Welcome to my life in Casares

Fifteen kilometres from the Costa del Sol, stands a rock – shaped like half of a Christmas pudding from which somebody has, bit-by-bit, pinched morsels from the middle. From one side it appears rounded and whole; from the other, hollow and rather unlikely. Protruding from the rounded side are mismatched white boxes. Inside of the boxes are dark brown people.

Inside Out

Human Retronym

Oxford English Dictionary definition of a retronym:

“A neologism created for an existing object or concept because the exact meaning of the original term used for it has become ambiguous (usually as a result of a new development, technological advance, etc.).”

Benares बनारस

As the Mother Ganga sprawls
pyres burn without death’s usual cry
Ashes reign, and embers glow
mirrored in pearlescent hardened eyes

Lies, Statistics and The Damned

I’m not usually one to write politically, yet I have been thinking about two sets of figures I have been made aware of, which although are not directly related, still seem to create a disparity in my mind. In an attempt to avoid being shrugged off with sentiments similar to Disraeli’s quote about “three kinds of lies” I shall simply offer the two figures:

Idiot

 The reasoning behind this post is really only me marvelling at Dostoevsky.

Possibly Duende

The weekend previous I was privy to a Flamenco show in Sevilla. I have been told since about the concept of Duende, a somewhat undefined term which broadly translates as the soul of the performance. I also heard about the book titled Duende: A journey in search of Flamenco, by the author Jason Webster, which I intend to read.

¡Aventuras Españolas!

Great Dixter

I remember the January drive back from the airport. I was nearly bursting with excitement to be coming home after a year away. First job had been completed, changing the car tyre with my father on a rather grey day in the Heathrow airport car park. Whilst the rain inevitably found its way through my unsuitable clothes, it never touched my core. Seeing my sister, and mother and father for the first time in such a long time, and after such an incredible journey; the weather’s most hostile of conditions wouldn’t have stood a chance against the infinite happiness and warmth that I radiated. We set off, car swelling with love, around the motorway and then down the most beautiful roads I’d ever known.

Cycles

“Let me forget about today until tomorrow”; I play and replay that track, solely for the utterance of that line. An all-immersing glorious three second quelling. With the last word, that encompassing insurmountable wall of solitude reappears and I wonder about the gift and burden of vitality. From birth, unwittingly plunged into a world of false opposites it appeared so simple. Black remained just that. How does one prepare for that watershed day when one questions and out of that infallibly logical brain, come answers of a ghost-like shade of grey?