‘I dunno,’ says the man behind the counter. ‘I’m not from here.’ Here is somewhere in Bromsgrove. I can’t tell you where as I’m lost. And yes, it is my fault. Well, not entirely. It’ll be all right, I thought. Got plenty of time till kick off and a customer has just walked in the [...]

Three young men, hunched, polished and silent, glance at the waiter and return to what they were doing. The waiter does his job. A dish for each of the customers. One has meringue, another chocolate mousse and another trifle. I know this because I'm watching them. It's rude of me, I know, but they're not [...]

  I ignored the light at first, putting it down to the hill I’d just climbed. But then I came to a flat stretch of road and the light on the dashboard lingered and so I change tactics, entrusting that the light was faulty and everything was tickety-boo under the hood. On I went, skipping [...]

A new sign has gone up on the highway out of the city and it bugs me. It bugs me not because it took my attention off the road ahead or its placement – I get that the highway is prime advertising real estate – but because of what it was trying to sell me. [...]

We hear statistics every day and every day we forget them because another one comes along to dislodge the one we thought we should remember. That said, here's one that I can remember from earlier this week: Around 40 per cent of workers seek new employment at the start of a year. One explanation for [...]

It's 4am, which means I'm not in the cafe, I'm in the nook, but I have a plunger of coffee so all is right with the world (ish). Today's essay topic and title comes courtesy of Sarah in San Francisco. She asked me this (via Goodreads): How do you know and what do you do [...]

It's mid-morning and it's loud. Sitting in a popular cafe can get like that. But I don't mind. I like it. Noise helps sometimes. And today is one of those times as it'll remind me the clock is ticking and I need to talk to you about socks. Now, if you're not wearing a pair [...]

Welcome to Crave. Straighten your back for essay three. I won't keep you long. Today's essay thought comes courtesy of the rolling digital sign above a gym that I saw on the way here (if you need a reminder, here is a cafe called Crave). You've probably seen it before, perhaps over your gym, or a [...]

Of course, we all wanted to go to the wedding. All those other folk were going so it seemed only right that we went. It was, how can we put it, in everyone's interest that we went and told you about it. We weren't invited, but that didn't matter; we all knew he'll understand, that [...]