h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello, I've seen you on the Iraq thread and was interested enough in the points you raised to stop by and say hello. It sounds as if you have had quite a nomadic existance and a very interesting life to date.

I was particularly interested to read about your experiences in the middle east, after all, it gives you an insight that I for one, and most of the people posting here, do not have... especially with regard to current events.

I must admit my foreign travel experience is limited to holidays, but my interest in foreign affairs is pretty active. If you drop by to my user space, you will see that at the moment I am concentrating my efforts on bringing up my baby daughter, but I did used to be a fully functioning member of the human race... honest!

Hi there

Thanks for your kind words. I have travelled quite a lot in Africa and other such places, I like to think apart from earning a living I made some sort of contribution to the people around me. I joined the Iraq thread because I can see that there are a great number of well meaning people who are against the present madness. But for me it goes much further than that. I always enjoyed my time in Baghdad, I did have Iraqi friends and daily contact through my work. I was liked and respected by not only those people but the folks in the British Embassy including the Ambassador. This allowed me to do things that others could not. I am a commercial man and have spent my life in a commercial environment. But as a "political animal" too I was constantly reminded of the role this plays in defining sometimes if a person should live or die and that is serious. But don't get me wrong I am a humorous guy too and I am about to start a new thread which I will call "The real news". I do this for my friends who are avid readers and they are always badgering me to do more so watch out for this in the next few days. I take an irreverent look at politicians and their decisions I introduce some rather black humour but I have found this has a big effect on the puffed up egos of those who control us!

I call myself a scribe because the one thing I enjoy most is writing. I have long finished a fictional novel about Iraq and believe it of weapons of mass destruction , long before Bush found it to be fashionable. The hardest part of all is finding a literary agent who will follow it. I have written three books to date and a biography which I am currently adding to.

I am pleased to know that you like the words that I write and I can always go one on one with you I have many tales to tell having been working in some pretty wild places in my life. I also write short stories as well. If you would like to know more I would be very happy to tell you I am not a computer whizz kid so I will have to find out how to read your profile.

I hope this will do for the moment.

Hello again,

Nice to hear back from you. If you want to find my user space, click on my name (above this posting) and it will lead you there, alternatively click on this link U193976 and it will do the same.

My sign off was chosen because that is my trade (or at least graphic design and illustration are). However, writing and editing have also formed a large part of my career. My work was in the medical sector, and my expertise lies in the ability to translate medical jargon into plain english... no mean feat at times.

I'd really like to hear about your experiences, and viewpoint, it sounds as if you held a unique position and therefore must have a really interesting perspective. I am one of those well meaning subscribers to the Iraq thread that is definately against the current insane approach, but with little real knowledge of what life in the middle east is really like, especially in Iraq.

My husband spent the early part of his life in Ghana, his father went over from England to work at a newspaper. His tales of life there fascinate me. I suppose having been based in SW London for all my life has made me all the more interested in life outside its confines.

If you would like to go 'one on one' I would be delighted to hear from you and to read anything you want to send my way.

Speak soon no doubt

Hi

It was nice to hear from you again. Mmmm Graffic designer and medical writer sounds to me like an interesting combination I suppose da Vinci was a little in that category and that made him so curious about the human form.

You know it is easy to take 'positions' at issue in this ME situation and yes I am able to look at it fairly objectively having lived and worked there for seven long years in total. I suppose being rather keen on politics always made me aware but....it can be a dangerous hobby in countries where there is no freedom of speech. Injustice is the same wherever you live and hypocrisy and cynism can sometimes rule over plain common sense.

I suppose when you have stood at the ancient city of Hatra in Iraq and experienced the buildings and the awsome silence (no tourists here)! Then let the mind flow to the activities which must have been taking place in the daily lives of the people who lived there. Then you see this upstart nation the USA which is trying to dictate to a people who have more to show the world than a mighty war machine. Iraqis are not ogres, they are by and large, warm, friendly and above all urbane and intelligent people. They are not represented by the "rent a mob" so often shown on the Wests media, that is strictly for Saddams benefit. I travelled extensively in the country in particular into Kurdistan to the ancient city of Mosul, Sulamaniah, Arbil and also the oil rich Kirkuk. My work took me the vast dam projects where I am glad to say the Iraqi engineers used the heavy earthmoving equipment that my company provided.

But it wasn't all work and no play. Our office was in a huge villa in the expensive Mansour district of Baghdad and I lived there together with a bunch of Brit engineers. The social life was pretty good, we had our own pub which was renowned for it's karaoke nights and sixties music. We had an official licence to go to the brewery to get the beer (providing we took the empties back!) We would often have visiting politicians came to our small oasis of fun. Amazingly there was no control on drink driving and it was somewhat hairy to go visit another bar and to wend your way home. But the streets were quite safe because the army and Saddams security services abounded. As your hubbys dad I'm sure would recount the expat style of life can be one of enjoyment too. Generally counter balancing some of the most difficult times. My worst ME experience was not in Iraq but in that hell hole Saudi Arabia! I spent four years there and it was dreadful. The Saudis have nothing to offer, they are educated no doubt but it is a country of double standards in every way. I just read an expats account in Saudi as he tried to import a Christmas tree. He should not have wasted his time! I once went to a Saudi post office and behind it they were busy torching a mountain of Christmas cards sent by families and well wishers. I was a CEO then for a large Dutch truck manufacturer. I would not live in a compound which is nothing short of being in jail. Instead I rented a block of flats for me and my senior staff and in Jeddah where at least we could get to the sea or to the mountains of Taif. I found the Saudis incredibly arrogant and pretty heartless. Hardly the kind of people who would keep a dog as a pet for instance. The Kuwiatis too are much the same just oozing money and little real culture. I suppose that's why Iraq struck me as being a nice place in total contrast to heavy presence of the "religeous police" in Saudi, Iraqis practiced their Christianity quite openly. Women drove cars, they are very good looking too I must say. For me Baghdad has one other notable feature. This is where I met my wife! She is Polish and was working for her company a major road building company. Her story how she got there is quite unusual for a woman that is, one day I will relate.

SW London eh! I had it fixed that you were in Australia what with the G'day and all that. Now I don't want to bore you and as you can see I do go on a bit. Tell me about your baby is this your first? I can see as a "writer" we are of like mind so it should be interesting for both of us. I am a Londoner in fact a cockney lad born in Poplar, but a lot of water has flowed under the bridge of life since I left there.

Write again if there is anything you'd like to know about life in such countries as Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa I was there too for 12 happy years.

Regards
Afrabian

Hello again,

Thanks for the last posting, it made very interesting reading. The ex pat life has always intrigued me, hubby's life was very privileged in Ghana and his tales seem like something from the Raj in the 1890s rather than Africa in the late 1960s early 1970s. Our own sprog has a far more grounded life. She is our one and only and is just 20 months old. She is something of a stunner I am told and gets lots of attention whenever we are out and about. This is something that concerns her father as (obviously) no boy will ever be good enough for his little angel. An analogy I heard the other day was that handing your daughter over to some grubby git of a boyfriend, is like handing over your stradivarious to a gorilla. Still, he'll have to cope with it at some point, just not too soon hopefully!

As far as the ex-pat life goes, I have to say there are countries that are more enticing to me than Saudi... especially as I do not possess my own pair of testicles which seems something of a hinderance over there. The kind of religious law that is in place there would probably see me stoned, clapped in irons or whatever other joys could be thought of as soon as I opened my mouth. I'm not terribly in favour of certain interpretations of the Koran (sp?) as far as womens rights are concerned! Hubby's parents and youngest brother live in NZ now, and his two other brothers in Australia so if we were to become ex-pats it would probably be a very safe home from home.

I would be fascinated to hear of life in Africa, and indeed Poplar. My family comes from that neck of the woods and I was born over that way, but not within the sound of any particular bells.

By the way, graphics and medical writing/editing came about when a medical charity took me on as their publications manager. All was going well until a couple of writers let us down and someone that could string more than two words together had to step in to fill the breach. Guess who got the job? I started writing general articles for the members magazine and it got more and more technical until I was editing patient information books and the magazine itself. I'm now a member of the NUJ and am hoping to do some courses with them (once the sprog is at nursery) to become a tad more professionally qualified. I suppose, like you, I found I had a flair for the written word, shame I haven't got the imagaination to become the next JK Rowling. Sadly, the book I am writing and illustrating for the baby is probably not going to be a bestseller, but if it is, I'm sure that my longed for globe trotting will be very luxurious!

I look forward to hearing from you again.

Hi there,

So...as an East Ender we are even more like minded. It's so nice to have a small girl like that I had one and she was my "boojum" that was until she grew up became a boorish teenager (I guess we all do that course). I did laugh once though when she chastised me for calling another small child by her pet name! I have a son who finished his degree at Bangor North Wales in banking and finance and now guess what? he is managing a pub! Nowt such strange as folk is there? Yes I can imagine your hubby getting a bit miffed at the thought of all those virile young men chasing after his one and only but...it does come to us all in the end. Mine have grown up and I often think of the times I played scrabble with em and how they used to hate me for getting those seven letter words. Always was good at that, became a reigning champ at that game in Malawi too!

I don't remember too much about Poplar as we up stakes and left to go live in Bedford where I spent my formative years. Not much to write about there I guess, a small country town with small country town ways. But I always was that bit more adventurous and once school was out of the way I tried a number of things to make my mark in life. I did recently go back to the UK for a look but...the lure of Poland brought me back again much to wifes relief. She quite likes the UK but shes a city gal and Warsaw is not such a bad place these days. Unlike before the changes here, when I used to fly in with a huge suitcase containing a couple of pairs of underpants and socks and 25 kilos of meat, bananas and any other thing (which was most things) that'd not be available here.

Now strangely enough I find myself carting food parcels to England funny old world eh! Today is Ladies day in Poland and everywhere you see men, young and old carting around their bunches of flowers and gifts for the ladies. Mine was no exception and I was swiftly reminded of this at sparrow this morning. Still plenty of snow around but it was a glorius day. So we went and "did Ikea" I don't like this shop too much but after all I had to concur on this day. But we went on for a drive to a small village about 30Km from Warsaw and found an antique shop. Well after doing some serious browsing I bought a lovely hand made model of a pirate ship which was about 40 years or so old but so well made. Some theatre type binnoculars which folded neatly into a small case and then we found two picture frames which appear to be made of ebony with hand carved motifs. In the frames were two old postcards dated 1912 with some beautiful greetings written! Generally we like modern stuff but my study has an old look about it so it all came together nicely.

You certainly have made your mark it would seem on the editing front perhaps you will one day edit my books cos I know I need a lot of help in that direction. Of course it would be nice to expand on your career, but now this time is very precious for you and your child. I missed a lot of my sons early life with all my travelling and you cannot get this time back of course. But I did take em all with me on my various sojourns in Africa but my ex wife couldn't hack the travelling and we eventually parted company. But my Polish gal loves to ring the changes and she's the one that pushes these days but I don't complain. We just had a nice trip to Barcelona and we loved it. We are lucky to have a company that supplies us just outside of the city they found us a super hotel in the centre. We got around using local transport and we got a full day in Monserat at the Basilica there which was magic. Came back here and I had a birthday thrash and that went pretty well too. We have a full day tomorrow and a couple more parties to attend in the next few days too. I must tell you this to make you chuckle a bit. I am teaching English Hah! to none other than a young Catholic Priest. A long story but I once had a courier company in Warsaw and Stanley was our radio despatcher. We didn't know at the time that he was training for the priesthood, this was rather a secret. But...we did find out and I even wrote a letter of recommendation to his boss the Pope in the Vatican. We went to his ordination too! Anyway he has now become something of a family friend. On Tuesday evening he arrived for his lesson at our house as usual. But this time carrying a bottle of Bullinger Champagne and singing happy birthday to you. No work tonight he announced we are going to drink some wine. Well it so happened that my wife was being visited by our sons girlfriend who is an absolute stunner! In no time we had the table laid and the wine was flowing. Stash as we call him was in fine form and was enjoying the apparition across the table. Even wore his dog collar this night which is unusual. I kidded him that it was okay to look! Not only he said expansively! Say no more!!

Yes, you know I digress sorry about that. The old colonial times are nowadays despised by some folks, but having lived the lifestyle I cannot really fault it. I went to Rhodesia first and having only visited Cape Town in the past this was my first real look at Africa. Remember no nice David Attenborough films to check against I was doing this literally on the seat of my pants. It was a knockout for me, the weather, the sights and sounds. Found it hard at first to understand why everyone had servants, but later I realized it was good for the locals as they at least did get money and usually accomodation as well. I lived in Bulawayo first which is a fine old city and I soon got to travel around to visit the game reserves and of course Victoria Falls. I bought an old colonial style house and I dare say I could have stayed on there, but I got a pretty good job in Malawi managing a company in Lilongwe. That's when things really got going. The town was going to be transformed into the new capital and I often saw Hastings Banda the President and John Vorster who was the PM of South Africa together. RSA gave loads of money to Banda to keep him sweet and surprisingly a lot did get spent on the new infrastructure, ministry buildings etc. But I was moving around the country a lot too. No fancy hotels so I slept at mission stations, at tobacco farmers homesteads far into the bush and odd times even in villages. Never felt any fear in those days but I'm told a lot has changed since then. I wouldn't say that I was treated like the Raj but I made a lot of friends and introduced many new ideas mainly concerning African small holder farms. The roads were all earth no tar and I must say Lake Malawi is one very beautiful places I've ever seen. 365 miles long and 50 miles wide endless white sandy beaches, palm trees dug out canoes I got to spend most of my weekends there. I even got the company to buy a beach cottage complete with jetty and a couple of boats, it was idylic. Specially as you had to drive about thirty kilometres through the bush to get there. Even my mum came to stay once she loved it! I did a three year contract and took a break and we all went to Australia for a few months to check it out and see old friends then back to Malawi for a further three year contract. I was constantly on the move now driving endlessly on trips to Rhodesia through Mozambique, also to Lusaka and many other places in Zambia and was now doing other trips outside to South Africa, India and other places. My final trip from Malawi was pretty memorable. I bought an MGB Roadster and after sending my missus by air to Joburg I did the trip in this tiny little car. What an adventure and what dangers did I face? But you know as they say "when ignorance is bliss, it's a folly to be wise eh!" It was a time of changes in Mozambique (which too is a very lovely country) specially the coastal areas on the Indian Ocean. Great place for a holiday if you can make it, just go for the piri piri king and tiger prawns! Oh I could kill for them you know! My drive took me over the Zambesi River and eventually down to Salisbury (now named Harare). Loads of pals there and then onward to Beit Bridge and into South Africa over the Limpopo River. Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn on my way Mmmm magic moments and such a tough little car so hard to believe it not only made the journey, but I used it daily when I started my new biz in Joburg! A real looker I used to call it my custard torpedo! Please don't mind if I jog back and forth on these countries after all I did live in Malawi for six years and much happened in that time too. I was in Round Table the dramatic society and although the work was tough at times we still had time for a lot of fun.

I find it strange not using a name so if you don't mind I will call you Grace it's a lot less impersonal than your present handle! So Grace thanks for reading to this rambling of mine. Tell me about your holidays and your favourite places, hobbies I know that small bundle keeps you too busy for that. But as you find it easier to write then perhaps this is one very nice compensation. I have two wonderful lady friends here in Poland. Babcha is nearly 90 bless her and her grand daughter is named Bogna, she is terribly spastic by oh my what a girl! Such humour and what pleasure they give when we visit them. Babcha is a very remarkable woman who has had such a life as to be featured in a book too. One day I will tell you her incredible story.

Well Grace enough is enough I am now going to open a beer and have a rest from all this travelling! Hah Hah!

Write again when you can, I am always here to listen and to learn.
Afrabian

PS did you get to read my Real News blurb on the Iraq post?

Hi again,

Wow, that was a posting! You have led such a full life... I really am very dull in comparison. I shall happily answer to the name of Grace, although I am the least graceful person on the planet!

You asked me about hobbies, holidays and favourite places, and you are right, these days there is little time for anything except toddler wrangling. I do however, have places and times that I keep in my minds eye which I want to show the baby when she is older. They are: eating breakfast in a taverna on the beach in Kalives, NW Crete, driving over the seven mile bridge in the Florida Keys, swimming with dolphins and finally walking (without me pushing her in a pram) through Richmond Park in winter when there is frost on the ground, brilliant sunshine and blue skies. On my things to do list... I want to see the mountain gorillas in Rwanda, snorkell in the barrier reef, visit the far east and see the Orang Utangs in Borneo. All rather unlikely, but I can dream.

Anyway, time to pull myself together and stop dreaming! I did read your Real News on the Iraq thread, and found it very entertaining. I have to say some of the postings on that thread really do make my hair stand on end sometimes, like the pro-war american convinced that Saddam Hussein is responsible for 11 September and all other world ills since. I was pleased to see your, and so many other peoples responses to that one. It never ceases to amaze me that so many US citizens are so woefully ill informed about anything outside their own shores.

We went to the States for our 10th wedding anniversary three years ago. We had decided to travel through the Florida Keys stopping for several days at a time at various points down to Key West. It had always been my dream to swim with dolphins and in the Keys there are several facilities that specialise in offering dolphin encounters. It is illegal to interact with wild dolphins, but where we went, it is a sanctuary for ex performing or naval trained dolphins so that they can be either rehabilitated back to the wild or if that is not possible, live the rest of their days protected in natural lagoons which are divided from the open sea by netting. They are used by the facility to interact with children and people with disabilties, emotional problems, depression etc. This is all funded by people like us who pay for the privelege of interacting with these wonderful creatures. It was one of the best expereinces of my life (barring wedding day and having the baby). If I could transplant the Keys out of America I would love to live there, and work (sweeping up or something if necessary) at the Dolphin Center. The other thing was that we found there was excellent snorkelling and fantastic coral reefs so it was pretty much heavenly really!

Anyway, back to my point, the downside to the States is their complete isolation from news from the rest of the world. I have never been anywhere (including during a holiday in Bulgaria during the cold war) where there is so little foreign news available. At least in Bulgaria my dad could get The Times regularly. In the Keys there was nothing except the story of Ellian Gonzalez. He was a little cuban boy that the US Coast Guard rescued having found him floating on a tyre inner tube in the Gulf of Mexico. His mother tried to flee Cuba with him, but their boat sank and she died leaving Ellian was in the middle of a custody battle between his father in Cuba and his mothers Miami based relatives. Oh God did we hear about that boy. By the time we got home I was praying for the poor little tyke to be abducted by aliens rather than me hearing the wailings and gnashing of teeth from his Miami based relatives for any longer. Even cricket scores would have made riveting reading and I hate cricket!

It seems strange to be able to make ones mind up about a country based on a couple of trips while on holiday, but I really couldn't 'live the american dream'. I realise that somewhere like NY is far more cosmopolitan, but then there are only a few cities like that over there. The mid-west bible belt is a very large expanse... and I suppose my need to question the actions of government etc would be pretty intolerable for them too!

There is so much I want to ask about your postings, both of life in the middle east as well as in Africa. I will have to return to those questions later as it is incredibly late now, and the sprog will be up at sparrows knee crack in the morning.

Speak soon

Hello Grace

Well I can see that you too are getting into the swing of things word wise. How I envy you, just to feel those tiny fingers on your face, the sweet breath and lack of guile of a small child is so beautiful. I still remember wrestling with my little boy and him riding on my back as I bucked to try and remove him. Then playing games such as scrabble as they got older and then the more vindictive Risk game where you strive to conquer the world. Sadly it's all gone and not a grand child in sight to dote over. We take so much these moments for granted and then have such a busy life in bringing them up, most people today just use the TV as a back stop and I don't believe that is healthy. There was no TV in Malawi or even South Africa when we got there. So...it was down to various board games and generally own entertainment. I cannot say the kids suffered so much though they also went to boarding schools later, but at least the early and the most formative years we played together as a family.

Amazingly I have been to some of the places you mentioned. We decided in 93 to "do the USA" it was and will be my last trip. But we did it in some style. I bought the tickets to fly from Warsaw to NY and then some Delta vouchers to stop off in various places around the US. My wife did not know where we were going because I organized it the day before we left!!! Very instant traveller me! No hotels booked, no travellers cheques, just a bundle of 100 dollar bills. We had a one month window before starting our new business and we knew that we'd have precious little time for holidays afterwards. In one month we did 7000 air miles and 6500 driving miles in the US. So we would fly into a place catch a courtesy bus to the car hire place and then take off from there. NY we just hiked around seeing all the sights there. But when we got to Miami and picked up a car we first drove north as far as West palm beach. Then south on the very road that you travelled on to Key West. We didn't stop en route from Miami but stayed in Key West doing all the tourist stuff, then headed back to spend some time in the Everglades national park. Got bitten to death by mozzies as big as helicopters. It was August so mighty hot. Wasn't all that impressed I expected to a lot more wild life but it was not to be. We are not very keen on the junk food over there and uniquely I suppose we never once had a Big mac or for that matter anything else like it. We shopped at supermarkets, gorging on fresh fruit and I bought a small barbecue and if we did want a cooked meal we simply had a barbie. But the journey took us to New Orleans for a few days. We found out quickly that you could leave your bags at the airport for very small money, we then just had a small beach bag to carry around. Hotels we haggled over and despite the fact that it was the height of the holiday season we never booked a hotel ahead at all. We just arrived and armed with a Rough Guide we just worked it out for ourselves. So on to Dallas, LA, picked up a car to drop off in San Fransisco (no charge if you booked in the UK) so I phoned a pal in UK and he did the business and ten minutes later I had a ref number! Mmm saved around 500 bucks. We did 3600 miles around Calif. as far South as San Diego and even Tijuana. Then you know Grand Canyon, the lower rockies, Las Vegas etc etc ( about two weeks) before ariving in SF. A few days there before going to Buffalo and the Niagra Falls on to Boston (very nice that) drove up to Cape Cod our last night spent in a very swish hotel in Boston. I booked using my card to guarantee the room. Got there like straight from the beach with this miniscule bag! Seems they had no rooms but...having the guarantee made the difference and we ended up with a 500 dollar suite for the same money! Next morning did a guided tour of Boston and flew back to NY to connect with the Warsaw flight and seven hours later we were back home! Bit knackered I must say but we'd seen enough. You are so right the yanks don't know nothing about the outside world. Just try changing pounds in New York what a chore! It's not for me, once was enough we won't be doing that again. But...you did get to swim with the Dolphins how fantastic! I would love that experience and as you say it must be so good for those poor unfortunates who suffer with disabilities just to touch these creatures. But then you can do this in other countries too eh!

Sfunny you mentioned Richmond Park. My Saudi sponsor was the eldest son of the late King Khalid. So in the pecking order he was like numero uno. Of course we didn't have any day to day contact with him, but his "fixer" (they all have em) called a manager I guess. He bought a large house at the entrance to the park which even included a riding stables as well. He even called my pal in one day and said "you are leaving tomorrow to UK on holiday yes!". My friend nodded. Okay go to Jack Barclays in Park Lane and buy me a Rolls Royce car take it and park it in the driveway! And he DID!

I love it when there's a white frost we've had some beauties here this last couple of weeks! Pretty cold but all the trees clothed in this brilliant white is fabulous. Today though we have a dank English style day with a drizzle which will finally take the piles of snow away. Our bulbs are beginning to look active and already the buds are on the trees. I watched a colony of Rooks getting ready over the weekend for the baby making season. We are so lucky. We live a few hundred metres from a huge forest and some outstanding botanical gardens. Plus we have a tarred cycle road nearby which in the summer hosts many thousands of people on bikes, roller blades and walkers of course. There are some lovely parks in the city and they are well subscribed, in the summer Chopin rules in Lazienki Park and there you will not only feed the ducks but the Carp as well! We can always find somewhere to go and if all else fails we have 3000M2 garden will a small summer house and plenty of fruit trees, just nice for a small child to run around eh! Most Poles have a garden and usually a small wooden house which houses generally all the cast off furniture. Ours is 7 kilometres from where we live so not far to go.

Grace I have a question. As a fully paid up member of the NUJ maybe you can advise me. I am quite busy during the day but as you see I can always find time to write and surf. So...that means there is some room. I have just seen an advert from some magazine here in Poland who are looking for natural English speakers to do some copy writing and articles. I am thinking of applying as it won't effect anything else that I do. My question is, Is there anything I should say to help my case in this application. It won't be a full time affair (I wouldn't do that anyway) I was thinking perhaps say a bit of free lancing! Any advice would be welcomed.

Never been to Crete (yet) but I did drive from the UK to Poland and then through Czech, Austria and Italy. Ferry to Patras and drove to Piraeus and then ferry to Cyprus via Rhodes. We lived in Limassol for a year before we headed to Poland.

Well I have to break off "reluctantly" as I have to contact some UK companies but perhaps I will get in a PS before the evenings over, who knows.

Glad you like the posts got much more to rattle on with so hang onto your seatbelt!

So Grace bye for now speak to you again

Afrabian (David)

PS
Grace
As promised. My priest arrived for his English lesson and that went well and then later I went to the dentist, it is now midnight and I 've just got in. You see my dentist has an obligation to work at a state of the art clinic two all nighters a week, doing emergency work. ( no one gets to suffer here, you have pain and whatever the time of night you get attention!. He does have his own clinic in Lublin near the Russian border. He is one very handsome young man and all the girls are after him! So needless to say he gets lots of em doing the night calls on the pretext of an "emergency" He is an outstanding dentist however and will never give up on a tooth. He's been working on mine on and off over the last three years. He tonight finished the job of completely rebuilding two of my back teeth. Cost? How does 12 pounds sound to you! He even had my wife helping him this evening, she just loved that I can tell you! So you see living in these er "primitive " countries of the former Eastern Europe can be advantageous eh!

Got an old friend who is a jet pilot, we went to primary school together and lost contact. But through the internet we found each other and not only a great deal more too! We now are finding lots of others too. My pal lives in Spain and being an executive jet pilot has got to meet a lot of people in the entertainment business. We talk on the phone and email of course and one day I hope that we will meet after all those years, fascinating stuff.

Anyway I am going from the subject. You know Malawi was an amazing little country to be living and working in. I arrived a bright eyed and bushy tailed young manager eager to please my new bosses. The company was however on the bones of it's backside and we always had cash flow problems. A lot of the politicians wouldn't pay up either!
So I issued an edict from my bunker ( a small office tucked away in the corner of our large showroom). I told my staff that from now on there was no credit unless previously owed money was paid up! So one day I heard a female voice and my Asian counter man having a discussion. I went out into the showroom to be confronted by this magnificent and indeed beautiful woman. Her perfume was exquisite, her dress traditional, but very tasteful. She turned to look at me and I looked into those dark pools of delight (her eyes) and she took my proferred hand. I looked at Afghan (his name) my counter assistant who was standing behind her. Er..this is Miss Kadzimira sir her said wringing his hands nervously. I took her cool hand in mine and asked her if there was any problem? Afghan said er Miss Kadzimira would like to buy a bed! Well, I said expansively Afghan sell her one! Er it's about the money you see he said nervously I mean your new rule...his voice trailed off and I got the message. Ah yes I said that's quite right. So sorry Miss...but you know we have to check accounts, head office you know. It's quite all right she said I will go now and sort the problem. With that she was gone leaving in her wake this perfume and a cloud of dust from the big black Merc outside! Going back to my office my secretary a tough little Rhodesian lady called Cynthia was smiling. Mmm know who that is she said? Oh some politicians wife I said. Not only said Cynth, she's the gal who tucks the President up in bed every night!! Ouch I thought now I'm in trouble!

About three hours later there were noises and now the recognizable voice of the lady. I went out again and I could see Afghan beaming and I asked if everything was okay. Yes sir the account has been fully paid said Afghan. A pick-up truck was outside and the bed was already being loaded. So I thanked this fine woman and again I felt her cool fingers as we shook hands. I hope that we meet again I said. I'm sure we will said she and with that in a cloud of Chanel she swept out of the door and into the Merc and gone. Now then I said to Afghan you see you have to be firm, get what is yours and don't take no for an answer. Afghan smiled. He handed me the cheque and I was already thinking of my next mornings conversation with head office re the banking! I looked at the cheque and did a double take. It was signed by no less Dr H Kamuzu Banda the President of Malawi! And then I looked again at the value. I stared at Afghan Five pounds I said my voice going up a few octaves. I looked at him is that all? Afghan smiled yes sir that was the amount outstanding for the President! Well when I got to Cynths desk she said Well did you get the money, all I could do was toss the cheque on her desk. She read it and we both collapsed with laughing.

Now Grace where on this earth could you get the President of an entire country to sign a cheque for five quid! Only Malawi. I did meet her many more times after that and also the man himself but that I will leave for another day!

I really must go to bed now.
Speak to you later! Goodnight Grace!
Afrabian (David)

Hi David

First of all, I'm sorry I haven't got back to you sooner but time really does fly past me at the moment. It seems as if as soon as I get the little'un off to bed, it's the early hours of the morning and I'm trying to pack in my correspondence before my eyes finally droop beyond redemption.

First things first, with regard to the job that you were looking at, I'm not sure that I can really offer any advice other than what you would probably think of yourself. I presume that they will want examples of your work so maybe the best thing you could do would be to put a few bits together that would appeal to them. Even if the pieces are unpublished and written just for them it will still show them what you can do. Other than that, I'm no real help I'm afraid. I just tend to fill in application forms, enclose copies of my work if they require them and do the biz when I meet them in person.

I was surprised to hear your trip to the Everglades did not net much wildlife (apart from mosquitoes). When we went it was in March and we were surrounded by every type of bird imaginable (we knew this as there were loads of British bird watchers everywhere) plus alligators, turtles and snakes (but no mosquitoes!). As we left the car park and went through the visitors center, we saw our first alligators, after half an hour of walking along the board walks, we were "oh look, there's another one" in very bored tones! If it makes you feel any better, being eaten my the mossies was your part in keeping the everglades eco-system on track. Your blood ended up (in a roundabout manner) inside an alligator so there you go!

What did you think of Key West? It is so unlike the rest of Florida, they even declared independence from the US not so long ago, and with current events, who can blame them if they do it again?

I get the feeling that you are one of those people destined to lead an interesting life. I feel that some of us are destined to have adventures and some of us are not. I think I fall into the latter category, but there is still time for that to change!

I suppose if I were a little more adventurous I may have more interesting tales to tell, but then even in my comparitively dull life there have been moments of what others may find exciting. My youth was spent mainly seeing bands in and around London, not a week went by without us trailing off to some gig or another. If we weren't seeing live bands, we were out clubbing and meeting up with all sorts of (then famous) people so I suppose as far as anyone involved in the youth culture of the 80s and 90s it would mean something. I suppose that in my working life I have done my share of hobnobbing with various government officials, ministers and whitehall mandarins but boy are they dull!

So, what countries did you enjoy living in most (and least)? Have you been to Russia? I'd love to go to St Petersburg at some point, but when the baby is a little older!

Anyway, it's really getting late now, andI have to get some sleep, I'm sorry this is a bit of a short posting, but time has escaped me once more.

Speak soon

(Karen, but happy to answer to Grace as it is a much nicer name!)

Hi Grace nee Karen!

Thanks for your post and I apologise for hammering away like I do. I will try and keep this one shorter. Karen Mmm I have another contact with the same name she is an artist and lives in Chelsea and she has a small art gallery. I have shown her some sculptures from a young sculptor who has some really beautiful works. She also had a gallery in Twickenham which I expect is not so very far from you.

Yes there were no birds in the Everglades because it was August, when you were there so were the Twitchers, because it was the mating season. Key West for me was for me a bit tatty, we stayed in a hotel near to the pier where people go to watch the sun go down. Plenty of Hemingway look alikes and bars trying to create the right atmosphere. I guess my life style in Africa was somewhat better. I frankly wouldn't go back again it's far too small. But I agree the seven mile bridge is different specially the signs which tell you "not to teach your trash to swim".

We haven't been to Russia yet. Our son last year (he's a student) went on the train from Brest to Vladivostok. He's 22 now and a bit blase already about travel. Largely with our help and pushing he has managed to see sometimes with us but oft times not, quite alot of the world. We even organise him to crew on a Polish yacht from Edinburgh to Gydnia in Poland via Copenhagen. Believe it or not he didn't want to do it. We were a bit miffed having driven from Warsaw. Anyway he did it in the end and more lately thanked us for giving him the opportunity and since he has taken his navigation certificate with the same skipper! The Edinburgh festival was on whilst all this was going on and there was no accomodation, period. So I cooked the gang a full blown Indian in the tiny galley and we spent the night hitting the Vodka and singing sea shanties. Festival? what festival? We had our own and finished sleeping on a bunk on the yacht! We planned to go St Petersburg for the new year thrash (called Sylvester here). One of the highlights of the year but we erred at the last moment and instead spent a delightful evening in a small theatre listening to Marek (Mark) Torzewski who is known in Poland at least as the "fourth tenor". He does sing with the other three! What a wonderful evening and specially when he introduced his very beautful (blonde naturally) daughter who also sang for us. It was both an intimate and highly professional programme. One elderly Italian man demanded from the audience that he sang O sol O mio. He not did he got the old man up on the stage to sing with him. It was like the last night of the Proms with everyone waving balloons and cheering. Magic! Later we went to our friends flat and saw in the new year with champagne of course and a very nice meal. But we might just make it this year to St Petersburg.

Like you I am into music. I like to sing and will do so at a drop of a hat. Years ago I was a roadie for a band and we got to do gigs all over the place. The Marquee in Soho was a favourite and we played support for alot of the big names of the day. We also did sessions and in the studios too I met a lot of the great and the good in the industry. To give you an idea of how wide my music tastes are, ten days ago I had a birthday party! I got many very nice presents from my Polish friends amongst which was, a CD of Al Jurrau, likewise Willy Nelson, Andrea Bocceli's latest, a 10 CD pack of digitaly re mastered CDs of the big jazz bands of the era 1929 to 1947, of course you wouldn't know these but you parents would. Glenn Miller, Lionel Hampton, Harry James, Duke Ellington, Artis Shaw and Stan Kenton to name but a few. I also got from my wife a double CD of BB King who I was lucky to see live here in Warsaw. We love jazz and we go to many clubs here in Warsaw where the music and ambience is outstanding. Saw Herbie Hancock live here last year what a great moment!

When I was in Baghdad I was often found singing with the band on the 17th floor of the Sheraton Hotel. From there you had a perfect view of the Scud rockets hitting the city, how macabre!

You know Karen you still plenty of time to do things. You mention JK Rowling previously. Now she is some woman for sure and she had some tough times as a single parent but she kept her writing up. She is self effacing and I like to hear what she has to say. She's no Cartland and has her feet on the ground. You could do the same for sure and as one writer once said ' I only write when I am inspired ', but I make sure that I am inspired at nine every morning! Well it does take dedication doesn't it. I mean here I am telling you an expert and what have I done. Er well I wrote some books, but such a clever guy I don't know how to market them!

Well I know you have to hit the toddler trail so I will answer some of your other questions in the next post regarding likes and dislikes. MY wife has been all day at a conference to do with matters concerning joining the EC. We have a boiler problem and it looks as if the plumber will be called in. We had a big change in temperature last night. We had very heavy rain and I think the outside thermostat which tells the boiler what to do got a shade confoozed!

Speak to you later Karen (Grace)

David (Afrabian)

Hello again David,

Well, first things first, my hubby keeps abreast of all my postings on hootoo while he is at work, as on ocassions I don't get online for days at a time. He read your comments about playing the Marquee, being a roadie and the bands you saw and has asked me to ask you for more information! What was your band called, who did you roadie for etc... As I mentioned in my userspace he is a real muso, but also another musician that has played at the Marquee - and just about every other venue in London especially the scuzzy ones! I'm already afeared by the muso chats you two could have.

Funnily enough, a lot of the jazz/big band musicians you mentioned I have not only heard of, but have know their music quite well. I used to have a saturday/holiday job at a branch of Oddbins where the manager would have apoplexy if a tune emitted from the speakers was recorded later than the 1940s.

You were right that Twickenham is not a million miles from us, I even used to go to college there. Fortunately for us, we are not so close that the rugby stadium traffic is a problem, or even has a knock on effect. I used to work in a pub in Richmond called the Bull and Bush (the Stones played there in the dim and distant past) and it was a nightmare whenever the rugger buggers came to town. It's funny, rugby fans do not cause trouble when they have partaken of a few ales, but boy do they keep you busy if you work behind a bar! I've just realised, I must sound like a lush, all my employers while at college were booze related!

Your new years eve sounds lovely, since having the baby, we tend to stay in, the need to go out and go mad seems to have left me for now and I am quite happy to be bovine and snuggle up with her and hubby. Having said that, if my mum (our main source of babysitting) wasn't in such demand socially we may get out more.

I can understand why you were not that impressed with the Keys prefering life in Africa. My other half felt the same in some ways. My love affair with the area stems from the fact that it is the first place i have been to where I could go in the sea and not come out blue, that there was coral and brightly coloured fish everywhere you looked while snorkelling and house plants living outdoors. He wasn't as impressed as he grew up with that sort of thing in Accra and went to the beach regularly. Although I had been to the states before, I had never swum in tropical waters and the Med just isn't the same. I am utterly in love with the idea of being somewhere with white sand, clear blue seas, that intense blue sky that you only get nearer to the equator and palm trees etc. I guess you are not going to get as excited by all that if you have lived with it.

Oh well, I'll have to write my bestseller and then I can go somewhere like that. The only hitch with my plan is writing the damn thing then finding that elusive publisher. Still, send a manuscript to the right one and you never know.

Well, it's getting late again and my eyes are aching (only 5 hours sleep last night ). I hope your boiler is feeling better and we'll speak again soon.

(Grace nee Karen)

Hi Karen

Well it,s bin one of those days. Can you believe after tons of rain washing away all the remaining snow piles yesterday. Today it has bin snowing again only this time horizontally. Brass monkey weather I can tell you, wind chill around minus 25C ouch. And there I was waxing on about the oncoming spring! But...you don' have to hear the first cuckoo and all that these days, just go to your local hyper market. Already racks of mountain bikes up for sale, gardening kit and plants and even lawnmowers I saw this evening! Dunno where they get their weather forecast from. I mean based on today I would be back to flogging skis! Got the boiler fixed our plumber came within 15 minutes of the call and he got a couple of quid for his trouble. I suppose that is just like the UK eh!! Er, Rather 700 quid and I can fit you in in 3-4 weeks guvnor! Fired a salesman today lazy B didn't produce and spent his time mooning around in the company wagon. We sussed him out though in 5 days, so he joined the ranks of the unemployed! We decided this afternoon to go to a local multi kino to see a movie. When we got there my wife wanted to see a Spanish film with Polish sub titles, well my Polish isn't THAT good so I went next door to see Solaris. I can tell you I came out of that film as confused as if I had been with my girl watching the Spanish one. I even fell asleep at one stage, but it didn't effect the other six people in the audience including one small boy who I could only admire for being so quiet while this boring nonsense was being shown. I just don't know how the hell they make money with such poor attendances and my wife told me there was only a hatful in her kino!

Yeaah the music scene in my day I am talking sixties here was I suppose a bit different from today. We played pubs and clubs around the South so many and names I was very happy to forget though one in Sutton $ Chean (wherever that is) was called The gun! Weused to rock up and the first question which your hubby will well understand was, who is playing nearby? In my day if Clapton or John Mayall was about it was the kiss of death for us. But we had some good connections and we did most of our sessions in Denmark Street off Charing Cross Road. I think Andrew "Loog" Oldham Jaggers roadie had shares in it cos I used to go to his office in Ivor Court in Baker St to get the lolly! I was chatting with him a few times. He was dead flash bought a new car every week in those days. Told me the day he and Shagger Jagger (our name) started their own recording label. First record will go to number one he told me confidently! How did he know I asked? Cos I paid 5 grand to get it there he said. It did 'Hang on Sloopy' did the business! We also had a great producer a young self effacing slim and very talented young man. A real gent in those rough ole times. Yeah Jimmy Paige was somethin else, made it big did Jimmy and I also rubbed shoulders with many more Geof Beck for instance. We played sometimes with some greats of the time. Manfred Mann, The Who, but The Moody Blues were always my favourite and I still love em. In fact one night as I was bringing the van behind the Marquee to load up I found a big Marshall amplifier that some guy had nicked and was ready to cart away. Well...being a good ole rocker I loaded it into the van and it took pride of place on many a gig after that. We were doing a Radio Luxemburg programme as I recall and of course the Moodies were the real stars we just run the support. Two brothers John and Bernie Williams played lead and base, our singer came from Southsea, Kev the drummer from Bedford. John Williams and tomorrows people! Also know for a time as The Earth! I could see that we could make it big time, I mean we had the contacts (very important). We played all the right stuff. As an aspiring biz man I could see that the likes of the Loog that I could manage all that too! But I guess your hubby will know what I am about to say. Like musicians are a bit special, not in most cases is money the consideration. My guys were ducking and diving on the dole and putting 3 liters of petrol into a Plymouth gas guzzler which lasted not very long! I used to say to em come on I'll get you guys rolling but they were just too lazy and damned tired to bother. They would take the mick out of some poor guy riding his bike at 4 in the morning going to his work. Er Hey look at him bet he works hard etc. Forgetting we'd bin doing an all nighter in some cruddy dump in Southend or worse. I've got a rich friend here ( he's Polish) now he loves the blues. So much so he does some promotions. He was at our place the other night at my birthday bash. Told me he paid the fares for some top blues guys from the UK (I can't remember their names) er too well oiled I guess. Booked em into a swish hotel and he thought that they would need about three days rehersals with the Polish element. Seems they didn't stay in his fancy hotel and he said they were all playing together after an hour of jamming, like they'd bin together for years! But THAT is what real musicians do, don't they? I mean if you know your trade and lets face it most musicians play many different instruments anyway it's a piece of cake! So after nearly three years of thrashing around the clubs and pubs I went legit! Saw John one day a while after I had jacked em in. Told me he was training to be a probation officer, Now I ask you? What chance did I stand going against THAT kind of dedication! I have just a trip to the UK which was kinda memorable why? Well first of all I got married. Yep to same lass I married 14 years ago in a civil ceremony, but this time we did it proper like in a Polish Catholic Church! Now not only did we do that but we also attended a big thrash for my old ladies 90th birthday the day after. We then went to Barcelona as mentioned before but after we met a guy from Liverpool back in Bedford. Now this was supposedly a business meeting to discuss vehicle security products which this guy specialises in. But...lo and behold the conversation started about our backgrounds and guess what here was a man that no only played the sax but...also had played with some great Liverpool bands IN the famous cavern with gerry Marsden! We are all bit daft in our lives and one day if you ever get my full story you will understand a great deal more. You mentioned about destiny but frankly most times you have to make it, that's unless you have a rich pop. I'm pleased to say I did what I did on my own and I guess I gambled alot in the process, but that's life!

So onto likes and dislikes travel wise. Well as I mentioned Saudi and Kuwait are the worst, The USA in my opinion only the music is worth a light the rest you can forget very easily! You want warm seas Karen go to Caribean sample the Dominican Republic and dance the Merenge and the Salsa. Nothin to beat it. I was there the only Englishman in the hotel full of Germans and some Poles. Boy did we have some fun. You want abject poverty go to Haiti and see how those poor folks live and don't forget they too were "liberated" by those stupid yanks too. Egypt for me is okay I like the chaos and above all the hustlers and at least they know how to smile. Go to an Egyptians wedding reception and see how THEY do it wow! Africa of course is my first love, but not only the superb terrain, animals and all that. Just go to an African bar, drink Carlsberg green label straight from the bottle, or the local Chibuku beer ( a variation of rough cider) puts fur on your teeth but after a few cartons who cares!
When you're in that bar get to hear the sweetest music on earth. Guitars made from petrol cans, penny whistles, a tea chest base and then listen to the singing. The only time I guess I cried was when I was leaving Lilongwe to go to my new posting in Blantyre and listened as 300 of my workers sang for me, now that was really somethin else! And when you are dancing man to man,man to woman no one cares, a woman with a sleepy baby on her back swinging her hips and moving in a way that only Africans can THEN you know that you're in heaven. I like France, I like the way they live I even like the stroppy ones too! I did India a few times and saw many things there way off the tourist agenda. Been to Mauritius twice both times on my way to go somewhere else. Shri Lanka a couple of times. Oz well now the Great Barrier reef was one of my favourites and we did a mini cruise 5 days around the Whitsunday passage. Small glass bottomed boat, a bit of fishing from the decks. Walked on the reef which is amazing when you think that you are fifty miles from the mainland! Got the oysters and helped cook em on the ship nestling in crispy bacon Yummy! Wouldn't like to live there but a fair place to visit and relax. Spent two years in Malaysia as a sprog soldier, very nice place a super place to go joggit dancing and find your first love as a virgin soldier!! A cruise well I went from Brisbane to Durban on the last round the world sailing of the P$O Orsova. Lazy times and far too much food, but still better docking in Singapore on this great ship than how I did it before spending some nights in an old Japanese prison camp before heading on the night train to KL.

There's more in that ole memory box too but I gotta go. So what kind of music does your man play? And how in wide world do you put up with my ramblings?
Cheers
David
Speak to you soon.

Hello again David,

Sorry for the extremely tardy reply this time, the little'un has been a bit of a poorly pup, so all my time has been spent with her, still, she seems to be feeling a lot better now so we are all a lot happier at this end now!

Thanks for filling me in with the music stuff, I passed on the info to hubby who was very interested in it all. He is a guitarist/ singer/songwriter and his genre is loud guitars with lots of fuzz effects etc. He was a punk in the 70s, and his predeliction for all things noisy has not abaited! Having said that, he also has a vast collection of Miles Davis, 60s phsychadelia (sp?) and just bout everything inbetween. My collection spans everything from Ella Fitzgerald to disco to punk to Mozart so we have a pretty wide range!

It's funny you should have mentioned the Dominican Republic as a place that I might enjoy, I have often thought that the carribbean appeals to me as a holiday destination. I would also love to go to Cuba as it is a beautiful place as I understand it, and it pisses me off that The Shrub has placed it on his 'axis of evil' list (give me strength!). Being a contrary mary, I'd like to go to offer my support if you know what I mean. There has been a very good series shown on the BBC called 'Holidays in the Axis of Evil', where the presenter has gone to each country on the Shrubs list as a tourist (ostensibly visiting archeological sites in the middle eastern states) which was a real eye opener. It really seemed to explain the middle eastern view point of the US, however, it also showed that the Shrubs inclusion of Cuba is totally ludicrous. At least in the middle east it makes sense that there are islamic extremists in certain countries that would love to see an end to the west, but let's face it... what has Castro done in recent years? If they hadn't made such a fuss over the blokes regime, he would probably have handed the reins over long ago. I suppose the yanks never got over the Bay of Pigs eh?

Oh well, I'm glad to heat that your boiler is fixed and that warmth once more reigns supreme over there. It has been glorious here for the last few days. Despite the sprogs ailment, we have taken her to the park each day for fresh air and to see the deer racing about and it has been truly lovely. Today we were wandering around in t-shirts with our coats around out waists! Not bad for March is it? It was interesting to see your opinion of Solaris. The original was one of hubby's favourite films and he is looking forward to seeing this one as it has had very good reviews over here. I was going to see it with him (because it has George Clooney in it and he is good eye candy for an old married lady like me ) so I'll let you know what we thought if we ever get there.

Oh well, better get on as I have e-mails to answer and it is already after mid-night!

Speak soon

(Karen)

Hi Karen

Bin rather out of it this past few days had alot to do on the biz front. Y'know it might sound very strange to you but because I lived in quite a primitive part of Africa I actually missed the punk era altogether. When you consider that the only access to the outside world was either the local Radio that played mostly songs like Oblah Dee Oblah Dah and Sugar Sugar you can see what I mean. The world service was always difficult as the reception was always so bad. So what without TV and the like we were confined to our memories as it were. We augmented our lives with the dramatic society, Round Table for me, endless parties, scrabble contests and generally getting blitzed on the local brew. You could so easily fall by the wayside, I mean I went into the Mzuzu golf club (North Malawi) for a quick drink before my long (and rather lovely) drive to Lilongwe, only to meet up with some old mates. It was three days before I finally staggered out. My best pal was chief game ranger of a new reserve that he literally started from scratch. I used to drop in to see him and stay for weekends. No tourists and the animals were like...wild! Not like the sanitized Kruger and all that. He used to stay at my house in Lilongwe on his town visits, his wife was a cracker she was a great niece of Winston Churchill. Anyway one night he arrived at the house and without warning as usual. We opened a bottle of Brandy just him and me. Then he told me he was on his way to the Lake to dump a load of confiscated weapons taken from poachers. Asked me if he could bring em into the house so they'd be a bit safe. Well with my houseboy and gardener we hauled all this stuff into my lounge. My boys were wide eyed they had never been so close to such fire power.

Anyway after the bottle had been emptied we were well.. into all kinds of discussions (as drunks usually do). Then I said hey lets take a load of these rifles down to the local resturaunt and have some fun with the lads! Now the"lads" were generally young tough Rhodesian tobacco farmers all doing their bit to fill the pockets of the President and then themselves in that order. Well we got to the restaurunt (the only one in town) and it was seething, packed out with the aforesaid all bombed out of their skulls. Well without too much ceremony we carried about twenty rifles into the resturaunt. Placing them at the tables. When anybody asked in a slurred voice like what the f.. is going on we merely put finger to mouth and said "tonites the night!" It was a totally crazy thing to do and even more so when we staged a mock parade outside on the street. It was a bit fortunate that the locals go to bed early it was now about two am. Great laugh and somethin to talk about for a while afterwards. So you can see the entertainment factor was shall we say "limited". So your man writes songs too eh! I tried all that when I was in the army I had a pal who could play the piano very well. So I wrote the lyrics and he and I sang the songs around the old joanna. Punk is pretty raucous stuff and I'm told you had to wear a mac during the gigs is that right?

Sorry to hear your littly has not been well. The weather here is ducking and diving between brass monkeys and hello it's spring! So the activity has started in Iraq I am sorry that it has, we can only hope that now it's over with soon and no more Iraqis get flattened in the process. Like you "Shrub" idea I guess I would put that closer to poisoned ivy! Just seen another house that we "like" so mebe we'll be traipsing off for a look. Big land with this one which is a bit scary. I emailed that crowd re the copy writing etc and in the time honoured way they did not reply, nothin new in that, I just don't know why they advertise in the first place!

Well the weekend is here one more party tomorrow night and then we can take a rest for a couple of weeks. Sorry bout the delay in replyin I guess when the beeb closed down the thread I thought we there you go censorship reigns after all!

Write when you can.
David

Just a short PS. It is Friday evening around 9 CET and I have been watching BBC World and that clown Rumsfeld saying that Saddam is most likely dead and Iraq is now out of control. All this just after a huge bombing display. Well Karen at this same time I have been watching live Iraqi TV and there is Saddams brother in law and a general calmly with a large map of the country showing the people of Iraq just where the action is taking place! Now work it out for yourself would you believe ANYTHING coming from the yanks I certainly don't. I fully expect after all this collosal er shock and awe crap that the TV would be down first wouldn't you! Seems like everything these days all is being reduced to sound bites. Just thought I'd let you know!
G'nite folks
David

Hi David

I am already heartily sick of the coverage of this war. The BBC has rescheduled stuff all over the place so that they can offer rolling coverage of "events as they unfold". How sick is this? If it wasn't bad enough that this war is happening, we have to watch as bombs fly down and kill god knows how many people on both sides. The latest stuff that we are getting is guff about Saddam Hussein being injured, but alive and that the broadcasts he is making are all pre-recorded to keep the war alive!

In situations like this, all sides are going to lie about what is happening and to try to make their enemy think that they will lose. I am afraid that I perceive this sort of thing as macho bravado as the only people losing in all of this as the civillians caught in the cross fire and the soldiers fighting each other because their leaders are too gung ho to talk.

It is interesting that you can get Iraqi TV to follow events on, we are (obviously) only getting one side of events. The main casulaties on the US/GB side have all been either friendly fire or accidents so far it appears, but the US Generals appear surprised that the Iraqis are resisting their advances. Now that is bizzare - as if they are going to walk in unopposed and take over!

Oh well, my main concern now that it has all kicked off, is how safe we are in respect of terrorist retalliation. I am deeply worried about the prospect of "dirty bombs" in London and any other reprisals that may occur. Bottled water is doing one hell of a trade in my local Waitrose, as are the canned goods the Govt has told us to stock up on. My main fear is for the baby of course. If we had not had her, I wouldn't be so afraid, but as a parent, you know how you worry for them so I'm afraid this anxiety is going to be ever present until we move away from London. Once the war is over, we will look at moving I think, it is something that we have discussed to gain a better quality of life in the past, it may actually happen now though.

Other than that, all is well here, it is warm and sunny, and taking the little 'un to the local children's farm and parks has been the main order of the day. It is hard to beleive that we have just started a war, when it is so peaceful here. On a personal level it has been a lovely weekend, it's just a shame that hubby has to go back to work tomorrow.

Oh well, my time here is up for now as the baby has just woken up and I am back on duty!

Speak soon (I really will try to get back to you faster!)

Karen

Hi Karen

Thanks for writing. Went to this small party last night to celebrate a friends 'name day' (very popular here in Poland) birthdays are not celebrated so much. It was quite boring with twenty people sat around a huge round table loaded with all kinds of traditional Polish food. The music was diabolical, old Polish songs which my wife said were unrecognizable to her. I did not drink as I elected to be the driver. But the menfolk in the Polish way were soon polishing off large quantities of vodka, neat of course and straight from the freezer, just the way it should be drunk. Being a 'family affair' we were a bit out of it but I thought of you, why? Because one of the guests brought along her tiny little blonde 2 year old daughter named Ola who for some reason took an instant liking to me. At one stage she took my hand and made me leave the table and she took me to a large couch which had all her dolls lined up. She was proudly showing me all this all accompanied by my hosts little long haired Dachshund dog. I must say I was happy to play with the child as sitting at the table watching everyone getting blitzed was no fun for me. I was quite relieved when it was time to go.

Now Karen, don't worry about the war effecting you and yours, believe me it will not happen. Not because I believe so much in the UK security forces, but the kind of terrorist attack you mention would be extremely difficult to mount and in any case would not go to the reaches of delightful Richmond! Like I mentioned in my previous Iraq thread which the beeb seems to have shut down. When I lived in Cyprus the last Gulf war began. I lived in Limassol and for weeks after the war started there were absolutely no tourists. All frightened off by the fact that they would be hit by Scud missiles carrying some gungy chemical or other, they up and left. Well having put up with these kind of attacks in Baghdad for three years as I did. I knew only too well that there was no chance of a Scud hitting Cyprus period, let alone being so targeted to actually hit Limassol! The chances of you being effected by any such attack by rocket or suitcase for that matter is so tiny as not to worry. You will always get those who will try to scare the general public and this mainly to reinforce their own political agenda! So forget it and get on with your life.

Yes I watch all the Arab stations and I will not describe what I saw today in graphic detail it was too gory. But the yanks now know they have a battle on their hands. They expected that as soon as they crossed the border the Iraqi soldiers would lay down their weapons and it would only need them to fire those cruise missiles and Saddam too would head for the hills! Well the picture you are getting over there is not the full Sp I can tell you, but the beeb does try bless em! The fact is the folks in Baghdad had "shock and awe" for not days but for years, so no amount a million dollar missiles raining down on them will effect life. As you see from the pics as soon as the smoke is cleared, people are out shopping! Bush also forgets that most Iraqis hate the Americans as much as they hate Saddam! Because they know only too well what the US involvement is in Israel!
Since these poor prisoners were captured and I saw it all on Iraqi TV Bush and Rumsfeld have suddenly found "the Geneva convention". Well now as I understand it, War with Iraq was not declared officially yet by the USA. Now the excuse for incarserating those Taleban prisoners in cages in Cuba was, that as war was not declared officially, these unfortunates are merely "unlawful combatants" and have no rights what so ever, human or otherwise! Now as usual the yanks want it both ways and it won't wash! I don't say I am happy to see those frightened young people being questioned by some Iraqi Mukhabarat goon on Iraq TV, but....at least their folks will get to know that they are still alive! Not like the aforementioned caged birds in Cuba who could be there for ever! Remember we watch Polish TV and their reporters too don't pull any punches either. I have seen and heard some horrendous things that would NEVER be reported in any western media from this source too! I have around 500 stations to choose from so I do get the big picture. It hurts me to see my city Baghdad being destroyed by these clowns, a city which I grew to like so much and where I met my girl. I saw on Polish TV some Iraqis in Basrah yelling at the reporter and his cameraman. What are you doing here, Go home, We don't want your food, your water just get out of our country! This is something that Bush will never understand, these guys don't have a flag dangling over every house, they don't have to make an oath of allegiance every morning to prove that they are Iraqis. They may not have much, but they are proud and they are educated, they certainly don't need food parcels from Bush! This was not a Saddam renta mob speaking these were ordinary Basrah folks sick of all this mayhem! And to cap it all yet another "friendly fire" accident, this time one of our planes shot down by these trigger happy fools! I regret to say that this war might just drag on for a while yet. I despair too, I mean there they are trying to open the port to bring in vast amounts of "humanitarian aid". But what about the delivery of this aid? Plainly the troops are no gonna fight in the streets of Baghdad... they might get shot! So just who is going to pass the stuff around. Er...maybe Saddams forces will help em out eh!

Too many intangibles here. But to digress so you like Ella Fitzgerald too eh! Oooh what a voice did she have eh. I always marvelled that, well... lets face it she was not good looking at all. But when she sang that voice so clear and what a range, now that is what I call real singing. I got a few of her Cds, some jolly roger stuff too cos here you can get plenty of that. I also have a few old tapes too. Dunno if you get BBC World but I watch that too. Tim Sebastian did a rare interview with George Michael and boy did the guy impress me!! Specially when he called The New York Post (another Murdoch rag!) a fascist newspaper! Mightily impressed I was with our George cos he said it like it is. Well we might be off to look at this other house tomorrow it's 80km from here but from the description it looks very nice. But...our biz is going like mad at the moment and I dunno if we'll get the time. We sell all sorts of stuff to the automotive industry but mainly to the factories, its keeps us busy and off the streets as it were. So what does your man do apart from riffin? My lass has been this weekend to a medical seminar which I guess you would have loved too. Funnily enough she was an invited guest but...when she got there they assumed that she was "press' and she was given a press badge! She had a serious cancer operation 3 years ago and touch wood she is clear thus far having got it just in time. Her surgeon has become somethin of a friend and he was there today giving a lecture, nice guy!

Okay it's late I gotta go!

Relax karen, don't let it get you down eh!

Speak soon
David

Hi David

I was talking to hubby about stuff being moderated all over the place here on hootoo and was wondering if you wanted to get in touch via e-mail with respect to the war we are not supposed to mention... it's just I have a really strong feeling if any italics were to look at these postings they would be removed and I'm really interested to hear what you have to say. I do not want to put my e-mail address on here, but we can use hubby's address at work which he will forward to me and then you'll have mine too when I respond (if you see what I mean). If you do not want to go down that route, no worries, but I think we may have to be a little more careful about our postings - I've already seen personal spaces being moderated!

His address is [email protected]

If you want to try this and have any problems with it, post here and I'll check I got it right!

Back to the conversation, it sounds as if the party was saved by the little girl then, kids really are quite useful at times aren't they? My little treasure has been ransacking the living room tonight just because I was on the 'phone to a friend of mine (who is about to move to Spain) and had a lot to catch up on. Her dad came back into the room to find the cushions from the sofa on the other side of the room, a box of tissues ripped up and scattered to all four corners and me in the middle of the debris looking at our little smiling happily back at me!

My husband is a Mac operator at a print firm. He prepares all the files to go to the platemaking machine so they can then go on the presses. He also does a bit of design work and that sort of thing so we are i nthe same line really. Believe me, we can get very nerdy about paper quality, typography and how well (or badly) a printed item has been finished. Our poor daughter, what a pair of saddos she's got for parents!

I'm sorry to hear about your wife's cancer op but am glad to hear that she is hopefully Ok now. A friend of ours had a nasty time with suspected Hodgkins disease, luckily it was not throughout the lymphatic system so they caught it in time to cut it out... the tumour was the size of an orange in his right armpit, but had not spread. Talk about miraculous! He has regular check ups at the Royal Marsden and so far (and I've got everything crossed) he is Ok now. I know it sounds trite, but the stuff that can be done now for cancer are amazing. It's a shame it all has to be funded through charity though. By the way, I saw the Tim Sebastian interview with George Michael you mentioned one sunday morning a couple of weeks ago, it made very good viewing. I also enjoyed Michael Moore's oscar acceptance speech last night, I always enjoy a bit of dissent at an occassion like that.

I do appreciate your efforts to try to calm me down with regard to the terrorism threat here. I know that it is less likely to affect us the further out of town we are (if such a thing was even to happen), it's just people are so anxious around us, buying gallons of bottled water and decimating the tinned goods shelves that I guess the paranoia is kind of contagious.

Oh well, when I'm world president all this will change! My first edicts will be that politicians have to fight in wars themselves and that all testosterone fuelled aggression will be countered by oestrogen injections. How easy will it be to start a war when you are worried that your bum may look big in khaki?

On that note, it is time for me to retire to my pit. Somehow I have contracted a cold and I am feeling the need to snuggle under my duvet with a beechams powder.

Speak soon

Karen

Hi Karen

Two great minds think alike, I always thought better to take the email route this way is too public. Will do today and then we can have some real chat eh! So I'll just send to the address you mentioned with enough info to recognize.
Speak to you later
David