Turn About
We have less than 20 hours left before boarding our plane back to Australia. I am full of the usual salamagundy mix of emotions. Let’s not trawl through that though. The past couple of weeks have been intense. Seeing friends and family like this always ends up feeling like …
more...Extreme strolling in London
We are on the train to Newcastle. We overslept and had to run like maniacs to get here. I managed to misplace my oyster card and my subsequent tube ticket to kings cross. The ticket gate staff were probably too startled by my sweaty panicked luggage humping madness to stop …
more...In Bombay/Mumbai
Bombay (as the locals I have met insist on calling it) keeps reminding me of my time in Alexandria in the early 90s. I walked a lot and obsessed over the bicycle culture back then too.
In Tokyo
Our first trip to Japan. After driving up the coast and waiting at the airport, the nine hour flight was not so bad. We spent two hours figuring out and getting the trains to our airbnb. We dumped our bags after 20 odd hours travelling and found a bar which …
more...Walking and Travel
As a nineteen year old, Bruce Chatwin introduced me to the latin phrase, solvitur ambulando
(The Songlines). Translated as ‘it is solved by walking’ I liked the phrase immediately. It has become a talisman to be kept in my thoughts. I have not only sought solutions …
Blinkers
I recently bought some TaoTronics noise cancelling headphones. I thought they’d make the long-haul flight home to the UK less painful.
As an itirant miserable bastard I have found they also work to make long-haul life less painful. Sometimes I just want to switch the world off and step …
more...Next Year
At times I have a plan. I have been known to make a five year plan and more or less stick to it. More happenstance, less plan to be honest. I had planned to quit my previous relationship and go live in the Falklands or the Australian outback. My kids …
more...Erratic Reading
Last night I started reading Night Walking by Prof. Beaumont. It felt immediately familiar to me. I mention it now only to make note of the phrase Post Circadian Capitalism and the word Noctivagator. Fab.
I did not sleep much after 3am this morning. I’m not getting enough exercise …
more...Bicycle Lights
Every 6 months or so I find myself at the bicycle shop buying another set of blinking LED bicycle lights. The last pair having inevitably fallen apart; fallen off or ceased to work. It always costs 10 bucks more than I expect. They always have new and irritatingly imperfect ways …
more...Off the Rails
Sleep has been avoiding me lately. It waits until I have given up on it and then gets me. It normally does so just before I have to get up. I lay awake last night watching my brain churning through increasingly bizarre thoughts. At some stage I was thinking about …
more...Drifter
Running my hand along the kitchen bench my fingers gripped momentarily on congealed sticky oil. I wiped my fingers on a towel and poured a glass of Roku Gin. Earlier today I booked a cheap hotel room in Colaba, Mumbai. Gregory Robert’s book came to mind and I thought …
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