Postcard from Bishkek

Monday was one of Kyrgyzstan’s “Professional Holidays” – the International Day of Tourism. This year, however, there weren’t any celebrations.  Usually there is a banquet, or some other gathering of those of us working in tourism, to commemorate the day – but the season has been little to celebrate. The day didn’t go unmarked – […]

The events in Bishkek on April 7th were dramatic and tragic.  Over eighty people died in protests against the existing government which basically fell from office and were replaced by an interim government headed by former Foreign Minister Roza Atunbaeva.  The President left the city to emerge later in his home village not far from […]

I have referred before to the fact that “the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley …”, and this postcard is just another example of how right Robert Burns was when he made this sharp observation.

Every now and again I get asked if I will deliver a talk to a group of students.  As a former teacher, who “loves the sound of his own voice”, how can I refuse?

There is a saying that examiners have a habit of asking the wrong questions.  They always seem to ask questions that catch the student out … I was sitting a Geography exam once, and was completely thrown.  I really prepared well for the exam.  I had noticed that the first question on the Physical Geography […]