“What do we feed it?” The small bird sat on Ross’ shoulder. Unfazed and comfortable as Ross walked about the flat. “Do you still have porridge?” “Will it like that?” “Yeah. It’s just shaven oats.” I did have porridge. I sprinkled some out of the packet onto my palm and place it onto Ross’ shoulder. […] Read More
5 themes for a happier life
I’ve been reading, digesting even, more words on life’s most sought after pursuit recently. There may well be more column inches written on chasing a fortune and pursuing women, but that’s only because they are seen as paths to this greater end. It’s that grand goal with blurred, seemingly undefinable, edges. We catch it in […] Read More
Untitled words about my father
The following speech was never said. It was written the old fashioned way, with pen and paper in advance of my dad’s funeral. The words must have come easy. They’re relatively few and little was crossed out. But on the day, in our village church, I couldn’t stand up there. His death had come as […] Read More
Four and a half years in the making
[Add photo of moleskin notebooks spread out on my bed] July 2015. For four and a half years I’ve been scribbling into moleskin notebooks. In the process I discovered that there’s a clarity of thought you find in writing that you miss when you simply chase the neurons firing in circles around your head. I’m […] Read More
One last taxi ride (sat alongside eight months of nostalgia in Beijing, China)
As a sat in the taxi to Beijing airport I had a feeling that I don’t recall ever having before. Goosebumps and a smile had formed as I allowed the accumulation of experiences from the last eight months to wash over me. It was close to midnight on the final day of my journey. The […] Read More
Antarctica. Chapter 4: Walking amongst penguins
The boat continued through the Bransfield Straight (the waters separating the South Shetland islands from the Antarctic peninsula) in the night. It was also colloquial known as the mini Drake. Only, if it was rough, I slept right through it. A couple of glasses of wine the night before a great aid to heavy sleep. […] Read More
Antarctica. Chapter 3: The company of seabirds
Thankfully, sunset on the second night was as benign as the first. By the end of the day the worst of the stormy conditions had passed, and while the boat still rocked, the skies were clear. I stood out on deck with a fast cooling coffee to watch the last of its light. A flock […] Read More
Antarctica. Chapter 2: Our ship the Ushuaia.
It was late yesterday afternoon that we embarked the ship. We remained docked for a couple of hours, before a gentle evening passing through the sheltered waters of the Beagle Channel as we got used to our surroundings. I quickly tried to get lost, but the corridors around the cabins, the lounge and dinning area, […] Read More
Antarctica. Chapter 1: The open waters of the Drake Passage
I woke up to the creaks and groans of the cabin this first morning on the ship, the sound of each roll straining everything around me. My backpack, which was propped against the wall, falls with a thump. My room-mate’s ipad clatters onto the floor. Just as predicted the night before, the ocean swell was […] Read More
How to be a hipster (Brooklyn – New York, USA)
Written August 2014. Above is the view across across to Manhatten from Brooklyn’s Bushwick Park. By night, the roof of an ex-industrial warehouse in Brooklyn is a great place to survey the skyline of Manhattan. There is absence of skyscrapers in this part of town, and view across to the East river sweeps unobstructed. Across […] Read More