The Weekend Opener
from Andrew Tuck
If your Pilates class sends you a red chilli-pepper emoji as a warning, listen to it
There’s some over-ambitious packing that occurs on the eve of a work trip. Running shoes, gym kit, swimming trunks, canoe: all make their way into the suitcase. Days later, as I prepare to make…
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What are you doing next weekend? There’s still time to hop on a plane and join us in Lisbon
The forecast says 29C and not a cloud in the sky. Neither perfect weather nor the promise of a glass of wine sat under the shade of a jacaranda should really determine whether you…
There she blows: How an erupting Mount Etna sent us sailing
Here’s the scene. We’re spending the day in Mallorca with two friends from California before they set sail on a handsome yacht which they charter for one week every summer. It’s a proper sailing…
You know you’re in the right place when the lights go out but dinner carries on
1.On the Iberia hopper flight from Palma to Mahón in Menorca, there is a guy in his thirties, wearing a low-key outfit of T-shirt, shorts and sneakers but carrying perhaps the nicest carry-on bag…
Hotels have a lot on their plate – but the least they can do is deliver a sense of place
Are you a plate flipper? I can’t stop myself. Same with glasses. The labels on the towels. Where is this stuff made, I wonder? Often the answer is a delight but too often a…
Need an antidote to our times? Sow a garden, reap the rewards
I live in a mews in central London. These are the places where the owners of grand houses would have once kept their horses and carriages – two-floored buildings at the backs of posh…
Monocle’s Lisbon retreat and summer newspaper are the perfect summer supplements
What are you doing the first week of September? That’s when we’re hosting The Monocle Quality of Life Conference in sunny Lisbon and I would like you to join me and the rest of the crew,…
AI might Botox your writing but wrinkles are the lines that matter
A writer who I like a lot sends me a pitch for a story that he would like to report on for Monocle. But there’s something off about it. A funny smell. His usual…
Screwing in the sand, ‘croquetas’ on the loose and other scenes from a Mediterranean beach
I am always surprised that there are not more one-eyed people in Mallorca. On Sunday, we drove to the east of the island, parked under the shade of a pine tree and made our…
Good cities point the wayfaring stranger in the right direction
Wayfinding is an art form and one too often neglected. There is a whole industry built around this craft that seeks to manoeuvre us around airports, hospitals and cities using signs, graphics and clever…
Cities are like theatres, we the actors. What part do you want to play?
Ask not whether your favourite city placed in Monocle’s Quality of Life Survey, ask what you can do for your city (and friends).
