Jaffna in Sri Lanka 1978         When you see a platoon of soldiers pointing rifles at you it does tend to focus the mind. This happened not once,  but three times on our eight-hour drive from Kandy to Jaffna.          At the time we did not realize it but we must have been one of…

Moss Memories 7 – P.N.G 1987        One morning my phone rang and a  voice said he was calling from the Finance Department, in Port Moresby.           The Government of Papua New Guinea is running a planning conference and they wanted me to come over and make a presentation.  I have never been to PNG,…

When I was first asked to present a paper at their annual conference at the Food and Fertilizer Technology Center,  for Asian and the Pacific, in Taipei I was flattered to have been asked.  I was curious to find out how this country had been turned around from a food importing country to a strong…

Q & A – Moss Memories –  Memorable Events -5 The March-Past If I had a motto I would chose  –‘ Never a dull moment.’ It’s hard for me to believe the unexpected things that have happened in my life. In 1979 I was invited by the U.N. and the Government of Sri Lanka to…

We lived in Bangkok for eighteen months. We rented a nice little two-bedroom apartment in a guarded compound largely occupied by people working for United Nations organizations. Our compound was a very pleasant place with gardens and a swimming pool. It even had a tennis court. It was situated in an affluent area handy to…

Memorable Events Can you remember your first day at school?  I can, and I will never forget it. Two hundred and sixty-five people were killed that day. It was the day of the Hawke’s Bay earthquake, New Zealand’s worst earthquake disaster. Many people were buried in collapsed buildings and couldn’t be rescued. Fire swept through…

Memorable Events Washington DC – The Greatest Show on Earth One of my most memorable events took place in Washington DC, at the Coliseum in 1968. We spent about a month in Washington when I was an Eisenhower Fellow. We had been booked into a tatty old apartment,  called the Francis Scott Key, It was…

New Blog series title Q&A –Moss Memories 1 Recently I turned 96 and my son suggested I should share some of my adventures before it was too late. Having worked in many countries (16 at my last count), and multiple times in some.  I have carried out aid missions for five countries and worked for…

SELECTED ROLLING ON BLOGS – 1 PLAN TO GET THINGS DONE – 2 Build YOUR CONFIDENCE – 3 Improve YOURSELF – 4 Have a SUCCESSFUL YEAR – 5 Overcoming  PROCRASTINATION – 6 Reduce Your STRESS – 7 GET KNOWN – 8m NAMES – 9 WRITE to be Read – 10 DISPLAYS – 11 ORAL COMMUNICATION…

Get READ –           To be read, you must use crisp clear, and concise language therefore, edit, and edit again, until you are satisfied that your message will be read and understood.         Check for logic, continuity, long sentences, long paragraphs, and incorrect grammar. A Handful of Tips to write to be read and understood…