A Sense of Direction Rest sounded like such a simple idea. Sleep a little longer. Put your feet up. Take a holiday. Switch off your phone. Then our tables started talking. Very quickly, rest became something much bigger. This week, Martin and Manfred wonder whether we are really living life—or simply consuming it. Ismar invites…
A conversation about artificial intelligence, curiosity and whether education should fill people with answers—or teach them how to keep asking questions. I entered the conversation with Bruce carrying one simple question. What is all the fuss about? Artificial intelligence is now blamed for almost everything that appears to be going wrong in education. Students will…
A conversation about railway technology became a conversation about judgement, shared knowledge and the courage to prepare for reality. Sometimes a person does not fail dramatically. The calendar becomes too full. The work becomes more complicated. Energy begins to disappear. Every new problem receives the same answer: another hour, another meeting, another promise. Nothing has…
Should We Give It a Rest? Probably not. We have spent several weeks talking about rest, and the main thing we have learned is that nobody agrees what it is. Some people want eight hours of sleep and a quiet room. Some want to walk up a hill, swim several kilometres or reorganise the garden…
What began as a conversation about emotional rest slowly became a conversation about responsibility, family, quiet worries, and the surprisingly ordinary ways we stop ourselves from truly resting. There is something special about a Friday afternoon. Fruitloop asked me which day of the week makes me happiest, and I didn’t even have to think about…
A conversation about concerts, caravans, mowing the lawn and why active rest may have less to do with stopping than with fully entering the experience. This conversation began with a contradiction. Can rest be active? At first, it sounded like one of those modern expressions that should never have been invented. Surely rest means stopping….
Fabrice began with four hours of sleep, one litre of coffee and a clear plan for the day. From there, the conversation travelled through rain, deserts, night watches, long drives, strange beds and the question of whether rest depends more on comfort or curiosity. This began as a conversation about sleep that restores. But I…
I am writing this on Wednesday evening. Almost twenty-four hours ago, Fruitloop, Fabrice and I were sitting around a Brida table talking about sleep. Fabrice explained how, during his military years, he learned to sleep almost anywhere: on the ground, beside a tree, inside a vehicle, sometimes for only five or twenty minutes. The important…
Serves 2 My Surf & Turf began with an email from my specialist meat supplier. They had lobster tails at a very good price, so naturally I looked at the website. While I was looking, I discovered a cut of meat I did not know before: Chuck Eye Steak. Chuck eye comes from the neck…
At the Atlantic Corridor, a conversation about active rest became a conversation about hammocks, walking, learning after school, family pressure, sleep, and the strange modern habit of measuring peace. The Question Was Already Suspicious The Mayor began with a confession. He had no idea what active rest meant. This is sometimes the safest way to…
