• ‘The Man Within’ by Graham Greene

    *contains spoilers* Another book that I enjoyed immensely was Graham Greene’s first published novel ‘The Man Within.’ Like Brighton Rock but unlike The Quiet American or unlike The Power and the Glory it is set in England where Graham Greene is from. The story starts with Andrews on the run having betrayed his smuggling gang Read more

  • ‘Stir Fried and Not Shaken’ by Terry Tan

    This excellent book I also picked up in my charity shop Carr Gomm. Having read the title and read the synopsis on the back cover I was intrigued having spent a year living in the city state of Singapore. I had not heard of Terry Tan but according to the book he is a big Read more

  • ‘Twelve Minutes of Love: A Tango Story’

    By Kapka Kassabova Another book I picked up in the last few months sort of randomly and enjoyed was ‘Twelve Minutes of Love’ by Kapka Kassabove. I think I picked it up in one of Inverness’s charity shops like Highland Hospice or Carr Gomm (where I work). I have a real love of music nowadays Read more

  • ‘The Kingdom by the Sea’ by Paul Theroux

    When I was in Budapest recently, in a cafe, drinking my coffee, I saw a man with a sort of cart full of second hand books outside. I asked him if he had any English books and he pointed me to a section. I purchased Paul Theroux’s Kingdom by the Sea for a bit over Read more

  • Carr Gomm shop, Victoria Market

    So this year I started writing lots of posts on this blog. However a lot of my writing has focused on my past experiences such as university life and my time in China and Singapore. However, something in my life at the present that brings a lot of joy to my life is my part Read more

  • 2nd year at Strathclyde (September 2011)

    In my 2nd year of Strathclyde I stayed in the area of Maryhill beside the Firhill stadium. I stayed with 5 other guys from Oban, all of whom were at colleges as opposed to universities. I actually referred to this flat situation in my very first post on this blog. The accommodation was private halls Read more

  • 1st year at Strathclyde (September 2010)

    One topic I would like to discuss is my mechanical engineering cohort at Strathclyde university which I attended from September 2010 until May 2013 at which point I dropped out of the course. Of course I was in Singapore for the 3rd and final year so I only spent 2 years in Glasgow. The original Read more

  • Schizophrenia

    I was just now reading about how Trump has done the dirty on Ukraine with Putin. In moments like this its hard not to feel a sense of doom! In the 1st world war huge numbers of men in Scotland and England were drafted into the army to fight against the rising German Empire. We Read more

  • London, St Vincent’s plaza

    In this blog post I want to talk about a very strange time in my life (in 2018) when I ran away from my home (parent’s house) in Oban. I was initially sleeping in a tent up on a hill in the woods in Oban but after a while I decided to get the bus Read more

  • On the Students at Henan College

    I know I already made a post on the Henan College of Finance and Taxation but I did not talk about the attachment I formed with the students there. I was reluctant to talk about this for fear of condemnation by the people around me and who read my blog. Actually it was the attachment Read more

  • On Facebook

    I was just recently asked to look at a study of Facebook, made in 2012, for my online Ethics class at my local university. The Facebook 2012 study refers to the social media company’s manipulation of the feed of users to see if it affects the posting of positive of negative posts. “Posts were determined Read more

  • On Organized Religion and Catholic Mass

    I went back to church yesterday (since it is now 3am the next day) for the first time in a long time. The service was the 1830 Sunday one. It was my local catholic church. There was the current serving priest, a middle aged man and also a young soon-to-be priest (he is being made Read more

  • Fight Club

    One film that always seems to enter my thoughts is the Brad Pitt Edward Norton movie Fight Club. The film itself was made in 1999 and when I first heard of this film I was put off by the name, however the film itself is a very philosophical film in my opinion. I’ve had thoughts Read more

  • The Brutalist (contains spoilers)

    I just saw The Brutalist yesterday at my local cinema and I did enjoy the film. However one of the most notable criticisms of this film is it is 3hrs 30 minutes which makes it a significantly longer film than your average one. There was however an intermission of 15 minutes in which I got Read more

  • Uncle Veggie

    A slightly funnier topic that I would of once been mortified to write about or admit is that of my Oban primary school and Oban high school nickname. Of course now my problems day to day are totally different to back then, 15-20 years ago. I believe it was originally invented by a girl (who Read more