Will things ever be the same again after Covid-19? No. This pandemic has had such a devastating effect on the world that things will never be the same again. It is like the plagues of old. They are seared into the collective memory and consciousness of the population, fear and grief imprinting themselves in people’s …
Why is telling the truth always undiplomatic? An English ambassador wrote 400 years ago “A diplomat is an honest man sent by his country to lie abroad”. He got into trouble with king James I about that. But I have also realised that people don’t like being told the hard truth or the real truth. …
The last 2 days, we’ve had beautifully clear weather and we can see northwards right across the Terai to the Manaslu range of mountains. The highest of these peaks we can see from our house are Ganesh Himal I at 7429 m and Himalchuli at 7893 m. They are so high one could mistake them …
From April to August this year I was lucky enough to have been part of the London 2012Olympic Games. I was employed at the Excel Arena in London’s Docklands, which wasthe venue for no less than seven Olympic events – Boxing, Fencing, Weightlifting,Wrestling, Judo, Taekwondo and Table Tennis. The Excel was one of four Fleet …
The London 2012 Olympics. My Role as a Fleet Dispatcher at the EXCEL FLEET DEPOT Read More »
On Sunday morning I suddenly thought… why not go up to Stratford to see some of theParalympic events – or just get into the Park if I could? I had a free day, I could wear my newParalympic uniform, and I could try to get through with my Paralympic accreditation, although itwas likely to be …
Possibly the funniest story in a long while;This is a bricklayer’s accident report, which was printed in the newsletter of the Australian equivalent of the Workers’ Compensation Board. This is a true story. Had this guy died, he’d have received a Darwin Award for sure……. Dear Sir, I am writing in response to your request for …
(A more detailed description of my volunteer work in Australia and New Zealand can be found at the end of my Travel Writing post, the link is at the bottom of my Home Page.) 5 April – 15 May 2009 I arrived in Melbourne Victoria on 1st April 2009 to begin my 6 weeks volunteering …
Tim Taylor – Volunteer with LPTM, Makassar, Sulawesi, Indonesia September 2008 – March 2009 Motivation for Volunteering I had time available to travel to a part of the world I had never visited. I wanted to do something good for the environment, and had always enjoyed working outside planting trees and plants. In England I …
21 December 2008 Tim Taylor Digging the holes The field is sloping south east. The soil is thick whiteish clay; when it is the dry season the ground is baked hard and very difficult to dig. But this is the wet season (musim hujan) where the soil is easier to dig, but then the hole …
Planting Bitti Trees in Pandala (South Sulawesi, Indonesia) for LPTM Read More »
23/12/2008 There’s a definite pecking order where I live. First there is the big cock of the roost, 2 enormous yellow feet, long neck, red comb, glittering black-ringed yellow eye, fancy tail feathers gleaming metallic blue and green. He is too big for the others so they all defer to him. There are 2 smaller …
The Pecking Order. By Tim Taylor, Volunteer with LPTM, South Sulawesi, Indonesia 2008-09 Read More »