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
URSABLOG: The Price of Good Wine
Sitting down at a table for one in a restaurant, I was presented with one of the most astonishing wine lists I had ever encountered: the range and breadth of the wines, the vintage
URSABLOG: Unkind Legacies
There are a few people in history that I feel genuinely sorry for, not because they had a hard time, or because they were tortured or victimised, but because history itself has bee
URSABLOG: Grid Steady, Strategy Above
A solar power plant in Dunhuang, Jiuquan City, Gansu Province, China. Published on January 12, 2022. Free to use under the Unsplash License. If this is your first time meeting Li W
URSABLOG: Do We Matter?
Holidays are a time for a change of scene; not just relaxing – whether recuperative or hedonistic – but allowing all of our senses to be open to inputs which we don’t commonl
URSABLOG: Summer Wish List 2025
Without noticing it explicitly I have been mentally preparing for the summer for some time: reflecting on past visits to Ancient Epidaurus, and thinking about what books I should t