I have just returned from the second play that I have left during the interval. The last one was Macbeth in Malaysia, uncut and performed in full, very poorly, with some nods to Chinese opera. It was dire and, at the interval, the GF and I realised that we were only two hours in and […]
Start of the return
Today, early in the morning, the GF left for Nairobi, marking the beginning of our return to Istanbul. I’m not exactly aching to get back to the city, but it will be nice to be back in our own space. This trip has had rather too much of being with other people, more than I’m […]
Going east
A trip east, to Dalston to meet someone for coffee, and what a delight it was to be in that part of town. Such a different atmosphere to genteel Hampstead, with a street market going on, people bustling and talking, an hundred accents and clothes from all over, noise and litter and vibrancy. Coffee was […]
Moment of quiet
A day without social commitments, a blessed change. I can’t say I got a lot of work done, and was slightly annoyed and distracted by learning that someone I like but isn’t very good at their job was about to leave their contract and was offered a permanent position to stay. Ah well. My perpetual […]
Family weekend
The morning was spent discussing the family of yesterday, and in the afternoon another family came by, one less tense certainly, but established in well-worn grooves where one member would say something as true fact and everyone else would explain how they did not understand human beings. No one seemed particularly bothered by it, and […]
Parent trap
This morning we went to London’s outskirts and attended an end-of-year school show. Not something I’ve ever had to do before, being blessedly childless, but I did feel sorry for my parents who had to attend these things, at least for the first few years of my life, after which my father plain refused and […]
Heron hunt
On our walk over Hampstead heath we spotted a heron on the hunt. A large, beautiful bird, with all its focus on a clump of grass. It pounced and emerged with a small wriggling thing, a mouse perhaps, and swallowed it down whole. Very dramatic in the moment, and more successful than the last hunt […]
Okay tor
Actually it was Yes Tor, Oke Tor is another one. I had taken the day off today so left for a walk on the moors, a little more ambitious than the one on Sunday as it involved a reasonable amount of climbing. I only climbed two of four tors on the walk, though, and skirted […]
Grrrr
People who drink teabag tea – do they not realise actual tea does not taste like lightly caffeinated wet paper? Do they like this rubbish?
Over the moors
Well, I didn’t do as much work as I should have yesterday but walking is better than faffing, so after a slice of toast and some tea, I went off for a walk across the moors, with three objectives: a cream tea at Belstone, see the stone circle, and return alive. All three objectives were […]