How to Make a Maltese Cross
While I was on holiday in Malta with some friends a few years ago we booked a boat trip to...
comedy
The Unfortunate Anagram
Brian Warken was never going to win a Nobel Prize. He was the sort of guy you watched whenever he...
Left Side, Right Side
Well if you heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times before, as the saying goes. So get ready,...
My Apocalypse
The end of the world – that was a very interesting thing for me. I mean who can say, “I...
Ten Traffic Rules for School Kids 2012 Style!
At school, seven-year-old kids in Bali learn about the rules of the road; like to walk on the left side...
Beyond The Fringe
The first Jakarta International Fringe Festival is over and what a week it was! Bill Bailey was in town with...
Jakarta Set to Hold First International Fringe Festival
The performing arts and entertainment scene in Indonesia is set to enter a new era in November with the launch...
Sheep Two, Sheen Zero
I had been in my local pub watching the now legendary 1979 Silverstone 500cc Motorcycle Grand Prix and I was...
Fame and Fortune (Almost)
One night in 1998 after a gig in Manila, a woman approached me and my band and asked if we...
Winning and Losing on the Slots
When I was 15 years old I used to work on weekends as a glass washer at a country...
The Golden Arches
Several publications, including The New York Times, ran pieces recently detailing the Jakarta phenomenon of young people congregating in local...
Bed and Breakfast and a Bogus Baby
In the 1980s I was working as an agency truck driver in Oxford on my days off from the fire...
A Bottle of Wine and a Playroom
In Eastern Promise (EP) we now have a playroom for kids. During recent trips to New Zealand and Australia, I...
Pocket Guide to How to be a Bureaucrat
Follow these simple rules to being a good Bureaucrat and enjoy countless benefits for you, your friends and your family....
The Truth Hurts
I have decided I am going to be completely honest with everyone from now on. No more lies, no more...
Just Take it Easy
We expatriates must admire the Indonesian ability to put things in perspective and to talk things down because it could...
Happy Birthday Grumpy French Man
40 years old. All of the people who are on the way to pass over this age say that it’s...
Solution to the Global Economic Crisis
We are, most of us, living far from our families, which is good for some people and sad for others....
I Hate St. Valentine
That’s the most stupid fake date on earth! When I was a teenager in Europe, it even didn’t exist (or...
The Unnecessary Fire
We call the magical device we have in our pockets a “phone”, but it really should be called a “communicator”....
Happily Ever After, or is it?
The Jakarta Players The Jakarta Players are a group of people, young and old, from working mums and dads to...