It is now about 24 hours since I arrived in Merida and I have sunk nicely into the city, though unfortunately at the expense of work. Yesterday, after a bit of rest in the afternoon (I think this will be my usual routine in this climate. It is designed for siesta, with fierce bright afternoons […]
A full, embarrassing, week later
Much has happened, not least the arrival of the Boddhisatva and then her departure along with the Gentleman Friend to a conference while I have stayed on in the Bay Area. It’s easier to be with difficult relatives when there are not others around as I am not on guard and trying to keep everyone […]
Cal cuisine
Last night we met an old school friend for dinner. It was at a health food-ish restaurant that I was originally somewhat suspicious of, as it was full of gluten-free ancient grains, wellness talk, superfoods regardless of air miles and had calorie counts on the menu. Such places, aside from the Gwyneth Paltrow aura, tend […]
Going to San Francisco
Yesterday, our first day in California, we went down to Stanford and Palo Alto in the afternoon. I’m afraid it was all quite repellent. Stanford is not an attractive campus to my mind, it gives off a distinct ‘we own you’ feeling and it was probably the first time I’d ever been to a university […]
Into the earth
The morning was spent working and I finished enough that I agreed to join the Gentleman Friend after lunch – he had asked Surfer Dude to take him to Akaka Falls. An excellent name, Akaka Falls, it makes one think of an old-fashioned thriller. Peril at Akaka Falls, that sort of thing. First, though, the […]
Not so far after all
This evenimg, as the Gentleman Friend was on a call with a Kiwi colleague, I sat nearby working on a report. I half-heard him say something about how New Zealand feels so far away from the world and its ills and I stared down at the news window I had open, about an ongoing shooting […]
Decision made
After much agonising I have come to a decision re headphones. Instead of the achingly cool Marshall Major III, I’m getting a pair of RHA wireless earbuds. I need to buy new earphones as mine are fraying thoroughly and I decided to give in to the Bluetooth because my phone, on which I listen to […]
New arrival
A new person has arrived, the last of the Gentleman Friend’s relations aside from a few outlying ones. This is someone who is very interested in genealogy (something that, I must admit, interests me not at all) and has been on a decades-long quest to map out relations from Trinidad to New Zealand. Along the […]
Zealandia
This morning we went for a drive with the Doyenne, who is not able to walk much but does enjoy driving. As soon as we passed over the hill we arrived at a wild coastline, with high waves breaking on a rocky shore. Hard to believe that this was a near suburb of a major […]
Downhill
This morning I went down the hill on the cable car, which is really more of a funicular, hoping to find a walk-in clinic so I could get a prescription refilled before going off to America where it’ll be significantly more difficult. I arrived at 11 and the receptionist said that they’d have drop-in times […]