Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
When and where was the world’s first railway line?
January 18th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
The world’s first public railway to use steam locomotives ran between Stockton and Darlington in the north-east of England. Since my family name is Darlington (although I’ve only visited the town once – in 1983), this historical event has always had a special resonance for me. The line was officially opened on 27 September 1825. […]
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Which British politician was responsible for the introduction of the world’s first zebra crossing?
January 12th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
The answer might surprise you – as it did me when the question was recently put to me by a friend over dinner. The answer is Jim Callaghan who, at the time, was a junior minister in the Ministry of Transport in Clement Attlee’s postwar Labour Government and subsequently became Prime Minister himself. In 1948, […]
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Normal service will now be resumed
January 6th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
I’ve had a personal blog called NightHawk for 22 years now but, for the last three weeks, I’ve had a technical problem which has prevented me from blogging. This has been one of the longest down times in the life of my blog and it has been deeply frustrating. But, thanks to an IT wizard, […]
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Need a suggestion for a Christmas present?
December 2nd, 2024 by Roger Darlington
This Christmas, if you’re looking for a modestly-priced and personal gift for family and friends, please consider one of these books which are available on Amazon. You can tell them that you know the author.
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (14): back to Kolkata
October 16th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
On Tuesday, we started the return home by leaving Bhutan for India, so it was another early start as we left our hotel at 7 am. In all my years of travel, I’ve never experienced an airport which is so calm and so beautifully decorated and so gloriously located as Paro in Bhutan. It was […]
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (13): Thimphu
October 15th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Monday was the day of the least travel and the most sightseeing of the entire trip. All our day was spent in Thimphu and we had no less than eight events. We started with the Memorial Chorten which was built in 1974 in memory of Bhutan’s third king, Druk Gyalpo, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck (1928-1972) who […]
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (12): Punakha
October 13th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Sunday too was part sightseeing and part travel. Leaving our hotel at 9 am, we walked through rice fields to the village of Lobesa and up steps and slopes to the Chimi Lhakand Temple and Monastery which was first built in 1499. It has two really odd dedications. First, it is dedicated to a guy […]
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (11): Paro To Punakha
October 12th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Saturday was part sightseeing and part travel. According to the original programme, this morning we should have visited the National Museum – something recommended to me by a friend. But the museum was closed, so we were taken instead to an archery contest. Now archery is the national sport in Bhutan and astonishingly these guys […]
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (10): Tiger’s Nest
October 11th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Today – it was Friday – I experienced the toughest climb of my life and the most stunning view of my life. This was because we visited the so-called Tiger’s Nest. Paro Taktsang, the proper name for the Tiger’s Nest Monastery, is a sacred Vajrayana Himalayan Buddhist site. According to legend, Guru Padmasambhava flew to […]
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (9): Paro
October 10th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Thursday was largely a travelling day, but a much easier one than our other travelling days. The journey was from Phuntsholing, just inside Bhutan, to Paro, a town south of the capital of Bhutan in the west of the country. Our guide in Bhutan is called Jigme (which means fearless) and our driver in Bhutan […]
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