Expressions change. Faces become grim, stuffed down into the collars of overcoats. No one celebrates their body in winter. They celebrate resistance—if grim survival can be celebratory. But that’s why I’ve come now and not then. Even in the city the air smells like flowers. Chestnut blossoms dust...
That’s not entirely true. I’d begun packing three weeks ago. One week ago I’d finally decided upon everything I was going to bring. And all of it had remained packed in my suitcase under the bed ever since. Two weeks of dreaming, shopping, packing, unpacking, shopping, organising and repacking ha...
Stepped out of the plane and melted into the searing white heat of the Mediterranean. There was hardly any wind and the heavy air was thick with the scent of jet fuel, hot tarmac and jasmine. Away to the north, green mountains thundered into the sky, their peaks shimmering behind a hot, humid haz...
As the dry, hot London summer blazed on, I’d rejoined a colleague for drinks in the early evening cool of the theatrical scarlet saloon. I was delighted to see my old friend and we laughed about old times as we paid cautious respect to the oversized martinis that are the trademark of the bar. My ...