I will never forget what the houses in Australia felt like. A very common type of building there are floating weatherboard buildings. The house is basically on little 30cm high stumps. There is no basement. Then there are the floorboards through which one can see the ground under the house. The walls are simple stud … Read more Quality of housing
Many career guides give us the advice to find or follow our “passion”. They advocate for the job-seeker to dig deep and find the flame that burns within. Didn’t we all want to be a fireman or a pilot? How many pilots do we need? An essential requirement for today’s workforce seems to be passion. … Read more When passions turn into obsessions
My cycling history Originally I was inspired to cycle on holidays by a book that my dad gave me about the tour around the equator by Tilmann Waldthaler. The guy is something of an original in the cycle touring world, starting to cycle in the 70s, when there weren’t many around and you had to make the … Read more Eight reasons why I love bicycle touring
The way humans communicate is a very inefficient process called language. We don’t think about the miracle of speech very often but the way it works is pretty incredible. I have no better way of expressing it, so let’s quote the great Tim Urban: “The next time you’re talking to someone, I want you to stop … Read more Why it’s important to be articulate
My daily train departs the city every 50 minutes. It is quite handy not to miss it. Countdown to my daily train departure home: T-16 min I wanted to do some last minute shopping. I enter the market, buy a few things I want to eat this weekend. Pay, smile to the cashier as he … Read more In a rush
This week was Melbourne Cup. I don’t want to give it more attention that it already received or deserves but here is the summary for those unfamiliar with the concept. Every year there is a horse race in Melbourne (but also other cities in Australia). A few horses with tiny jockeys on them run in … Read more What celebrations do for us