I have just had to prove I am human once again. I thought I did that every day. Today, I did was unable to manage it to satisfaction. Twice. Someone on a translation mailing list which I first joined in the previous millennium posted a link to her blog. I felt moved to post a... Continue Reading →
Going dental
I was going to call this post "a day in the life" or some such, but that simply would not be true. A more apt description would be an irregular day in the life during my least productive summer on record. Whenever I have something to do which is going to disrupt my preferred pattern,... Continue Reading →
Personalised smoking
This post is about smoking. For the benefit of those who are fiercely anti-tobacco, reformed smokers, or under the legal age to smoke, I should be patently clear: I am not advocating the smoking of cigarettes. I shall not discuss the health issues. I will get other comments out of the way quickly. It is... Continue Reading →
Fresh-cut flowers
Here is what I know about flowers: To dry a bunch of flowers, you must tie them and hang them upside down in a dry draughty place for quite a long time. In the fresh-cut flower industry there are two positions in which flowers are handled; lying flat and upright. In the field they grow... Continue Reading →
You look familiar
I am sure most people have been told that they look familiar at least once in their lives upon meeting a stranger. The trouble is that this used to happen to me a lot in my early twenties. This used to upset me because my childhood indoctrination, religious and otherwise, had taught me that I... Continue Reading →
Green things
The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest web page is one I would really like to explore in depth. This type of writing is an art form in itself, albeit not one which conjures up an image of tucking one's knees under the rug on a sofa, hot cup of tea in hand, and settling down to a cosy... Continue Reading →
Who am I kidding?
It is true: I simply opened the fridge and took the photo. Ice trays, one block of butter, one tin of evaporated milk (for use on a fruit salad imminently), and countless little plastic bottles full of ice.
Bananas!
There is nothing so wonderful as coming across exciting news by accident. Little did I know, whilst struggling with a capricious Internet connection as I was researching EU regulations on biodiversity and the like - as translators do - that today I would stumble upon a remarkable piece of information: The banana genome has been sequenced!... Continue Reading →
Fashion Show – Desfile de Moda em Empreita
Photographs are published here with the permission of and acknowledgement to Nuno Santos. His work can be seen on his Facebook page. On Saturday evening, João went out in the car for the first time since she broke her leg on 27 May 2012. The shorter, lighter cast replaced the huge and heavy plaster one a... Continue Reading →
Heatwave
Perhaps the title of this blog is a little premature, since the most unbearable – or glorious, depending on your work plans – days are yet to come. A few weeks ago – during our first heatwave of the season – one of the agencies who keeps me quite busy asked what my plans were for the summer.... Continue Reading →
That elusive pair of jeans 