Author: John Pawson

Well what can I say – I abandoned my blog. I have excuses, yeah, but who cares! Just get on with it John!

So I will… starting right…. now.

Well its been a while since my last post… a long while…. but not without good reason. I am delighted to say that I’ve been particularly busy in my personal life, specifically getting ready to become a father for the first time!

Understandably (I would argue) my online presence has suffered a little. However, I now have a date to shoot for to finish the first draft of my novel. I don’t imagine that I’ll have much free time after the arrival of little ‘un, so I’m going to attempt to get the first draft finished within the next 6 months – a difficult feat I should imagine with all the other things whizzing through my head at the moment.

I’ll be posting updates on progress as and when I can. As of this moment, I am almost at the 25,000 word mark, but I barely feel I’ve scratched the stories surface. Watch this space…

Travelersible, my new retrospective travel blog will be coming very soon.

The blog will look at my adventures travelling round the world on my trip from 2007-2008… in reverse. You will be able to follow my trip backwards from arriving safely home in 2008 to the day of departure in 2007, with entries from my journals from end to start, to see how the trip changed me.

Watch this space for more info…

Well after undertaking the online video course at the Derby University Creative Exchange and uploading my interview with PLNG creator Sonia Thompson, I decided to dig out an old video from Uni concerning University fees and student debt and get it up on the web. It’s looooooong, was a bit of a rush job (I believe we found out during the lecture that we would be recording that day) and my interview skills aren’t quite BBC standard, but it is mine none-the-less!

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggNCKM_qu_U]

Well I officially passed the mid twenties mark this weekend, having reached the ripe old age of 25. I feel more mature already.

I celebrated with my wife, my dad and his wife. We had a lovely day in the sun with a couple of drinks at the Marriot in Breadsall and The Abbey in Darley Abbey – great place for a sunny afternoon drink.

We then visited Darley’s restaurant, and I have to say had probably one of the greatest meals of my life.

The pricing does reflect the quality of the place, but while many restaurants producing this type of high class food might get above themselves (with snooty waiters snorting in discontent at you – a lowly imbecile that doesn’t know what a talagio bon-bon is), Darley’s manage to keep their feet firmly on the ground… which is handy for reaching the hob I imagine.

A leisurely three courses with wine, coffee and petit-fours was a wonderful way to wave goodbye to 24.

Check them out here: www.darleys.com

Well, I’ve not posted for a while… primarily because I’ve not had the time. This is not because I’ve been more busy than usual, oh no. Its because its been taking me longer to write, use a mouse and, well, just about everything else after my fall from my bike.

Cycling to work one Friday (week before last) I was minding my own business, using the road as a sensible cyclist does when a cycle path is not available. Out of a sidestreet, screaming like a banshee from the depths of hell came a car, a car seemingly without brakes, being driven by a blind man with a lead foot. I acted quickly, having 3 choices:

1. Get hit by a car…. probably not a valid choice, I’ve seen those adverts with the little twisted up girl going all backwards
2. Cycle into oncoming traffic… see option one, but probably with more cracking bones
3. Fall off

With options 1 and 2 thoroughly out of the question, option three rang through my head like the correct answer on an 80’s gameshow “DINGDINGDING! We have a winner!!!”

So I fell. As graceful as an aircraft coming in to land too quickly and too low and smashing up its undercarriage, I landed on my right hand and arm… tarmac running across my fingers at around 15 miles per hour. Quickly, parts of my hand felt rather cold, since they were no longer wearing any nice warm flesh. Yummy.

Looking up, I caught sight of the car. At least they’d stopped to see I was ok… wait, hold on, they’re off again… lovely. They’d stopped long enough to check I wasn’t dead, but had seen enough and made a hasty exit. To add insult to injury (literally in this case) they’d given me as much respect as a dog they’d just run over. I imagine their conversation would have been something like:

Driver: “He’s got up! Phew, he’ll be ok!” (starts to put car in gear)
Passenger: (imagine a procoscious child): “But I heard that dogs do that while they’re in shock and drag themselves off somewhere quiet and die later”
Driver: “SHUT UP, HE’S FINE” (wheels spin, car speeds away)

Anyway, my hand is ok now – thankfully no bones broken, so its back to the keyboard. Now that I have use of it again I will be sure to put it to good use if I ever see that car again, particularly the middle finger.

I always try to look at the positive side of things… in this case, I got a chance to relive part of my youth – what falling off your bike feels like. In my opinion, it doesn’t really change that much however old you get- you just get angry at other people rather than yourself for acting like idiots.