Lockdown

Over dinner last night I mentioned to the GF that rumour has it a lockdown is imminent. After dinner I put the dishes in the dishwasher and went for a shower. Came out to learn that a lockdown has been announced: weeknight curfews and weekend lockdown. Not too onerous still, but I hope this is […]

Far better

I started reading The Time Regulation Institute a couple of days ago, and as always my habit of going from lowly genre to quality literature pays off. It is such a pleasure to read something of quality, and later it will be a pleasure to read something with an entirely different appeal. This is a […]

Silver fish man

Another piece of my childhood fell away today, with Diego Maradona’s death. Other pieces had fallen before: Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze; some are still around: Madonna, Imran Khan (for all he is), Miandad, Viv Richards. What a legend that man was, I knew no other footballer’s name, but I knew him and his face and […]

Nothing changes

A good article in the LRB about working class Victorian wives and husbands. Reminds me of the endless stories told by our female servants when I was growing up. Nothing changes, not across centuries or continents. I also reverted briefly to my teenage and read a book, A Brightness Long Ago, by Guy Gavriel Kay, […]

Impressive

I listened to an interview with Arafat Mazhar, a very impressive young man indeed. His new film, Swipe, is genuinely very good, as was his first one (Shehr-e-Tabassum) and it was such a pleasure to listen to a Pakistani who was intelligent, well-spoken, well-read, and trying to draw on indigenous ways of understanding the world.

Despairing attempt

I made a despairing attempt at desi food last night. Without suitable spices etc it was quite poor. Generally my desi food game is not strong – it’s a lot of effort and when there is no one else to enjoy it it rarely feels worth the hassle. The GF quite likes it but would […]

Childhood dreams

I dreamt last night that I was in a broom closet and received a lightsabre. In the dream I was delighted, recalling my plastic toy lightsabre when I was little (ok, not that little), but this one was real. Lots of people came into the broom closet to admire it, including Oprah Winfrey. Then I […]