On Saturday, after breakfast the GF and I took out the kayak and paddled to the two islands in the bay where, we were told, there was snorkeling. I went in front and took the role of steering, while the GF provided the power, the speed and, if one must be honest, most of the […]
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A lesser adjutant
This morning I woke before dawn. Again the moon was so bright on the water it felt like day. I got dressed and sat in the terrace watching the sea change from silver and grey to white and blue as dawn brightened behind me. The moon sank towards the water but the sun outstripped it, […]
Not Wharton
The full moon lit the sea up all night so I woke, mistaking it for dawn. The sound of the sea was lovely, and whilst I wouldn’t say I slept very well, I did wake feeling quite relaxed. In the mid-morning we took kayaks out to the mangrove lined creek. I enjoyed it and wondered […]
A sense of guilt
The Golden Buddha Beach Resort is a slick operation indeed. We were collected from our Phang Nga hotel at the stroke of 1030, as requested, and driven north along the west coast to a small pier where a long-tail boat took us on a one hour journey through mangrove lined waterways to the hotel on […]
Arrived
Arrived in Phuket after a delayed, but not dramatically so, flight. The delay appeared to be due to the late arrival of the crew (not, as the announcement stated, unavoidable technical difficulties), which I don’t really understand but there it is. At immigration we were in a queue with a truly unpleasant immigration official whose […]
On the road again
We’re off to Thailand this evening where (all going well) we’ll meet the GF’s adopted uncle, a Kiwi gentleman. We’re supposed to go to a fairly bland hotel for an overnight stop, about half an hour from Phuket airport (a true shithole), and then drive a couple of hours north, followed by a longtail boat […]
Hard going
After yesterday’s thoughts about Rufa Rujab I did a good lot of outlining. I’m not sure I actually work well with outlining, but this is a plot driven story unlike those posted on the website, so I should know where it’s going and what needs to be done to make it more compelling than it […]
Revelations
I had a couple of sudden revelations about my Rufa Rujab story, the sort of revelations that other people pay me to have about their writing. First, I realised that there is no real tension in the story, no stakes. Second, I realised it is far too linear, and if I am writing a novella […]
New story: The ticking of his metronome
A new story added. This one veered between fantasy and science fiction – it started out as an old school Asimov style robot story and then settled into one with a bhut. I submitted it to an anthology once but it was rejected and then I couldn’t be bothered to submit it again. So here […]
Empire and academic speech
A good article on remembering and talking about empire.