In bizarrely synchronistic news, I was reminded last night of the Librivox project, my first (and only) contribution to which, I published here twenty years ago tomorrow… I came across it again because I was looking up Thoreau’s essay on Civil Disobedience (for, y’know, contemporary culture reasons). And the Wikipedia page references recordings on Librivox…
I spent yesterday back at Conway Hall. I'm trying to think of other things I've done there other than Interesting (which I helped Russell with for the first three years and which I then attended a couple of times?) There was The Story that Matt Locke did. I feel like there must be other things…
Today would have been my Dad’s 88th birthday (two fat ladies – 88!). He was 2 years old when WW2 started. When I was 2 (and three quarters) it was his 30th birthday and I recently found a recording of him and me “talking” on that day. If I can find it again easily (it’s…
Overheard in a medical setting: “Have you brought a urine sample?” “No, I couldn’t because I don’t have a wotsit” me: eyes widening… and trying not to look at the receptionist turns out that by “wotsit”, they meant “sample bottle” 20 years ago, podcasting felt like (and mostly *was*) a DIY movement. It was part…
Pinch, punch, first of the month (no returns!) I picked this up when I went to see the memorial to Nick at St Bride’s a couple of months ago. It has sat on my desk since then and this morning I thought I ought to at least try reading it properly. I’m not going to…
Oof! This is the question that formed the basis of yesterday's "Unreasonable Connection". It's a lot more direct than I heard it in the room! The breakout group that I was part of, talked mostly about running events and dealing with such events "not working" in some way – usually evidenced by the feeling that…
On Friday, it’ll be 34 years since I first became a father. It’s the role I’ve played most consistently (if not always brilliantly) in this lifetime. Since then that time of year that used to feel like “back to school” has felt more like “woah! wtf?! we made a person!” I’ve done a lot of…
After breakfast, but before coffee, I went up the garden to see whether we have a couple of folding chairs in the kind of shed/cupboard thing that's on level 3. Our garden is cut into a steep hill. If you count our downstairs as level 0 then my studio is on level 1 and it…
What does it mean to gather around "regrowing a living culture"? I've been using that phrase to talk about the monthly coffee mornings I'm doing in London and I thought it might be worth going back to where I picked the phrase up. Late in 2023, my friends Dougald and Anna ran a course with…
I need to blog more. I need to write more, but I also need to release more and this is the best place I have for doing that. I caught myself giving someone feedback on their work which was really an expression of my frustration with not feeling productive myself. It's not enough to apologise…