Brisbane, Lismore, and Maleny

I got to Brisbane nearly two weeks ago now, and i don’t seem to have had enough spare time to write since then.

Last Thursday, two weeks of being in three different cities started to do my head in and i ended up hiring a car and driving up to Maleny, which is a couple of hours drive north of Brisbane, out the back of the Sunshine Coast, to visit Chelsea. When i went to pick up the car, they told me it was a year to the day since the last time i hired one from them! It was good to get out of the city and into the hills – and see some green instead of just grey concrete everywhere. I stayed there that night and then drove to Caloundra for a swim in the ocean before going back to Brisbane. … Read more at http://SnapAndScribble.com »

A Burqa And A Hard Place – by Sally Cooper

The end of Sally Cooper’s book, A Burqa And A Hard Place, made me sad. Not so much because it was about the sad goodbyes when she left Afghanistan, but more because i’d been enjoying reading it and now it was finished.

I had the pleasure of meeting Sally at Sanjar’s birthday party a month or so ago (see my earlier post on that). She knew Sanjar from her days working in community radio in Kabul. I didn’t meet her when i was there, though, as she left Afghanistan a few months before i arrived… Read more at http://SnapAndScribble.com »

An Average War

I’ve recently finished reading “An Average War”, by Mike Peyton. It’s the story of his life in the British army during the second world war.

War stories aren’t even close to the type of genre i normally read, but Mike’s the father of a couple of very old friends of mine and he was kind enough to give me a copy of his book. And i’m glad he did, as i really enjoyed reading it. It’s well written, in a very casual sort of way, and the story of his wartime adventures is gripping.

… Read more at http://SnapAndScribble.com »

A Computer Called Leo

I’ve just finished reading a book about the history of one of the earliest computers. That might sound deadly boring, but “A Computer Called Leo”, by Georgina Ferry, is very well written and should be of interest to people other than computer nerds.… Read more at http://SnapAndScribble.com »