A PLACE FOR SIDEWAYS TRAINS OF THOUGHT
I have always found Henry James to be a difficult writer to read. I have often tried but, honestly , apart from the Turn of the Screw, which is riveting, and Daisy Miller, I have never managed to get past any of his prologues. This is probably due to the fact that, being an interpreter... Continue Reading →
Last year I stood on a corner at a crossroads in Hanoi where a stream of motorcycles, scooters and mopeds was going east to west and another south to north and both flows were heading for each other. A crash seemed inevitable, unless one stream suddenly gave way. But as if it were a baffling... Continue Reading →
Once every day at least, I use my landline to locate my misplaced cell phone. I wish I knew the number for my misplaced wisdom.
Listen to the poem here Life is an outbreak of Hungarian measles by which I mean the diagnosis never was nor will be found in scrolls or textbooks. When life comes round, however much you had been looking out for it, it never is quite what you did expect. It might turn out to be... Continue Reading →
When beginning as an interpreter many years ago , I was reminded that “Ivory Coast” was a name to be avoided as the authorities of that state insisted on it always being called by the French name Côte d’Ivoire. 2.Côte d’Ivoire is now a rather strange name since the ivory trade is prohibited. 3. A... Continue Reading →
I have begun to add readings of poems to my YouTube channel (sidewaysstation). For the time being there are five, but I'll be adding more over time.
Siren song My city with its uphill loves, my Genoa all full of sea and steps and, rising from the harbour, whirlpools of living life all the way up to reach the ridges of the sheet-metal roofs, now with what forcefulness inside me, here where each word has turned to lead, does it quiver... Continue Reading →
Recently, I chanced upon a page in Wikipedia entitled “At sign”. It contains a long list of the names which @ has in various languages. It is quite amazing that one sign can have been interpreted in so many different ways. Here is a selection (some of the names listed are not reported as... Continue Reading →
In his book on Australia, Down Under, (entitled In a Sunburned Country in the USA and Canada), there is a moment when Bill Bryson is trying to find something to listen to on the radio while driving towards, if I recall properly, Adelaide. Nothing seems to be on the air. But, eventually, he comes across... Continue Reading →
If you have watched any royal ceremonies involving the Queen of England, you may have noticed that she is the only person who doesn’t join in when “God Save the Queen” is sung. She can’t, of course. It would make no sense. But I am sure that there have been times when she has sung it... Continue Reading →