Genteel seaside town

Yesterday, we walked around the beaches and the town. The GF went for reiki while I strolled about. Whiststable is a tourist town but also the sort of place well-heeled people retire, so there are plenty of fairly expensive shops selling linen skirts, French wooden toys, etc. There are innumerable places selling oysters, and much […]

The builder’s ring

We came to Whitstable yesterday afternoon, a pleasant seaside town in Kent, just in the Thames estuary. I’d been here before as the GF’s parents have very close friends near here, whom we’ve visited as well, but never overnight. This time we’re staying for the weekend and other relatives of the GF arrive this evening. […]

Story, spectacle

Last night we went to watch the new Punchdrunk production, The Burnt City. They do immersive theatre, so one wanders around rooms, corridors and huge spaces where a story is playing out. The audience wears masks, so there is a feel of ghosts following the only real people in the space, the actors themselves. For […]

Another shit Eid

Technically Eid here was yesterday, and there were the usual dressed-up families, all taking advantage of a rare Eid falling on a UK bank holiday. As usual I decided to keep it for the day it’s celebrated in Pakistan so had it today. Got a gift from the GF’s mother who was very sweet, but […]

To the almost-country

Took a train out to the almost-country, not too far from Milton Keynes, where a relative of the GF lives in a lovely spot along several waterways. The house itself is beautiful and historic, the gardens are wide and green, the hens copiously lay eggs. Less keen on the interior, as it’s a bit dark […]

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 […]

Embarrassing

Shameful that it’s well over a month since I last posted. Even my frontpage collection, though ongoing, is somewhat desultory. Is this yet another blog, and yet another effort at writing, that is petering out? Perhaps, probably. In the meantime, I’ve arrived in London and have a new computer. Further updates to come, or not […]

Stormy weather

This morning Russia invaded Ukraine. Is this the start of something new? In the past years of growing fragility and certainties shaken, it has felt as though we are ratchetting up to catastrophic breakdown. It this it? Or is it a story and actually history just keeps going and there is no cataclysmic moment? Two […]