blog

What lies underneath

An unexpected realisation that has come with years spent alive and reasonably aware is of how people find explanations for the past in the anxieties of the present. This ia particularly true in academia. I listened to a podcast interview today with a historian who wrote about the Black Death and described how that pandemic […]

Sick at heart

Afghanistan continues to leave one sick at heart. Today, aside from everything else that has happened in the past days, is the news that a British man got out with scores of animals from his animal shelter, on what must have been one of the last few flights. Aside from leaving countless journalists, working women, […]

Unfounded optimism

Increasingly likely that my dismal optimism was unfounded. They are saying the right things, but it’s easy to read between the lines: women can work in line with the Shariah (as we define it); Shias are free to worship as they wish (because we know they respect the caliphs like we do), etc. It is […]

Saving the arches

Before the weekend we had received a message from the architect that the marble guy could not put marble on the arches in the bathroom, so she suggested straightening them out. This was not acceptable as I really like those arches, so today we went for a council of war at which it was concluded […]

The Fall

So, the fall, more quickly than anyone seems to have expected, even the Taliban. Their return feels unbelievable, the end of an era that began on 9/11 and that for those of our age defined our understanding of the world. Certainly without 9/11 my life would have been different as I doubt the GF would […]

Sunday on the peninsula

This afternoon we went for the reverse of a couple of walks we had done before: first to Balat, along the water on a walkway that has only recently opened up and that had nice views over to the Pera/ Kasimpasha shore of the Golden Horn. We had coffee at the usual place, sitting on […]