Ranting Manor

Welcome to RANTING MANOR

home to the semi-automatic ramblings of (I hope) your favourite word nerd.

Hello there, and thanks for dropping in to my page; 'tis nice of you to visit.

Hmmm ... where to start? Let's see. I'm guessing that, like most of the people who arrive here, you already know me in one way or another. Therefore the usual autobiographical palaver seems a bit pointless. So let's get straight to the creamy centre: these pages contain my blog/journal/whatever you like to call it, as promised to various people before I left Australia in 2005 to spend a year teaching English in Russia. In other words, I basically started it to record my travel and other experiences in whatever odd corners of the world I may end up in.

By all means drop me a line if you'd like to be added to the list of those who are informed when I post new entries here. And btw, I love guest book messages, so feel entirely free to enhance my day-to-day life by telling me what you think of my rants ... especially if you have a different perspective on something I've written about. Scroll down to the bottom of this page, where you'll find a link to the guest book, and add your name to the prestigious list of guests.

I'm currently nearing the end of a two-year stint in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where I've had some rather interesting experiences. So feel free to read on if that sounds ... well, if it sounds like it might be worth reading about :-)

And now, a special announcement at the Manor.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNER!

Last year I started a competition at The Manor, but then I didn't actually announce a winner (because I'm a bit forgetful that way). Anyway, we had some great entries, which you can see here:

Ultimately, though, there can only be one winner.

("Why?", you ask. Hmmmm ... actually that's a good point - hadn't thought of it before. I don't really know, to be honest. Just seemed kind of appropriate at the time. Maybe I should've been a bit more generous. Oh well, too late now.)

What was I saying? Oh yeah, there can only be one winner, and it gives me great, tingly pleasure to announce that the winner is ...

... wait for it ...

(unless you're really busy)
(or you have excellent peripheral vision and you've already seen the winner's name)

... the winner is ...

[hmmm, should I drag this out even further, attempting to build an atmosphere of suspense and anticipation, or should I give up on that and just tell you?]

The winner is Mr. Jonathan Breach of Adelaide, Australia. Yay! Cue the streamers now!

Jonathan, thanks for your entry - I still get a laugh out of it every time I read it! I'll send you the prize (a genuine 2,000 tenge note) as soon as I'm in a country where it isn't a grave offence to put it in the post :-)

Finally ... the rants.

THIS YEAR'S RANTS

30.05.09: hands off my stock!

PREVIOUS YEARS