I was so young when I arrived in Mumbai. Not just young in years, I was naive and oblivious about the hard facts of the world. I learned a lot from the women who lived at my guesthouse. The girls at the guesthouse taught me how to walk down the street. A defensive posture was… Continue reading My life in Mumbai (part 2)
Visa questions
Applying for visas is never an easy process. Something about the officialness of the forms always brings about a sense of panic in me. I wonder if I’m not answering the questions right. Why do they want to know this? How do I answer that question? What do they really want to know? We’re currently… Continue reading Visa questions
A two-square problem
There is usually one, but sometimes there are two. Lying there on the floor. Unused but discarded. Left there for somebody else to clean up. Two squares, not more not less. Why are they there? Who is doing this? I don’t want to cast aspersions on my work colleagues, but someone keeps dropping two squares… Continue reading A two-square problem
My Mumbai life (part 1)
Thirty years ago I left home. I left my home town of Brisbane, Australia. I left my job. I left everything that was familiar. I left my country for the first time to go to Mumbai on a graduate exchange program. (I left home so long ago that Mumbai was still called Bombay.) I arrived… Continue reading My Mumbai life (part 1)
Springing
It finally feels like the end of winter is in sight. This week I left work, and looking up at the sky, I saw it was not completely dark. The days are getting longer. This is the first sign. Even if the weather still seems to be grey 80% of the time, there are days… Continue reading Springing
Caledonian sleeper (or 36 Hours in Inverness)
I really like the idea of sleeper trains. I think I like the idea more than the reality and I think my idea of sleeper trains comes from watching old films where sleeper carriages were roomy and glamorous and they all had ensuite bathrooms. This is not the reality of sleeper trains today. Last year… Continue reading Caledonian sleeper (or 36 Hours in Inverness)
Things I learned from Midsomer Murders
It was at some point back in Covid times that Husband and I got hooked on Midsomer Murders. If you're not familiar with this British TV series, it's a police procedural, set in the beautiful (and occasionally blood-soaked) English countryside in the mythical county of Midsomer. There are close to 200 episodes of this drama… Continue reading Things I learned from Midsomer Murders
Get back
Last year I watched the TV series, The Beatles : The Get Back Sessions. This was where the director, Peter Jackson, took some footage filmed in 1969 that was used for a TV documentary in 1970 and turned it into a three part documentary TV series. Looking at it with today's eyes, I felt it… Continue reading Get back
They walked away
Do you call it a retro or vintage market? I think it was officially marketed as a "Vintage Flea" but there was nothing flea about this collection of retro / vintage vendors selling their wares in the local hipster beer hall. Certainly not the prices. There were all kinds of things for sale. Large items… Continue reading They walked away
Ice ice baby
It looks easy when you see it on TV. You saw Torvill and Dean win their Olympic gold medal. You imagine how lovely it will be to go ice skating, to glide smoothly across the ice, just like those professionals who had been training for years. In reality, you haven’t skated for 15 years. You… Continue reading Ice ice baby
Tales from Tobhamhor 