Everything Bends Except the Clock

Everything Bends Except the Clock

Every plan for a solo trip is provisional except one: a consistent wake up time, and the bedtime that goes with it. I check the forecast the night before I leave, aim for somewhere within about a thousand kilometers where the temperature sits near twenty degrees, and...
The Stretches My Son Does When I’m Not There

The Stretches My Son Does When I’m Not There

Most evenings it looks the same. Bath, teeth, supper, and then I go into his room and stretch — nothing dramatic, mobility work mostly, one arm and one leg at a time, deliberately uneven, the kind of asymmetrical loading that forces the body to actually pay attention...
The One Thing I No Longer Change on Holiday

The One Thing I No Longer Change on Holiday

Eight years ago we drove into Montenegro on roads narrow enough that a herd of goats around any blind corner was the normal hazard, not the surprising one. We’d flown in and rented a car, and even then it was hours of mountain driving to get anywhere. Deserted...
Cooling down before a hot night

Cooling down before a hot night

Sleeping in 28°C: What Heat Actually Does to Your Sleep Ten years ago, a night on the Danube that didn’t drop below 20°C by sunrise was rare enough to mention. Air conditioning belonged to city apartments, mostly the higher floors. This year some nights...