Moss Memories 18 – Singapore (1978/2006) I arrived in Singapore at 2a.m. I was very tired, having done a day’s work in Auckland before departing. When I arrived at the Holiday Inn counter I was shocked to find I did not have my wallet containing my money, papers, and passport. I must have left them…

         In London, I did the usual tourist things. Believe it or not, one thing I was keen to see was the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum, dated 196 B.C.  It was the key to discovering Egypt’s secrets.            While visiting the famous Temple Bar  I met a barrister who told me he…

         It’s hard to believe that money was restricted in the forties. All we were permitted in each port was US $8 and that didn’t go far.          My father, a man of initiative, had collected some US dollars for me and had also sent me sets of the new NZ Victory stamps. These were…

There were thousands of planes. Yes, thousands of planes – as far as the eye could see.  All being assembled –  presumable for the scrap yard after the end of the battle for Japan.  This was the first sight we saw as the New Zealand cruiser Bellona sailed into Honolulu.          I had helped decommission…

         While working in Singapore I was always one of the first people down for breakfast at the hotel and the first one to arrive at the Singapore Institute of Management. I spent the first hour getting my training room ready for the managers in my workshops. I tried to make it an interesting place…

One day I was lunching in Bangkok with my colleagues from the UN. There was a lull in our conversation. I asked them which Asian country do you prefer to work in? Much to my surprise, they agreed on Vietnam.          As I was about to go there to do a job for UN-Habitat, I…

There was a strong cold wintery gale blowing  in Wellington. I was cold and miserable. My phone rang. It was a Professor  Bewley from Massey University in Palmerston North.  “We need an emergency lecturer to go to the University of the South Pacific to teach agricultural extension. Some of the staff  have cleared off home…

          On Tamaki we were woken up before sunrise with a loudspeaker chanting “Wakey, wakey, rise, and shine. You’ve had your time and I’ve had mine. Hit the deck, Hit the deck, Hit the deck!”. If we were slow we were tipped out of our hammocks, and they were slung up high.           Our first…

Laos 1989 “You must be joking. No one can get into a communist country at a week’s notice. You want me to go to Laos, collect information and be back in a fortnight. The last time I went into Hanoi it took me four months to get in.” I told John Hayman.           He told…

APIA, Samoa 1980          Doug Gibbs rarely missed a trick. We were waiting in Tonga for a plane to take us to Samoa. Doug did a head count and said we should board the plane as soon as possible as there were too many passengers for the number of seats on our plane. We made…