We’ve done and seen so little here. We’ve not left the three interconnected hotels that form the resort; we’ve not been out in the kayaks, joined a yoga class on the beach or learned to wake board. It has been a wonderful, floppy, wasted time. My sole achievement has been to read three books in […]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Tianjin
I’ve been chased down a rural Kenyan road by children shouting Mzungu at the first white person they’d ever met; I’ve had selfies with half the young people at an Indian historical site; and I’ve needed a personal security guard in suburban Nigeria. China’s indifference isn’t that bad. And China isn’t unwelcoming to travellers, it […]
UK General Election
I’m currently awake with jet lag in China. The local time is 5.47 and I have a long day of briefing and groups ahead of me. So, this seems a good time to give my Qual researcher “take” on the recent election. More precisely, this is why I think Labour lost (so badly), and I […]
New York 1
We’re moving to New York next year, and my relationship with food in America will have to change. Helen and I are currently here to find somewhere to live and hopefully sort out my visa so I can work. The move is fuelled by Helen’s professional brilliance, I’m just along for the ride. As with […]
Warsaw
I arrived in Warsaw at lunch time and right next to my hotel was a “traditional restaurant, so I wasted no time. Pierogi are traditional fried Polish dumplings. They can be filled with meat, cheese, vegetables. They’re fried and then served covered in a very oily bacon “gravy”. I ordered the mixed portion. They looked […]
Toronto
I have a load of weird connections with Toronto. It was the only place my parents had traveled long haul before they had us. It was the destination for the only long haul holiday we ever took as a family. My wife used to live there. It’s also a lovely place to moderate research. The […]
Chengdu
At first glance China seems to be bewildering, impolite and culinarily disappointing. No one speaks English; the signs aren’t even in a familiar alphabet. People are impatient, pushy and sound like they’re locked in a constant battle with their phlegm. The food on the hotel buffet looked grey and gloopy. But, this is all bollocks…. […]
Ruislip
For very practical reasons we moved to Ruislip four years ago. For the last two years we have been desperately trying to leave. Ruislip is a rational choice if you work in West London (my wife does), use Heathrow a lot (yep) and your parents live in the West Midlands (mine) or North West (her’s). […]
Venice Beach
The food in Venice Beach is complex and conflicted. On the one hand Venice Beach is the heart of California’s body beautiful cult. In a place where even the homeless have abs everyone’s body is their temple. But on the other it’s also where America comes to drop out (because Americans even need designated places […]
Trump’s America
Venice Beach smells of piss and pot. It’s full of tarot readers, henna tattoo stalls and shops selling sloganned t-shirts. My friend (who lives here) calls it Camden on Sea; that’s not a compliment. Yet my friend chooses to live here and I have gone out of my way to stay here on my last […]
