........but don't worry 'Mr. President', the cell with your name on it and those of your henchmen is waiting at the International Criminal Court in The Hague where you and they will surely ultimately be called to account.
The Two Brewers, Marlow
Click here for more information and photos
Here is a nice 'quickie' photo which Andrew sent us from his Blackberry - Max having fun with some of his friends at 'Sandbuckets', a local adventure playground close to where they live in Warriewood, NSW.
We scooted up the motorway to
It was a great occasion attended by her daughter (and our Goddaughter!) Christina, us and a whole host of
And the food – well wow! I don’t think I’ve seen a spread like it – all prepared and served up by Bettina and her friends Paula, Jorge and Sandra with help from numerous others who pitched in with a dish or two.
On a diet maybe? Well just forget it!! The food was absolutely delicious!! So now I’m fasting again to try to lose the naughty pounds I put on in just a few hours!
We stayed with Bettina overnight and helped clear up before helping ourselves to some ‘left-over’s’ – yes, you guessed it; naughty again!!
But it was nice to see some old faces again after so long – Mario, Shirley’s old boss from when she and Bettina worked together hairdressing and some of their colleagues, Louise, Jackie and Alison with their husbands respectively Neal, Paul and Craig – I think they all at some time used to ‘baby-sit’ for us when we lived in Leicester in the early 1980’s; they thought we lived in such a big, posh house!
They don’t seem to have changed a bit – but then again NONE of us have, huh?
.........but VERY quiet about the tragedy unfolding in Zimbabwe!
Now here's an interesting thing if you've nothing better to do on a rainy day!
The Times has a free introductory offer to search their archives and explore 200 years of history as it appeared in the original pages of The Times newspaper from 1785-1985 - the offer enables the following access and options:
........Happy Fathers' Day!!
As most of you know, I normally live in the shadow of one of the really GREAT cooks in the world; yes, it’s my dear wife Shirley.
Well, these are unusual times – Shirley is currently hobbling around on crutches following surgery on her right foot last Monday so yours truly is having to resort to previously ‘hidden reserves’ in surviving; yes, thank goodness I was a Boy-Scout!! Um, in my early teens, I was actually a Patrol Leader of the Kingfisher Patrol in the 7th Orpington Scout Troop, many, many moons ago!! So I learned how to survive, knots and all!!
Well, tough times call for tough measures and as the saying goes, ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going!!’
Since Shirley got discharged last Tuesday I’ve been very busy, domestically that is! Yes, administering to every whim and request from my dear wife as well as vacuuming, laundry, shopping, bed making and all those things that guys normally DON’T do but somehow miraculously do get done by ‘the fairies’ – cooking maybe included!
Now I know that among my friends far and wide there are some, not many I admit, who DO possess those culinary skills but up to now I’ve been in the majority, quietly enjoying the splendid cooking of our wives and relying on maybe just ‘setting the table’ and ‘washing up’ (um, that’s simply pressing the button on the dishwasher) as our contribution to the meal!
But here guys – I’ve broken NEW GROUND!! Yes, I’ve done my bit at the BBQ, pretending that ‘I’ve cooked the meal’ when I’ve only just stood over the flames and turned the beef burger or sausages over at the right moment. But REALLY cooking? Well listen here!
So far this week (and hey it’s still only Saturday!) I’ve served up Lasagna, Pork Chops with Pears and Maple Syrup, Roast Chicken Breast with Blue cheese, wrapped in bacon and tonight the ‘Pièce de résistance’ (so far!) Chicken Biryani served with roasted nuts, chilies and
Oh and I’ve washed up as well!!
OK, I know I’ve got some catching up to do with some other members of my family and friends but I’m trying!!
Eat your heart out Jamie Oliver!!
Oh and I never knew that the 'fear' of the day was actually called paraskevidekatriaphobia
Today, a nation is dying – dying because of a despotic and corrupt leader who has turned against his own people in his desire to hold on to power despite the wishes of the people; the nation is of course Zimbabwe and it’s President, Robert Mugabe.
I’m sure that many folks across the world are watching in horror as events unfold – hopes that somehow this human disaster would end seem to be sadly over optimistic and every day we hear of some new atrocity, some new injustice. I was touched by the text of a letter written by a 16-year old Zimbabwean girl – a cry for help if ever there was one.
So I’m devoting my Blog today to this letter in the hope that somehow, someway this will make a small difference – if only by encouraging more folks to join the tide of protest and disgust that is sweeping the World.
It's tough here now. The inflation rate is so high that if you don't change money within 6 hours you could get half the amount of foreign currency that you would have originally received. We're starving now; people die around us. In the last year alone at least ten people associated personally with my family have died despite the fact that they were only middle-aged. Other people don't make it to middle age.
They don't even make it past childhood.
Our once-proud nation is on its knees. We flee or die. This beautiful, bountiful once-rich land has become a living hell. We have dealt with it until now; we have made a plan. That was the Zimbabwean motto: "MAKE A PLAN". But now we can't make a plan. We're too tired, too broken and too bankrupt. We can't afford life, and life does not cost much, not really.
We cannot afford to eat, we cannot afford to drink, and we cannot afford to make mistakes, because if we do we die. We don't have the capital to support ourselves, and those few who do, have to deal with the horror of watching their friends and family fall into absolute poverty as they cannot afford to help them.
We're waiting desperately for a great hand to pick us up out of the dirt because at the moment we are outnumbered by Fate herself and so we close our eyes and pray. We have fought for too long, and have been brought to breaking point. We simply stand, heads down, and bear it.
Our spirit has gone; we are defeated. After a valiant struggle of over fifteen years, we have been broken. There is no will left, no spirit.
Like a horse that has been beaten until it cannot fight anymore; we are the same, and, like that horse, we stand dusty, scarred and alone, with dried blood on our sides and lash marks along our flanks. Our ribs too stand out; our hide is also dull. Our eyes are glazed, our throats are parched, and our knees struggle to support us so that we stand with splayed legs to bear the brunt of the next beating, too dejected even to whimper... This is my plea. The thought of picking ourselves up again is sickening; one can only take so many blows before oblivion is reached, and we are teetering on the rim of the bottomless void.
One more push will be the end of us all...There must be someone out there who can do something. There must be someone out there who cares!
We are a destroyed nation, and the world sits back and watches, pretending they cannot hear our cries. I appeal to you all.
One day, not too far away now good WILL prevail over evil in Zimbabwe and this lovely Country will live again – let’s hope that the Zimbabwean people don’t have to wait too long!
Go to Help Save Zimbabwe to learn more.
Yes, it's a single humpback whale which the Manley Daily says 'was certainly in a hurry to get to a warmer destination yesterday but had time to thrill onlookers with a majestic display of tricks just off the Heads.Graham Lloyd of Palm Beach Ferry Service spotted the creature as he headed back up the coastline and took this picture."I tracked it all the way from the heads to just off Mona Vale Beach she put on quite a show," Mr Lloyd said.
"She was travelling quite quickly, approximately nine knots ... maybe she was trying to catch up to a pod, or just trying to get to the warmer waters quicker for some funny business."
The annual humpback migration provides enthusiasts and tourists alike with the chance to experience relatively close contact with these majestic mammals of the deep.
"These animals really are something that everyone should witness at least once in their lifetime," Mr Lloyd said.
Whale watchers believe that the ban on commercial whaling is having a positive effect on the humpback whale population, and they are expecting record numbers this year'
........wonderful, huh?
Even though it's winter-time Downunder there we still wish we could share the thrill of the whales on the move!
And soon everyone was boogyin' like crazy - dancing to all the great songs, Radio Gaga, Fat Bottomed Girl and all those great hits, with all the animation and gyrations you could imagine and lots of 'air guitars' of course - YEAH!
Picture this; Ruth goes to church and sits in the row nearest the back of the church along with some folks she knows. A (young-ish) man comes in and those around greet him – he’s not someone they know but he’s come to worship (or so they think!); he sits in the row behind and immediately behind where Ruth is sitting.
At sometime during the service someone across in the other pews notices that he hasn’t been standing during the singing of the hymns but doesn’t think anything of it – maybe he has a bad back?
Anyway the service progresses when Ruth and the others hear the door behind them close – again no-one thinks anything of this; maybe the guy felt that the service wasn’t doing anything for him?
And then for some reason Ruth reaches for her handbag under her seat – yes, you’ve got there before me I guess! The handbag zip had been opened and her mobile phone and wallet with cash/credit cards and all had gone.
Ruth phones John, still at home – he calls the credit card companies and gets the cards stopped immediately and then together they go down to the local Police Station to report the theft, less than an hour previously; they arrive to be ‘greeted’ by one of the new ‘Community Support Officers’ (CSO) who looks, Ruth thinks, somewhat dishevelled. But ok things are never what they used to be, are they – even policemen can look scruffy these days!!
Listen to this:Ruth - ‘We’ve come to report a theft of items from my handbag’
CSO – ‘What have you lost?’
Ruth – ‘No, my mobile phone and wallet were stolen from my handbag’
CSO – ‘Where did you lose them?’
Ruth – ‘No, I didn’t lose them; they were stolen from my handbag in church’
CSO - ‘How do you know this?’
(Me, aside, dohhhh!!!)
Ruth explains that she knew the items were in the handbag when she entered church as she distinctly remembers switching her phone off when she arrived there.
CSO – ‘But you could have lost them?’
Ruth (getting more than a little exasperated by now!) – ‘No, the items were in my bag at the start of the service but were stolen by a man sitting behind me’
Looking quizzical, the CSO produces a form – headed ‘Lost Property’- and starts to fill it in.
At this point, John (who'd been quiet up to now) pipes up; ‘You know this isn’t a lost property issue, its theft, it’s a crime situation’
CSO says something which they both think is facetious and John says ‘Look, I spent over 30 years in the Police and I KNOW what a lost property item is and I know what a crime is’
CSO (sneering) – ‘yes but your not in the police now are you!’
(Me again – wow that’s appalling and very, very rude!)
John says he wants to see a senior officer, meaning at least the station sergeant (if they still have them these days!)
CSO gets up and disappears into the office behind – he returns a while later and says the senior officer says it’s a lost property situation and the CSO is dealing with it the right way.
John stands his ground and insists on seeing the senior officer – the CSO disappears again. They wait alone at the counter for maybe 20 minutes – a WPC walks through and asks where the CSO is; John says he’s gone to get the senior officer who they are waiting for.
More time passes and no-one returns – Ruth and John lose patience and leave the Police Station somewhat disgusted with the treatment they have received as victims of crime.
John writes two letters to his MP, one to the local office and the other to the House of Commons – some months later he is still waiting for even the courtesy of an acknowledgement!
So when the politicians trumpet how the
They’re recording everything as ‘lost property’!!
But there’s a happy footnote to this story – a week or so after the theft, Ruth had a call from a local pub. Apparently a cleaner had come across her wallet while cleaning the ladies toilet – in addition to credit cards the wallet also contained Ruth’s membership card for the Royal College of Nursing which had a phone number on it.
The publican, (presumably knowing how inefficient the police were nowadays!) called the RCN himself and got Ruth’s phone number – he called her and she was reunited with the wallet – sadly now missing not only a relatively small quantity of cash but also more distressingly a much treasured photo of our dear Mum which Ruth thinks must have just fallen out of the wallet when they were rifling through it. The credit cards were intact but useless now as they’d been cancelled immediately after they’d disappeared but thankfully her driving licence was still there.
So there ARE nice folks about after all (the cleaner and the publican) – I guess you just have to look harder for them these days!
Go here www.spaceweather.com, where you will find a real-time image of the sun from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, located in deep space at the equilibrium point between solar and terrestrial gravity.
What is apprently scary about the picture is that there is only one tiny sunspot.
Disconcerting as it may be to true believers in global warming, the average temperature on Earth has remained steady or slowly declined during the past decade, despite the continued increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, and now the global temperature is falling precipitously.
All four agencies that track Earth’s temperature (the Hadley Climate Research Unit in
There is also plenty of anecdotal evidence that 2007 was exceptionally cold. It snowed in
It is generally not possible to draw conclusions about climatic trends from events in a single year, so I would normally dismiss this cold snap as transient, pending what happens in the next few years.
This is where
It didn’t happen. The first sunspot appeared in January this year and lasted only two days. A tiny spot appeared last Monday but vanished within 24 hours. Another little spot appeared this Monday. Pray that there will be many more, and soon.
The reason this matters is that there is a close correlation between variations in the sunspot cycle and Earth’s climate. The previous time a cycle was delayed like this was in the Dalton Minimum, an especially cold period that lasted several decades from 1790.
Northern winters became ferocious: in particular, the rout of Napoleon’s Grand Army during the retreat from
That the rapid temperature decline in 2007 coincided with the failure of cycle No.24 to begin on schedule is not proof of a causal connection but it is cause for concern.
It is time to put aside the global warming dogma, at least to begin contingency planning about what to do if we are moving into another little ice age, similar to the one that lasted from 1100 to 1850.
There is no doubt that the next little ice age would be much worse than the previous one and much more harmful than anything warming may do. There are many more people now and we have become dependent on a few temperate agricultural areas, especially in the
Millions will starve if we do nothing to prepare for it (such as planning changes in agriculture to compensate), and millions more will die from cold-related diseases.
There is also another possibility, remote but much more serious. The
The bleak truth is that, under normal conditions, most of North America and
The interglacial we have enjoyed throughout recorded human history, called the Holocene, began 11,000 years ago, so the ice is overdue. We also know that glaciation can occur quickly: the required decline in global temperature is about 12C and it can happen in 20 years.
The next descent into an ice age is inevitable but may not happen for another 1000 years. On the other hand, it must be noted that the cooling in 2007 was even faster than in typical glacial transitions. If it continued for 20 years, the temperature would be 14C cooler in 2027.
By then, most of the advanced nations would have ceased to exist, vanishing under the ice, and the rest of the world would be faced with a catastrophe beyond imagining.
If the ice age is coming, there is a small chance that we could prevent or at least delay the transition, if we are prepared to take action soon enough and on a large enough scale.
For example: We could gather all the bulldozers in the world and use them to dirty the snow in
We also may be able to release enormous floods of methane (a potent greenhouse gas) from the hydrates under the Arctic permafrost and on the continental shelves, perhaps using nuclear weapons to destabilise the deposits.
We cannot really know, but my guess is that the odds are at least 50-50 that we will see significant cooling rather than warming in coming decades.
The probability that we are witnessing the onset of a real ice age is much less, perhaps one in 500, but not totally negligible.
All those urging action to curb global warming need to take off the blinkers and give some thought to what we should do if we are facing global cooling instead.
It will be difficult for people to face the truth when their reputations, careers, government grants or hopes for social change depend on global warming, but the fate of civilisation may be at stake.
In the famous words of Oliver Cromwell, “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ; think it possible you may be mistaken.”
…………thank you for these words of comfort Jon!!
And here now - we all thought global WARMING was the problem!!
Jessica, Charlie and Max - May 2008
Actually there are at least two other folks who will probably remember Westgate from their childhood – yup, that’s Clare and Andrew; and that’s probably at least 25 years ago too!
When we got to Westgate the weather had sadly deteriorated and it had started to rain a little – it was almost lunchtime so we parked the car and headed to the famous ‘Pavs Café’ on the seafront where we enjoyed a slightly naughty fish ‘n chips lunch!!
Pavs Café is one of those strange and rather unique ‘institutions’ you bump into every so often in dear old England – I’ve always wondered why it was so popular; before it changed hands a few years ago, there used to be signed photographs of famous people all around the walls, mostly actors and actresses.
So when I got home yesterday I did some research!!
Apparently, Herbert bought the cafe in 1951 when it was just a bit of a shed with a large space outside for seating called "The Garden". Neither Herbert nor his wife Pav knew anything about catering but Pavs Garden Café was to become one of those places which anyone who knew anything about Westgate-on-Sea knew all about.
Winnie recalled how she and Harold used to enjoy taking their grandchildren Clare and Andrew to Westgate and by all accounts the kids enjoyed it too - with buckets and spades, ice creams, rock pool fishing and all that goes with the old-style British beach holiday! I hope they still have many happy memories of those days too?
If you’ve time and have the inclination, there’s some fascinating history and photographs here – end of history lesson!!
Anyway, back to yesterday! By the time we’d finished and started walking along the promenade, the rain worsened and the wind coming off the sea was cold too!! So we headed back to the warmth of the car!!
Westgate-on-Sea in the cold and rain isn’t too attractive!!
