Postcard from Bishkek

They say that there are some books that pretend to have read … but which, in fact, very few people have actually done so. In the various lists of such books that we “lie” about are works like: The Bible; 1984 by George Orwell; Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy; A Passage to India by EM Forster; Atlas Shrugged and […]

There’s an interesting trend on social media to post photographs – some are beautiful, fascinating, evocative … but, unfortunately an awful lot of them are, (not to mince words), dross … snapshots that may be of interest to those who post them, their immediate family and friends – but because they have been posted on-line […]

Back in 1971 a new advert for coca Cola appeared on TV … and although it was based on a not so successful radio jingle …  it turned out to be a highly successful advert, not only for Coca Cola also in it’s on right becoming a chart topping single in the UK, (spending 4 weeks […]

Today, 22nd March, marks World Water Day – and has done so ever since 1993 having been approved as such by the General Assembly the previous year.  The idea of the day is to encourage member nations to implement measures regarding the world’s water resources.  Perhaps one of the most concrete aspects of the day […]

Although I expect to see reports on American Football, Baseball, Basketball and Ice Hockey, I am often amazed as I watch the sports reports on CNN … by the graphic descriptions of the archetypal British with the typical American fixation with sporting statistics.  Most Americans … no, most people outside Britain, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, […]

I was thinking of taking the day off today … not only is it a holiday here, (International Women’s Day), but it also happens to be my birthday.  On the other hand, I am not particularly keen on Birthdays and as this isn’t a particularly significant anniversary, and the fact that I normally prepare the […]

America may be commemorating National Pig Day today, but in Russia it’s Cat Day. Here in Bishkek, I am known for my cats … there are five five of them, (at the moment, that is – at one point there were as many as eleven),  Actually, only one of them, Vita, is mine in that […]

Today is another one of the Professional Holidays that seem to be so common in this part of the world – the Day of Land Management, Geodesy and Cartography - and is meant to commemorate the work and contribution of all those working in land registration and cartography. Two maps of particular importance in Kyrgyzstan’s history are […]

A short while ago, one of my correspondents sent me a link to an article by John Daly on the Jamestown Foundation’s website, China and Kyrgyzstan Discuss Rail Projects, and asked if I could comment … The article is about the discussions that are going on about the possibility of developing the country’s railway system […]

Whether or not it’s a result of Global Warming and Climate Change (pun intended) it’s certainly been a winter of extremes. OK – I admit that got taken in by the hoodwinked by the photoshopped images of the Pyramids under snow … but, in my defence, I ask if it is all that surprising given […]