"Are you sitting uncomfortably? Then we'll begin." So commenced this article, before it was subbed so they could fit a last-minute advert on the page. Oh well, it's still a good read.
The newspaper is online here, page 20, but I'm not sure how long it's there for as it's a new site. It will hopefully soon pop up on my Standard page too.
The longer ten best piece is already online. Here are the five that made it into print. From this Wednesday's newspaper, which can also be read online here for one week only. Tech tonics, I see what they did there!
We keep rescue hens in the back garden. It's unapologetically hippy but it is also a bit gadgety because they live in a superb fox-proof Eglu coop with an automatic door that's triggered by sunlight levels.
We're holding a cake sale next Saturday to raise funds for the British Hen Welfare Trust. It costs the BHWT around £2.50 to get each bird rehomed. Mine had never been outdoors before, never been treated kindly, etc. They're crazy happy now and they lay me delicious eggs every day.
This is what our girls looked like five months ago when we collected them.
And this is what they look like now. Same birds.
Loads of friends are baking delicious cakes. Plus KitchenAid has very generously donated a red Artisan stand mixer worth £499 which we are raffling for the BHWT too. Tickets cost just £1.
Barbecues and outdoor pizza ovens tested by me for Wired. No byline, but if you don't believe me I can call in witness statements from the friends and family who I forced to eat BBQ and pizzas for the piece. It beats working for a living!
Martin Stew of ITV News interviews me about our extension, including the zero waste kitchen, energy-saving appliances and skip-diving! The rescue hens and sunbathing dog are the real stars.
Proud to say I was an Editorial Consultant on this gorgeous new book from DK. I worked on the 28-page home technology section, a gig I feel I spent my life unwittingly preparing for:
I did an A-level chemistry exam paper on how microwaves heat food.
I did a university interview on how toilet cisterns work.
I spent many an evening in the eighties hanging out at a computer club hosted by a locksmith called Brian, who taught me how locks work and gave me my first file (actual file, not computer file).
I now spend a lot of time reviewing home electricals, some hi-tech and some low. I regularly have to write thousands of words on kettles. The words have to be different for each one, even though they're all fine at boiling water. I honestly don't know why I haven't won a Pulitzer for this yet...
Travel tech at its most helpful: you can simply speak into this hand-held translator. (Stock photo, I did not choose to translate this naff English sentence into Japanese!)
UK newspapers: The Evening Standard, The Express, The Guardian, The Independent, The Mail on Sunday, The Sunday Mirror, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times.
