It has taken about one month for me realise a few things about our having arrived in Portugal as immigrants five years ago. This led me to thinking that lots of things take five years. For me, anyway. It takes five years to realise that you are still not immune from getting into the passenger... Continue Reading →
Ten minutes
Self-reprimand is often the best form of punishment precisely because it is private. I am going to make my most recent one public, though. It was ten minutes to seven o'clock when I sat down again to work this evening. I thought to myself, "Great, I can check my mail - and the odd forum... Continue Reading →
Stuck in a hole
What you are looking at is Sempre em frente*, the adventurous tortoise we had about eight years ago. He is trying to escape the Inner Sanctum, his designated living space. That hole, at the bottom of the wall served a practical purpose. During the Zimbabwean rainy season, it was the only place for the water... Continue Reading →
A good ‘un
I was checking online whether my translation from Portuguese into English of a Chinese proverb matched the commonly accepted rendition in English. As one does. I should mention that I do not normally take the answers found at wiki.answers.com as Gospel for obvious reasons, but have occasionally found some useful leads there by way of... Continue Reading →
Oh, fadista!
Imagine you have one tape cassette which you play over and over on a portable tape deck. The tape was recorded on this same tape deck while sitting as close to the gramophone as possible as a borrowed long-playing record of Amália Rodrigues singing the fado filled the air. At the end of Side 1,... Continue Reading →
Figs in autumn
Every June/July I watch the fig trees as their fruit starts forming. And every year, with a certain amount of regret, I notice the last of the figs falling on the ground, unclaimed after the seasonal glut. For at least the last three summers, I have intended to ask the lady down the road if... Continue Reading →
I have bitstripped
Bitstrip is a new Facebook app which is quite fun to use - provided your good friends also create their own Bitstrip avatar. It proved so popular within the first few days that the program crashed. The app writers were a little ambitious, and have now removed a few of the flexibility features which made... Continue Reading →
Read the fine print
This is a very ordinary story with no particular punchline. It started seven weeks ago when I made an appointment to see the doctor. I saw the doctor last week at our local health clinic. I live in Portugal and have finally got to the point when I understand most of what I hear, and... Continue Reading →
Coffee with Adam and God
I have never been to the Sistine Chapel, so have never seen The Creation of Adam in real life: I know that posters are printed of the hands of God and Adam with their fingers almost touching. I know this because someone once bought us one - and we framed it. Rather fittingly - or... Continue Reading →
Trumpets and translation
Even though we strive for – and frequently achieve – excellence, we translators are normally quite a modest lot. Except today, I received such wonderful feedback from an agency, I could not contain myself. I blew my own trumpet on Facebook, which I reserve for interaction with family and friends. In typical translator fashion, I quoted the... Continue Reading →
That elusive pair of jeans 