Winter returns

In Istanbul where an April spring has turned to winter, with temperatures below zero but toasty warn compared to the sight of my savings and pension etc. I picked the wrong year to become interested in my finances, it was far more freeing to have none. I recently re-read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s […]

He’s back

So Trump is back. After being uncertain for several weeks, yesterday I decided that Kamala Harris would win and that it would not actually be that close. The best result, I thought, would be if Kamala Harris won the presidency easily, but lost Michigan due to the Muslim vote, and this served as a wakeup […]

Feelin judgy

Someone asked about wireless earphones that could be used in a 15 minute sauna. A sharp intake of breath from all the Finns, and this startling response: We really should be wiped off this planet. The other thing that had me feeling really judgy was this article in the Guardian: ‘I was asked to find […]

Self-indulgence

Indulging in some proper trash, a fantasy novel by Sarah Maas. Somewhat embarrassingly explicit in places, but a fine read that rattles along for what doesn’t feel like nearly 2000 pages. It’s no Bleak House to be sure, though I wonder what Dickens would have made of today’s fantasy writing. Would he have been intrigued […]

Unexpected emotion

The women’s T20 world cup is on; the second innings of the Pakistan/ New Zealand match for a place in the semi-final has only just begun. The Pakistan team is not particularly good, but I found myself welling up a little to see my father watching intently, and even the cook lingering as he cleared […]

Miss Wisk

I’m reading Bleak House these days, feeling that my Dickens knowledge is lacking. I can’t say I’m loving it, but I can respect it and it is certainly very funny. I was surprised to come across Miss Wisk the feminist, and learned of JS Mill’s extreme disapproval of how she’s presented in the book. I […]

Change of plan

A quiet day today, with a couple of meetings and a bit of work, and a bit of not going to a biennale event after it changed the starting time for the third time, this time a couple of hours before the actual starting time, which did not leave me confident that it would start […]

Death of an unpleasant man

There was a death in our buildinng some weeks ago. There was screaming and calls for help. I was asleep but was woken. Her distraught voice stayed with me for a long time. The man who died was in his forties and he was the most unpleasant person living in our building. His last message […]

Dates that matter

Happy new year to all, and I’m back. Dates never mattered to me – not birthdays, not death days, not holidays or any other sort. Then my mother died and one date loomed above all others, and other dates started mattering because she was not there for them, or I knew exactly how many she […]