Author Archives: JJS
The sausage summit
🇬🇧 A geopolitical crisis averted Breaking news from the highest levels of international diplomacy: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz faces his most delicate mission yet — finding a decent street sausage in Hannover before Brazilian President Lula da Silva notices. The … Continue reading
Le fisc arrive / The taxman cometh
🇫🇷 Et il plaisante pas Il existe dans la vie certains rituels qui remplissent l’âme d’une sourde angoisse : le dentiste, le contrôle technique annuel, et le moment où le portail de déclaration des impôts français s’illumine comme un Faucheur … Continue reading
When the Moon photobombs the sun
🇬🇧 and your wife’s birthday There are moments in life when the universe conspires to make a decision for you. Not assist you, mind you. Not nudge you gently in a sensible direction. Full-on, celestial-scale conspire, with dramatics. August 12th, … Continue reading
The month that was – March 2026
🇬🇧 A travel, weather, democracy, and solo-parenting debrief — in no particular order of grievance Spain called. We answered. Obviously. The month opened with roughly the first third of it spent in the suburbs of Alicante, which is the kind … Continue reading
Wars & Chaos
(Based on a recent speech from Claude Malhuret member of the French Senate) 🇬🇧 In February 2022, a dangerous and megalomaniac leader launched a war in Ukraine, believing it would last a week. Four years later, the conflict is still … Continue reading
The need for speed
🇬🇧 How I accidentally upgraded my life for €1 There I was, doing what modern humans do best: half-watching television, half-scrolling through the internet, fully committing to neither, with a drink performing the important role of hand ballast. A state … Continue reading
Asian tour
🇬🇧 It is done. Flights to Thailand are booked, paid for, and sitting smugly in my inbox like a promise I actually intend to keep. Bangkok will once again serve as our gateway to South East Asia — a region … Continue reading
Experimenting
Channeling my inner Indiana Jones (with a little help from AI) indy-travel-map.html In a moment of forward-thinking brilliance—or possibly just impatience—I decided that planning a trip wasn’t quite enough. No, what I clearly needed was a cinematic visualisation of it. … Continue reading
Strohwitwer
🇫🇷 Les tribulations d’un mari provisoirement abandonné Il faut savoir que lorsqu’une épouse s’envole pour l’Allemagne — fût-ce pour des raisons aussi nobles que la garde d’un petit-enfant — elle laisse derrière elle un vide que rien, pas même le … Continue reading
Pi Day
🇬🇧 A perfect excuse for pie (and mild intellectual confusion) Today is March 14, also known among mathematicians, engineers, and people who enjoy desserts with a philosophical justification as Pi Day. Why? Because 3/14 resembles the famous number Ï€ ≈ … Continue reading
I do it my way 