I have just bought a ferry ticket to France - and so on the 20th July I shall be arriving in St. Malo; looking forward to two years cycling across two continents to reach Cape Town, some 20,000km away.
So the departure date is fixed and getting ever nearer. As it does, I’m getting increasingly excited [...]

I’ve recently started reading again. This happens periodically. I won’t read a single book for months and then something will spark my interest and I’m off. All my spare time is spent reading. I confine myself to my room with a book and large mug of tea, emerging at regular intervals to refill the mug [...]

I read a satirical essay today titled ‘How To Write About Africa‘.
I stumbled upon the article by Binyavanga Wainaina, which is published by Granta, having typed the word ‘Africa’ into Google.
The article begins by saying that the title should always include either ‘Africa’, ‘Darkness’ or ‘Safari’. This is so very true.
Now I don’t have a [...]

Browsing Times Online today, one article caught my eye, for two reasons:
Firstly, it was about Africa - and anything involving Africa interests me these days, as the date for my departure from the UK and entry to this fascinating continent looms ever nearer.
Secondly, it mentioned Paul Collier - the author of The Bottom Billion: Why [...]

I have been fortunate enough to stumble upon Chris Guillebeau’s website, The Art of Non-Conformity and having read several of this articles realise that he has put into words many of my own idea and thoughts, which I have until recently kept largely to myself.
In Chris’ own words, ‘The Art of Nonconformity (AONC) project chronicles my writing [...]