Simon Varwell's Blog, page 16
March 22, 2014
TROTMH: paperback and Kobo now out
I’m delighted to say that, after a little delay, The Return of the Mullet Hunter is now available to buy as a paperback and an epub ebook on Kobo. My own copy of the paperback arrived the other day and looks, even if I say so myself, and as a committed ebook reader, rather lovely.
The full range of links for buying it are now as follows:
Kindle:UK|New Zealand and Australia|USA|Canada
Paperback:UK|New Zealand, Australia and USA|Canada
Kobo(all regions)
Note that the Australian Amazon site doesn’t a...
Definitely, not maybe
I got into a brief but interesting chat on Twitter the other day with someone expressing frustration that “Yes” campaigners for the forthcoming referendum were painting a prospective independent Scotland as some sort of utopia, where everything would be wonderful and everything would be possible; when in fact much of what would happen would be a matter of political opinion and conjecture.
It’s a fair point. Much as there will be significant benefit to being independent, making that independenc...
March 15, 2014
The secret bits of the BBC
Why do you have eyebrows?
What will humans look like in 10,000 years?
How do elephants create the rain?
What do we really need the moon for?
These are all questions I’m sure you’ve never pondered, but now you’ve read them I’ll bet you’d really like to know the answers. Sadly, however, if you’re in the UK you’re not going to know. That’s because these questions are explored on the “secret” bits of the BBC website that British people don’t get to see.
One of them is BBC Future, a fascinating collect...
March 10, 2014
The Next Stop – out now
The Next Stop, the story of my six-day, stop-by-stop journey down the Inverness to Edinburgh rail line, is now out.
It’s a tale of mystery, wonder and adventure in the most unlikely and most ordinary places – a journey of dodgy pubs, quiet villages, fascinating local history, and lots and lots and lots of walking.
It’s available in a number of formats. In what was a slow and self-taught process, I formatted and designed them all pretty much myself, including the cover. The only thing I didn’t d...
March 5, 2014
The Next Stop – out on March 10th
I’m delighted, at last, to announce that my third book, The Next Stop, will be published on Monday 10 March.
The Next Stop, as you may know, is my account of a six-day journey I took from Inverness to Edinburgh by train, stopping at all twenty-three stations in total. It’s a line I know well and have travelled more times than I can remember. But when it dawned on me that I knew nothing about most of the stops I so often frequently passed through, I decided to do something about it and find out...
March 4, 2014
Revenante
Reveni al loko kiu vi jam vizitis povas esti kurioza sperto. Lokoj eble estas tiom ligita kun pasintaj memoroj aŭ cirkonstancoj, ke vidante aferojn denove povas esti stranga aŭmalkontentiganta. Unu el la plej bonaj agoj, tiam, estas vidi tiun lokon el tute malsama vidpunkto, prefere ol provi revivi kion vi vidis kaj faris unuafoje.
Dum laantaŭlasta semajnfinomi estis en Tuluzo, en suda Francio, kaj miĝoje povis vidi flankon deĝi ke mi ne vidis unuafoje.
Kiam mi vizitis en 2012ĉe la komenco de g...
Returning
Returning to a place you’ve been to already can be a curious experience. Places can be so tied up with past memories or circumstances that seeing things anew can be strange or disappointing. One of the best things to do, then, is to see that place from a completely different angle rather than try to “relive” what you saw and did the first time.
The weekend before last I was in Toulouse, in the south of France, and I was glad to be able to see a side of it I didn’t see the first time.
February 7, 2014
Nothing to report
This past couple of weeks, I’ve barely been at home. I was in Edinburgh the whole of last week, and in London (above) for three nights the previous week.
And I’ve nothing to report from the trips.
In neither city did I just wander aimlessly, camera in hand, following my idle curiosity. Both Edinburgh and London are immensely wanderable – bustling, vibrant,warmer and friendlier than their reputations suggest, and easy to get pleasurably lost in. There’s always a fascinating side street to wonder...
February 3, 2014
A pub conversation
I was in Edinburgh last week for work, and found myself one evening sitting at the bar in a pub waiting for a friend.
A man next to me, also by himself, noticed the unusual beer I was ordering and asked what it was. We got talking.A former soldier and now in the building trade, he had lots of good stories to tell from his army days. As the conversation shifted to me, he asked what I’d studied at university.
“Politics” I replied.
“So, what’s your answer?”
I laughed at the way he put it.
“If it’s th...
January 18, 2014
Passport reflections
I’m off to the French city of Toulouse next month for a long weekend, to take part in an Esperanto conference. I’m looking forward to it, and also to being back in Toulouse. I was there for a couple of days in 2012 at the start of our big European overland adventure, and really enjoyed its typically French array of beautiful architecture, lovely food and warm sunshine. Though it’ll be a stern test for my Esperanto proficiency, let alone my now neglected and rusting French.
The trip has given m...
