I'm a a freelance writer, newspaper columnist, book reviewer, radio show host and arts worker with a particular interest in the oddities of urban life, books, art and digital technology.
SEE ALSO:  www.greyurbanist.com  and  www.couchstories.co.nz

MAGAZINE FEATURES
Cafe Culture
Cafes and coffee shops have become the places where city dwellers conduct so much of their social and business lives that they have become our new sitting rooms and boardrooms.
iPods for Grownups 
Tango, tantric sex and tatting, craft beer, cooking. You name it, there’s a podcast about it. There’s no easier way to appear effortlessly up to date with the latest books, food, wine, films, theatre and current affairs . . .                     
City of Books
“Books are simply better than anything else,” claims Nick Hornby in his account of a year-long reading binge. Nelson/Marlborough’s bibliophiles are unlikely to disagree. They borrow well over two million items from local libraries each year and buy sufficient books to keep the region’s many bookshops solvent. 

COLUMNS & BLOG POSTS

ON HEALTH

The (Accidental) Do-it-yourself Detox
The results of this detox regime are wonderful but the process is not for the faint-hearted. In my case it involved a darkened room and a taxing regimen of purging, fasting and yoga. The Cadaver Pose is simplicity itself. It involves lying absolutely still, with your eyes closed and wishing you were dead . . .
An Antidote to the Blues: Books 
I'm in the kind of depressed mood which makes reckless displacement activity seem perfectly reasonable -  getting a drastic new hairdo, running off with an unsuitable man or boarding a plane to Somewhere Else. In the far distant past I once managed all three at once. Time to read a book . . .
In the Jaws of the Black Dog: Depression
No one can see the Black Dog.: depression is invisible. That's why it feels so lonely. If you have a cough or a limp, someone will notice and commiserate. If you are depressed (but not sitting in a corner sucking your thumb or plucking the fluff off your sweater) no one notices . . .

ON LIFESTYLE

Picture
The Shock of the New
Most of us now carry a phone which has a better memory and more brainpower than we do. I often feel like my smart phone’s slow-witted, slightly amnesiac maiden aunt. I am superior to my phone only because I command the off switch - and who knows how long this will last . . .     
Zen & The Art of Caravan Maintenance
There’s no such thing as getting away from it all. “All” is what keeps you warm, dry and well-nourished. “All” is what makes a decent cup of coffee, retards the decay of foodstuffs and keeps your belongings stored in some kind of order. “All” is also what keeps you fresh-smelling, entertained and in communication with the folks back home . . .                     
Refusing to be Fashionable
Keeping warm while simultaneously maintaining a toehold on the ladder of sartorial acceptability can be very taxing. Unless, that is, you embrace a whole new fashion paradigm and become an afashionista. . . .         
www.greyurbanist.com 

ON PeOPLE & PLACES

In Search of the Authentic
2000 passengers from the cruise ship “Dawn Princess” dangling cameras wandered down the main street, or succumbed to the blandishments of touts dressed in striped blazers and boaters keen to sell them “an authentic Art Deco experience”. This seemed mostly to involve rides in open-top vintage cars or traipsing behind a tour guide like a gaggle of school children on a not very interesting field trip . . .
The Writing Workshop
Steve Braunias couldn’t have devised a more Braunian setting for a writing workshop. After all, this award-winning author specialises in writing  “fascinating - and sometimes disturbing – stories … about people … their lives, loves, aspirations, and dark secrets” in small-town New Zealand . . . 

ON DOGS
Epitaph for a Dog Killed by a Car 
The young dog, tongue flying, launches herself off the pavement and into the path of an oncoming car. Suspended in mid-leap she embodies all that delights us about dogs: aliveness to every fresh-minted, fresh-scented moment, unencumbered by fear of the future, or regret for the past.
Sick as a Dog
I wrapped the dog in a blanket, lifted him gently into the car, and took him to the vet. Beside him on the seat, I folded a red quilted jacket I bought 30 years ago on a freezing December day in Seoul. If my dear old dog had to be put to sleep, I planned to wrap him in my old warm coat and take him home to bury him. 
Dog + Very Small House 
I'm not sure if The Dog thinks he’s living in my kennel, or I'm living in his. All I know for sure is that we are sharing a very, very small flat.