This morning a series of deliveries was made. Unfortunately the first of these was a very large and heavy fridge. First, the box wouldn’t fit through the front door, so the delivery men finally took it out and then it just about fit. Then, even removed from the box it wouldn’t fit through the kitchen […]
Dodgy
Last night the GF went to a party, which I backed out of, though I rather regret it. It seems to have been something of a metaphorical and literal underworld scene, the sort where you see, though doubled vision, both immense wealth and the dodginess that clusters around it. There were also a lot of […]
Dust everywhere
Today was my first trip to the flat, and my first opportunity to see it look and feel close to finished, with lights and switches everywhere. Quite exciting. The reason I was there was the kitchen installation by Ikea. So I sat on the plastic covered sofa in one half of the living room while […]
Mardan
Yesterday, the driver arrived at around 10. We’d planned to go to Taxila, see some sights, return, but one of our hosts proposed a different plan which I immediately leapt at. This was to go to Mardan, about 2 hours from Islamabad, there to visit the remains of a Gandharan Buddhist monastery at Takht-e-Bahi, and […]
Luxury travel
We took the Q-Connect bus to Islamabad. This is a new development since my last visit, a fleet (numbering 2) of ultra-luxury buses going between Lahore and Islamabad twice a day and costing twice our old friend the Daewoo. Everyone assured us that it was the height of luxury, very comfortable, or so they had […]
Flat evening
A rather flat evening last night. It was a much anticipated celebration, which was supposed to be at Baking Virsa, a famous Gawalmandi food place which is almost impossible to get into but where we had scored a table. But then the cook came down with dengue, so that was that. Instead we went the […]
Night work
Last night I was supposed to go out for dinner with friends, which I scheduled a little late so I could get as close to the end of my working hours as possible. But, half an hour before the designated time, I got a message saying that they wanted to publish a particular document that […]
Worst city
On Monday, Lahore was the most polluted place in the world. Yesterday the newspaper called it the second most polluted, then today it was corrected to the most polluted, with an AQI approaching 400. Certainly, the city had an apocalyptic feel. The air was yellow-brown and hazy, and pricked the eyes and skin. Everything smelt […]
Return to the big screen
The GF and I went to see Dune in the cinema last night, in one of the swish local cinemas with reclining seats etc. We took along a little cup of chocolate mousse and it was all very pleasant. The film itself wasn’t too bad. It was too long, and the characters spent rather a […]
Calmer day
A calmer day today after a troubled night in which the email exchange from yesterday was at the back of my mind. This morning I did some of the taichi, which I’ve been neglecting (and plan to start doing at night as it doesn’t mesh well with more active morning workouts). Not that there weren’t […]