Imagine a life without colour. A sky devoid of blue, a monochrome city, a dish served in shades of grey. A few weeks ago, I listened to a talk by Neil Harbisson. Looking at him, I soon realised that he was another eccentric speaker (see my post on Alain Robert). For one thing, he had…
Category: Off road
What not to say at work
Anyone who knows me will know that my mouth operates at about double the speed of my brain. I stumble over sentences, get the proverbs all wrong and babble in intervals that never fail to cut off the person speaking. This made for some embarrassing slips at my new job. Enjoy. 1. Made up sayings…
Familiarising fast
Moving back to London was daunting after my stint in Asia. Just as I was busy settling back into autumnal Suffolk, enjoying food that wasn’t coated in fish sauce and remembering how to drive, I was launched back up to the capital for interviews. This was an uncomfortable experience for a few reasons. Number one,…
Cameo role
Let me introduce you to Fred. Like any aspiring actor he seeks every opportunity to launch his career. His ‘big break’ could be just around the corner, so he is always prepared and groomed to perfection. His dedication knows no limits and every morning you will find him bounding along the beach, studying other dogs…
Would you give away your DNA?
While I was waiting to be interviewed this week, I picked up the Telegraph in an attempt to look casual. After flicking through a few pages, this article caught my attention: ‘Volunteers sought for ‘open access’ genome project‘. The Personal Genome Project (PGP-UK) aims to recruit 100,000 British volunteers to donate their full genome and…
Meeting Spider-Man
I’m not talking about the web-shooting, masked hero who prefers his kisses upside down. I’m talking about the real deal – the man who regularly appears in the top daredevil lists alongside Evel Knievel and Harry Houdini. The climber who has conquered some of the highest skyscrapers from the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai to the Petronas Towers…
Speechless: The Little Mermaid losing her tongue
I recently got the urge for a Disney marathon and wanted to finally revive my favourite of them all, The Little Mermaid. My sister and I would watch it on VCR on repeat, rewinding back to the start in a scratchy blur of colour, ready to sing along with Sebastian and his crustacean band again…
Beach-bound
‘It will let me go soon…Just a little longer.’ I flew across the sea bed, the shingle becoming my skin and bubbles coating my eyes. The surface gleamed deceptively bright above me, but daylight was too far away. The salt rushed in past lips pressed white, shrivelling my sluggish tongue. There wasn’t any more time….
Edward Snowden and Nineteen Eighty Four
With Edward Snowden leaking secrets of mass surveillance in the US and beyond, it seems that Orwell’s dystopia of Nineteen Eighty Four is coming true. But can we be accused of over-reacting? In one camp, popular social media sites like Reddit have rallied behind Snowden, revering him for revealing the governments’ betrayal of the peoples’…
Ella Fitzgerald, Star Wars and the Invisible Man
How can Ella Fitzgerald, Star Wars and the Invisible Man be related? Jazz. My Great Grandmother recently passed away, and amongst her things my Great Aunt found an old recording that my sister and I made for her as eleven year olds. I don’t remember filming it, and it showed us both playing instruments and…
Ferns and forest 