As I stood in front of the large photo of displaced Kurds, I realised that exactly two years ago I was doing much the same thing. Typical me. Here I am again, standing in some exhibition about displacement. Two years previously, on World Refugee Day, it was a UNHCR thing that we randomly snuck into…
This time last year, I marked my birthday with a blog post entitled ‘Help! I’m older than Jesus’. Now, one year older and still here, I marked it with a decision to stop going to events aimed at people in their 20s/30s. Well, that, along with a fun birthday dinner with some quality people.…
Enough is Enough – a book I’ve just read about building a sustainable economy in a world of finite resources – was both inspirational and depressing. Inspirational because it fuelled my suspicion that an alternative economic paradigm and way of living in the world really is possible. Depressing because when I looked up from…
It was Sunday afternoon and, somewhat inexplicably, the bus was heaving. Having squeezed on, I found myself in the last available space; right next to the driver by the front door. We trundled on to Hammersmith, passing by full bus stops until someone needed to get off and we had to pull over. I was…
The ‘Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined’ exhibition at the Royal Academy made me want to 1) become an architect and 2) express the ineffable. I have neither the time nor attention to detail required for the first, but I can give the second a shot. So there I was, at an interactive exhibition which encouraged visitors to respond…
It’s been a busy month with no time to write, so I’m migrating some old posts across from another blog that I thought I’d have the capacity to write as well. That was optimistic. This one was originally published on Breathe, a Christian network for simpler living. Enjoy! It started off so well. Two…
I was so desperate to leave church by midday but couldn’t work out why. I sent round a flurry of texts hoping to find at least one friend who was actually in London. Someone who required minimal effort, who was fun to be with, who could cheer me up, and who got me. Thank goodness…
Sunshine, friends and food have worked their restorative magic after an exhausting week. It was the week which began with submitting our dissertation proposals and ended with our much-dreaded and much-prepared for group presentations. As we left SOAS at 11pm on Presentation Eve, after hours of printing and practice, I was definitely ready for a…
Abbie is the 7 year old little sister of my goddaughter, Hannah. (See above for a picture she drew of us both – she’s the bigger, smilier one). She has a propensity to ask me difficult questions whenever I’m least expecting them: At 7am, she clambers into my bed, asks me why I’m at university, then…
I like the second half of the week. It’s when I exchange the classrooms of SOAS for the College of Northwest London where I mentor an Afghan teenager. Just back from there now. I’m internally warm from cycling through the frostiness but my ears are bright red, icy and tingling. Must get one of those…
emilyintheworld 