The mall was HUGE – with waterfalls, ice ring, aquarium, its own souk, and 1200 hundred shops that made us feel over whelmed (well they overwhelm me!). Electric baby chairs – place the child in the seat, switch it on, and it rocks back and forth with a very similar movement as it would have felt […]

Picture taken of the Cross of St George the English flag, above Bargate, Southampton. Bargate – Southampton . . . but before we reached the Sceptered Isle, we had to leave Singapore We walked out of our hotel in to a very quiet terminus at 6.00 am, to check-in for our flight to London.

On arrival in Vienna we took a taxi from the station to our hotel– Hotel Beethoven which was about a 30 minute ride for a nine kilometer trip , due to negotiate a number of one-way streets and the traffic was heavier than expected. On arrival at the hotel we were greeted in the reception area […]

We sailed from Puerto Montt at 5.00 pm for our next port of call, which was Puerto Chacabuco. We passed a number of islands off the Patagonian coast, and experienced the majestic fjords that made one think of Norway. The area known as Patagonia is split between Chile & Argentina, but I must admit I […]

Around the corner from our accommodation was an old railway station called Sulphide Street Station. It is no longer in use, but is now the location of a small railway museum. Silver City Comet is now part of the museum. The above is the left side of the explanation of the train at the museum. Pictures of […]

I was a deck cadet on the above vessel in 1963. Arriving in Singapore on Saturday the 14th September 1963, the cadets were allowed to go ashore and have a swim at the Seaman’s Club. The ship was anchored off the wharf area, and we would take a small junk and be rowed, usual by […]

During WW2 the US Navy created a classification of ship as ‘Attack Transport’, which consisted of a specially built ship that would carry troops in to battle, but as normal troop ships were usually converted merchant ships, and relied on either docking or tenders to deliver the troops ashore an ‘attack transport’ carried her own […]

The food market – many foreigners come here, just to stroll around and perhaps taste some of the local food. Would you like a white strawberry – not sure of the weight, but the box will cost you about AUD $56.25 Pre-packed lunch boxes, which reminded me of bento, which is a Japanese packed lunch […]

Manchester Ship Canal in the early 1900’s. Over the years Manchester had a number airports, the first being built near the Manchester Ship Canal, and it was called Trafford Park Aerodrome. It opened in 1911 and closed in 1918. This was followed by Alexandra Park Aerodrome, which can be seen below. Manchester’s second airport 1918 […]

The Atrium, shown below, which was located at the centre of the ship over three decks. We often sat on the top floor of the atrium, because it had a small bar called Mixes, and we were as far as possible away from any loud music. Around 5.00 pm on the bottom deck of the […]

Even though Calcutta is a 170 km (100 miles) from the sea the river Hooghly is large and deep enough for deep sea ships to sail to Calcutta to load and discharge. The Company that I worked for began life in Calcutta in 1856 so it was not a surprise to see other BISNC (British […]

Dom Fernando II e Glória Picture from Lisbon web site. While in Lisbon we had one ‘damp’ day so we decided to experience Tram 28 – the oldest tram in Lisbon. When we arrived at the tram stop we were faced with a very long queue – many others had the same idea! Not wishing […]

We visited the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, where we saw his embalmed body in a glass case. He died in 1969. His body (so we were told) is shipped to Moscow every year for the embalming fluids to be changed – the jokes at the time spoke of his annual Russian holiday. Queuing to get […]

Time just flew as I became involved with Skypak and the operation. I was pleased to note that I could call on at least fifteen different languages amongst the staff, so if I had a problem with any shipment overseas, I could take advantage of our time zone and speak to a customer, airline or […]