Postcard from Bishkek

As we come to the end of the year it is time to look back over the last twelve months and reflect and what has happened, recognizing achievements … and also what could have been. This year in particular, I was intrigued by a couple of announcements from the Oxford English Dictionary: I was born in […]

Last year we saw calls from leaders of the Muslim community for the faithful to refrain from participating in the celebrations as they bear no relation to Islam … nor to traditional Kyrgyz culture.  As it happens, the call was more or less ignored and the festivities progressed as usual. As the New Year Celebrations […]

A few years ago I was in a meeting where one speaker stood up to make a point and once having been granted the floor would not release to podium until, basically, the microphone was turned off.  Actually, I felt that the point he was making was a perfectly valid one … that the document […]

Every city has a has a number of sights which are associated with it – and today marks an important anniversary for one of London’s: Westminster Abbey. Although construction of the building which everyone recognizes today began in 1245 and, according to tradition, there was probably a church on the site since the seventh Century […]

Back in 1932, on 27th December, the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution “On the establishment of a single passport system to the USSR” and mandatory residency passports (Propiska). That’s the reason why today is considered the professional holiday for the employees of the Passport and Visa […]

  Christmas is over … at least, in the West … and Boxing Day traditionally marks the opening of “Holiday advertising season” as people’s minds turn to the question of where to go for their next major break.      Going away on holiday is supposed to be a pleasurable experience … and in most […]

Vladimir Vlasov was born in Moscow on Christmas Day in 1902 … well, at least, in was 25th December in Moscow … which at that time still operated on the Julian calendar … but in the rest of the world, (where the Gregorian calendar had been adopted), it was already 7th January, 1903. He is […]

Back in 2007, the Kyrgyz Post Office issued a stamp showing a man looking awfully looking like Santa Claus: a jolly looking, “portly”, round faced old man with red cheeks, sporting a long white beard, and a flowing red coat … apart, perhaps, from the fact that he was wearing a white Kalpak – the […]

Tonight is known in Mexico as the Night of the Radishes. The festivities associated with this event have been celebrated since 1897 in the main square of the city of Oaxaca and is usually attended by several thousand people. and has been described as one of the impressive Vegetable Festivals around the world. Craftsmen carve […]

I suppose that, like most people, the first time I came across the acronym MICE, I thought of rodents – little furry creatures that either make us cringe as they scurry around … or fawn over as cuddly, adorable and humourous characters, (such as Mickey or Jerry). Working in Tourism, it was only a brief […]