Tuesday, October 3
Botanical Garden 12
Eitan meets four local men one playing guitar. He is invited to join and plays a blues song for them. "They found it a bit weird", he says.
at 08:14
Gamatkhona 11
Practicing Shia pray every day, seven-days a week, at 4am and 6pm, filling the mosque with men and women who pray together (unlike Sunni). Eitan and I would be hard pressed in service at this early hour though not far off from the swimming practice of my youth.
Unlike Sunni, who pray five times a day, there is no call to prayer, which is so haunting in Sunni Muslim cities.
Shia: "the Muslims of the branch of Islam comprising sects believing in Ali and the Imams as the only rightful successors of Mohammad and in the concealment and messianic return of the last recognised Imam."
at 08:06
Makhfird 10
at 07:46
Monday, October 2
Khorog 9
Eitan and I breakfast at the hostel on a quiet Sunday morning. We awake stunned, per normal, and the coffee, everywhere, is Nescafe and sometimes the water is hot - but, in all fairness dear, it does the trick.
On the TV screen behind me is a kick boxing fight and Eitan and I discuss the uncivilised nature of this violent sport - even boxing aims at some gentlemanly nature with gloves, if not worn in Tajikistan. Adding to the noise is the Tajik music which pumps beats around the room - to me, it sounds of of chanting prayer mixed to synthesizer rhythms - the patrons pay neither TV nor sound any notice. Last night a group of Russians smoked and drank at the bar and it is hard to imagine they are welcome here, now, but they are served and we do not join them.
Macfadir enjoys music but has never heard of The Beatles. Or The Rolling Stones. I ask, who then ? And her Western canon is complete with Madonna. What songs? "Frozen", which happens to be from my favourite Madonna album "Ray Of Light".
Aziz points out his house as we drive through Khorog and I tell him he is a rich man. He replies, "I am a rich man because I have three daughters." (translated by Macfadir)
at 16:25
Tajikistan 8
Today is Independence Day in Tajikistan, dating from 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet empire. In Dushambe there are fireworks and military parades; in Khorog, where we are, there is nothing to report, just another day of living.
After the collapse of the USSR, and from May 1992 until 1997, the Tajik Civil War devastated the country as regional groups rose up against the elected President, Ramon Nabiyev, who remains President today and whose image is posted everywhere we travel. Against him, the rebels included liberal democrat reformers and Islamasists, supported by the Russian military. An estimated 60,000 to 150,000 people were killed with 20% of the population displaced - there was indiscriminate killing mainly in the southern region, our route this pas week - it is hard to imagine given how freely people here give their hospitality.
at 09:23
Pamirs 7
Today we drive to Geisev Valley and cross the Bhartan river on a rickety footbridge, fast-flowing water feet beneath us. From here we trek to Bhagoo village, about 8km, to an upper series of clear lakes in a valley of towering mountains. We stay the night in Geisev, a small village of simple houses, gnarled trees and fruit groves - it is the season and appleas and pears fall from the branches; blankets of orange apricots sun-dry on the stones. Eitan and I count seconds on each on in the 4C river which we swim.
I learn that a Pamir house is built as a family effort instead of, say, buying off a neighbour. It takes about one year to collect all the materials needed for construction. As wood is rare here and the centrepriece of the house is wooden pillars, family planning demands long-term tree-planting.
Furniture is simple and the home protected with warm carpets and wools on the floor and walls.
Our room has a hole in the ceiling for a make-shift chimney.
at 08:57
Taliban 6
Aziz grunts as he points out a Taliban check point.
The Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996-2001 until the Americans knocked them out. It began as a student led revolution (Taliban means "students") from the 1994 Afghanistan civil war and spread in the Islamic schools - it was Mullah Omar who shifted the movement away from the Mujahideen warlords into a form of government espousing an extreme interpretation of Islamic law ("Sharia") which resulted in massacres against Afghan civilians, harsh discrimination against minority religions and people, denial of UN food supplies to starving people, banning women from school, and the destruction of cultural monuments.
In 1997, our trip to Pakistan leading us into the mountainous Northern Territories was nearly killed as the Taliban destroyed the ancient Budha statues of Afghanistan and their nomadic armed camps, and refugees, spilled into the region alongside the KKH, triggering fear that all of Pakistan could be next.
The Taliban did not disappear during the American occupation, retaking Kabul following the US departure in 2021. The Taliban is not recognised by any country and likely supported by China, Russia and Iran and others.
at 08:42
Sunday, October 1
Tajikistan 5
Nate does not trust the government generally and his eventual terminus may be Mexico or Panama - he reasons their leadership is so incompetent it cannot be dangerous. My impolite suspicion is that Nate is running for something quite possibly more than growing up.
at 18:35
Saturday, September 30
Tajikistan 4
The small village is next to towering mountains and the sometimes raging c 970km Panj River which drains the Sarez Lake, itself filled by glacier melt, in the Bartang Valley. The river is the natural border separating Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Remarkably, it dissolves into the desert. Before it goes, though, water is siphoned to the cotton fields, Tajikistan's major export, since the Aral Sea went dry (watering cotton) during Soviet times.
But the Pamir Highway : it is a c 1,800km two-lane (sometimes) road that begins in Termez, Uzbekistan, and ends in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Pre highway, the route was an important part of the Silk Road connecting East and West.
The present hw began in 1931-35 under Stalin to transport troops and provisions and maintain his control here. Over many years, sections were upgraded to concrete or tarmac but, from around Kalai Kumb, it is mostly a dirt and rock road making for brutal driving. Along with holes and ditches, we are 1-3 feet from the road's edge dropping downwards to the battleship grey river below. Impassable without a 4WD.
My original plan was to cycle the hw, which I now see would have been dangerous and foolhardy. Firstly I cannot service a bike which is certainly an essential requirement. Then there are the passes over 3,000m.
As we drive I note the Chinese are in the midst of bouldering and eventually, I learn, will pave the full hw, expected to finish by 2025. Payback is the minerals and precious metals that can be delivered more rapidly to Kashgar than Eastern China where the people are. Chinese orange trucks, driven by Tajiks, create impasses and Aziz honks, curses and races around them without changing a facial expression, which is normally glowering (though he is extremely friendly)
As trucks approach there is a game of chicken between drivers (Aziz) dictated by the smoothest passage on the road - is a broken axel from a pothole less inconvenient than a collision ?
at 16:33
Tajikistan 3
at 15:58
Tajikistan 2
at 13:42
Tajikistan 1
Eitan and I arrive in Dushamnbe (meaning “Monday” , when the city was so inconsequential it was named for the market day; now, 1.2m people and the capital city) on Sunday greeted at the very crowded airport by our guide and driver for the next three weeks. This is a first time in Tajikistan though I have been to Central Asia in 1997 to tour the Karakoram Highway with Sonnet and my sister Katie. In effect, we will soon be on the less developed - and trafficked - Pamir Highway winding into the Pamir Mountains, much of which is along the Afghanistan and Chinese borders. It is the second highest highway in the world after the KKH and reaches a top pass of over 4,200m.
at 09:11
Saturday, July 7
Roger Waters
Madeleine grabs her ticket and bolts into the crowd to meet friends, never to be seen again. Eitan arrives late but, touchingly, wants to spend the concert with me and Sonnet and so he and I fight our way somewhere into the middle to take in the theatrics.
I bought the concert tickets immediately when on sale, having been mesmerised by the Pink Floyd exhibition at the V&A last year.
at 09:59
Summer At Last
Otherwise our gal is free - Free! - to do whatever she wants. 16 years-old and summertime.
Susan Boster: "So, Madeleine, are you ready for your Devil Wears Prada Moment?"
Madeleine:
Susan: "I want you to get me a strawberry and cream frappachinio with skim milk but with extra cream, crushed ice chips, extra strawberry swirl. And java chips.
Madeleine: "Can I write that down?"
Colleague: "We are only beginning."
at 09:53
Hamilton Lame
We see Hamilton at the Victoria Palace. I think I am the only person I know who hated it. I didn't care for the rap music and the production made me think of a bunch of tenth graders running around the stage. The black performers are wonderful, but what does one make of the 100% white audience ? Katie says I have to see it in New York so maybe I will.
A more interesting story is that at Brown, and again at Columbia, I connected with Jill Furman who produced the play - her first one, I believe - and boy what a winner. Jill never struck me as someone who was into theatre nor American history but stranger things have happened.
Jill and I had one memorable night on the Narragansett Docks in Providence around 3AM where we were flashed by the police and ordered to vacate immediately in the midst of a bust.
at 09:42
Tuesday, June 26
State Of Mind
Madeleine finishes the GCSE exams and, just like that, no more GCSEs. Ever. It's like a marathon : once the first step taken, it is no longer 26 miles. Our gal learns her marks, alongside the rest of nation's 16 year-olds, on August 23. And, my dear friends, the inevitable question must be asked : Who is more terrified - we parents, or the kid ?
Eitan for his part receives his AS grades which are exemplary.
at 17:36
Sunday, June 24
Of Remembrance
Stan sought his own opportunity and adventure in Anchorage, Alaska, where he took his young bride, Silver, following a two week courtship. Their arrival well time for the Anchorage earthquake of '64 that flattened the city.
In Alaska, Stan built his law practise while Silver taught at the University of Anchorage. They collected interesting friends like the Manhattan debutant who could skin a deer and did so for the family's winter meat.
at 18:34
Sunday, June 17
Sweet 16
Madeleine will spend a week of the summer with Lola and Bella in LA whilst taking a film writing class founded by Katie's friend.
at 11:33
Manhattan From Below
at 11:22
Manhattan from Above
On the morning of TRS I am picked up in a taxi with two other passengers which is mildly annoying given the importance of the meeting and how far I have travelled to get to it. I strike up a conversation with the dude next to me who is returning home from his job as a school bus driver. We connect on the importance of his work - he is the first person the kids see in the morning, and the last before going home. This gets a nice smile from him. I use the story to open the Teachers meeting and the rest goes like a charm.
at 11:10
Monday, May 28
Over 50 Years And Counting
Me: "You afraid we are going to run out of food?"
Eitan:
Me: "Admit it, you were."
Eitan, laughing: "Yeah, I guess so."
Me: "The kid's a furnace."
Sonnet: "Stop teasing him."
Me: "At this rate of food consumption I am going to have to work another five years."
Eitan: "Really?"
Me: "We might have to borrow money from your Grandfather. And buy a farm to ensure your meat supply."
Eitan:
Me: "Want to move to Iowa ?"
Eitan: "Ok Dad you can stop now."
at 15:00
Almost 50 Years And Counting
Madeleine: "Oh my God."
at 14:52
Sunday, May 27
In Pink
The boy looks good in a suit and here he demonstrates that pink is a solid option in the shirt rotation. I give him pointers on where the shoulder cut should fall, and the value of belt vs. buckle (English prefer latter) or the number of pleats (seven or none) and whether a serious man would ever wear roll-ups (cuffs) in Europe (Never). He takes it in like the wise man he is then ignores it all immediately.
Eitan selected Prefect, a position of leadership within the school. He wears a special tie.
at 19:00
Money Trail
at 18:52
Recitals
2018 means college applications, that thing over the long horizon and across the bounding fields and in the never arriving future. It's here. Eitan has taken the SATs and the ACTs and the British school AS exam in early modern history. The results are coming in and they are satisfactory.
Without football this season due to the torn left ACL, Eitan has thrown himself into choir, piano and theatre, where he will perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August. Otherwise, he busies himself with homework, college essays and his group of friends which provide him with great pleasure.
Sonnet and I crack wise about Eitan's social life for this blog entry.
Sonnet: "You know he can hear everything your saying through his open window."
Me: "Really?"
Sonnet:
Me: "Eitan !"
Eitan: "Yeah ?!"
Me:
Sonnet: "You are so clueless sometimes."
Me, later in the kitchen: "Say something for updating the blog."
Eitan: "For the blog?"
Me: "Yeah, say something."
Eitan: "Um, it feels like a good stage in life right now. Quite a lot of ahead of me. Cruising along at a fairly constant pace."
Me: "Say something not for your grandparents."
Eitan: "The knee is a bit of a setback. Uh.. I don't know." [Dad's note: Eitan blew out out his second ACL, this time the right knee.]
Me: "Anything else kid?'
Eitan: "Not really."
Me: "Thumbs up, middle or down?"
Eitan: "Middle I guess."
Me: "A carefree life."
Eitan: "Yeah. A bit."
at 18:40
Sunday, December 3
Cool Cat
Today it is crunch time for our gal with the mock exams (known as the 'mocks') that prepare the Year 11s for the GCSEs, which arrive like a cold storm in May and lasts for five weeks. On the other side: relief, mainly. Eitan went through it last year and, now, the takes the A levels (the "As").
Mike Flynn turns like the worm he is, negotiating a sweetheart deal from special counsel Mueller that likely saves Flynn and his son from prison. Mueller gives Flynn a pass for evidence on Flynn's superiors and there are only two: Trump and VP Michael Pence.
"Democracy dies in darkness."
--Leader on the Washington Post
at 14:44
Monday, November 6
Skate Rats
Yet, they were nearly kicked out severals years ago to make way for a £120m refurbishment project.
The skaters balked, refused to vacate, and the ensuing battle with the Southbank Centre lasted 18 months. The skaters eventually won with support from the public and then-mayer Boris Johnson.
In reality, the Southbank Centre wanted to move the skateboarders 120 metres upriver to a space under the Hungerford Bridge but Lambeth council received more than 27,000 objections to the centre's planning application.
at 01:17
Monday, October 30
Strumm'n Pink Floyd
Our gal was once a determined trumpet player which has not progressed into adulthood; our house sadly misses the loud blasts of sound that once descended upon us from her bedroom.
Deep down I miss the trumpet for it connects me to her childhood and it was demonstrative of her determination and uniqueness. Same as the pink cowboy boots.
at 17:26
Saturday, October 28
Eitan Hits The East Coast
Me: "Look, I've got the the Instagram app." [Dad's note: Madeleine and I are in a night taxi].
Madeleine: "Yeah, so?"
Me: "Are you going to let me join your Instagram?"
Madeleine: "No."
Me: "Why not?"
Madeleine: "I want to keep my life private."
Me: "Damn that's cold g." [Dad's note: Madeleine was calling me 'g' in her texts; she stopped but I continue to use it with her].
Madeleine:
Me: "Hey, have you ever heard of Snapchat?"
Madeleine: "Yes, Dad, I've heard of Snapchat."
Me: "How 'bout Facebook? That one is pretty cool."
Madeleine:
Me: "The best app though is Vodafone."
Madeleine: "Vodafone?"
Me: "Vodafone. Like, no typing."
Madeleine:
Me: "Why would I want to spend all that time typing? When I want to call my homies I just dial and talk. No typing."
Madeleine: "OK, whatever."
Me: "Typing is so last year. I thought you would now it, a 15 year old like you."
Madeleine: "Are we almost there yet?"
at 13:59
Sunday, October 22
Backyard
Richmond Park was first founded by Charles I who, in 1625, got the hell out of London during a plague. He needed some sport so built a royal lodge (now the Royal School for Ballet) and, in 1637, enclosed 2,500 acres with a brick fence to contain red and fallow deer, which he and his guests hunted for pleasure (fence and deer remain today). It also kept the riff raff out.
Well, old Charles I was executed and the custodianship of the park passed to the Corporation of the City of London. A bunch of back and forths took place with the monarchy until 1872 when public access to Richmond Pk was assured by an Act of Parliament.
As commoners we enjoy it.
at 13:07
Saturday, October 21
Korean Joint
I photograph this young women before she meets her friends.
at 14:30
Eitan and Eric
Scott and Cindy take care of Eitan for Brown. Scott was on the Board of Trustees at Brown for many years and I imagine he enjoys picking up Eitan at Wilson Hall following the campus tour.
at 14:26
Soutine's Portraits
Chiam Soutine was a Jewish Russian-French painter who made a major contribution to the expressionist movement while living in Paris. He was dirt poor and nearly destitute until Paul Guillaume, a highly influential art dealer, bought and championed his work. The exhibition shows paintings of hotel bellhops, cooks and servants which was an unusual subject for the time (and now).
at 14:18
Friday, October 20
Life From The Top
I strain my head on the late night taxi-ride from the airport to get a sense of this enormity. What is equally striking: the highrises are lit up like Christmas trees. Nobody ready for sleep despite the late hour.
It is clear that Asia is the future.
at 13:01
Justin
at 12:52