Failing forward.
‘Those summer evenings were all alike. As Marie-Jose used to say, we had to make the time pass. Of its own accord, it didn't, or wouldn't: the days lingered like overripe fruit, soft and heavily scented, melting into the glaucous dusk. We gathered by the hotel pool, on the cliff top, after supper, watching the sky falter into Prussian blue, to blue-black, and the moon rising over the Mediterranean, the sea spread out before us, whispering and wrinkled. Every night the white, illuminated bulk of the island ferry ploughed its furrow across the water and receded to the horizon, the only marker of another day's passage.’ Adults - Claire Messud
Nothing wasted.
‘I love it because it folds into a perfectly flat square.’ Overheard
Four German neologisms that describe everyday sensations: Tageslichtspielschock (DAY-LIGHT-SHOW-SHOCK) - Being startled when exiting a cinema into broad daylight Mahlneid (MEAL-ENVY) Coveting thy neighbour's restaurant order Enlistungsfreude (DE-LISTING-JOY) The sense of satisfaction afforded by crossing things off lists Luftfahrtorigaminiedergeschlagenheit (AVIATION-ORIGAMI- DESPONDENCY) The sense of deflation when your paper airplane falls straight to the ground.
‘At first the camp appears as colours against the dust. Then, lifting my gaze, I see plastic, orange tarpaulin, clothing bleached by the sun. These are hues that suggest people have already stayed too long.’
She has a voice like corduroy.
The beginning of rest of my life.
Pfft
Things to be done.
