I spent all of yesterday editing a student thesis. Most of the people who ask for my editing services turn out to be foreign students, usually from China or Korea. I am grateful for the business, but I get annoyed at myself because I always undercharge them, and then I end up spending many unpaid [...]
Category Archive for 'Community'
The ponies in the New Forest, where I went camping last week, are very clever indeed. They have established their own fiefdom with unprecedented pony freedom and special rules for humans. About 3000 ponies roam freely throughout the forest. Their grazing maintains the heath and grasslands, and they also contribute to the local economy and [...]
#43 Improve Our Transitions
Posted in Community, General, Politics, Spirituality on Jun 23rd, 2008
When I call my boyfriend in the evenings, we often have a great conversation, and then he ruins the whole thing by hustling me off the phone without warning because he wants to brush his teeth or go to bed or something exciting like that. I know he has to get up early and he [...]
We are taught always to be grateful and thank our hosts. It’s hard to say which of my hosts has been the most remarkable. Was it the landlord who took away my furniture so I had to sleep on the floor? Or the family who disinvited me with a post-it note on the stairs? [...]
Plastic may be wonderful for water bottles and new noses, but when we descended from a remote Scottish coastal path to a picturesque beach, only to find that the shore and hillsides were covered in plastic trash that had washed out of the ocean, the (plastic) recycling bin never looked so good.
My mother [...]
#39 Educate the Ignorant and Correct the Wayward
Posted in Community, Family, General, Spirituality on Jun 13th, 2008
I particularly love it when other people decide they are my long-lost kindergarten teacher. This happened yesterday when I was buying groceries at a small shop.
‘May I have a bag?’ I asked.
The checkout woman put on her most self-righteous tone as she waved the plastic bag in front of my face. ‘Will you promise [...]
For some reason the rural road builders of Britain have decided that it is not necessary to have a separate lane for cars going in either direction. Instead they have concluded that a single lane will do for both directions, as long as there are slightly wider spots identified as Passing Places where two small [...]
#36 Stay Upright
Posted in Community, General, Personal Hygiene on Jun 6th, 2008
It is no easy matter to maintain our bipedal stance on a muddy hill so steep it might be mistaken for a wall. Hundreds of feet have worn away the grass, leaving a slick, treacherous surface. We slip and fall to our hands and knees, clinging to tree roots and other people’s legs as we [...]
Being Southerners, it is our nature to smile and say hi to everybody on the street. This does not go over well in other parts of the world.
After many years in exile, we finally learn to appear miserable and guarded in public. When strangers address us, we pretend not to hear. Hailed by [...]
#33 Don’t Take Anything Personally
Posted in Community, General, Personal Hygiene on May 21st, 2008
My housemate Tjen Ket (actually I have no idea how to spell his name) has undergone a transformation in recent days from glumness to chattiness. I am sorry to admit I preferred the morose state. When he gets excited, his Singaporean English hardens into a series of clattering syllables. Although I find him [...]