Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Festering Festivity!

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At least seeing in the New Year was one festivity which did not see me in bed before the end of the celebrations. I have decided that my rep...
Monday, December 31, 2007

All good things etc

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What have I missed? Like a character in some fantasy story who finds out that he has been ‘away’ for longer than he thought and he has to un...
Sunday, December 30, 2007

And Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation

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I have now purchased an unassumingly small metallic box. It looks like a featureless rectangular tea caddy. To me it is a little object of ...
Saturday, December 29, 2007

It's a far better thing I do etc

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Sydney Carton is the character from literature that comes to mind as I contemplate what the New Year will hold for me. To enter a Primary Sc...
Thursday, December 27, 2007

The sweet taste of home?

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“What do you miss?” is a question asked by friends back in Britain and also by my new neighbours. I suppose that the people who ask the ques...
Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Is suffering good for you?

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St Stephen’s Day – My Name Day To have had a tummy bug for one Christmas meal might be regarded as unfortunate. To have a tummy bug the next...
Sunday, December 23, 2007

Feste lente!

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There is (hasn’t there been always!) something immensely satisfying about being right. Driving in Spain is a frightening experience. Driving...
Saturday, December 22, 2007

Backbone? Wishbone?

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A weird amalgam of a scene from a Robert Pullman novel and the Spanish inquisition characterised the televised draw for the Spanish National...
Friday, December 21, 2007

Questions! Questions!

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How long do jellyfish take to die? Out of water I mean. This is not one of those ‘Notes and Queries’ type questions, but one to which I need...
Thursday, December 20, 2007

And now for this . . .

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Something of an achievement for me: I have managed to work at a job for an hour and not be sacked! A small class of eleven and twelve year o...
Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Frame it!

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“Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing Boy” I don’t know which one of the two events looming on the horizon is the more...
Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Teach? Me?

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I never really know whether to be appalled or uplifted by seeing a ranting fascist dictator meekly (surrounded by television cameras and mil...
Monday, December 17, 2007

Lighten our darkness!

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The advent of cheap, low-power LED lighting bulbs in illuminated Christmas decorations promised a whole new age in widely available vulgari...
Sunday, December 16, 2007

Let music untune the sky!

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The second concert that I attended in La Palau de la Musica started at ten fifteen in the night. It was the Orquesta de Cámara y Coro Nacio...
Friday, December 14, 2007

Thank god there is choice!

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To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour. If you reall...
Thursday, December 13, 2007

It's that time of the year!

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“Risk of ice!” This chilling message flashed up on the car computer, its ominous warning presaged by a little moue of disappointment from th...
Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Open damn you!

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On my first and only trip to the US of A I was constantly frustrated by faucets. Shops, hotels and restaurants seemed to be vying with each ...
Tuesday, December 11, 2007

O false apothecary! Thy drugs are slow!

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There is a significant part of me that must like life made difficult. My medication is running low. I realise that sentence is more like an ...
Monday, December 10, 2007

Drive and Marvel!

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Driving Toni home this evening the sunset was one of such a quality that one automatically looked around for someone to pay for such a displ...