URSABLOG: Let Me Live In Your Heart. A Short Story.
The following story is fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. I was eating breakfast when I noticed a man peering at me over his silver coffee p
URSABLOG: Multiple Entry Visa
Sleepless In Shanghai Jetlag and nicotine addiction drove me out of my hotel room and onto the street in the middle of the night. It was a small hotel on the fifth and eighteenth f
URSABLOG: Peak Wavelength
It’s hard to imagine the sea’s destructive potential on a calm day: it is peaceful, benign, infinite. But watching relentless oceanic swell – or experiencing it on board
URSABLOG: I Don’t Know
In the run up to exam season at the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, I became alarmed at the number of practice essays written by students that were similar to each other, even
URSABLOG: Spaced Out
“How was your stay with us, sir?” “Very nice, thank you.” “Everything ok with your room?” “Yes, but it was massive. You could have fitted families in there. There was
URSABLOG: Gilded Cages
About fifteen years ago, in Nanjing, I was in a taxi and in genuine fear of my life. I was being taken to the airport by someone who had obviously been taught to drive on an Atari
URSABLOG: England, My England
Walking Down From Bloomsbury to High Holborn, Dressed For Dinner It was a long time since I had gone to a black-tie dinner. Many years ago, in Piraeus, I had used the excuse of a C
URSABLOG: Dynamic Positioning
Everyday life can be a confusing place to inhabit, especially when you can’t read the signals properly. Every culture has its own markers, gestures and signifiers that differenti
URSABLOG: A Whole Lotta Nothing
Nature abhors a vacuum, and it is not alone. Humans don’t like emptiness either and strive to fill it with meaning – or meaninglessness – depending on their mood. When I was
URSABLOG: En Passant
I was in my usual favourite place: drinking coffee, reading a book, with a packet of cigarettes to hand on the aft deck of a ferry sailing east. The sun was beginning to set behind