Entries with the tag: ‘Interesting_Times’
Under the Soviet regime, content of the “News” was strictly controlled – and almost anything that could be considered to be negative was duly censored. As a result there was little known about episodes of social unrest and disorder within the Union, yet alone in the wider world beyond the country’s borders. In the mid […]
Some years ago, I wrote an article about Bishkek which began with the words: “Bishkek cannot claim to be one of the major cities of the world, like London, Paris or New York. It is, however, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan and does have a number of important and interesting buildings, monuments, parks, museums, galleries, […]
Tuesday was the “Ides of March”. The Romans had a very strange calendar until Caesar decided to reform it in 46BC, (adding 46 extra days in order to bring it back into line with the seasons on which it was supposed to be based, and causing chaos and disruption throughout the Roman world). His reforms, […]
Tuesday, (March 1st), was Saint David’s Day. It went, more or less unnoticed here in Kyrgyzstan … but then, there isn’t a large Welsh community here. If I am asked about my nationality, then I usually say that I am pure English, but that it is hard to justify saying that with any confidence as […]
One of the iconic films of the twenty century was released in 1942, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergamn (In the original postcard I said Lauren Bacall – well, as I have said before … we all make mistakes!) – Casablanca. At the time, nobody really expected the film to amount to much – it […]
It looks as if 2010 is going to end, at least in some respects, as it began. Back in January, “Siberian air gripped Britain” as unusual High Pressure systems massed over the Atlantic from November 2009 onwards, blocking the customary Westerly winds that would normally bring mild weather to Western Europe. The result was that […]
Today has been a busy day. About half way through, the phone rang, and Lisa transferred it to me saying, “It’s a Mr. ****”. Now, the name meant nothing to me. It was obviously an Anglophile name - so it wasn’t the police, (they had already called in connection with the bomb blast earlier this […]
Today has been a busy day. Before it had really go underway, I got a phone call from the hotel asking if I had heard, or felt, the explosion. “Uhhh, No – what explosion?”
For several years now, some of the CBT, (Community Based Tourism), groups around the country have organized during the height of the Summer season, (July and August), small festivals in their own neighbourhoods. They have proved to be popular with tourists and locals alike, but are rarely crowded events so there is a good chance for people to get […]
The kids went off to the cinema on Monday to watch the latest Harry Potter film. I seem to have missed out almost entirely on the Harry Potter Craze, but it has taken off here just as much as in the West. The books are on sale, (in Russian, so I give them a miss), […]
Bishkek