Artificial Intelligence – are we all doomed?
In this post, I reflect on the rapid evolution of AI and its impact on various industries, particularly translation, writing, and creative professions. While acknowledging advancements in machine translation and automation, great concern is expressed about job losses, diminished human…
End of the road – high taxes make self-employment in Spain unsustainable
Ever since I received my Spanish residency card back in August 2022 (see main picture), I’ve tried my best to scrape a living as a translator. A few weeks ago, however, I lost my most important client and it meant…
Travel Tales from a Backpack Diary – book update
It was Benjamin Franklin who said: “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” Well, 20 years or so ago, I did something worth writing – I travelled the world for a year – and, by jingo, now…
The seventh child of the seventh child – a tribute to James Hunter Alexander
On the back of Newcastle United winning the Carabao Cup in March, I had planned to write a follow-up to my previous post so I could rave about a Newcastle team that had finally ended a Wembley hoodoo that stretched…
Buffoonery, self-doubt and failure – time to end Newcastle’s Wembley hoodoo
It’s been 70 years – yes that’s right 70 years! – since Newcastle United last won a domestic trophy. The Magpies did famously win the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969 – the forerunner to the Europa League – but if…
Love is in the air – Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day to one and all! I hope you have a day overflowing with love on what is a wonderful time for anyone working in the flower, chocolate, fine dining or rubber johnny business! 😍 A couple of quick…
Catalina La Grande – homage to a Yorkshire terrier
Catherine II, most commonly known as Catherine the Great (Catalina La Grande in Spanish), was the 18th Century Russian Empress who came to power after overthrowing her husband Peter III. Under her long reign, inspired by the ideas of the…
2025 – damp squibs, butchery and a load of old tosh!
2024 was a funny old year and not one I will remember with any great fondness. I had hoped it might be the year that my business would take off but, if anything, it was worse than 2023 – a…
From innuendo to bad translation – strange and wonderful signs from around the world
As someone who has travelled far and wide, I have seen more than my fair share of bizarre signs that have given me cause to raise an eyebrow or left me tittering and giggling like a daft schoolboy. It might…
A Geordie in Girona – a new name, the future for translators, last year’s business and a cheeky side project
A name change It was sometime in the middle of last year that I changed my business name to A Geordie in Girona but, for one reason or another, I never really got round to mentioning it. When I began…
Football superstitions – one for sorrow, two for joy
There is a well-known nursery rhyme related to magpies that goes ‘One for sorrow, two for joy’. As a life-long Newcastle United fan, whose nickname is the Magpies, this rhyme takes on special significance. If this black and white bird…
World Geordie Day – a pipedream or reality?
For a number of years, I’ve had an idea in the back of my head that the good folk of Newcastle should have a day, or a weekend, of celebration in recognition of our beautiful city and what it means…
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A Geordie In Girona 