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Lost in transit?
The plane got slower and slower, until it finally arrived two hours and 42 minutes late. The flight attendants were rather confusing; I saw one going around with a sheet of paper with all the connecting flights on it, but I couldn’t get her attention. Instead, another attendant told me there was no information and […]
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A second first day
Today was the second time that La Serpiente Aquatica Negra started at school. My wife spent yesterday writing our firstborn’s name onto all her possessions – sun hat, water bottle, clothes, nappies, 26 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica, etc etc – in accordance with the school guidelines. The first time that La Serpiente started at […]
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The kindness of strangers (dairy edition)
Riding around in a taxi at 10:30 tonight, nauseous, I felt like I was the most pretentious smuggler in the world. On the seat next to me lay a bag, heavy with packs of frozen breast milk. The driver of the taxi seemed to be intent on breaking the land speed record, by driving as […]
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Early panic
We decided to pack tonight: from the end of next week, we’ll be travelling, together for three weeks and then when I return to Singapore, my wife will only be at the start of her trek across Canada. I’m glad we started a week before the first flight, as we have to grapple with the […]
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Not adequately prepared for a blow to the head
I felt awful today. I woke up with a sore throat and a headache. This wasn’t a hangover; I had a sore throat and a headache yesterday as well. Well, maybe having three pints last night didn’t do anything good for my sense of well-being. The day ground slowly down on me, my attention fluttering […]
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Eight hours to take off
One good thing about getting up at two in the morning to go to the airport is that you don’t have time to worry about what you’ve forgotten to pack. One bad thing about getting up at two in the morning is that you don’t get any sleep the night before, because you’re worrying about […]
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Bathday
Today I bathed my daughter for the first time. Up until now we’ve been top-and-tailing her, which is the infant equivalent of a sponge bath, but today we had a visit from the midwife, and we were waiting for that. I knew I’d forget what was in our ante-natal classes, and it is always better […]
