Category: Wellness

I sat in the waiting room at the surgery last Tuesday, watching a young man pace the linoleum floor like a caged animal. He’d clearly spent the morning scrolling through some wellness blog, convinced he needed a three-page manifesto to explain his symptoms. It’s a common mistake, and quite frankly, a waste of everyone’s time. […]

I’ve spent most of my life looking at the structural integrity of things—checking if a foundation is settling or if a roof timber is rotting—and I can tell you that humans are no different. Lately, I see people everywhere trying to solve their problems with expensive scented candles or those fancy mindfulness apps that cost […]

I was standing in the hallway of a lovely Victorian terrace in Salisbury last Tuesday—a fine bit of masonry from about 1885—and I could feel the chill seeping through the floorboards despite the radiator being cranked up to full blast. It’s the same old story: people spend a fortune on smart thermostats and fancy gadgets, […]

I saw a glossy advert in the post yesterday for a “smart” walking shoe that costs more than a decent set of garden shears, claiming it would revolutionise your fitness. It’s absolute nonsense. You don’t need a computer in your heel or a subscription to an app to understand how to build a walking routine […]

I was out near the old stone boundary on the edge of the parish last Saturday, trying to mend a section of wall that’s been leaning since the heavy rains of ’98. I’ve spent forty years walking through damp cellars and over uneven flint paths, and I can tell you that most of the advice […]

I was standing in the garden last Tuesday, looking at a section of dry stone wall that’s been leaning since the Great Storm of 1987, and I realized I’d spent twenty minutes just trying to find my footing on the damp grass. It struck me then how much nonsense is floating around these days about […]

I was sitting in the garden last Tuesday, watching the light fade over the old stone wall I’ve been trying to mend since 2014, when I realised I was too tired to even hold a trowel. It’s a frustrating thing, isn’t it? You spend half your life working to afford a decent house, only to […]

I see those glossy fitness magazines in the shop window every Tuesday, filled with nonsense about high-tech sensors and expensive, neon-coloured trainers that cost more than a decent set of masonry tools. They make it sound like you need a PhD and a mountain of gear just to get your heart rate up, but frankly, […]