Central London flooded

The surge of water in the Thames finally reached Central London. Does that mean the Woolwich Ferry (that I went on today) is now the only way to cross the river?

List Of Towers I Have Been To.

Extensive research from my blogs' viewers confirm that you people enjoy reading lists. I promised lists. This 1 is a list of all the random towers that I have been to. If you have been to any of the towers then share in the comments section. If you haven't then mention tall structures that you have been to.

Blackpool Tower, Blackpool, England: The ugliest of all the towers.

Calgary Tower, Calgary, Canada: I posted a letter from the top.

BT Tower, London, England: I used to call it the Post Office tower.

Skylon Tower, Niagara Falls, Canada: Good view of the falls from the top.

Space Needle, Seattle, USA: Had one of the best restuarants I have ever been to at the top.

CN Tower, Toronto, Canada: The glass floor worried me.

Harbour Centre, Vancouver, Canada: Its a tower in a building.

Homer Simpson on a hill

Homer Simpson has been painted right next to the Cerne Abbas Giant. Well they have to do something to promote the film in OAP riddled Dorset.

Of course both drawings are very old, one being 4000 years and the other being drawn in the 1980s(!)

Fridge/freezers

How come fridges have lights but freezers don't?

3rd Storm Video

2nd Storm video

1st Storm video

Storm Of The Month

The other day at 5pm thunder rumbled across the urban sprawl of East London. Brontophobics cowered, WW2 veterans dusted off their rifles. I was cooking dinner but as I opened the front door the rain came down. And it rained hard. Within 15 minutes the front garden was flooded. Mini-rivers were running down the gutters. Meanwhile the thunder and lightning lashed across the suburban streets. Hailstones the size of peas came down. I took my camera phone and recorded some movies. Watch out for the man getting soaked by a car driving through a huge puddle in 1 video. I was unlucky not to have caught the lightning on film.

Last Day at the Smart Centre- again!

Friday was my last day at the Smart Centre. I got 3 cards and a box of hand-selected Thorntons milk chocolates. The card the children made me was the best one.

Chocolates? Yes please.

Afterwards most of the staff and I went to a Mexican restuarant in Wimbledon.

Most people had burger and chips though.

Jesus Christ had mammary glands.

I was on the underground the other day on my way to work when an amusing thing happened.

Time: 8:10am

Line: Northern

I was on the Northern Line. The underground train was pretty busy. Virtually everyone was reading either a newspaper or a book. Then, at Elephant and Castle station, it happened.

Black guy, quite tall, shoddy clothes, cardboard sign on a peice of string round his neck, crucifix at the ready, bible in hand. He was attempting to get everyone to apologise for thier sins. Lets listen in:

"I have been with da lord for 2 years now. 2 years I have been repenting ma sins. Now you must repent your sins. Jesus loves you. He will accept. Give yourself over to the lord by putting a pound in the box. God wants you to put a pound in the box. Jesus loves you. I have been living on the milk of Christ. Christs' milk feeds me. Taste the milk of Christ. I live on the milk to Christ. It appeases my sin."

The British public resoluted ignored him, instead deciding to opt for the 'I will pretend its not happening' technique. They studied every word they were reading, digesting every syllabel, re-reading every sentence. Anything but acknowledge he was there.

I wanted to enquire of the man 2 things

a) In the bible the Pharisees forbade the wearing of a crucifix so if he has read the bible in his hand surely he would know that and

b) Does Christ lactate?

Unfortunatly he got off at Stockwell before I could ask him.

Should I get my hair cut?

Since the dawn of time men have debated (women have better things to do) whether or not I should get a haircut. Socrates was stumped as was Nostradamus.

But now I put it to you; should I?

Im back

I am sorry for the pause in my blogging. I know you have been living day-to-day. But now I am back with more of your favourites:

jokes
photos
mountain ranges
political monologues

the lot!

Hairstyle

Who thinks my hair would look good in the style of the man on this webpage?

Don't become a slave to slavery

Today was the 200th anniversary of a hollow and watered-down law banning slavery in the British Empire. It was basically implemented by a very young Prime Minster (Pitt the Younger who was 24) with the help of a young minster and advisor- William Wilberforce. Parliament 200 years ago didn't look anymore kindly on 2 whippersnappers making laws then than they do now. In fact the youngest current MP is 32 (Sarah Teather). The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act which became law in March 1807 by which time William Wilberforce was 48 and Pitt the Younger had been dead for 1 year and he was 47 when he died. But they were both very young when they started the abolitionist movement. Slaves were still be traded in the empire decades after the law was pasted because it was difficult to stop the super-powerful slave-owners. Some slaves were even worse off after the law was passed because they were kicked off of the plantations but nobody wanted to hire them anymore. At least when they were slaves they got shelter and food.

Nevertheless I went to Brixton (the heartland of Afro-Britons) and watched a movie about apartheid at the Lonely Planet film festival. The film I saw was called Catch a Fire. It was an excellent film. It reminded me of Hotel Rwanda. Catch a Fire was about a black South African in 1980 and his struggle against the white South African secret service.

Anti-slave protester who tried to attack the Prime Minster and Queen today on the 200th anniversary of the end of slavery service at Westminster Abbey

The Domino effect.......

Yesterday Robyn and I were in a pound shop in East Ham called Manny's Two. It is a very cramped shop with many objects piled up high and narrow walkways between the veritable Aladdin's cave. As Robyn and I were picked our way through this treasure trove of delights we spied an elderly eastern European woman. She had a sour, wizened face and she grimaced at us with contempt of our age and stunning good looks (we are a handsome couple you see). Anyway we were going opposite ways down the walkways until we got to a 90degree bend. Then, suddenly, almost slowly, a stack of pots, pans and crockery about 4 feet high started toppling- set in motion by the old lady as Robyn (who was the closest) was at least 1metre away. We both lunged towards the declining mass of kitchenware. We just about caught some of it but it was too late; the initial topple had triggered a domino effect round the store. Half of the central area was crashing down around Robyn and I (strangely enough not the old lady). We struggled to catch the falling kitchenware and housewares but it was a largely futile attempt. Pots crashed onto the floor, saucepans clattered onto cheese graters and lemon zesters toppled casserole dishes. After half of the central stack had fallen there was a sudden, uneasy silence. The woman scowled at us; she may as well have pointed a finger. But she broke the silence by muttering a couple of sentences of a Russian-like language before turning tail and disappearing the other way down the aisle. Robyn and I tried fruitlessly to pick up the merchandise off of the floor. 2 male shopkeepers were bearing down on us in seconds. Robyn prompted me towards the door. We escaped Pompeii and burst out onto the street laughing.

We only wanted a small plastic basket.

First List; Mountain Ranges

I have decided, for want of any better subject to blog about, to do lists every week or so. These lists will be informative and interesting and give the impression that I regularly update my blog. The list this week will be:

Mountain Ranges I Have Been To:

Canada:

Rocky Mountains
Alberta Badlands#
Coast Mountains
Canadian Cascades*
Pierce Range
Beaufort Range
Pelham Range
Somerset Range
Seymour Range
Gowlland Range
Inside Passage#
Niagara Escarpment

Rocky Mountains October 2005 Columbia Mountains

USA:

Cascade Mountains*
Adirondack Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
Olympic Range

Shawangunk Mountains

Taconic Mountains

Okanogan Range

Cascade Mountains October 2006

England:

Chiltern Hills
Cotswolds
Dartmoor Hills
Exmoor Hills
Lake District
Malvern Hills
Mendip Hills
North Downs
Peak District
Pennines
Salisbury Plain Downs
South Downs
Lake District June 2006

Wales:

The Brecon Beacons
Black Mountains
Cambrian Mountains

Black Mountains September 2006

Scotland:

Southern Uplands
Scottish Highlands
Cheviot Hills

Southern Uplands August 2006

France:

Parc naturel régional des Vosges du Nord

Crête de Valenciennes August 2005

Greenland:

Watkins Range

Watkins Range from the air November 2006

*= Geographically the same range

#=Strictly speaking not ranges but still peaks of elevation

Bloody Yuppies.

This has to be a defining photo of the changing face of Pakistan- a human rights lawyer after being whacked with a police trucheon. He was protesting over the senior Pakistani lawyer being put in prison. He has ruined his nice suit.

Last Day at the Smart Centre

Friday the 9th of March was my last day at the Smart Centre, Morden. The children made me a card, the adults bought me a card and gave me a box of celebrations. Also 4 people gave me their phone numbers. I had only worked there for 3 weeks.

Lunar Eclipse

On Saturday evening of March the 3th there was a lunar eclipse. Robyn and I drove out across the Hoo penisula until we reached Northwood Hill RSPB Reserve near High Halstow. It was very dark and there were plenty of stars. Slowly we saw the earths shadow cover the moon until it was blood red. It went red at around 11:15pm. Below is a photo of the lunar eclipse and the picture of Northward Hill during the day.

Plastic Cup Politics. Part One

Blair and Bush divide?

Is Tony Blair edging away from George Bush's stance on the war in Iraq? For starters Tony Blair has reduced funding for the Ministry of Defence and increased funding for domestic anti-terror organisations including SOCA and MI5. There have been complaints about the poorly funded army but could this be a shrewd decision in the long term? When all British troops have left Iraq the British Army will be bolstered in Afghanistan. With less financial pressure on the British Army in Afghanistan their effectiveness will rise. So from a fiscal standpoint underfunding the army for a year or two will save money in the long run. Tony Blair has obviously known he would make the announcement below for some time.

Today Tony Blair announced that 1,500 UK troops would be coming back from Iraq for good in the next couple of months. By summer 2008 they should all be back. The UK currently has 7,100 troops in Afghanistan. Lets look at the list of nations with troops in Iraq:

COALITION FORCES
US -132,000
UK - 7,100
South Korea - 2,300
Poland - 900
Georgia - 800
Australia - 900
Romania - 600
Denmark - 460
El Salvador - 380
Bulgaria - 150

A few weeks ago George Bush announced that the US was sending 21,500 more troops to Iraq later this year. With the UK pulling out I predict most other European nations and Australia will pull out as well. I believe they joined the coalition because they thought that the UK was making a good decision in trying to stay economically aligned with the US (a bloody huge economy). Now the UK have decided to withdraw troops other European nations and Australia (which has very close ties with the UK don't forget) will pull out. Then in the future they can say to the USA "We were in Iraq as long as your biggest ally (the UK) was. Because we were so loyal to you, you must invest in us". I predict Poland, Denmark, Bulgaria and Australia's governments will announce in the next month a full troop withdrawal plan. The other countries have other motives for keeping the US sweet but theirs are slightly different. El Salvador is the only Latin American country with troops in Iraq. El Salvador are basically saying to the US "All the other Latin American countries hate you but we like you. Can you please build all your South American factories and headquarters in our country please"? South Korea's motive is to try and prove to the US that they are close allies to reassure them over the North Korea factor. Georgia and Romania are former communist countries which are trying to boost ties with the US as if to say "We are your friends now. Please trust us, defend us and invest in us".

So why is George Bush sending in more troops? Perhaps he is predicting that with the coalition disintegrating he needs to make up for the lost of future troop numbers. Also, as has been proven, non-US coalition forces pacify the Iraq population much more than the American army. A good example is British Basra or Polish Najaf which sees relatively low insurgency compared to Baghdad and Falluja which are US controlled. The military planners at the Pentagon expect a rise in violence when the UK and others leave.

But clearly George Bush and Tony Blair have very different stances. On the surface they shouldn't. They are both in their political twilight years. But with Tony Blair bringing troops back from Iraq, cutting military funding and increasing domestic security funding George Bush is doing the exact opposite. George Bush seems to think that because he has 100s of thousands of troops sitting in sandy countries that he can't pronounce they are safe. So he cuts domestic security funding in the US. He then sends 21,500 more troops to Iraq and increases US defence funding 'again'. The US has a bigger defence budget of the entire countries of Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg combined!

To basically it looks like 'the special relationship' is crumbling. Whitehall and Washington are drifting apart.

Also a quick message to ignorant tabloid-readers. When you scream: Get Our Heroes back! you seem to miss facts.
In 2003 the UK had 47,000 troops in Iraq (half of the total army). It now has 7,100. The troops numbers have dramatically fallen over the past few yet nobody notices that.

I would very much appreciate comment on the above topics.

The above opinions are my own and nobody else's. Most of the facts are from memory so there may be incongruities.