As a New Year dawns – (and I’ll bet I’m not the only one to be glad to see the back of 2016) – I’ve decided to take a look back at some of my most memorable adventures of the past 12 months. Let’s start with my most recent one – a solo trip to Bremen. One place really stood out from the rest, making my trip all the more memorable and so I felt it earned a blog post all of its own.
I came across this book somewhere between an early morning writing class and a tube station near my old work. I like to go to the class when my schedule and the stars align because it starts before the city wakes and ends in time for work. I’d had a particularly good session and felt pretty inspired so when I spied a stand through the window of Foyles showcasing female authors I couldn’t resist sticking my head in. And it was there that I found Strange Weather in Tokyo by Japanese author, Hiromi Kawakami.
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Living in London is great when you want to get away from the place, if you know what I mean. The city is so well connected with an abundance of train stations heading to all parts of mainland UK and for those further afield places there are an ample sufficiency of airports or and ferry terminals within easy reach.
But living in London is also expensive and it’s easy to open your purse to find nothing but coffee receipts. So I set myself a challenge to take a day trip away from the big smoke but I wasn’t allowed to spend more than £30 and that had to cover my transport there and back, food and any activities I got up to. Here’s how I got on.
Before the fallen leaves turn to mulch allow me to share why I think Autumn is more than just cinnamon spiced lattes and pumpkin pies.
Spring is often thought of as the time for new beginnings but let’s not forget that new starts can’t happen before old skin’s been shed. Autumn is nature’s way of shaking off the old in preparation for the new. But it’s not always easy to say goodbye to things you’ve held on to all year and so each species of flora bids farewell to their old selves when they are ready, and not a minute before.
I came across The Moth while browsing the stand alone displays of one bookshop or another and something about the cover commanded me to stop in my tracks. Perhaps it was the promise of an introduction by Neil Gaiman or maybe my own inner moth was drawn to the golden glow of the lightbulb suspended front and centre on the cover. Whatever it was that cast its spell on me, moreso than all the other books on display I had to know more.
For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a storyteller. Someone who can turn a tale and transport the listener (or viewer in the case of my work) to another time and place for a moment or longer. The cover’s promise of 50 extraordinary true stories had me hooked and I was keen to know more.
Tales of adventure 