The new year is a time when we are granted the opportunity to draw a line under the last 12 month, whether good or bad, and start afresh. This year I have taken this opportunity to both plan and look ahead to the next 12 months. Here are some of the things I resolve to see and do in 2017. Running – 10k Challenge My first goal is simple. Set a new 10k personal best time by the end of March….
2016 has widely been dubbed a bad year by many but here I reflect on my highlights of an eventful year. Most beautiful place I have visited I have visited Paphos Cyprus, Geneva in Switzerland and Gabbice Mare in Italy this year. I was lucky enough to be invited to a wedding in Montefabbri in Italy near to Gabicce, hence my trip. The scenery around the venue was breathtaking, the venue was in the countryside, surrounded by rolling hills lit up…
This blog is the second part of my stopover in Geneva at the end of November. The first part of this post can be found here: https://connorbarrett.wordpress.com/2016/12/03/flight/ Exploring Geneva on Foot On landing in Geneva I immediately reaped the benefits of Swiss public transport as I made the journey from the airport to the city centre by train, in a matter of minutes. I stayed in the Paquis area of the city, near to the central station. The rest of…
The following forms the first half of a two part blog post on my recent trip to Geneva. The Journey Begins We sit across from a Boeing 777, an impressive sight even in the dim light of morning. I am aboard an Airbus A320, destination Geneva. The cabin interior has been recently refurbished and I am grateful for its warmth on such a cold day. The cabin is warm, although I choose to keep my blazer loosely around my shoulders…
Are you okay? How are you? No. Stop. How are you really?
I’ve spent the last month feeling sorry for myself. Until yesterday, it was over FOUR weeks since I last set foot in a gym and in that time I have sneezed more times than I can remember sneezing in the previous year! The most sympathy I got? Someone gently teasing me about ‘man flu’… This time of year illness is rife. You can’t walk into a room without someone sneezing or complaining about a sore throat. No matter how hard I try…
A refreshing take on the world’s self-confidence crisis. Nobody is perfect…
Words with another dimension. The spoken word in its most beautiful form. A paragraph, without any other aide than it’s visual form on the page, has meaning. When spoken, those words can be intoned, spoken quickly or slowly, with force and volume or softly and quietly. Singing or hearing those same words as part of a song often means those words are etched into the memory for good. Emotion can be laced through a phrase in its sung form like…
The following blog post is written in light of recent events reported in the media. It is also a reflection of a more general trend towards publicising every last detail of other’s personal lives – whether they like it or not. It may come across as slightly too opinionated, but that is how it is intended. Unlike my other blog posts, this is written on a more personal level about a subject close to my heart. Privacy. The Pope’s…
It’s Ramsbottom Chocolate Festival this weekend. In it’s 8th year it is certainly going to be much bigger this year than it has in the previous seven. Increasing visitor numbers mean that the festival has undergone a reorganisation according to reports in the local media – exciting stuff! I’ve attended the festival for the last three years, and I love it. The atmosphere is captivating; it’s fantastic to mingle with people who care about producing one of Britain’s favourite treats,…