Return to the big screen

The GF and I went to see Dune in the cinema last night, in one of the swish local cinemas with reclining seats etc. We took along a little cup of chocolate mousse and it was all very pleasant. The film itself wasn’t too bad. It was too long, and the characters spent rather a […]

A well-rounded education

I told her, don’t have a child. Adopt. There are too many people on this planet. I told her, I travel a lot. China, Uzbekistan, Europe. I travel a lot. She should just tell me what she wants. Ethnicity, gender. I’ll get one. I’ll get all the paperwork. All the legal paperwork. I told her, […]

Calmer day

A calmer day today after a troubled night in which the email exchange from yesterday was at the back of my mind. This morning I did some of the taichi, which I’ve been neglecting (and plan to start doing at night as it doesn’t mesh well with more active morning workouts). Not that there weren’t […]

Faded grandeur

In my distinguished role as eldest sibling of the bride, I am arranging for the jewellery to be presented to her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. I am also a complete incompetent at such things (though I know and like nice jewellery when I see it) so we asked an aunt to take us to a jeweller […]

Ethical dilemma

Our long-time much-beloved crazy-beard manservant has bought a helper from his village up in Azad Kashmir, planning to help him find work in the city and to work in the house until them. On seeing the helper there was general consternation as he seemed to be about 12 years old and our family had come […]

Inauspicious start

While I finished my work and meetings before leaving, it was still an inauspicious start as I got in the taxi, was promptly stuck in Beyoglu traffic jams, idly looked at the ticket on my phone, and realised that it said Ataturk Airport, ie the old airport, not the new Istanbul Airport to which I […]

Give him credit

Mohsin Hamid is far from my favourite writer – not keen on his books or his writing, not keen on his shtick, and a conversation with him some years ago was memorably infuriating. But I thought this, in today’s FT, was quietly well-phrased: I am not a military expert. But I am familiar with what […]

The Fall

So, the fall, more quickly than anyone seems to have expected, even the Taliban. Their return feels unbelievable, the end of an era that began on 9/11 and that for those of our age defined our understanding of the world. Certainly without 9/11 my life would have been different as I doubt the GF would […]