Katherine Gregor's Blog
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Jul.01.2012
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a grey wolf ran up to him. “What is the matter, Tzarevitch Ivan?” asked the wolf. “Why so downhearted?”
“Grey wolf, I have lost my trusted steed.”
“It is I who ate your steed... And now I am sad for you. Tell me, why are you so far from home and...
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2 comments
Jun.24.2012
When I was getting a divorce, twelve years ago, my mother-in-law said, “I want you and I to remain friends.”
I muttered some polite platitude in return.
Friends with the mother of the man with whom I was engaged in a who-hurt-whom-most contest? Right. On which planet would that...
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6 comments
Jun.17.2012
Beginnings:
I signed up to Twitter a few days before Christmas. It seemed like a low-maintenance way of promoting my writing electronically.
As usual, I needed someone to show me. Not that the instructions were complicated – on the contrary. I am just the sort of...
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Jun.13.2012
When I first started writing this blog, and announced it to just about everyone I knew, one of my acquaintances declared – point blank – that she would not be reading it.
"Nobody reads blogs, anymore," she said. "There's too many of them. I don't know why you bother...
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21 comments
Jun.10.2012
The Scene: a bar
Props: nibbles and alcoholic drinks (white wine with a soupçon of ammonia, red wine with a bouquet of vinaigre, or champagne à la bicarbonate) .
Sound Effects: Near hysterical laughter and raised, sometimes high-pitched voices with very pronounced inflection, expressing the...
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Jun.06.2012
"Do you need a bag?"
There is a tone of warning in the question. In fact, if you listen closely, you will hear that the stress is on "need" and not "bag". That is how the cashier signals that the question is intended as a warning, and not an offer. The look on the cashier'...
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10 comments
Jun.03.2012
All right, so I’m a spoilsport.
I had planned to spend today hiding in my flat, and catching the River Pageant on the television news. I just have never been a fan of crowded, public celebrations of anything. I still carry the trauma of a New Year’s Eve spent on Waterloo Bridge...
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2 comments
May.31.2012
When you're struggling with a situation, do your friends tell you to "stick it out"?
Stick it out. You'll be glad you did.
How do they know that? Do they have 20/20 vision into the future?
Stick it out. Friends tell you that when you hate your home,...
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May.27.2012
Sorry to keep you waiting, we're very busy today.
Tempting answer: Are you suggesting I am not busy?
I can honestly say that I have never ever been seen at the agreed time. It is the would be employer who sets the time of the interview and yet still manages to run late. Is it...
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2 comments
May.24.2012
My grandmother brought me up on fairy tales. Every evening, as daylight faded and silhouettes grew blurred, my mind's eye would open up to the world of magic. Talking animals would trot into our living room, princesses with stars on their foreheads and moon crescents in their...
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2 comments
May.20.2012
English houses are an infuriating combination of the cosy and the absurd.
There are few pleasures comparable to walking home down a street lined with traditional-looking English houses. Diminutive in height, sloped roofs as observation decks for modulating blackbirds and...
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2 comments
May.13.2012
It was a book with a dark blue cover, with a ghostly picture of a Mediaeval ship, in a paler blue and grey, on the front. My mother had brought it for me from the local library, in Nice, as I sat up in bed, age twelve, my neck all swollen with mumps.
“Seigneurs, vous plaît-il d’...
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May.06.2012
Join a library, apply for a job or submit a play for a competition. More often than not, you will have to fill one in. Apparently, their purpose is to guarantee an equal distribution of opportunities among ethnic backgrounds. Does it really work? I am fully aware that this policy...
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Apr.29.2012
I am recovering from a drawn out case of laryngitis. During this time, there was one particular day when I could not speak. My throat hurt too much. Because I am currently between jobs, I was able to indulge the laryngitis, and allow it to take its time over its tantrum. ...
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4 comments
Apr.26.2012
English is a democratic language. Vox populi, vox linguae. As soon as 51% of people say something in a particular way, then it becomes correct.
Incorrect English usage. Now there is a minefield. Do not even venture there. "Incorrect" implies that there is...
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2 comments
Let's just say that I am old enough to know what to do with my young feelings.
”
—(Georges Guétary in 'An American in Paris')
About Katherine
Before you ask – one half of me is English; the other half, a Middle-Eastern mix. I speak English, Italian, French and Russian, which accounts for my hybrid accent which has, so far, been mistaken for South African, Irish, Dutch, US American, German, and one...
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Katherine’s Favorite Books
'La Ragazza di Via Maqueda' (Dacia Maraini), 'A Many-Splendoured Thing' (Han Suyin), 'Berlin Cantata' (Jeffrey Lewis), 'The Places in Between' (Rory Stewart...