The joy of a winter stove

When the weather’s a bit grim, it’s very nice to get the stove on the boat warm…need to get some more coal next week though.

My ten favourite pieces of product design #6: yellow oilskin

I’ve attracted some mockery for this one, but I believe a true design classic is the hardwearing yellow oilskin. I’ve seen so many lightweight nylon/goretex waterproofs expire after a couple of years, I deided to go back to basics;

Basic, heavy and durable

It is about as featureless as a jacket can be, but does the basic stuff well- keeping the rain out. Its only downside is its extreme weight, and the ‘Norwegian Fisherman’ comments some of my snootier friends and family make. This particular jacket actually saved my elbow from a scrape during my recent bike slip- a lesser waterproof, I am sure, would have ripped quite badly!

Early morning philosophy

Discovering that waking at 6 for an hour or so of fireside philosophy is really helping with getting the essays done. So is cogitating a tricky article for an hour or two, then coming back to it afresh. Let’s hope the marks bear out my intuitions about better writing!