Photos of a maskless (and clueless) Boris Johnson in a hospital ward just add to a widespread external perception that the UK is what the New York Times famously dubbed ‘Plague Island’.
Lifestyle
Avoiding the maelstrom while learning to live with COVID
As I write, two members of my team are suffering from COVID, caught in the maelstrom of the pandemic as it rages once again through the UK, where some 9.3 million people have suffered from the disease and almost 142,000 people have died.
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Events
How China Duty Free Group is leading the virtual-physical charge
I like that George Soros quote “When you’re a catalyst for change, you make enemies – and I’m proud of the ones I’ve got.”
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Events
Tales of Shelleys, Sabrage and Sunilage from Hong Kong
Sabrage is a highly skilled technique for opening a Champagne bottle with a sabre. Sunilage, on the other hand is a highly dangerous technique best avoided as this photo, almost the last one of Antares Cheng taken alive, and which resulted in Dom and Perignon becoming separate brands, reveals.
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People
Meet the Blue Sky thinker with Panda Blood in his veins
Upon learning about a girl who required o Rh negative blood after a car accident in another province, he rushed to contact the relevant hospital, encouraging the young patient with a microblog post declaring ‘Mr. Blue Sky is here to help!’
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Quirky
Testing times, a Praying Mantis and a countdown to freedom in the Interim Quarantine Bureau
“We’re here for the test,” said a woman in full PPE, who at first sight looked like a giant praying mantis. “So am I,” I replied lamely. “The All Blacks are ahead 16 to 8.”
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Lifestyle
In training for the (very modern) Quarantine Pentathlon
The triple jump – What we used to call the hop, step and jump at school is a natural for a finely tuned quarantine athlete such as me. Hop? Why that’s so easy, I could do it on one leg.
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Lifestyle
Kicking Hexapentakis Truncated Icosahedron where it deserves to be kicked
While the team the Kiwis have curiously dubbed the OlyWhites has made the front pages of the New Zealand media today, they’ll disappear just as soon as news breaks of what an All Black star had for breakfast.
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Lifestyle
Cheered up by Writers’ Tears and a visit to the D’oC
We may have become the first people in the world to drink Writers’ Tears accompanied by peanut butter on snack biscuits. But no feast prepared for a King could match the magic, nor the moment, of this combination.
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Travel
A free man in Busan but staying away from trains
We’re all on a kind of Train to Busan. That foul spreading monster called COVID-19 is of course the zombies and we, as individuals, companies and societies are all doing our best to survive the menace.
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Travel
Maintaining caution in Korea, becoming dumb & dumber in the UK
I’ve had so many sticks poked up my nostrils in recent weeks I’m starting to feel like Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) after getting his nose plugged by Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) to stop his snoring in that priceless scene from ‘Dumb & Dumber’.
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Events
A heavenly view in Ystradgynlais and a 365 view of TFWA
This is just about as quiet an interim bureau as I have ever inhabited during the past 19 years, especially as it is one of those rare places in the UK that has no wi-fi signal, perhaps a sign from someone on high telling me I need to slow down.
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Lifestyle
Treasuring but moving on from the past
Nostalgia is a seductive but sometimes dangerous emotion. We can bask in it but we must also move on from it.