Tag Archives: writing
Sunday Concert
It’s a string quartet today. Beethoven. It’s what people enjoy. The folding chairs have been put out. The seat cushions have aged flower patterns and were last washed probably sometime at the end of the last century. Audience members, mostly … Continue reading
Should these Connotations Always Apply?
Dark Just read any book or film review. Dark implies deep, complex, fascinating, intelligent, and, therefore, somehow worthy. I tend to think that dark is just dark. It’s not good, it’s not bad. It’s just dark. But, since we’re on … Continue reading
If Martin Luther had taken some Vitamin C…
In my final year at University, where I was reading for a degree in French Literature, thanks to a new syllabus tried out by the French Department, I was allowed to specialise by choosing four options. I was only too … Continue reading
Translator or Writer?
I used to write. A lot. I never set time aside to write but grabbed it as and when I came across it. At home on a Sunday afternoon, when I had a twenty-minute Tube journey and could get a … Continue reading
Santa Sabina
When we were in Rome, a couple of weeks ago, I insisted we go and see “my favourite church in Rome”. The first church I ever liked, to which I owe my introduction to, and love for, early sacred music. … Continue reading
What Exactly is Your Job?
Last weekend, I had the joy of seeing members of the Norwich Stonemasons‘ Guild perform a Mystery Play outside the doors of the Cathedral. It was a warm, sunny afternoon, a brief summer interlude before putting our coats, scarves and … Continue reading
Adventures with Chicken Soup
My acupuncturist takes a quick look at my tongue. “You’ve got a low blood count,” she says. I smile and roll my eyes, thinking of how my GP had to draw blood and process it for a whole week before … Continue reading
Luxembourg Wine
In Anglo-Viking-Flemish Norwich, a Londoner and a Roman invited a Venetian for dinner at their home. The Venetian had some Austrian, Spanish, and Moroccan blood, the Londoner originally came from a Polish-Jewish family, and the Roman was of Armenian-Welsh-Cornish descent. … Continue reading
Books: Challenges, Traumas and Pure Pleasure
I remember a stormy night when I was about eleven. We were living in Nice. I don’t remember what prompted me. I stood on a chair to reach the top shelf of my mother’s bookcase where she kept – along with … Continue reading
London Night Sounds
The rumbling of the occasional car, speeding past our house. A murky grey sound. Snippets of human voices. A woman’s giggle. A crimson sound. The arrhythmic clicking of stiletto heels on the pavement. A copper sound. The roar of the … Continue reading