In an anti-social mood so didn’t go to a planned dinner with siblings. It’s hotpot which I don’t much care for, and really dislike the poor-quality premium-priced food trends that Lahore’s elite love and it would have made me grumpy. (I am already grumpy.) Plus, this way I can keep working. Also ignored some annoying […]
Bits of history
Every now and then I get told a surprising little bit of family history, often fairly inglorious. On my last visit it was about a great-grandfather who was active in the doomed Khilafat movement and one of the founders of what, over a century later, became a radical right Islamist movement. This time around it […]
Small improvements
In my conversation with the activist – she mentioned a small improvement which was both a relief and made me want to punch myself in the face. She was talking about how her collective arranges to provide sanitary pads to people affected by disasters, like floods etc and that these are also now a part […]
Doing the rounds
In the morning I met a couple of friends for breakfast. We arrived at the chosen breakfast place, selected because it had halwa puri, and arrived to find it shut. The friends admitted they really didn’t halwa puri and had only agreed because they know I like halwa puri instead. I felt rather bad at […]
One week in
I’ve been in Lahore for a week now, and am definitely feeling it. Every time I come it feels clearer that this isn’t my home – it’s moved on, I’ve moved on, there is a feeling of mutual incomprehension. Oh well, I suppose it’s inevitable and there will, in the coming years, be a time […]
First visitor
We had our first house guest staying for the last few days, fortunately a very easy going and easily pleased one. Fortunately she is happy shopping by herself, so could be dispatched to the Grand Bazaar when I had work. She also brought over some things I’d requested from the US, which are very pleasing […]
Childhood dream
The kitchen tiling was completed, and the entire flat was covered in a thick layer of white plaster, even though the tiler had been careful to keep the door closed. He told me today he is a gynaecologist from Turkmenistan, with three children back home. What could I say but spread my hands hoping to […]
Good wife
As a good wife, I went to Ikea so the GF would not have to. It’s a surprisingly smooth and averages out as pleasant journey. There is the metro ride, which is like any other metro and often crowded, but against that is the beautiful ferry ride to Uskudar. I have decided that the old […]
Getting things done
It was a weekend – a long weekend – of getting things done. On Friday the GF and I went to the framers recommended to us, a dapper working gentleman in a waistcoat of a type you see in this country but not so much in the UK. We handed over two of the prints […]
Our first guest
We had our first guest today, quite by accident. The GF went to the shared terrace for a bit of stretching while I worked and we both waited for dinner to be delivered as we were both finishing too late to cook. There he found a large old man from Sheffield who was very keen […]