You think you’ve seen it all… I’m friends with the stray dogs in our local park. The people working in the park feed the dogs, and I supply the tickles (and additional treats). Then the bloody birds ruined it. What should have been a win-win situation has turned into a catastrophe. The dogs get food – and tickles. The blackbirds get whatever’s left. But the birds wanted more. So they started pecking at the oldest dog, who only has three legs, to hurry him on before he’s finished. They sneak...
11 days ago • 1 min read
We want to try every restaurant in Tbilisi before we leave this summer. I can’t recommend last night’s restaurant. The food tasted fine, but the decor included a film projector projecting some old Georgian film. I know it’s Georgian because 90% of the action was people eating and drinking. The walls were stuffed with pictures, paintings, and various vintage bits and bobs, so they projected the film across the top of one wall and part of the ceiling. To be specific, the actors – mostly sitting...
18 days ago • 1 min read
a good friend called me crazy this week. He meant it in a good way after seeing my “history” videos for the first time. But he’s wrong. Consider: This weekend we celebrate the crucifixion of a man-god (celebrate!?!) with bunnies and chocolate. I mean crucifixion? You can’t buy full-size crosses now, and you couldn’t buy them back then. Somebody had to make them to order each time. Why not stick the condemned in a big hole full of water (or olive oil, or whatever is available) with his hands...
25 days ago • 1 min read
we’re moving back to Berlin for a few years this summer. Which means I need to find a job. Just when my resume thought it could retire, it’ll need to work harder than ever before! My last position as an employee was as a specialty building manager in Australia… nine years ago. While I’ve been busy with the books since then, I’m not yet sure how to parlay those skills into a job in the building industry. “Morgan has almost a decade’s worth of experience building entire worlds in his books!”...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
I spent last week trying to get Nadine into one of Tbilisi’s famous sulphur baths with wine, cheese-bread, a cat and a dog. You might think the cat and the dog would be the tricky part, but they weren’t. The tricky part was not cutting my fingers off or glueing them together. Because I was making a raree show for Nadine’s birthday. (That’s what Wikipedia says they are. What a great word! Keep an eye out for it in an upcoming Alumière adventure.) Mine was with Nadine, Manchee and Pudding...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Sometimes you don’t know what to say. Walking with Nadine to work yesterday, a young man, maybe 27, hurried past us as we crossed the bridge over the river. It was raining, but he wore only a knitted cardigan and jeans with the bottoms turned up in a manner I personally haven’t seen since 1993. I’d never make fun of someone for what they were wearing. But I would make fun of someone for walking like they think they’re important. His legs were moving fast, but the steps were short. He kept his...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
one perk of being a writer is the writer’s salon. Those evenings where us big-headed tweedy lads – and ladies – discuss matters of crucial import. And at our last session, I brought us to a very interesting conclusion. The topic was polar bears, inspired, amongst other things, by this German classic. I queried the group whether we knew the colour of a polar bear’s poop. In case you were unaware, it’s the usual colour, and this, I feel, is unacceptable. Look. I don’t expect a panda bear to do...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Poe did more than just write fiction, you know. He was one of America’s leading literary critics, as well as being interested in physics and cosmology. And he was almost certainly the first man in America to use the CRISPR gene-editing technology. Right? I couldn’t believe it at first either, but it says so on Wikipedia. Look: You see? First he became editor of the Journal, and then he became editor of its owner. I found that while researching Poe again this week. I’d researched him before...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Have you looked at a washing machine recently? We’ll need a new one when we move countries, and the last one we bought was maybe in 2013 in Australia. So, at the weekend I spent an hour tentatively dipping my toe into the shopping pool to see how warm the water is, and HOLY MOLY! You can buy washing machines with AI now! I was so excited. Imagine. A washing machine that’ll wander around the house picking up washing, sorting it into piles, washing it and hanging it up for us! But when I read...
2 months ago • 1 min read
