This week marks eight years since I boarded an airplane and departed my homeland with a one way ticket. I’d packed a suitcase, but had no real plan. I recall sitting in Windhoek airport, having booked a cheap flight on Air Namibia, being amazed at how small their international terminal was. I watched my last … Continue reading Being English

This morning I received an interesting office wide email sent by a colleague. Someone had left a meaty item in a fridge on another floor and it had leaked bloody juices all over other people’s chilled goods. The concise mail explained the situation, confirmed the rescue of the other food and the relocation of the offending item. The … Continue reading Je Suis Cecil

Tourism South Africa hosted an event in Soho last night. Promoting South Africa as a holiday destination the event, titled Meet South Africa, celebrated the unique qualities of Mzansi as well as offering a digital taste of home.Walking into the venue the first thing I noticed was the unmistakable smell of bunnychow. The delicious dish … Continue reading Meet South Africa

I am not to be trusted in the supermarket. I seem incapable of only buying what I need. It's a budgetary risk stepping through those automatic doors. Some kind of strange instinct comes over me as soon as I have a basket in my hand and I need everything. Last night, taking the chance of shopping … Continue reading A funny thing happened at the supermarket

January is usually a difficult month. In the North its cold, grey, wet and a sobering experience following the festive season. Having been in a more tropical climate in December I was finding adjusting back into a regular routine just that little bit more challenging. Luckily my friend Julie had bought some tickets for a … Continue reading A Class of our Own

Checking in to our Philippine Airways flight last month, my friends and I were excited. Our long anticipated adventure was about to begin.For most of 2014 we had been talking about our friends' wedding taking place in Baguio, a mountain city to the north of the capital Manila. Tickets booked since May and hotel secured … Continue reading Toto, We’re not in Kansas Anymore

As part of the Royal African Society's Annual Film Festival this year, the penultimate screening in London was of the award winning Four Corners directed by Ian Gabriel.Gabriel himself introduced the film by saying that South Africans are now ready to tell their own story. The community itself plays its own character in the feature … Continue reading Ian Gabriel’s Four Corners screened in London

The London School of Economics chaired the third annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture in Europe, on the topic of Arts and Activism given by world renowned musician and activist Hugh Masekela. The Steve Biko FoundationMasekela entered the venue and took his seat to a round of applause from the audience. The LSE Chair, Professor Thandika … Continue reading Hugh Masekela at the LSE