Arts
A Postcard Frae Glesgae
Over the last few weeks I’ve had occasion to visit Glasgow on two occasions, one for an overnight stay and the second time primarily to visit Kelvingrove Museum and Gallery. The happy circumstance of my [more…]
Travelogue
Biography
SAILING MY LIFE AWAY (II), PART 1
THE PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE AND DISCOVERY OF THE ARCHIPELAGO Descartes is famously quoted as having said “Cogito, Ergo Sum”. His remark was first published in French to reach a wider audience- “Je pense, donc je suis”. [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 35
PREFACE The draft for this issue of SMLA was completed on Thursday 23 February 2022 and afterwards I explained in an email to the eldest of my granddaughters that to understand the Ukrainian situation one had [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 34
RESPONSES Once again I thank all who read and commented on Part 33 describing my 1997 passage from South West Scotland to Northern Ireland and especially DJM who has shown consistent enthusiasm for this series [more…]
History
Postcard From Osh
A promise was made to Puffins regarding a dispatch from Kazakhstan to report upon the fighting between Kazakh forces, Russian paratroopers and ‘fuel protestors’. Located at Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, a correspondent was only 12 miles [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 33
RESPONSES Joe Slater is obviously more familiar than I with written Chinese Characters and I thank him for explaining that Zheng He and Cheng Ho were one and the same person. When visiting the museum [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 32
RESPONSES AND YARNS There were loads of comments on part 31 including the one from Sparks who enquired whether I had discovered a time machine as I had dated the article Saturday 1 January 2002. [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 31
I had hoped to write more about Piracy in SE Asia in this article and illustrate the region with some of my own photos. But as I wasn’t confined to solitary in my own home [more…]
Biography
Sailing my life away, part 30
I was delighted so many readers have enjoyed my recent accounts of sailing in the north of Scotland and thank DJM for writing – “A life well lived”. I couldn’t ask for a better epitaph [more…]