Diary
WG’s Christmas Cruise 2025 – Part One
The Prologue I really enjoyed last year’s trip to the Caribbean but, there is always a but, I had to settle for a standard seat on the TUI Boeing 787. Despite the huge cost of [more…]
Travel
Engineering
New Year Transport Update
The big day arrives! Puffins will recall a previous unread article, Christmas Transport Catastrophe. This detailed the railway and motorway closures and diversions required as a West Coast Mainline bridge is being replaced over the [more…]
19th Century
Railway Review
Following the outpouring of joy over the street cars of Paramaribo – complete with a trip to Kabelstation (where a rope-worked gondola spanned the Suriname River), and a railcar ride with the Queen of Holland, [more…]
Christianity
Christmas at Christmas With Christmas
Spending Christmas at Christmas with Christmas sounds a very Puffin thing to do. First of all, we’ll have to decide when to meet. The eagle-eyed among you may point out that we’ve missed our chance, [more…]
Hobbies
Overland to Russia, Part Five
Just off Red Square in Moscow, by a Metro entrance, is a curious little basement exhibit, the Museum of the USSR. The day I visited it, I was almost alone as I viewed the dozen [more…]
Travel
Christmas Postcard From Manchester
Thank you for all your contributions below the line on last week’s article about my dreadful spelling. Turns out I don’t have some bizarre neurological condition after all; rather, I’m just like the rest of [more…]
Authoritarianism
Overland to Russia, Part Four
How popular is Putin really? Before trying to answer this, a bit of background is needed. The political landscape of Russia is not really comparable with, say, Britain or France, where the mechanism of democracy [more…]
Engineering
Christmas Transport Catastrophe!
A catastrophic disaster unparalleled in the history of transport unravelled itself towards the tail end of 2025. This threatens to ruin every little boy’s Christmas. Or does it? In fits and starts from the end [more…]
Communism
Overland to Russia, Part Three
“So how are things in Russia today?” The taxi driver was a burly, working-class man in his 50s; I imagined a brickie now too old for the game. He thought briefly and mumbled a reply [more…]