L’après-midi d’un phone
Together with the very much alive use of the vocative case in South East European languages, ablaut is one of those subjects that makes me go all tingly, so I…
Italian ballets
That old party game ‘name five famous Belgians’ is a little unfair on the Belgians. A more difficult game is ‘name five Italian ballets’, I’ve discovered. Until, that is, I…
Skip, change of step
I often feel extraordinarily privileged to have such illustrious friends in the ballet world, particularly when I want an answer to a simple question, and can just pick up the…
The joy of libraries and my Czech mate Czerny
It’s not often that I get goosebumps sitting in a library, but I came pretty near to it yesterday on a trip to the University of London Library. I have…
IT advice no-one ever listens to
For some reason – perhaps because I’m about to stop smoking again, and just waiting for all the ‘you know it makes sense’ comments – I’ve been listing in my…
Tooting Chariot Festival 2004
It’s August Bank Holiday, so it’s time for the wonderful Tooting Chariot Festival again. It starts at the Muththumari Amman Temple at the end of the street, and makes its…