Monthly Archives: June 2014

Re-Uninification: Life in The USA

I wanted this site to be about life and community. This June of 2014 will mark my eleventh year living in the USA. I miss the UK and Ireland. I miss football or soccer as they call it in the US. Funny how I still look at the BBC website first thing every morning to see the results from the night before. When I lived in London, I used go to Arsenal and watch midweek games. Now far away from all of that I think back, estranged and lacking a sense of community. I am in a chat group on ‘what’s app’ with a few of my brothers and some friends on saturday mornings which keeps me in the loop, an identity of some sorts. We talk about what’s happening, transfer talk and general bollocks. It’s quite funny, me and my brother John are Arsenal fans and there is...

Face your fears

I was walking on a beach in Brazil when suddenly life became so much clearer and all because of a rash guard emblazoned with ‘Face your fears’ had caught my eye. The slogan had translated itself into its real meaning. O’Neill is a surf apparel company and coincidentally I was staring at the huge surf in Buzios, Brazil’s most famous surf town. I had taken a vacation in South America from the craziness of the global currency markets. I saw this T-Shirt and I knew there and then my days as a currency broker were over. I was going to face my fears. If I had seen that T-Shirt in some bar in London it wouldn’t have meant a thing, but the size of the waves and the sheer sight of guys getting thrown about the surf like rag dolls made me grab my balls and ask myself what...