Make Time to Have Lunch

One of the many reasons I decided not to become a teacher?  Honestly?  The fact that most teachers I met didn’t seem to have time to eat lunch.  Untasted cups of tea sat quietly steaming away during break as teachers hurriedly checked important ‘A’ level essays; sandwiches were sadly and unselfishly pushed aside to run [...]

Coffee Shops: Renting a Refuge from London

I truly realised that I was a Londoner the other day, as I flicked idly through a copy of Time Out magazine.  In ‘The Big Smoke’ section at the front of the magazine they always have a photo of some aspect of London life sent in by a member of the public, and in issue [...]

Suki Kirai wa Damae desu yo. Or, To Like or Dislike is Not Allowed

How I wish that I had photocopied, or otherwise gathered evidence of, the sign with the above motto that I saw plastered up around a Japanese elementary school.  Underneath the motto was a cartoon of two children eating their school dinners.  One of them was visibly baulking at a food item included in the dinner, [...]

Dealing with a Sweet Tooth

Some people claim not to have a sweet tooth at all, but I suspect they are lying.  Tito and I have great big sweet teeth.  Tito gets his from his mum’s side.  I’ll always remember giving Glavis a glass of very dry wine and then catching her covertly stirring teaspoons full of sugar into it: [...]

Life is Like a Menu

I love perusing menus.  It’s thrilling to scan the list of available dishes, and linger on the tasty, steaming images the words bring.  The anticipation is fabulous.  The problem is I am so utterly indecisive.  Although I savour the language of menus, I definitely prefer a short menu to a long - it’s much easier to [...]