Is it something about the month of June? Is it the heat? The provocative birdsong? Is that why these wayward memories have been taking me down meandering lanes I haven’t trodden in years? So here’s one that’s been assailing me today. One from 25 years ago, when I was dizzily, crazily in love. Ah, those [...]
My guess is that there are quite a number of people out there who have secretly been enjoying lockdown. And who are now feeling a little saddened that things are gradually getting back to normal as restrictions ease and country after country slowly but surely prepares to return to normal life. Of course there are [...]
A year and a half ago I came back from an international school reunion in Vienna and felt so deeply affected, I wrote a blog post about it. Now, eighteen months on, I’ve just come back from a smaller but equally moving reunion (same school, different location) and ... well, here I am again, writing [...]
It's so hard to let go. So much easier to cling on And on and on and on. Letting go takes blind faith; Clinging on takes nothing. It's so easy But so addictive, seductive, palliative. So easy to top up your wine glass, Look at old photos, Read old diaries, messages, Memories. The narcosia of [...]
It’s New Year’s Eve in Kraków, 1992. Club-footed photocopyist Leo has allowed his homeless friend Ania to share the evening with him in the warmth of his post-communist bachelor pad. But what he longs to do, once Ania finally goes, is to continue reading the diary of the mysterious Tamara, who left her book in his [...]
As a writer, it goes without saying that I have always been an avid reader. And the older I get, the fussier I become with my reading, and the harder I am to please. But that does not seem to be the case with many other readers. The astounding success of a number of contemporary [...]
The other day I found myself on a Ryanair plane to London, with two and a half blissful hours of peace in front of me. Yippee! - I thought giddily to myself. No internet to interrupt the long, imminent reading session that lay ahead! I snuggled down in my seat (‘snuggling’ is something that’s pretty [...]
