I had to endure it, now you have to read about it
Brief observations from a holiday in northwest Crete – the home of kalitsounia, daredevil pilots and herds of cats Crete is the birthplace of Zeus, the god of sky, lightning and thunder. (His birth was a clandestine affair, and took place in a cave to avoid the attention of his paranoid and infanticidal father, Kronos). […]
Crete: gods, fighter pilots and cheese parcels Read More »
I’ve only ever suffered a punch to the face – a proper bare-knuckle blow, powered by malice – on one occasion. A one-off event like that is always likely to stick in the mind. But it was also memorable for its sheer strangeness. Thankfully there’s no trauma surrounding the incident. I guess technically what happened
‘Mr Brave,’ or On Being Punched In The Face Read More »
Early childhood generates some of our most powerful memories. We remember the first instances of joy, disgust, fright and love. In a matter of years we find ourselves subject to greater emotional depths, and our memories correspondingly become more complex. I’d argue that as soon as we’re old enough to form a truly vivid memory,
Childhood memories, ranked by embarrassment Read More »
The tide recedes before us, as we sit on steps by the bay in Margate. My family is eating a traditional supper of fish and chips, but we are not alone. Large, malevolent seagulls congregate in clusters across the steps in front of us. Perhaps we haven’t strayed quite far enough from the chip shop.
Kleptoparasitism by the sea Read More »
Day four of our brief visit to Kefalonia, and the pockets of my swimming shorts are filling up with rocks We have arrived, by dint of a wrong turn, at the wrong beach. This is not a sandy beach on the southern tip of the island, but a pebbly beach further north along the eastern
Kefalonia: stray cats and spanakopita Read More »
The fishing boats follow the fish. The turtles follow the fishing boats. The tourists follow the turtles. A small group of visitors clusters around the edge of the quay at Argostoli, waiting for the reemergence of a loggerhead from beneath the stern of a sleek 11m sailing yacht. Loggerhead turtles glide in the these waters,
Kefalonia: loggerhead turtles and strapatsada Read More »
The place is already humming with activity by the time we arrive. The temperature is in the high 20s this morning, and many South London families have made a beeline for the paddling pool, high on the common. The circular pool is secluded from the rest of the common, surrounded by a hedge and an iron
Crossing the Gates of Eden Read More »
A carpark in Croydon. Speaking to a male acquaintance with growing incredulity, a woman is relaying an urgent phone call that she recently took from a friend. “She said ‘I was repainting my flat, naked.’” The woman pauses, then poses the obvious rhetorical question. “Who paints naked?”. This seems a reasonable line of inquiry to
London Lucky Dip: painting naked and adopting house plants Read More »
The Parable of the Chinese Farmer has been on my mind recently. Though in my case the Parable of the Sleepless Writer would be more appropriate. A couple of years ago I bought an alarm clock. I wanted to sleep without my phone by my bedside, in an effort to reduce my screen time. My
The Good Decision / Bad Decision Alarm Clock Read More »
We had prepared for the arrival of our first child in all the usual ways. We’d converted the spare bedroom to a nursery, picked out the perfect co-sleeper crib, and stocked up on pristine white babygrows. With my wife deep into the third trimester, there was just one time-honoured task outstanding. We still had to
How to match your unborn child with the perfect Snoopy book Read More »
