1 Oct 2017
Dan is a big fan of Narcos, which doesn't exactly promote Colombia as a top tourist destination, but someone once told us it was nice and didn't deserve its reputation. That was all the convincing we needed. A couple of years ago I watched a TV show where Dara O'Briain and Ed Byrne travelled around Central America and ever since thought Costa Rica looked great. So our holiday plan: 9 days in Colom...
20 Sept 2017
After a year and a half in Edinburgh, I'm assured I'd still not be mistaken for a local as I don't yet detest the Edinburgh Fringe. I also don't understand pies. Why does everythin...
13 Aug 2017
Recently, I've been veering towards vegetarianism, something sure to make me deeply unpopular with meat-eaters and actual vegetarians. I was a vegetarian for a couple of years when I was about 17 (and 16 or 18 I suppose, by that logic)....
7 May 2017
As a child I was obsessed with Goosebumps books. I easily read at least 40 of them. Looking back I find it quite remarkable that the R.L. Stine managed to come up with so much horror content when I struggle to write one blog post a month. My favourite was Say Cheese and Die....
2 May 2017
One day, I opened my Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Series (the name is important in case any poor soul decides to buy this mechanical travesty of a laptop) to find the screen was coming aw...
4 Jan 2017
What good is a brand new amp for your stereo system if you don't immediately build some sort of switch comparison circuit to test it against another amp?
My parents got me a new amp - an Onkyo A-9010 - for my sound system for Christmas. I had one (Rotel RA 972) that was good once upon a time. Though the volume control was always a bit finicky and for the last 4 years it sometimes only played ou...
13 Nov 2016
When I lived in Galway I had to go to the Cliffs of Moher a lot. Initially of my own volition, then eventually because everyone who came to Galway wanted to go. This is roughly how...
18 Aug 2016
I'm not great with plants. I like the idea of growing my own herbs, like Jamie Oliver, but it never really looks like Jamie Oliver's herb garden. I once kept a parsley plant alive ...
10 Apr 2016
I got a job in Edinburgh so we moved here yesterday. Our reasoning was that we'd moved to Australia with a suitcase-worth of stuff, and that was fine. So really, bringing the car o...
2 Jan 2016
Battery powered Christmas decorations are a source of distress in the Middleton household. My Mum bought a nice string of lights with bows, and 3 AA batteries. No sooner had she ad...
15 Dec 2015
Seven nights was the longest we'd stayed in one place since leaving Australia. We'd read that a week is a good amount of time in Havana. This is true, but it probably wouldn't hurt...
6 Dec 2015
Mexico was only ever meant as a route to Cuba, but we figured we may as well see a bit of it so we booked 4 days. Originally we were going to stay on the beach in Cancun but Dan ri...