Category: Inspiring Positive Simplicity
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So What’s Next?
I started this blog in October, so at only a few weeks old of posting daily (including the transfer of a number of posts from a previous website I had) and since the end of the latest Blogging101 project, I thought I’d take stock of how things have gone. Firstly, I’d like to thank everybody who follows…
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How Your Phone Can Help You Know Where You’re Going
When did you last see someone walking down the street so engrossed in their phone that they either: – almost walked into you, somebody else or a lamppost? – actually walked into you, somebody else or a lamppost? The chances are that you have seen at least one of these things happen and probably not…
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What We Can Learn From Playing Tennis
While walking around recently, I noticed a boy of about 12 years old hitting a tennis ball against a wall with his tennis racket. Perhaps he was practising for a match or maybe he was just having fun. Either way, he didn’t have any friends around to impress so he was clearly motivated to do…
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Getting Away From the Noise (Quite Literally)
Ever been to a spa? Or had a massage? I like massages and sometimes write posts about them – read Learning How To Listen From A Masseur. I recently visited a spa for a massage and some much-needed tranquility. The steam room was lovely. The pool was warm too and the jacuzzi was quite fierce,…
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The Scent Of Nostalgia
While walking around town recently, a woman walked past me and just as she went by, a waft of perfume struck me and suddenly I was at university in a conversation class with a French teaching assistant called Nathalie who wore the same perfume by Issey Miyake. Just like that. No introduction. The last thing…
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How Can Hailstorms Help Us To Be Happier
The weather in Granada is usually pretty good, however a few weeks ago there was a hailstorm of almost biblical proportions, relatively speaking that is. It hadn’t properly rained here in months so hail, thunder, lightning and dark, dark skies were huge news! I popped into the nearest bar to hide from the elements and while I was…
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The Empty Bandstand
There’s a lovely area I often walk through in Granada called La Plaza Del Humilladero which is used as a public event space such as weekly markets, annual fairs and where many people simply go for a paseo or to walk their dogs. I especially like walking there early in the morning before the city…
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Stop And Take A Breath In Granada
I took the photo below today as I was walking around Granada. It’s one of my favourite places in the city – the Carrera de la Virgen. Often the focal point of local celebrations and processions, while today it was just a pretty, tree-lined avenue to walk down. We often get lost in the day-to-day…
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Decisions, Decisions
I’ve just taken my first ever Spanish exam. Been planning it for a while and am glad it’s finally over but I was struck by the fact that while I’m in my 40s, the other people taking their exam all looked like and probably were in their early 20s. Suddenly I was reminded of being a…
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Where Everybody Knows Your Name…
After seemingly years of spending time in anonymous (inter)national chain cafes, bars and restaurants, it’s such a pleasure having your favourite place where everybody knows your name – though admittedly, Jason often causes a few challenges for the Spanish tongue… It doesn’t matter whether it’s for breakfast, lunch, dinner, tapas or just a coffee, the…
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If You Were The Sun…
I can see why painters move to places for the beauty of the light. I can never take a photo nor paint a picture that seems to do it justice though it doesn’t stop me trying. We don’t have an Ibiza-style island sundowner place to hang out here in Granada, primarily because we’re not by the beach…
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Your Favourite Toy
I’ve just been chatting to a friend about her favourite toy when she was a child – her teddy bear. She’s now 28 and still has it on top of her wardrobe – kind of watching over her. Of course, she doesn’t need to play with it anymore (and even if she did, that would…
I Am Away From The Noise 