Archives for February 2008
For dinner, I’ll have… you
It’s a pretty appalling picture from the Blackberry, but this was me choosing my dinner at Amman’s Zad El Khair restaurant on Monday evening. Run by Saddam Hussein’s personal chef and aimed at, in my host’s words, ‘the Iraqi elite’ it offers a traditional spread of Arabic dishes with one significant exception. Upon arrival the guest leans over a pool in the kitchen to choose their fish for the evening, which is netted and doffed on the head before hitting the barbeque.
Unusually – and rightly – it brought me uncomfortably close to what lands on my plate most days. I felt a little God-like and didn’t enjoy the experience, although this is something we should probably do more often before tucking into the next hamburger.
Mind you, by the time the fish got to the table I’d forgotten about the death sentence I’d passed on it an hour earlier and was happy to tuck in. I’ll not be turning veggie anytime soon.
The reality of market research
Is a lot of time spent in backrooms listening to chain smoking interpreters, trying to draw nuggets of wisdom from inarticulate respondents and off-track moderators.
It’s a nice change to have a window. Normally it’s a bunker.
The weekend wastes away
On a work trip to Amman. The Four Seasons is reputedly the best spot in town: the rooms are nothing special, but the staff live up to the Jordanian reputation for hospitality. There’s something slightly glamorous to have your name radioed ahead from the gate to the front desk, and all the staff on the way.
Touch me. I’m a celebrity!
Crucial
A word that’s used too rarely these days, especially on traffic cones. I can almost guarantee that no one took any notice of the request.
This is London, after all.
London Windsor Station
It seems that the original GWR were as guilty of dodgy destination co-location as today’s Ryanair. Imagine the disappointment of an American tourist who finds that Windsor Castle isn’t just over the hill from London, sorry, Tower Bridge.
[Edited to add "Christ - just looked at this again and realised it's the Tower of London. Idiot."]
Apologies for my absence
But the post-it notes have been piling up. Nearly a month of working hard to earn my money, but I’m back in the land of the living, and photographing, and space-staring.
I’ve got piles
No wonder I don’t read enough books any more. I’m going to have to speed read faster, or care less.
If there was a metaphor for Valentine’s Day
This is possibly it.
Out of thin air
Chinese New Year in London.
See the light
