It took David Baker 40 years to get to Israel, but there he finally found peace Financial Times, 1 April 2006 When I was growing up in the north-east of England in the 1960s, we had a little blue and white collecting tin on the shelf in our hallway. Printed on one side was
Olympic Man, Floral Woman and unwashed bodies all help to fuel lane rage at the swimming pool Financial Times, 17 September 2005 It is meant to be relaxing. You jump in the water, adjust your goggles and push off for a few lengths after a hard day at work. Everything's going, well, swimmingly, and
For centuries, Hoi An has been a well-loved jewel of Vietnam Financial Times, 17 September 2005 Sometimes when you travel you have the greatest luck, and the timing of our arrival in Hoi An, a picturesque town about halfway between Saigon and Hanoi on the Vietnamese coast, was one
Bicycles are cheap, healthy and good for the environment. So why do so many motorists hate them? Financial Times, 20 November 2004 The bicycle is making a comeback. Every weekday morning nearly 200,000 people cycle to work in London, up 23 per cent on last year's figures and, according to Transport for London, still
After Enrica Rocca's Borough Market Day, shopping, cooking and eating will never be the same Financial Times, 4 September 2004 "Don't eat too much before you come because by the end of the day, you will be stuffed." Enrica Rocca is making the final arrangements for her Borough Market Day, an inspired
The science of theme parks: forget end-of-the-pier distractions, the modern amusement ride is a hi-tech thrill laboratory Hot Air, September 2001 Eddie Newquist knows a lot about theme parks. As president of film and production at BBH, a firm of park and exhibit designers based in San Antonio, Texas, it’s his job to be
New Yorkers are finding Russian reinvigoration – with a brain-frying, muscle-twisting detox session on E 10th Street High Life, September 2001 As soon as you push open the wooden door to the schvitz in New York’s Russian and Turkish Baths on E 10th Street, you know you are in no ordinary spa. A wall
How Iranians see their part in Persia's 2,500-year story Financial Times, 30 September 2000 On a quiet day, the mausoleum of Ayatollah Seyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini looks like an airport terminal where all the flights have been cancelled. People lie dozing on the industrial floor, prefabricated pillars
No sex. No drugs. No flesh. No alcohol. Why would anyone want to holiday in Iran? Arena, September 2000 Mohammed is getting wistful. ‘You should have seen this place before the revolution,’ he says, as we sit in the coffee shop of a mid-range tourist hotel in Tehran. ‘There
How life can change in an instant Arena, August 1999 At first, I thought a car had cut in front of us. Drivers were constantly switching lanes along the potholed dual carriageway that snaked through scrubby desert into downtown Amman. It was late
