Postcard from Bishkek

As regular readers of my postcards will be aware. I have a number of cats – the number varies from time to time – it’s been down to one and as high as eleven. The original, (Synock – sonny), was a gift from a friend and got on with everyone … but one day whilst […]

Andrei often asks me questions about English … and they often takes the form of: “Is that in English-English … or American?”  Although there are differences – quite real and significant differences – at times.  I remember, for example, as a child reading Superman and Batman comics, or watching American TV sitcoms, feeling a little […]

Back in the autumn of 1962 a film was released which was to have a significant effect on the genre of espionage movies in the West: Dr. No, based on the James Bond novel by Ian Fleming.  Indeed, Bond is not just a Western icon, even here everyone knows about James Bond. Although it was […]

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 […]

One of the questions I am most frequently asked , by foreigners and locals alike, concerns what changes I have seen here in Bishkek in the eighteen and a half years I have lived here. Although there are other things I could note, when answering I normally concentrate on three topics … the number and […]

If I say that I have “green fingers” then, back home in the UK, people will think that I am goof with plants … house plants or garden plants … but here it can have different connotations. As it happens, as I type this I do indeed have “green fingers” … but it’s because I […]

It was a year ago that Chicken Little came to Russia … at about 7:30 in the morning, the dark sky over Chelyabinsk in the Urals brightened, but it wasn’t the dawn breaking … An glowing object appeared in the sky, leaving a white plume in its wake … and was followed by two loud […]

I have absolutely no idea where the phrase comes from … and it seems that I am not alone.  There are several references on line that suggest a link with the ancient Olympic Games … but no-one seems to be able to quote an origin for the catchphrase … I seem to remember Sherlock Holmes muttering […]

A few years ago I was asked to be a visiting speaker at a class in the American University of Central Asia, (AUCA). The class was part of a course on Business Studies and was titled Business Ethics. At first I was reluctant to agree, because I thought they’ll want to hear about bribery and corruption […]

Triskaidekaphobia – what mouthful … ! If you split it into its component parts then its meaning becomes immediately apparent: tri, kai, deka and phobia. tri = three, kai=and, deka = ten and phobia = fear of … it’s the name of the fear of the number 13.  For some reason, (apparently tied in with […]