There was a song that Genie and I used to listen to in our early days together, as we drove around America getting to know both the country and each other. The lyrics went: At the time, we never could just take a train. We always had to be back in the office on Monday [...]
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Giveaway: Crow by Ted Hughes
Happy Friday! Today I’m giving away a free copy of Crow, a beautiful collection of poems by Ted Hughes. How to enter Just leave a comment on this post. The winner will be drawn randomly, with tweets and other social media mentions counting as extra entries. So hit the Tweet button to the left of [...]
A Very British Blog Tour 2013
I was tagged recently by Maria Savva as part of ‘A Very British Blog Tour’. The idea is to introduce readers to more British writers. I don’t really define myself by nationality that much, but I like Maria and some of the questions are interesting, so I thought I’d take part. Q. Where were you [...]
Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2013!
Just a quick post to wish you all a very happy Christmas. For those of you who don’t celebrate Christmas, I wish you happy holidays. For those of you who don’t celebrate any holidays, be well It’s been a busy few weeks of packing in Barbados, unpacking in London, dashing around seeing family and friends, [...]
There’s no such place as paradise
When I tell people I’m living in Barbados, the reactions are interesting. Words that come up a lot are “exotic”, “paradise”, “idyllic” and “jealous”. It’s understandable, of course, from people struggling through a grimy London winter, and I’m not criticising the people who say those things. I just wanted to point out that they have [...]
What we did before Google
Whatever did we do before the internet? How did we manage before Google? I’m hearing these questions more often these days, usually after someone’s discovered some snippet of astonishing information in just a few seconds. The questions are rhetorical of course, but it occurs to me that one day people might really want to know. I’m conscious [...]
Liebster Award reloaded
It was great to be nominated for the Liebster Award by Caroline of Beauty is a Sleeping Cat. Thanks, Caroline! In the spirit of her original post, I have taken the liberty of adapting the rules of the award a little. So I’m answering only seven of her original questions… 2. If you could stay [...]
Let’s confirm nearer the time
Technology was supposed to simplify our lives, wasn’t it? In so many ways it does, of course, but then we seem to feel the need to complicate things again, as if to compensate. Here’s an example: arranging to meet up with a friend. What used to be accomplished in a single phone call now takes [...]
How not to return from vacation
Coming back from vacation is always hard. If you’re working for someone else, you don’t really have a choice – you just have to turn up to work, and gradually you accustom yourself to the work routine again. But if you’re doing something like writing, which requires motivation from within rather than outside, it’s more [...]
I’m not that important
In my recent month-long break from the internet, I learned a few things. It’s easy to let constant connectivity delude you into thinking that you really need to be in touch with the world all the time. After all, new emails come in every hour, new tweets and blog comments pile up, all demanding a [...]
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The 20 best Caribbean book blogs
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Liebster Award reloaded
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The cafe killer
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The Kindle Report: does it beat paper?
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The next big thing…
