In the mean time between failures
Nov 5, 2024
environment & journal & politics
A train of events, the cycle of civilisations, and the Theatre of the Real
Swimming to America
Nov 7, 2023
journal & travel
A pilgrimage to a new world
Without reservations
Jun 28, 2023
bikes & journal & travel
Why would anyone travel the way I do? My routes have literary roots.
Tour notes
Jun 11, 2023
bikes & journal & travel
A month on the road. What did I learn?
The return of the king
Sep 10, 2022
journal & politics
I have never had a king, and am not sure that I want one now
Remembering Bel Macdonald
Aug 16, 2022
journal & memoir
My mother passed away yesterday
Barts hearts and faces
Jul 20, 2022
journal
I have been away for a bit
Summer on wheels
Jul 9, 2022
bikes & journal & travel
Touring the East Midlands by bicycle
Sandals on their way home
Apr 18, 2022
humour & journal
Even a journey of a thousand miles starts beneath your own feet.
Cycling glove, slightly foxed
Apr 3, 2022
humour & journal
The fox/glove files – it was the fox wot did it
How green is my valley
Feb 3, 2022
journal
Why this is Wales; nor am I out of it.
Bergh Apton revisited
Jul 25, 2021
journal & poetry
Return to a country house
What we saw in Roswell
May 2, 2021
journal
The smart money is that we are not alone. That will change the way we see ourselves. Forever.
Rural rides
Apr 22, 2021
journal
Working from my mother’s flat in Hampshire this week. Lunch at the local pub, reached by a walk through the woods.
Clause 152 defeated?
Mar 8, 2009
journal & politics
Straw bows to pressure over data sharing
A light shines in Buckinghamshire
Mar 8, 2009
journal & politics
A visit to the home of John Milton
Geek chic
Jan 25, 2009
journal & music & software
I had heard of live coding, but this was my first encounter.
Back to work
Jan 1, 2009
journal
Six months complete change and rest. Just what the doctor ordered, apart from the champagne jelly and the motoring in Egypt. I’m back, fighting fit
April diary
May 1, 2008
journal
Two software conferences, a hustings, a stag night and a camping holiday
February diary
Mar 1, 2008
journal & music
Chill time as friends Seb & Aysegül Merrick took time from their demanding business to eat dinner with us. We must have gone off Valentine’s Day.
December diary
Dec 31, 2007
journal
A Christmas market photo-shoot took us to Stow-on-the-Wold, with Maxx along for the dining room at The Grapes hotel, sadly no longer the treat it
Gloria gets carsick on Mondays
Oct 19, 2007
arts & journal & poetry
Seeking New York poets – in New York
Good Deed
Sep 13, 2007
arts & journal
The judge is a former radical civil-liberties barrister now draped in the scarlet robes of a High Court judge and out to deliver justice in the teeth of the police, the Home Office, the Lord Chancellor’s Department and even his brother judges.
Bramley APLers
Sep 5, 2007
journal & software
Bunked up in Bramley
Beyond my toenails
Aug 9, 2007
journal
Floating in the Øresund, the world’s busiest shipping channel
Give war a chance
Aug 2, 2007
journal & politics
A claim that only an idiot or a member of the British government could believe
Cultural differences
Jul 15, 2007
cycling & journal & wellbeing
If the English ever come to think it normal for work to be a joy, to spend one’s life working on matters one cares about, we shall have a second English Revolution at least as profound as the 17th century’s.
Feeling employed
Jul 12, 2007
journal & software
One of the subtle pleasures of growing older is exploring one’s own pathologies. This month I am once again employed, after a decade of
A sudden bonfire
Jul 7, 2007
politics & journal
Anyone who has aspired to write science fiction or fantasy might reasonably take heart from the popularity of writers such as Neil Gaiman, who is
Against the fragile human land
Jun 29, 2007
arts & journal & politics
In my dreams I’m still driving… Meantime, police in London report finding a car bomb outside a Park Lane night club, lucky things. MPs in the
Falling towards England
Jun 29, 2007
journal
Hardly a ballistic parabola, falling towards England… i-it’s more like a rubber band, snapping me home. Paris by lunchtime and I’m much encouraged
Ancient beach towns
Jun 27, 2007
journal
Alassio, Liguria Snapped awake and alert at 4.30am. A dream voice still echoing a soft Irish brogue in my ear: “He is vicious to you, John, the
Enough bitterness
Jun 23, 2007
food & journal
Saturday morning and my colazione inglese alla Milanese for Stefano: ciabatta, buttered eggs with basil, sliced tomatoes fried with pancetta. Topped
Desire and cocktails
Jun 22, 2007
journal
We spend a third of our lives asleep and much of the rest being run around by sex. We have scarcely any idea how all this works.
Crema notes
Jun 17, 2007
journal
Travel notes from Crema, Lombardy
Cremona notes
Jun 16, 2007
journal
Travel notes from Cremona, Lombardy
APL news
Jun 6, 2007
journal & software
A day at the APL moot in Tuscany
Balkan spice
May 22, 2007
arts & journal
Upcoming Balkan music gigs in London
Bicycles beyond Brentwood
May 22, 2007
journal
A sally into Essex