quintain kwin’ tin, (hist) n a post for tilting at, often with a turning cross-piece to strike the unskilful tilter. Used in training for jousts and tournaments. (Cambridge Dictionary) Clonk – woomph – clatter. Through the open window of the study, you could hear the noise from the castle grounds. The Baron turned to his agent. “Never mind the clash, […]
After the big crash, the dust settled slowly. Everybody rubbed their eyes. Someone had a coughing fit. Through the high windows, you could see the sunlight shine into the workshop in thick rays, like through the clouds after a thunderstorm. And then the doors banged open, and in came the master. “What is this noise?! Someone […]
It was a small village, up among hills so steep that many would call them mountains. But that was something only immodest people would do. Such as the lowlanders. The villagers were modest. It was not prudent to be otherwise. Immodesty was at odds with the hardship of life in the hills. Most of the […]
Can History repeat itself? Let me tell you a story where it did. Cincinnatus remembered the first time exactly. He had just decided to come back from the field to rest in the shade of his little pergola, enjoying the view of the river Tiber. He considered calling out to his wife for a drink, […]
The pyramid stood glowing against the rising sun. It dwarfed the vast expanse of simple buildings around it, and since the main roads all pointed towards it, it looked as if a giant octopus had descended onto the city, and sucked all life towards its centre. And in a way, that’s exactly what it did. […]
Kim sat, in defiance of municipal orders, astride one of the guns in front of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi. There was some justification for Kim, since he felt he was now one of the principal enforcers of British rule on the subcontinent – or at least in the town he lived in. He saw […]
The Monastery was situated at the end of the world. Since the beginning of time it had been sitting high up in that remote valley of the Himalayas. For generations, the monks followed their daily routines as laid out in the scriptures. The common prayers. The fasting. The meditation. The more profane activities were also […]
It was in Berlin, during that terrible period when new tech startups spread like mushrooms in every abandoned courtyard, and many of them noislessly disappeared again a couple of years later. He, the Founder of one of the first, now well-established Tech companies, decided to come back to his firm unknown, through an online job […]
Once upon a time there was a swan. He was very beautiful. Now – this statement is in need of explanation. All swans are very beautiful by nature. But our swan stood out from even their midst: a most stunning specimen of the most admirable species on the lake. A privilege, he thought, but a […]
I was at the time working for a World Bank Mission in a remote country. It was one of these weird things when you feel like you are in a glass bowl or something. You have your knowledge, your experience, your methods, your equipment – And then you realize that the only people around you […]