If I say “weekend retreat”, what do you picture? Do you think of yoga and mediation, sitting on some kind of mountaintop in gentle contemplation? Or maybe in an open sided rainforest cabin, chanting “omm” repeatedly while ignoring the bites from mosquitoes? Maybe you think of the beach, the seaside, watching the sun rise while… Continue reading MK
Author: Michelle Kn Stone
Australian-born London-dweller. I love books, travel, my garden, my husband and sunshine but not necessarily in that order.
Those moments
There are moments in your life that stick with you matter how many years of past no matter how old you get. One of those moments that I remember is for my friend’s birthday party I’m trying to think how old we would’ve been at the time. Seven? Eight? No more than nine, that’s for… Continue reading Those moments
Performative displays of emotion
Today is the second anniversary of my mother‘s death. It’s not a date that’s etched in my memory. I had to go back and look at a calendar of May 2022 because I know it happened on a Monday; and then I had to crosscheck that with old WhatsApp messages to friends. Is it weird… Continue reading Performative displays of emotion
The artichoke, the exhibition and the missing files
My first thought was, “Someone has built a new shed on the allotment.” But they haven’t built a new shed. I just noticed it on my way to work as if I were seeing it for the first time. Maybe I just noticed it because it’s spring and the sun is shining and the gap… Continue reading The artichoke, the exhibition and the missing files
My life in Mumbai (part 2)
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)
Tales from Tobhamhor 