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Looking Back IV: Forth trip of 2026 – Malta
I’ve worked for the Maltese government since 2024, so you might assume I’d visited before. I hadn’t – at least not until this year. The irony is that I booked…
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Looking Back III: Third trip of 2026 – Iceland
Iceland gets rave reviews, so I knew I had to see it for myself eventually. As it turns out, every one of those reviews was deserved. This became one of…
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Looking back II: Second trip of 2026 – Kosovo
Tiny Kosovo has played a greater role in history than many in the West can imagine. In 1389 King Lazar of Serbia halted the march of Islam into central Europe…
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Looking Back: First trip of 2026 (Sibiu, Romania)
As a full-time academic, I had my busiest semester yet in the first half of 2026: four modules in total, leading three of them and playing a major role in…
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Unforgettable Winter Trip: Belfast and Carrickfergus Highlights
I took a short, wintry escape to Northern Ireland, spending a couple of nights split between Belfast and Carrickfergus, and it turned out to be one of those trips that…
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Poland’s Christmas Markets
The Christmas market in Poznań felt intimate and welcoming, set against the colorful Renaissance façades of the Old Market Square. Wooden stalls clustered around the illuminated town hall, filling the…
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Scenic Canal Ride and Wildlife Encounters: Captivating Moments Along the Route
I put in an 11 mile round trip along the Worcestershire & Birmingham canal. Unsurprisingly there was lots of young families along the route, especially geese and swans. My Specialized…
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Back on the Bike
Finally – some nice weather! I’m not a fair weather cyclist but when you’re out of the groove you tend to wait until the right moment. That means nice weather…
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Sunday’s super ride
I took a bike out on Sunday afternoon with a singular mission: to average +17mph on a 20 mile ride, something I’ve fell short of all summer. I found some…
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Work Office: coming on like a slow chess match
I’ve got no intention of moving on (unless compelled) from my job, so I might as well make myself at home. It takes what feels like an age to personalised…
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Back and At It
I took my site off-line for a while, partly because it’s been (pretty much) all work since January. In the last day or two I’ve started to make progress around…
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One Year On: the Home Front
A year is a long time.Except it isn’t. With a demanding full-time job and a packed calendar (I flew 23 times in 2025 alone), a year can feel more like…
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Brightening things up a bit
Like everything else at my house, the garden is a perpetual work in progress — probably still a few years away from matching the picture in my head. The challenge…
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My “OG” house in a wonderfully green estate
I’ve lived in my house in Rugby for a year and a half now, and it’s slightly embarrassing to admit that in all that time I hadn’t properly explored the…
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Office Week
A quote I commend is: “You don’t rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems.” This week has been a systems week (see…
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Poland’s National Philharmonic Orchestra
Poland’s premier orchestra is currently touring the UK, and by happy coincidence their schedule aligned perfectly with mine. They opened the tour at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall today with a programme…
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Geranium summer
I’m hardly in a position for the garden to be a hot priority, but I do try to ensure that the occupants of my pots are alive with some prospect…
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An unexpected V.I.P.
Unbelievably exciting! I occasionally see my much loved hedgehog(s) on the security cameras, but I’ve never seen him during daytime. I saw some rustling in the bushes and assumed it…
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Dr Martin James 