Experiences
350: “The Devastating Number”
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The title isn’t mine. It’s from an article on the significance of the number 350 to the 6.793 billion humans inhabiting planet Earth on 24 October 2009. I won’t make it easy by posting a link that you will, in […]
Three strays of Bucharest
I watched in astonishment, waiting for more cats to pop up and - why not - snakes and doves and a few curly dogs doing jumps. A car engine turned circus hat.
Holiday in Galicia
Beginning of September: one week of holidays left, after a month in Scotland and a month on the land. We are exhausted, but one week of sleep is too much to ask. A holiday, especially our particular brand (no planning, no destination, pure chaos, something between the frantic and the sublime) sounds so much like […]
Meet our neighbours
In the morning, I meet Mrs Cosmovici going down the stairs in her light blue home robe. She holds a tray of mincemeat in one hand, a Kent hanging in the other.
March to May
This could go on forever, but we all need to keep busy and sane, hence the rule: one paragraph per topic.
1.TIME UNDER THE BRIDGE. It was March and now it’s May. Last day of May and then it’s June. How can this be happening? Each day used to be bright and interesting, each day […]
A hospital diary
It’s Wednesday. My third day in hospital. On Monday I had a breast operation. The doctor took out a lump that – he said – was as big as a ping-pong ball. By all accounts it’s a benign tumor, but the final results will come in two weeks.
It’s horrible being in hospital. It’s not to […]
Alentejo Acrostic
We were in Alentejo last week for a short holiday; two days’ drive, three days there; distilled below, a taste of sunny South.
A - Alentejo stone. Alentejo, the sun-baked humpback, crumbles into a multitude of coloured pebbles. A first step into desert? Crumbs for poets and painters? Warm slate shines from fists of dry earth, […]
Midweek Momentum
Wednesday afternoon: Kira comes back from school half-early and wearing someone else’s jacket. It is yellow, like hers, but also nothing like hers. It is twice her size, has a tartan design on the inside, and no zip. She didn’t notice. (Didn’t notice?) We go back before the (bigger) owner of the jacket does notice.
Then […]
The last feat of Senhor Felix
Senhor Felix must have been quite a character, and his farm - the pride of the entire village. Half a hectare of sunny terraces – and he must have had a good go at covering it all in vines, fruit trees and vegetable beds. Older people tell us about it in the local bar, putting […]
News from the Laundry House
This morning was almost the most glorious thing I’ve ever seen. It was positively hot outside my front door . I put Jackie’s basket out for him on the snow which he loves. But then I went down to the bottom lawn to take a picture of my snowman (pathetic I know) and it was […]
The water diet
By Gavin
Last night Margo made spaghetti with a tomato and salami sauce. It was very tasty and I had a second helping. That was very tasty as well so I had a third helping. Since no one was joining me, I piled the last of the spaghetti and sauce into my bowl, and topped it […]
The Urban Yurt
By Monica
Early February. Winter stretches on, strong and stern, and I can see the point of hibernation. To sleep through the bitter cold, the grey days, the never-ending rain; to curl up in your den, in your hay, in your fur, ah the joy… to awake in mid-birdsong on a sunny-crisp-and-clear day in March.
Back in […]