Hold Your Tongue & Keep it Calm
For as long as I can remember and at multiple moments in my life, I have always had a long line of people eager to instruct me on ‘what’ to do, how something ‘should’ be done and been dutifully chastised when something has not been up to par with their standards. I think I just...
Being a Tarantinophile – A Cinematic Obsession
I’ll always remember when we first met. The setting was the shabby living room of my friend’s house, cat hairs rolling like tumbleweed over carpeted floors, the stale scent of cigarettes clinging to soft furnishings due to the smoke curling through the air from the continual glow of her mother’s Silk Cut. 2 guys face...
A Prodigal Daughter’s Philippine Adventure
Six years since my last visit and a journey I do not intend to delay again, a reunion with my family was eagerly looked forward to. There are many perceptions of the Philippines with the principal ideas gained mainly by encounters with the people administering to your needs in hospitals, cleaning your houses and caring...
Food Education with FEAST this Christmas
I find that a lack of social interaction extremely debilitates the mind and spirit, so imagine my glee when I was able to alleviate these doldrums by combining two of my passions in one clean swoop on a chilly but gloriously sunshine-filled Sunday afternoon. Food and good conversation were the stimuli of choice and the...
Cold Heart Warmed by Daylight
The dawn air swirls like mist from the lips of frozen maidens with romantic stares An Arctic morning brings such beauty Sullied only by youth with ignorant stares The smiles become a grimace To protect the hearth inside But my heart is warmed by daylight the frost not matching the cold of mind ...
Ignorance may be Blissful but it is not Bliss
“You never know how it feels until it happens to you” This quote could apply to many scenarios in life, but it is one that claims more gravitas since a recent brush with fate. Before I continue to enlighten you on my ‘call to arms’, I beg to ask, do you know your neighbours? Perhaps...
Tuning into Talent at the London Jazz Festival 2012
“The combination of sounds with a view to beauty of form and expression of emotion” And so goes the description of MUSIC. Through the utilisation of a staggering number of instruments, as well as incorporating vocal chords to produce the finest food available to the ear, our human existence continually benefits from the endless possibilities...
In Defence of Beard to Tail
Since I have started blogging I have been inundated with recommendations and suggestions from friends and acquaintances of where to go and what to write about. As well as my own planned activities, you can imagine the difficulties one can experience when taking such suggestions into account, combining a fear of ‘missing out’ on good...
Baltic Offerings to revisit this Winter
It occurred to me whilst perusing recent restaurant articles that there is a lot of information available to the reviewer (and reader) based on NEW openings and NEW places to “be” at. I share the enthusiasm that abounds from the mere mention of a new eatery and there is an enormous amount of reassurance gained...
From Bean to Cup: where to get a GOOD Coffee in London
We all have preferences for caffeine and various elements influence our choice ranging from convenience to good fortune (lucky you should you reside within reach of an independent supplier). On various expeditions throughout the Capital I have sought out spots to record, as much as a reminder for myself as for your own knowledge. This...
Being Anti-Social: a movie-going mission at London Film Festival 2012
The BFI London Film Festival is an incredible excitement-inducing highlight in my calendar. This year marks its 56th run and appallingly I’ve only been attending the past four. A pity. Had I discovered it sooner, I may have been privy to many more (yet to be seen) motion treasures that seem to join a personal film-purgatory; a...