Small town big dreams

Here’s a farm boy from a small town, working in London for the biggest public broadcaster in the world. Should I be impressed with how far I’ve come? Should I be satisfied with what I reached in the first 30 years? Or should I be hungry for more. Should I be eager and ambitious to […]

Suffocating hen

Lunch today was great. Outside in the sun, sprawling on the grass. I never had lunch on the grass in South Africa. This evening Jay phoned me on my back from work, and we decided to catch a movie. We had a great time, and it was lovely to just talk and relax a bit. […]

Mulling over money

It’s amazing how one can still keep in touch with old, old friends half a world away. I have just finished reading an email from my old school love, and it’s been more than a decade since we broke up. We used to see one another occasionally, but the last time was more than three […]

His one advantage

He might hate people reading over his shoulder on the train, but at least he has some positive points as well. For one, he lives in a continual state of pseudo mid-life crises. Growing up with constant reminders about how intelligent and special and remarkable he is, he persistently believes that he’s under performing, that […]

Fuel for the questions

I remember a teacher whistling in astonishment in front of my whole class when he read my IQ. I was 10 at the time. I remember my father’s repeated depressions, apparently brought on by the knowledge that his son was even more intelligent than he was, which we learned when I was 7. My first […]

An ever-raging battle

A shocking discussion with my boss today. Her husband – moderately successful in corporate spheres – only ever sees his young daughter over weekends. For five days a week he’s out before she’s awake, and he returns after she’s put to bed, so that he only sees her two days a week. I’m am now […]

Intro vs outro

‘You have a way with words’ my wife said after defusing an extremely volatile situation with my (sometimes) thoughtless mother-in-law. Since childhood I have been able to influence – manipulate is so unnecessarily negative – the feelings and emotions of my family. Practising on my brother, I was able to make him cry at will. […]

In defense of pen and paper

The problem with online journalling is that I can’t always write down things as I think of them. Perhaps the old pen-and-paper routine with a little pocketbook has its advantages? To be honest, though, it’s not really a problem of the medium, but rather the environment. I am connected for most of my day. In […]

Wit of man

I have to stay disciplined an attempt daily posts on this blog. The last couple of days have been busy, and I have neglected all my blogs, at least not only this one. On the train home, watching a video podcast of Newsnight discussing the closures of the military hospitals. The former chief of the […]

You can leave home without it

Bloody hell it’s been a tough day. On the one hand I’m busy with the most mind numbingly boring work I’ve ever done in my entire existence, and on the other hand I’m supposed to be everything from a technical project manager to a ground breaking editor. At east these last two area are slightly […]