My Life On The Planet Earth

Walking the Great Wall in January 2006 was a difficult and dangerous experience. The thousands of steps were icy and extremely steep. One slip and that would be it. Caminar por la Gran Muralla en enero de 2006 fue una experiencia difícil y peligrosa. Los miles de escalones estaban helados y extremadamente empinados. Un desliz y eso sería todo.

Espanol abajo: I sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1978 on this yacht, from Antibes in the South of France to Ft. Lauderdale. Florida, stopping in Marseille, Gibraltar, the Azores and Bermuda. It was a fabulous trip and the beginning of a new life in the Americas. The yacht was the Les Amis and I was the chef. Navegué a través del Océano Atlántico en 1978 en este yate, desde Antibes en el sur de Francia hasta Ft. Lauderdale. Florida, con escala en Marsella, Gibraltar, Azore

El MY Antibes fue el primer yate privado en el que trabajé en el sur de Francia (1977). Era bastante famoso porque era muy rápido para un yate de su tamaño. El capitán recibió el mando de un submarino alemán durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. El marinero era otro personaje interesante. También era alemán y había servido durante muchos años en la Legión Extranjera Francesa. Tenía el sueño de romper el banco en el Casino de Montecarlo y pasaba horas al día elaborando una fórmul

The MY Antibes was the first private yacht I worked on in the South of France (1977). It was quite famous as it was very fast for a yacht of its size. The Captain was commanded a German Uboat during WW2. The deckhand was another interesting character. He was also German and had served many years in the French Foreign Legion. He had a dream of breaking the bank at the Casino in Monte Carlo and would spend hours a day working out a numeric formula to get rich at cards. The owne

In 2017 I organised a 'Mexican Appreciation Day'. It was a fun day shared with friends here in Patagonia and around the world. My friend Edgar, whom I met when I walked through Mexico thirty years ago, planted a tree with his friends and family in his hometown of Tamazulapan, Oaxaca. They called the tree Paul! Edgar sent me a photo he took recently. Look how it's grown! Fantastic, and he sign stll stands. Good on them and thank you Edgar.

En 2017 organicé un 'Día de Agradecimiento a México'. Fue un día divertido compartido con amigos aquí y en todo el mundo. Mi amigo Edgar, a quien conocí cuando caminé por México hace treinta años, plantó un árbol con sus amigos en su ciudad natal de Tamazulapan, Oaxaca. ¡Llamaron al árbol Paul! Hoy Edgar compartió una foto de cómo se ve hoy. Fantástico. ¡Gracias Edgar!

Ayer hice un video mostrando mis botas viejas convertidas en macetas. Hubo muchos comentarios que mencionaron la película 'Wall-e!' Nos preguntamos por qué. Luego busqué en Internet para encontrar que Wall-e, el robot, encuentra el brote de una planta y lo pone en una bota. ¡Ahora la gente está vendiendo botas de cerámica para macetas Wall-e! Creo que comercializaré el mío como Paul-e macetas

Yesterday I made a video showing my old boots turned into flower pots. Many comments mentioned the movie 'Wall-e!' We wondered why? Then searched google to find that Wall-e the recycling robot based on a rubbish filled Earth, finds a plant and puts it into a boot. Now you can buy ceramic Wall-e plant pot boots on line! I think I'll market mine as Paul-e's!

Google Earth took a new satellite photo of our land earlier this year. Fortunately I have a previous one from 2014. Los mapas de Google tomaron una nueva foto satelital de nuestra tierra. Afortunadamente tengo uno anterior de 2014. As you can see, the 1500 trees we have planted and the thousand and more bushes that have voluntarily returned have made a difference, even when seen from space! Como pueden ver, los 1500 árboles que hemos plantado y los mil y más arbustos que han

Hace 48 años, un adolescente en el mar: en el puente de Westminster, anclado frente a Dampier, Australia Occidental durante casi tres semanas, un calor abrasador, el aire acondicionado se rompe, la cena de Navidad en la cubierta. Finalmente llega a tierra, ve al único bar que está abierto, Chief Cook, un muchacho muy bien formado de Liverpool, se mete en una pelea con un aborigen, una batalla épica hasta que llega el policía. Es un tipo amigable que usó la dura vida del puebl

Almost fifty years ago, a teenager at sea, I was on the MV Westminster Bridge, anchored off Dampier, Western Australia for almost three weeks. It was blistering hot and the air conditioning conked out. So Christmas dinner was on deck. Finally, we get ashore, go to the only bar that's open, and the Chief Cook, a very well built lad from Liverpool, gets into a fight with an aborigine, which was a brutal battle until a policeman arrived. The policeman was amiable, used to the ha

We've joined Tiktok and are sharing our life at Paul and Konomi's Garden, our piece of paradise in Chilean Patagonia. If you're new to this site, Paul and Konomi's Garden blogs can be found here. Paul and Konomi's Garden on Tiktok. Nos unimos a Tiktok y compartimos nuestra vida en Paul and Konomi's Garden, nuestro pedazo de paraíso en la Patagonia chilena. Si es nuevo en este sitio, los blogs de Paul y Konomi's Garden se pueden encontrar aquí. El resto del sitio, en inglés

From September 2007 to August 2008, Konomi amd I walked from Hong Kong to Beijing, to help green the olympics. planting trees along the way. On the way into Nanjing, the site of the infamous Japanese WW2 massacre we were met by a TV station who took us to one of the sites of the massacre, a place where ten thousand civilians were killed and tossed into a deep natural cavern. The TV station arranged for us to plant trees of peace in this very special place and through their re

In 2008 I came up with a simple idea, Earth Jump, as a part of our Celebration Earth Festival in Okinawa, Japan. Acupuncture for the Earth! En 2008 se me ocurrió una idea simple, Earth Jump, como parte de nuestro 'festival de celebración de la tierra en Okinawa, Japón. ¡Acupuntura para la Tierra! It was a lot of fun and very popular. People sent in photo's and videos from all over the world. We're going to include Earth Jumps in the activites we are planning for our January t

August 6th 2004: It was to be a very full day for myself and walking companions. Up with sunrise for the 8.15 ceremony marking the time the Atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima, then onto a famous buddhist temple where we would spend the night as guests of the Yamabushi monks, a strict order immersed in the nature of the nearby mountains. ' While planting a tree directly in front of a 500 year old Pagoda I asked the head monk what was the hardest part of hs day? "Sitting under

I first visited Hiroshima in November 1972. I was a catering boy on the Westminster Bridge a British Merchant ship carrying iron ore that ran aground off the city of Okayama and due to considerable damage had to go into dry dock after its cargo of iron ore was offloaded. We sailed through the inland sea to Onomichi, a tiny village with a huge shipyard, where the ship would remain for three weeks. During this time I had the very rare opportunity to take an afternoon off, so I

On June 26th 2004 I began walking from the World Peace Prayer Day (WPPD) at Mt. Fuji to Hiroshima, planting trees along the way to draw attention to the massive impact of war, not only on humanity, but also on the natural environment that we all need to exist. I aimed to arrive in Hiroshima in time to participate in the August 6th memorial ceremony that marks the time the Atom bomb exploded over the city. One thing struck me then as it does now, sixteen years later. for the f

Every weekday morning from the age of four years old until I went away to sea at the age of seventeen I was awoken by the air raid siren of a factory located on the other side of the road from where I slept in our tiny terraced house in Altrincham, a small Cheshire town on the edge of the great industrial city of Manchester. The siren, a remnant from the air raids of World War II, was sounded to alert the Cooks and Co., factories workers, that it was time to get to work. My u

Este fue el último yate en el que trabajé y mi último trabajo como chef. Estuve en el Sharon S durante seis meses, con sede en Miami, Florida, de 1978 a 1979. El yate era propiedad de Sharon Steel Corp y fue utilizado ampliamente por su CEO, Victor Posner, cuya extravagancia finalmente llevó a la compañía a la bancarrota. Como el gasto no era un problema, pude alimentar a la tripulación, que rara vez tenía invitados que cuidar, la mejor comida imaginable, tres comidas de vari

This was the last yacht I worked on and my last job as a chef. I was on the Sharon S for six months, based in Miami, Florida from 1978-79. The yacht was owned by Sharon Steel Corp and used as extensively by it's CEO Victor Posner whose extravagance eventually drove the company into bankruptcy. Expense was not an issue, I was able to feed the crew, who rarely had any guests to look after, the best food imagineable, three meals of several courses, day after day month and month,