Why I’m learning Esperanto

I’ve always been interested in languages. It’s probably the single thing that most powerfully demonstrates human diversity and represents the gateway to understanding the world better.  If there is one free skill I’d love to have for no effort in return, it would be fluency in one or more other languages.  I am not fluent…

Torridon and Applecross

This past weekend, we hit the west coast with a group of friends to go hillwalking. We climbed a mountain at Torridon on Saturday (Mullach an Rathain, for those are interested).  It would have been two peaks but the weather was against us. Then on Sunday Nicole and I drove around the spectacular Applecross peninsula…

Exploring nothing

I’m not long back from my Inverness Book Festival appearance, which was really good fun, and wonderfully supported by the brilliant staff at Eden Court. I was lucky enough to have a great audience who asked lots of interesting questions, and I hope my slideshow presentation tour of the mullet adventures (both those featured in…

Google+

You’ve perhaps heard about Google+ , the latest of Google’s many attempts at creating a social networking site to rival Facebook. Previous attempts have sunk, but Google+ seems to be their best effort yet.  It’s much like other social networks, in that you connect with people to share ideas, links, photos and suchlike.  However, Google+ really…

Reflections on a month of writing

Today is my last day before going back to work after a month off spent writing.  I’d set myself the target of finishing a first draft of my second book, and while I haven’t quite achieved that I am about 75% of the way there and am pleased with my progress.  The momentum remains as…

Kintail

I was away hillwalking this weekend with a group of friends in Kintail, in the northwest Highlands near Skye. It is a beautiful part of the world, but one I had frequently passed through rather than stopping to explore, so it was nice to see something of the area. The weather was pretty rotten –…

Biceps Land

Have you ever been to, or heard of, Biceps Land?  Nope, me neither. But it exists in the world of popular board game Articulate.  We were playing it with friends last night and it came up as one of the anwers in the “world” category.  Searching on the internet renders no mention of such a place,…

The waiting game

Nicole and I are heading off to France in September.  It’ll be a chance to catch up with a few friends we have over there, and while we both really like the country I’ve not seen too much of it and my French could do with some significant practice. We’ve decided we’re going overland, which…

The slow process of writing

Until my previous post earlier today, it was three weeks since I last blogged. Perhaps a record. Not that I have ever committed to any frequency on here, but the absence does reflect a similar lack of finger-to-keyboard when it comes to other writing, and most acutely the sequel to Up The Creek Without a…

Night of Adventure – details now online

You might remember me recently reporting that I will be presenting at a Night of Adventure – the first Scottish date in a long-running series of charity fundraisers organised by Alastair Humphreys in aid of Hope & Homes for Children. Details are have now been confirmed, and you can find them here (and here on…

Back west

This afternoon I’ve finished uploading my photos from our trip to the Western Isles and Skye (from which we returned a week ago).  The slideshow above contains what I think are some of my better ones, though I’m disappointed not to have got, at least in my own opinion, any true crackers.  I shot mostly…

Grinding to a halt

It’s been a busy and packed couple of days.  I got back last night from an overnight trip that saw me take in Dundee, Stirling and Cupar for work, involving seven different trains and time spent waiting on freezing platforms in illustrious highlights of the Scottish rail network such as Perth and Ladybank. I suppose…

EITS tickets for sale

After having got tickets for Explosions in the Sky in London in May, a friend and I are now a bit annoyed that they’ve just announced an Edinburgh date, which we are hoping to make instead. So if you are interested in a couple of tickets to see EITS at the Roundhouse, London on Thursday…

Did the earth move for you too?

This weekend, I survived an earthquake.  No, really. Actually, to be more correct, I slept through it.  Yes, Scotland may boast a fautline in the form of the Great Glen, but quakes are rarely noticeable, and Sunday morning’s came in at a modest 3.5 on the Richter scale.  Nicole and I were in Fort Augustus…