London Called Me
Ok, it’s been quite a break but I’m still here. Things doesn’t seem like calming down at least until the end of the year but still going strong. Let’s catch up!
Last week, I was in London. This is a huge sentence for me because until couple years ago, I’ve never left Turkey for any reason. But now I have seen many countries for different reasons and going abroad occasionally for work stuff. Which is something still feels weird to me.
Anyway, like I said, I was in London for a week. Because it was a work related travel, I’ve spent most of that week inside The Guardian offices. Which was an interesting experience. Seeing how a major and huge newsroom operates from the inside helps you gain a different perspective. Also helps you to sharpen your critical observation skills. From here I can go on to write a really long analysis but it feels like I still need some time to digest everything before writing on it.
One thing I was really amazed in the Guardian was the fact that the infosec team takes their job seriously and does everything they can. We had amazing conversations and learned a lot from them. Especially when it comes to managing the security of a big team.
But what made that trip amazing was the people I had a chance to see. This includes Jay Springett, Furtherfield people and Laurie Penny. Spending an evening with Jay and talking about dozen different stuff; and having a morning coffee with Laurie definitely made me happy on a different level. I still feel lucky that I had that pleasure.
Another highlight of my trip was Housmans Bookshop. If I had enough time and money, I could spend a full day there and probably buy half of the books on their shelves. That store basically had everything I wanted from a bookstore. But it also made me sad because there’s not a single bookstore like that left anywhere around Turkey. Housmans made me realize I was hungry for a bookstore.
There’s probably a lot I have in my head about London and the conversations I had there but it needs some time to come out as written words. Probably dump most of it on the blog sometime soon.
What I Wrote
On Traveling: 1 (New blogchain.)
After leaving the airport and jumping on the train to actually go London, I was looking for something to listen and remembered Burial albums saved on my phone. After that realization I haven’t listened anything else for the half of the week. Maybe it’s my overstatement but listening Burial on London made me appreciate his music on a different level. Like I said to Jay, I feel like the music makes a different sense now.
And now I’m wondering if there’s actually such thing. Music somehow connected with a special place and gives you a different experience when you listen there. Do any of you have a story like that? Or is it just my weirdness?
Related: Burial's Untrue: The making of a masterpiece
I’m going to cut this one short because that one week London trip also meant a lot of other work piling up and I still feel like I need couple more days worth of sleep. Hopefully, we’ll have much more to talk about next week.
Take care of yourselves and the beautiful people around you. See you next time!
Who Writes This?
Ahmet A. Sabancı (that's me), writer, journalist and researcher. Writing about many things including technology, surveillance, censorship, philosophy, science fiction and futures and occasionally about politics and Turkey. There’s a good chance you found me through my blog or Twitter or maybe some nice people recommended this newsletter to you. You can find more about me here and small selection of my writings here.