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Bathing in Bath
ByJohn MayA very traditional British public school education left me fairly averse to the hedonistic pleasures of the spa experience. Cold showers were more my sort of thing. But for the last couple of years I have enjoyed the Austrian spa experience after a day’s skiing in the mountains. Today, finding myself with a free evening…
The times they are a-changin’
ByJohn May“Ah, but I was so much older then I’m younger than that now” – Bob Dylan It now looks as though the result of the UK’s election could have been down to young people turning out in their droves to vote. Talk of a 72% turnout for 18 to 24-year-olds has been doing the…
Surveying the Severn
ByJohn MayObviously, one of the first things that Jack-Patrick had to do on reaching the United Kingdom was to go and see where his antecedents used to live. Here, therefore, you see me looking in one direction, his mum looking in another, his dad adjusting the buggy (complete with ‘festival wheels’) – and the dog and…
Forty Years Around the Campfire
ByJohn MayThere are some places where time behaves oddly. Gilwell Park is one of them. Today I went back for the 100th Gilwell Reunion — and realised, slightly alarmingly, that it is forty years since I attended my first one. I was 22 then. I should make clear that I haven’t been to every Reunion in…
Learning from other people’s success
ByJohn MayI’ve been lucky enough to meet some very, very successful people over the last few years; not just business people, but adventurers, philanthropists and sporting heroes as well. I’ve always thought it was ridiculous to suggest that they all have the same traits in common and that success can somehow be distilled into an amalgamation of…
Off to the hills
ByJohn MayI had forgotten that train journeys at the weekend can be tricky. In a moment of what may turn out to have been genuine madness some weeks ago, I decided that I would take a week off work and do some walking. So, this morning I left London with GNER to head north to Malham…
