Postcard from Bishkek

Today happens to be International Day Against Pesticides. It is not an official UN recognized commemorative day, but was established by the 400 members of the Pesticide Action Network International, (PAN). Their aim was to draw attention to problems caused by production and use of hazardous chemicals used as pesticides in order to increase cop […]

A week ago I was driving back from Naryn and as we drove through Kochkor, there were sacks of potatoes stacked by the roadside.  We stopped and had a look.  The potatoes had just been dug out from the ground, and the they were a good size and shape.  We asked how much and for […]

There are some people who love to go shopping … and there are others, like me, for whom it is a necessary evil.    Still, even I have to admit that there is something fascinating about wandering through a bazaar. Apart from the myriad of sensations, (sights, sounds, smells … ), it offers an insight […]

Late last week there were a couple  of interesting stories connected with the development of Manas Airport here in Bishkek.  One of them reported that the Airport operating company planned to open a Duty Free Zone, “at the European level”. As it happens,. there is already a Duty Free Shop in the International Departures lounge […]

Not long ago on Facebook, I was intrigued to see some posts from one of my cousins who has just moved house … to Malvern - my home town.  It struck me as an odd coincidence because, although we are related, he’s never actually lived there before, so it’s not as if he was returning to […]

I have wanted to introduce one item onto the menu at the hotel : Baked Beans on toast. Baked beans are part of my youth … a quick and easy snack meal – open a tin of baked beans and heat them up and pour them over a piece of toast, or add them as […]

A few years ago. when I was living in London, a friend of mine had his mother visiting from New Zealand and he wanted to take to see a West End show.  He selected a few and I asked if I would like to join them to go and and see one of them and […]

There were news reports last weekend about the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, (INC5), in order to prepare a global legally binding instrument on mercury – The Minamata Convention on Mercury, (named after a city in Japan where serious health damage occurred as a result of mercury pollution in the middle of the […]

January 21st , 2008, is known as “Black Monday” in worldwide stock markets.  The London “FTSE 100″ had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since 11 September 2001, and Asian stocks dropped as much as 14%. Although it is a bit of a closed world to me, (I […]

Many years ago, back in the UK, like most young people I used to have a sweet tooth.  As well as being a regular consumer of chocolate and other confectioneries, I took sugar in tea and coffee, hot chocolate … and, of course, I drank “pop” – carbonated drinks like Lemonade, Orangeade, Dandelion and Burdock … […]