Category: REFLECTIONS
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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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Being Brompton-less as a London Commuter
They say you don’t know the value of something until it’s gone, and there may be some truth in that. Halfway through the autumn semester, something freaky happened to my Brompton at work. I strongly suspect it was damaged by someone—accidentally, I assume—as it had been left somewhere safe, yet the chain inexplicably became jammed…
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First Spooky Season @ the new house
Summer feels like a lifetime ago, even though it’s been less than two weeks since I was in Montenegro, wearing shorts and a T-shirt. A cold, the return to lecturing, and the arrival of October have all conspired to accelerate time. And while autumn has its downsides, it’s hard not to admire the season’s brilliance—the…
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Mastering Life Organization: A Guide to Freedom
No offence intended, but I believe many adults are still amateurs at life. For many, life is a visible hot mess—chaotic, disorganised, and constantly in flux. And to be fair, there are good reasons for this. Work consumes our time and often feels like an abusive relationship. We’re pulled in all directions by partners, family,…
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My London Season
Since the end of January, I’ve been working in London three or four days per week. It’s been a mix of everything: great moments, stress, sensory overload, barely contained chaos, and above all, getting the job done—no matter what. A typical London day involved getting up at 05:15, leaving at 06:00, biking to the train…
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Experiencing the Bliss of Spring in London
I don’t always feel lucky to work in central London—especially when my alarm jolts me awake at 05:20 for the 06:27 train. In the depths of winter, those early starts feel anything but fortunate. But this week, I’ve felt like I’m in the winner’s circle. Biking through central London on a warm spring day is…
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The town
It’s taken 2 months of living in Rugby before I’ve managed to get feet on the ground in the town centre. Like most UK town centres, Rugby’s is somewhat past its peak. A very large out-of-town retail complex – when combined with the impact of online – has left the high street sad and strange…
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The Hell House Chronicles: From Chaos to Clarity
In August 2024, I achieved a significant milestone: securing my “dream job” at a prestigious business school in London. Elation quickly set in, though tempered by the realization that this new chapter would bring substantial challenges. I had been enjoying a high standard of living in Birmingham with minimal costs—a balance that simply doesn’t exist…
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Summer in the City: first day at Bayes
Like every first day it was exciting, chaotic and somewhat overwhelming. This was no normal first day though because my new job is in the heart of the old City of London, which for me is the most interesting part of the city. It is after all its financial and economic engine and the centre…
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Saying goodbye to my beautiful office
The thing I loved most at the University of Birmingham was my amazing office. It was such a unique space, such an opportunity – over the course of months I made it incrementally more cosy. Moving out was sad, it was not so long ago that I thought that the University of Birmingham and that…
Dr Martin James 