a change of plans
I am postponing my trip to Iran for 3 weeks so as to be able to attend a conference on ancient Persia in Edinburgh…
a new renaissance?
Sunday past I went to a performance of Philip Glass’ 1000 Airplanes on the Roof in a hangar, at East Fortune in Scotland, that has been built around a decommissioned Concorde. It was a promenade concert – allowing us to walk around as the piece – a “melodrama in one act” – was acted out, and the music played…
9/11 in a Mexican jungle…
On the 11th of September 2001, we returned from a miraculous day wandering, eventually barefoot, through a jungle in the Mexican Yucatan, led by a Mayan girl to waterfalls that tumbled down steps gouged into smooth bowls in the soft limestone. Between the trees enormous blue crabs scuttled. At last, exhilarated, we found ourselves in the girl’s hut, a circular house with a palm frond roof and an earth floor and, bizarrely, satellite TV. As …
my journey to Iran is on
Ok, I’ve received the code notification that has been sent to the Iranian Consulate in London authorizing them to give me a visa. I received the news last night with some relief. Now that it is real, I am going to have to make all the preparations in earnest for the trip. I have been in love with Persia, specifically ancient Persia, since I was a child. So this trip is going to be for …
learning Persian
I am waiting to see if the Iranians are going to give me a visa – and, if it comes through, I should be off to Iran in a couple of weeks. I am a tad nervous about the visa because, against the advice of a friend of mine who has been to Iran, I wrote “author” for my occupation. He had expressly told me not to put “writer” because it could lead to the …
50 in New York
Something I’ve rabbited on about before is how the world is homogenising – the more I travel, the more it seems to me that everywhere is becoming the same. If this is even true for Sri Lanka, then how much more so is it for travelling between the UK and New York? But before I go into that (I think this is going to become quite a ramble, but hopefully you will forgive me, now …
at Fórum Fantástico 2010
how I got on at the Fórum Fantástico in Lisbon…
Travel
For most of last week I was in Rome. This was the first time I have ever been to Italy. In spite of my love of everything ancient, the Romans have never been a culture that has appealed to me. Nevertheless, I am fully aware of just how much we are still in their shadow… and so it would be strange indeed not to wish to visit the Eternal City. What with global warming, never …