It was a working Sunday, though to be honest I worked only from the afternoon onwards, but at least finished one of the things I needed to do this weekend. Lunch was phatooray from Icchra, a classic desi meal which I used to have with my mother back in the day when she went to […]
Various developments
The Israel strike on Iran was wiped from my mind this morning by a more immediate development, that of the dishwasher repairman coming and fixing the dangling door panel, though he has to get a part to replace the broken spring that causes the door to fall open (and dislodged the door panel in the […]
Under the weather
Feeling a little under the weather today, though this might be the power of persuasion, as my hostess is currently languishing on a sofa with a terrible cold or perhaps incipient flu. Hoping I don’t catch it, with my return to Istanbul imminent, but what can one do? The only positive to come out of […]
Pachinko
Read The Pachinko Parlour, which had been lingering for a couple of days despite being short enough to read in an hour. Quite good, though I preferred the other book recently recommended to me, about the laundries. This one had a pair of very good grandparents, Korean-Japanese, and some of the least appetising food I’ve […]
No cream tea
Today was a no cream tea day, the opportunity did not arise. I have something due on Monday and I want to go for a long walk tomorrow so spent most of the day working, with an outing in the afternoon to walk up to the castle. The castle is actually a mediaeval hunting lodge […]
Happy day
Yesterday was the day my big contract came to an end, oh happy day. As it happened today, though May Day, was spent working on work for that contract, and I even had a call about it. Still, at least I was on my own time. Not much else to tell, really. It was a […]
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 […]
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 […]
Bad timing
I chose to restart the blog on the most uninteresting day possible, one where I was working all day (and indeed late the previous night), didn’t manage to leave the flat one, and the only respite was to make dinner as it was my turn. I did discover the wonders of steaming, though, something I’m […]
Voices from the radio
Radio Pakistan apparently has podcasts. They are exactly as rubbish as one might expect them to be. There is a comedy podcast, an international news podcast and a sport podcast. Ridiculously, there is no music podcast, though it must have tremendously rich archives. But I subscribed to the comedy podcast and listened to an episode […]