Showing 1 - 10 of 16
When it twigged Thailand was different
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 17/04/2022
» For the third year running we have experienced muted Songkran celebrations, and I for one won't complain if it remains that way for a while. Of course there have been a few naughty tourists who have broken the water-throwing protocols, but maybe the heat got to them.
An unforgettable taste of romance
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 13/02/2022
» In Thailand the silly season is never far away and things usually get even more daft around Valentine's Day, which happens to be tomorrow. However, the festival has taken bit of a hit in recent years courtesy of Covid. With kissing, canoodling, caressing, cuddling, snogging and hugging generally frowned upon by authorities the occasion has inevitably lost a lot of its romance.
Well, after that things can only get better
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 27/12/2020
» What a dreadful year. We found ourselves having to tackle a whole new vocabulary and most of the words were enough to make even the most optimistic among us depressed. It all began in March with "self-isolation", a horrible expression inferring you have become a hermit, hidden away, exiled, incommunicado, which in fact is exactly what we were.
Always look on the bright side of life
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 05/01/2020
» We have just scraped through the Year of the Porkers and are hurtling into the Year of the Rat, which admittedly doesn't sound too promising.
Elton, a madman and a ghetto blaster
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 07/07/2019
» During the early 1970s, my main source of recorded music in Bangkok was a little shop called Rex Records on Phetchaburi Road. In addition to having a decent collection of vinyl albums, it also provided a useful service by transposing albums onto cassette tapes which was then the most common form of listening to music.
Fifty fascinating years in Wonderland
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/04/2019
» Having first arrived in Thailand a few days before Songkran, each year the festival approaches it sparks memories of those early days in the Kingdom. This year is slightly more significant because earlier this week marked my 50th year in Thailand, or to put it another way, roughly 18,250 days. That sounds decidedly scary. The frightening thing is that I can remember those early days better than the events of last week. The immature youth is now an immature wrinkly.
Some still remember the 5th of November
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 05/11/2017
» It's been a busy week for contrasting festivals, commencing with Halloween, followed by Loy Krathong, while today some Brits will be marking Guy Fawkes Night commemorating the abortive Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
All joking aside, it's not easy being funny
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 28/08/2016
» It is customary at this time of the year for PostScript to lighten up proceedings with what have been voted as the best jokes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which wraps up in Scotland this weekend. Unfortunately, this year's offerings are rather underwhelming, or maybe I'm simply getting too ancient to appreciate modern wit.
The day I realised Thailand was different
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 17/04/2016
» I trust everyone has survived the Songkran Festival, suffering little more than a few damp clothes, and maybe stuck with a hint of a fixed grin. The festival brings special memories for me because when I first arrived in April 1969, it coincided with the start of Songkran, although I was unaware of it.
To make something popular, just ban it
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 18/10/2015
» Respected American judge Potter Stewart once observed: “Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself.” That appears to be what we are experiencing with the Ministry of Culture’s ban on the film Arbat, concerning a novice monk who misbehaves.