Do I look like a viking?

I ask this question because I came out of Lush (Wudaokou Heartland - an old school student hang out) two nights ago and a Chinese guy looked up at me and said loudly "you look like a viking!" (Blonde hair has a lot to answer for.)

Beijing is definitely a city where something beyond the ordinary happens every single day.

Yearning and Returning

There is something undeniably romantic about returning to a place which you once called home.

Perhaps the sensation lies in the rush of familiarity of feeling, fostering and forging stronger memories.

Hello China, my old friend.

Flying high and Airport Lows

Being able to:

a) afford to get on a plane and fly to exotic and ordinary destinations is a privilege

b) actually get into one of the big machines of the sky is a thrill

c) spend time in airports and observe how people from around the world come and go, fight, apologise for being upset/the company that employs them, sleep, pray, cry, laugh, induce a jet-lagged glaze of the eyes and to hear the "SIGH" as people finally get on their plane, is one of the things that makes flying fun

So when your flight to New York gets cancelled and you get to visit two brand new countries (albeit solely the airports at Arlanda and Heathrow) and arrive at your destination almost 24 hours after you were expecting it is, in the end...just fine.

If I could be a musician

If I could be an artist, release a coiled vein or two of creativity, I would want to be an all in one - a composer, lyricist, singer and guitar player in the celebrated likeness of Cat Stevens.



My greatest ability with a musical instrument is limited to playing the recorder very, very badly. (Side note: surely this is the worst possible instrument in the world to inflict on mindless primary school students – particularly if it involves playing mauling the national anthem with your breath, a tube and your fingers?) I can sing with the best of them in any non-Eastern karaoke bar (songs which don’t require a dramatic rise in key are least painful for others and myself). Mine is a voice which sounds much better with the aid of the shower’s powerful acoustic setting or to pop songs on the radio in the car (sorry Mum). I’m not too bad at lullabies though – perhaps it’s the magic of singing for children which takes the pressure off.



The charm of Stevens’ music is in his cerebral comfort-food poetry and the way the guitar and his voice meld to be one and the same, one never overpowering the other. If I could make music I could think of no better mentor. How about you?

Nations at half mast

Water Serpents II (Wasserschlangen) by Gustav Klimt

I wonder who came up with the idea to hang a flag at half mast to suggest the loss of something great to a nation? The act for me is not only a way to mourn the loss of human life, quite often you never personally know the person or people who have died, whether they be a head of state, a police officer shot in the line of duty, a football fan or a student in the right place but at the worst of times, it is also a way to mourn a loss of something symbolic - a passing of an era, perhaps a nation's loss of innocence or a way to signify the unjustice of what has befallen a country.

The world is full of nations at half mast at the moment - even though they fly their flags at full height almost to spite the present circumstances. It is a reassuring constant of humanity - a way to justify living life to the fullest for those who can, because ultimately things are not in your control. How can you account for someone who wants to destroy a group of fellow classmates? How can you account for someone with more authority building a wall of sorts across land you thought was yours i.e. Western Sahara? How can you account for one country gaining so much air time the world outside is growing immune to it i.e. Pakistan, while people struggling for survival in another i.e. Somalia barely registers 30 seconds? Or in the case of Australia, the onslaught of yet another major police corruption scandal in one of its fine states, which staggeringly is no longer truly frightening to the nation or its elected representatives?

But the other great constant is that this makes prime material for satire, visual art, music and lets not forget blogs and maybe that's why nations fly flags at half mast.

Top 5 things you didn’t know about Finland

1. Babies, babies everywhere ...see them here and see them there, there & over there...

If you’re slightly unnerved by the continual sight of babies in shops, libraries, parks, buses and pubs or want to make sure that any biological clock stays well and truly powered off and alarm free, then DO NOT come to Helsinki. I originally thought Beijing was Babytown, but for once the Finns can hold one over that eastern powerhouse. Why is there an unusually high proliferation of babies I hear you asking? Is it the phenomenal maternity leave provisions? Is it because women with young children can ride on public transport for free? I am boggled by this infant mystery.

2. Health freak couples

While the divorce rate in Finland is fairly similar to that of other western countries, it would appear that couples jogging, couples Nordic walking (when you walk with sticks – like skiing except you’re walking), couples dog-walking, couples running and couples cycling remain as favoured options for staying healthy. The couple that increase cardio rates outdoors together stays together?

3. The Hair Salon hell mouth of Europe is Helsinki

On nearly every block of Helsinki you can get your hair cut. Now this isn’t like the famous road side barbers country in India (only completely legitimate, horrendously expensive and appropriately taxed business in this country) but you can never say you had difficulty finding one. There are literally hundreds of hair salons here. Though there are some truly dodgy hair cuts out there – the mullet still lives.

4. You think you had a caffeine problem

Colombians, Italians, Turks, Spaniards and New Yorkers don’t have anything on Finland. Finns consume the most coffee per capita in the world (you can think of your own reasons as to why they need so much). Perhaps that’s the reason there are zero Starbucks outlets in the country?

5. Swedish is an official language

That means you can order any government document in Swedish, send your child to a Swedish kindergarten, primary and high school, go to a Swedish-speaking university, and if you want to practice your Swedish but don’t want to go to Sweden you can visit Finland instead. We even have IKEA!

Friendly neighbourly relations

"Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours

With a little understanding, you can find the perfect blend

Neighbours, should be there for one another

That's when good neighbours become good friends"

The above is part of the theme song to one of Australia's (and dare I say it England's) favourite soapies Neighbours. For 2o+ years the residents of Ramsay street have lived in relative harmony, apart from regular love quadrangles, house fires, the effects of all that hair spray in the 80s, endless cups of tea, births, deaths, marriages, divorces and a high occupancy turn over in husbands, wives, lovers and realty.

Which leads me to naively ask the question: why don't politicians take the time out to at least read the script or debate the sore point that even in Ramsay street the occupants don't feel the need to invavsively occupy a neighbours home through force or stealth incursion, unless they were first invited to, no matter how good the BBQ smells?

Quite often when you study "real politik" it doesn't seem like the situation could get any more out-of-this-world and sadder-and-stranger-than-ficition.

I wonder if that's what the families along the border of northern Iraq and Turkey are thinking just now?