In Istanbul where an April spring has turned to winter, with temperatures below zero but toasty warn compared to the sight of my savings and pension etc. I picked the wrong year to become interested in my finances, it was far more freeing to have none. I recently re-read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s […]
Dolphins
We went for a stroll today, looping around the historic penninsula along a newly opened walkway. To reach the walkway one had to go through the most congested and unpleasant bits at Eminonu, shuffle through one underground chokepoint where an elderly woman used her very large belly like a bludgeon, knocking me out of her […]
Achy day
The day remained achy, though I found a good stretch which seemed to help. The night was also achy, but at some point, mostly asleep, I breathed and felt the air move through my body and into my back and my limbs, causing the muscles to uncoil, and I could sleep. I hope tonight is […]
Winter returns
Winter returned to Istanbul. It was cold and rainy all day long so we did our usual thing on such days and went to Cihangir to buy groceries, despite the carefully angled hills to catch the cold wind and the slopes down which the rain turns into muddy torrents over cobblestones. But that was later […]
Istanbul art scene
Last night in a fit of unusual sociability, the GF and I went with an artist friend to the opening of a show at a gallery in Cihangir. It was a tiny space, the basement of a building so very arty. The first person met was a European photographer who had just come from giving […]
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 […]
Spring clean
This evening I started on my spring clean, inspired by the GF. This was clearing out clothes, largely, and as usual my mind went quite blank, unable to determine what I needed, or indeed wanted, to keep. Finally I decided on a simple rubric, whether or not I found something comfortable, which got rid of […]
Death of an unpleasant man
There was a death in our buildinng some weeks ago. There was screaming and calls for help. I was asleep but was woken. Her distraught voice stayed with me for a long time. The man who died was in his forties and he was the most unpleasant person living in our building. His last message […]
Hard day
A hard day today, I’m not sure why. I woke up feeling trapped by work, though there was not much going on, and then was a bit caught and fumbly at meetings. I had a fairly straightforwaed piece to write and here I am still not-writing it, half an hour after the end of the […]
Not covid
The GF developed a sore throat last night and this morning woke feeling rather ill. It wasn’t covid if the test is to be believed, so we both remain free of the pest even as it rises again. What a strange time it was, and still is for some people, though I think without all […]