A typical Antifa demonstrator’s protest experience as told through a Spotify playlist “Come out and Play” – The Offspring . “I Wanna Be Heard” – Social Unrest “Fuck the USA” – The Exploited “Resisting Tyrannical Government” – Propagandhi “Kill the President” – The Offspring “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” – Dead Kennedys “And We Fight” –…
Tag: reading
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…
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…
Music plays somewhere in the distance
More than three quarters of the Greek population list their religion as Orthodox, and if you find yourself there during one of their religious celebration, it is an almost certainty that you will find yourself involved in the pageantry of the occasion in some way, shape or form. I spent this year’s Easter holidays in the Northern…
Best of London Pavement Signs
John Cleese once said that his Three Laws of Comedy were 1. No puns, 2. No puns, and 3. No puns. This nugget of wisdom, however, has not been adopted by the shop owners of the Greater London area. Their signs almost invariably contain a pun in some form or other and I don’t see…
This week in travel notices
Some regular visitors may recall that the workers at my local train station left a small conundrum on the travel notice board for commuters to try and solve last weekend. Unfortunately, they forgot to answer their own riddle and no solution was ever provided. However, after a small Google search I found that the answer…
A Very Quick Story
I’ll tell you a quick story while you’re here and I have the time to spare. I have a good friend who worked as a barman for the years he was seeing his way through his tertiary educational commitments. No-one who knows an honest day of work would ever challenge you in saying that tending…
The week in London Travel (Valentine’s Special)
In addition to the notice board actually featuring practical travel information, the theme this week was love. Somebody at the station, it seems, is somewhat of an old-fashioned romantic. Enjoy.
A screen is not a page
Nobody enjoys a good pavement sign more than myself, so when herself and I came across this humourous curiosity whilst out for a walk on Saturday, I had to take a picture to share. Enjoy.
One for the poets
In the closing chapter of Augustus by John Williams, a novel I have just finished reading for the second time, I noticed yet another passage that I criminally overlooked on the first read. This quote appears in a letter written by the elderly and reflective emperor Octavius Caesar, to his friend, the historian and philosopher,…
The Romans and the Moralists
I am half way through rereading Augustus, a suberb novel by John Williams, author of the equally brilliant Stoner and Butcher’s Crossing, and noticed this particularly eloquent passage that I had overlooked the first time through. The quote is taken from a fictionalised 12BC letter from the political advisor Gaius Cilnius Maecenas to Titus Livius and…
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…