When I told my brother I'd started rehearsals for the performance, he said, "It's not something I'd have expected you to do." He wasn't the only one. But I'd been with Man Up the whole way and, if I'd departed from it at the last, there was no excuse I could have given that I'd ever have been happy or comfortable with.
Read MoreHow are you today?
Appearing vulnerable, especially in certain social circles or in the workplace, is something that many of us feel we can’t do. We may not recognise the feelings to give proper voice to them, but that only makes it more important to be honest with the people around us.
Read MoreHealth warnings for buildings?
It's perfectly possible to construct buildings resilient enough to face this oncoming challenge, but the sad truth is that few are. There shouldn't be an excuse, but that's a post for another time. The even greater challenge is retrofitting existing buildings in a sensitive and holistic way to provide them with that resiliency.
Read MoreRaw Craft and Raw Emotion
Usually, my reaction to celebrity deaths reported in the news is one of detachment. It says a lot, then, that I was genuinely moved and taken aback by Bourdain's death last week. The world felt a poorer place; I felt upset and vulnerable. This didn't seem like something that should have happened to the person I saw in that video.
Read MoreMaking Yourself 'At Home'
The development of homes from single-roomed halls in which every household activity took place to multi-roomed houses is particularly fascinating. In the larger houses of the very wealthy, kitchens and dining rooms would be so far apart that one stately home owner resorted to installing a railway in his property in an effort to deliver food to the table while it was still warm.
Read MoreBrewing Up a Side Project
The front page of this website says I subscribe to the idea of side projects, yet since embracing self-employment I’ve provided little evidence of anything remotely approaching a ‘side hustle’. Today that changes. Today I’m proud to introduce you to a little-known thing I like to call ‘beer’.
Read MoreMan Alive!
Our social groups should have a positive effect, not hold us back. We need to share our stories because we are individual. One of the big messages of Man Up is that we share experiences, not opinions. Bottling things up and being someone we’re not is unhealthy. We need to laugh and cry and feel things because we are human beings.
Read MoreLight in the Middle of the Tunnel
In the peaks of its different phases, Array represented a battle of wills and philosophies: order vs chaos; geometric vs fluid; bleak colourscapes vs rainbows. At one point, a dazzling light display was instantaneously supplanted by a static, imposing red and black colour scheme. The sense of oppression, of an unseen authority reasserting its dominance, was palpable.
Read MoreWhat do you do if you see a spaceman?
This isn’t a minimalism blog. I’m not here to pass comment on how people live their lives. What I am interested in is: how much space do we actually need versus how much space we want?
Read MoreMaking the Leap: Three Months In
Three months since making the leap seemed like a good time to take stock and share some of what has interested me lately. If you get some value from any of these links, or come across something you think might interest me, let me know! Contact details are at the front of the site, and social media links are at the foot of every page. Here's to the next three months!
Read MoreDiscovering Carcassonne
There is certainly something of the fairytale about the ‘original’ city of Carcassonne, but there is little point in denying the extra charm it bestows on the place as a result. It’s good to be reminded there are things that can still make you feel a childlike excitement, and seeing the Cité in the flesh instantly banished any lingering doubts about being yet another tourist among the millions who visit each year.
Read MoreDon't Bat Away Sustainability Issues
The first floor was intended as a play room - a play room that had to be sacrificed once the bat survey yielded its results. The family found themselves still paying for a substantial brick-built structure on its own foundations, but with an upstairs that I designed and detailed solely for bats and not for them or their kids.
Read MoreIn Search of Knowledge (a podcast review)
Diversity of opinion is good; it informs debate and encourages learning. But it can also be bloody annoying when seeking an objective view on a topic. One person says one thing, another says the opposite and the truth you’re seeking lies in between. But where, and how best to find it?
Read MoreMaking an Exhibition of Ourselves
Based on similar presenting experiences in recent years, however, I’m also left wondering if a level of … mistrust … towards manufacturers remains, regardless of the ratio of educational content to overt promotion. No type of construction product appears to be immune to a muted reaction, even if the content is genuine and well-intended.
Read MoreMy First Cinema Visit
Whether an all-time classic, or a candidate for ‘so bad it’s good’, inaugural films command our affections to the extent that even the most mediocre first movie lodges itself in the memory. My introduction to cinema was the unremarkable Dante’s Peak, so it’s hard to think of another circumstance under which I’d remember it so fondly.
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