David Coveney

A personal blog transitioning into an exploration of the intersection of design, technology and ethics

Tag: father

  • Taller buildings let us design better towns

    Taller buildings let us design better towns

    I lived in a range of places as a kid, partly because my father was a bit of an itinerant who didn’t know what he wanted in life, other than that I mustn’t live with my mother. Go figure. Eventually I got to settle down with my grandmother, but in the process I learned a…

  • A little change on this website

    A little change on this website

    In the past, this website was sort of my place to keep family and friends in touch. I first set it up in 2005, just before going away to Peru on travels. It was a great. Facebook had been invented but wasn’t generally available or popular yet, other platforms weren’t well thought through or scattered,…

  • Steps and missteps on my path out of poverty

    Steps and missteps on my path out of poverty

    At 18 I was skint and got made homeless. It took a lot of graft, patience and mistakes to get out of that and into a moderate middle class lifestyle. Here’s how.

  • Staleys in the Isle of Man

    Staleys in the Isle of Man

    One of the funny things about children and their memories is just how fallible they are. Full of false memories and forgotten realities. I lived, for a while, somewhere on the outskirts of Douglas on the Isle of Man, when I was about nine years old. The family I stayed in had a boy about…

  • Finding a missing person in South America (and elsewhere)

    Finding a missing person in South America (and elsewhere)

    I promised, ages ago, that I’d write up some tips on how to find somebody who’d gone missing in South America. Recently I had an email from somebody in the same situation which has spurred me into action. Since 1997 I’ve found or been found by my mother, my brothers and my sister. Here I’m…

  • Off to San Pedro

    Off to San Pedro

    Just about to start packing for San Pedro de Atacama. I’ve been there before, so it’s a relatively familiar spot, though I didn’t spend long in the town.  So this time I’m going to explore the locality a little more.  I’m even thinking of sticking with it for a week or so and treating as…

  • Dad´s Headstone

    Dad´s Headstone

    Had my father’s headstone delivered and installed yesterday. It was a fairly sombre moment, and my last goodbye to him.  I won’t go back soon. Unfortunately the computer I’m trying to upload my photos to won’t play ball, so no pictures for the moment.  Sorry.  Maybe tomorrow when I get to San Pedro de Atacama….

  • Quiet Weekend in Arica

    Quiet Weekend in Arica

    I’m staying put while I wait for the headstone to be finished and fitted, and consequently got to see an Arican weekend. There’s not a lot for me to do in many ways, so yesterday I spent some time going through all of my father’s papers and notebooks.  I found evidence of one email address…

  • Food!

    Oh seriously, sometimes, when you travel the food is amazing. Sometimes, it looks like it might be a danger to your health…

  • The Story of Juanito

    The Story of Juanito

    Here’s something… a smiling, happy and charming man who knew my father in Arica, lives just around the corner from the hotel I’m staying at. He actually lives in the cabin that guards a car park.  Just him.  He’s been married twice, I believe, but that’s all I know. So how can I tell his…