• OPINION

  Mandalay and other magical places

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 11/04/2021

  » Thanks to many readers who came up with their own memories in response to last week's column about places that sounded quite magical as a kid. Mandalay and Kathmandu were definitely the front-runners at grabbing children's imaginations in the old days.

• OPINION

  Taking a strong stance on doughnuts

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 22/04/2018

  » It was Oscar Wilde who famously observed "the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it," which is my excuse for munching on a free doughnut proffered by staffers at a bakery in Bangkok last week. It was only a little one and wasn't that tasty -- too much sugar -- but I still scoffed it down, quietly cursing Mr Wilde's seductive bon mot.

• OPINION

  The rock'n'roller and the wartime heroine

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 26/03/2017

  » Last week witnessed two landmarks in the music industry, one sad, the other sort of sentimental but quite uplifting. The death of the great Chuck Berry at the age of 90, who many regarded as the king of rock'n'roll, prompted an unprecedented outflowing of tributes from just about every band you can imagine, led by the Rolling Stones.

• OPINION

  When paradise is just 10 minutes away

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 06/08/2017

  » Roughly once a week, I have the pleasure of asking a taxi driver to transport me to paradise, or to get the pronunciation right, "paradye". And within 10 minutes we have arrived.

• OPINION

  There must be something about Hawaii

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 09/10/2016

  » The most reassuring news of the week was that the leader of a much-discussed Thai delegation to the US-Asean conference in Hawaii only ate noodles and rice aboard the chartered aircraft.

• OPINION

  A missing piece sinks the boating party

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/12/2014

  » If you want to briefly escape into a world blissfully free of smartphones, tweets, corruption and crooked cops, you can always try tackling a jigsaw. It's very old fashioned, of course, but can be quite therapeutic.

• OPINION

  A chip on the shoulder, or is it a crisp?

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 13/03/2022

  » My reference to the Great British Chip as being related to "French fries" in last week's column caused considerable rumblings in staunchly proud British stomachs. "Shockingly unpatriotic," was one of the more polite observations.

• OPINION

  Final curtain for 'Forces Sweetheart'

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 21/06/2020

  » It was sad to learn of the passing of Dame Vera Lynn, Britain's wartime singer known as the "Forces Sweetheart''. Although she was 103, her death still came as a shock as she was one of those inspirational people you thought would go on forever.

• OPINION

  The sorry plight of the bumblebee

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 29/03/2020

  » A welcome distraction from the Coronavirus crisis came this week from a most unlikely source. Over the wall at the back of my Bangkok abode there is a drainage ditch which also hosts a couple of trees providing welcome shade for the rear of the house. On Thursday my wife summoned me to the back of the house. She pointed at one of the trees in animated fashion -- all I could see was leaves.

• OPINION

  When bombers turned into butterflies

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 18/08/2019

  » There have been an increasing number of news events lately serving as reminders that I am a bit on the ancient side. Last month it was the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing and it was rather disturbing that most of my colleagues were either too young to remember it, or in most cases hadn't even been born.

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