Category Archives: Current Affairs

Wonders of non-alcoholic cocktails (and 4 of my best recipes)

Each year in October, an estimated 60,000 people give up drinking for Sober October, Macmillan Cancer Support’s fundraiser. In the UK, about a fifth of adults say they’re teetotal, and among 16-to-24-year-olds it’s almost 30% (yikes!). Although stats presented here are those of the UK, this isn’t a local trend but rather a global andContinue reading “Wonders of non-alcoholic cocktails (and 4 of my best recipes)”

Descent into baloney we must fix

Boisterous bullfrogs wake me up earlier than usual. They’ve been going literally since three in the morning, went on for 30 minutes, stopped and started again at six, they haven’t stopped since. I am not in favor of killing them but I’d love to figure out a way to get them outta here. Yesterday, aContinue reading “Descent into baloney we must fix”

On travelling while Covid

Familiar hubbub greets me, although today it feels a little awkward as it has been months since my last routine. Flight crew performs their usual and soothing benedictions while the plane taxis on the runway in snail speed, flanked by permanently idling planes on either side. The wings lift and comes alive, the wheels foldContinue reading “On travelling while Covid”

Watching In the mood for love on New Year’s eve

It is level 3 in Seoul which means restaurants are only open for take-out and entertainment is all but nil. So when I found out that movie theaters were open (with capacity limits) on New Year’s eve, that’s how I was going to spend the evening in this oddest of the odd years. I wasContinue reading “Watching In the mood for love on New Year’s eve”

Year of the Covid holiday gift ideas 

Holiday season 2020 It’s that time of the year when everyone including editors and contributors of magazines and newspapers dispense their seasonal wish-lists.  Normal’s proprietor is shamelessly no exception so I’m having a go at my own rendition but hopefully of a conscious kind appropriate in this time of anguish.  Frankly I wasn’t expecting toContinue reading “Year of the Covid holiday gift ideas “

Cities, profit from this

As I write this story I glance down from my perch in Seoul. On this particularly crisp October morning I was enjoying a cup of Fall Blend on the terrace of a coworking café. Groups of young men dressed in the sharp, telltale style of consultants in their first year on the job (navy suit,Continue reading “Cities, profit from this”

This time is different

This blog is called the Minimalist Travels for a reason.  It’s supposed to be an observation of the world that surrounds me and be a witness to the beautiful and express it with minimalist prose.  Yet, this morning it is the brutalist ugly that compels me to be a witness to. As the tv, print and online media re-peddleContinue reading “This time is different”