It’s in our nature to seek out patterns, to find symmetry and to group things in meaningful clusters. Cultures through the ages have found significance in doing so, with fables and rituals often the result. Even if we don’t consider ourselves to be superstitious, some of us will still, for example, have a ‘lucky’ number. Ask anybody what that number is and there’s a good chance they’ll answer ‘7’. Think about it. We often group...
Bolivia is often overlooked in favour of its more accessible neighbours Peru and Chile, but to bypass it is to miss out on one of the most captivating countries on Earth. With Amazonian jungle, Andean plains, colonial cities and the incredible Salar de Uyuni salt flats, the diversity of this landlocked nation deserves to be appreciated. And it was to one of Bolivia’s most striking landscapes that I was most drawn during my South American...
This month has been a busy one beyond belief for me, for a hotchpotch of reasons, some good and others not so much. I’ve been industriously buzzing around sorting, organising, planning for everything from a likely house move, through a (not-looked-forward-to) operation, to a couple of weddings – one in the glorious setting of Amberly Castle, the other in Sweden. All of which hasn’t left me much time to put hands to keyboard and turn...
With the gold and russet dunes folding into each other in the distance, I stepped straight out onto the arid Martian landscape. Or so it seemed. If it wasn’t for the bold blue of our earthly sky, I could have sworn I’d just set foot on our neighbouring planet. That, and the fact I wasn’t wearing a spacesuit or breathing apparatus! It certainly wasn’t the panorama I was expecting to be met by when I booked...
In these times of constant connectivity, many of us are permanently stooped forwards, eyes down poring over texts and tweets – barely looking at what’s in front of us, let alone what’s high in the skies above us. What we are losing connection with, it seems, is Mother Nature. I’m sometimes guilty of that myself. It’s easily done, there’s always something else that needs doing; an errand to run, some shopping to do – life...
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