1. I always dread the day I've got to alter my phone contract. I try to research what I want, but the website makes my head spin. Then I grit my teeth and make the call. It's easier than I think, and I feel better afterwards.
2. Man on Wire is the story of the man who walked on a high wire between the World Trade Centre towers in 1974. It re-unites the team who pulled off the stunt for an emotional account of an act of wonder. Philippe Petit describes how he first saw a picture of the yet-to-be built towers in a magazine in a dentist's waiting room. He pretended to sneeze so that he could tear out the page without anyone noticing -- and yet he went on to rebel against authority by stringing wires without permission between the high places of public landmarks.
3. Last thing at night, I settle down in bed with The Manuscript Found in Saragossa. It's a tale of ghosts, Gypsies and mystery religions set in Spain. It reminds me in parts of Jonathan Strange; and in parts of Italo Calvino.
Northernmost point, out of the rain and blue fire.
1. An alarm goes off in Nick's pocket to let us know that it's the moment of the winter solstice. 2. The rain is falling in steady c...
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1. An enormous fat bumble bee at work. She is so bulky that she can knock dead blossoms out of the way as she gets right in to the new jasmi...
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1. The shortest night and the longest day. I was up at Wellington Rocks with Anna, Paul and Jason. We couldn't see the sun through the m...
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1. I promised myself I wouldn't moan and grumble about it -- but I do. And as if by magic, a very kind friend produces the required blaz...