Mel and I went to Sri Lanka 39 years ago on what was to be the first of many ‘exotic’ holidays. For Mel, it was fantastic because she came home with jewels and had found the man of her (and everyone else’s) dreams. And for me, I got to ride on an elephant; you just – Read More-
This is a fish. (The thing on the left). You didn’t know they came like this, did you? You thought fishes came in ring pull tins, or little plastic, vacuum-packed pouches, or in thin, pink slices of wonderful smoky fishiness from the deli. But no, this is how they start life. Well, end life. And – Read More-
I’ve always viewed life as a series of movies, in which I play the hero. The saviour. The martyr, the lead singer, the quarterback, centre forward, the hand of God, Zorro, Christ the Redeemer, Florence Nightingale, Douglas Bader, The Cheerleader, Luke Skywalker and Kermit the Frog. Bruce Lee, obviously. But this morning we entered the – Read More-
I’ve been asking myself a question, as I sit here, in the tropical sunshine, bathed in the guilt of the privileged, wallowing in the self-satisfaction of eating more curry in the last 8 days than in my previous 800 and pondering how those poor Brits are coping with all that grey, depressing coldness, ‘over there’. – Read More-
OMG!!!! On our resort by the beach in Kovalam, they have YOGAAAA!!! But like every morning!!! In, like, India, where they invented Yoga!!! Ruvinder Yoga of the Yogic corporation, (inc. 1507, by a palm tree in the hillside), first pulled his right foot up to his left ear whilst humming and the rest is history. – Read More-
I’m writing this from the… prow?… the aft??… the front-pointy bit, upstairs on the good ship Saffron, as it sails along ‘the backwaters’. A concept so odd and bizarre that even though I’m staring at it, live and in ‘real time’, I’m not sure what it is. And best of all? There’s no WiFi on – Read More-
Kerala is known as ‘God’s own Country’. And for good reason; it is quite stunningly beautiful, virtually everywhere you look… except for a lot of the bits where man has been and dumped a load of broken and stripped down tuk-tuks in a heap. But my first question, particularly in India, is always ‘which God’? – Read More-
So we’re in Munnar and it’s famous for being in the mountains and thus a bit ‘hilly’ and it’s where they grow the tea. Because here’s something I learned this very day, tea bushes have to grow on an incline of between 30 and 45 degrees. Well, ya live and learn. But I love tea. – Read More-
Ok, as you can see from this picture, my arrival in the Munnar, tea-growing, mountainous, eco-friendly, zero-emission, ultra-sustainability, oooh, put an extra one in the pot for me, Marge, region, has seen me go totally native. I’ve gone the ‘full namaste’ as it is known. Just because some babe from Kerala in a sari stuck – Read More-
We’re here in India. Where its ‘movember’ every month. For all the genders. Where they have more Indian restaurants than, (I’m guessing), virtually anywhere else in the world!!! And, more specifically, cos it is a fucking massive place, is India, we’re in Kochi. Which used to be called Cochin. Until the Mumbaiians took over Bombay, – Read More-