New Year’s Revolutions

Writing in the local paper. Local issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs. It’s hard to tell which Americanisms will get adopted in foreign lands and I suppose it’s even more difficult to predict just how these foreign…

Spanish Time Zones

Writing in the local paper. Local issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs. One of my first memories of Spain is how time felt completely different here than it did anywhere else I had ever been. During my…

Fire and Water

Writing in the local paper. Local issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs. I remember watching with amazement, and not just a little discomfort, as the young men in pointy shoes leapt through the air over the huge…

Christmas Light

Writing in the local paper. Local issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs. For some, the holidays are a welcome time of routine. Of doing what you’ve always done and feeling a sense of security in knowing that…

Overhead Snakes

Writing in the local paper. Local issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs. I suppose that they had been slithering along the margins of my subconscious for some time but were recently brought into focus by a picture…

Spanish Sunday Afternoons #6

Don’t try this at home kids! It’s fall…the leaves are beginning to fall and the mushroom hounds are on the loose. The word ‘mushroom’ in English seems to convey about as much excitement and meaning as the word ‘oil’. You have to compound it to extract its full flavour. Jumping over stone walls and getting…