Katherine Gregor's Blog
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May.19.2013
In a recent post on The Red Room, Orna B. Raz makes a very interesting case for the fiction writer’s ability to rewrite true life events, giving the stories a happier outcome on paper, than they might have had in reality. She set me thinking about the power of fiction writing...
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12 comments
May.05.2013
“What does he think I am? A baby?”
Deep embarrassment was making me peevish. I did not want my mother, grandmother – and, especially, the guests – to think I was still a little girl who liked teddy bears. After all, I was five. It was bad enough that I was already in my...
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26 comments
Apr.28.2013
There is a tree outside the window of my new room. An oak, with ivy wrapped around, embracing his body and lower branches. His body, yes. There is something male about this oak. A wise old man ready to share stories about this part of South West London before...
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28 comments
Apr.14.2013
I do not have a good relationship with Norwich Castle. I am sorry. I thought I would get used to its odd, sandcastle mould shape on the green hill but I have not. I find it too sinister. Edinburgh Castle evokes memories of my happy childhood books by Sir Walter Scott...
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16 comments
Apr.07.2013
There is something liberating and strangely peaceful about moving to a place where you do not know a soul, and nobody knows you. People tell me that you can be whatever you like, then. Reinvent yourself – that all too trendy phrase. My experience, since...
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26 comments
Mar.31.2013
Massaging warm olive oil into my hands, face and legs, then wrapping in hot wet towels. To heal cracked fingertips, smooth hardened cheekbones, and soothe sore red skin irritated by too many layers of clothing. It is the Norwich cold. Standing on the bathroom scales and shrieking....
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22 comments
Mar.24.2013
I am like a woman who keeps being lured towards the mad, bad lover, while a perfectly nice guy is standing around, available. I have always been fiercely judgmental of women like that. Why don’t they think with their brain instead of their heart? I have always asked. And...
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25 comments
Mar.17.2013
Although I am not a Catholic, I was overwhelmed when, last Wednesday afternoon, a friend texted me the words, “New Pope elected!” Immediately, I went onto the Italian Radio and Television website, and remained glued to it for several hours. The excitement of the crowd in Piazza San...
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8 comments
Mar.10.2013
My friend B. gave me a gift card for a coffee shop chain, for Christmas. He said it would allow him to buy me a coffee or hot chocolate if I ever really needed one, and he was not there in person. I figured that if I were in London, he would want to buy me a birthday mugful, to...
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17 comments
Feb.24.2013
You do not need to travel across the Globe, to experience culture shock. It can suddenly creep up on you where you least expect it. Just a few hours away from where you have spent the last eighteen years. Habit can turn on a sixpence, from stable friend to lurking enemy. ...
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28 comments
Feb.17.2013
Is two weeks long enough for a new city and you to decide whether you would make a good team?
Well, two weeks is all I have.
The fog was so thick, this morning, it had swallowed up the Cathedral spire. In a city where I do not know a soul, it was unnerving not to see the familiar landmark....
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39 comments
Feb.10.2013
“Change your city, change your luck.” It is a Jewish saying, my osteopath told me.
In a Russian fairy tale, the Tzar bids his sons go into an open field with their bows and arrows, and aim into the air. Where their arrows land, there lie their fortunes.
In my case, I wrote the names of...
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26 comments
Feb.03.2013
We had some snow, a couple of weeks ago. Soft, white powder sifted out of a dark grey sky all day, without stopping. Eventually, the dusting on the ground and roofs thickened to a cloak, and muffled the city sounds. I love snow. The crunching under my boots, the sensation...
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2 comments
Jan.31.2013
You’re meeting a friend you have not seen for a while, for coffee or lunch. The setting must be conducive to a leisurely, free flowing conversation. Without eavesdroppers.
You take all the necessary steps beforehand. You arrive at the restaurant or coffee shop early, and secure...
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33 comments
Jan.27.2013
"I tried to call you."
How many times have you heard that one? It is annoying enough when friends say it but when I hear it in a professional context, I have to repress my instinct to pounce. With the greatest respect to my fellow showbiz people, actors and casting...
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16 comments
Let's just say that I am old enough to know what to do with my young feelings.
”
—(Georges Guétary in 'An American in Paris')
About Katherine
Before you ask – one half of me is English; the other half, a Middle-Eastern mix. I speak English, Italian, French and Russian, which accounts for my hybrid accent which has, so far, been mistaken for South African, Irish, Dutch, US American, German, and one...
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Katherine’s Favorite Books
'La Ragazza di Via Maqueda' (Dacia Maraini), 'A Many-Splendoured Thing' (Han Suyin), 'Berlin Cantata' (Jeffrey Lewis), 'The Places in Between' (Rory Stewart...