetted against the darkening sky. I saw some ramshackle brick steps which had been placed on part of the sheer rock face, and being curious and careless as I am, I climbed up them in the darkness to see where they led.

Two minutes later I found myself perched atop a perilously thin ledge of jagged rock, with a sheer drop to the ground on one side and an ever steeper drop straight down into the rocky sea on the other. If I had any sense I’d have sped straight back to solid ground, but instead I stopped to take a few photos, returning when Kevin made like my mother and told me to come down at once.

Once we’d walked back toward civilisation, and after some drama trying to figure out a confusing bus schedule, we boarded on a bus and headed not back to Oviedo but rather to Gijón, where we’d arranged to meet up with our friend Sara and some others for a few drinks – almost everyone who I’d met in Leeds!

Arriving in Gijón was lovely, with the familiar streets from last time I visited looking equally as lovely in the dark. Me and Kevin went for another one of our aimless wanders, only stopping our chatting to snap the odd photo and take in the odd view. We had time to kill before Sara was free to meet up, and so grabbed some of the cheapest tapas and drinks ever (did somebody say 1€ for a cup of vermouth?).

As we were binging on calamari, chips with alioli and huge croquettes, Sara arrived, and we had a round of reunion hugs and kisses (Spanish style) before grabbing a drink and heading to another bar. On the way out we ran into some more of Kevin’s friends from the Erasmus programme, and we all went to a local rock bar to have a few more drinks and attempt to take a half-decent selfie…

At about 1am, and with me and Kevin being the old men that we really are, we had to bow out and rush to the bus station to catch one of the night buses back to Oviedo, but not before running into loads of other people and many rounds of goodbyes. I promised I’d be back again soon for a proper night out with everyone, and so I’m now looking into returning as soon as possible!

A grey, foggy morning, I’m told, is more typical of Asturias than a clear sky.

Anyway, the next day was Sunday and that sadly heralded my last short day in the north, as at 4pm I had to jump on a train back down to Madrid. We made the most of our time however, heading out for a lovely breakfast and then meeting up with Kevin’s friend who I had also met in Leeds. The three of us began a rather taxing stroll up a hill beside the city, but it was all worth it when the views over the city came into focus.

Time was soon pushing on however, so we had to descend from the dizzying heights of said hill and head back towards the city for my train. Kevin had one last treat in store for me though, as we were heading to get a huge cachopo and wash it down with the local cider. A cachopo is a local dish which is every meat-eaters fantasy: two layers of beef stuffed with Spanish ham and cheese sauce, before being breaded and deep fried and served over an equally huge portion of chips.

The menu description of “cachopo gigante” was no lie: the thing was huge, and there were only three of us! No fear, we decided, for we would struggle on until we had eaten every crumb. As I said this was enjoyed with the local cider, a very dry and non-carbonated natural variant which has to be poured from a height to aerate the drink and make it easier on the stomach. Not having the space or the quantity of cleaning staff needed to allow such messy cider-pouring, the restaurant provided us with this nifty little machine which aerates the cider for you. Talk about only in Asturias!

To all our surprise, between us we actually finished the whole cachopo (not the chips though, we’re only human after all), and we even opted to have some dessert and a shot of the local cream liquor to wash it all down. Soon I was getting pushed for time though, and so we had to pay up and leave for the train station, where I managed to find my train after a bit of confused wandering.

Saying goodbye is always horrible, but it felt somewhat easier this time now that I live in the same country as Kevin and the rest of the guys I met in Leeds. As I promised everyone in Gijón, and as I foresaw the first time I visited Oviedo back in July, I will definitely be back very very soon!

As I say, I am now back in Madrid, and work is continuing with the usual laughs and interesting projects to get my teeth stuck into. I am beginning to practice my Spanish vocabulary at home when I can, and I have become a walking English Dictionary in the office – it’s proving to be a good challenge!

Stay tuned for my next update, where I’ve to collate some other bits of news which I’ve been too busy to post about, including a new phone and even more design studio shenanigans…

09.11.17 — Journal

Amber in Madrid

So today is a national holiday here in Madrid, and that meant that I managed to oversleep and miss a trip to the very north of the community of Madrid to go for a hike. Oops! But that at least means I have an hour to sit and update you all on the latest bit of gallivanting around the big city – this time with Amber!

As mentioned before, Amber booked flights and a hostel to spend almost a week here, and so on Thursday evening I left work and went to go and pick her up from the airport. It was lovely to see her again, but as we were both tired and pressed for time that evening, we shared a jug of sangria and headed off for a relatively early night.

On Friday though, and after a morning of exploring the west of the city including the Egyptian Temple, she came along to the office to say hello to everyone once again (last year she visited with Jess whilst I was an intern). Once more we had a spread of snacks or aperitivos laid out, and I finally got round to fulfilling Mario’s request for a round of coronation chicken sandwiches – they went down an absolute storm!

As we finish early on Friday at work, from there we headed down to the lake for a relaxed ice cream. During a wander around the lake we wound up taking a different path than usual, and stumbled upon an old viaduct, before heading deep into the city centre once more for some relaxed drinks in Malasaña and then Lavapiés. We covered a lot of ground and drank a lot of the local cocktail, tinto de verano!

Sunglasses, apparently, are even needed at night in Madrid.

On Saturday morning, and after a decent lie in, we met up down in the south of the city at the cultural centre called Matadero. We had a good look through a photography exhibition, sat down for some pintchos, pastries and coffee for breakfast, then explored an outdoor exhibition of design from around Spain and Latin America.

After this we crossed the river and had a snoop around the new Madrid Río 2 shopping centre, before heading back up northwards to continue or snack fest and check out views down Gran Vía, the main artery which runs through the centre of the city.

Once we got a little tired, we both headed our separate ways and had a proper Spanish siesta before reuniting in the city centre and heading down to the cute little are of La Latina, where we traversed a well known street which is buzzing with little bars and restaurants. There we began our evening drinking gin and tonics, eating an array of toasted bread with delicious toppings, and eventually taking the Metro up north to Chueca to continue our night on the town.

The contrasting colours of my local Metro stop

Up in the district of Chueca we visited more bars and eventually wound up in a club, meeting some friends along the way and dancing to all the latest reggaetón and Spanish hits. Here’s an example of some reggaetón if you fancy a taste!

Needless to say that the next day we didn’t rush out of bed, eventually meeting up just to leisurely wander around the city and eat and graze as usual. As the day wore on, we decided to pay an impromptu visit to the top of the Círculo de Bellas Artes, a building from which you can enjoy great pretty much 360° views over the city. The last time I went was over a year ago when my dad visited Madrid, but we decided to have a coffee and watch the sun as it began to set over the skyline.

Monday came around too fast and it was our last proper evening together, so after work we met up and went once again to chill out in the city. We had traditional Madrid food at an old-school bar in the centre, where I chowed down on a delicious plate of huevos rotos – which seems to be becoming my favourite right now.

After this we went once again to have a few glasses of tinto de verano, but I couldn’t stay out late as I’d to work on Tuesday morning. On Tuesday though we managed to meet up during my lunch break, and headed to have some food in a shopping centre near the office. From there we said our goodbyes, as that evening Amber was heading to the airport to catch her flight back home before I left work.

It was a pleasure having Bam around in the city with me, and I can only hope she enjoyed being here as much as I enjoyed just lazying around every evening eating and drinking the hours away. Usually I’d be a bit down once a friend leaves the city, but next weekend I’m off to see Kevin and visit the beautiful city of Oviedo once again. I’ll also be back in England for a week over Christmas, which will be lovely.

I just have to end this post with a quote from my grandma, who always reminds us when we’re a little down after something lovely finishes: “it’ll soon be Christmas, and we’ll have some nuts!”

01.11.17 — Journal

It’s Just a Bunch of Hocus Pocus

After celebrating October with the cool installations of Luna de Octubre a week or so ago, it’s now time to bid goodbye to my first month of working in Madrid and that of course means spending Halloween here. To celebrate we all gathered at my friend Megan’s flat to watch the classic Halloween film “Hocus Pocus”, and I didn’t dress up because the night of Luna de Octubre I managed to get bitten on the face three times by a mosquito, so I decided that I looked scary enough with the big red spots adorning my cheeks.

Megan cooked up some fresh pumpkin bread, staying true to the season, and it was absolutely delicious – I had never had it before! In the end we were all pretty tired so once the film was done we decided not to go out, but I have spent the past week or doing plenty of other things.

After work one day I went to go and see Randy, and we explored the new shopping centre called Madrid Río 2 which is near his house. It was lovely to see him again and the views from the food terrace turned out to be pretty nice, overlooking the lovely architecture of the Matadero.

The next day I had a journey to the south of the city to make, as I’d made an appointment to go and see Apple regarding my iPad which just decided to stop working completely and died a most spectacular death – I couldn’t even get my laptop to recognise it, much less get the actual thing to show any signs of life. Not expecting much except to be offered a discount off a new one, it turned out that when I bought it I bought insurance with Apple too, which according to them I still have a month left of. I must be the luckiest man alive – they’ve since replaced it with a brand new one at no cost. Get in!

Anyway, whilst down at the shopping centre and with a new iPad in hand, I went to relax a little by the food court which surrounds a pretty little lake. I spent a while taking in the atmosphere and doodling on the iPad, and for an hour or so I felt like I was on holiday as I basked in the sun by the water.

Speaking of lakes, this weekend just gone I decided to kick back and relax a little, heading to the huge park of Casa de Campo to relax by the huge lake there. It was sunny but cool when I left my flat, but it soon heated up and I had to retreat to the shade where I spent a good few hours just reading a book I brought along. It’s been a while since I took a good moment to get stuck into some reading for pleasure, and I’ll definitely be picking up books a bit more often now I’m not obliged to read them for any kind of studies. Who’d have ever thought that working life would have felt like freedom compared to studying? Wild!

After a while I got peckish, and so I grabbed the metro further into the city and decided to head to one of my favourite little haunts in an area called Malasaña, where I ordered the slap-up brunch menu and enjoyed a tonne of dishes including croissants, a selection of bread, a medley of dipping sauces, a mini tortilla with béchamel sauce, a coffee and plenty of fresh fruit juice. It was delicious!

On the Saturday I also thought I’d do my best to explore the area where I lived a bit more, prompted mainly by a huge craving for a dish called huevos rotos (which is like fried potatoes with runny fried eggs and pieces of Spanish ham on top) and a lack of motivation to actually cook anything for myself. I quickly searched for local places online and it recommended a small bar just a couple of streets away, so I headed down to eat a little bit of something and have a quick small beer (a caña).

Well five hours later and I was still there, as at the bar I got talking to a local called Eva and was then invited to join her brother and his girlfriend for more drinks, and in the end we wound up sat outside on the terrace telling stories and sharing experiences until the early hours! I had such a lovely time and it was a real laugh to meet everyone. We stayed out so late that the bar technically closed, but we were allowed to stay inside as the owner put out some incense and candles and we continued chattering until I stumbled back home at about 3am.

As far as work goes, everything is a good laugh as usual, with projects moving forward and plenty of exciting designs to be done. I had to nip out to the bank (again) as I’d forgotten my password and accidentally blocked my shiny new debit card (oops), but I am happy to share that I now finally hold a Spanish bank account and I have received my first paycheque – I feel like a real adult now.

Having to go to the bank again was annoying, but at least the view was nice.

In the office I also received a lovely little surprise this week as a mystery envelope appeared on my desk, but I recognised the handwriting straight away as my mum’s. Inside she’d put a little note and a little zip-lock bag of 10 decaf teabags alongside a 10€ note – all of which is sure to come in very handy, especially with Amber coming to visit tomorrow night! I am very, very excited to spent almost a week relaxing and showing her the city once more!

At home today I just met my new flatmate, Giorgia, who’s from Italy but has spent years working in Chile and so speaks perfect Spanish. We initially went out to explore the local neighbourhood with our landlord Abdel, but after that I had to nip into the city to run a few errands and so me and Giorgia spent a good few hours wandering around the centre, as it’s her first time in here in Madrid. As she’s here for at least one month, I said we’ll be sure to go exploring plenty more!

The above photo was taken by Giorgia, who also runs a blog (check it out here if you know any Italian!) and works in communication, so I’m sure we’ll be having plenty of chats over a bottle of wine or heading out into the city to try the sangría in every bar we can find our way into…

Anyway, I’ll be back next week at some point to update you all on the mischief that me and Amber get up to over the next few days. Hopefully the sun will hold out and defy the cloudy forecast, but whatever happens we’ll be sure to make the absolute most of her time in Madrid!

Until then, and in reference to the title of this blog post, why not watch this clip of the iconic Bette Midler’s main musical number from the Halloween classic Hocus Pocus… You will not be disappointed…

Monthly Archives: November 2017