50 x 100 x 50

In 100 words? Odd one this. I was born in Africa, but I’ve never visited the country of my birth, since leaving. Lots of reasons, most of them probably not worth much; fear, most likely. I have visited other countries though, and something truly visceral happened to me when I smelled rain on red dirt [...]

Many times. Parochial bloody list. But I can’t think what a good version of this activity ought to be for people who don’t live in Europe. Been in the Statue of Liberty’s head? Had your supper stolen by a gull at the Sydney Opera House? Walked across the Grand Coolee Dam? That’s the odd thing [...]

Was it really on 23 January that I temporarily abandoned these attempts to expand on the Things I’ve Done? Wonder how long I’ll last this time? Longer if I don’t try to be fancy about illustrations. This language thing is a farce. When I drove down here, more than eight years ago, I listened to [...]

Sunsets are so much easier than sunrises. With a rum and water in hand (just a brief grating of nutmeg, thanks) every evening on a Caribbean island is a sunset watch. And very, very occasionally, a green flash special. I think I prefer sunrise to sunset. Not that I sit around watching the sun rise. [...]

I used to have “land” and the ex got this fine notion to get some ram lambs from up on Mendip to keep the grass down in the orchard. The Jackson Five arrived in a box and had to be fed replacement milk every four hours, or thereabouts. The ex did most of the work, [...]

Like yesterday’s pillow fight, my response is, “yes, who hasn’t?”. On second thoughts I don’t know how many people do hitch hike these days. Way too dangerous, everyone seems to think. And I cannot remember the last time I actually saw someone hitching. But we used to do it all the time, occasionally perhaps foolishly [...]

Most recently, just before Thanksgiving last year, the midnight train from Rome to Turin, and what a hoot it was. The cabin, with two bunks, was absolutely tiny. A basin was advertised, but we never did manage to find the space to use it. Simply getting in and out of the cabin, let alone the [...]

Back after a brief Christmas break. The story so far: a while ago, I listed various things I had done in a lazy blog post. Now I’m expanding within the constraint of 100 words. Where to begin? Yes, I have grown my own vegetables. And saved my own seeds. And sold them, and other peoples’. [...]

Hard to know, without a touch of forensic microbiology. But yeah, I’m pretty confident that I’ve been there, more than once. The oyster event was pretty tragic, projectile emissions from both ends in the presence of someone I’d only recently got to know. She was wonderful about the whole episode. Took me ages to taste [...]

Well, duh! Many a time and oft. But this does raise the issue of parochiality on the interwebs. Many items on the original TID list would seem remarkable only to a Murcan, and despite the clearly global nature of the net many users thereof (and not only Murcans) seem to have no ability to use [...]

New readers begin here: A while ago I succumbed to the lure of an internet list. Then I decided to expand on the Things I’d Done. What constitutes a mountain? “There is no universally accepted standard definition for the height of a mountain or a hill although a mountain usually has an identifiable summit.” In [...]