Songs from the sky in China and scenes of madness in London

When comparing notes while, like me, working on the weekend, Tian Qin quoted me an old Chinese proverb, ‘Happy life is from hard working.’ I guess that makes me a very happy man indeed.

Tuning into Edvard Grieg’s Morning Moodie

Amid all the talk about sector ‘recovery’, the reality is that any such curve is going to be country by country, route by route, step by step (in both directions). Inch by bloody inch.

Arise Sunil Tuli, man of steel

Unless Sunil’s own extreme magnetism sets off the airport metal detector, the titanium plate will not.

Down with doomscrolling and in with Inspirescrolling on International Women’s Day

There are plenty of positive stories if you know where to look for them and both want and know how to write them.

Stepping lightly into another half-decade

Half time goes by/Suddenly you’re wise/Another blink of an eye/Sixty-four is gone.

Move over Moxie and Martin, your body double is in town

Courtesy of Kelly and Kiehl’s, and with both Moxie and the real Martin now having a body double in place, I’ll surely scale what had seemed not just a hill but a whole mountain range.

How a global pandemic, ‘vaccine nationalism’ and border closures are reshaping our world

The travel bans and quarantine hotels are this new philosophy’s first, most shocking manifestation. For the first time since the mid-Forties, governments are preventing citizens from leaving their countries, via hard borders.

Miscellaneous

December 29, 2020

A silver-ferned devil in Hong Kong and a breath of fresh Presidential air at TFWA

What a difference a change of President makes. No, I’m not talking the US where sometime between now and Jo Biden’s inauguration day, Donald Trump will finally be prised like a limpet from a rock out of the White House.

Miscellaneous

December 25, 2020

Why it remains a wonderful life

I now have the Bob Dylan Xmas album playing and I can confirm that no-one has ever wrecked ‘Little Drummer Boy’ quite so magnificently.

Quirky

December 15, 2020

How ARI’s resident ‘Andy man’ created an international DIY gin distillery

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world he walked into his own. Here’s your chance to win a bottle of gin of your choice while applauding distil-it-yourself in-gin-uity.

Lifestyle

December 12, 2020

Eastern calm, aviation chaos and putting a sticking plaster on a pandemic

Down below in the churning waters, some hardy souls take their daily swim, while by the cross-harbour ferry terminal to North Point an early morning Tai Chi class and an elderly couple line-fishing from a rickety boat add to the timeless eastern calm.

Miscellaneous