Josh Oldridge
I Dropped Out of Uni With Depression Aged 19 and Restarted at 25: Five Things I Learnt
1. There’s a difference between ‘going for it’ and ‘rushing into it’ People often say ‘go for it’; take the plunge. This can be amazing...
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Josh Oldridge
- May 31, 2021
- 10 min
Self-publishing a novel!
Below is a run-through of my self-publishing journey, including some of the key decisions involved and important things I've learnt. I...
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Josh Oldridge
- May 29, 2020
- 13 min
COVID-19 Short Story Series: 3. Getting Through
Light pitter-patter, rhythmic: rain on the fly sheet. Viewed from inside, the tent was a shade of blue like that midsection in the ocean...
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Josh Oldridge
- Mar 23, 2020
- 16 min
COVID-19 Short Story Series: 2. Imminent Tide
“We are gathered here to say farewell to Graham Wallace and commit him to the hands of God,” said the greying vicar, three huge,...
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Josh Oldridge
- Mar 19, 2020
- 17 min
COVID-19 Short Story Series: 1. Early Days
“What do you think you’re doing?” Sarah asked. Ryan froze, poised with a hand around his knife, ready to scrape his leftover green bean...
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Josh Oldridge
- Feb 7, 2020
- 8 min
13. Things fall apart and future plans
So came the last full day of the trip. It began at 7am with a round of Wii golf and an iced coffee with Sam, a Maltese guy from the...
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Josh Oldridge
- Feb 4, 2020
- 6 min
12. Avocados and LDRs
Do I still have time to join the avocado party? There’s late and there’s fashionably late. Maybe after that comes that really awkward...
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Josh Oldridge
- Feb 1, 2020
- 5 min
11. Elderly Sri Lankan men and sunglasses
Home away from home again. I absolutely love it at Spindrift. On the way to the bus station in Hikkaduwa to get back to Weligama, an...
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Josh Oldridge
- Jan 29, 2020
- 6 min
10. Real love and waves
After a crazy sweaty train ride, for an hour-and-a-half of which nobody could even lift a hand to scratch their nose and three or four...
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Josh Oldridge
- Jan 26, 2020
- 8 min
9. Writing and wrist scars
I am a writer. I am a writer. I am a writer. In his book of tips on how to become a writer in the twenty-first century, Jeff Goins...
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Josh Oldridge
- Jan 25, 2020
- 9 min
8. Alcohol deprivation and opulence
Adam nudged me awake this morning before his bus out to the Knuckles Mountain Range. We hugged and said goodbye. Sad, even if I was a bit...
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Josh Oldridge
- Jan 23, 2020
- 8 min
7. Loud noises and Milo
Ella is a lovely spot. I can’t help but wonder what the rolling hills of misty rainforest would have looked like before tourism, but the...
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Josh Oldridge
- Jan 21, 2020
- 10 min
6. Sweaty buses and Monopoly money
I read in a guidebook before the trip that it’s easy to get stuck in Weligama as the days and even weeks roll by. I can completely...
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Josh Oldridge
- Jan 17, 2020
- 6 min
5. Cinnamon and short-term friendships
I haven’t kept to the self-set schedule of posting a blog update every two days. Apologies to faithful readers. The last few days have...
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Josh Oldridge
- Jan 13, 2020
- 5 min
4. Parrots and online shopping
I’m consistently having some of the best surfs I’ve ever had. While for some people travelling is about never having two days the same...
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Josh Oldridge
- Jan 11, 2020
- 5 min
3. Surfing at dawn and Swiss fiction
I shuffle out from under my thin sheet and slide the big box with number 4 painted on the side – my bed number – out from under my bunk....
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Josh Oldridge
- Jan 9, 2020
- 7 min
2: Leaving the past behind and an Arabian night
Before I went to the USA on my own after dropping out of uni in Leeds, a very nice friend of mine, who I think sensed I was going through...
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Josh Oldridge
- Jan 7, 2020
- 6 min
Sri Lankan adventure. 1: Travel fears and Murakami
I woke up this morning to a mixture of giddy excitement and a dull feeling of anxiety. I still haven’t changed the alarm tone on my new...
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Josh Oldridge
- Dec 9, 2019
- 5 min
Book review: I Never Said I Loved You
Reading about depression can seem depressing. At least, at first. But there is something healing in seeing depression written down....
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Josh Oldridge
- Nov 25, 2019
- 4 min
South Yorkshire Floods
It’s a long old train journey back home to East Yorkshire from Cornwall, especially only for a brief trip. Things which make it more...
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