I had two visits to the flat today, once in the morning to have the kitchen measured for cabinets, and once for the contractor to make payments for our windows. It snowed a great deal in the morning, so on the morning visit it was very slippery and hard to walk straight, and there were […]
Ugh
More expenses have emerged around the flat, and the GF and I are feeling rather tender of wallet at the moment. Not, perhaps, the greatest surprise – it would have been quite remarkable to get through this whole business under budget, but still unpleasant. Oh well. May they not snowball. Aside from a very long […]
Old times
I have noticed more and more people around my age – or younger – talking about how free children used to be when we were all young, and how sad it is that children today don’t have the same liberties that we did. Certainly, times have changed; there was a single state TV channel until […]
Plans, plans
The architect has sent a floor plan, all tremendously exciting. This one shows the final structure, though I will make some changes in the bathroom configuration. Otherwise it is very close to final. The GF and I, during our stroll yesterday, also thought about colours etc, and decided we definitely didn’t want the beige hotel […]
Voice
I had occasion to listen to a recording of myself leading a meeting on Zoom, and was quite shocked at my voice and speaking style. For one, in my own ears my voice is quite harsh and I must constantly try to moderate it and file down its edges, but in the recording it seemed […]
A nickname
I had an early jolt this morning when I woke up to a conversation between my siblings wondering what a particular word referred to. This was a nickname given to me by our grandfather who died nearly 30 years ago; no one else uses it other than one of his children, very occasionally. It was […]
Winter
It’s finally winter in Istanbul. The heating was on all day today, and even the window was closed for a good long time. Outside, the air feel properly wintery, whether or not the sun is out. The forecast says it might fall to -7 in the coming days, but I’m sceptical, as the forecast has […]
Bad egg
One of the eggs we bought from the farm yesterday was bad, so the poor GF had to redo all of lunch. Today we are both back to work, at least the GF is back to work and I never really stopped. Other than that, the only notable thing to report from today is that […]
New year
Couldn’t put it better than Samuel Beckett:
Nearly the end
Nearly the end of the year. An artificial marker, perhaps, but I am rather tired and I hope the next year is less tiring. I don’t think it will be. There is a lot of worry and weariness to come – pandemic, work, this bloody flat, etc. And those are just the ones I can […]