The most confusing thing about international travel is working out what time it is. Even the one hour difference can trip you up – you can easily find yourself arriving somewhere an hour early or an hour late. On this trip, the difference will be variously 4, 8, 11 and 13 hours. I’ve decided to…
Author: unwrapping
Running with Pablo
I was running along the Atlantic coast in the cool remains of the evening. The sun, tired from its long day’s work was sinking towards sleep, dimming its light, brushing a soft orange glow over the darkening grey ocean. Laying its head on the pillows of the clouds. I ran at a steady pace, my body…
Nice – 86 stars that no longer shine
We didn’t intend to book this hotel in Nice. Not this particular hotel. We just chose the one which seemed to have the nicest pool and rooms. We hadn’t intended to book the actual hotel, directly outside which a murderous 19 tonne battering ram truck was finally halted, having massacred 86 innocent people in 5…
Swimming in another fish tank
Living in another person’s house is a bit like wearing someone else’s clothes. It’s an interesting journey of discovery – but after a while you just want your own comfortable jumper back. We have just enjoyed our first week of “airbnb”, living in someone else’s world in Vienna. We arrived at street level after a quick…
Vienna, best city in the world? It means nothing to me …
Vienna is apparently famous for its high quality of life. In a study of 127 world cities in 2005, the Economist ranked it joint-first as the world’s most liveable city. For the last seven years, Mercer has ranked Vienna top place in its annual “Quality of Living” survey of hundreds of cities around the world. The UN-Habitat classified Vienna as being the…
The Ups and (ouch) Downs of Life
What goes up, must come down. And I came down with quite a bump. An extremely painful bump. Some days we just feel better than others. This afternoon I was happy, and not for any particular reason. My wife and I had enjoyed a very nice weekend, including a fabulous time at the company ball,…
Running through my mind
I went for a run this morning through Vienna, up and down the banks of the river. The city was waking up to a beautiful sunny morning. It is always fascinating to run through a new place and watch the people – some were coming towards me, some sat on benches overlooking the river, some…
Brexit – A Failure of Leadership
Every nation needs leadership. Leadership is not about charisma or personality. In my mind, true leadership needs these seven qualities – Vision, passion, clarity, judgement, courage, integrity and humility. How did the main characters in the EU referendum pantomime measure up to these seven? This is how I scored them. Cameron 3, Corbyn 3, Farage…
The Results Recount
The results of the biopsy were inconclusive. Of the 12 samples taken, two had a shade of prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia and one had a touch of atypical small acinar proliferation.. The consultant told me this, as if I should know what this meant. Or rather that I shouldn’t – because this would have made me as clever…
The Results are In
All over bar the shouting The results are in. I just don’t know what they are yet. It’s been really nice that people have wished me good luck, or reassured me about the odds of a good outcome. But it makes no difference to the answer. Nothing can change that. It is – as…
Unwrapping The World 