I went to the kitchen to pour myself a glass of water and realised it was snowing. Then it was raining, then it was snowing, so I suppose the net result is sleet. Quite exciting, though; if it must be this cold, I hope there is a proper snowfall. For the last few days I […]
Empires of the west
I have been enjoying a new/old podcast: the podcast is the Ottoman Histories podcast which I have subscribed to for a time now, and the specific series is a lecture course on Islamic history. It has some problems: South Asian Islamic history barely gets a look-in, leave alone South-East Asian Islam and history; Central Asia […]
All clear
Our tests were all clear, hurrah. The GF had had a suspicious throat and wooziness for a few days which had us worried and isolating, but happily all seems to be fine. Such is a cold or allergy in the time of a pandemic, one worries about things that otherwise would go unnoticed. I have […]
Moral degradation
I have not written here about the massacre of Hazaras in Baluchistan some days ago because what was there to say? And it was so ugly. Over the days it feels increasingly like (yet another) symbol of Pakistan’s moral bankruptcy, as the Hazara, who have been targeted and killed by Sunni militants for years, refused […]
Beastman
Startled to glance at the news to see a photo of a bare chested beastman brandishing a spear storming the US Capitol. Moved over to the CNN website to see what was going on, and saw the headline: ‘House members in chamber told they may need to duck under their chairs’. Remarkable times we live […]
Silent admiration
A moment of silent admiration for the person who sent me an edited document and carefully used font colours and strike-through formatting to replicate the appearance of track changes.
Closing up
Good morning, happy new year all. It poured with rain this morning. Last night, at midnight, the church bells rang out and I could hear the sound of fireworks and people cheering. For myself, I clicked send on a particularly troublesome document, so celebrated in style. I was asleep for what was truly on my […]
New year
Couldn’t put it better than Samuel Beckett:
Nearly the end
Nearly the end of the year. An artificial marker, perhaps, but I am rather tired and I hope the next year is less tiring. I don’t think it will be. There is a lot of worry and weariness to come – pandemic, work, this bloody flat, etc. And those are just the ones I can […]
Lost days
A few lost days as work has kicked up a couple of gears and I’m forever behind. I read The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula LeGuin – technically re-read it, but didn’t remember a word of it. Very enjoyable, and starts with a very good metaphor about coming from sleep to wakefulness. After some quality […]