In a previous meeting we spoke about receiving letters from friends and this reminded me of a box of letters I have stacked away in the top of my closet. Letters from friends, old love notes and letters from past time boyfriends and some other trinkets and memories from my school years. I have been…
I’ve become quite the armchair traveller lately. Brida’s modest footprint — stretching across perhaps eight or ten countries — allows me to feel both worldly and environmentally virtuous. I tell myself I’m doing my bit for the planet, staying put while others chase sunsets. Of course, our digital footprints hum away in data centres, each…
In recent events and to the knowledge of most of you, I have started running. A way to get fit and in shape, take care of my health, but also a way to keep me focussed, relaxed and motivated. Some other reasons include not being a couch potato and getting outside a little more. Because…
In my little fruitloopy world of happiness and rainbows and roses, I focus a lot on mindset and how to think in a different way but also be open minded and open to change. Sometimes this is exhausting, I kid you not. But then I do things I enjoy, like reading, this is my favourite…
On a stormy evening in Johannesburg, a teacher logs on and a French teenager in Strasbourg answers from a bedroom scattered with sketchbooks and scout gear. Across continents and time zones, the talk finds its natural center: creativity—not as a museum piece, but as a living muscle that warms the room, solves everyday problems, and…
🌍 The Weekly Slice | The Skill of Being Human — and Staying Curious There’s a moment before every new skill begins — that tender gap between “I can’t” and “Maybe I could.” That’s where November begins for Brida, and where this edition of The Weekly Slice takes us: into the soft architecture of human…
It’s barely light where Frank is—Cleebourg mornings come on grey and slow—and yet the conversation clicks on like a lamp in a kitchen. “And we are live,” he says, twice for luck, while Fruitloop (Janita) laughs on the other end of the line. Between them lies a continent, a generation, and a shared project of…
Newsflash: most people are busy thinking about what to eat next, not plotting your downfall. Well isn’t that good to know. I have been in so many situations where I think to myself “Have I said the right things?” “Am I dressed appropriately?” The situation wasn’t uncomfortable but, I was. For some odd reason, I…
It’s 10:30 in the morning somewhere, lunchtime somewhere else, and almost summer in a few hearts. A chorus of “Are we recording?” gives way to the soft crackle of global hellos: a retired professor in London clearing his throat; a teacher-turned–school inspector joining from São Paulo, still catching her breath; a new voice from Strasbourg,…
It’s a sunny morning in France when Frank sits down with Manfred, a 64-year-old software programmer from northern Germany. Outside, autumn leaves swirl in the wind; inside, the conversation is alive with something timeless — not nostalgia, but perspective. Manfred is semi-retired now, working for a Swiss train manufacturer. But when he started, his hands…
