This is the sixth time I’ve holidayed in New York in the past 12 years. It has always seemed colossal. During my first visit in December 2002 I walked into Central Park with English friends and after a reasonably short time we approached some residential buildings on the edge of the park. We stopped to … More Drama in a Miniature Metropolis
A brief but touching story about Ebola, referred by an Australian friend currently in Sierra Leone.
After a beautiful three days in rural America, only an hour from Manhattan, I caught the train back this morning to “get my New York on” in the lead-up to my departure in six short days. If this is what three weeks in America does to my language, we should all hope that I don’t … More Getting My America On
About eight years ago I read a great book, written in first person by an autistic teenager describing his interpretation of the trouble he can’t seem to stay out of. The author won a number of writers’ prizes for his novel, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime, published in 2003. In 2012 … More Curious Incidents
After my first “Ebola friend” spent six weeks in Liberia back in August, she returned to Texas at almost exactlly the same time as Thomas Duncan, the first Ebola patient to be diagnosed on United States soil. My friend stayed at home and away from people for the 21 day incubation period, as a precaution … More Merry Christmas, Ebola
The previous country manager of my TB project in Cambodia was in New York last week and on Friday night he met Karen #1 and I here in SoHo for dinner. We had a lovely night but far too much alcohol was consumed which made waking Saturday morning less fun than usual. Planning a quiet … More For Art’s Sake
I don’t intend to do much shopping while I am here. There’s nothing I need and as I am travelling for the following year I don’t have the room to collect stuff. I am not very “stuff” oriented anyway, and I’d prefer to spend my money on collecting memories and contributing to important things, rather … More The New Me
New York is a gigantic conglomerate of flowing artistic genius. Not just the cinemas, theatres, music, comedy and visual arts that come to you when you walk the streets. But history, architecture (seen in everyday buildings as much as famous landmarks), town planning, landscaping, parks, gardens, food, wine and atmospheric restaurants permeate life here. Even … More Concrete Jungle Where Dreams Are Made
Every day of the year seems to be dedicated to the awareness of an issue, even an International Day of the Toilet! Which is not as ridiculous as it sounds given that billions of people do not have a toilet and are forced to defecate in the open. 10 December (yesterday in my hemisphere) was … More International Human Rights Day
It’s not a loft. But as long as the neighbours are not within earshot, we call it one. The neighbours know we are not in a loft and may not realise our pretentious banter is in jest. It looks and feels like a loft though, so that’s what we call it, usually in our best … More Lofts, Crabcakes and Memorials
