Orkney
North. Keep going North. Keep driving – past Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester. Past the Lake District, where low stone walls trace patterns across green fields (and where we stop to buy me a pair of new …
Making my Mark
I made my mark the other day. On the wall. First in pencil, then with a drill. It was a big moment for me. I’d been putting it off for a while, afraid that I …
Das historische Erbe der tschechischen Proteste von „Milion chvilek“: ein Essay
2019 richtete die Welt ihre Aufmerksamkeit auf Tschechien, als die Nation durch eine Reihe von Demonstrationen gegen die Regierung erschüttert wurde. In einem Land, das oft übersehen wird und dessen Bürger nicht besonders für ihr …
Do Re Mi
She moves the microphone out of the way and hands me a pair of boxing gloves. ‘Put these on.’ ‘I signed up for singing, not boxing lessons,’ I say doubtfully. ‘Trust me!’ I put the …
The Call of Snow and Ice
It is August and my fingers are numb. I squeeze my hands into fists inside the gloves and watch Serena secure the crampons onto her boots. When my fingers have regained feeling, I do the …
Where The Sun Never Sets
We were a long way from anywhere. A long way from the modern world – no phone, no internet, no electricity. The absence of electric light wasn’t an issue, of course: this far North, …
Student, Teacher, Parrot
OK, I looked like a parrot. Yellow. Red. Yellow, green and red. From head to toe. Only my face suggested that I wasn’t fully parrot (human, as far as I could tell when I looked …
Starting From Scratch – Again
A little too perfect. That was my first impression. How can a place be ‘too perfect’? Well, for a start, it looked like it had come straight out of a glossy advertising brochure. Trendy young …
Flat Hunt
Seven names. Ring the bell with seven names. It sounds like a riddle. The riddle of the sphinx. Is this all part of the test? If so, I am missing a trick: there are two …
A Fish out of Water
A few snapshots – in words, not pictures. We stepped off the train and made directly for the shade. It was hot. I’d been worried about this. I tend to visit places with the promise …