Rather good to be back in rainy November Berlin, visiting friends now old, like us, in every sense of the word (50 years history and more), standing once again at the literal line that divided Europe and massively shaped both our lives. This place connects directly to old friends. The pastor of the original Versöhnungskirche, … Read more …
Isn’t Google amazing. I have all my photos from all time (approaching 40,000 now, including all the old ones scanned in) on my Google Drive, and just typing bicycle in the search box brought up hundreds of two-wheeler images from the very earliest days. Right back to my first trike at Duckshole farm near Holt in … Read more …
A hundred years from the start of World War One, I’ve finally found the peg I’ve been seeking on which to hang my first Braynework blog post in nearly a year. It’s been the most extraordinary year, in which I left Cirencester and my former partner Sue, sold the beloved Wychcroft home which we bought in 2003, moved … Read more …
Why did I switch from journalism to psychotherapy? As chronicled (cautiously) elsewhere on this site (see my long-in-the-tooth Masters thesis from 2000), Romania and covering the revolution there 20 years ago this month were, looking back, the decisive turning point. As this year of revolutionary anniversaries draws to a close (wall-to-wall coverage of the fall … Read more …
As Europe remembers the opening of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago this week, I can’t resist posting a picture of what it used to be like in the old days – as Jutta and I cycled through Checkpoint Charlie on a tandem. I was working for Reuters at the time, and we lived in … Read more …