Author Archives: Scribe Doll
Evening Prayer Before Lockdown
I went to evening prayer the night before this second lockdown began. I’ve always loved choral evensong. The first one I ever heard, in the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, in early Michaelmas Term 1984, made such a life-changing impression … Continue reading
Posted in Odds & Ends
Tagged christmas carols, katherine gregor, Lockdown, musings, scribe doll
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My Citrine Quartz Ring
My friend F. gave me a ring two summers ago. Even elegant Autumn stomped in this year, perhaps sensing that subtlety was wasted on us. The bay tree on our balcony is waterlogged, the French windows are streaked with rain, … Continue reading
Posted in Odds & Ends, Uncategorized
Tagged Citrine, friendship, katherine gregor, rome, scribe doll, writing
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Twenty-Five-Hour Day
I’ve written about this before. After Christmas Eve, this is my favourite day of the year. I look forward to it for weeks and, the night before, I go to sleep cradled by the joy of genuine hope and anticipation, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged british summer time, clocks go back, katherine gregor, scribe doll
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A Red Hair Drier
I threw away a hair drier last week. It had been lying around for weeks while I tried to find someone to fix it. The prospect of throwing it away made me sad. I haven’t used a hair drier for … Continue reading
Through a Zoom Lens*
My favourite thing after I wake up in the morning is to step out on the balcony outside my study and stand beneath the vast expanse of the East Anglian skies. The pigeons are generally sitting on the railings or … Continue reading
Translation as a Dance
A little something I wrote for the Italian Institute of Culture in London website, kindly republished by the Los Angeles Review of Books: https://lareviewofbooks.org/short-takes/translation-as-a-dance
A Story My Grandfather Used To Tell My Mother…
My mother used to tell me a story which her father would tell her. My grandfather was Iranian (half Azerbaidjani, haf Turkmenistani), and this may be a Sufi tale… When Noah was gathering all the animals onto his Ark, and … Continue reading
The Lady of Paris
When I first saw her, a few weeks ago, while crossing the Pont Saint-Michel, she looked like the ghost of a bygone age, her earthly life a memory, her soul gone from the stone. Grey against the bleak, overcast night … Continue reading
Posted in Travel
Tagged katherine gregor, Notre-Dame, Paris, polyphony, scribe doll, writing
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Queuing Outside la Comédie Française
Night is slowly permeating the evening sky in Place André Malraux. The rain has eased into a steady drizzle and the yellow street lamps have come on. The air is imbued with car exhaust fumes and roast chestnuts. A smell … Continue reading
Posted in Travel
Tagged Comédie Française, katherine gregor, Molière, Paris, scribe doll, theatre
10 Comments
New Moon, New Month
The crescent of a new moon is slowly emerging through the darkening sky. A pale silver at first, now with a bright, almost golden glow. A waxing new moon. A middle-aged lady in the flat down the corridor, when I … Continue reading
