The iPad Pro is gone. Well not indefinitely, but the device that is turning out to be my main productivity tool, has gone in for repair the second time. I love the thing, but the touch screen sometimes doesn’t respond. The whole device is active, it just doesn’t respond to touch until I return to homescreen or wait for 10 seconds. Well, sorry Apple, but I expect better from a device that set me back over 900 euros.

So I sent it back to the store I bought it from. And they returned it without being able to reproduce the error. Thus, I recorded a video for them and after some emailing back and forth, I sent it back in again last Tuesday. I hope they fix it now, but I can already see them sending it back with the same reason. Which will mean I get more annoyed. But we’ll see. For now, this means I’m now typing this on the Windows work laptop, and it already feels more boring. Part of the Apple magic is all marketing of course, but the iPad is a sheer joy to use at times. Writing in a well-designed app like Drafts and then exporting to WordPress, adding some final touches and hitting ‘Publish’ feel pretty good. This does not. Please come home, iPad, and please be fixed.

Listen (the Rosie Carney Special)

• Rosie Carney’s Bare was released last Friday and while the vinyl has yet to arrive in my local record store, I organised a listening party with the high “hifi” quality Tidal stream (free trial) for the girlfriend, my German friend and myself. It must have looked a little weird to close the curtains in the middle of the afternoon, then light some candles and hit play on that beauty of a record, but it was a joy. And I think it inspired my girlfriend for some artwork as well. I’ll let you guys know when it’s posted.
• Meanwhile the record is a thing of beauty. The stillness reminded me of the early work of Kings of Convenience: Rosie paints landscapes, stories with a timeless quality and full of emotion. Some of the songs are quite minimalistic, with just her and a guitar and / or a piano – think early Lisa Hannigan or Kathryn Williams. But then some of the other songs are more layered and it already haunts me what she could do once she builds on it. Yes, I like keeping things small and humble, but this talent deserves to conquer all sides of the musical spectrum. From small songs to help you through sleepless nights, to song that fully embody the pain, the joy, the melancholy of life. Absolutely recommended. Stream here (Spotify).

Weather

• So this week we had snow here in The Netherlands. And rain. And snow. In many ways, I had to dry my clothes. And while snow is major inconvenience at times, it did end up into pretty pictures this week.

Watch

• Watching something different this week. I’m not one for sports documentaries usually, but Sunderland Till I Die on Netflix has proved to be a fascinating watch. Although it suffers from its material – there is probably not one cause for the tragedy of a season that is Sunderland FC in 2017-2018, the documentary embodies both the passion and bad sides of English football. Most interesting are the interviews with people from Sunderland, who can only watch their club go down in the most frustrating fashion. Watched the first 4 episodes on Friday and Saturday, and I’ll try to finish it this week. Even though I know it’s not gonna end well.