I rang in the decade lying in bed, working — not even on my own work but something very similar for someone else. I tried desperately to finish up before midnight so I could maintain my tradition of being fast asleep for the new year, but didn’t succeed, and it wasn’t till about 20 minutes […]
Lost weekend
It was a weekend of work, also of freezing into an icicle, as winter has properly come to Islamabad. My shawl and occasional cardigan will no longer suffice so I have borrowed a coat from my host at least for the morning walk to work, when all the leaves and the ground are rimed with […]
Explosion
This working day I worked, except for three breaks of note. The first was when I accompanied one of my hosts to the markaz for a few errands and a quick lunch. We found a table in the open space served by the surrounding restaurants and cafes, ordered our paratha rolls and a cup of […]
Sepia to technicolor
Much of Saturday was spent firefighting at work, including chasing down people who had already left for their Christmas vacations but the machine never stops, so most of them had replied by Monday. Saturday morning I made it out to an early breakfast with a couple of friends, both with an interest in heritagey stuff, […]
Crabs in the sky
Miraculously, I was able to leave the office at around 2; another could leave at 2.30, and soon we were on our way to Lahore. Cars are so much nicer than buses, there’s no question of it. Certainly quicker. It was a fairly smooth trip despite fears of fog until we approached Lahore — at […]
A blow to the wallet
Last night I went looking for a gift for someone whose spouse had recommmended the purchase of a Tom Ford cologne. I have never purchased cologne in my life, so when I arrived at Shams (an old high-end import shop in F6, currently very Christmassy) I was thrown by the finding that there were at […]
Kitchen wars
There is an ongoing war with the kitchen. They have refused to serve breakfast at the desk in this office, saying they are not permitted, but there are witnesses to a whole ‘train of trays’ with eggs, French toast etc, being taken down to another department. The kitchen liaison, an elected staff member, is considered […]
Meagre pickings
After working for much of the night on Sunday, I finally finished my work at 6 in the morning. Felt fine the next day, as I normally do after a night without sleep – it’s the second night that gets me zonked – just a bit slower than usual and unwilling to make much of […]
Dancing horse
Well, a slight exaggeration. In the morning my host and I drove down to Chakwal to the ancestral (my great-great grandmother’s) village where there is a family farm. It came into the family about 20 years ago as part of a settlement of a decades old property dispute and since then we have been trying […]
Naming
Today someone brought their child to the office and introduced it to all of us so I smiled down and said, ‘Hello, Myson’ — only much later realising the parent has said ‘This is my son’.