So Trump is back. After being uncertain for several weeks, yesterday I decided that Kamala Harris would win and that it would not actually be that close. The best result, I thought, would be if Kamala Harris won the presidency easily, but lost Michigan due to the Muslim vote, and this served as a wakeup […]
Feelin judgy
Someone asked about wireless earphones that could be used in a 15 minute sauna. A sharp intake of breath from all the Finns, and this startling response: We really should be wiped off this planet. The other thing that had me feeling really judgy was this article in the Guardian: ‘I was asked to find […]
Miss Wisk
I’m reading Bleak House these days, feeling that my Dickens knowledge is lacking. I can’t say I’m loving it, but I can respect it and it is certainly very funny. I was surprised to come across Miss Wisk the feminist, and learned of JS Mill’s extreme disapproval of how she’s presented in the book. I […]
Hand work
We’re going to London in a month or so. Last time I took some time to go off to Devon by myself, this time I’ve booked myself weekly lessons on making Japanese style woodblocks. I wanted to do something physical, so not writing or learning something, and also creative. The other option of this sort […]
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 […]
Wet dog morning
This was the first morning that I went out onto the heath for my exercising and it was pouring with rain. I didn’t have even a yoga mat so resigned myself to pushups etc in the wet grass and optimistically pictured myself like a grunting marine in a training montage. The reality was less inspiring […]
Family matters
Went to a family gathering today, a not altogether successful one, which was a shame as its design was proposed by me. Elderly relative 1 wanted to meet elderly relative 2; 2 didn’t want to hop on the train to visit 1, while 1 is not able to climb the stairs to 2. Moreover, Sunday […]
The ways of fruit
Is fruit a snack, a meal or a dessert? In my mind definitely a dessert and I rarely think of it as something to eat between meals and almost never for breakfast. Struck me this time when in the UK where the people I am staying with definitely think of it as the first two, […]
Crick in the neck
Something of a rite of passage today as I injured myself whilst doing crunches on the heath. Nothing particularly terrible, just a pulled muscle in the back of my neck/shoulder, but an affront nonetheless. I do feel since I’ve started this whole regular workout business I feel every ache and pain more than I ever […]