Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
Holiday in Japan (7): Hiroshima
April 12th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
A week ago, we were flying out to Japan. A week ahead, we will be arriving back in London Today (Saturday), we were in Hiroshima. Actually we spent almost five hours on an island, officially called Itsukushima (Island of the Gods), but popularly known as the Island of Shrines. Our ferry approached at high […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (6): Takayama & Hiroshima
April 11th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
Friday in Takayama started with thick mist but the mist soon burned off to provided a bright morning for our city tour. Meanwhile our luggage went off to Kyoto and we had to content ourselves with an overnight bag for the next two days. We began the city tour with a visit the Miyagawa morning […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (5): Matsumoto & Takayama
April 10th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
Apparently, during our night in Matsumoto, about 1.15 am there was an earthquake of 2.6 on the Richter scale. For some of the group, the earth moved. I simply slept through it. At 7.30 am, I had a call from Jenny wondering where I was. To be honest, I wondered where I was as well […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (4): Mount Fuji
April 9th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
Wednesday was all about Mount Fuji. This is an active volcano – it last erupted in 1707/8 – that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its size, symmetry and prominence have given it almost a spiritual status in Japan. Standing 12,389 feet (3,776 metres) tall and surrounded by picturesque lakes, it is a fabulous site […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (3): Hakone
April 8th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
On our final morning in Tokyo (Tuesday), at breakfast I was excited to see a bowl of fruit with a banana waiting for me, only to find that the whole display was plastic. Greater success occurred when Jenny & I decided to use the hour between the conclusion of our breakfast and the departure of […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (2): Tokyo
April 7th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
The journey out was straightforward but l-o-n-g. When I went to Japan in 1998, it was a direct flight over Russia, especially Siberia, which took about about 12 hours. But now we have the Russian invasion of Ukraine and no flying by the shortest route. We flew with Emirates: London to Dubai (three hours ahead) […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (1): introduction
April 5th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
On 3-14 October 1998, I visited Japan as a member of a delegation from three British trade unions, including the Communication Workers Union where I was then Head of Research, to visit colleagues from the five postal and telecommunications trade unions of Japan. The delegation had meetings in Tokyo and we were shown around Tokyo […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
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. […]
Posted in British current affairs, History, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
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, […]
Posted in History, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
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, […]
Posted in Internet, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)