I captured a white pawn earlier this month, quite by accident. The piece was appropriated from my cousin’s living room. It must have been swept indiscriminately from the floor when my daughter’s Lego bricks were tidied into a travel tub on departure. Earlier that afternoon, she had played a game of ‘Chess’ against a relative, […]
Long ago, in a simpler, more innocent age (alright, in 2014), a bubble of excitement briefly formed in the tech world, centred on the launch of an app called Yo. Business Insider explained succinctly, that it was “a one-tap notification app that sends a one-word message —“Yo” — to other users.” It added, “There’s no
Car horns are the worst one-tap app ever Read More »
It’s late at night and I’m sitting up in bed. The torchlight on my phone casts shadows on the rolling hills of the duvet before me. The room is quiet but for the insistent ticking of my bedside alarm clock and the occasional whistling inhalation of my wife sleeping beside me. Without warning, a distant
Hunting an Earworm in Negative Space Read More »
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 »
A kaleidoscopic look back at 2023’s most hackle-raising moments, experienced while negotiating London on foot, on the Tube and by car. However you travel in London, you’re bound to encounter something interesting. People are always getting into altercations. Or trying to blag stuff. Or saying weird things to each other. Or missing connections. This is
London Lucky Dip: 2023 transport special Read More »
No one likes to be put in a box, to have their identity narrowly defined by someone else. But it can be liberating to put yourself in a box, if that means packing up an old identity and moving on, to a new place or a new life. What you leave behind can be telling.
Unfurling confusion in the Athena Time Capsule 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 »
