Recursive Words

Breakfast, Bookshops, and Stranger Things

After clearing the decks at chore-city this morning I walked (very slowly) into town with my middle daughter. She's on crutches at the moment - recovering from anterior cruciate ligament surgery - a repair on an injury sustained in a rugby match about 18 months ago. It'

Reconnecting

Another January 1st has rolled around, and with it, that familiar hum of "new year, new me." This is where many people launch into grand declarations about resolutions, goals, and all the exciting things they are going to do this year. Not me. This year feels... different.

Far from the madding crowd

As the final hours of 2025 ebbed away, I sat on the sofa with a laptop, quietly lifting 22 years worth of blog posts into the air - to land them far from the madding crowd. After a rather horrendous run through the end of the year - more of

Boxing Day

After falling off the internet in recent days, I reached out to a few friends around the world this morning - wishing them a happy “Boxing Day”, and none of them outside the UK had a clue what I was referring to. In the UK, the day after Christmas Day

Christmas Day

Somehow we’ve made it through Christmas in one piece. We all congregated in the lounge by mid-morning. There had been strict instructions to cap the budget at a sensible amount per person this year - because we all work now (well… all except our youngest daughter, who is heavily

Work, chores and strictly

It’s been a few days again. A few days since I last emptied my head into the keyboard. I’m not sure where the last week went, to be honest. Work, chores, and errands rapidly conspire if you let them - and I tend to let them. I’m

On the outside, looking in

I went to my other half’s work Christmas party as her “plus one” last night. It was interesting - being the person on the outside, looking in on the work friendships and relationships - not having to “be present”, or “show up”. I learned so much about a room

In search of my lost tribe

I don’t recognise the internet any more.

A Moveable Feast

It occurred to me this morning that I’m becoming invisible. As wave after wave of new generations enter the scene from stage left, I’m increasingly the fool on the hill - recounting past adventures, and rolling my eyes at the surrounding cacophony. It got me thinking - about

Unnecessarily Difficult

A few months ago I switched from Android to iPhone. In the process of doing so, somebody somewhere sold my phone number to a marketing moron, and before I knew it, I was receiving multiple calls per day from random numbers. Perhaps the most annoying were from a pre-teen telling

The Glyptotek and Tivoli Gardens

Yesterday morning we set out bright and early for the “Glyptotek” - a vanity project built by Carl Jacobsen - the son of the founder of the Carlsberg breweries - to house his art collection. While wandering around the museum I found myself wondering if art is a really good

Oats, Harbours, Mermaids and Glogg

Today was very much a day of new things. A breakfast of overnight oats, a pilgrimage of sorts, a marching military band, a mermaid, an open sandwich and a glass of glogg. After filling ourselves with quite wonderful oats first thing we wrapped up against the cold and set out

Copenhagen

After a 5am alarm call, a taxi at 6am, and breakfast at Heathrow airport, we finally took off a little before 9am, and set off towards Copenhagen, Denmark. We thought we were being clever travelling light - only bringing carry-on bags with us- so you can imagine our reaction at

It wasn't always this way

You know the one where you’ve been promising to yourself to write something for days, but then this interesting thing appears in your peripheral vision, or that total and under disaster unfolds directly in front of you, or an entire universe of washing falls from the sky on your

Fifteen Minutes

I started writing this blog post fifteen minutes before the end of my lunch break at work - after losing the rest of my lunch break washing clothes, clearing the kitchen up, and so on. After writing a few words my work computer sang forth a message notification, and like

An Early Night

After an early night last night, I have been up since 3:45 this morning. I got up to watch the Grand Prix in Las Vegas - which turned out to be not worth watching at all. Oh well. Several hours have now passed. It’s still ridiculously early. I’

The Importance of Being Earnest

We made our way into London yesterday evening to watch Stephen Fry starring as Lady Bracknell in “The Importance of Being Earnest”. It didn’t quite work out as planned, but I’ll get to that. The Elizabeth line delivered us into the depths of the city during the late

Drinking the Kool Aid

I left Cornwall mid-morning yesterday after a long promised visit to my parents. The journey home felt oddly detached - with no mobile signal and no data connection on the train for several hours. The “free wifi” on the train was marginally funnier than my trains to and from Cornwall

South West

After working throughout the entire summer, and disappearing for one long weekend during that time, I finally shut my computer down on Friday evening with no intention of switching it back on for the coming week. This morning I threw a few clothes into a backpack, and am now sitting

Nuremberg

We went to the cinema this evening, and watched an advance screening of "Nuremberg", starring Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, and Michael Shannon. Ooft. Incredible movie. Exceptional performances by all involved. I can't imagine how difficult an actor must find it sometimes - to inhabit a persona,

Half Past Lunchtime on Sunday

It’s half past lunchtime on Sunday, and you find me hiding out in the junk room at home, listening to a singer-songwriter playlist. Randy Newman is singing that he thinks it’s going to rain today. He’s not wrong - it looks pretty miserable outside. Never mind. I’

How is it nearly Thursday already?

I just looked at the clock in the corner of the computer screen after consciously trying to figure out what day of the week it was. Where did Wednesday go? Never mind Monday and Tuesday - how is it nearly Thursday? Where did Wednesday evening go? Has anybody seen it?

Parties and Leftovers at Chore City

Two of our oldest friends hosted a joint 50th birthday party at the rowing club in town last night. If I’m entirely honest, neither of us really wanted to go - we’ve both had a pretty draining few weeks/months/year, and would quite happily have had a

To Be Young

What is the “right” age to act? What if the most authentic version of “you” is still a little bit… sticky-fingered and prone to spontaneous laughter? It strikes me that refusing to grow up isn’t about throwing tantrums, or asking for a juice box at a formal dinner party

Lights in the Sky

One of the current WordPress writing prompts asks “what historical event fascinates you the most ?” Where to begin? When I was young I was a huge science fiction fan. I read all manner of books by the likes of Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, and consumed a