Intrepid (sissy) expat Aussie traveler, Socrates, steps back in time to review his journey from the capital of Tanzania, Dar Es Salaam to the extraordinary island of Zanzibar. I say my goodbyes to Hanneke on the doorstep of the dilapidated guest house where we were staying while in Dar Es Salaam. “I’m going to Zanzibar,” I tell her. “I might come to Zanzibar,” she … [Read more...]
To Jambiani – Exploring Zanzibar (travel destination review)
I stood in the doorway of my Zanzibar guest house room and gawked at the figure who had knocked on my door and was now standing in the hotel corridor outside. “I've come to Zanzibar,” she said, despite only hours earlier, on a doorstep in Dar Es Salaam, letting me know that her travel plans did not include accompanying me to Zanzibar but would lead her south to … [Read more...]
Mysteries of Surfing
I’ve been trying to learn how to surf now for around thirty years. I like to surf. No. Let’s take that a step further. I love to surf. Do I call myself a surfer? No. A surfer is an athlete who has acquired a specific qualifying level of competence and skill at the act of surfing. I am one person who has not achieved that requisite standard... but, despite loving the act of … [Read more...]
Greatest cheats ever Contender No. 2 – 2000 Paralympic Spanish Intellectually Disabled Basketball Team
Who were the greatest… most egregious… most vile… most talented cheaters in the history of sport? Socrates announces his list of favourites. Number two, but only by a whisker, is the Sydney 2000 Paralympics Spanish Intellectually Disabled Basketball team. When it comes to singling out the world’s worst cheat one would think that Emperor Nero, discussed in our first … [Read more...]
The stoic approach to a game gone wrong – Sports tips from Seneca
Ancient philosopher, Seneca, was not much of an athlete. But he knew quite a bit about what it was like to have a bad day. His tips on how to deal with getting the rough end of the pineapple in a sporting context are well worth hearing. One might imagine that wealthy, famous and highly respected philosophers… people who have held high status roles in government and in business… … [Read more...]