sartre's waiter (variation)

Some people are so in love with the concept of what they are trying to achieve that they forget what it is they are actually trying to achieve.

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dealing with the inevitable

If you try too hard to achieve something, you are liable to fail at it.

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(And success is nothing more than another trick of the mind.)

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cautionary notice

Sentences, phrases and words: all of these things combine to over-simplify the world.

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Behind every sentence lurks a galaxy of meaning which can only be revealed through the use of further sentences.

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Never believe a word anyone says. Not because they lie, but because the truth is unspeakable.

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hemingway

If you've lived life to the full, the older you get the harder it becomes to find reasons to keep going.

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south west london tales 2

It's gone midnight and we're sitting outside the theatre in the car park after the last show drinking rum and beer. The pretty girl who I've barely spoken to in three months is sitting next to me. She apologises for not really being present during the run. She says it's because her personal life has been getting in the way. She can't help it. It's in her blood. I ask about her parents. She tells me her mother lives in Eritrea and her father's in Paris. He's an actor and a writer and a spoilt child who stamps his feet down the phone. The mother works for the Red Cross. She's a different kettle of fish, but she's in Eritrea. I ask her how old they are. Just making conversation. She doesn't know. She thinks about it. She says her father was born in. She thinks about it. The same year as her mother. Sixty six. On the bus home this information will sink in as some kind of a crossroads, an unforseen detour into the desert just off Marble Arch.

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west london tales 7

It's half past two in the morning. I'm walking across the iron bridge to the Harrow Road. I'm drunk. Someone's walking behind me. There are people on the streets. Then the someone is walking beside me. I'm listening to music. The someone crosses my path under the flyover. I try to move away from her, increasing my speed. I look round. She's still there. She's talking to me. I take one headphone out. She asks me if she can come and stay at my place. I'm befuddled and bemused. I keep walking. She sticks to me. I tell her I have a wife and three children. She doesn't budge. We've reached the library and she's still there. She says she knows she can't stay at mine because of my wife but she still wants to stay at mine. I ask her where she's from. She says she's from Birmingham. She says they sent her away. I take her to the hostel. Ring the buzzer and a man lets us in. He comes down the stairwell. He says there aren't any beds. He says she should go to the police station. We have to leave. I give the woman the money left in my pocket and tell her to go to Euston. It's just down the road. Wait and get on a train to Birmingham. She says she doesn't have enough money for the train. She says she's going to go back into town. See what's happening there. She says goodbye and walks away.

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self consciousness

The most interesting aspect of an Achilles heel is not that it exists and that it has the capability to bring its owner down.

It is that the owner of the Achilles heel is unaware of its existence, and its ability to bring him or her down.

The Achilles redemption lies in our capacity to discover our unavoidable flaw, and prepare for the day when an unleashed arrow will strike.

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dos anos

No son tanto,
Pero son bastante.

(Assuming my understanding of the last word is better than the italian director who irked his Uruguayan actors according to la Panella)

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