Archive

Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee It wasn’t so long ago, I recall, that the Royal Family was a bit of a joke. An entire generation of them seemed unable to keep their private lives out of the tabloids with their adulterous, gaffe-prone, toe-sucking scandals. And the response to it all from the top left the ...

Jubilee flotilla on the Thames Oh, for such a British event, there was such British weather. The rain and the cold didn’t keep the Queen’s loyal subjects away from the Thames to see her Diamond Jubilee flotilla, though. Oh no, it was something else entirely that stopped much of the crowd enjoying the festivities. “I ...

In the previous post we met John Waite – a man who has been dubbed ‘The World’s Oldest Backpacker’. After his wife passed away in 1982 he retired from his job in Melbourne and set off to travel the world. Almost 30 years later, at the age of 89, John is still staying in youth ...

College football in Texas It was when the well-spoken fifty year old Texan woman, her hair permed in deference to the sensibilities and social requirements of the Deep South, grabbed the bag of cheap wine offered to her, drank long and hard and then slapped the bag, that I knew we had entered a very ...

Life in North Korea Trying to find out what life is like in North Korea is a bit like trying to find out if the light turns off when you close the fridge door. You can never truly look inside and discover anything with certainty, but by talking with people and keeping your eyes open, ...

What a day of patriotism! So much red, white and blue! Such an overt demonstration of national pride! The 4th of July brings out the best in Americans. And, more importantly, they see the best in America. For many of these people – wheelchair-bound, close to poverty, threatened by the vices of society that tear ...