Not a very eventful month, I should say. I’ve been in Istanbul throughout. There is work. There is flat related stuff. This weekend was Pride and our area was basically besieged by police. At least there was no tear gas so far as I know. The GF is out of town, roistering with his schoolfriends. […]
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Getting things done
It was a weekend – a long weekend – of getting things done. On Friday the GF and I went to the framers recommended to us, a dapper working gentleman in a waistcoat of a type you see in this country but not so much in the UK. We handed over two of the prints […]
Our first guest
We had our first guest today, quite by accident. The GF went to the shared terrace for a bit of stretching while I worked and we both waited for dinner to be delivered as we were both finishing too late to cook. There he found a large old man from Sheffield who was very keen […]
Alien oddity
I have been reading this thread on Metafilter, and it is making me feel like a space alien.
Return
We returned to Istanbul last night. It was tiring but a surprisingly smooth journey considering we were lugging multiple suitcases and arrived at midnight. The flat is looking quite nice, though very dusty. We went for breakfast this morning, and I was struck by how flavourful the food is here, even though we had excellent […]
Quick work
I was going to meet a friend, and saw this on the side of a bus. A couple of days ago all the senior PML-N members of the cabinet arrived in London to ‘consult’ (and pay respects to) Nawaz Sharif, which was pretty outrageous. And this bus was presumably either spending by the high commission […]
Genteel seaside town
Yesterday, we walked around the beaches and the town. The GF went for reiki while I strolled about. Whiststable is a tourist town but also the sort of place well-heeled people retire, so there are plenty of fairly expensive shops selling linen skirts, French wooden toys, etc. There are innumerable places selling oysters, and much […]
The builder’s ring
We came to Whitstable yesterday afternoon, a pleasant seaside town in Kent, just in the Thames estuary. I’d been here before as the GF’s parents have very close friends near here, whom we’ve visited as well, but never overnight. This time we’re staying for the weekend and other relatives of the GF arrive this evening. […]
Story, spectacle
Last night we went to watch the new Punchdrunk production, The Burnt City. They do immersive theatre, so one wanders around rooms, corridors and huge spaces where a story is playing out. The audience wears masks, so there is a feel of ghosts following the only real people in the space, the actors themselves. For […]
Another shit Eid
Technically Eid here was yesterday, and there were the usual dressed-up families, all taking advantage of a rare Eid falling on a UK bank holiday. As usual I decided to keep it for the day it’s celebrated in Pakistan so had it today. Got a gift from the GF’s mother who was very sweet, but […]