An anniversary of sorts
June 2014 is here—can it really be forty years ago that Australia played Chile in Berlin on 22 June 1974? It’s a commemoration of sorts for me, as it has … Continue reading
Espresso dreaming
Every day for a decade and a half now on the way to and from work I drive down Princes Street in Carlton, tracking the snail trail of peak hour … Continue reading
Blitz on Jaywalking sidesteps ongoing questions about the car in the city
Police in Melbourne stage their periodic blitz on jaywalkers. Police have issued over 600 $72 on-the-spot fines. These always elicit the common response of “haven’t they got anything better to do and … Continue reading
What’s Moomba?
Parents — wanna go to Moomba? Kids— what’s Moomba? A B&W film from 1965 makes it look like the 1860s, but there are some interesting floats including the Department of Science … Continue reading
Vale Nigel Jenkins
Shocked and hugely saddened to hear of the death on Tuesday of my friend Nigel Jenkins, Welsh poet and creative writing teacher at Swansea University, after a very short battle … Continue reading
Summer swoon
Wisteria, rose, rhododendron, maple, orange, rose, hibiscus, cherry, magnolia, daisy, azalia — none were at all happy when we got back from the beach yesterday after the record heatwave in … Continue reading
50 rockpools
shallow set in rock, salted, ochred, shelled and beaded, unfathomable
Cherra
Cherrapunji is a couple of hours drive south from Shillong. One of the wettest places on earth, it’s perched on a plateau at the edge of the Khasi Hills and overlooking … Continue reading
Living Root Bridge
The ninety kilometre or so drive from Shillong in the direction of Mawlynnong took us over three hours, what with the condition of the roads and the occasional traffic snarl … Continue reading
Catching cold
In a long tradition of British exploration, Richard Eilers reported in the Guardian (1 February 2013) on ‘India’s undiscovered gem: the hills of Meghalaya’, an enchanting idyll where ‘women own … Continue reading
Delhi: the same dust
An expeditious trip to India in February for a symposium and launch of Welsh missionaries and British imperialism in Shillong in Meghalaya, and some seminars in Delhi. I hadn’t been … Continue reading
Elephants and memories
In the last few days I have encountered three elephants in Copenhagen. We took the kids to Tivoli gardens the other evening, and while they defied gravity on death-defying rides … Continue reading
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