One argument against the Samsung Z-Flip: no DeX mode. It’s surprising how useful this feature is, particularly if you have a nomadic lifestyle. Both my phone and my wife’s tablet can be connected to an external display, keyboard and mouse, to provide a functional desktop experience. If you’re already lugging around a work laptop, you …
I’m a very apologetic person, especially when it comes to expressing myself. I can’t help taking things back, having second thoughts, deleting what momentarily seemed sound. I’m feeling very apologetic right now, after a day communicating at work. I put across ideas assertively, based on my area of expertise, then afterwards feel doubtful for having …
We’re all migrants of some sort. From their accent, I’d guess the family renting the house down at the bottom of our garden are northern migrants too. That’s no great surprise, for most of us graduates migrated south for work. Indeed, most of my work colleagues are northerners. If not, then they’re Irish, or from …
Not just for young men. There are grown adults amongst us who just don’t get what consent means.
During a lunchtime meeting, I am reminded of a bugbear of mine: colleagues uttering profanities in ordinary conversation. While some would say it’s a sign that they’re comfortable with me, I find it unprofessional and unbefitting of our duties. Being attentive to what comes out of our mouthes says a lot about us. There’s no …
Travelling through north-east London last night, passing row upon row of terraced houses, it occurred to me: “No, my assumptions a year ago were not unwarranted.” The presumption that in a city of nine million people, or a country of 67 million, or a planet of 8 billion, I had no chance of ever again …
It’s funny when your eyes set upon a car, and then you start seeing them everywhere. This car: no not some sporty coupé, but a diminutive hybrid SUV, the Toyota Yaris Cross. Appealing because it’s both fuel-efficient and affordable. Too small for a family of four, with two growing teenagers in the back? Possibly. A …
The last time I was in Tottenham, twenty-two years ago, I was set upon by a gang of youths, moments after leaving a close friend’s wedding. I had just called my wife on a dinky mobile phone to tell her I was on my way home, when I saw a group of a dozen young …
The scales fell from my eyes five years ago, when I saw the activist fraternity rushing to the aid of men accused of impropriety with no regard for the truth or justice. Just then, I thought, for all their claims to be defenders of virtue, I realised they were defending something else entirely. That’s when …
At a Turkish wedding, seated beside my Turkish wife, a distant relative asks me: “Is this the first Turkish wedding you’ve been to?” Um… Fortunately, the music is too loud for me to provide a witty retort about having married my wife four times. I never understand why they play the music so loud at …
I awoke last week with these inner grumblings: “I have no reach, no influence.” Whatever notion occurs to me, or idea I propose, or project I work on: it is all pointless because I have no means to bring it to life, beyond my own tiny world. I must confess that these are live frustrations: …
Mission accomplished. Back to work tomorrow to recover from the weekend.
This job has taken me four hours so far, and I’m only half way there. It is quite solid, if a little wonky — that’s my trademark. Naturally, a professional would have completed this in about half an hour. But then they’d have proper tools, not to mention talent. Time to refuel — family ate …
“Calm down, love.” Yes, I know, sorry: I’m being an irritable grouch again. “Is it your injection making you like this?” No, I’m just an irritable grouch.
