The snow fell hard and Chernobyl was a two hour drive from Kyiv. I’d seen enough dash cam footage from this part of the world to sit staring ahead. Hoping the minibus would stay rubber side down. My head hurt from a night out before. Not because of the multiple shots of absinthe, but because a part of the drinking game involved being set on fire and hit on the head with a barrel. And here we … [Read more...] about Two days in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone
Personal tracking devices
Ever since I travelled into Iraq during the war in 2005 I've had a use for location tracking. Back then I used my Geocaching GPS receiver, the Garmin Gecko 101. I would manually log my location then send the coordinates back to the UK in an SMS. I thought, that should I go missing, at least my last location would be known. Satellite or SIM card tracking back then was not available to the likes of … [Read more...] about Personal tracking devices
My first eye test in 33 years
I wrote the following words in my newsletter. But realising I'd told a long meandering story few would be interested in, I thought I'd post them in these neglected, little read pages. So, let us begin. When I was gifted a pair of the weakest off-the-shelf reading glasses I thought it was a joke. As soon as I put them on though I could suddenly read tiny text close to my face. I … [Read more...] about My first eye test in 33 years
Sleep more, live longer – A conversation with my Dad.
The guy sat in the car with me is my Dad, Roger Payne. He lives in Wales and I don't get to see him or the mountains nearly enough. We got together recently as my Brother Dan was off to live in Brazil. We saw him safely on his way and while sat in the car and I took out my recording gear. As far as I remember I've never sat down to record a conversation with my Dad. He is in his … [Read more...] about Sleep more, live longer – A conversation with my Dad.
The Maiden Voyage of Story Maker
I bought a boat. A 55 foot Durham Steelcraft 6 birth narrowboat. Spent my life savings on it and at time of purchase I had no experiance of narrowboat life. Sadly the Storify embed that was here is no more. They changed things and now there is a massive hole. I told them that would happen. I said.. "The least you could do is let us download our stories as a PDF. Just in case." "Of course." … [Read more...] about The Maiden Voyage of Story Maker