I suppose it is to be expected that the older you get the more the dynamics of your friendship group change. People very rarely keep in touch with the friends they had when they were 18 or 19 when they are 30. But nobody tells you what it’s like when you’re only in your mid-20’s and you’re already losing touch with friends who you thought you’d have another few decades with.
Read MoreThis simple game is a well used tool in many therapist's box of tricks, it’s an invaluable way of seeing the world differently. A shield against the daily grind. It’s the ultimate silver lining, I find it helpful to seek it out. I may not meditate, I can’t get into yoga, but I practice positivity every single day.
Read MoreCelebrity culture. The ultimate ruse. Our most palatable form of capitalism: ultra-rich and beautiful, they make money from our idealistic obsessions, and we are constantly gagging for it.
Read MoreI think it is agreed by all parties that the prodigious number of smokers in the smoking area is, in the present deplorable state of the kingdom, a very great additional grievance. Therefore, whoever could find out a fair, cheap and easy method of making smokers sound and useful members of the commonwealth, would deserve so well of the public, as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation.
Read MoreI know something is wrong, so we take my friend’s Mum car and as we walk up the hill and around the corner we see two ambulances and several police cars. I run towards the house and am stopped in my tracks by a policeman - ‘you can’t go that way you don’t want to see that’… but I am looking for Dad. ‘He’s gone’ I am told.
Read MoreWe abuse our planet like a toddler rampaging through its mother’s home, oblivious and unwilling to relent upon its mindless pleasure. This is not new. Since our dawn we have been a family fuelled by greed and competition… only now these notions hold global consequence; hunting one too many dodos has become the degradation of the foundations of planetary health, unfortunately invisible to the biggest culprits - me and you.
Read MoreThe winter sun is streaming through the window, I sit with my coffee and edit the photographs I took at last weekends’ monthly drag show. Each photograph I bring up on the screen is a reminder of the wonderful people that I get to work with, hang out with and call my friends. It’s a reminder of how far I have come
Read MoreA friend once told me she doesn’t want to go to any group gatherings anymore ‘if a bunch of motherfuckers become mathematicians when the bill comes’ … and that got me thinking.
Read MoreIt is too easy in these modern times to cruise the internet’s infinite avenues of information; to scroll, and tap, and swipe; to fall victim to endless rabbit holes that produce more questions than answers: what to watch? What to read? What podcast to listen to?
Read MoreMany of my friends have become vegetarian or vegan recently, often for environmental reasons. “We watched the new BBC documentary on how bad meat is for the environment” is a phrase I’ve heard many times. Personally, I am not convinced
Read MoreIn the World After Corona - that glimmering, nebulous term, like a utopia - having been forced to converse via webcam rather than in bars and restaurants, I predict that the allure of the web will not be as strong. Sight will no longer be filtered through pixels. To see for oneself a mountain, to climb and taste sweat and smell soil and rain and earth and feel alive will be a stronger drug.
Read MoreIn 2020 we have our close friends and family in our pockets 24/7, always available to chat to on Whatsapp or check in with on Facebook or Instagram, but living on a street where you know your neighbours by name and family are close enough to swing by unannounced for a cuppa is not the common state any more.
Read MoreSince turning 40, which seems *old enough* I’ve found myself at a lot of parties. I’m sometimes there to photograph which gives me purpose and reason. But sometimes I just go for the craic. A dance, a chat, a catch up, a nose, a chance to observe the youthful avante garde in all their colourful and loud glory.
Read MoreHoping with hope, with or without squinched up eyes, doubles up the optimism power I think; it’s a prayer, without a church, but with a congregation. I hope with hope for a better world. It’s a massive and unwieldy hope, and a daunting one.
Read MoreSometimes life does feel like you’re Samwise Gamgee struggling up Mount Doom with Frodo bitching in your ear and Gollum trying to murder you. Mondays can be that grim.
Read MoreI don’t know about you, but I tend to ignore the news once it starts to panic about flooding/cold weather/train strikes (or insert other disaster here). And generally nothing happens when I do. But today, I went out to the supermarket, and found it nearly empty.
Read MoreIt’s incredible to see the deconstruction of the stigma around mental health; but it’s important to remember it is a double edged sword and a topic that still seems to focus on anxiety and depression, leaving other illnesses still very much in the dark.
Read MoreIn 2013, we met an awesome woman, C, who was already helping another couple to become parents. And when she had helped them by carrying their daughter, she offered to help us. We had become good friends, and bonded over our love of food, particularly curries.
Read MoreI spent 11 months in Australia and a month travelling home (via various countries). During that time I heard the term ‘opportunity of a lifetime’ frequently. I heard it from other backpackers, from people I met, from people at home. I never liked the phrase.
Read MoreNastiness is embedded into the world in one form or another and we’ve all been a part of it. Whether that be giving, receiving, contributing or even just watching it happen. Shamefully, I remember when I was young, finding it extremely hard to give people compliments. I remember actually feeling and thinking ‘I don’t want to compliment that person’.
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