Archive sections: ‘From an Expat’
Apparently, there’s been some controversy in the British press about the possibility of Gordon Brown taking over as Chairman of the IMF, (International Monetary Fund), with David Cameron saying that he is not convinced that it’s a good idea. He feels that although Gordon Brown has plenty of experience as Chancellor of the Exchequer, (the [...]
The last Sunday in April is Statisticians Day. It’s another one of those “professional holidays” that seem to be so common here in Kyrgyzstan. This one seems to be particularly appropriate because it often seems that here in Kyrgyzstan, statistics are given the sort of reverence normally reserved for holy writ. The word itself comes [...]
Easter is here. The date of Easter is calculated according to a complex formula based on the lunar cycle and the timing of the Equinox, and changes each year. This year it is occurring very late, the latest date when it can occur, according to the formula, is on April 25th. Usually, the festival falls [...]
Every now and again I happen to say something which causes my staff to stop what they are doing and look at me with a quizzical look as if I am star of Stephen Spielberg’s classic film, E.T. Most of them speak English well, and are used to my strange accent and turn of phrase. [...]
One of the advantages of the internet is that I can now scour lots of different sources of news from around the world. Back in the UK, I rarely had the opportunity to read newspapers on weekdays because I used to leave home well before the newspaper boy would have delivered them, but I did [...]
Running a tour company, you can imagine how many visitors to Kyrgyzstan I get to meet each year. Many, of course, are clients, either on an organized tour or else guests at one of our hotels in Bishkek and Naryn. Not all of them, however. Every now and again we come across travellers who [...]
This week has seen a number of notable anniversaries: the fall of Masada to the Romans, the adoption of the Union Jack as the British flag, the start of the American Civil War, the assignation of Abrham Lincoln at the end of the war, the sinking of the Titanic, the founding of the International Labour [...]
For someone interested in history, I find it interesting how some dates in the year seem to attract important anniversaries whilst others seem to be bereft of them. Take April 15th, for example, which is not only the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, (which struck an iceberg the night before), and the death [...]
At 11:40pm on April 14th, 1912, the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg in the waters of the North Atlantic, whilst on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. Two hours and forty minutes later, she sank and 1517 people lost their lives. Less than a third of the people on board, (706 out of [...]
A photograph uploaded to my Facebook page brought me an intrigued email … “was that a Research Machines 380Z?” For those who don’t know – the 380Z was one of the early microcomputers designed specifically for the educational market in the UK. It was a little bigger than a desktop computer is these days, but [...]
