Author: martinjamesphd
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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 also Work Office: coming on like a slow chess match), induced by the begrudging acceptance that my old desktop is past its best and long…
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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 my office. It’s like a game of chess where I can only make one move per week. I’m bringing everything from home, one bag at…
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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 of flowering. Many of my “OGs” didn’t survive their first cycle of seasons, so I decided to “go big” on geraniums to fill the gaps.…
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Light hearted room in a serious household
My home is my office, gym, workshop, private park (perhaps overstating its grandeur), gallery, library, storage unit, and much else besides. It’s serious business — partly because a fair portion of my wealth is tied up in its land, bricks, and mortar, and partly because it serves as the multifunctional centre of my universe. When…
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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 was a local cat. Instead it was my spiky pal, on his way home for a good day’s sleep I guess.
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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 the house. Specifically, I began the big job of painting the fence in my back garden. It will take about a week in all, but…
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Romcom Winter Weather
At the grand finale of Christmas romcoms set in the UK, you always get picture-postcard snow arriving right on cue. Unfortunately, we British know the reality: it rarely snows south of Edinburgh, and it pretty much never snows at Christmas. If it comes, it’s typically in January or February, although freak storms can happen as…
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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 a month. It’s in my nature to feel frustrated by a lack of progress, even when—objectively—a fair amount has been achieved. What follows is a…
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New for 2026: The Nightingale Express
What does it mean to be “cool”? If your answer is “who cares?” then you might just make the grade…! At 44, I’m finally free of the decision prison that “cool” imposes. And to celebrate this liberation, I became the proud owner of a train set this weekend. It’s a humble beginning don’t get me…
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Modest 2026 Dreams: my Rangemaster
It has grown bitterly cold in recent days, hovering around freezing both day and night. This short-term shock of extreme cold (by UK standards) and the longer-term chill of economic precariousness have brought the true meaning of “wealth” into sharp focus. It isn’t yachts, private jets, or fleets of luxury cars. Those baubles accumulate in…
Dr Martin James 