The Songstone

Friday night/Saturday Left London 6 hours late; sandstorms in Dubai had damaged the plane, which had to be repaired. Once on board I enjoyed Emirates's good food and wine and fell asleep over Budapest. Arrived in Dubai at midday local time and caught the connection to Doha. No luggage in Doha; after an hour of calls and consternation I was told it had been left in London. Airport full of Japanese and Australians here to watch the final of the Asian Football Cup (Japan 1 - Australia 0). My car was waiting for me and things began to improve once I arrived at my apartment: a beautiful 6th floor space fitted with all the gadgets. Fell asleep very quickly and woke up after a few hours to go out for some fried chicken. Bed. Sunday Woken at 5am by the call to prayer; good timing as working hours are from 6.30am - 2.30pm. Minibus drove us to the compound. Not much to do here yet except show our faces, so spent the whole day chatting and playing Scrabble with two fellow English exil...

I am off to Qatar today for a few months' teaching. No post tomorrow, so enjoy this: 1/4 2/4 3/4 4/4

It's strange how things that were on my mind 4 years ago are still topical...   First published on 15 October 2006 Last thing's first   Friday 6th was the Mid-Autumn Festival: the second most important festival in China, traditionally celebrated with lanterns, fruit and mooncakes. In my residential garden many families put lanterns in their windows: a glorious, multi-coloured spectacle. On the Saturday I was invited to a party to appreciate the Moon, so along I went to another residential garden, the Villandry, on the outskirts of town. The opulence! The apartments here would have had the planners of Versailles scratching their heads. I sat by the pool with Mystic Meg from Hiroshima, being served champagne cocktails and watching bevies of beautiful girls with lanterns. On the next table was the Italian consul; some high-ranking executives from Sony on the table after that; the whole place was packed with the movers and shakers of Guangzhou's diplomatic and ...

With apologies to those who hate this recording (MM)... Part 1 Part 2

Luisa Tetrazzini , another choice from 100 Singers :

Another shanty from the wonderful voice of Peter Dawson :

I used to write a blog called 'Life in China' when I was living there. The blog has long since disappeared (literally overnight and without warning, when the site was bought by profiteering scum XF.com ) and I thought it gone forever, but the Wayback Machine has come to my rescue, and large parts of it are still extant. I shall therefore offer you a post from those distant days. Art and Observations (1): first published on 4th October 2006 The ferocious heat and humidity are fading away. The North East monsoon brings warm, dry days and cooler nights. Time to reflect on a lazy summer of film, books, music and travel. Over the next few weeks I shall comment on some of the best things I have seen and heard, and some of the worst. The Football Factory "Being beaten up by football hooligans is like getting VD: the fucking pain goes on forever." So begins The Football Factory (Nick Love, UK, 2004) and with an opening like that this has to be compelling viewing. F...

I hate to whine, but this last month, with a tendon injury, flu and an ear infection, I have had enough pain to test the tolerance of a flagellant. This culminated in a 4am march to A&E yesterday morning to demand and get massive doses of dihydrocodeine tartrate. The bliss! In a civilised society opiates would be freely available over the counter. Not in Toryland, where even pain is regulated by the masters through the high priest-doctors; you must suffer until you are prescribed, and the holy tablet dispensed unto you. I was supposed to have been leaving the country today en route to run a school in Russia, but pre-Christmas promises and bonhomie have given way to silence and cold feet: yet another example of the high ethical standards and integrity of EFL employers. Perhaps they ran out of money. Still, there has been some consolation: Len McCluskey laying into spivs, media barons, bankers and Tory lickspittles on the Today programme yesterday morning. He didn't actu...