My Creative Everyday

  The London Marathon is special, but no one predicted that they would break records in 2026. It officially broke the Guinness World Records title for the largest number of finishers in a marathon with 59,830 runners crossing the Finish Line. It was a sunny day which turned cooler in the late afternoon which brought on the happy vibes for locals, family, pets and friends supporting the participants at the 21 mile mark of the 26.2 miles.  From the superheroes in costumes, on wheels or in regular running gear, we got smiles, victory signs and thumbs up for the camera. There was love from partners and parents which warmed our hearts.  Just a few of those in costume included were:  Adam Winkworth for Age UK dressed as a Giant Blue Telephone,  Horsham charity director at Hope and Homes for Children with a giant teddy bear on his back, Pete Garratt. Jam the T. rex, a 2-metre tall, 4-metre long, 25kg dinosaur with the support of Sam Bryan, Joe Parsonage, Tom Brie ...

Southwark Bandstand Did you know?  1. Heavy & bulky sliding box cameras were the standard design of the 1840s & early 1850s.  2. Captain Francis Fowke patented the 1st British camera to use concertina-pattern pleated bellows in 1856.  3. Invented for & used by the Royal Engineers, these cameras were advertised as the most portable & lightest in use. 4. Fowke was one of the most important British architects of the 19th century (The Royal Albert Hall, The Natural History Museum and the V&A), but his other inventions include a military fire engine, an improved umbrella & a portable bath.  5. The original bandstand in Southwark Park was one of a pair designed by Fowke in 1861, commissioned by the Royal Horticultural Society for gardens in South Kensington. 6. Bandstands provided a focal point in parks & the Victorians thought 'good music would free the mind of urban griminess & humanise the industrial landscape'. 7. In their heyday in the ...

Read the final Write On! magazine feature of a special three-part series on ChatGPT. In " The Future of Writing & AI ," I interviewed Dr Blay Whitby, who I approached after reading his book Artificial Intelligence: A Beginners Guide (2008). I love how our conversation even related the invention of electric guitars to technology and what lies ahead for us. 🎸 I was pretty excited to interview Dr Whitby since he's been writing about AI since 1984 and I'd read one of his books which gave me some really interesting insights into AI. Also, Dominic Jarkey, a senior R Programmer and data scientist, provides a fascinating perspective. I hadn't expected bird identification, cats and weather prediction to come up! 🐦🐈‍⬛️⛅️ So, with ChatGPT upon us, are we like butterflies flapping our wings, buffeted by wind, or caterpillars about to undergo an extraordinary metamorphosis from a chrysalis? 🦋 Or do you think AI is another bubble of the tech boom? Interestingly, it is c...

Read the second in a special three part feature on ChatGPT in Write On! magazine -   "Art, Literacy & The Singular Literary Genius" , which centres around Doctor Omar Kholeif, Egyptian-born curator of exhibitions across six continents, whose work includes commissioning award-winning art, authoring, co-authoring, or editing 41 books.  What can technology do for people in the creative field, but also what about our digital literacy? Are we constantly feeling like we have to keep up, and why are some people more open and interested in ChatGPT? A big thank you to Dr Kholeif for his time, sharing his story and wise. Internet_Art, published by Phaidon Press is gorgeous in hardback if you're looking for an art coffee-table book.  I continued to draw on  Catherine and Imo's observations and insights. The MFA  City University students are in their final year and both working on their first novels. Their interview helps tie all three parts of this series.  Also m...

Read the first in a special three part feature on ChatGPT.  After 7 hours of interviews, then months of writing and editing, " Is Generation Z Trying To Save Us From AI? " is out now! The feature begins with: “Woah, slow your roll, we’re not going to take it seriously. We see AI as a new meme opportunity,” Tennessee born MFA student Catherine Sheffield says. I met Catherine at Hay Festival last year when I had the opportunity to attend with Write On! magazine. Catherine introduced me to Imo, who has been involved in training an AI program. The two MFA students brought colour, character and unique perspectives to my understanding of AI.  Also my Insta friends, @dannyvill77 and @356shooter make their debut in the magazine with their photographs.  A huggggeeee thank you to Madeleine White, Claire Buss and Pen To Print. Without Write On! magazine, I would not have dared to embark on this piece.  My family and friends also have been amazing throughout this mammoth project...

I did my first Instagram live during the London Marathon on Sunday. I've posted some videos on my YT channel, TIkTok and on my YouTube IG highlight.  Yesterday's marathon video, which is on the top of this blog, took 7 hours to make. That's not including the hours of recording I did. The London 2022 highlights video which I made at the beginning of the year took around 5 days.  In 2023, I'm learning video making. It feels like I'm improving. :p One of the TikTok versions got 2k views, which was thrilling.  The marathon had an amazing atmosphere, with heart-warming moments and some that put a huge smile on my face.  There are many stories within the story of the 2023 marathon. I think that's why I became fascinated & excited about it this year. The participants were inspiring, entertaining and showed how amazing everyday people can be.  The route has remained largely unchanged since the marathon began in 1981. It includes many of the capital’s landmarks. You ...

Dark tourism is visiting places where some of the darkest events of human history unfolded. Dark tourism is also known as Thana tourism (as in Thanatos), black tourism, morbid tourism, or grief tourism. One definition is that it is tourism involving travel to places historically associated with death and tragedy.  It includes: genocide,  assassination, incarceration,  ethnic cleansing, and war or disaster. Broadly, there are 6 types of dark tourism. These are: War/Battlefield Tourism,  Disaster Tourism,  Prison Tourism,  Cemetery Tourism,  Ghost Tourism,   and  Holocaust Tourism. Did you know, one of the most famous destinations for dark tourism is Chernobyl in Ukraine? The town became famous in April 1986, when a nuclear reactor exploded. Thousands of ppeople were exposed to radioactivity. Tourists visit an area known as the exclusion zone,  In fact, Pompeii is one of the longest standing dark tourism activities, beginning 250...

  This tip will save you money if you want to buy fresh flowers or plants at Columbia Road Flower Market.  Go at the end of the day!  There are bargains as sellers pack up. If you're happy to buy something that might end up in the bin and it hasn't been someone else's first choice, then it's worth it.  I love buying long stem roses or lillies.  The sellers are friendly and it's a market that's definitely worth visiting.  Watch the YouTube video I uploaded this week which I've included at the top of this post. I'm enjoying being creative on different platforms.  Please subscribe to my channel too. It has lots of videos about nature, London and fun facts.  Have a great time at Columbia Road flower market and share your tips in the comments of this blog or through any of my social media.  -------------------------------- E.M. Blake is the author of 'Dilly Dally Sally' and 'This Silly Bench.' She's also on Twitter and lots of other social...

Taylor Swift in the movie Amsterdam International Women's Day on March 8 celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day marks a call to action for us to accelerate women's equality.  History Clara Zetkin, communist activist and advocate for women's rights suggested making the day international at an International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. 100 women from 17 countries agreed on her suggestion unanimously. Zetkin went into exile and died in the Soviet Union at the age of 75. Her ashes are in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis, near the Red Square. The funeral was attended by leading communists , including Joseph Stalin and Nadezhda Krupskaya (Lenin's widow). Zetkin has been memorialized on the ten mark banknote and twenty mark coin of the German Democratic Republic of East Germany. Also, after 1949, every major city in the GDR had a street named after her. Why? Do we need a special day to celebrate women? We're pretty ...

@mycreativeeveryday on TikTok Yesterday I posted about What is the fuss over ChatGPT, the AI Chatbot? I encountered an error message and gave up, but today I thought I would give it another go. I discovered how to create new streams of chats and how to look at my archive of questions. I still encountered the error message and had problems, but I managed to work around it and not get stuck.  This second attempt to understand how ChatGPT can be a useful tool was definitely more fruitful. This morning I entered maybe two dozen questions on different topics. I felt that the most helpful were those around TikTok, which I am trying to learn more about this year.  So far I have more than 200 followers on TikTok and recently I have started posting a few times a week. In fact, I posted a new video this morning which you can check out here . It is a series of three photographs of white swans on the London Thames River foreshore. The cool thing about experimenting with TikTok is that it ...