Yesterday afternoon I found myself in that peculiarly liminal space between the end of one book and the beginning of another. I am usually careful to set up my next read well in advance, however, on this particular occasion, I’d hit a dead end. There are more books on the shelf in the living room than there is time…
Category: Art
The truth isn’t always an uplifting business
Hang around the Irish pubs of West London for long enough and you’re sure to hear some harsh political opinions. If you don’t watch out, you might even get to holding some of them yourself. The truth isn’t always an uplifting business, but there are no lies in Big Tom, the out of work steel fixer…
Back in Camden Town – Street Art Gallery
Camden Town Street Art or: Staying Busy While the Woman is Away. Herself has been in Greece visiting family this week. As a result, I’ve been at somewhat of a loose end back home in London. While it’s only been a few days, in even that short time the flat looks like a hurricane blew through and, in…
Morewell
Keep the Aspidistra Flying – George Orwell (1936) After my review of George Orwell: A Literary Life last week, I decided to Google-up on what’s going on in the Orwell universe as of late. One link follows another and, as these things tend to play themselves out, I am now registered to attend an all day conference on the author’s work…
There is no such thing as revenge
George Orwell: A Literary Life – Peter Davison (1996) It is said that everybody needs a hobby, but that is not to say you should be limited to only one. While some of my hobbies could be described as practical in their scope, such as learning a new language or exercising, over the last few…
If only it were all so simple!
The Gulag Archipelago – Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1973) The Mission – In an attempt to better keep track of my reading, I have settled on the idea that creating a short a post on the book with which I am currently engaged might prove a productive and useful undertaking. For the last 2 weeks, I have been spending every spare moment utterly transfixed by Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag…
No matter what happens, I am coming with you.
It’s a miserable and rained-out day in West London and while we’re stuck in the flat, I’ve remedied to spend some time publishing a post. We were in East London last week to catch -up with our old Hackney neighbourhood and sure enough, I brought my camera for good measure. We met my brother while we…
The gift that keeps on giving
You know how it is, you’re in a second-hand bookshop on a Saturday afternoon, indifferently leafing through anything that comes to hand and, for whatever reason, you suddenly fix on something that catches you’re attention. I picked up a copy of Content Provider: Selected Short Prose Pieces 2011-2016(2016, Faber & Faber) by the comedian Stewart Lee and noticed…
The Greatest One Man Band in the World
It’s been a miserable few weeks of rain and wind in London this last month, but herself and I have no plans to let any of that get in the way of us enjoying the city. On Sunday we went to Brick Lane in the East End and in addition to taking a stack of photos…
The Attenborough update
Accepting disappointment as sarcastically as possible. Before the weekend, I asked you to submit questions that you would like me to ask David Attenborough if the chance arose at an event I attended to celebrate the remarkable success of Planet Earth II. Well, unfortunately there was no Q&A section after the presentation so I didn’t…
Ask David Attenborough a question
I was only going to post once today (a satirical notion I’ve had kicking around my head for a while), however, I just remembered that I will be attending a presentation on the highly successful BBC nature documentary series Planet Earth II tomorrow and Sir David Attenborough is set to appear as a special guest and speaker. As far as I know, there…
The Plan
I happened upon this sign in my office kitchen this afternoon. I did a bit of snooping online and found that some have referred to this document as the Genesis of Shit. I thought it was mildly amusing so took a photo. Enjoy: You can now follow my adventures on Instagram here.
When we get going
Forget 2016. It’s gone. Done. C’est fini. A dead parrot. It’s 2017 now and things are going to change around here. For starters, we won’t be taking any grumbling from any of you lot. It’s time to knuckle down and get a move, especially you at the back. I can see you. Heads down, we’re going to…
I was not designed to make you laugh
In a recent post I discussed wanting to make a change to my life and, sure enough , I went and took the plunge. I no longer work with VICE News (the three hour daily commute was steadily eroding my will to live), but have instead taken a post with the BBC. Since I was…
To hold the world in the palm of your hand
WordPress tells me that I have now used up the entire 3Gb of storage offered on my plan. This means that if I wish to continue maintaining this site then I’m going to have to make a decision on what to do next. I can either fork out for a premium plan or transfer everything onto a…