The Adventures of Dysfunctional Dan

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. I studied history for much of my academic career in one form or another and as part of this had the terrible privilege of visiting several sites deeply connecting with the worst point of human history. In a Berlin suburb lies villa Am Gro ß en Wannsee . It's a beautiful building with lovely grounds and views across a lake. In 1942 the Wannsee Conference was held there and it was at that conference that senior members of the Nazi party and the SS organised their so-called 'Final Solution'. Villa  Am Gro ß en Wannsee I found visiting this place deeply unsettling. It's undeniably beautiful yet the evil that was decided on here haunts it. What I find most disturbing is how this could really be anywhere. There is nothing especially Nazi about the place and it doesn't take a great deal of imagination to think this could have happened anywhere else- indeed, it has a feel not unlike the Prime Minister's country residence at Cheq...

If you've been on social media this week you'll likely have seen the trend #10yearchallenge where people are comparing photos of them ten years ago and now. I thought that it would be interesting to do something along the same lines, although thinking somewhat more deeply than the physical side of things. That said, let's begin with the photos... Look at the hair! I miss the hair! And that hoodie, I loved that hoodie! I do not miss the acne though. I think around this point my acne was beginning to improve after several years of having a face like a crater-filled moon. I'd tried every acne product on the market and nothing had an effect, not even medication prescribed by my doctor.  January 2009 was a wonderful point in my life. I was still in the early stage of my A-levels and at this point did not have a clue what my plans were career-wise. I was six months into the most serious relationship I've ever had and things were going well.  My prioritie...

Famous Scottish duo The Proclaimers once sang the words "I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more just to be the man who walks a thousand miles to fall down at your door". These lyrics are now part of my plan for 2019. Well, the falling down bit isn't part of the plan but with dyspraxia the likelihood of falling down at someone's door during the next twelve months is not out of the question. I have never tended to set traditional resolutions but I do love a challenge. # walk1000miles is a big challenge run by Country Walking  magazine. The rules are fairly flexible but the idea is simply to walk 1000 miles in a calendar year. 1000 miles is about the distance between the UK and Poland. Now I actually do a fair amount of walking and have hit my 10,000 daily step target every day for nearly three years now. Walking a total of 1000 miles would probably not be a huge challenge if I counted every bit of walking I did, including the many miles of chasing chi...