And why you don’t have to go walking on the moon to achieve it — In an interview with the presenter Dermot O’Leary, former The Police lead singer and bassist, Sting, says that “song-writing is like fishing. You won’t catch anything unless you turn up with a line”. Now, before some of you remind me (or Sting) that you can also turn up with a…

As usual I’m left with more questions than answers, but that’s part of the immigrant’s journey — Forget Brexit and its toxic legacy. For as long as I’ve lived in the UK, the long-standing, unresolvable, contentious issue has been: milk in first or last? Welcome to the Great Britain, a country where people take their tea-drinking seriously. Few topics generate as much controversy as this one, so…

May this be the beginning of a long-running book-list fest — I’ve been tagged by Janice Harayda to take part in the fun prompt “7 Books I’d Take to a Desert Island”. Since the format is based on the decades-old Desert Island Discs and they ask guests to bring their favourite eight recordings, I’ll stick to the original radio show and…

The column for those who like to swing more than one way… foodwise — Many people are on a journey. They go out of their way to tell you on podcasts or The New Yorker-commissioned essays. I’ve no truck with that. If you’re on a quest to improve your life, good luck to you. Sometimes, however, I just want simplicity. Thank God for Rumpus…

Nature as a sculptor is a reminder of the wonders around us — The reptile-resembling tree sat in the middle of a clearing. The scant summer sunlight hit it fully on its trunk. I’m used to coming across nature’s random “creations” often. A whale-shaped pond here, a curved hawk’s beak-like branch there. They make my walks all the more entertaining. But the crocodile-evoking…

The column for those who like to swing more than one way… foodwise — How do you prepare for a fourteen-mile walk? By stoking up on carbs. That’s how. And the handmade bakery (yup, it’s all in lower case) in Slaithwaite (pronounced “slatwit”), west Yorkshire, was the perfect place for it. This time around we intended to build on two walks we’d already done…

Unlike a mill, we can grind with water that is past — We stand facing both blue plaque and what looks like a gate. On closer inspection, though, the “gate” turns out to be a sculpture. The work of art celebrates the water-powered generator that was installed around 1890 to provide the first electricity to light a house in the Colne Valley. …

The column for those who like to swing more than one way… foodwise — We never intended to stop at Mario’s, in Marsden. In fact, Mario’s wasn’t even our first destination. Katie’s Homemade Kitchen, where I’d sampled delicious cakes in the past, was. And if I’m being honest, we hadn’t thought of pausing midway through our approximately eight-mile walk. But I had cake cravings…

Bradford’s Belle Vue Studio: an essential part of British history — I remember seeing a picture of me that sat on top of my dad’s piano when I was little. In it I was dressed in brown bell-bottom trousers (the photo was probably taken in the late 70s) and a colour-matching shirt whose pattern I’ve sadly forgotten. There was a certain…