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Büyükada

22/04/2013 12:27

Children laughs flood the deck at the stern side of the ferry. Others, teenagers, are feeding gulls throwing bread crumbs to the air. Seagulls skilfully trap it. Devoid of enthusiasm a waiter walks the aisle between the seats, carrying a hot teapot and a huge tray of sugary donuts. Other passengers...

The Castles of Cymru

15/04/2013 17:51

Wales, Cymru i.e., is located under a large cloud. Under the cloud it’s raining and rain sometimes bends with the wind force. Then the rain falls horizontally. When the wind blows the cloud, while drags a new one. Cymru, i.e. Wales, does not suffer drought. Its underground aquifers are full. The...

From Karachi to Varanasi

25/03/2013 09:59

I let know to the customs official I had to overnight in the country and knowing the article was forbidden I should keep it in the office to retrieve it when I leave. I show him the bottle of blended and by his expression seemed to have seen the devil in person. He looked down at the bottle, tried...

A Shoe’s Sole

18/03/2013 12:41

There is a curious piece in the Fiji Museum in Suva, the islands capital. It is simply the sole of a shoe. Yes, the sole of a shoe. And that's an uncommon element for a museum, it looks like out of place. Usually museums, maybe with the honorable exception of clothing and footwear, do not often...

Scotland

10/03/2013 12:49

Whisky,kilts and tartans, golf, castles, a sausage called haggis, Sean Connery and a monster in a lake. A rugby selection and an unintelligible language, be either English or Gaelic. Bagpipes and last names beginning on Mac. Deep estuaries named firth and seven hundred islands. Robert...

Jordan Shores

04/03/2013 16:50

Jordan is a Bedouin chimera. A colonial ruling pen product. A Dead Sea riverside, a desert looking Arabia and a stony plane pointing to Mesopotamia. - Wahad Arak , Mr.? - Minfadlak, Hassan. Shukran jazilan! It was the third one. I appreciate that kind of aniseed Ouzo, taken as an...

Serendipity

25/02/2013 18:20

f. Serendip, a former name for Sri Lanka + -ity. A word coined by Horace Walpole, who says (Let. to Mann, 28 Jan. 1754) that he had formed it upon the title of the fairy-tale `The Three Princes of Serendip', the heroes of which `were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things...

The Lords of the Isles

11/02/2013 19:03

From Northern Ireland coast it’s clearly seen North Channel opposite bank, the steep profile of other lands. If not for water temperature would even be easy to reach swimming. Is the Kintyre peninsula, the island of Mull, and other Scottish coast. Further north, from White Park Bay it’s also seen,...

On the Banks of the Nile

11/02/2013 18:23

I may imagine Naguib Mafuz sitting in a table at Fishawa Café. Holds a cigarette between his fingers. Leafing through his notes. A little bit further, to the right, his cup of coffee. Occasionally lifts his head and looks carefully at his thoughts perhaps searching a particular recall. A waiter,...

Auckland All to Black

28/01/2013 11:30

In 1999 I used to meet with French fellows who lived in my neighbourhood. In those months of the end of the year the Rugby World Cup was at its heydays. Some were fierce supporters and even one of them had played before, when he was younger. Optimism reigned. On October 24 they win the...

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