-
Revealing the Bottom Line: from Bonbon to Bumbum and Beyond
Warning: This rant has graphic descriptions of surgical procedures. My flight from Leeds-Bradford to Faro in Tinned Sardine Class was noisy, and the unruly child kicked the back of my seat frequently, but the goods trolley glided by offering all types of unnecessary things to alleviate flight rage. I overheard one flight attendant saying to… Continue reading
-
To the Land of Pies
Bishop Oloroso, heavy under the weight of his loneliness and excesses, lowered himself on the prie-dieu in his bedroom antechamber for his nightly prayers. He flinched as his swollen knees touched the faded, threadbare blue brocade and disintegrating padding of the kneeler. He raised his head, smiled, and winked at the tall silver crucifix standing… Continue reading
-
A Road By Any Other Name
There must be a Rose Street somewhere in the map… Source I arrived home after a week’s sojourn in Geneva and noticed that someone had defaced the wall area above the post box of my apartment building. Someone, apparently not very cognizant with graffiti, the high art of writing, drawing and painting on walls, had… Continue reading
-
Fabergé: Sparkling Gems and Loos
The Bay-Tree Egg, 1911. Source In 1685, the Huguenot family Favri left Picardy in France because of religious persecution, and settled in Pärnu, today’s Estonia. Back then, they had no idea their descendants would reach great recognition and their works would be admired in European courts and beyond. This is a family that has survived… Continue reading
-
Not for the Squeamish: Mummy Treats
Before Carter discovered King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, and mummies took Manhattan in 2017, mummy-mania had attacked many a society. Before we screamed and hid behind the sofa when mummies scared us with their curses in literature and films, mummies were used for surprisingly beneficial and happy endings. Well, most of the times. Since the… Continue reading
-
The Prince’s Tax
One day in 1847, when Pedro II was 22 years old and apparently bored with his Oh, so tedious life as an emperor, he decided to play a type of Monopoly with the vast lands he had inherited from his father. Well, no, the lands were not inherited directly. His father, Pedro I, had abandoned… Continue reading
-
Pedro II, the Magnanimous
You may remember D. Pedro I, the fickle-hearted emperor. Now we have D. Pedro II, who was Pedro I’s only surviving male son born in wedlock, who became the second emperor of Brazil. They say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, but how did Pedro II fare? Pedro II, whose mother died… Continue reading
-
Venice, Beloved
Shame on me. I had never heard of writer Jan Morris until recently, when I watched a rerun of the 2016 BBC programme titled “An Extraordinary Life: Michael Palin and Jan Morris”, celebrating her 90th birthday. Born James, Morris had been an intelligence officer when he first arrived in Venice in 1945. Later, he was… Continue reading
-
Remembrance of Parties Past
All parties are outstanding, but some are more than others for all the right (or wrong) reasons. Once in a while, something triggers a specific memory, and I hurtle into long-past moments. And sometimes I don’t even need to attend a party to have all the joy of being present. Chilli & Balinese Dancers Bachelor… Continue reading
-
Deadly Colours
Colours have different origins, compositions, and meanings. Some pigments’ names evoke distant and exotic lands, brought to the west by merchants’ caravans or ships that have crossed seas teeming with, what they thought back then, monsters. While some pigments used by painters and manufacturers are run-of-the-mill stuff, others are, or were, deadly, such as the… Continue reading
