Mainly in black and white

Going the extra (few thousand) miles.

Finding the right word

Standing desks. A brief post today to remind myself (and any other unfortunate souls who end up reading it too) that every day is a learning day. After yesterday morning’s online interpreting sessio...

It’s all about the bread.

Switching focus.   Yesterday’s walk was one I’ve done a zillion times before, along the canal from Deepcut before crossing the railway (well, using a tunnel to cross under the railway, not trying to d...

Clearing...

Old, yet new (to us at least)

Knowing what you’re doing.   Before I started work this morning, I popped into town to go to the shops. Cheese levels in the fridge were getting dangerously low and I was worried that lunch might end ...

Digitally

Keeping things salty yet clean

Bigging yourself up. Invisible mending, a service offered on many High Streets across the UK. I suspect it’s a service offered on High Streets, Main Streets, or rues commerçantes (at this point, I’m ...

Welcome to DITL of a freelance translator, where we attempt to answer the question “What do translators do all day?” This week we’re asking Paul Appleyard, an award-winning interp…

When I was told off for being polite.

April   The month when mother-in-law sort of almost realised that I might be able to speak French.   I’ve known my wife’s mother for almost as long as I’ve known her daughter. Habitual readers will kn...

No batteries required

Revealing the human truth

What’s in a word?

The early interpreter catches the worm

Building on previous accomplishments

Not massively impressed with the UK's new travel authorisation app. I've just installed it on (French) Mother-in-law's phone to apply for her ETA. She's not…

I walked past this door somewhere in London the other day. It caught my eye because, of course, I – like many of you, am in the communication business…

Or should that be memory hotel?

Will you be remembered, and if so, how?

Looking back

Stella or Stellar, what a difference spelling can make.   I was working with one of my lovely colleagues the other day, and we had a mutually flattering…

Temporally speaking

And the art of translation

Customers come, and customers go

When tick tock doesn’t mean silly short videos.

...and learning

A walk on a chilly but sunny morning

Matey has a bath

Or, don’t panic, you can do it!

Bigging yourself up...

Commuting to work

Or new uses for an old phone box.

Taken to the cleaners.

Farewell Allnutt

I went down a hole in the ground yesterday and had a thoroughly good time.

Barnaby the big baboon put down his Bic biro and turned to his companion, Gertie.

Once upon a time, Paul bought a wooden spoon.   Over a lifetime of cooking, in fact, I've bought several wooden spoons, of various sizes and weights, which all…

It had been an early start.   First thing that morning, many hours before sunrise, the wholesale fruit market had been busy. Charline the clementine buyer had…

[VIDÉO] Victoire pour les producteurs normands. Les camemberts issus d'un processus de fabrication industriel ne pourront plus utiliser la mention "Fabriqué en Normandie" et le blason de la région sur...

A post that isn’t going to pretend to be on topic.   It’s the end of the first working week of the year. If you’re almost anywhere in the UK, that means that…

I was perusing the dustier, less frequently visited parts of my bookshelves over the break.   The first thing that occurred to me was that I clearly had a…

December, and indeed the whole of 2024, in a nutshell: I put my imperfect human heart and soul into everything I did. You can't say better than that, so I…