For some time now, I’ve been working diligently behind the scenes to secretly bring about a brave new global order. (I haven’t talked about it before now for hopefully obvious reasons). There will be many sweeping changes, and I look forward to discussing them with you – or, to be more specific, telling you about them in advance. For example, … Read More
Journey Home, Interrupted
Oh boy. I’m sat in an Internet cafe in Kirkwall. The Orkney bus (connecting me with Inverness and all my trains back home) left an hour ago. I’m a numpty. Coming back from Greece in ’07, a delayed train screwed me over and forced me to buy new tickets (which I recouped some of the cost of, because it wasn’t … Read More
Foundations
There’s one rule you should always follow when dining out in York, and it’s this: look up. My home city is head-scratchingly complicated. Thinking of opening a restaurant within the walls of York? Welcome to a heritage minefield, where you can’t unlatch a window without applying for planning permission first. Everything around you is deeply and highly old, and old … Read More
Previously on “Orkney”…
I’m heading up to Orkney in a little over a week – a place I worked as an archaeologist for a couple of months, a place that’s in my blood enough to wish I’d been born there. It’s a place where spectacles creep up on you. (No, the other kind). Every day is a different palette. But archaeology is terribly … Read More
6 Ways to Crank the World Back into Shape
Fevered Mutterings v3 – October 5th, 2008. Cranks will save the world. Nothing to do with Jason Statham, thankfully. No – I’m actually talking about mechanical power. And it’s something I feel strongly about. Philosophy. Labor-saving. Labour-saving. However you spell it, it’s become a curse. The theory is great. We use technology to make our lives more efficient, allowing us … Read More
Cheap British Train Tickets: Here’s Why You Need To Plan Ahead
Planning to get cheap British train tickets by just turning up on the day and winging it? THAT WOULD BE INSANE – and here’s why.
Tea Bags and Glad Reps
(Fevered Mutterings v1: 10th February 2005) Some people look down on tea-making. The job title tea boy is synonymous with the lowest rung of the task ladder. If you’re making the tea, you’re probably a temp or you’ve been very bad (“what do you mean, you crashed the server? Oh, go and make the tea”). In my mind, this is … Read More
TV Is What Films Will Be When They Grow Up
I’m a reluctant cinema-goer nowadays. This is because broadly speaking and generalising wildly, I’m a grown-up. Please excuse me the following rant / soliloquy. (I like to vent occasionally: it makes me a better person the rest of the time, in theory). Right. I love a good story (and yes, I’m a scifi/fantasy geek, but not exclusively). I want my … Read More