To carry on from Singapore 1963 and all that . . .Our next port was Hong Kong. We anchored in the harbour, just a week after entering Singapore harbour. Once again the smell of Asia fired my imagination of day’s gone bye. They do say that you can smell money in Hong Kong – everyone […]
Sir Charles James Jessel. 1st Baronet (1860 – 1928) In 1899 the British North Borneo Company decided that the area, opposite Gaya island, on the main island of Borneo, was a good place to create a settlement. The area was developed and it was called Api-api (which means ‘fire’ in English) and later changed to […]
The red symbol is Nauru My next trip was to review our delivery agency in Nauru and two other Pacific Islands. To get to the other two islands I had to travel via Nauru, which under normal circumstances would not be a problem except that the Air Nauru service from Australia to Nauru was ‘intermittent’. […]
The normal high standard of Princess cruising has, in my opinion, slipped somewhat, but for us it started last year when we sailed in the Majestic Princess from Rome to Singapore. We have completed a total of nine cruises, seven of which were with Princess, so I think we can judge when standards are falling. […]
Finally, despite the rain, we managed to load all our Calcutta cargo in a dry state, as well as a number of passengers who were returning to the UK. The additional faces in the dining room and saloon expanded our conversational subjects beyond the sea and ships. Three nuns who were retiring from service joined us […]
Many of us have a book inside that we would like to write if we just knew how – I am not talking about putting pen to paper, but to construct a story that others would wish to read. For years I wanted to write and would throw away my attempts, because I was not […]
That house so tall and stark and bare, Stands for all of them out there, Without that house and friendly light Would mean a ship is lost this night. To see the light flash thro the rain, Means Old Lucifer has lost again. The wind it howls along the shore To freeze them all, both […]
Finally, despite the rain, we managed to load all our Calcutta cargo in a dry state, as well as a number of passengers who were returning to the UK. The additional faces in the dining room and saloon expanded our conversational subjects beyond the sea and ships. Three nuns who were retiring from service joined us […]
The first train arrived in Parramatta on the 26th September 1855. The first steam train in Australia ran in 1854 from Melbourne to Port Melbourne and by the time of federation in 1901 the network had grown to over 20,000 kms (12,500 miles). Today in Thirlmere, about a thirty-minute drive from Mittagong is the largest […]
Orchard Road Singapore – nothing but shops & more shops. There is a different kind of Singapore, the Botanical Gardens. A beautiful peaceful park area, which concentrates on orchids. My knowledge of gardening and plants is very limited, so I’ll just post the pictures . . . Getting to the Botanical Gardens from the city […]
Those of us who were brought up in the ’40’s and 50’s in the UK, always looked forward to Duck Apple night, which was well before Dad hired a TV. Duck Apple was a simple game on the last night of October. We had to try and grab an apple with our teeth. We were […]
It’s Always You Bing Crosby sang it to Dorothy Lamour, in Zanzibar of course . . . Christmas Day 1964 – we arrived off Mombasa and berthed alongside the Chakla, another Company ship. Also, in port was a BI passenger ship named ‘Karanja’ and this name had a family link for me. My father was […]
Remember Crab Key in Dr No, Ian Fleming’s sixth James Bond novel? Dr No was the first to be made in to a film. Eight of us (four couples) were staying in Kuala Lumpur for a couple of nights, and as we’d seen most of KL more than once, I thought that we should branch out. […]
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying. John Masefield […]
