Year 1
My first full year on Jinja Island was a voyage of self-discovery, as for the first time in my adult life I found myself, on the whole, truly alone. But that’s not to say it was lonely…
A Man, A Plan, A Canal…
May 2014 Case and I were picked up by Ian in the morning on his little blue and white speedboat,
On The Beach
June 2014 At the beginning of the second month on Jinja, Casey and I awoke to a wonderful sight: four
The Greatest Show On Earth
Glastonbury 2014 The last blog entry was rather heavy, so let’s have some levity, eh? As noted, Casey and I
New Adventures in Solitude
July 2014 I returned from Glasto with only a few days to run around and see everyone. The next day,
(Couch) Surf’s Up!
August 2014 August came around as it invariably does. Lots of thunderstorms but also some amazingly sunny days. Not one
Like Dolphins Can Swim
September 2014 After the storms of July and August, the blue sun-shiny September days were a blessed relief. This is
The Stars and The Moon
October 2014 – Part 1 By October of 2014 I was really getting into the swing of gringo life here
Dancing In The Dark Lands
October 2014 – Part 2 But before long the tranquillity was invaded by these two: Carmen and Vreni from Germany.
Hocus Bocas!
October 2014 – Part 3 It was only a couple of days before Teena from the US of A rose
Scouse Family Robinson
November 2014 – Part 1 After the sunny days, boat rides and parties of October, wet old November arrived like
Somewhere Under The Rainbow
November 2014 – Part 2 It was a bit late when I got back to Bocas Town so I used
The Yule Tides
December 2014 Globally, 2014 was the hottest year on record. This is because global warming is a real thing that
Kiritimati Island
Christmas 2014 Christmas Eve saw the return of Sarah (Wonder Woman) as well as Anna from Liverpool. To make things
The Hogmanay Hog
New Year 2015The next day it was back to Bocas AGAIN (this was a long month). I had some very
Jinja Bread Men
January 2015 Well, here we are: 2015! A nice new shiny year!! Thus begins my first full year of living
The Sea Plus Plus
February 2015 Every Thursday morning I get on the VHF radio (located in my pantry) and broadcast the weather as
Moonrise Gingdom
March 2015 More visitors to Jinja Island! First up, I played host to Jess from Canada, Antony from the UK
Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
April 2015 I can’t quite believe how fast the time has gone, but yes… by the end of April 2015
Year 2
In my second year of living on Jinja Island, I found myself really settling into island life. It was a year of dizzying highs and crushing lows, but by God, when the sun was shining and the archipelago was in good cheer, it was like nowhere else on Earth.
Nuts In May
May 2015 You thought last month was bonkers? My friends, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! Where do I start? First
A Wizard Is Never Late
June 2015 I wasn’t expecting to still be here on Jinja Island. But I told you the “three lies of
Trolling Kanye
Glastonbury 2015 Back in Blighty, the first thing I did was catch up with my Liverpool family and friends who
Around The World In 50 States
July 2015 After sobering up from Glasto, I went and had myself a lovely Bath. “How comes?” I hear you
Stairway To Heaven
August 2015 Crazy as this might sound, I had spent most of my first year on Jinja sleeping on the
The Panama Good Times
September 2015 Now that I was a bona-fide island owner, it was time to rubber-stamp my credentials. First things first:
Off The Rails
October 2015 As October rolled around I had to get my head into gear, make the Jinja Island house good
A Break In The Clouds
November 2015 While I was working on making the island just that little bit more comfortable so I could justify
A Christmas Coral
December 2015 I don’t know if you know this, but I’m a *bit* of a Star Wars fan. Having missed
Floating In a Most Peculiar Way
January 20162016 began, as all years should, with fireworks and copious amounts of alcohol. We took in Toro Loco, Mondo
Take Me Down To Panama City
February 2016 Having a friend stay on Jinja for a prolonged period was a breath of fresh air. It’s not
If the World Ends
March 2016 The next morning I was back in Bocas. Fidel had been good enough to drop in on Campesino
Beyond The Valley of the Frogs
April 2016 – Part 1 By the end of my second year as custodian of Jinja Island, I had managed,
Persona Non Grata
April 2016 – Part 2 Fidel was good enough to agree to look after the place and feed Campo and
Year 3
The events of 2016 cast a long shadow over my third and final year of life on Jinja Island. That’s not to say there wasn’t plenty of time to party (there was), but I learnt the hard way that you can’t shut out the outside world forever.
The Emerald Isle
May 2016 – Part 1 My Mersey Paradise Home sweet home! Finally, after far too much messing around. I surprised
The Aegean Traveller
May 2016 – Part 2 On Friday 13th of May 2016 I boarded an Aegean Airlines plane from Manchester Airport
The Importance of Being Jinja
June 2016 Arriving back in the UK, I was picked up from Manchester airport by my mum and her mate
No Man Is An Island
A couple of weeks before the Brexit referendum, I published this blog entry on my personal website under the title “Three Reasons All True Brits Will Vote Remain”.
My intention was to use the language and tactics of the Brexiteers against them. It didn’t work, obvs.
I have reproduced it here with marginally less nauseating pictures, which I shamelessly purloined from the great Jim’ll Paint It.
Flaggy McFlagface
Glastonbury 2016 Pretty much as soon as I got back home to Liverpool, I started work on my traditional Glastonbury
Europe Was Our Playground
July 2016 The EU Referendum: how could we have been so damn stupid? It would be a question I will
Supertoys Last All Summer Long
August 2016 My daft old dad, a huge inspiration for my travels and adventures around the world, had started slipping
This Other Eden
September 2016 Jason did a bang-up job looking after Jinja, but after a couple of months on the island it
The Stars That We Could Reach
October 2016 Towards the end of September, I was treated to a visit from my wonderful friend Vicki from “over
There’s A Crack In Everything
November 2016 Bit of a wordy post this one, a lot fewer pics than usual. There are two reasons for
A Bridge Too Far
December 2016 I wasn’t doing so well on the island on my own, and my dad’s 80th birthday was coming
The Taste of Home
January & February 2017 We heralded the new year by sifting through the ashes of the last one. Oh look
The Secret of Jinja Island
March 2017 I couldn’t hold on any longer. A few days after my 38th birthday, I said goodbye to my
At The End of All Things
April 2017 By the beginning of April 2017 I had everything worked out: I would stay here on Jinja until
Jinja Island Revisited
I still own Jinja Island. I’ve been back twice since I left at the end of April 2017. It’ll never be like it was, but there are things it could be…
Whatever Happened, Happened
May 2018 I left Jinja Island at the end of April 2017, fully intending to return after the summer. But
We Have To Go Back, Kate
March 2019 On February 28th 2019 I achieved something few people thought possible: I turned 40. As part of my