I’ve just finished my final book of 2020 and with the world winding down after a quiet festive season and without the raucous nights of entertaining, boozing and game-playing that normally follows, now seems like the perfect time to pause and reflect on my favourite reads from the past year.
This has been my most productive reading year to date. All-in-all I’ve polished off 23 books, just shy of 2 per month which by my standards is going some. The various lockdowns have awarded me the extra time, space and energy to immerse myself in reading which I’ve taken full…
Fancy living in the Big Smoke? Steel yourself for the daily travel grind.
The edge of the platform is brimming with bodies. The frostiness envelops the tightly packed huddles. Clouds of warm breath evaporate into the darkness. All is silent but for the occasional chesty cough, slurpy snort or the abrasive voice of the station intercom. The tracks begin to shudder and a gentle clatter down the line triggers a faint feeling of nostalgia. Out of the gloom, the headlights pierce through the mist. It’s 7am, and I am beginning my daily commute, along with thousands of other Londoners.
My ‘fear of missing out’ was making me miss out on quite a lot.
Do I really want to do this? Am I making a dreadful, life-changing mistake? Will I still have friends?
These were just a few of the anxieties swirling around my head as I hovered over the “Deactivate” button on my Instagram account. Having severed my relationship with Facebook a couple of years ago, and not being a user of Twitter or Snapchat, this really was my last connection with the world of social media. Battling through a final moment of hesitation, I clicked the mouse. …
Tom Ludwig
A curious collector of stories and observations from home and abroad. Member of Rebel Book Club and Rebel Writing Club. Based in London.
