I have arrived in Islamabad. I took the Daewoo bus, opting for the luxury version where you can get a seat to yourself and are served a meal that I didn’t eat, having had a very large breakfast of paratha with some very tasty qeema with simla mirch. Delicious but enough to keep one going […]
Sinking
So here I am, back. There is not a great deal to report as I sink back into Lahore life as though I were sinking into a swamp. The air is very slightly cleaner – the day I landed was one of the worst this year and since then it’s only been veering between unhealthy […]
End of the road
Yesterday I spent the day working in a cafe near the house and didn’t stray far, getting increasingly worried about finishing (I didn’t manage to finish). Then off to the airport, where I couldn’t work on the plane either as the seats were far too cramped for a laptop. We arrived in the UK at […]
The old capital
Kingston is, apparently, the old capital, and we found some rather unsuccessful efforts at nationalist mythmaking as we walked along the north bank of the St Lawrence river, just where it opens out to (or from) Lake Ontario. It’s hard being a less excitable and important country than your neighbour, just ask Pakistan. We took […]
On the Plateau
I arrived in Montreal early yesterday morning. It was all fairly smooth despite the long journey and an unexpectedly rude immigration official – maybe they learn from the Americans? Anyway, I took a taxi to the Plateau to wake up the Gentleman Friend to be let in, and here I am. We’re staying in a […]
A very long day
And still many hours to go. I woke up early, around five, as I have been in recent days, and then had a phone meeting about a bit of work that remains very fuzzy and unclear and is due very soon. Then there was some frenzied packing – frenzied largely because I did a wash […]
Journey’s end
My last day in latinoamerica (well actually tomorrow, but it will be entirely in latinoamerica’s airports) and it feels like the end of a journey. From tomorrow night till early February I’ll be in places I’ve called home at one time or another. Yesterday I met a family connection who had settled in Costa Rica […]
Old hat
The poor Gentleman Friend landed in Montreal to learn, at immigration, that someone with his passport has to have applied for travel authorisation before entering the country. All the countries seem to be doing this now, following the US lead, and while it’s pleasing that those breezed through immigration while the rest watched them, clutching […]
Howling in the night
I slept badly last night, and have done so for a few nights past. There was first the anxiety about the land, and whether or not we should buy it, which manifested in dreams. Last night for some reason my feet felt very cold, as though we were back in London in our poorly heated […]
To the sea
Early in the morning a van collected us and took us off to Puero Viejo, where we’ll be for the next month. The journey was long but fine enough. I listened to three podcasts on Hinduism: one on kingship in low-Himalayan kingdoms during the colonial era, one on small religious sites in Mumbai, and one […]