This post is rather long. If it’s too long for you to read, I will not think badly of you. It is just possible, though, that the content may be useful to somebody.

In my post A better blog editor, I recounted how I had tried various apps for writing posts for my blog on my iPhone and had finally settled where I had started, with the native Notes app. At the time, this seemed to do everything I needed, including inserting photos and writing in italics and bold.

Having set up my new iPhone 8 with iOS 13, I was disappointed to find that text written in italics and bold in Notes lost their style when I copied and pasted the text into the WordPress editor. I do not know why this is, whether it has been caused by a change in iOS 13 or a change in a recent update of the WordPress editor but, whatever the cause, the effect is there to irritate me.

There are a number of possible solutions to this, of course. I could, for example, write my posts in the editor of the WordPress app but while this has the advantage of directness (no copying and pasting) there is a risk of losing work if I quit the edit screen without remembering to save to draft. In any case, I prefer to work in an entirely separate editor as this feels less risky somehow. (No chance of accidentally posting an unfinished article, for example.)

The other solutions involve finding an editor to use instead of Notes. As I wrote in my original post, I have tried very many of these without finding the combination of features that I want.

With a wearisome sense of déja vu, I nonetheless revisited some of these apps. Word processors and programmers’ editors are, generally unsuitable, the first because they are more complex than I need and don’t handle images as simply as Notes or the WordPress editor do and the second because writing formatted text is not what they are good at and they don’t in any case allow you to insert images directly into the text.

That leaves an amorphous group of apps designed for keeping “notes”. MS OneNote and Evernote are well known examples. Despite their apparent similarities they vary greatly from one another, some so simple as to be the electronic equivalent of a piece of paper and others so complex and replete with features as to require a stiff learning curve to familiarise oneself with their operation. Some are single user and others are accessible by groups of users.

Then there is cost. Some are free, some have to be paid for and still others are “freemium”, offering a free version and a paid-for premium version.

The paid-for versions pose the problem that if I pay and then find the app not to my taste, I have wasted my money. I therefore concentrated on the free and freemium apps.

I won’t bore you with an account of the apps I tried and rejected. I will cut to the chase and describe the one I am currently trying out.

I have tried this app several times before and always ended up by deleting it. Moreover, it is a freemium app which means that many of the best features are reserved for paying customers. Unfortunately, where payment is concerned, it follows the insidious trend set by the likes of Adobe and Microsoft: you cannot buy the app outright but have to “subscribe”, paying a monthly or annual fee for as long as you use the product. This may make sense for corporate users who may need ongoing support, but for individual users the cost is too great. Fortunately, there are now often alternatives to the big name applications, many of them completely free.

Anyway, back to the main story. The app whose use I have been avoiding but am now trying out is Bear. It has versions for Mac computers and for the iPad and iPhone but not for Windows.

Does it meet my requirement to insert images and to copy these across to WordPress? Yes, it does. (It has two ways if doing this, about which more later.)

Does it have italic and bold and does it copy these across to WordPress? Yes, it does but there is a nuance here that I need to explain.

Ever since computers began to be used to handle and display text, various coding systems have been invented which instruct the computer, via an interpreter, how exactly to display the text. The one most people are familiar with, whether they have used it themselves or not, is HTML. This remains the most widely used but there is now a new kid on the block called Markdown.

Markdown consists of relatively simple symbols that writers can use to format their text on the computer. Because the symbols are so simple, they clutter up the text far less than HTML does, so that it remains more readable and it is easier to spot errors. Moreover, if you mark a string as italic, say, then it appears as italic in the Markdown editor, unlike with HTML where it remains unchanged until displayed on the computer.

Many “notes” apps work with both plain text and Markdown encoded text. WordPress now understands Markdown which is a sign that this system has reached the mainstream.

I mention this because Bear can be switched to Markdown mode and it is this that enables it to do useful things like style text strings as italic and bold.

Briefly, to mark a string as italic, you enclose it in a pair of asterisks and to mark a string as bold, you enclose it in a double pair of asterisks. When you copy the text to WordPress, the asterisks disappear, leaving the string appropriately styled.

As mentioned, there are two ways to transfer the finished post to WordPress. The first is to use the “share” function, choosing the WordPress app as the destination, and the second is to copy the text in Bear and paste it into the WordPress editor. Each has advantages and disadvantages. (Isn’t that always the way of things…?)

If I use “share”, the text appears in the WordPress editor correctly formatted – even the title is placed in the right position. However, there is a problem. While I can edit text, I cannot edit images. The only choices are to leave an image as it is or delete it.

Why does this matter? Well, for one thing because I like to centre my images and instructions to do so can only be given in the WordPress editor, not in Bear. If I use “share”, then, I have to publish the article and post-edit it. I would obviously prefer to post only when the text is perfect.

If I copy and paste, I have to take care of placing the title myself and the resulting text does not look as it will when published. On the other hand, because I am in the WordPress editor, I can go through the post, centring the images.

This probably means that if I write a post entirely in text without images (like this one), I will use “share” but if the post contains images, I will have to use copy and paste.

Or perhaps I shall make a felicitous discovery of an app that does everything I want in exactly the way I want. No, I don’t think so, either. Life is all about making compromises and no doubt always will be.

In the meantime, I will give Bear a good run for its money and see whether it deserves its role as my main editor.

Some time ago I received a letter from my GP practice, inviting me to make an appointment for a health check. I didn’t feel in any particular need for this but with the NHS stretched as it is, it seemed churlish to refuse their offer. Perhaps too, it saves the service money to catch problems early and to real with them before they become serious.

So I did what I usually do and put the letter on the corner of my desk reserved for items requiring “further attention”. I imagine it would be there still but for the phone call.

The caller was a receptionist at the practice ringing to enquire whether I would like to make the appointment for the health check. Well, er, yes, OK.

I turned up at the due time and was interviewed by a cheerful practice nurse. She weighed me, took my blood pressure (a little high but, then I was feeling a little stressed) and went through a list of questions about my lifestyle. That all seemed very satisfactory.

Are we done, then? Apparently not quite:

“You haven’t had a blood test, lately. You ought to have that done.”

I was given a form to hand to the phlebotomist and told that once the results were ready someone would call me or text me. Quelle joie.

I let a couple of days go by and then, this morning, did my duty.

The nearest place for blood tests to where we live is at the Pine Street Medical Centre. They open at 8:30 and the protocol is that you take a numbered ticket from the machine and wait until the illuminated box on the wall buzzes and displays your number. Then you enter the phlebotomist’s lair and sit in the big chair worn smooth by countless previous customers.

I don’t know what goes into the training of a phlebotomist but I can say that they vary in their skill. One that we know only too well is heavy handed, causes pain when she stabs you and leaves bruises as a signature of her work. I’m glad to say that today’s was so skilful that I barely felt the needle go in and was surprised at how quickly the job was completed. Lucky me.

On the way home, I walked along Exmouth Market. There were very few stalls open, whether because it was still early or because it was a weekday and the cold added a disincentive, I don’t know.

Now I can relax and await my phone call or text to tell me the results of the blood test.