A salute to the silent language of the road. The car sighed a little as it reached the crest of the hill. I could see the road stretch to the horizon like an endless black ribbon unfurling across the land. It had been hours since I had seen another car…

Granny’s Depression Era hacks to look good, eat well and thrive in the 2020's economic misery. — The International Monetary Fund has warned us to brace for the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Luckily, I had someone on the inside of that catastrophe who relished any opportunity to share the tips and tricks that got her and her family through. My Granny. Eve Walsh turned…

A journey of hope and love and the kindness of strangers. — April 8: Quarantine — Day 13. Probably should have started this thing a while ago, but like so many others in this situation I have been three-quarters pissed since entering mandatory 14-day Quarantine: I’ll call it Q as I can’t be bothered with all those letters. It’s amazing how lazy…

Travel writing in the Covid-19 era may seem counter-intuitive, but it is important in maintaining a positive frame of mind and healthy optimism. — We think we’ve got it bad but consider those poor folks who lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s. Between 1929 and 1933 the US unemployment rate jumped from 3.2% to 25%. There was little government intervention to help people until FDR’s New Deal. Millions of people were made…

Witnessing Covid-19 at the two ends of the South African spectrum — South Africa has just begun a 21-day lock down. It is a desperate bid to halt the spread of the Covid-19 virus before it reaches areas of poverty, overcrowding and vulnerability. However, prevention may not be better than the cure in this country of extremes. It is well documented that…

Disheartened by the sweaty bustle of the streets of Chiang Mai, I headed to Lampang (pronounced Lampung). Locals and expats had told me that Lampang is the last paradise in Thailand, so obviously I had to go. It is a 2-hour train journey south-east of Chiang Mai and far from…

As Henry David Thoreau said: “It’s not what you look at that is important, it’s what you see.” — Ripples lapped the edges of the gorge as the boat made its way deeper into the heart of the ancient ravine. Cliffs of vivid ochre flanked the river, made brighter by the brilliant blue sky. …

It’s not as outlandish as it sounds. — Why not engineer your life to create the adventure you crave? According to various studies in USA, UK and Australia we will change our career several times over our working life. These studies from Linkedin, Investec and ABS show that reinvention on a global scale is the new work order. …

First, they bought the resort. Now they’re mining the water. Next they want a granite mine. A cautionary tale of greed, stealth and colossal stupidity. — Australia has permitted a Chinese company the right to extract, bottle and sell nearly a million litres of water a year from a severely drought affected area, despite pleas from nearby farmers. But this case goes deeper than the aquifer in question. It highlights how far governments have been willing…