Monday 10 February 2025 Eskişehir, Türkiye The streets of Oxford ran red on 10 February 1355, in what became known as the St. Scholastica Day riot. A quarrel over ale — at least, that is how the story begins. Two university students, unsatisfied with their drinks, threw words like daggers at a tavern keeper. Words… Continue reading The fog of battle: Town vs. gown
Category: language
The fire and the pen
Friday 7 February 2025 Eskişehir, Türkiye The blank page is cold before the writer’s touch, a winter’s field before the kindling of thought. But then — ah, then! — the first spark, the strike of flint against stone, and a small ember glows in the mind’s cavern. A phrase, a character, a scene — it… Continue reading The fire and the pen
The Academy of Joy
Thursday 6 February 2025 Eskişehir, Türkiye The former head teacher, dismissed and disillusioned, lay in his restless bed, his limbs heavy with exhaustion, his thoughts a storm of injustice and regret. Losing your job can be a hideous blow, both to the pocket and to the ego. The best way to deal with it is… Continue reading The Academy of Joy
A Tapestry of Poetic Resilience
Tuesday 4 February 2025 Eskişehir, Türkiye On this day, history whispers through words penned by poets, through voices that capture the beauty and ugliness of man’s common struggle against his own mortality. The air of February 4 is thick with reflections — on fleeting existence, on love and laughter, on the grit of survival and… Continue reading A Tapestry of Poetic Resilience
What am I doing here?
Eskişehir, Türkiye Wednesday (Çarşamba) 4 December (Aralik) 2024 Türkiye: Above: Flag of the Republic of Türkiye This richly historical land has some of the best cuisine you will ever taste, scenery from beaches to mountains, and the great city of Istanbul. Above: Aerial view of the historical peninsula and modern skyline of Istanbul A succession… Continue reading What am I doing here?
Of a jazz that I feel
Above: Composition for Jazz, Albert Gleizes (1915), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City Eskişehir, Türkiye Wednesday 24 July 2024 Last Sunday evening at Starbucks with a new student after my classes at the school have ended. He is an educated man, a well-seasoned man, despite being half my age. Not that unusual. But to… Continue reading Of a jazz that I feel
A separate Málaga
Tuesday 2 July 2024 Eskişehir, Türkiye Fair land! of chivalry, the old domain,Land of the vine and olive, lovely Spain!Though not for thee with classic shores to vieIn charms that fix th’ enthusiast’s pensive eye;Yet hast thou scenes of beauty richly fraughtWith all that wakes the glow of lofty thought. Felicia Hemans (1793 – 1835), Abencerrage… Continue reading A separate Málaga
The house of the rising sun
Eskişehir, Türkiye Sunday 21 April 2024 “The brevity of life, the failing of the senses, the numbness of indifference and unprofitable occupations allow us to know very little. And again and again swift oblivion, the thief of knowledge and the enemy of memory, makes a void of the mind, in the course of time, even… Continue reading The house of the rising sun
The barrister’s books
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
The Ministry of Story
Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow, Scotland 17 April 1976 “I thought of the beautiful cool evening, how I long to be walking in it outside this cell. All of this took place while I sat in the semi-dark reading a book. The thoughts on freedom were only momentary but so powerful that they seem to tear my… Continue reading The Ministry of Story