Like it or not, first impressions count. So, if you’ve been booked in for a session to eyeball the bank manager, a new potential employer or a seriously hot blind date, you might want to scrub up a little. Now, there’s no use moaning and complaining about how shallow this world is or how beauty […]
Just in case you haven’t heard already, Fashionistas – Black is the new Black. That’s right, we’ve gone a full circle and come all the way around to the original cool colour after our somewhat misguided dalliances with Powder Blue, Soft Gold, Faded Bronze, Millennial Pink and Greige over the last couple of decades. (Actually, […]
If you had the chance to meet someone from fifty years ago; who would you pick? Hunter S. Thompson? John Lennon? Salvador Dali? Audrey Hepburn? Or Colin Meads after his last stint in a black jersey? All amazing people and the world is the poorer for not having them around anymore. Coming from a music […]
Summer, the time to stop all the hurrying about and at last unwind. It’s also (hopefully) a chance to relax in the sun after a year spent inside getting a Covid tan. But if the weather gods refuse to play ball in the sunshine stakes, then we’ll just have to get some in pre-bottled. In […]
Eighty years ago there really was only one gig in town, certainly in Europe anyway – as World War Two ended its Phony War pretensions and in early 1940 matured into a real, nasty, proper war with the Nazi Panzer tanks Blitzkrieging their way through Norway, the Low Countries and France. Next stop was supposed […]
There’s something about small town New Zealand that seems to breed world-class operators in the motor racing industry. Again and again we learn that some of our global household names in the exalted fields of V8 Supercars, Formula One, IndyCars and Superbikes got their start in rural New Zealand. Perhaps it’s those long straight – […]
Lockdown – it gets such a bad rap, but being grounded at home has upsides aplenty. Really, it does! I mean, when else would you have so much guilt-free time to finally get around to making Ricotta cheese; shoot excessively creative short films on the Samsung; or seriously brush up on the old wine drinking – […]
Turning 40 is a momentous time in our lives. For many men, this is the time when they get a sudden hankering for dressing head-to-toe in lycra and head out for long bike rides on Sunday mornings. It is also when they suddenly take up surfing, riding Ducati motorbikes or playing jazz licks on the […]
Two things are so hot right now – and if you’re not talking Doja Cat and Regé-Jean Page then surely you must be talking about spirits and hemp. So anyone making hemp-based gin or vodka must be seriously coining it at the moment! Funnily enough, The Natural Distilling Co out of Gippsland, Victoria in Australia […]
Buying gifts, whether it be for your dad, brother or for some other bloke, can be tough to decide. Well, there’s no use looking to television for inspiration, as fathers in the Advertising World are inevitably portrayed as some kind of cross between a sour Dickensian Ebenezer Scrooge and a Barry Crump-era Good Keen Bloke, […]
Gift giving can be easily phoned in, but something as low effort as giving a pre-paid voucher screams ‘safe and boring’, and you are anything but that. There are a bunch of things in life that are inherently cool like; Ferraris, tatts and skateboarding that every generation has always got off on. Whisky definitely falls […]
TAG Heuer Carrera Porsche Chronograph It’s so gratifying when two like-minded individuals finally get together as a couple – and that’s exactly what’s happened with famous Swiss luxury watchmaker TAG Heuer and German sportscar makers Porsche. After several test drives together over the years with the Heuer Monaco chronograph, TAG-Turbo engine and TAG Heuer Porsche […]
Traditionally in the US, whenever a new President takes charge, the media eagerly run a rule over the leader’s first 100 days to judge what kind of a president he (still no she as yet) will be. This tradition dates back to Franklin D. Roosevelt who took over in a similarly chaotic time in American […]
If you are new to wine, one of the most intimidating things you can do is walk into a wine shop or, more realistically in these days of snap Lockdowns, look online for something to go with dinner. The sheer array of similar-looking bottles with labels that look pretty sexy is overwhelming, but they all […]
Blue – it’s the colour of a hungry Siberian Husky’s eyes as they glitter at the edge of the campfire light watching your every mouthful of Arctic hare supper. It’s also the colour of the sapphires in the cloth bag under your shirt that jangle as you sprint across the border into Eritrea. Blue was […]
Nagano in Japan is truly a wondrous place – especially in winter when the Kiso Mountains are covered in snow. In amongst these picturesque mountains is the famous Lake Suwa which completely freezes over, making it ideal for ice skating. But keep your eyes open whilst skating as you don’t want to trip over the […]
Maintaining extreme precision in watches for international travellers used to be difficult, as each occasion you draw out the crown to adjust the hour hand to a new time zone, you are actually stopping the clock. It may only be for a second or so but they all add up. When Grand Seiko makes a […]
Walk up in the mountains near Achi in the southern part of Japan’s Shinshu region, and the air is so clear it seems that you can simply reach up and touch the stars that twinkle above you. All the worries and stresses of life disappear as you momentarily escape the Earth and catch a fleeting […]
Watches and clocks are not the only way to tell the time; nature supplies us with many other options. We can track the sun’s path across the sky during the day or the changing pattern of the stars in the night sky. We can even see the changing seasons of each year by observing whether […]
The keen-eyed amongst you may have noticed a slight difference in recent months whilst walking about the office and on the streets of our towns and cities: A discernible easier gait from your fellow co-workers over to the printer and a wonderfully smooth jog across the street by that shop assistant dodging the plethora of […]
The Bonneville Salt Flats is a lonely place by day, let alone night. There is nothing but flatness for miles in every direction with only a few distant foothills to break up the monotony. Yet this very same clinical flatness is what has always drawn speed addicts from all over the world in pursuit of […]
Being a CEO used to be easy. As ever-increasing returns to shareholders were the be all and end all of everything, all you had to do was cut corners on production, dispense with quality and keep the wages for your staff low – and the champagne corks would pop at the AGMs. And who the […]
The Grove restaurant is like an institution of food for New Zealand. Since its inception in 2004, the Auckland fine dining eatery has developed a reputation for excellence that stretches far beyond Aotearoa’s borders. So much so that fully 60-70% of its clientele were visitors to the country. Many of these people came on cruise […]
The Grove is a dining institution in Auckland. Established in 2004 by ex-pat American Michael Dearth, The Grove offers a French-inspired, technique-driven degustation menu featuring New Zealand produce alongside high end bar snacks in a well-appointed wine and cocktail bar. Immensely popular with both Kiwis and international travelers alike, The Grove has become a “must-go” […]
Say the word ‘sommelier’ and we automatically think of a restauranteur with an extremely strong knowledge of wine. But in France, sommelier just means ‘waiter’ as they don’t really separate food and wine, seeing them as all part of the same dining experience. A Master Sommelier, however, is something quite different as they have passed […]
Hopefully enough water is under the bridge from all the various forms of Lockdown we endured last year – for us to be able to whisper quietly amongst trusted friends that; they were actually good for us. Hang on – woah woah! Before you get too hot under the collar about such a radical statement; […]
Which is the best whisky to drink? Scotch or Japanese? Irish or bourbon? That’s like asking; ‘which is the best car? An Aston Martin, Ferrari or Rolls Royce?’ All are equally awesome, it’s just that some have been designed more for one purpose than another and may be superior in one aspect yet inferior in […]
The other day I was asked ‘what food should I have with whisky?’ I replied that there are only three things to have with a whisky – a cigar; a little water; and yet more whisky. Never would I have thought to food match with whisky. However, none of these are particularly nutritious and merely […]
If you’ve ever admired the power an awesome DJ has to control a party’s mood, then this is some very good news. Pioneer have brought out a new controller with all the gear you need – plus some really clever new features that replicate the skills most DJs spend years perfecting – for you to […]
White birch has long been an integral part of Japanese culture and tradition with its brilliant, satin-like texture making it the ideal material for making furniture and flooring in the home. This regularly patterned wood creates not only beautiful veneers, but is also so strong it has been used to create aircraft propellers in the […]
Hidden away in the forest to the east of Lake Suwa in Shinshu, Japan is Mishaka Pond; a beautiful body of water that features a unique verdant green. This colour so caught the eye of the Micro Artist watchmakers in their studio nearby they decided to use it to create this collector’s edition Spring Drive […]
M2 brings you its top watch picks in a series featuring the best of this year’s luxury timepiece releases. A special edition brought out to celebrate 140 years since the creation of the company that would become Seiko. This Grand Seiko Spring Drive chronograph SBGC240 may be the most precise chronograph in the world as […]
M2 brings you its top watch picks in a series featuring the best of this year’s luxury timepiece releases. Hublot Big Bang Integral Ceramic Love the beauty of luxury watches but not a fan of the feeling of weight on your wrist? Then the Hublot Big Bang Integral Ceramic could be just the ticket for […]
M2 brings you its top watch picks in a series featuring the best of this year’s luxury timepiece releases. IWC Shaffhausen Portugieser Chronograph With Stainless Steel Bracelet Stainless steel – it’s tough and practical, corrosion-resistant and completely unaffected by moisture, sweat and seawater splashes. Which makes it the absolute perfect material for a watch strap […]
M2 brings you its top watch picks in a series featuring the best of this year’s luxury timepiece releases. Cartier Ballon Bleu The Ballon Bleu de Cartier floats through the world of watchmaking, defying gravity with its ethereal charm. This model features a convex-curved 36mm steel case with a width of 12mm and is water-resistant […]
M2 brings you its top watch picks in a series featuring the best of this year’s luxury timepiece releases. Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II If you are a regular international traveller, then this is the timepiece for you. In addition to the conventional hour, minute and second hands for local time, the Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master […]
M2 brings you its top watch picks in a series featuring the best of this year’s luxury timepiece releases. G-Shock MRG-B2000 Kachi-Iro At one time ultramarine was worth more than gold, as its deep blue colour came from the rare lapis lazuli rock which was only found in Afghanistan. All around the ancient world these […]
M2 brings you its top watch picks in a series featuring the best of this year’s luxury timepiece releases. Tudor Black Bay Chrono Since the launch of the Oysterdate in 1970, Tudor’s first chronograph, the brand has been closely associated with motorsport. Similarly, since 1954 Black Bay diving watches have given Tudor a well-deserved nautical […]
Hidden away in the forest to the east of Lake Suwa in Shinshu, Japan is Mishaka Pond; a beautiful body of water that features a unique verdant green. This colour so caught the eye of the Micro Artist watchmakers in their studio nearby they decided to use it to create this collector’s edition Spring Drive […]
To make something truly great you need to take risks, and risks are usually things no one else is doing. Would you put your business on the line for greatness? Yalumba did, and it paid off. In the 1970s Yalumba saw Viognier being grown in the appellations of Condrieu and Cote Rotie, France. It’s a […]
Above: Adam Hannett, Bruichladdich Head Distiller. Transparency, we demand it from our bosses, politicians (fat chance!), accountants and possibly most of all, from our food manufacturers. Why? Because we want to be able to trust that what we are spending our hours on, paying our tax dollars for and actually putting into our mouths – […]
M2 brings you its top watch picks in a series featuring the best of this year’s luxury timepiece releases – The Grand Seiko Spring Drive Chronograph SBGC240. A special edition brought out to celebrate 140 years since the creation of the company that would become Seiko. This Grand Seiko Spring Drive chronograph SBGC240 may be […]
If you’ve been road running for a while, you may be ripe for a change of scene just to freshen things up a bit. You could just try driving somewhere else to go for your run – or you could try something far more radical like cross country running. This isn’t just road running on […]
Remember how you grew up watching shows like the Jetsons, where robots did all the housework and everyone flew around in spaceships – and you’ve always wondered ever since; ‘when is THAT future gonna turn up?’ Well, wonder no longer, that future is officially here! Okay, so there may be a slight wait on the […]
It’s hardly controversial to say 2020 was a tumultuous year for everyone. Virtually every day heralded some new craziness for us to cope with from the sky-darkening Aussie bushfires to Trump’s dialogue. In amongst it all of course were the scenes of Covid-19 lockdowns and street protests inspired by Black Lives Matters and LGBTQ rights, […]
Stand up comedy. Quite possibly the most polarizing combination of three words in the English language. People either hate it – or love it, there doesn’t seem to be much by the way of middle ground. I possibly fall into the former category due to my role in life as a humourless automaton, aka website […]
Stop! Before you slosh all that Coke or ginger ale into your whisky, ask yourself; ‘Have I ever actually tasted this without a mixer?’ And illicit swigs from Dad’s liquor cabinet when you were 12 don’t count. If the answer is ‘no’ then it’s definitely time for you to get your classy on and organise a […]
With the rapid approach of the cooler weather, increasingly I’m finding myself looking forward to finding my spot at the bar, watching the rain endlessly lashing the windows and swirling the finger (or two) of warming amber liquid in my whisky glass while I work on solving the world’s problems with my friends. This year […]
The golden days of morning runs in actual daylight, bodysurfing down at the beach and a barbecue to finish are behind us. There’s still a bit of heat in that sun – at least until it disappears behind those western hills, which is happening earlier every day that passes. So that offers enough of an […]
The best thing about being an amateur runner is that there are no restrictions. I don’t have any dietary plan or training obligations – aside from getting out of the scratcher as soon as humanly possible and getting the T shirt and shorts on (which is easier said than done some mornings, depending on the […]
Watches and clocks are not the only way to tell the time; nature supplies us with many other options. We can track the sun’s path across the sky during the day or the changing pattern of the stars in the night sky. We can even see the changing seasons of each year by observing whether […]
White birch has long been an integral part of Japanese culture and tradition with its brilliant, satin-like texture making it the ideal material for making furniture and flooring in the home. This regularly patterned wood creates not only beautiful veneers, but is also so strong it has been used to create aircraft propellers in the […]
Watching the America’s Cup yachts racing out on the Hauraki Gulf at the moment, you can’t help but wonder what the old sailors from earlier decades would make of these huge boats up on foils flying around in the air at 40+ knots. Their ceramic tobacco pipes would probably tumble from their mouths in amazement […]
How do you win the America’s Cup? You innovate, innovate, innovate of course. Standing still with the same ideas and tech that won it for you before hasn’t won it again – at least certainly not in the last fifty years. But still, the America’s Cup is a yacht race, right? So, surely technology must […]
Competing in the America’s Cup means coming up with innovative new designs that will give your boat an edge over the competition. But the problem with developing something completely new is that it is untested, so you don’t know if it’s operating at optimal levels or not. You can only learn that through trial and […]
The America’s Cup, alongside ‘Covid’; ‘lockdown’; and several other angry adjectives; are the words everyone seems to be using at the moment. But while the America’s Cup sailing is the Big Show, it is not the only form of the sport out there, as you can compete in everything from dinghy to giant catamaran racing […]
‘Hey, forget the Warriors! Switch channels, the America’s Cup is on!’ How often have you heard that refrain? Surprisingly often if you frequent the kinds of bars I do – and especially at the moment while the Cup is on. Now, while being able to forget the Warriors would ease a huge burden of pain […]
You’ve got to give it to the Brits, when they get something right, they really get it right! For example; the Aston Martin is not just a luxury sports car – it is THE icon of luxury sports. Similarly, Bowmore isn’t just a single malt whisky distillery, it is THE single malt whisky distillery, its […]
“Hey, you can’t park here!”; “Oi, you need to wear a mask to get in this supermarket!”; ‘What are you wearing a collared shirt for? This is a coders’ convention! Take it off at once!” We all hate being told what to do, but the sad truth is; sometimes a voice barking in your ear […]
Good news! The 47th Yalumba Signatory has finally been announced as part of the release of Yalumba’s 2016 The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz due in March. This time it is Head of Winemaking, Louisa Rose, who takes the honours as the representative of the Australian family-owned winery for the year. Becoming The Signatory at […]
Can you believe it? Seiko are 140 years old! Not many companies survive that length of time so Seiko naturally enough have taken the opportunity to celebrate a rare milestone in style – by bringing out three beautiful new timepiece ranges to mark the occasion. Taking their cues from company founder Kintaro Hattori, Seiko have […]
Say the syllable ‘rum’ and a Pavlovian urge to celebrate International Talk Like A Pirate Day early comes into play. But it’s not just Hollywood movies and crazy Aunt Ginny’s somewhat disturbing bedtime tales that have programmed your mind here – rum really is the tipple of pirates and of sailing in general, and always […]
We’ve got this 21st century all wrong! You catch a bus, go to a café or drop by someone’s lounge and before long you’ll see somebody – if not absolutely everybody! – pull out their phone and start peering into this tiny screen. They’ll be updating their social posts, reading the news, playing a game […]
A video projector is truly one of life’s great social pleasures. I used to have one back in my flatting days which proved ideal for All Black tests and multi-player video game sessions. We had an L-shaped lounge so I’d hang one of my mangy (washed!) old bed sheets up at the junction as a […]
On the surface; we all love symmetry – pretty faces, sunflowers, social justice and bell distribution graphs. And anything that doesn’t conform to a mirror image of itself gets called ‘imperfect’. Yet, if you look at just about anything for longer than a couple of seconds, you’ll quickly see imperfection is actually more common than […]
Stop the world I want to get off! I’ve had enough of COVID, Trump, anti-landlord legislation, Trump, ultra woke sensibilities and Trump – honestly how much PR does the guy need? I’m outta here, I’m getting off this planet and leaving all this BS behind… Although, I’d STILL like to watch the rest of the […]
The answer to this time-honoured quiz of course is; ‘to binge watch’! Why on earth not? TV shows – or serials as they call them these days – have been designed for us to enjoy one episode after another, the drama building one block on top of another. With the roller coaster ride for your […]
To be the best in the world is a massive achievement. What a feeling it must be, scrambling up that last steep, slippery, rubble-strewn slope to finally stand atop the peak of your profession and gaze down on everyone else you used to look up to. Content. Victorious. Justified. Sure, some world beaters are hailed […]
Oh boy! You win the UFC Light Heavyweight crown and you think you’ve got it made! The sun’s always shining, people wave to you in the street, everyone wants you at their parties, you don’t pay for your training gear anymore and all your protein shakes taste like champagne – life’s just so DARNED GOOD! […]
It’s a question that often plagued me; ‘What wine goes well with a curry?’ I’m arguably overly fond of both, yet had never found the ultimate wine match until recently. But after much trial and experimentation – you see the suffering a poor journalist goes through in order to get the scoop? – I discovered […]
Thanks to COVID – and technology to be honest – we live in a crazy old world where the lines between home and work have become so blurred it’s getting even more difficult to differentiate them. We work from home; participate in business video conferences from our bedrooms; and even post on social media with […]
For some, Christmas is a difficult time as they never know what to get as gifts for the people they know and/or like. You’ve heard the laments; ‘Oh, what do you get someone who’s got everything?!’ or ‘Jeez, I don’t know what such-and-such is into!’ Of course, one solution is to just hammer the monetary […]
Got a rum lover to buy a Christmas gift for but not sure of their tipple of choice? Let them choose with this magnificent taster box of molasses rums from Plantation Rum for a mere $119.99. Six elegant 100ml bottles from six different locations make this the ideal gift to discover the gourmet universe of […]
Every now and then, a British movie comes around that captures the whole world’s imagination with its memorable story, characters, wit, humour and unique sense of style. We’ve seen it before with the James Bond, Harry Potter and Bridget Jones franchises and now we’re seeing it all over again with the recent Kingsman movies. Obviously […]
Christmas isn’t just an All Blacks Test or mate’s barbeque – it’s a special occasion. One that should be celebrated with a glass of quality wine in hand, and Taylor’s 10 Year Old Tawny Port fits the bill to perfection. My Christmases have featured Taylor’s for about fifteen years now – so it’s my favourite […]
Simon and Garfunkel; Cheech and Chong; Donald Trump and falsehoods; some things just seem to go together naturally. The same is definitely true for port and cheese. Oh man, what a perfect ending to a meal – especially around Christmas – to bust out a cheeseboard together with a sly bottle of Taylor’s Vintage Port. […]
There’s a simple law of oenophilia: if you like wine, you’ll love port. That’s because port has all the things about wine you appreciate; flavour, body, pleasing colour and a mild alcoholic buzz – but without the risk of ending up with a wine you don’t like. Ports are blended wines, so, if you like […]
Whether you’re in a bar or in a tent in the bush or in a meeting room listening to a presentation, the best storytellers have us in raptures. Their tales aren’t just lists of facts like you’d hear from a police representative in a courtroom, these magicians personalize every human emotion, populate their yarns with […]
Talk to most actors off stage or screen and they are usually consumed with self-doubt, worrying about whether they did a good job of playing this role or that part. You can spot them easily as they are always anxious for positive reinforcement from anyone within earshot, whether they be a critic or just a […]
You would think Chen Kun could relax now. With a string of incredibly successful movies under his belt including The National Anthem, The Knot, Chongqing Hot Pot and Painted Skin and a virtual permanent residency within the Forbes China Celebrity 100, Chen is a household name in his home country. Yet taking it easy isn’t […]
The best in New Zealand; now that’s a lofty height. It’s a special zone with rarified air that only people like Sir Patrick Hogan, Lisa Carrington, Peter Beck, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, Peter Jackson and Lydia Ko get to breathe. It’s also an amazing place where the All Blacks, Crusaders and Scott Robertson (and maybe Ian Foster […]
‘Quantitative Easing’; it’s the phrase on every banker’s lips and that gets me worried because we don’t often see eye-to-eye on anything – well, okay, so let’s make that never. But finding out about this apparently momentous financial event that can cure blindness and make the crippled walk again is not easy. Looking online for […]
Technology comes, goes and is quickly forgotten. Yet quality craftsmanship and style are eternal. Nothing illustrates this truism better than the field of luxury watches where meticulous attention to detail in manufacture, backed by uninhibited imagination in design, have turned each model into a unique wearable work of art. In a delicious irony, these elite […]
New Zealand, a natural wonderland of lush, green native bush and crystal-clear clean water. The way the Earth was made and should always remain – without being spoiled by toxic man-made chemicals and pollution. Ukiwi was inspired by this and became determined to develop a range of products that truly reflected our unsullied environment by […]
Being eight-years old is a wonderful time in your life as you are just starting to realise the difference between the ordinary and the extraordinary. Then, once you find the latter – you put a picture of it up on your wall to inspire you, and to figure out why it is so good. But, […]
Ham and Cheese. Lamb and Mint. Pork and Apple. Some ingredients just go together, well, like salt and vinegar. They just taste like they were made as two halves of a divine pairing and once upon a time some chef with a sense of adventure had discovered these long lost twins and repatriated them in […]
Happy birthday to you! It’s 100 years since Prohibition started in the USA – sorry I’m a little late on the anniversary, the Eighteenth Amendment was actually passed on January 17 1920, but I’ve had a killer hangover… The US Prohibition lasted for 13 years until President Roosevelt signed off the Cullen-Harrison Act that basically […]
It’s time for a short holiday getaway but this time, thanks to COVID, I’m not headed to the airport – but to the Ferry Building at Britomart for a forty minute trip over to Waiheke. Though it is not a foreign destination – Waiheke IS overseas! So it will do nicely. The third most populated […]
Azerbaijan is not a country I have thought of often I must admit. A mysterious nation lurking in the Transcaucasia and boasting cities with alien planet-sounding names like; Zaqatala, Sumqayit and Xanyurdu, Azerbaijan was cloaked in the obscurity of the Soviet Union for most of the 20th century. Then, in the summer of ‘92 it […]
I got tricked. A woman with whom I did a fitness bootcamp once invited me to come along to do some ‘rugby stretches’ at her gym. She neglected to use the noun used by the gym itself to describe the class, in fact typed in bold CAPITALS at the top of the brochure, because she […]
Q: How many Surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb? A: No tomatoes. A 20th century joke to explain the 20th century phenomenon of Surrealism – which was the more public-friendly follow-up to Dada, in a similar way to how New Romantics followed on from Punk Rock. As the name suggests, Surrealism was […]
Hi, my name is Cy Sinderson and I am an aerophile. It is a serious affliction as people with my condition cannot handle the rigours of modern life without receiving regular succour in the form of time spent experiencing the delicious bureaucracy of travel at airports. My issues started off as Tripophobia where I feared […]
So Auckland has a water shortage. Again. Hard to believe considering we have an average rainfall of 1,284mm per year, 14 water reservoirs capable of holding over 100 gigalitres (or 100 billion litres of water) plus a pipe spewing the stuff directly from the Waikato River. Sure, there may have been a touch less rain […]
When we go to get our beards trimmed at a mall like Commercial Bay in downtown Auckland, it’s very easy for us to pick up a personalised aftershave, hookah and/or vape while we’re there. And not even spare a single moment to marvel at how the impressive array of herbs, spices and oils we can […]
Berlin is a city that simply doesn’t get enough proper attention from Kiwis on their OEs, as it is usually just tacked on near the end of the average tiki-tour of European destinations. Which is a waste really because, once you’ve done London, Edinburgh, Rome, Gallipoli, Paris, Amsterdam, Prague, Barcelona and all the other usual […]
King Richard I of England – or Richard the Lionheart – was around a real long time ago, between the 11th and 12th centuries. His time was pretty different to ours; there were no mobile phones, no internet, just ‘Heraldry’ – a weird system of coloured drawings on flags or shields that told you who […]
Visiting Hiroshima is all about experiencing emotion – and not the contrived stuff places like Disneyland serve up, I’m talking the real deal. I’ve been to Hiroshima twice and had two completely different reactions to it. The first time, I went by myself; it was a bleak, steel grey day and I was overwhelmed with […]
Contrary to what pompous wine snobs might imply – making your own homemade wine is actually really easy. Of course, making a good or great fruit wine is a whole other story, but you’ve got to start somewhere eh? I got into it largely because I have 37 feijoa trees on my section (no, sadly […]
Whilst Zoom has done a great job of subbing in for business meetings with overseas clients and partners, unfortunately it cannot replace our lost recreational travel in this hideous COVID-19-handicapped world. Certainly, all my plans for holidaying abroad have been put on hold for the immediate future. To appease my raging travel urges, in the […]
To say that film and TV actor Dev Patel is on an upward trajectory is an understatement. The star of Slumdog Millionaire, Lion, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and now, The Personal History of David Copperfield, has become the new go-to Everyman. So how has he done it? What is his secret to global […]
