Considerably More Than Seven Colours

Some years ago, the excellent Michael Greenwell spent some time working in Nepal. When he got back he wrote a sort of alphabetical Rougher Guide for future volunteers, with notes on the country's customs, attractions, food, dung, landscapes, people, politics and pests - as might be expected, the World Bank seems recently to have displaced the leech from champion's place in the last category. Michael has now put these notes together with some other reminiscences, including a risky bit of noise nuisance (Celtic were playing on the other side of the globe) and an unnerving interview with a young guerrilla fighter which culminated in the one question a truly professional journalist would never, ever have asked. The compilation is profusely illustrated with photographs ranging from the snappy to the sublime, and Michael is offering the whole forty-eight pages for download from his weblog. He ought to be charging for it, but he isn't; and even if you have no particular interest in Nepal, I would advise you to give it a look, because it makes very good reading indeed. The title of this post refers to the line I found the funniest, and were I Michael's editor it would be a contender for title of the book.