We’ve been watching Steve Backshall’s Expedition recently – it’s good “not much brainpower” evening stuff, a sort of adult equivalent of Deadly 60 which we used to love watching with the kids when they were little. It’s good. But it – and I’ve noticed this a lot recently, particularly with documentaries – has caught the … Read more
There are many depressing things about this particular moment in history and there are many people writing about these depressing things in much more knowledgeable and eloquent ways than I would be able to. But I feel that as someone who owns a blog it is important to write something now about what is about … Read more
So often the promise of a thing is huge and covered in bright lights; exciting and life changing and altogether wooo. Marketing does this, social media does this, and our natural response is amygdala-like: “shit man, I gotta get me one of those!“. The vision presented by the PR of The Thing is powerful. Examples … Read more
I think I first started running when I was about 17; although I have a terrible memory, I do remember going regularly around the hills near my home town, and the coincidence of geography and age only really works if it was when I was in my late teens. Then there was a significant period … Read more
I’ve noticed an interesting phenomena in These Strange Times. I might be late to the party in noticing this, but hey, fuck it, shoot me. Whereas it’s obvious to all concerned – and there has been much written about this – that we’re all spending forever on Zoom calls, this one is everso slightly not … Read more
In short: we’re about ten miles north of Bude on the North Devon coast. The house is just outside a small but surprisingly sprawling village called Welcombe. Working out where the village centre is is challenging, but it’s probably safe to say it’s the pub – the increasingly excellent Old Smithy. I say “increasingly excellent” because the … Read more
This is a good question. Right now as the sun shines and I’m sitting in a snug, warm and rather lovely room on a Saturday morning looking out at some nature, it’s rather easy to answer. When it’s January, we’re all cold and damp and haven’t seen the sun for several months, the answer might … Read more