While you live, tell truth

Thanks to PB for this quote from Shakespeare (Julius Caesar telling his missus Calpurnia that he is not a wuss). My sentiments exactly. Slink away in fear of the bad guys and you are defeated. But I do manage my risk profile a bit more carefully than Caesar did. Cheers skip. Cowards die many times … Continue reading

Stand up Australia! Vote for a dog’s breakfast again!

The Australian Election results are rolling in and the inevitable result has inevitably arrived. Unfortunately, no-one is commenting on the real game in the Senate. As you know there 76 Senate seats, with 12 from each state, of which six are up for election each time along with all the House of Representatives seats, while … Continue reading

Correspondence from Bangkok. One night and the World’s your oyster

We enjoyed our time in Hong Kong but found it to be always ‘on’ so not restful and overall, very expensive.  Still we had a great time, and for shoe afficionados such as myself – fantastic.  Great variety and very tempting prices as there were a lot of sales.  We bought a two day ‘big … Continue reading

Even the Taliban don’t claim they’ve won.

Well, it’s all over folks, seems that a News Limited journalist has a scoop. The Taliban have “won the war”. Communication is never perfect but it seems no one has told the Afghan Army guys at the checkpoint around the corner that it’s all over. Oblivious to the Taliban victory, they are still at their … Continue reading

Boarding Pass

Flight from Kabul through security check central

Did another trip out of KBL a few weeks ago. The morning Safi Airways flight to Delhi. I knew there were a lot of security checks so this time I kept a count – and came up with a substantial total!The checks you are subjected to vary a bit from tr…

BOOM! The truck bomb and the shock wave of rumour.

Kabul is a big place, and most explosions are distant, and hardly or not at all heard. At this time of year a large proportion are gas bottles exploding, so you don’t know for sure whether it is an attack or something else. Like a car backfiring. …

Mes Aynak, the Copper, the Chinese and the Chicanery

50 km out of Kabul, the French are hurrying to complete the excavation of an archaeological site at Mes Aynak, claimed to be bigger and more important than Pompeii. Four different Buddhist Monasteries, hundreds of statues, and ruins going back to …

Alamzeb the carpenter

I asked the guest house manager to fix my window, which was hanging off its hinges. The ‘handyman’ came and screwed the hinges in; the whole affair was still pretty warby, but while the hinges were well attached they couldn’t get the window into t…

Soap and Hillary

Wake up early to the sound of helicopters, like many mornings. They, and loud debates, are all that upset the eerie calm outside our bolthole here. So here comes today’s first chopper, large, low, time to wake up. Many such mornings feel like the …