Showing 1 - 10 of 23
The last word on weird book titles
Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/12/2025
» Being somewhat old-fashioned I still love browsing in bookshops. It provides a brief escape to a completely different world, both relaxing and therapeutic. Alas it is a pleasure future generations are unlikely to experience as these days bookshops are something of an endangered species.
In Isan it's all just a matter of taste
Roger Crutchley, Published on 24/08/2025
» There has been too much depressing news lately so let's lighten things up a bit. There was an article in the Post a few weeks ago concerning a shop in Khon Khaen that is serving ice cream heavily topped with grilled chicken. I haven't tried it and to be frank have no intention of doing so, but by all accounts it is going down very well amongst people in Isan.
Season's bleatings and other nonsense
Roger Crutchley, Published on 22/12/2024
» It looks like we are in the thick of the silly season again, otherwise known as "Jinger Ben" time (Jingle Bells to the uninitiated). Considering all the depressing news this year the festive season is actually something of a welcome break. So we might as well make the most of it especially as the coming 12 months are not likely to be a bundle of laughs.
There ain't no mountain high enough
Roger Crutchley, Published on 28/01/2024
» In the final weeks of 2023 the old chestnut of introducing a cable car system on Phu Kradeung (Bell Mountain) national park resurfaced. It came as no surprise when a Bangkok Post headline concluded on the very last day of the year that the project "faces uncertainty".
Those were the days, my friend...
Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/01/2024
» A fortnight ago I enjoyed Thai hospitality on a very pleasant New Year's Eve at a small gathering in our neighbour's garden in Chaiyaphum. There were about 10 of us and although I was the only non-Thai the hosts insisted on playing western music rather than the mor-lam they almost certainly would have preferred.
Thailand through the looking glass
Roger Crutchley, Published on 07/01/2024
» It's that time of the year when newspaper columnists predict what's in store for the next 12 months. Hopefully it will be an improvement on last year. We have just about scraped through the Year of the Rabbit but I haven't got too much faith in what the Year of the Dragon has to offer. We cannot rule out another annus horribilis.
Welcome to the really silly season
Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 24/12/2023
» It's Christmas Eve and we are well into the Jinger Ben season in Thailand (Jingle Bells to the uninitiated). But in these dodgy times one suspects there might not be too much jingling going on. Nonetheless, considering all the gloomy news of late, a couple of weeks of being a bit daft offers a welcome break. So we might as well make the most of the Jinger Ben jollity, like a lady teller at my bank who was sporting some rather cute rabbit ears.
When people browsed in bookshops
Roger Crutchley, Published on 17/12/2023
» Earlier this week I watched the 1987 film 84 Charing Cross Road. The reason for my interest was that the road has always been my favourite London thoroughfare. The film, which I won't go into, is about a long-distance literary friendship between characters played by Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins.
How two little piggies saved their bacon
Roger Crutchley, Published on 19/11/2023
» Following last week's gripping yarn concerning the rescue of Fiona, the loneliest sheep in the world, it seems only fair to report on another tale featuring animals in distress. My thanks to reader Paul Drew for alerting me to the saga of two pigs, Butch and Sundance, who became known in England as the Tamworth Two, belonging to the breed of that name.
Overdue return to land of rocket men
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 02/07/2023
» Last weekend I found myself in the Northeastern province of Yasothon for the first time in more than 20 years. It brought back fond memories as there was a time ''Yaso" was something of a home away from home.