Curiosity, Ideas, Back stories
Erik Brown
AI writing - the wrongs

OKAY, I ADMIT IT, I have a problem with copy generated by AI chatbots. That’s hardly surprising, you might think, after all I’m  a human who has written for a living for more than half a century. But, to be clear, I’m not in fear of my livelihood - it’s just that chatbot copy is so often very badly done.

AI writing - the wrongs
Travel, Wild places
Erik Brown
The sadness of Grindavik

THE YOUNG policeman looks bored. “Do you have a booking,” he says. “Yes,” I answer, “we’re staying at The Northern Light Inn.” He doesn’t quite manage a sigh. “Let me see the booking,” he says.

The sadness of Grindavik
Social psychology, Ideas
Erik Brown
The Magic Rule of Three

IT’S CHALLENGING to write about The Rule of Three because it’s such a fundamental part of culture, so embedded in our way of thinking, that even those who could not tell you precisely what it is already know about it intuitively.

The Magic Rule of Three
Erik Brown
Grammar skewl

FRIEND recently took me to task for a grammatical error I made in a Facebook post. I haven’t caught up with him since, so I don’t know whether he was being serious or not, but he was right: I made a grammatical error, and I did it deliberately.

Grammar skewl
Erik Brown
From Tunbridge Wells to Tuscany by train (and ...

THE WOMAN in the seat in front of us on the bus we had never intended to take was Asian - perhaps Filipina - middle-aged and dressed like a fashion buyer. She spoke softly in perfect Italian into her smart phone, which she charged from a USB port in the roof of the coach. At one point, she caught my eye and smiled.

From Tunbridge Wells to Tuscany by train (and bus)

France

Loving Languedoc

Loving Languedoc

WE STOPPED FOR lunch in Peyriac-de-mer, a tiny village not far from Narbonne on the Mediterranean coast. It was warm enough to sit outside in the village square, and we ordered the menu du jour: a creditable tapenade with local ham followed by grilled lamb chops, artichokes and sautéed potatoes. It was a wonderful, simple and homely meal, which made me think of the gastro pubs in the English county of Kent, where we live and how most of them had begun to over-reach themselves, influenced (like their customers) by TV shows including The Great British Menu, which celebrate complexity.