AI for Breakfast

Chris Witham • May 10, 2024

Post 114 - Fun Friday - A story by ChatGPT 4

“The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain” (this was all I gave it!)

It was a damp Tuesday morning when Gerald the Goat decided it was time for a holiday. A simple goat of discriminating taste, Gerald packed his beret, a dictionary of Spanish idioms, and a pair of wellington boots into a vintage leather suitcase. His destination? Spain, of course.

Gerald had heard from the sparrows perched atop the barn that "the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain". He didn’t entirely understand this enigmatic saying, but with a jaunty bleat and an enthusiastic flick of his tail, he booked a flight.

After a turbulent flight filled with snacks, complimentary headphones, and polite bleats to the flight attendants, Gerald landed in Madrid. He glanced at his little map and saw that the vast Spanish plain stretched right before him like a glistening promise of adventure. He trotted merrily out of the airport, his beret at a rakish angle.

The sun was shining, and not a single drop of rain fell from the sky. Gerald nodded sagely. "I knew it!" he bleated. "The rain stays in the plain."

However, as he boarded the train bound for the famous plains, dark clouds gathered overhead, casting ominous shadows on the ground below. By the time he reached the small town of El Llano, the rain was pouring down in sheets. Gerald glanced around and noticed all the locals wore ponchos and waterproof boots.

"Oh, you see, señor," a local farmer, Pablo, explained, offering Gerald a bright yellow poncho. "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain."

Slightly confused but undeterred, Gerald donned the poncho and splashed his way into the heart of the town, keen to explore. He wandered through the cobblestone streets, his suitcase bobbing on his back like a life preserver. The locals greeted him warmly, but the relentless rain made him feel like he was swimming instead of strolling.

Undaunted, Gerald continued his adventure, trudging through muddy fields and befriending a flock of sheep who kindly shared their umbrellas. Together, they bleated along the soggy plains, forming an impromptu rain-bleat ensemble to keep their spirits high.

But the rain showed no signs of stopping. Days passed, and Gerald’s beret became soggy. His wellington boots were waterlogged. Every time he tried to say "olé", he accidentally sneezed.

One particularly drizzly afternoon, Gerald sat on a boulder, contemplating his situation. "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain, huh?" he muttered. "Well, what a wet blanket."

At that moment, a friendly stork, Clara, perched beside him. "Don’t worry, Gerald," she said, fluffing her feathers. "You just need to head south, where the sun always shines!"

"South, you say?" Gerald asked, his ears perking up.

"Sí! To Seville, where the oranges are sweet and the sun dances on the river."

With renewed determination, Gerald took Clara’s advice and boarded the first bus to Seville. As soon as he arrived, the sun burst through the clouds like a glorious spotlight on a Broadway stage. Gerald whipped off his poncho, tossed his beret in the air, and pranced through the streets of Seville like a kid at a funfair.

He found himself dancing the flamenco with the locals and nibbling churros dipped in chocolate. He bleated with joy as he realised that the only place wetter than Seville was the bar serving sangria.

He sent a postcard back to his friends in El Llano, saying, "The rain in Spain may stay mainly in the plain, but I’ve found my sunshine in Seville!"

From then on, Gerald was known far and wide as the most well-travelled goat in all of Spain. And whenever someone asked him where to find the best weather, he’d reply with a twinkle in his eye and a swish of his tail, "Always follow the stork’s advice!"

Lines of colorful computer code on a dark background.
By Chris Witham December 11, 2025
Where AI really helps your Business If you spend any time on LinkedIn or X, you’ll have seen bold claims about how AI can help you build software in a matter of days. There’s a lot of excitement, a lot of big promises, and a fair bit of confusion for business owners trying to work out what’s real. A new term doing the rounds is “Vibe Coding” —the idea of describing what you want to an AI assistant and having it generate the code for you. It’s becoming popular because it can move things forward quickly and help people explore ideas they wouldn’t have been able to create alone. And the truth is, it does have its place. The challenge isn’t the technique. It’s the expectation that AI will automatically deliver finished, reliable, production-ready tools without any real design or thinking behind them. AI accelerates the work you already do well Used properly, AI can: • Remove huge amounts of repetitive work • Speed up drafting and iteration • Generate working prototypes in hours • Help non-technical people explore ideas • Improve documentation, planning and communication This is where it shines. But it still needs clarity, structure, and well-designed processes around it. It’s like having a very fast assistant rather than a fully formed development team. Why many AI projects don’t deliver what people expect Independent research this year showed a clear pattern: • Many early AI initiatives failed to produce measurable business value • Companies abandoned AI ideas because they couldn’t scale or integrate them • The gap between an impressive demo and a reliable tool is larger than people thought This doesn’t mean AI is overhyped. It means teams jumped straight to execution without the groundwork. The technology isn’t the issue. It’s the approach. Small businesses don’t need Enterprise Platforms Most UK small businesses don’t need to build a full software product. What they actually need is: • Better workflows • Faster content generation • Clearer communication • Improved customer support • Tools that reflect the way they work • Consistency and repeatability AI is perfect for this. A custom GPT trained on your tone, your documents and your processes can become: • A writing assistant • A customer support helper • A knowledge base navigator • An internal guide for staff • A quality-control layer • A process automator No engineering team needed. No complex infrastructure. No stress. Where AI builds real value right now AI works best when it’s part of a thoughtful, guided approach: • Define the outcome you want • Build a lightweight prototype (AI helps here) • Add structure, rules and guardrails • Connect it to your real workflow • Test it with real users or staff • Iterate until it feels natural You can still move fast. You just avoid building something brittle that breaks the moment it’s needed. The key insight: AI doesn’t replace expertise, it amplifies it AI is at its strongest when someone knowledgeable decides: • What it should do • What it shouldn’t do • How it should behave • What tone it should use • How it fits into the business • What checks and constraints matter That’s where tools like custom GPTs genuinely shine. They’re not software products in the traditional sense. They’re flexible assistants shaped around your business. With the right design, they can save huge amounts of time and deliver consistent, practical value without any of the complexity of building a full system. A more useful way to think about AI in 2026 Instead of “AI will build everything for you”, a healthier mindset is: AI speeds up the work, but you set the direction. For small businesses, that’s more than enough to make a real difference.
By Chris Witham August 21, 2025
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