Disconnected Jottings

Counting down to the financial and gastronomic overload of the festive season, I saw a post on Rick Seaney’s blog giving advice to US ‘Road Warriors’ on how to maintain their Frequent Flyer VIP status during the coming year. Apparently, the fix is to become a ‘mileage runner‘ and book yourself on the cheapest long haul flights (to any destination) that will allow the accumulation of enough air miles to maintain your ‘Gold Card’ status throughout 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

Cartoon by nicholsoncartoons.com.au

Like you, I read the daily headlines in the newspapers and watch the news on TV. Like you, I’m struck by the amount of bad news that is featured by the media, often reflecting a view of the world that is quite different from my own perceptions and causing me to pause and think “what’s actually going on here; how has this situation come about; how do I get to the truth?” Read the rest of this entry »

I’m posting this page from the departures lounge at the new Hong Kong airport. So that’s it; the 2007 big trip is all over – except for the grim business of the return trip to Glasgow and a few restless nights until we are over the jet lag. Read the rest of this entry »

My memories of Singapore as being rather like a concrete tropical garden were valid. Although it has been almost twenty years since my last visit, the pace of change and urban development seems to have accelerated , with new high rise apartment blocks and condominiums everywhere and construction cranes sprouting like an of invasion of giant birds. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, thats it, our down under sojourn is over, we’re en route to Singapore for a quick gin sling at the Raffles Hotel, then on to Hong Kong for a look at whats been happening since the Brits left back in 1997. Read the rest of this entry »

Our stay in Adelaide was much too short to enjoy the superb style and openness of the city. From the basic layout of the place, through beautifully preserved civic buildings from early Victorian times, the huge amount of green space, the Torrens River and the University campus Adelaide has it all and won’t fail to impress any visitor. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re in the Murray River town of Tailem Bend, South Australia, after completing the Shipwreck coast trip and a lengthy drive through timber growing areas that would make Forest Enterprise weep. Read the rest of this entry »

The coastline from west of Geelong up to the South Australia border has the fairly grim title of the Shipwreck coast, from the large number of sailing vessels that came to grief here from about 1810 onwards. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve been in Melbourne for a few days, near the place where we lived during our years as ten pound poms and quite close to Williamstown, where my brother Brian and I went to school. Read the rest of this entry »

We made two trips to see the sights of Sydney, plus side visits up into the Blue Mountains and down to the beach at Wollongong. As a city, Sydney is very impressive, the magnificence of the harbour area guarantees the place an honourable mention in any list of vibrant city experiences. Add this to the extensive shopping and dining possibilities and the very creditable public facilities and the place looks like a winner. Read the rest of this entry »