Soapbox

One hundred years ago the world was still celebrating peace in Europe after the devastation of World War One; America was in its first flush of modern lifestyle and invented the speakeasy, filled with dance, sing and happiness, fuelled  by the beginning of a huge booze trade. It was the ‘Roaring Twenties’ when anything was […]

Many years ago in Europe, but it was probably the same all over the world, festivals were very much centred on religious celebrations. Many of them were agriculturally based too like  ‘Thanksgiving’ for a good harvest (or sometimes a human sacrifice because the harvest was bad!), and were usually at very fixed points of the […]

There was a time, not that long ago, when it was really possible to get lost in Bali. To wander down unmarked roads and lanes and sit quietly under banyan trees in unnamed villages. There was nature in Kuta and fields in Seminyak, there wasn’t a single building in Nusa Dua nor a villa on […]

Sustainability is the hot word of the moment. Encompassing environmental friendliness, economic viability, community sensitivity and ethnical employment. It is a huge and complicated subject. But it’s not just hot, it’s important. Almost everything, no, actually everything needs to be sustainable. While most of us think of sustainability as an environmental issue and absolutely abhor […]

British Poet John Masefield wrote his famous  poem ‘Sea Fever’ in 1902 which so beautifully expresses our fascination with the sea. The second verse sums it up well: “I must down to the sea again, for the call of the running rideIs a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied” We […]

The art world is one that is very hard to understand, and I think those that control it want it to be that way! Which artist fetches the top dollar for their work? And why? It doesn’t always seem to be about what we (amateurs!) call quality, in fact some of the absolutely hot, top-grossing […]

I suppose most people want to be fit, and everyone wants to be healthy but isn’t it amazing that we don’t try very hard to achieve either? We bumble along putting off exercise schedules and programs and delay health checkups as if these were causes of the problems not the solutions. Don’t deny it! Part […]

Richard Rogers captured our imagination with his wonderful lyrics to this song from the movie ‘South Pacific’ in 1949. Not some enchanted morning, not some enchanted lunch time, no, the magic of love only starts at night. Maybe the magic is somewhat diffused by the latest additions to Bali, motorcycles roaring past and very loud […]

Our May 2019 issue is all about health, spas and wellness (which is different from health apparently) and how to generally look and feel good.  Now while you might not be aware of it, Indonesia (which includes Bali as a province) recently had national elections for all elected positions from city and provincial councils  to […]

It has always struck me that education is very unbalanced in most schools around the world, concentrating more on maths and science, which most people will only use a tiny part of for the rest of their lives, compared to health and nutrition which they need every day of their lives. And on which their […]