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 →
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 →
The original fish
The earliest memory I have of my integrity being called into question was when I was twelve. Our headmaster took one class a week called "Creative Writing". I do believe this lesson was supposed to teach us to use our imagination at the very stage when most of us stand on the painful cusp of... Continue Reading →
Books, Art, Cakes and Kindles
I am a book-lover. What other reason would there be for ogling the Kindle advertisement?As a child I used to spend a good part of my Saturday mornings browsing in the second-hand book exchange above the butchery my mother visited every week. It was, I believe, run by a woman by the name of Marion Arnold,... Continue Reading →
The Kissing Stool
The space outside our small bedroom window is also underneath the stairs which lead to my landlord's house above our ground floor apartment. There is a partial view of the orange orchard across the road, and the hills beyond, recently and fleetingly decorated with the pale pink and white fluff of the almond blossom. A... Continue Reading →
A marvellous invention
My father, born 1935, often waxed lyrical about the marvels of aeronautical flight. On such occasions we were given to giggling, my sister and I. It is a well-worn source of amusement, which has not detracted my father one iota from the wonder of it all. The funniest thing is that he is right; it... Continue Reading →
Lucky Number Seven
I am reminded, as I take my first sip, of the cellar at the Grand Hotel in Grahamstown (in South Africa; the country, not the region, which, by the way, inhabitants refer to as Southern Africa). For those who do not know, this treasure of wines, under low wooden-beam ceilings of various heights which leads... Continue Reading →
Denim and truth
On the threshold of my teenage years, I discovered for the first time in my life that as selfish as such behaviour might be, nagging one's mother to distraction does yield the desired result. The very much desired object of my affection was my first pair of jeans. There is no need to describe them... Continue Reading →
That elusive pair of jeans 