Stray thoughts, tamed.
What better way to welcome a hot Monday afternoon following the hottest day on record this summer in my corner of the Algarve than to witness an Irish bride and bridesmaids alighting from hired vintage cars at the door of the São Sebastião Church - which dates back to 1759, by the way - in... Continue Reading →
Summer can be blamed.As an habitual workaholic, I find it enormously worrying when the heat of the day provokes in me a lack of desire to do anything but lie down and go to sleep. Perhaps all that is required is for me to acclimatise to the summer temperatures and resist with determination the soporific... Continue Reading →
Note: The 4,100 words which follow contain my observations alone. You may see things differently, although I do hope that at least something strikes a chord. If you cannot stomach a text this long - a text I felt compelled to write - be glad that I put the poem and its translation at the... Continue Reading →
There is more than one way to skin a CAT, as the saying goes, and in this case, a glossary ranks high on my list of priorities.
Regardless of which method you use, the important thing is to have a system to record terminological knowledge gained.
This is the result of a timed fifteen-minute scribble, the title for which is a writer's prompt, merely to focus on writing itself, and see what ideas come to the surface as a result. I wrote this in December 2015, and have reproduced it here unchanged - except no one will now complain about my... Continue Reading →
I sit bolt upright in bed at 2am. My subconscious has processed what the Dr was saying, 5 hours ago in A&E. Sami’s concussion from his bike accident is passing, he can leave in an hour… Source: No Brainer Best blog I have read all year, and I read a lot.
Ever since that silly advert claiming that smartphone and WiFi technology combined meant that because translation is such a straightforward activity requiring so little effort it could be accomplished while sitting on the toilet, I have found myself from time to time wondering about where exactly my friends post their Facebook and other contributions from.... Continue Reading →
All writers need to hone their craft. I was feeling guilty about one paragraph in yesterday's blog. It contained one long, unruly sentence. I should have deleted it. I did not. The blog would have been better without it. As I was thinking about it again this morning, I got a promotional e-mail from PerfectIt... Continue Reading →
Just over a month ago, a fellow translator gave me a lovely granadilla (passion fruit) plant, which is actually a vine, but commonly called a creeper by many. I was delighted with this thoughtful gift not least because I left three such vines in the soil of the extensive vegetable garden I toiled over in... Continue Reading →
That elusive pair of jeans 