A while ago, Tim and I got invited to a birthday party. We were talking in a cafe, about to leave, when we passed a table of young Syrians who had been brought a cake earlier in the evening. At the door to go, we offered our best wishes to the birthday girl, and one [...]
Entries from August 2007
August 25, 2007
Why there are no malls in Damascus
Something that Western visitors quickly notice in Syria is that there seems to be no local version of Walmart, with “everything under one roof”. In fact, there is not even everything you need in one neighbourhood: there are instead neighbourhoods selling particular families of products. Walk through the Grand Souk, and you’ll see an alley [...]
August 23, 2007
Useful things to bring to Syria
If you’re coming to Syria, and aren’t sure what to pack, I wrote a simple article suggesting what you do and don’t need.
Things I wish I’d brought to Syria
PS Since I wrote this, I’ve been informed that tampons are very hard to find here in Damascus. Typically ignorant man!
Daniel
August 23, 2007
The spirit of Virginia Woolf
Observation: Virginia Woolf seems an unusually rich source of inspiration for later writers. In fact, it’s more than just inspiration: if you read the Bernard Malamud story, “In Kew Gardens” or, of course, Michael Cunningham’s “The Hours”, it is as if these writers are channelling Virginia Woolf. Her own energies power their stories.
Proposition: Writers who [...]
