Expert Advice

SOD IT I’M OFF!

Well, David Mitchell had a right old go at Tracy Emin in the Observer on Sunday for getting grumpy about the new 50% tax level and quitting the country. I was intrigued to see that she used the phrase “Sod this I’m off.”  Despite being something of an ideas magpie, she is unlikely to know that this is effectively the title of my travel blog Sod it I’m off.

 

My point is somewhat different to hers, in that, whilst I wholeheartedly suggest you visit other countries, I recommend you come back. Who wants her in the country anyway? She will not be missed at all, and someone that rich should be giving the extra 10% to charity already.

 

Article: http://bit.ly/GSlzU

 

 

 

REVEALED AT LAST: MULTITASKERS ARE USELESS AT IT!

I was delighted to see a piece in the New York Times last week announcing research from Stanford University showing that “the most persistent multitaskers perform badly in a variety of tasks.” I have often said that too many tasks on the go at once remain unfinished.

 

“They don’t focus as well as non-multitaskers. They’re more distractible. They’re weaker at shifting from one task to another and at organizing information. They are, as a matter of fact, worse at multitasking than people who don’t ordinarily multitask.”

 

Hallelujah! Now the rest of us don’t have to feel so guilty. My suggestion? Try Rapid Sequential Tasking - it’s way better.

 

Right, I’m off to do one thing at a time, starting with a pint….

 

 

 

NEW ALBUM - GIBRALTAR '61

For all you music fans, my 7th CD is released today online.  Gibraltar '61 is named after my place and year of birth, and is dedicated to my Dad.  Download tracks and artwork, and let me know what you think.

The next Fastback gig is at the Troubadour in Earl's Court on November 21, so get in touch if you fancy it.

AMATEUR VULCANOLOGIST GATE-CRASHES RADIO 4

I had great fun on Saturday morning, appearing on Radio 4’s Saturday Live, hosted by Fi Glover. Hobnobbing with the likes of John McCarthy and the charming Alan Titchmarsh, I was being quizzed on my tendency to travel the world and climb volcanos.

 

You might well ask how this all came about. I had written an experience piece for the Guardian Weekend magazine in August, rather dramatically entitled I climb erupting volcanos, which is technically true but a bit over the top. Various enquiries followed, and Radio 4 asked me in.

 

If you want to hear what I said, click the link and go to the 31-minute mark on the i-player. There is also an amusing follow up at the end of the show at around 54 minutes, where a listener emails in describing a sign he saw when he visited the Arenal volcano in Costa Rica I had mentioned. It read: “If you see anything unusual, run away.”

 

I am now launching my new travel blog called Sod it I’m Off. I have started by posting my writings on twenty or so countries, and there will be thirty more coming in the next few months. This gives you a quick angle on some aspects and flavours of those countries, and I would love to hear everyone else’s comments, both on the featured countries and ones to which I have never been.

 

The world is endlessly fascinating – last time we drew up a list of places we wanted to visit, we stopped when we reached 147.

 

Enjoy.

 

IF THIS DOESN'T MOVE YOU, NOTHING WILL

My old mate Charlie has just done something rather amazing. He has produced a bunch of schoolkids singing and playing Bowie's Changes to promote www.newschoolthinking.com

 

Click and weep - it's absolutely fantastic. All together now: Turn and face the strain, ch-ch-changes...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsNVmOa5Pd4

 

 

 

EVER SEEN A WHITE MAN BEFORE?

I recently returned from a tour of Indonesian islands, taking in Bali, Flores and Lombok. The trip coincided with their Independence Day celebrations, when they all get together and delight in the fact that they got shot of the Dutch so they could do their own thing.

 

 

On the day, the whole of Lombok converged on the local football pitch for a massive parade. School children dressed as terrorists, sportspeople, newsreaders and beauty queens traipsed through the streets to the incessant throb of drums and whistles.

 

 

 

But here’s the strange bit: many of them had never seen strange foreigners before, so we ended up being the spectacle, not them. I have never had my photograph taken so many times. Like mystical creatures we were stared at in wonder, and high-fived endlessly by children.

 

And they say the world is flat and there are no secrets left. I wonder….

 

 

 

 

FASTBACK AND JAMIE SCOTT

On Tuesday September 29th Fastback Unplugged will play a night of acoustic music in aid of the Chase Hospice in Surrey. Two solo sets will be followed by a joint one with Jamie Scott.

It's at 7.30 at Home House, 21 Portman Square, London W1H 6LW, (entrance at corner of Gloucester Place).

It’s a charity night so tickets are £30. If you fancy it please let me know and I’ll send you tickets because numbers are restricted so you can’t come without one on the night.

Those who like the full rock Fastback might want to make a note of our next Troubadour gig, which is November 21.

http://www.myspace.com/fastbackuk
http://www.myspace.com/jamiescottandthetown
http://www.homehouseclub.com

SWINE FLU AND VOLCANOES

Having just been away on the obscure Indonesian island of Flores staring at multi-coloured lakes in volcanic craters, I was delighted to find that I had an article in the Sunday Telegraph Travel section the day I came back. I wrote the piece My Kind Of Town about Mexico City way back in the spring, moments before the swine flu pandemic erupted. I feared it would never appear, but there it is.

I am also told that I will be in the Experience section of the Guardian magazine on Saturday under the rather dramatic heading of “I climbed an erupting volcano.” It was erupting actually, but not as dramatically as you might think. That was in Costa Rica. I’ll post the Guardian link next week.