Philip Spires commonplace book

I have kept a commonplace book for many years. It's a place where scraps of impressions are filed for future reflection. It's not a diary, it's just a mental scrapbook, concentrating on book reviews, concert reviews, visual arts and some occasional pieces on travel. It is also a place where I occasionally reflect on what I write. Details of my books can be found at http://www.philipspires.co.uk

Showing posts with label Sri Lanka. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Grass For My Feet by J. Vijayatunga

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Urala is a village near Galle in the south of Sri Lanka. Its existence might be fiction, but equally it might have been, or be reality. Eve...

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The Banana Tree Crisis by Insankya Kodithuwakku, a visit to Sri lanka

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Occasionally a reader chances on a real discovery. A few rupees to spare in Colombo International Airport in Sri Lanka prompted the purchase...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Families in Conflict - Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne

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Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne presents a vast project. Its story crosses the globe, beginning in Sri Lanka and ending in Britain. Great event...

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Maudiegirl and the Von Bloss Kitchen - a cookbook fiction

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Maudiegirl Esther Kimball’s first husband, Campbell, died on the voyage to Ceylon. Her second, Kimball, succumbed to malaria. She then marri...

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Voyagers, travel stories by Philip Spires

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People should not do quite a number of things, including reviewing their own work. Well, I suppose that’s another resolution I have just bro...

Friday, February 15, 2008

Victims

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Thursday I need urgent advice and assistance. Please read the following in the context of my previous reports over the last fortnight, espe...

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About Me

philipspires: I was born in Wakefield and was brought up in Sharslton, a mining Village. I went to London University and then became a maths teacher, working initially as a volunteer teacher in Kenya. I spent sixteen years in London, in Balham and Islington. In 1992, I left Britain for Brunei and then Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. I currently live in La Nucia, near Benidorm in Spain. I am interested in the relationship between nature and nurture, birthright and experience. Themes of culture and identity and their relation to economic and social roles underpin my writing. What we are born into relates to what we become, but we are rarely in control. What others do, our interests and intellects and the way we choose to earn a living, all of these shape us into what we become. It may be that culture is the sum of all assumptions that others make on our behalf, whereas identity represents our reactions to them. I did a PhD on the effects of education in economic development in the Philippines. I was President of Alfas del Pi Music Society for twelve years.

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