Lockdown comes to an end quite soon – tomorrow is the final day, and the government has said it will announce what comes next on Monday. So I daresay Monday itself will be a sort of free for all. The GF is quite restless and fed up. I’m fed up too, but also I feel […]
Strange becomes normal
Strange times indeed when one barely registers a newspaper headline that hugging will be permitted, with caution, from 17 May.
Day 1
it is Day 1 of Turkey’s Ramazan lockdown. While the streets feel fairly deserted, it’s by no means the ghost town we heard of last year, with dolphins swimming in the Golden Horn etc. Was it like this then, and am I just used to this business of shutting down a city of millions for […]
Decisions
It has been a working day, one of the more difficult ones, where it was hard to concentrate and finish anything. One of the things on my mind was the question of whether to go to Pakistan. It has been nearly a year and a half since I was there, and the last time I […]
Fury at the mob
Metro, 26 April 2021
What I noticed
Coronavirus ravages India Pakistan next? The trial of the murderer of George Floyd Football Super League rises, falls Pakistan, India overtures on Kashmir Downing Street sleaze – I wish they’d just call it corruption US refuses to send vaccine precursors to India US recognises Armenian genocide Attacks on Arabs in Jerusalem President of Chad falls […]
Funny tofu
I made a funny tofu dish today which turned out surprisingly pleasant. It had tofu, turmeric, dill, a stick of cinnamon, chillies, fish sauce and lemon juice. So maybe slightly Vietnamese tinged? Anyway, it was good. Today is a lockdown so the streets were quiet. It was also a little cloudy all afternoon, so cooler […]
Old times
I had a call with a client today which reminded me rather of my old work at a university, where I became an expert in helpfulness with a soupcon of flattery for some, to get what I needed out of them. A useful skill but a tiresome one. It was a sunny afternoon and tomorrow […]
What I noticed
1. Pandering to the furious right in Pakistan 2. Coronavirus raging in India, Turkey, Pakistan 3. US troops are to be withdrawn from Afghanistan 4. Dodgy dealings in Whitehall 5. Trial for the murder of George Floyd 6. Blood clots, vaccines and the pill 7. Volcano in St Vincent 8. Buildup on the Ukrainian border […]
Soothing to the eyes
This morning the GF and I went to Agva for a delayed Easter break. This seemed one of the few plausible places to visit during a pandemic: in Istanbul though outside the city proper, no need to take public transport, with small bed and breakfasts instead of the gigantic hotels in many of the areas […]