Category Archives: Reflections
Somebody’s just started quite a journey.
…No, not me. But a plucky mannequin, inevitably called Spaceman, has just left the Cape aboard a red, electric Tesla roadster car, bound for an orbit around the Sun and a close encounter with Mars. I’m talking about the payload of SpaceX’s … Continue reading
Posted in Odd ones out, Reflections
Tagged Booster, Cape Canaveral, David Bowie, Deep space, Dragon, Drone ship, Electric car, Elon Musk, Falcon, Falcon Heavy, JSC, Launch, Maiden flight, Mars, Musk, NASA, Orbit, Pressure suit, Re-entry, Roadster, Rocket, Rocket man, Space, space exploration, SpaceX, Starman, Sun, Tesla
20 Comments
Brexit: if you’re a masochist, it’s the real deal (Part 2).
In my previous instalment, I tried to address a few common misconceptions around the EU; in this one I’ll try and have a look at the three main scenarios that the UK could follow should it decide to secede from … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Reflections
Tagged Boris Johnson, Brexit, Britain, Brussells, Bruxelles, David Cameron, EEA, EFTA, EU, EurLex, European Union, Eurostat, Federica Mogherini, Immigration, InFact, Nigel Farage, Norway, Office for National statistics, Politics, Referendum, Switzerland, United Kingdom
2 Comments
Brexit? If you’re a masochist, it’s the real deal (Part 1).
This time last year we were all panicking about a possible Scottish secession, something that surely appealed to Braveheart fans, but didn’t make sense under any other point of view. This year it’s Brexit and, since work has sort of killed … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Odd ones out, Politics, Reflections
Tagged Boris Johnson, Brexit, Britain, Brusells, Bruxelles, David Cameron, EU, EurLex, European Union, Eurostat, Federica Mogherini, Immigration, InFact, Nigel Farage, Office for National statistics, Politics, Referendum, United Kingdom
2 Comments
Film review – Nordfor sola (North of the Sun)
I’ve never really felt at ease on the sea, and I suck at most sports, especially if such activities can be accompanied by the word “extreme”. In this mindset it’s hard to try and explain why I decided to pay … Continue reading
Posted in Odd ones out, Reflections
Tagged Arctic circle, Documentary, environment, Europe, Extreme, Inge Wegge, Jørn Nyseth Ranum, nature, Nordfor sola, North of the Sun, Norway, Pole, Sport, Surf, Winter
5 Comments
Bumping in your fellow countrymen abroad
It’s a common story, one that you’re likely to hear in any chronicle of a travel abroad told by friends, acquaintances or relatives: “So there I was, bang in the middle of the dodgy suburbs of Kinshasa and guess what? … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Italy, Random memories, Reflections
Tagged Feeling ashamed of being like them, Modern Tourism, Oafs, Rude Tourists, Travelling
Leave a comment
Songs for the Road 4 – A slightly introspective Christmas
This year will be an odd Christmas, at least for me. In the last 12 months, in facts, my biological family has shrunk – through deaths and inheritance-caused greed – from 8 members to two, my brother and father. It … Continue reading
Posted in Music review, Reflections
Tagged African Blues, Ali Farka Touré, Apparat, Blues, djembe, Electronica, Ellen Allien, IBM, James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem, Movement, Music, music review, Orchestra of Bubbles, Remix, Songs for the road, Techno, Tennis, Turin
Leave a comment
Travelling through a country’s music – Mali
It all started with two groups and neither of them were Malian. Ofo The Black Company was the first and I discovered them in the Botswana special of Top Gear: James May was overtaking, in a old and battered beige … Continue reading
Posted in Africa, Music review, Reflections
Tagged Africa, African music, Ali Farka Touré, Amadou et Mariam, Blues, Boubacar Traore, Desert Blues, France, Mali, Music, Operation Serval, Rokia Traore, Samba Touré, Sidi Touré, Songhoy Blues, Tamikrest, Tinariwen, Toumast
Leave a comment
The greatest journey of them all, or why we do need to explore space.
Today hasn’t been one of my most productive days at work, even for my own standards. The reason for this is quite simple: my mind was away from my job. Away from my desk, even away from this planet. In … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Reflections
Tagged comet, European Space Agency. Rosetta, Everest, Exploration, George Mallory, Human progress, mission, probe, Quest, Science, Space, space exploration
9 Comments
