Continuing the series Letters from the Heart of Africa. My first few nights in Rwanda brought me shallow, dreamless sleeps;…
The Revenge of the Typo: How a Print Error Nearly Ended My Career
We all make typos don’t we? Of course we do, because we bloggers are human and proofreaders are luxuries. Nevertheless,…
Kivu: The Shimmering Lake in the Shadow of the Volcano
In the very heart of Africa, between Rwanda and D.R. Congo, is a silvery, majestic lake framed by breezy palms…
Stolen socks and missing underpants
One morning I phoned my friend Thierry. “Someone’s stolen my clothes.” “I can lend you clothes,” he said. Thierry was…
Banana-leaf balls, making friends and a bitter falling out
The twin pillars of passion in Rwanda are Christianity and English Premier League Football. The sides of the small buses,…
We Need To Talk About Why People Kill Each Other
Continuing the series, Letters from the Heart of Africa No narrative on Rwanda can really ever avoid the genocide. Its magnitude…
What is Cambridge blue?
Last weekend we went for a long punt in Cambridge; we glided on the glinting River Cam in a flat-bottomed…
The Little Fish Mystery
This is a true mystery that happened in my kitchen – it involves multiple murders, male-only breeding, a sex-change and…
The importance of memory
Continuing the series, Letters from the Heart of Africa. We all want to go places, forwards, like a car, pressing…
Things to do in Assam: The blue hill and the temple of the goddess of love
Assam, in India’s north-east, is known as the Land of the Red River and the Blue Hill. The Red River…
The fox in the box
One evening a fox was dying in my back garden. Its fur was patchy, its eyes were sad and watery,…
Help! I’m a businessman going to work in an NGO in Africa
One of my life goals was to volunteer in Africa but I was never quite sure if my career path…
Things to do in Formentera: Go down a hole and across a cliff
A hole appears in the ground before us. The huge white lighthouse to our left stares south and to our…
Things to do in Formentera: beach towels and helmets
We’re on Formentera, a small island just 19kms across, to the south of Ibiza, it’s the worst kept secret of…
A Rough Guide to the Various Forms of Rwandan Handshakes
Rwandan body language is fascinating. As someone born in England,where office handshakes are either hard, soft or damp squib, Rwandans,…
Going bald: the journey through pain and pleasure
Once, when I had hair, I revelled in it joyously; I had a quiff that sat up proud like a…
A special place of remembrance, hope and beauty
It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever worked in: a creamy-white building with balconies facing the hills of central…
The thrill of the motorbike taxis in the hilly heart of Africa
The fastest, most exhilarating way to get round Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, is on motorbike taxis, which go by…
Getting to work, Rwanda style
Whoever first coined the term ‘the Dark Continent’ to describe Africa was either wearing very powerful sunglasses, or was nocturnal.…
A letter from the heart of Africa: settling in fine
Dear friends, I made it, I’m here, in Kigali, Rwanda, writing to you from the hilly heart of a distant…
My mum, the pilot
Once upon a time, a little girl was told that women shouldn’t fly airplanes … I grew up knowing ‘mum…
The flight to Rwanda and getting rid of the contraband
After a short layover in Nairobi airport, the great African plains appeared below us, followed by Lake Victoria, its shoreline…
Letters from the Heart of Africa
A few years ago I volunteered in Rwanda. This serialised post is based on letters and emails sent home to…
Peter and the soup confusion
Peter, my Rwandan housemate, is a man of many talents – he’s my gym training buddy, my security guard, a…
Photography: A London state of mind – images along the river.
London, like the flow of the Thames is unwavering. Resolute. Continual. London, the city of bridges, not walls. London, the…
Clapham Common – by rainbows, by ice, by night and by day
Travel photos … uncommon views of the common
Life of Pi – a journey to the Indian Coffee House in Pondicherry
Have you ever been so enchanted by a book that you had to visit its setting? I made that journey to Pondicherry after reading Life of Pi and eventually met its author Yann Martel.
Jodhpur: In the shadow of the clock tower
We’re in the desert in the middle of the dry season and we got a rainstorm. Someone knew the British…
Things to do in Jaisalmer: camel rides, missing jeeps and other desert perils
I should’ve known better when we booked a desert safari from a small tour operator in the narrow streets inside…
The Purple Shell
In response to today’s daily post word: “purple“. A purple shell caught my eye on a sandy beach yesterday. A…
Goa: Sunsets, mopeds, bribing cops and other beach activities
I think I may have unwittingly bribed a cop. We’re on small country lane in Goa in search of a…
Hints of Holi: after India’s festival of colours, the powdered dyes linger on
Days after Holi, India’s festival of colours, the powdered dyes linger on in tiny cracks, on walls, on doors, paving…
Assam: Notes from a hot tin roof on the Brahmaputra
Assam, in India’s north east, is known as the land of the red river and blue hill. The red river has…
Things to see in Kolkata
We have precisely seven hours in Kolkata before the taxi leaves for the airport. We’re spending the day traveling on…
Varanasi: Notes from the banks of the Ganges
India wakes early and Varanasi is no exception – at dawn the eastern sky above the sandy floodplain shines pink…
My Lost Brother
Winter outstays its welcome by the end of February – the low sunlight through bare branches holds no warmth, the…
Me, Myself and Wine: reflections on a dry month
Drunk at age 15 months, making wine at age 13. Dry January has given me space to resist and reflect…
Travel tips for Venice
There’s a sight around every corner, down each walkway and canal that evokes an ‘aaah’. You’ll feel as if you’ve…
Beauty at our feet
This year I’ve taken pictures of things right under my feet on the pavements of south London. Intriguing, evocative and…
Karisimbi – Snow in the Heart of Africa
It was magical to break through the clouds on the second day and see snow in the heart of Africa.…
A view of Everest
We were so lucky to see them that spring morning – it is perhaps one of the most awe inspiring…
A soliloquy from your discarded Christmas tree.
Bejewelled and adored for 12 days, the centre of a family. Now jettisoned like rubbish amongst the black bags. I…
Flying to India via Moscow in 1978
We’re going to India for Christmas. I’m seven. I get dressed in shorts and sandals. Five hours later we walk…
The Missing Child
A few years ago, I found a lost child in a shopping mall. (First published in The Eclectic, June 2010)…
Why is a man always a boy?
A man’s development has certain clearly defined stages such as childhood, puberty, adolescence and owning a shed. Then, midlife arrives…
Cat Loather to Cat Lover: My Journey with a Cat called Monkey
I hated cats, until one came in to my life, and then there was a turning point
