Archive for July, 2008
Kylie – the X tour
Well, yes, I know that Kylie Minogue is not quite my thing, usually…
It just so happens that a really good friend of mine is Kylie’s financial controller and has been travelling on her recent tour, X. She has been the catalyst for my attendance at concerts of anything other than classical music and our first [...]
À bientôt, Dunfanaghy
So here we are, about to leave for Mexico (via a brief cultural stop in London) and I am missing Ireland already. Summer temperatures may not be high, it may be overcast and the place may well be full of tourists but it is home and I love it. Having no desire to increase the [...]
Where did the days go?
It has been hectic since I arrived in London with a dinner to host, a cruise on the Thames (courtesy of BMI) and then a flight home to Ireland. Add in a shed-load of paperwork and I just don’t seem to have had a moment. I will write something more interesting soon but, just at [...]
A weekend in Dhaka
So here I am in Dhaka, somewhere that I used to rail against. In fact, this is a moderately fun place (with the potential to be really fun if wine was not horrifically expense). It is the second day of the weekend here (Friday and Saturday) and I have spent the entire time at the [...]
Back home, Westin style
July 12, 2008
“Nice to have you home sir”, was the cry from many lips. Sadly, not the staff of Chateau Johnston welcoming the Master home but the staff of the Westin hotel in Dhaka – my “home away from home”. Unlike many hotels, they do actually appear to mean it and the fact that many [...]
Emirates, fraud protection and my bank
July 9, 2008
Been trying to access my online accounts for a few hours now and keep being blocked. Finally, I call the bank (costs a fortune on the hotel phone) and they tell me that they blocked access because there has been fraudulent access over the past 24 hours. Apparently the account has been accessed [...]
The cedars of Lebanon
July 6 – 8, 2008
I guess it is appropriate to start a new blog with a visit to a new country. Not a new country, actually, given that Lebabon is as old as the hills (although it only gained independence in 1943), but new to me.
Spent just over two days here working with Arab parliamentarians [...]
