‘I am a dog,’ said the French exchange student. ‘You’re a dog?’ ‘Yes, I am a dog, and a cat, and two ‘amsters.’ ‘You mean you have a dog, a cat and two hamsters.’ ‘Ah yes, I ‘ave a dog, a cat and two amsters.’ The pitfalls of an unfamiliar language. When you’re learning a…

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It’s National Poetry Day today. This year’s theme is water so we thought we’d have a dig through our memory banks and share one of our favourite watery poems. Water by Ralph Waldo Emerson The water understands Civilization well; It wets my foot, but prettily, It chills my life, but wittily, It is not disconcerted,…

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When we were young – most of us at Afia anyway – buying something by mail order was quite an adventure. Sending away for something from another country was our equivalent of climbing Everest. But now we have Ebay. If you set your search to include international items, not just the ones whose owners have…

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