What a lovely ville is Oxford! Impossible not to like the people, particularly this crew who invited me to their team on Pub Quiz night at the The Old Bookbinder's Ale House : (Team, I did the best I could with the red-eye, but sometimes instead of filling in, they...
Scenes around Rome in January. I walked 25,000 steps (says my lyin' iPhone - it was at least twice that). What is it about Rome? I think it's the cobblestones. Or maybe the promise of wine. Probably the animated discussions you hear in the street. Escenas de Roma en...
[Versión en español] Eating well in Amman can cost you a lot, or it can cost you a little. There are falafel shops everywhere, and even in the humblest of them, they take falafel seriously. No day-old oil, no stiff pita, no lily-livered veggies - everything's got...
[Click here for the version in English] Comer bien en Amman, Jordania, te puede costar mucho, o muy, pero que muy poco. Hay puestos de falafel por todos lados, e incluso en los puestos más sencillos, se toman muy en serio la labor de hacer el falafel. Nada de aceite...
Featured pic from Mitchell Lawler on Unsplash Goalposts - goals - get it? The start of a year is an appropriate, if imperfect, time for looking at your goals and urging yourself forward. I think goals should be realistic but ambitious - after all, you only get one...
I came across a blog post today on the Brevity site, by Allison K. Williams, asking about one's writing year: what did you manage to accomplish? The novelty was the positive angle: not what did you promise yourself to do, and not get done, a set of questions I'm...
Tunis today. We walked around till we were almost dead. The sun is so intense, even in autumn! It was 4:00 before we could eat lunch, but when we did... Ravioli Dello Chef for me, Carbonara for Ramon (ever the traditionalist). And a gorgeous salad shared. Hon hon hon...
I tried writing a note to a friend in ze French language. Ouch. We've been studying for months and still, the basic conversations with the front desk at our hotel, or answering people's questions about Catalunya, are so awkward and clumsy I want to press "pause" on...
We made it to Tunis. It's lovely. The weather is divine. Ramon's job looks great, and I can work at his office for now. There's wifi to spare and a cute coffee shop out front, run by a fellow who teases us about our French. But try to get a taxi and... ARGH! The...
ENGLISH ESPAÑOL Last night in Madrid I had my Grand Premiere as an actor. Six women, four different accents in Spanish (Italian, French, Irish and American) and an audience of all our Spanish boyfriends and a couple of weirdos who must have had nothing better to do....