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
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
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 …
Descent into Kabul
Pushed back in Brisbane about 10 mins early, Singapore airlines don’t muck around. Service was wonderful to Singapore. Champagne. Luncheon. Roast beef and mushroom entrée, pork stew cacciatora, ice cream with strawberry coulis, cheeses with garnis…