Hope springs eternalOn a gaudy neon streetNot that I care at all Such a muddy line betweenThe things you wantAnd the things you have to do Friday 16 July 2026 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Above: In Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland On the way to Konstanz, 15 km away, to get my teeth cleaned upon the… Continue reading Place your bets
Category: philosophy
Synod
Above: Holy Trinity Cathedral, Tbilisi, Georgia Wednesday 15 July 2026 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Violent wind. Heavy rain. Hailstones. Nothing about the weather yesterday did I have any control over. Above: Weather Wizard (Mark Mardon) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. We readily speak of acts of God. Earthquakes. Floods. Lightning. Events beyond human control.… Continue reading Synod
To Batumi and beyond
Monday 13 July 2026 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland I am caught between two systems that operate on completely different assumptions about time and responsibility. On one side is my wife. She values clarity, planning and decisions. To her, “I don’t know yet” sounds like something that ought to be solved by asking harder, following up… Continue reading To Batumi and beyond
The road to the border
Sunday 12 July 2026 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Above: Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland I sit at my laptop and I write. About places I have known, conversations I have heard and people I have observed in the hope that my own experiences are rich enough material. It is only 0900 but I have been up… Continue reading The road to the border
The dream weaver’s visit
Friday 8 July 2026 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Day Three of my exile from Georgia and I am still finding topics for the blog about the journey to Georgia… Above: Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Sunday 10 May 2026 Rize, Rize Province, Türkiye Mountain Shores, Part Three I wandered down towards the beach. Beach? Sorry, no.… Continue reading The dream weaver’s visit
Flight to Trabzon
Above: Trabzon Airport Sighnaghi, Kakheti, Georgia Above: The town of Sighnaghi Sunday 5 July 2026 There is a certain irony in writing these words this morning. In three days I shall leave Georgia by air, while describing another flight — one that carried me to Trabzon two months ago, two days before I entered Georgia… Continue reading Flight to Trabzon
Serene bull
Tuesday 19 June 2026 Kutaisi, Georgia Above: Downtown Kutaisi and the White Bridge, as seen from Mt Gora Above: Flag of Georgia (Sakartvelo) I have come to the conclusion that airports and I maintain a polite but deeply suspicious relationship. With one exception — the bus from Rize to Batumi — every entry into and… Continue reading Serene bull
The big chill / The last station
Above: Lev Tolstoy railway station, Russia Wednesday 7 December 2025 Ankara, Türkiye Above: Ankara in winter “We live only to discover beauty. All else is a form of waiting.” Kahlil Gibran Above: Lebanese-American writer Kahlil Gibran (1883 – 1931) I sit in my room on a December evening in Ankara with the windows open to… Continue reading The big chill / The last station
A cacophony of sax and violins?
Sunday 7 December 2025 There is a familiar joke — one that sounds almost like a mondegreen (a misunderstood or misinterpreted word or phrase resulting from a mishearing of the lyrics of a song) — That people don’t want “sex and violence” in schools, but everyone loves “sax and violins”. It is a playful pun, yes, but it captures something surprisingly… Continue reading A cacophony of sax and violins?
Lament of the Akedah
Saturday 6 December 2025 Ankara, Türkiye There are stories humanity tells itself when the world grows too large to understand. Among the oldest, the Akedah — the Binding of Isaac — stands as a wound passed from generation to generation. A father raises a knife over his own child, convinced that the divine has demanded… Continue reading Lament of the Akedah