Showing 1 - 10 of 16
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.
The 1970 visa run into a war zone
Roger Crutchley, Published on 15/06/2025
» The Thai/Cambodian border has been in the news lately and let's hope everything is sorted out quickly and amicably. It sparked memories of the first time I crossed into Cambodia from Thailand back in October 1970. Now that's a long time ago.
Please don't blame it on the penguins
Roger Crutchley, Published on 13/04/2025
» There has been quite a fallout from Mr Trump's Tariffs, from which even penguins and seals were not spared. So much for Happy Feet. As one American commentator observed with tongue firmly in cheek "the penguins have been ripping us off for years."
Welcome spell of fashionable weather
Roger Crutchley, Published on 19/01/2025
» By Thai standards the weather has definitely been on the chilly side in recent weeks. Or to use the correct meteorological term, it's been "a bit nippy" in the early morning and evenings.
It's feeling a bit on the warm side
Roger Crutchley, Published on 07/04/2024
» It was Oscar Wilde who observed that "conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative". He might have had a point but it means there are a lot of unimaginative people in Thailand at present. I can hardly recall a conversation lately without a reference to the heat. It has definitely been "a bit on the warm side".
Shaking off the laundromat blues
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 26/03/2023
» In last week's item concerning boutiques I wondered whether their influence could extend as far as the world of laundromats. My thanks to reader Jenifer Divine in Hamburg for informing me that in the German city's St Pauli district there is a laundromat dedicated to Jimi Hendrix which just about gives it boutique status.
Words you don't really want to hear
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 04/12/2022
» It's that time of the year when publishers of major dictionaries bombard us with what they regard as the "words of the year". They rarely agree on the same offering, but there is one common theme -- nearly all words selected are frankly rather depressing.
Seducing shoppers with special offers
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 27/02/2022
» In many Bangkok retail establishments there are frequent special offers with variations on the "buy one, get one free!" theme. It is known in the trade as BOGO or BOGOF which actually sounds a bit rude. The immediate reaction to this sort of offer, especially when the word "free!" appears with an accompanying exclamation mark, tends to be "what's the catch?"
The girl who was all 'eyelashes and legs'
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 25/07/2021
» I was rightly admonished by a reader for not mentioning model Twiggy in last week's column concerning the "Swinging Sixties" in London. After all Twiggy was dubbed "The Face of 66" in a huge spread in the Daily Express.
Between you, me and the lamp post
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 27/06/2021
» Over the years we've had allegations of malfeasance concerning the whole spectrum of life in Thailand. Among the more unlikely cases have been claims of dubious goings on concerning purchases of such items as school pianos, parliament clocks, cows and even kindergarten toys.