Category Archives: miscellany

Singapore Stories: the finale

Posted on August 13, 2017 by

  We are packing for home. The same amount of clothes that we came with seem bigger. Or maybe the fact they’re dirty means they have grown. Whatever the reason it’s difficult to push down the lid. Perhaps there’s a … Continue reading →

Posted in family, miscellany, singapore, travel | Tagged , , , , | 29 Comments

Singapore Part 2: nature and Nationhood

Posted on August 12, 2017 by

What do National Celebrations tell you about a country? Its confidence? Its personality? There is a danger in stereotyping. In the UK we don’t do National Days. Partly our aggrandizing past has embedded an embarrassment that makes such an event … Continue reading →

Posted in creative writing, family, miscellany, prompt, short story, singapore | Tagged , , , , | 23 Comments

Cambodia Day 6: Of Palaces, Picnics and Museum Pieces

Posted on August 7, 2017 by

Today was sweltering. An early start to the Royal Palace was decreed. If Buckingham Palace and a Swiss Chalet hybridised and moved to Essex this is what you might get. This though is French, built in the 1880s when under … Continue reading →

Posted in cambodia, creative writing, family, miscellany, short story, travel | Tagged , , , , , | 29 Comments

Cambodia Day 5: moving times

Posted on August 6, 2017 by

Seim  Reap is now behind us and we are in the capital, Phnom Penh, named after the mother of the city, Madame Penh. Don’t you love the egalitarian nature of that fact? Travelling by air across Cambodia brings home just … Continue reading →

Posted in cambodia, creative writing, family, miscellany, short story, travel | 32 Comments

Cambodia Day 4: of sandstone, sunrise and sculpture

Posted on August 5, 2017 by

Today I’m going to shut up and let the images take over for a while. Okay, this is a tourist must and a 4.30 alarm call isn’t everyone’s cuppa. And if I was being really churlish I’d say it’s a … Continue reading →

Posted in cambodia, creative writing, family, miscellany, short story, thought, travel | Tagged , , , | 33 Comments

Cambodia Day 3: temples, tempura and terrifying transport

Posted on August 4, 2017 by

One of my old saws with my kids is to embrace experiences not stuff. So deeply ingrained is it that I can hardly be surprised when the Vet announced she had booked us all on a Cambodian cooking course on … Continue reading →

Posted in cambodia, creative writing, experiences, families, miscellany, short story, travel | Tagged , , , | 31 Comments

Cambodia Tales, Day 2: glorious boating weather

Posted on August 3, 2017 by

Today’s pictures are from the villages adjacent to, and Lake Tonle Sap itself   I’m not sure when I saw my first house boat – probably in 1978 when I moved into a flat next to the Lots Road power … Continue reading →

Posted in cambodia, creative writing, miscellany, short story, thought piece, travel | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments