Simply Getting Used

I’ve been working reasonably hard recently. My body, not used to such unfair punishment, has been complaining. After a day in front of the computer and on the phone, my neck, my back, my throat and my free-spiritedness hurts. Yet after a couple of weeks, I’ve noticed the pain, or perhaps the realisation of the … Continue reading Simply Getting Used →

Making a Meal of Life

Imagine you are a gourmet chef, preparing the meal of your lifetime. With one caveat – you only have your local supermarket to shop in. How carefully would you select each and every spinach leaf? How long would you spend at the butchery counter, trying to find that perfect cut of beef? Think of the … Continue reading Making a Meal of Life →

Underdeveloped Development – Simple Mistakes

For over a century the 'mazungu' (or white person) in Africa has been losing his temper with the inefficiency of the African. Even today, I’ve witnessed continual annoyance as things go wrong, or directions aren’t followed, or patience is tested. All too regularly, frustrations are voiced aggressively. On a micro level, this constitutes management – … Continue reading Underdeveloped Development – Simple Mistakes →

Not So Simple

Many simplicity bloggers around write so consistently and with such positivity that one wonders whether they are mere mortals. Usually the better ones amongst them write about some struggles along the way, but nearly all seem to have burst through their difficulties when they write. Many a post’s fundamental sentiment is; ‘I used to…’ or … Continue reading Not So Simple →

Unusually Normal

I sat in Clapham Junction the other day in Café Nero at 6pm, at the exit to the station and managed to resist the urge to write, read, call, fiddle and instead just watch. In the half-hour I was there, thousands and thousands of people went past – streaming back to their home lives after … Continue reading Unusually Normal →

When You’re Tired Of London You’re On To Something

I’ve only been back in London for a few days and already the grip of ambition and envy has begun to clamp around me in an uncomfortable squeeze. Gentlemen, all of us know where this pressure is physically manifested. Every Porsche that drives past, or Primrose Hill house that beams across the park reminds the … Continue reading When You’re Tired Of London You’re On To Something →

In Transit – Simply Executives

All good adventures must come to and end and so, with mixed feelings, I return to the UK after 10 months in rural Kenya. I write this from within a lounge that I have ligged my way into in Istanbul airport. I sit long haired and out of place amongst a group of executives in … Continue reading In Transit – Simply Executives →

Not ‘To Do’ List

I like the concept of a not-to-do list. Not just because it adheres to my flippant, rebellious nature, but also because life is as much about what we choose not to do as we choose to do. Simplification, after all, is as much about removing things as adding them – peeling the layers to find … Continue reading Not ‘To Do’ List →

Going To Bed Early – The New Rock and Roll

If my 18-year-old self heard my current self’s internal monologue, he’d probably begin lobotimising in earnest. I’m cocooned within a mosquito net, having read another chapter of my book and am ready to sleep. That in itself is not the problem. Books have always been and will always be cool. The problem is it is … Continue reading Going To Bed Early – The New Rock and Roll →

The Simple Move

This last weekend we moved into my new house in Watamu… From clean concrete floors and white-wall we’re now camping out on concrete, dusty floors, with no electricity or running water (aside from the rain that is currently showing us, rather neatly, all the places where the roof hasn’t been properly finished). Here’s a photo … Continue reading The Simple Move →