Belgrade is ruining me. I’ve forgotten what sunlight looks like, my bed sheets need industrial fumigation and I’m a beer pong champion. I’m on first name terms with a load of night-club bouncers, and my daily food intake consists of four boiled eggs and/or a hamburger. My head, heart and emotional well-being are all crying …
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Beaten in Belgrade
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New Years Eve with crime lords
I can’t honestly remember the last time I had a decent New Years Eve. The onus and pressure we put on ourselves to find the best situation possible for ten seconds is astounding. I think it’s getting worse as we get older, and much like Christmas, it’s really one for the kids. It was more …
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Down in the dumps AKA: miserable bastard
I’m lying in a bed that hasn’t been made. Literally there isn’t a sheet on it. (It’s probably my fault). Someone has just dropped a foul stench from the tiny bathroom which is opposite my head. Extremely loud Balkan-folk/rock music is blaring in the bar below, so much so if you want a conversation in …
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Chain wielding taxi drivers, underground Serbian Turbo Folk sing-a-longs and Belgrade at Christmas
Good heavens above it’s Christmas Eve! How on Earth did that happen?! Where have I been?! Oh yes – in a Christian Orthodox country that doesn’t celebrate anything until January 7th. So this is a little weird. Consequently I’ve not heard one carol, not one rendition of Fairy Tale in New York and I’ve not …
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Hitchhike to India leg 15: Sarajevo to Belgrade
I’m awake and up at 5am. I can’t actually remember the last time I stood at the side of a road and stuck my thumb out; and it’s terrifying me. I feel I’ve regressed. A summer of debauchery has fattened my lethargy. It’s almost like I’m back to square one and I’ve no idea how …
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Return to Mostar
The wind whips into a frenzy as our little band huddles against the elements during a war tour of Mostar. It is certainly a far cry from the summer time madness back in August when, if you may recall, my friend Mike jumped off the famous bridge here. The water is a lot higher and …
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Waiting for test results
After putting the full stop to your final exam in school and handing the paper over, there is little you can do to effect the outcome. Maybe you can ask friends what they put for some sort of reassurance. Perhaps you can go back to a text-book and confirm a particular answer. There is little …
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Sexual health checks in foreign countries
Well it’s been a long time coming I guess. I think the last time I had someone poking and prodding around my junk was back when I lived in Glasgow. So that’s about four years ago then. Since that time I’ve…erm…visited a lot of places. I figure you shouldn’t mess around with stuff like this, …
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Sarajevo: War and Peace. A photo journal.
Sarajevo. Heartbreakingly beautiful. I’ve learned more in two days about this city’s turbulent past than I did during the entire time it’s struggles were happening. I was 13 years old when the war broke out here in 1992. When the siege began. When thousands fled or were forced to leave their homes. When strange, unknown …
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1984 Olympics
Torvil and Dean’s Bolero. Inspiring. Magical. Emotional. The finest ice dance the world will ever see. I could never stop the hairs standing up on the back of my neck while watching this. Proud that they were British. The best in the world. It just so happens that it was to become my mum’s all …
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