Today I received an email from someone I have never met. But it made me ponder.
It was quite short and ran along the lines of “I’m writing to you because you have been in contact with my sister, M, in the past. I have the sad duty to inform you that M lost her battle [...]
Filed under: Life, Seasons on June 15th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The rush assignment this morning has reminded my client of my existence, it seems. This afternoon, he placed a mega-job with me which is welcome news as work has been conspicuous by its absence of late. I started the job – which is not difficult – just acres and acres of it in a relatively [...]
Filed under: Translation on June 9th, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Last night, I finally fell asleep at about 3.30 am. I hate not being able to sleep as I lie there thinking “argh, fall asleep, you’ve got to get up again in 5 / 4/ 3 hours”. I don’t suppose it helps.
The alarm rang at its customary 7.30 am, I rolled over, turned it off, [...]
Filed under: Translation, Trials, Triumphs on June 9th, 2009 | Comments Off
If you were a child in the UK in the ’60s and /or ’70s it is likely that you will have seen this film, The Singing Ringing Tree on TV at some stage.
I remember seeing it – or parts of it – at least twice when I was quite young. I’m not sure that it [...]
Filed under: Films on June 7th, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Well, I trotted off to the church hall/polling station to exercise my democratic right and vote.
We certainly had a choice of parties: not only were the usual suspects represented, and a fair smattering of Cloud Cuckoo Land parties, I found that I could also vote for a specifically Cornish party (that says party – not [...]
Filed under: Politics on June 4th, 2009 | 4 Comments »
The Translator: a tribesman’s memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari is a fascinating but harrowing read.
Daoud Hari relates the background to the on-going unrest in Darfur and paints a picture of peaceful village life where everyone knows everyone else – not only in their own village but also in villages across the desert. Respect is [...]
Filed under: Books on June 3rd, 2009 | Comments Off
…that I was out of range of a mobile signal on Saturday. The thought of having to dredge up obscurely phrased sentences on a broken line – without being able to see the text I’d produced – would have been particularly trying.
As it was, I arose betimes, got all my walking stuff ready, packed a [...]
Filed under: Friends, Translation on June 1st, 2009 | 3 Comments »