Arts
Manouche – Part Two
After leaving the Manouche, I stayed in London for about a year, putting some money together, and surprised myself by getting married to a Colombian lady. While in London, Beudjeu and I still wrote to [more…]
Porkpie
Arts
Manouche – Part One
Ernesto sang a beautiful haunting rhumba from his native Brazil, and then Chocote took the guitar to accompany Memé’s singing. Chocote’s big labourer’s fingers were transformed as they danced nimbly around the chords, his other [more…]
Arts
A Laotian Farewell (past memories part II):
It was early March in 1975 when the editor wandered into the newsroom of the New Zealand Herald and asked for volunteers to go to Vietnam. Specifically, Saigon. The older men kept their eyes down, [more…]
20th Century
Afghanistan as it was (1973)
After several requests from fellow Puffins, I finally got off my arse to rummage around in the attic and miraculously unearthed a bunch of diaries from over fifty years ago, and most importantly the one [more…]