Geogardening

After my first deep night’s sleep in a while I woke for breakfast and then the Gentleman Friend and I made our way into town to find out about an afternoon trip to Waimangu, the valley left after the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886. It was about a half hour drive away from town, […]

Story of a friend

“Are you from India?” “No, from Pakistan.” “Muslim country.” “Yes.” “Are you Hindu?” “No, Muslim.” “Ahhh. You don’t wear, what is it called?” “Hijab? Scarf?” “Like dupatta….” “Dupatta?” “Burqa.” “No I don’t.” “It doesn’t make a problem for you?” “No. Many people in Pakistan don’t wear it.” “I saw Pakistan on TV and all the […]

Big sleep

We watched this last night. I’m afraid I dozed through bits of it, but in any case I didn’t find it as engaging as the book. Maybe I just love the book too much as it’s clearly considered a great film. This morning I did some tidying and cleaning and accounting, all very satisfying, then […]

Gift of the gab

We have arrived at the Carrig House Hotel, a countryside hotel of the type they do particularly well across the British Isles, it seems: an old converted mansion in a beautiful spot (here, on the shore of a lake in County Kerry), with wallpaper and old baths, supremely comfortable beds but two taps instead of […]

Virginia’s promotion

‘Virginia is getting a non-promotion promotion. She’s getting added responsibilities but nothing else is changing.’ ‘I….’ – a laugh – ‘I was going to say, typical, that’s fucking typical. But it’s not, is it? It’s really not, just what I would have said once.’ ‘It is a bit typical. This is MegaBig Corp after all.’ […]