The UK publication of Vroom by the Sea is only a few days away now. And my publishers have got into the spirit of things by running a competition to win a trip for two to Positano. I’ve got to say, I love Positano. It’s one of those places where you can feel as though [...]

I set up my home network yesterday so that I could play songs in my iTunes library on my computer upstairs through a set of speakers downstairs. Then I downloaded an iPhone app called Remote so I can control it all using my phone. I know, I should have been busy writing, but I’m a [...]

Just reading Stuart Maconie’s new book Adventure on the High Teas. It’s about his search for Middle England, a sequel to his immensely popular book about the north called Pies and Prejudice. I’ve just started the book – so I’ll reserve judgment. But I was bemused by his claim at the start of Chapter 2 [...]

I had a couple of beers with some of the people who came along to my talk at the TNT Travel Show on Saturday. As usual they were an interesting bunch – a Kiwi girl called Kyles who is about to cycle overland back to Oz, a concierge from one of the city’s top hotels [...]

I’d love to tell you that Martincourt are an exciting new London band that channel St Etienne, The Sundays and Portishead into a new kind of Hoxton cafe cool. Unfortunately, they don’t exist. The album cover below is my handiwork. I made it after playing the ‘Make Your Own Album Cover’ mentioned in The Guardian [...]

I’ve got to admit I was critical of the Aussie cricket team when they refused to tour Pakistan last year. Cricketers are revered as Gods on the sub continent. Like a lot of people I was convinced that these ‘heroes’ would never be targets. That changed this morning when the Sri Lankan cricket team were [...]