Auschwitz: The Monster Within
Auschwitz: The Monster Within. And so, I’ve arrived. Polish bus PK97 gallops off into the distance. The old girl has delivered me to the location on my ticket – a place I’ve wanted to visit for quite a while. Like most people, I’ve got a wishlist: Elvis’ Graceland, The White House, The Grand Canyon, The Pyramids and possibly the Paris tunnel where Diana was killed. Half expectedly, a slow churning in the...
Aliens – Do They Know It’s Christmas Time At All?
Aliens – Do They Know It’s Christmas Time At All? Well no, because they’re aliens. But what if we have to explain it all to them? Just as we have many questions for them, they surely will have for us. If we believe the reports… aliens have been appearing in our skies for a very long time. Some of these sightings have occurred at Christmas time. So one day – maybe even one Christmas Day – an alien...
A Taste Of Ukraine
Ukraine. It’s not for everyone! But if you’re anything like me, you’ll see that as part of its appeal. I should clarify, I guess, that I am biased… Ukraine stole my heart back in 2007. I have been returning ever since. Two or even three times a year is not unusual for me. I even lived there for 12 months in 2009. And these days, I am gearing my life towards the day that I can move to Ukraine permanently. So...
Four Boys, Three Nights And A Place Called Prague
Since overcoming my dread of flying two years ago (read about that here if you like) I’ve been hopping on and off aeroplanes like they’re skateboards. My latest get-away was three days in Prague. Accompanied by three of my mates. Travel brochures here in Britain cannot gush enough about the place: Stunning Prague this. Mesmerising Prague that. And when I told my neighbours I was going… “Oh. You’ll love...
Are You There God? It’s Me, Danny
Are You There God? It’s Me, Danny. No answer! He never answers me. I probably use His name more than I use my own, and always endearingly: “Oh my God”. “Good God”. “Dear God”. Yet still He stays away from me. Is it because I have done something in my life that has got up His nose? Then where is the forgiveness? And shouldn’t He at least let me know what it is so that I can apologise for...
Rain With Scattered Showers (of laughter & tears)
Rain With Scattered Showers (of laughter & tears) I wanna go to Baltimore. I don’t even know anything about Baltimore. I know it’s a city in that big US of A, but that’s all I know. I’m an Englishman, and I live nowhere near Baltimore – I live here… England. There are no Baltimores here. But still I want to go visit Baltimore. Is it not the case for you, as it is for me, that every once in a...
America’s Death Row Inmates… They’re All Innocent
America’s Death Row Inmates… They’re All Innocent There’s an interesting book out called ‘Injustice: Life and Death in the Courtrooms of America’. I eyed it up at my local library then dragged it home for a read. The true story of a British businessman living in Florida who gets himself convicted of a double murder and is sentenced to death. Only… he’s innocent, according to the...
Ruby Ruby Ruby Rooobeee
Ruby Ruby Ruby Rooobeee Had a tune stuck in your head lately that you just cannot shift? For me, these past few days, it has been ‘Ruby’ by The Kaiser Chiefs. At Christmas while stuck in the queue at the supermarket, I was behind an elderly gentlemen that was whistling a tune familiar to me, yet I didn’t get it until hours later, and once I did, it was with me for days. It was Dean Martin’s ‘Everybody...
Quick Food for the Single Man
Quick Food for the Single Man Well I don’t know about you, but as a single guy I feel underrepresented in the recipe world. Sure there’s tons of glossy books that claim to cater for the single, but it isn’t the kind of food a single guy pieces together when he’s hungry in the real world. Make no mistake – if Gordon Ramsey didn’t have a wife and family to impress, he’d be knocking up beans on...
Come Fly with Me
Come Fly With Me Seven years of traveling from England to Ukraine by road has served me well enough. And that’s just as well, because I’ve sidestepped airports all my life, a dread of flying has seen to that. Why then, was I now browsing the website of an airline? I would take the coach again, surely. Or I could drive in my Smart car, or ride, even, on my Yamaha 650 – one thousand, five-hundred miles through six...