A Greek Easter in London

The Greek Orthodox Church celebrate their Easter a week after the rest of us Roman Catholic types. They call it Pascha and see it as the most important holiday of the year – more important even than Christmas. Herself is as Greek as they come, so last Saturday night, she took us to St. Sophia’s…

A brief lesson in cool

Just once I’d like to enter a party like this: The clip is from the movie Cinderfella (1960) starring the incomparable Jerry Lewis. The story goes that this sequence was shot in a single take and at the end of the scene, when the Cinderfella character runs back up the staircase, Lewis actually suffered a…

As If I Wasn’t Busy Enough, Now I Have Multiple Sclerosis

“Only fools and rakes fall ill, my boy. You know me: I am busy from morning till night and abstemious, so of course I am well.” Nicholas Bolkonski in Tolstoy’s War and Peace With the appointment confirmation letter neatly folded into the breast pocket of my winter coat, I arrive ten minutes early at the…

This is becoming a bit of a hobby

While I certainly don’t want this to become one of those blogs comprised solely of funny pictures, I saw this on my afternoon run the other day and had to take a picture. I promise that I am working on more productive things at the moment and hope to share them soon, but everything has…

More Sandwich Board fun

I was jogging around Primrose Hill and Regent’s Park last week (as one does) and saw this sign. I had to do a second lap before taking the picture as I didn’t want to break pace. Enjoy. Writing is on the way.

A SWIFT AND ALL TOO SUDDEN CHANGE IN MY IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES

On Monday 21st July, I entered Homerton Hospital’s Accident and Emergency unit in East London troubled with a case of double-vision that had been bothering me for a number of days – it was my stupid and foolhardy male pride that stopped me from seeking assistance as soon as I first noticed the onset of…

Under Pressure

The bookshelf above my bed is now beyond overloaded and I’m quite certain that it’s going to collapse any day now. We’re at breaking point. One of the screws on the bottom left corner is looking particularly dodgy, and despite my best efforts I can’t get the damn thing tightened back into the wall. I…

Elmo!

I know, I know, I haven’t written anything in weeks, but the truth of the matter is that I really haven’t had the time. I’ve just taken a promotion in my job – which means more work – and I’ve also spent a fair amount of time travelling around Europe. I have, however, had time…

The Enda Kenny Mask

I’m getting quite comfortable with Photoshop and Illustrator CS6, so I decided to get a bit satirical and political with it. Enda Kenny is an Irish Fine Gael politician, and has been the Taoiseach (Irish Prime-Minister) since March 2011. Fine Gael are a rather conservative group and are seen by many as being out-of-touch with…

Recent adventures with Adobe Illustrator

I recently started working with Adobe Illustrator and here’s my first attempt at image creating. I hope to get more adept with it in the future. It’s a massive amount of fun.

50 word story – Untitled

And that time she fell, the care they took to get her up again. Those old bones are softer than chalk, they said, but they had held through harder times. With what that man had put her through, at least we were gentle when we lowered her into the ground.      

Giving life the runaround

Of all the tortures to which an otherwise sane person could willingly submit themselves, there are few activities I dread and despise more than jogging. Everything about this most sadistic of ventures fills me with equal measures of distain and revulsion. And yet, as soon as I arrive home from work, I waste no time in…

Baked Beans

I just had one of my tweets featured on The Guardian’s Life & Style page, offering my own modest contribution to the otherwise rather unassuming business of cooking baked beans. Let me just say, straight off the bat, I love baked beans and I’m not alone; around 2.3 million tins of those beauties are consumed…

Karma For a Lapsed Veggie

Here’s the story. For the last several months, I have been eating a vegetarian diet, due in part to ethical interests (as I have outlined before), but also because I was looking for a challenge. With the exception of needing a few food supplements to replace the loss of certain minerals in my day-to-day food…