Eskişehir, Türkiye Sunday 21 April 2024 Above: Caricature of Leo McKern (1920 – 2002) as Horace Rumpole from the episode “Rumpole and the Younger Generation“ “Inspiration is something one possesses by the hard and bitter labour of every day.“ Salvador Dali Above: Spanish artist Salvador Dali (1904 – 1989) All writers need inspiration. Ideas have to come… Continue reading The barrister’s books
Where all thinking stops
Eskişehir, Türkiye Sunday 21 April 2024 “Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea have given birth to many myths and legends of war and adventure. And these once-proud stones, these ruined and shattered temples bear witness to the civilization that flourished and then died here and to the demigods and heroes who inspired those… Continue reading Where all thinking stops
Just a little Muir
Eskişehir, Türkiye Sunday 21 April 2024 “In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.” (John Muir) Above: John Muir John Muir (21 April 1838 – 1914), also known as “John of the Mountains” and “Father of the National Parks“, was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States. His… Continue reading Just a little Muir
Beyond Glass Town
Sunday 21 April 2024 Eskişehir, Türkiye You advise me, too, not to stray far from the ground of experience, as I become weak when I enter the region of fiction. You say: “Real experience is perennially interesting, and to all men“. I feel that this also is true, but, dear Sir, is not the real… Continue reading Beyond Glass Town
An unknown country
Eskişehir, Türkiye 20 April 2024 “What sort of diary should I like mine to be? Something loose knot and yet not slovenly, so elastic that it will embrace anything, solemn, slight or beautiful that comes into my mind. I should like it to resemble some deep old desk or capacious hold-all, in which one flings… Continue reading An unknown country
Driven
Eskişehir, Türkiye Friday 19 April 2024 “In the morning paper I come across two small events that together seem significant. The black singer Paul Robeson was supposed to give a recital in Peoria. At the last minute, the concert was cancelled on the pretext that Robeson is a Communist. The authorities insist that they didn’t… Continue reading Driven
The Woman in Room 101
Eskişehir, Türkiye Thursday 18 April 2024 (continued) “At each stage of his imprisonment Winston had known or seemed to know whereabouts he was in the windowless building. Possibly there were slight differences in the air pressure. This place was many metres underground, as deep down as it was possible to go. “You asked me once… Continue reading The Woman in Room 101
Child heroes
Thursday 18 April 2023 (continued) Eskişehir, Türkiye “With those children, Winston thought, that wretched woman (Mrs. Parsons) must lead a life of terror. Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy. Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means… Continue reading Child heroes
The Penniless Parliament of Threadbare Poets
Eskişehir, Türkiye Thursday 18 April 2024 (continued) I get up in the evenin’And I ain’t got nothin’ to sayI come home in the mornin’I go to bed feelin’ the same wayI ain’t nothin’ but tiredMan, I’m just tired and bored with myselfHey there, baby, I could use just a little help You can’t start a… Continue reading The Penniless Parliament of Threadbare Poets
Middleton and other musings
Eskişehir, Türkiye Thursday 18 April 2024 “It will be difficult to please everyone in the audience because everyone has come for different reasons: some for the wit, some for the costumes, some for comedy, some for passion, and some to arrange a lascivious meeting. But, despite this, I am confident that, as long as everyone… Continue reading Middleton and other musings