I am currently watching - well, while I'm not laughing - a French film called "A l'aventure". I can't even begin to describe how unoriginal it is, which would be fine if every frame didn't resonate with misplaced gravitas, as if the story is somehow so artistically significant that the first scene must feature a... Continue Reading →
Til kids do us part
There has been a lot of conversation in the press recently about sperm donors. First, there was the story about the designer sperm clinic that allows women to select from a list of donor's personal characteristics. I have to say I found the idea of this quite entertaining. There was another article (also in The... Continue Reading →
Woody Allen – always the same
I've very little to write about these days. The new job that I took with a view to earning enough money to take time off has subsumed all my time, energy, friends and hobbies. So the only thing I've really been doing is what I usually do when big voids open up in my life... Continue Reading →
The loneliness of Iran
Travel writing is the description of a different reality. For this reason, I have always found it almost impossible to write anything interesting about my travels, mainly because I become so instantly absorbed within this new reality that I fail to write down unusual impressions - once you've been in Delhi for a few hours,... Continue Reading →
Lucrative dreams
I've been on a little downer recently, as a result of which I indulged in watching Twilight on DVD. There is nothing quite as escapist as the idea of superhuman strength, speed and immortality - like feeling seventeen again. When it finished, I somewhat jealously googled Stephenie Meyer , the author of the books. Her... Continue Reading →
Yesterday in Paperchase
I spend a tiny bit too much time in Shepherd's Bush at weekends. Westfield is my second home, to the extent that I know the location of pretty much every single one of the 300 shops in it - I've never not known the answer when asked for directions. Yesterday, I actually wanted to buy... Continue Reading →
The attraction of David Cornwell
I went to see the recently released film of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Gary Oldman, and while he was perfect, Colin Firth was very disappointing. For me Bill Haydon was always Julian Sands or Ralph Fiennes. Colin Firth is too heavy set, and even though he is described as "jolly" in the book, Firth... Continue Reading →
My new job: wedding chaperone
I do love weddings, and this year seems to have had a particularly plentiful supply. This weekend's specimen was a little unusual, since I had never met the bride or the groom. A recently single friend asked me to accompany her in her ex boyfriend's place. She spent the entire time saying "This is Freya,... Continue Reading →
The fear of change
As ever, when anything changes in my life, I descend into introspection. For no particular reason, I start to find my gilded existence tragic, and turn into a navel-gazing drama queen, nervously necking champagne at a wedding and sloping off home in tears because they’re playing Oasis and I have just drunkenly stepped on my own... Continue Reading →
Musical chairs
Awful lot going on at the moment, in both my world and the real world. In the real world, London is burning with the fury of a generation unwilling to accept that hard work reaps rewards eventually, and in an ingenious scorched earth policy, they both steal goods and then set fire to commercial real... Continue Reading →
The resting writer 