Peter Reynolds

Today I started a new blog on Paradise Valley, the beautiful heaven on earth where I am so fortunate to live.

This will be where I write about walking my dogs , Capone and Carla, and all our adventures in deepest Dorset.

Today I launched a new website.

www.leadingedgepersonaltechnology.com

I’m back.  Apologies to those who have missed my posts.  Thanks to the hundreds who have asked where I am.

Truth is that I was under the cloud of a vile, vicious, unforgiving flu virus.  If anything ever deserved the unremitting attentions of the Israeli Army and everything that Mossad has to offer then it was this.  Misery, depression, lack of motivation – nothing could have been more unforgiving and merciless in its attack.

I survived.  Perhaps Palestine will not.

As I emerged from under this dark cloud there was one thing that helped me through.  I have read about it for  months.  The HBO series, The Wire.  I have seen it described as the best thing ever on television.  These superlatives seemed different from most and as I immersed myself in the stories of Baltimore I understood why.

This is magnificent television. Wonderful characterisations not based on “star quality” or reputation but on acting ability.  Utterly credible dialogue, surely much of it improvised.

What seems at first glance as just another American cop show is revealed as the very best in drama, capturing every nuance of the human condition.

I pray for the people of Palestine.  I curse the evil Jews. I look for hope in mutual understanding through drama like “The Wire”.

I have become an immense fan of Hugh’s recently.  River Cottage was always a programme that I enjoyed but with the assistance of the marvellous torrent site (forget the iPlayer) www.thebox.bz   he has become an obsession.

If I need a little relaxation, a little soothing, noone does it better than Hugh.  It is, perhaps, ironic, that he shares the name of my younger brother who is the most sour, miserable character, for Mr F-W always lifts my spirits and inspires me towards a gentler life and to chop my onions, crush my garlic and delicately simmer my vegetables.

I confess that I do not always hold entirely true to his philosophy.  My pungent tomato soup tonight was nurtured from my homegrown coriander but the remaining ingredients were Tesco’s onions, garlic and tinned tomatoes and it tasted bloody marvellous.

It looks as if Emsworth is to see the back of me shortly – credit crunch, buy-to-let mortgage, landlord’s wife is pregnant – and I am inspired towards Dorset.  My clifftop writer’s retreat, above the crashing surf, my dogs, my garden, etc, etc.  Protest not! I am paid to dream and to chronicle my ambition and that is where it now lies.

This very week I am travelling west (as every young man should) and hoping that my nirvana is ahead.  I have set my sights betwen Lyme Regis and Swanage and somewhere there I intend to find my new home.

Peter Reynolds is a writer, communications advisor and proud Welshman. He lives in a small town called Emsworth, between Portsmouth and Chichester on the south coast of England. After “dropping out” from life as a hippy musician, Peter experimented with direct sales and the motor trade before training as a copywriter and eventually making it to the top of his profession as a creative director with Saatchi & Saatchi. Along the way he developed special expertise in technology and healthcare working with clients such as IBM, Hewlett Packard, GSK and the Department of Health. He also worked as a freelance journalist writing for just about every PC magazine then on the market and had a weekly column in The Independent based on the simple idea of riding a bike but ranging across subjects such as politics, sport, technology and the media. Since the 1990s he has worked as a consultant to organisations such as Nokia, the British Army and Pinewood Studios. In 2004 he established Leading Edge Personal Technology as “the magazine for technology enthusiasts”. He continues to write on a wide range of subjects.