Jolene

By now, it’s highly likely you’re aware of Beyonce’s latest country album – Cowboy Carter. The incredible pop and R&B artist has come to dominate another genre of music, rewriting the handbook on what country is and who it’s for. Interestingly, although probably not surprisingly, it seems that the Dolly Parton hit ‘Jolene’ must have

Down with the single tax!

Now the title of this piece may lead you to believe this is going to be me moaning about being single in a subconsciously envious of couples way. I hope it won’t be that, but I guess I can’t make any promises. This concept came up when reading some form of feminist literature over the

Be more Winnie-the-Pooh

I was first introduced to Taoism (Daoism – they are the same, just different ways of spelling the same word) through a pandemic philosophy project. It’s an Eastern philosophy that seems to have originated in China alongside and almost in reaction to Confucianism. Perhaps, at this point, you’re seeing there are lots of unfamiliar words

Thoughts on cringe

A couple of months ago, a colleague was leaving my team so naturally added us all on LinkedIn and social media to keep in contact. One thing about my social media is that very sneakily in the bios or descriptions, there’s always a link to this blog, just in case it tempts a passerby or

Reckless love

There’s a certain audience that seeing the words ‘reckless love’ will have instantly been transported back 5 years-ish to when the song ‘Reckless Love’ came out and caused much controversy. For those who don’t know what’s going on, ‘Reckless Love’ is a Christian song that has some powerful words and melodies, quickly becoming a favourite

Summer sads

If you’ve been in Britain over this summer, you’ll know it lasted two weeks in June and then left the party early. Meanwhile, the rest of Europe seems to be having heatwaves and record temperatures. Not to complain, but I feel like we’ve been shortchanged and it’s really impacted my experience of the summer.  Maybe

Cathedrals

As a historically Christian country, England is scattered with cathedrals of all shapes and sizes. This year in particular, I’ve found myself in some of the cities that house these massive constructions and made a point of going to visit them, if only to sit outside for a while and take in their enormity and

Star Wars!!!

In my first list of topics to cover on my blog, I included Star Wars. I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to say, but I wanted to acknowledge and celebrate its impact on my life. Several years later, many Star Wars films and series passed and a Star Wars Celebration attended, I think I’ve

Bring out the bangs

There’s a narrative that has been built about making drastic changes to your hair, associating it with bad mental states and life falling apart around you. This was probably because there are a fair number of unhinged haircuts that happen both in media and in real life, where a person feels overwhelmed and out of

Tracks of my years

I find it fascinating how our senses store different things in our brains, connecting them to obscure scents at Grandma’s house, food I tasted once at school, or even a song listened to in the car on a Scottish holiday. I was reminded of this recently, coming across Martyn Joseph’s discography on my phone and