blog

Red carpet

This afternoon, as the cleaners came, we popped by the flat to meet the architect and give her a small payment for windows, show her the basement, and measure the wall where the projector screen will come. Then we walked through Galata’s light shops to get a sense of what is available – light switches, […]

Unexpected waves

Funny how waves of sadness can continue to break even years later and for no apparent reason. I was reminded by nothing at all of a November in 2014, before dawn, arriving in Lahore to see my family – save one who was also on the way from another city, and one who lay inside […]

The chosen tiles

We have chosen our tiles. They are extravagant, but will be very beautiful. The pattern is below, though the central star is more blue and flecked with white, rather dusk-like, and the smaller star is a dark grey. They are handmade to order, so will take a few weeks to arrive.

Our very own dungeon

Today we finally got a tour of the basement of our building, and were shown the store room we own. It was quite remarkably dungeonlike: unfinished brick, little cells, pipes with exposed wires overhead, small high-up window slits for ventilation and coal. But we have quite a large space down there, albeit one currently filled […]

Another America

I worry at 9/11 and the Iraq war as though it were a sore tooth. This time it was on reading this piece about the ways in which the American response to the 9/11 attacks could have been different. The only scenario that I don’t remember even being raised at the time is the last […]

More catching up

Sunday was another working day, to some extent at least. I have a very busy week coming up and as usual seem to have far more work than I have money. We did make it out for a coffee in the afternoon as the sky cleared and it was very sunny. All of Istanbul appeared […]

Catching up

I spent Saturday catching up – sending emails, confirming work, and catching up most of all with the magazine of which I am an editor and which had some lingering matters I’d been putting off in the general swirl of work. Otherwise, a fairly uninteresting day, with one great tragedy: my favourite cake shop no […]

Tile decisions

After lunch, the GF and I took a ferry to Uskudar – I will never grow tired of the ferry – and then a taxi about 10km inland to Ataşehir, a satellite town full of skyscrapers. I understand it’s a fairly desirable place to live, but felt rather grotesque, with huge glassy skyscrapers and massive […]