My Working World: N is for…
It’s time for another in the occasional series looking at places I’ve worked around the world. We’ve covered the first half of the alphabet in the past couple of years…
Eating My Way Round The World: Wedding in St Petersburg
Before we were so rudely interrupted by Covid-19, I began a new series of themed posts. We’re taking a break from my usual ‘seven decades of’ pieces and going for…
Busy, Busy, Busy…
It’s the second Monday of the month, which is always interview day. Except, this month, it isn’t. There are five Monday in July, which doesn’t fit too well with a…
Writerly Round-Up: June 2019
Here we are, nearing the end of June; and although it only seems like yesterday when we were all stuffing ourselves with chocolates in front of the Christmas tree –…
Writerly Round-Up: April 2019
April seems to have gone by in a flash. There were two bank holidays over the Easter weekend and we spent the whole four days mostly eating, drinking and chatting…
Snapshots of Russia: Yekaterinburg
For a while now, you have accompanied me on a monthly visit to some of the towns and cities I worked in during my time in Russia. We’ve been to…
Snapshots of Russia: Chelyabinsk
Between 1989 and 2012, I worked in the international pharmaceutical industry (yes, the sometimes murky world in which my thrillers are set). During that time, I travelled all over the…
Snapshots of Russia: Vladivostok
Between 1989 and 2012, I worked in the international pharmaceutical industry (yes, the sometimes murky world in which my thrillers are set). During that time, I travelled all over the…
Snapshots of Russia: St Petersburg
Between 1989 and 2012, I worked in the international pharmaceutical industry (yes, the sometimes murky world in which my thrillers are set). During that time, I travelled tall over the…
A Broad Abroad: Emails to the Big Chief (8)
Back in 2007, when I first started this blog, I wrote a series of posts to my mother; electronic postcards based on a trip to Russia, that would hopefully get…
Generations of Thinking
Different generations often have difficulty understanding each other. My late Father used to say: when you’re a teenager, you are surprised at how little your parents know, or understand, about…
In Pharmaceuticals, Things Are Rarely Black And White
I spent a good part of my working life as an independent pharmaceuticals consultant, but I learned my trade working for manufacturing companies. The first two were based only in…
Sharing The Love Around…
As anyone who has walked past a florist, a sweet shop or a stationer can’t fail to have noticed, 14th February was St Valentine’s Day, traditionally dedicated to love and…
There Are No Words…
…to describe what most people must have felt when the news broke of Friday’s atrocity in Paris. Angry, or distraught, or frightened, or belligerent, or heartbroken; they all seem…
A Broad Abroad: Why Do I Do This?
Before I ‘gave up the day job’ to write full-time, I spent many years travelling around Russia and the former Soviet Union countries. I had some wonderful experiences, met…
Reflections on Ukraine
Travelling to Ukraine was one of my most enjoyable and fascinating experiences in recent years. I first went there in 1999 and, for the next decade, returned several times a…
Peace is Not at Home
[For the past 20 years, I have been lucky enough to visit Russia many times and my experiences and impressions colour much of my writing. This piece was written after…