5 Things I Like About Flying

Fifteen years ago I looked forward to my next flight with great anticipation. I’d regularly fly from Taiwan to Australia, at least once every couple of months, and from Taiwan to Hong Kong, Thailand, Nepal in between. Eight to twelve hours of uninterrupted time to read, think, watch a movie or two and generally disconnect from everything on the ground. These days I sometimes wince at the thought of another long flight. Why? Dunno. So I decoded to compile a list of things I like and don’t like about flying. Here’s the ‘like’ list: 1. Planes. I really like . . . → Read More: 5 Things I Like About Flying

Spitting the Dummy

Meet my vertical neighbor, Mr. Wang. Mr. Wang doesn’t like me for some perfectly unsound reasons; there are any number of sound reasons why he might dislike me, but Mr. Wang hasn’t been exposed to any of these so he has to make do with totally illusory ones. Mr. Wang is a body-builder, or at least that is his hobby; he also owns a large black dog which figures significantly in this story, and has a girlfriend who wears excessive quantities of perfume. He is one of the few Chinese I have met with bulging chest and shoulder muscles; . . . → Read More: Spitting the Dummy

From Here To Wodonga and Back

As noted in an earlier post, being an Australian expatriate living in Taiwan has its upsides and its downsides. One of the many upsides is the fact that one is able to preserve one’s colorful linguistic heritage against dilution or degeneration, keeping it intact as if in a time capsule. You are at one and the same time removed from the home environment where usage might result in a natural attrition or evolution, yet in a cultural milieu where any corruption is effectively impossible. An example of this is the phrase ‘From here to Wodonga and back’, which invites . . . → Read More: From Here To Wodonga and Back