There is always something that falls between the cracks. This is the primary reason I beat myself extra hard on the chest during the "mea culpa" part of Confession at Mass today. The sin? Failure to return a library book within the time required. It is, however, the penance rather than the sin itself which has... Continue Reading →
A bright idea
Buying light bulbs used to be easy. Where I came from, British standards were followed in this regard. We had screw or bayonet types (gory name, that last one). For the bathroom 75 watts was ample, 100 watts more than enough for the verandah, and 60 watts if you wanted decent lighting at a desk... Continue Reading →
Back then in the backwater
I invite you to listen to this gem, The Continental, featuring the beautiful voice of Maureen McGovern overlaid with images of equally exquisite dancing by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Now, I ask you to imagine, if you possibly can, an overworked translator attempting to imitate all of the above in her slippers, singing the... Continue Reading →
Helpful Household Hints
In decades past, it was fashionable for vendors of pressure cookers and refrigerators and other wondrous modern conveniences to present the proud new owners with a complimentary recipe booklet or a slim volume of useful tips for the housewife. Testimony to this trend can be found in countless difficult-to-open kitchen drawers the world over. One... Continue Reading →
The Christmas Letter
It used to be quite acceptable not to communicate with one's friends until just prior to Christmas, and, at a stretch, at Easter, or on birthdays. This year, no doubt, my mother has once again managed the "post before" date and those friends of long standing smile fondly at an envelope which arrives at Christmas... Continue Reading →
Yes, but did you get the T-shirt?
Faro Hospital is a bit like a weekly boarding school. I was most amused that hospital patients whose treatment allows it, are permitted to go home for the weekend, and return to their same bed on Monday morning. I am not sure if this has a formal name - apart from "having days off" as... Continue Reading →
Disconnected
We are housesitting. I am sitting with my partner in front of a nice log fire. There is a little dog curled up in its basket close by wondering where her normal people have got to. We have had Muscatel this evening, and even the repeat wildlife documentary on the television seems soothing. How romantic!... Continue Reading →
What do you know?
A friendly challenge was issued by one of my real life friends on Facebook, and I quote, "Give me two facts about Beirut without recourse to the Internet or encyclopaedias or newspaper or interrogation of friends".I thought she was seeking to prove a point: we are all far too dependent upon reference works, and chiefly,... Continue Reading →
The Neurologist
It is Monday morning 09:20. João and I find ourselves at Faro Hospital for her appointment with her neurologist, the first in eight months. She has relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis finally diagnosed seventeen years ago and has been taking daily Copaxone(R) injections for about two years. She is on a downward slide, yet as Rousseau said,... Continue Reading →
Miscellany
I had intended this post to be an account of a visit long ago to the home and workshop of world-famous Ghanaian fashion designer, Kofi Ansah. I scribbled the detail over a decade ago, and was recently reminded of this visit by a sculpture I saw which bore some similarity to something this man had... Continue Reading →
That elusive pair of jeans 