Miraculously, I was able to leave the office at around 2; another could leave at 2.30, and soon we were on our way to Lahore. Cars are so much nicer than buses, there’s no question of it. Certainly quicker. It was a fairly smooth trip despite fears of fog until we approached Lahore — at […]
A blow to the wallet
Last night I went looking for a gift for someone whose spouse had recommmended the purchase of a Tom Ford cologne. I have never purchased cologne in my life, so when I arrived at Shams (an old high-end import shop in F6, currently very Christmassy) I was thrown by the finding that there were at […]
Kitchen wars
There is an ongoing war with the kitchen. They have refused to serve breakfast at the desk in this office, saying they are not permitted, but there are witnesses to a whole ‘train of trays’ with eggs, French toast etc, being taken down to another department. The kitchen liaison, an elected staff member, is considered […]
The stupidest idea I have ever heard
Popped onto facebook and, as usual, regretted it, as I was confronted with the usual firehose of stupidity. This time my favourite was undoubtedly a video on reducing plastic by using a shampoo bottle made of soap. So much stupidity.
Meagre pickings
After working for much of the night on Sunday, I finally finished my work at 6 in the morning. Felt fine the next day, as I normally do after a night without sleep – it’s the second night that gets me zonked – just a bit slower than usual and unwilling to make much of […]
Dancing horse
Well, a slight exaggeration. In the morning my host and I drove down to Chakwal to the ancestral (my great-great grandmother’s) village where there is a family farm. It came into the family about 20 years ago as part of a settlement of a decades old property dispute and since then we have been trying […]
Naming
Today someone brought their child to the office and introduced it to all of us so I smiled down and said, ‘Hello, Myson’ — only much later realising the parent has said ‘This is my son’.
Coloniser, colonised
My deadline on Wednesday has unterrified me, as it turns out it is actually my deadline on next Monday. Phew. While it’s still going to be tough, not least because I have to extract information from dozens of reluctant individuals, at least there are enough hours between now and then that it is theoretically possible […]
Battlefield Lahore
The air is terrible. 400+. I can taste it at the back of my throat, acrid burning. I’ve felt nauseous all morning. How can this go on? My nephews are forced to live inside closed rooms, with air purifiers. The older one, four, had to be let out eventually and he came over and we […]
Days out
Yesterday I went to a conference where perhaps the highlight was one that almost no one actually knew about: that one of the virtual attendees forgot to turn off their camera and turned up wearing only a towel, and that too on their head. Fortunately for this person, only a limited number of people actually […]