Posts from the category Life (and how to live it)

  • Mark Howells-Mead on the shores of Lake Thun in Switzerland

    A calmed soul

    Getting away from a digital career to let the wind blow through the gap between my ears.

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  • Waisenhausplatz

    It’s been a while since we’ve sat in the city centre of Bern to take a break amongst running errands and visiting shops. And even longer since we’ve managed to snag one of the few benches amongst the market stalls outside Starbucks on Waisenhausplatz.

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  • WordPress expert Mark Howells-Mead

    Six years under my own steam

    Five-and-a-half years after joining Say Hello, I took on sole ownership of the company last summer. The past five months have been more successful than I’d even hoped.

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  • Saving and spending more money on better quality things makes more economic sense than buying lower-quality items.

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  • Life and How To Live It

    A touching story behind one of my favourite R.E.M. songs.

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  • Exciting things are coming…

    I have tons and tons of drive. When I get interested in something, I can easily go overboard and spend a lot of time thinking about it. I’m no genius by any means, but if I set to something which I’m passionate about, then I can usually get up to speed relatively well. My wife

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  • Starling in a fig tree

    Not a waste of fruit

    Neighbours who worry about fruit, and nature which gets there first.

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  • WordPress expert Mark Howells-Mead

    Working with, not on, WordPress

    Stepping back from involvement in the future development of WordPress as a system.

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  • Michi in the train

    Working on the rails

    Working in the web industry, I began getting fed up of trailing all the way to an office to work. When I moved to web agency Say Hello, I vowed to make the most of “remote working”.

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  • Audi Quattro, sliding down from Lombachalp, January 2023

    Random things in January

    Another year and another fresh start to a series of monthly recaps. (The complete set from 2022 is here.)

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  • Mark Howells-Mead on the shores of Lake Thun in Switzerland

    Adventure is an attitude

    Going on large and small adventures has always made my life a little richer.

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  • Lunchtime dip

    When it used to get hot back in the days when I used to work in Brienz, a lunchtime dip in the freezing waters of Lake Brienz was the thing. When I worked in Bern, I used to go to the river with colleagues and float along for 20 minutes or so to cool down.

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  • Age catching up

    I had a busy week. Two work projects are due for completion soon and because I felt that I was behind on them both, I decided to go back to the computer after dinner and work on them. I used to work late into the night when I was first establishing my career here, and

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  • Romanticising the mundane

    Everyone sees photos differently. Some simply see a place they know or blots on the landscape like electricity pylons and motorways, whilst others see a sunset or sunrise and the beauty of a single cloud, illuminated in a beautiful colour. The same photo can conjure up myriad memories for myriad people, whilst remaining completely boring

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  • Looking back on 200,000 kilometres

    All good things come to an end, and it’s time to say farewell to my trusty Avant.

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  • Sunrise over the Matterhorn

    Catching the first train from Zermatt onto the mountain and photographing the most well-known peak in Switzerland.

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  • Spoilt for choice

    With so much to do and so many beautiful places to visit, the choice can sometimes be overwhelming.

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  • Christmas day in the snow at Ballenberg

    Christmas Day in Narnia

    Strolling in a winter wonderland on an unusual Christmas Day.

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