I spent ages and ages trying to come up with some kind of structure to a series to accompany my circle of hell series. That was 9 articles loosely based on Dante’s description of the circles of hell in his Divine Comedy. I wanted to write a series to accompany these and take a more positive look at the world. Unfortunately Dante’s description of heaven didn’t really work well for me and I was finding it hard to shoe-horn my favourite places into his thoughts of loveliness, it would appear that my idea of niceness are somewhat different to those of a 14th century Italian poet. Although are irritations are similar. Go figure. Eventually I just decided that my favourite places were too important to me to try and wrestle them into someone else’s categories, so here are my some of my favourite places in no particular order.
|
A lot of my favourite places are associated with food, this is not just because I like eating (which I obviously do) but because food is a great way to see other people and have nice, stress free chats. A mountain of pasta and something involving chocolate can make even the most painful of conversations more pleasant. I'm particularly fond of lunches, which come without the pressures of needing to get home to sleep. Of the many and varied types of eating establishments out there my favourite by far, are pubs.
|
|
Read more...
|
I love zoos. Buried in my dark cynical being there's a small child who absolutely adores day trips to the zoo to see the weird and wacky creatures.
|
|
Read more...
|
I do not understand people that say they don't read or don't like books. That's like not eating, or not liking fresh air. 'With a book you are never alone' is a phrase uttered by someone pretentious, probably trying to sell his services as a critic, but it is indeed true. Sitting by yourself staring at your lunch, or into space on a park bench induces either sympathetic glances or edging away. But if you've got a book, no one thinks you're a crazy loner. Well I might be deluding myself there, but at least if I'm staring at a book I can't see the people giving me funny looks.
|
|
Read more...
|
Starbucks is a special place for me. There are few places that are so easily accessible almost anywhere that can reliably be used as a sanctuary from the rest of the world. During the worst day at work I can use the motivation of lunch at Starbucks as a tool to get me through the morning without killing anyone. It relieves the morning’s stress and prepares for the afternoon’s potential traumas.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
|
|