The month is June and she is spending a few days on the Algarve as she has done for almost as long as she can remember. She loves these first days on the beach, even if the wind still blows a little bit more than it should and the water temperature chills her bones when she dives in. She feels the warm sand under her feet and looks at the sea before her, at the waves that softly wash onto …
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I always think of her as the first feminist, for what does it mean to be a feminist after all? For me, being feminist means fighting for equal rights and duties, for having the same opportunities as men and reaching out for them without a trace of doubt…and that’s what Eleanor of Aquitaine did, back in the 12thcentury. A woman much ahead of her time, she wanted to have it all, and was never afraid to take bold steps or …
Yesterday we had elections for the European Parliament. As I returned from my polling place, I could not help wondering at how little interest this election arises. It is true that the EU has been through very difficult, unmotivating moments in the last few years, but if we look for options, they’re not really there, so I’m one of those who believe we should not give up on building a strong, united, focused, European Union with a strong currency …
This spring we have been feeling “the winds of winter”. All over the world the huge group of fans of “Game of Thrones” (in which I am included) has been exchanging some particular words, in addition to shocked impressions on the day that follows each episode: ”Winter is coming”, the motto of House Stark, the “heroes” of the saga. At first sight the word “winter” in this series means a long winter that lasts for years after a similarly long …
I find her sitting in her chair, as usual, with her eyes closed. I kiss her and say, “Happy Mother’s Day” and hand her her gift: a pink nightdress. She wanly smiles. She likes it and I’m glad. It’s so difficult to give her presents nowadays. Most things will be useless; they won’t even interest her. I now push her chair for a few metres, from her room to the small living room where she used to take her …
From the beginning she loved him with a passionate, obsessive, possessive love. She told herself it was because it had been so difficult for them to be together at last, as she had never been like this in her previous relationships. And it wasn’t that she wasn’t sure of his love – she knew he loved her and he showed it in a million different ways. No …It was just that he was so handsome and looked at other women …
I was interviewing a doctor, a scientist who is an expert in precision medicine – a new way of doing medicine that identifies the causes of disease with much more precision than before, using medication which will bring about a genetic change that will ultimately lead to cure – and it was a fascinating talk. She told me about how the medical community sees the future of mankind and how it is widely believed that during this millennium mankind will …
We meet occasionally at birthdays and celebrations. I wouldn’t go as far as to say we’re friends, but we enjoy talking to each other. We have the same age and share quite a few interests so it’s always good to catch up. During this birthday dinner we don’t sit near each other so at coffee time I take my cup and sit down by her. I know her mother – in her eighties – took a fall and has …
It’s coffee time at work and a colleague is telling us how he slept badly due to the fact that his little boy (aged four years old) woke up crying in the middle of the night terrified of some dream he had had. My colleague says this happens often and he and his wife have to let the boy sleep with them, as he won’t stay alone in his bed. All of us parents sympathise of course – who hasn’t …
I’m on my way to work and although it’s only four kilometres I get a lot of traffic. I face the day in a bright mood so I put on some nice music and look at life on the streets. Today the latest song on my playlist is by a Portuguese band called Capitão Fausto. The title is “Boa memória” (“good memory” in English) and the singer tells us about how he doesn’t really have to remember things for …