Category Trials and Tribulations
New Year’s Eve 2018
The big night was finally here! We knew we couldn’t be in Sydney for New Year’s Eve without witnessing the legendary fireworks over Sydney Harbour. Fortunately the Royal Botanic Garden offered its lawns for those of us who didn’t want to spend a fortune at one of the local restaurants. For the price of a […]
Cricket
I went to a cricket match the other day at the super-posh Lord’s stadium. Dress code was jacket and tie. We were in a private box with never-ending catering and arguably the best seats in the stadium. England was playing India in a multi-day match. The match started but I stayed at the buffet table […]
Last morning in York
I didn’t have high expectations for today. Reason being that I remember last year’s bank holiday being kind of a bummer with most shops being closed and the town feeling completely dead. Turns out that may have been because I was in Dover and not somewhere (anywhere) else. I basically expected York (and London when […]
Three Peaks Challenge: Mount Snowdon
We drove through the night from the Lake District in northwestern England to Snowdownia in northern Wales. We were sweaty and sore from the two previous hikes, and I dearly wished to sleep. Alas, it was at best a night of fitful dozing. At 4am we arrived at the base of Mount Snowdon, the last […]
Movie night!
When it’s 82 degrees at 10pm and you have no air conditioning, you go to the movies on a worknight.
I may need to fine tune…
Note to self: When your flight details look like this . . . . . . it’s the time ON THE LEFT that matters when planning when to arrive at the airport. The left. All you gain by focusing on the time on the right is a lesson in how high prices can be for […]
Aswan – sandstorm and a change of plans
Aswan was the last stop on our cruise, and while there are certainly things to see here, we had planned to use it as a jumping-off point for a more ambitious journey to the great temple of Abu Simbel (an additional 3-hour drive away). We got up at the ungodly hour of 4am and were […]
Things don’t always go as planned…
Oh, the glamorous life of an expat in Europe! After work on Friday I left my London office for the airport, where I caught the last plane out for a weekend in Milan. I spent Saturday exploring parts of the city I hadn’t seen before (Cathedral! Da Vinci’s Last Supper!) and then went back to […]
I wrote a poem the day you left
I wrote a poem the day you left because my heart was breaking and I could not speak only hold you — let you hold me — and weep Gentlest man, so beset by monsters whose selfless love comforts with a compassing arm and nestled head I wish you would stay I wish you could stay […]
Third time is not the charm
Seriously. Orange screens again. They offered to put me on the next LuxAir flight, but I don’t trust it to go. So I’ve changed airlines and airports (British Airways to Heathrow) in hopes of actually getting out (at least I know they succeeded yesterday). One potential upside? Justin will land at Heathrow an hour before […]
A More Gentlemanlike Manner 