Category Archives: In My Life

Six things I have learned from cycling home

The clunk of the crank and the spin of the wheels with sun in their spokes; the way your legs move like you’re running but your feet never touch the ground. Stopped traffic, the smooth swoop of a fast corner … Continue reading

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The history of school history

A few years ago, my Mum took early retirement and went back to university to study for an MA (even going so far as to live in halls again…); she liked it so much[1], she went on to study for … Continue reading

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Gone to Texas

I’m in Austin, Texas for the next few days for South by Southwest interactive. The sky is blue, I had a a burger for breakfast and there were weathered muscle cars in the hotel parking lot. Texas, folks, is true.

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More people visit the Blackpool Tower each year than the Pyramids

This is and other excellent factoids in a strange little piece on the Guardian website: “Inspired by Mayor John Bickerstaffe’s visit to the Eiffel Tower in 1889, it survived a fire at the top eight years later and was largely … Continue reading

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Alternatives to wrapping paper

Couldn’t find any wrapping paper I liked for Mrs Jester’s presents – something of a dilemma, given that I was shopping in my lunch hour on the 23rd and fully intended to get to the pub after work. The answer … Continue reading

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Garden photography

Since I’ve got family nearby, I’ve visited Wakehurst Place in West Sussex a couple of times this year. It’s lovely; it combines an Elizabethan country house with extensive gardens and the Millennium Seedbank, the world’s largest seed conservation project. Earlier … Continue reading

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Input from everybody – Peleliu links

I ended up on Peleliu more by accident than design; I have family living on Palau, so my partner and I went to visit, and Peleliu seemed like an interesting day trip. I took the photos, wrote up the guide’s … Continue reading

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Thousand Yard Stares: Ruins and Ghosts of the Battle of Peleliu, 1944, 2008

Peleliu is a small island that forms part of the nation of Palau in the Pacific. It’s about five hours flying time south of Japan and three hours east of the Philippines. It’s now, like the rest of Palau, beautiful, … Continue reading

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Where to get good coffee in London

Like most journalists, I am largely fueled by coffee – to the point that I do actually have my own cafetiere in my desk drawer at work – but getting a well made coffee in a cafe. is one of … Continue reading

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On visiting countries that have been the subject of airstrikes by allies of your home country

The first in a doubtless intermittent series of posts about travelling. Late afternoon, and the sunlight is drawing triangles of light and shade on the courtyard with such precision it would make a maths teacher proud. From the corner of … Continue reading

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