Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
Saturday, 27 November 2010
I’ll only buy a book for the way it looks / And then I stick it on the shelf again
And last but not least, our vacation destination has a system of issuing visas on arrival, which may well be perfectly reliable and legitimate. But I am paranoid about visas and things, and visa-on-arrival looks decidedly shady to me. I am convinced we will be turned back at the airport.
But despite everything, the Quaker and I booked tickets yesterday. No doubt, he has his own reasons for wishing to visit a faraway city at the coldest time of the year. For me, it all comes down to a book. Or more particularly, a book cover.
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Fox in the Snow
I did not know that people said ‘Brr’ in real life.
* * *
There are not many things that can make me smile when returning from work at well past midnight, but this did.
Monday, 8 November 2010
Genevieve
In 1895, John Henry Knight built Britain’s first petrol-powered motor vehicle and while driving it through Farnham, Surrey, was stopped by the Superintendent of Police and charged with using a locomotive without a licence.
On 30 July 1896, the House of Commons debated the speed limit for light locomotives (vehicles with an unladen weight of under 3 tons, i.e. what we now call ‘cars’). Many members considered that 10 miles an hour would be sufficient, but the reckless Mr. Chaplin had other ideas:
On the other hand, 14 miles as a maximum he did not think was at all unreasonable. [Cries of "Oh!"]
The Locomotives on Highways Act passed that year finally repealed the notorious Red Flag Law, and on a wet Saturday in November that year, thirty vehicles set off from London to Brighton to celebrate the event. This tradition still continues in the form of the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, the longest running motoring event in the world, open only to cars built before 1905.
On Saturday, the cars lined up on Regent Street in all their glory. The grand old ladies, who bore names like Miss Elizabeth and Genevieve, were the cynosure of all eyes, but as is my wont, I was taking photos of the people.
Monday, 1 November 2010
Abira Out Of Context
This weekend:
Let’s keep it. Who knows when we might need an eye-drop?
Last weekend:
Abira (on the phone): *laughing*
Sarbajeet (on the other end): What happened?
Abira: Strawberries and a book went flying.
Two weekends ago:
(Peering into corners of the kitchen of a house she has stayed in for over six months): My God, there are, like, tube-lights everywhere!
Three weekends ago:
In fact, now that I think about it, my phone looks strangely like a bidet.