I wrote this poem in 2011 during a particularly bewitching snow-storm on Lake Menteith in Stirlingshire, Scotland. I had borrowed a pair of old, worn out and blunt ice-skates that were a size too small. And together with my friend, we set out to skate on the lake and also record the audio of theContinue reading “Travel Poetry: The Crackling Thunder of Frozen Lake Menteith”
Tag Archives: storytelling
History: Ancient specs as fascinating historical artefacts
In 2012 while working as a freelance copywriter, I did a series of articles for Direct Sight in the UK about the history of eye glasses. I only just remembered this one, it was incredibly fun to research and write and you can find the original here from 2012. I hope you enjoy it, fromContinue reading “History: Ancient specs as fascinating historical artefacts”
Travel:The Berlin Wall Redux: A punk lady of leisure
In 2008 I lived in Berlin. It’s a vast adult playground of earthly delights, diversions and shiny, distracting baubles. Its maddeningly vibrant during the summer. It’s as though life is amplified to full volume and there is no dimmer switch. The sky sits very high up and the sun is beaming down with a warm,Continue reading “Travel:The Berlin Wall Redux: A punk lady of leisure “
Travel: A scooter swarm and the dance of life and death in Taiwan
Among the chaos and the streaming lights there are tiny rockets moving between buildings and jostling people out of the way as they walk into the street. In South Korea, Japan, Thailand and China these pocket rockets roam through the night, comandeered by a mixture of salarymen, young punks and mums with kids strapped toContinue reading “Travel: A scooter swarm and the dance of life and death in Taiwan”
Travel: The lost and hungry felines of Chefchaouen, Morocco
Seeing you sprawled on the ground in a doorway in Chefchaoen, Morocco, something broke inside of my heart. I found myself so immensely concerned for your safety. From your gaunt and shabby physique and milky, clouded eyes I worked out that you were severely malnourished. I attempted to pick you up gently but my MorocccanContinue reading “Travel: The lost and hungry felines of Chefchaouen, Morocco”
Book Review: The Domesticated Brain by Bruce Hood
This is a riveting read from one of the leading lights of modern psychology, Bruce Hood of the University of Bristol. The book’s main premise is that 20,000 years ago our brains were 10% larger than what they are today. And that the reason for this is primarily the influence of social practices, culture andContinue reading “Book Review: The Domesticated Brain by Bruce Hood”
Words and Music: Dave Clarke’s World Service & Shanghai
I wrote this poem because I came across an album I hadn’t heard in years, it reminded me so much of Shanghai where I lived briefly as a teenager that I had this all rush into my head and I needed to get it out. So here is a memory purge of my time inContinue reading “Words and Music: Dave Clarke’s World Service & Shanghai”
Book Review: A Death in the Family by Karl Ove Knausgaard
* No plot spoilers in this review A Death in the Family is Book 1 of the My Struggle six part autobiography of Karl Ove Knausgaard. This mammoth six part memoir really grabs a hold to the marrow of his family, friends and sexual relationships – the blood and bone. A Death in the FamilyContinue reading “Book Review: A Death in the Family by Karl Ove Knausgaard”
Art: The Horoscope of Prince Iskandar (1411)
A sublime Persian horoscope crafted from lapis lazuli and gold leaf by hand for Prince Iskandar. The Prince was named after Alexander the Great and was the grandson of Tamerlane, the Turkman Mongol conqueror. This horoscope shows the positions of the stars and planets in the sky at the moment of Iskandar’s birth on 25thContinue reading “Art: The Horoscope of Prince Iskandar (1411)”
Book Review: A Man in Love by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Book Two of the Min Kemp (My Struggle) in the series of six autobiographical volumes is possibly the least adventurous of his stories although still no less compelling and compulsively readable as the other ones. If you are unfamiliar with Karl Ove Knausgaard then you must have been living under a rock. He has beenContinue reading “Book Review: A Man in Love by Karl Ove Knausgaard”
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