Grandscale Beauty: The Overview Effect: Cyanobacterial Bloom in the Baltic Sea

Map makers, Google Earth developers, astronauts and those who gaze at the earth and universe for a living are already convinced of the tremendous beauty of large places seen from space. For most of us mere mortals we won’t ever get the chance to see the earth from space.  The ‘Overview Effect’ was a term coinedContinue reading “Grandscale Beauty: The Overview Effect: Cyanobacterial Bloom in the Baltic Sea”

Wild and Wonderful Asian Fruit Smoothies to enjoy this summer

Living in tropical South East Asia definitely has its benefits. One of them is being able to tan all year round. Another, is the abundance of juicy, vibrantly coloured and weird-looking fruit. This tastes like nothing you have ever tried before! Also, Asian fruit is cheap to buy here, so it’s easy to conjure upContinue reading “Wild and Wonderful Asian Fruit Smoothies to enjoy this summer”

Travel: Mudlarking for treasures on the River Thames

A Mudlark while being a species of Australian bird’, is also a curious river-side rambler. Over several millennia of habitation, London’s River Thames has collected many layers of mud-addled refuse of varying degrees of value. Although one man’s trash is another’s treasure and the shores of the Thames are still a magnet to curious folkContinue reading “Travel: Mudlarking for treasures on the River Thames”

Every Picture Tells A Story: Travelling Salesman’s case with neon tubes, 1935

Not much is known of this travelling neon salesman’s case, other than it’s beautiful and would have no doubt attracted scores of customers. It belonged to a company salesman for Dorwalt Signs in Pennsylvania and dates from 1935. As you probably already know, I am obssessed with neon, having written about Neon Art and Loneliness in theContinue reading “Every Picture Tells A Story: Travelling Salesman’s case with neon tubes, 1935”

Train and tram-spotting in Melbourne back in the olden days

Here are two handsome maps of Melbourne’s public transport from the previous century. In equal parts loved and loathed by locals, public transport in Melbourne is slow, expensive and unreliable and yet anyone who has ever lived in Melbourne (and who has moved away for long enough to not deal with it on a dailyContinue reading “Train and tram-spotting in Melbourne back in the olden days”

Travel: Krakow Summer Opera Season at Wawel Castle

In the walls of Wawel castle on the night of midsummer, an atmosphere of enchantment abounded. The mauve and violet light of the sky melted into the golden lamps that fell onto the cobble-stone pathways, this skimmed and bounced across gabled iron rooftops of the castle. The light from the opera ballet performance stage shoneContinue reading “Travel: Krakow Summer Opera Season at Wawel Castle”

Travel: The Epic Story of Wieliczka Salt Mines in Poland

Inside of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, a thousand steps seem to guard you from the surface of the world. A thousand false ceilings seem to call out and confuse your senses. So far away are you from the grounding blue of the sky and the sensation of dirt under your feet. Inside of this mineContinue reading “Travel: The Epic Story of Wieliczka Salt Mines in Poland”

Travel: A summer trip to the Renaissance fortress and city of Zamość

We visited Zamość Fortress (Polish: Twierdza Zamość) and town on one of those perfect Polish summer days where the sun and heat pelted down and made everything bright and vivid. Locals and visitors in this far south eastern city of Poland seemed to have a spring in their step on this fine day and everyoneContinue reading “Travel: A summer trip to the Renaissance fortress and city of Zamość”

Every Picture Tells A Story: Sunrise in the cockpit

Courtesy of Karim Nafatni “This was my last flight as a 1st officer. Took this shot to immortalise the amazing moments i had the chance to experience flying on the right hand seat. It was time to move to the hot seat , the captain’s seat ;)” Source: Imgur