By Penelope Fitzgerald: For more than eight years of half a lifetime she had lived at Hardborough on the very small amount of money her late husband had left her and had recently come to wonder whether she hadn’t a duty to make it clear to herself, and possibly to others, that she existed in […]
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 […]
Various developments
The Israel strike on Iran was wiped from my mind this morning by a more immediate development, that of the dishwasher repairman coming and fixing the dangling door panel, though he has to get a part to replace the broken spring that causes the door to fall open (and dislodged the door panel in the […]
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 […]