There’s a lot of talk about how the things we make today have less detail, character and quality than what we still have from bygone times. I get it. But I don’t think the reasons why are as simple as people like to say. HOWEVER

If you ever struggle to feel proud of your accomplishments, remember Royal Huddleston Burpee. A man who, upon creating the world’s most diabolical exercise, thought 'you what what, I'm gonna put my name on that'.

Being able to react to an email with an emoji is one of the all-time great tech time savers. Right up there with that phone feature that lets you automatically fill in verification codes.

Earlier this year, my very talented wife had the opportunity to do a TEDx Talk. She decided to lay herself bare and talk about the most challenging, traumatic event in her life. I may be very biased, but I think there’s lessons for us all in what she shared! m.youtube.com/watch?featur...

St John's church, Glastonbury peering out of the mist. Photograph taken this morning from Glastonbury Tor on Michaelmas day.

We should all be allowed to hope that, like Robert Redford, when we eventually leave this world we’re remembered as: 1. Good 2. An owner of ‘weapons-grade good looks’* *Stolen from my favourite obituary so far

Is ‘did this need to be a book?’ the new ‘did this need to be a meeting?’

It’s said you’re either a beach person or a mountain person. Well, I say you can also be a Kerry person and have both.

On our honeymoon in Kerry, my wife (still odd to say) and I accidentally stumbled on the Gap of Dunloe – the coveted mountain pass through Ireland’s ceiling. Naturally, I got home and started writing about it substack.com/@willwritesw...

Is VAR football’s Brexit? It’s made everything worse, most don’t want it anymore and yet we’re seemingly stuck with it forever 😐

Tree of the day – at South London’s best kept secret, Beckenham Place Park.

Would recommend reading this twice…

*30 seconds into the book title brainstorm "Yeah, that'll do."

2025 has taught me that rain hits different when you have a garden.

Perhaps the greatest present a boy could get on his 32nd birthday

A pride of cats! Or technically – as I’ve just learned – a ‘clowder’

It’s cool that Vienna and Belgrade began life as Roman settlements, when the empire used the Danube as its northern frontier. It’s cooler that, if you look at a map today, both modern cities still mostly sit on the river's southern bank – just like the Roman sites they grew from.

*books train to York* *sells house* www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

The Danube starting in the Black Forest and ending at the Black Sea is such a neatly-named journey. Made even better by there being absolutely no reason for it.

If you've ever been lucky enough to travel north through Scotland, you'll know that eventually, the landscape shifts into something far wilder. It feels like the ground beneath you has changed altogether. That's because it really has!

A 🆕 geography quiz! Can you name the bodies of water 🌊 in the Middle East 🐪 region? For example, where is the Strait of Hormuz? Test yourself: geographyquiz.app/quiz/middle-... #geography #quiz

The topic of accents is messy, complex and completely fascinating. And geography is partly responsible – as I learned writing this! rockpeoplerivers.substack.com/p/how-hills-...

Is there anything more British Summer Time than scorched earth scenes like this?

What/who started your love of history? I'll go first 👇

In mid-20th Century Britain, George Dow is making a name for himself as a man of many train-related talents. He was first and foremost a long-serving railway employee, plus a writer, historian and drafter. He even pioneered a design style that inspired Harry Beck’s iconic London Underground map.

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I don't know if this makes me a basic geography bitch. (Or what it says about my reading habits.) But this is now the second non-fiction book I've felt compelled to re-read in my 31 years.

Hi Bluesky! 👋 I've heard great things! After what feels like years of making excuses, I've finally started writing about my three great loves: history, geography and nature (not necessarily in that order...) Joining Bluesky to share what I'm learning along the way! And...