Daydreamers

Strangers don’t speak to each other on the street.

They don’t smile and greet each other as they pass by, ask how the other is doing or make small talk about the rain.

Strangers don’t chat on the train.

They don’t introduce themselves say hi and talk about the basic identifiers of their lives. They don’t ask about each other’s jobs they don’t pass on messages to the other person’s wife, they…

The Great YA Summer

I spend a lot of time watching movies and reading books. I love being able to leave my normal world, escaping into the life of someone completely different for a few hours. Fiction is lovely, but it is fiction. I’ve  spent every summer for the past few years waiting for something amazing to happen — going on a life-changing vacation, falling in love, writing a book, or having a perfect day — but…

The way to live: 2017

I read Neil Gaiman’s 2012 commencement speech in a bookshop on Christmas eve and made my new years resolutions.

1. Stay focused on your mountain

Something that worked for me was imagining that where I wanted to be – an author, primarily of fiction, making good books, making good comics and supporting myself through my words – was a mountain. A distant mountain. My goal. And I knew that as long as…

The collection of library receipts on my memo board is growing. I don’t need them, the school sends email reminders at the end of the week but each time I go to check out a book, take out my library card and set them down, a part of me wants to press yes. Yes I do want a receipt.

When I was younger and spent every other Saturday browsing the shelves of my local library, I never really thought…

There are a lot of things I want to watch, but when it comes to actually sitting down to watch something, I forget about the list of films and shows that I’ve been curating in my mind. So here is my list which I’ll come back to edit and add to. This post is mostly for my benefit but maybe you’ll find something here too.

Movies

The edge of 17

Collateral beauty

  Documentaries

Happy by Roko Belic

(…

December has finally come. Or should I say December has crept up on me faster than I anticipated. I’m not yet sure how I feel about the year coming to a close but what I do know is that in the last few months, since I moved away from home for the first time and started university,  I have learnt a lot about myself. Some of those things I suspected all along some things have taken me by surprise…

I am Jonah. I run away from my responsibilites; the things I know I need to do, the things I know God wants me to do and even at times the things that I know will make me happy in the long term. Why? A mixture of things I guess: the fear of failure (that I need to get over quickly), laziness, complacency and although I thought I’d fought it off, occasionally caring too much about the opinions of…

Better From A Distance

The Sun, from earth it’s this wonderful life giving thing that allows plants to grow, people to tan and the earth to be warm enough to sustain life, but the closer you get the more likely it is to kill you.

Strangers,in the words of Hozier, ‘I fall in love just a little ol’ little bit  every day with someone new’ and from a distance before they actually speak and you have to accept that they are…

Firsts and Lasts: BIke Rides

I got my first bike when I was seven or eight, I actually remember the day quite vividly, we went to B&Q, I picked out a shiny hot pink bike with a bell (that my dad probably regretted adding on) and as soon as we were ready to leave the car broke down and it began to rain, kind of like an omen. For some reason after about 2 months of trying to learn how to cycle, I gave up leaving the shiny new…

Write Your Heart Out

One of my favourite things to do when celebrating major life events is to go to Paperchase and buy a new journal. When I was younger I used to try and keep day by day diaries, on January 1st of every year I would begin a new diary and go on to document everything from what I ate to how I felt for about a month until February when I got bored and resolved to try again next year. My journalling,…

I am not a physically aggressive person. I generally avoid stuff like that because a) I don’t think violence solves anything and b) I’m a bit weak  so it’s actually quite surprising that I can name more than two “fights” I’ve been in. Okay so (more…)

Invisibilia is a new favourite podcast of mine. I’ve always enjoyed podcasts about humans and sciencey things like RadioLab but in Invisibilia I’ve found the kind of stories that I love to hear most, the podcast is about the invisible things eg. thoughts, categories and personality that effect our everyday lives. It usually follows about 3 or four different stories mixing human experience with…

I think this first and lasts thing is going to become a regular segment on my blog, I quite enjoyed writing the last one and looking at old pictures, so lets move on to the next event in my life which was going to the theatre. (more…)

Be like a Thessalonian

You may live in the darkness but don’t let the darkness live in you, try to maintain a positive mindset that looks for the silver lining in every situation.

Have self control. There are a lot of things in this world that seem exciting but first think, “is this really bringing me closer to real happiness or is this just a fleeting thing that’s going to be fun for a couple of hours then leave me…

Firsts and Lasts: Plane ride

The first time I got onto a plane was when my family and I moved from Zimbabwe to England. Though I was probably too young to actually recall that much about the trip, what I do remember is walking up and down the aisles to play with another little girl and her barbies and eating some truly disgusting aeroplane food. A part of me wishes that family vlogging had been a thing back then because I…

Tell me the Brit’s are pessimists and I’ll show you their summer.

Tell me the Brit’s are pessimists and I’ll show you their summer. Miserable they are, unable to find solutions they are not, This is a nation of disposable barbecues and shirtless men in the rain. A land where 19 degrees is a cause of celebration, where sunbathers bask under a half blue sky.

Oh the British summer my June to August rainbow lover, Not rainbows as in flowers, they’re all waterlogged…