What a bizarre article in its acceptance of a teenaged slave girl bought from the auction block by a middle-aged Englishman, and this odd sentence about the end of her life: Widowed in 1893, Florence lived until 1916 at Sandford Orleigh, the Bakers’ estate in Devon, and was doubtless gratified when the Daily News called […]
On intention
An aberrant musing on religion led me to think about the Islamic tenet that actions are judged by intentions and the central importance of intention – explicit if possible – in being good. I suppose it must be a response to the belief in predestination: what will happen is already written so for the purpose […]
Still in seclusion
Another day in seclusion. This morning I had my Spanish class, which went quite well – a bit of reading (Primero estaba el mar by Tomás González), some conversation about dogs in prams. A brief chat with the GF last night which was pleasant, and the start of the third of The Wire which remains […]
Hometown
A rather good essay from the Paris Review, on leaving and returning home.
Scent of lilies
Last weekend we bought a bunch of lilies in bud from the flower market. Yesterday they suddenly bloomed and have flooded the flat with scent. It’s a heavy, heady fragrance, and I feel that there was a book in which it was called the scent of death. I think maybe they are commonly used in […]
Wobble wobble
The world wobbles on its axis. Strange that there is nothing outside this current crisis. When I did humanitarian work in the past there was always something outside it. Here there is nothing outside, no escape for any of us. The GF and I have had a few conversations on what we should do. The […]
The end of this fucking world
This morning, suddenly, it all began to feel real, that today is the moment that the world has changed, that this is the day that defines the rest of the lives of my generation. I had viewed the plummetting of my meagre investments a few days ago with equanimity, as they feel imaginary anyway, and […]
Strange times
As I started writing this, I looked up at the tall building, about 30 stories, under construction across from me, and watched a large plank of wood fall off the side. It took very long to fall. I opened reddit as usual for my quick browse of various country pages. On Nepal, a genuine question […]
Sudden turn
There was a change in the weather around noon. It went from a warm early spring morning to cold and wet, London weather again.
Kya dekhein
I was saddened, no, enraged, by a podcast which claims to be about Urdu poetry and which I had really been excited about. The first episode I listened to was about Faiz’s Hum dekhein gey, which I translated a few months ago when it was used in the Kashmir protests. It’s being used in protests […]