What fun we have had this weekend! It started Friday evening we met the boys to celebrate Simons birthday at a Greek restaurant in Bearwood where they live. The restaurant's a small and friendly privately owned establishment called 'Antonio's' the owner being of course, Antonio! He was a small round middle aged Greek chap who made a big fuss of Simons (as he called him), it was a small place and our party of ten rather overwhelmed a few customers who had come for a quiet and intimate romantic meal with their partners. No problem for Antonio who deftly and unobtrusively moved people to quieter tables and cheerfully dealt with the the lively party that was us! I have to say Simon and Rob's friends were delightful, a good mix of personalities and they did not seem to mind a couple of oldies tagging on to the celebrations. Kalps, a Sri Lankan girl who reads the news on Asian network radio was a lovely girl a real smiler she put me in mind of my adorable niece Jamie who is another smiley miley.
We had a musical accompaniment to our meal, a chap very expertly played I think it was called a bazouki (or is that a machine gun) anyway it was a small fat stringed instrument a cross between a guitar and a banjo. Boy, could he play, it was real good fun. He decided to get all the restaurant to sing the 'appy birthday to Simons and after much shouting of "yamos" Simon was invited to do a Greek dance! Well... a few red wines had been consumed by the Simons so he was happy to oblige! It was hilarious is all I can say, I think the Simons could have a new career ahead of him if he chooses. A real good fun evening oh, and the food was not bad either.
Saturday dawned and at last it was the day I had been looking forward to as I had tickets for 'Apassionata'at the NEC. No, it was not some high brow opera or ballet, well maybe it had some ballet elements in it. It was a festival or celebration of the Horse. It was totally fabulous and as good as any ballet you could see as it had you crying with the emotion of the spetacular beauty of the beasts and laughing at the antics of the comical Miko the donkey! In fact he could have a catch phrase of his own 'Its Miko time' No sorry its been done already!
I have never seen so many breeds of horse in one place and all superbly trained and tuned out.
We saw rampaging Cossacks hurtling at break neck speed around the arena, the riders doing spectacular acrobatic feats on the move including riding in handstand on the saddle while at full pelt, jumping from one side of the pony to the other again at gallop. Then one rider stood one foot on the saddle of one pony and the other foot on the saddle of another pony and cantered around. All was well until one pony changed stride making the rise and fall mismatched and the rider fell. Gasps... But all was well but one pony gave the rider such a look of disgust as if to say "what did you go and do that for?"
I had never seen a Friesian Pearl in the flesh before, my goodness are they the most gorgeous creature you have ever seen! They are a breed that goes back to medieval times and are often depicted in paintings from that era. Big solid barrel chested steed with manes so long they almost reach the ground in a mature horse, spectacular does not even begin to describe them.
The Portuguese Lusitano's were grace personified, they performed dressage to music' and that is how I saw a horse skip!
It was intriguing how they get a horse to perform such an unnatural movement, both front and back leg move forward on one side then the same action on the other side and in time with the music. A bit spotty dog! I could see how the rider was signaling the maneuver but what a totally acclomplished thing to do.
We saw American quarterbacks, stunning Carmagues, Arabs, and Andalusians all wonderful creatures.
My favorite of all were the Carthusians, stunning greys who were loose schooled in the arena as if they were running free on the plains in Spain. They looked totally noble and serene and although free running no tack of any kind, they were watching the master of the horse on his mount for signals as to which way to move. He deftly moved his horse (also a Carthusian) one way or another and the horses went in the direction he signaled, if he turned his horse into the ring they all stood stock still, ears pricked waiting for the signal to move again.
I have to say the horse is the most magical and beautiful creature put on this earth! I was emotionally drained by the end of it all.
Oh! And I have made a move on one of my New Year resolutions, I am starting riding again next Friday. I have decided to have a couple of private one to one lessons to get me going again as it's easily 4-5 years since I have been in the saddle. Maybe walking like John Wayne next weekend!
I also have a great idea for the next celebrity reality show.
'Celebrity Cossack Riding' Please, please lets put that awful simpering Bonnie Langford on as first rider.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Its Been A Bad Week For.........
Danish Journalists....
So....! Did these jouro's imagine a scenario in a little cafe in the back streets of Baghdad that went a bit like this:
"Hey Abdul come look at this hilariously funny cartoon of our most esteemed and revered Holy man in this newspaper"
"My Goodness Abu, my sides are splitting with the laughing. How very amusing".
Of course not, they were being deliberately provocative in exercising their right to 'free' speech.
Because we have the right to speak freely and openly about our views does not mean we have the right to disrespect and provoke people that have very set ideas of how their faith should be followed.
What a Pandora's box! How will we close the lid?
Now the government can't make it's mind up as to what constitutes free speech and what is incitement to terrorism, as we saw at the weekend people holding the most inciting and hate filled placards imaginable, by religious fanatics. It would never happen, but what if.... A Christian group retaliated and held their own demo with equally hate filled banner's. I am betting a few arrests would happen pretty sharp.
I suggest the World's journalists put a lid on this area of 'free speech for all our sakes and let the dust settle. For Gods sake! (Actually as a Mother I would ground them for a month and take away their lap tops and only feed them fish fingers for a week and absolutely no beer.)
Now one good thing to start to come out of this is a lot of peace loving British Muslims are standing up and speaking out against these militants, they will have no truck with extremism, hate or terror and wish to live in peace and harmony and quietly practice their Faith without fear and reprisal.
One funny thing that happened as I listened to my radio in the car, I was listening to Radio 4 news and a spokesman for the Danish government was appealing for calm and also said the 'way forward was', at that moment the traffic news cut in and added 'the M42'! So now we know folks the way forward is the M42! (But not usually when I am trying to get to work in the mornings)
I do think we are lucky as a nation that we DO have the most marvelous sense of humour and laugh at ourselves first! My Sister is convinced that both God and Jesus see's the funny side of life. She is right, watch God laugh if you make a plan!
Its Been A Bad week for Abu Hamza...
Thank Goodness we are rid of this poisonous evil excuse of a man, please lets deport him to the USA, they want him, let them have him.
I picked up a copy of the Koran in my local bookshop, I thought it would be a good idea to read some of it's theology, however the text although in English is almost indecipherable and I could not understand any of it. Maybe those little yellow and black books could oblige us with a 'For Dummies' book, they have one for Buddhism! I am being serious here folks. If we are to understand and not fear this religion we must find out the facts about it and come to our own decisions.
Its Been A Bad week for One Estate Agent.....
They have been terminated (just the contract, not the people) for being absolutely useless and downright liars! They told a neighbor of ours that they had sent four lots of people to view our property in a fortnight, when in reality not one prospective buyer has crossed our threshold since November 5th! So it's goodbye to them and....
HelloTo...
Your Move, lets see if they can sell out most desirable little residence!
Good Movie
Walk The Line, the story loosely based on Johnny Cash life story. It is a BRILLIANT film I wanted it to go on forever. Joaquin phoenix was just so good in the part of Johnny Cash he did all the vocals and had the guitar action absolutely perfect. I haven't stopped singing 'Jackson' and 'Fulsom Prison Blues' since Saturday, sorry everyboby who has had to listen to it.
Barry can do a pretty mean impression of Mr Cash, I suggested he should do Stars in their eyes but he would have to be 'Toy Boy Johnny Cash' as he is about half the size of the man in black.
Work
Not such a bad week, lots of moral support from my colleagues which is great. Down moment last Friday when I had to with my boss and actually sack some-one! Not a pleasant thing to do but it was the only thing we could do!
My boss has been away from the office this week soI have been able to get a lot of stuff done (my way) and coped really well with all the queries and problems the franchisees have thrown my way.
High points
Saw a Kingfisher this week, I adore it when I see these mystical little halcyon birds. A flash of quicksilver and the most iridescence blue flashing in the gloom and mist of an early morning walk by the canal. Priceless. It made my day.
Did some gardening, I love to garden, get mud under the finger nails, get up close and personal to sweet smelling earth (not where the cats have been). I planted 48 little plants in the front garden and gave the back a good tidy up. Saffy (cat) was very excited and dashed from fence to fence doing her clucking mewing noises, a characteristic of the Maine Coone is that they almost chatter to you when happy. Ta-shi did some ungardening later and knocked over a newly planted pot of pansies as he decided it was the very place to hide a chewy bone! A few sharp words has persuaded him this is not the case!
Down Point
Barry is back in Liverpool!
High point
Tidy House!
So....! Did these jouro's imagine a scenario in a little cafe in the back streets of Baghdad that went a bit like this:
"Hey Abdul come look at this hilariously funny cartoon of our most esteemed and revered Holy man in this newspaper"
"My Goodness Abu, my sides are splitting with the laughing. How very amusing".
Of course not, they were being deliberately provocative in exercising their right to 'free' speech.
Because we have the right to speak freely and openly about our views does not mean we have the right to disrespect and provoke people that have very set ideas of how their faith should be followed.
What a Pandora's box! How will we close the lid?
Now the government can't make it's mind up as to what constitutes free speech and what is incitement to terrorism, as we saw at the weekend people holding the most inciting and hate filled placards imaginable, by religious fanatics. It would never happen, but what if.... A Christian group retaliated and held their own demo with equally hate filled banner's. I am betting a few arrests would happen pretty sharp.
I suggest the World's journalists put a lid on this area of 'free speech for all our sakes and let the dust settle. For Gods sake! (Actually as a Mother I would ground them for a month and take away their lap tops and only feed them fish fingers for a week and absolutely no beer.)
Now one good thing to start to come out of this is a lot of peace loving British Muslims are standing up and speaking out against these militants, they will have no truck with extremism, hate or terror and wish to live in peace and harmony and quietly practice their Faith without fear and reprisal.
One funny thing that happened as I listened to my radio in the car, I was listening to Radio 4 news and a spokesman for the Danish government was appealing for calm and also said the 'way forward was', at that moment the traffic news cut in and added 'the M42'! So now we know folks the way forward is the M42! (But not usually when I am trying to get to work in the mornings)
I do think we are lucky as a nation that we DO have the most marvelous sense of humour and laugh at ourselves first! My Sister is convinced that both God and Jesus see's the funny side of life. She is right, watch God laugh if you make a plan!
Its Been A Bad week for Abu Hamza...
Thank Goodness we are rid of this poisonous evil excuse of a man, please lets deport him to the USA, they want him, let them have him.
I picked up a copy of the Koran in my local bookshop, I thought it would be a good idea to read some of it's theology, however the text although in English is almost indecipherable and I could not understand any of it. Maybe those little yellow and black books could oblige us with a 'For Dummies' book, they have one for Buddhism! I am being serious here folks. If we are to understand and not fear this religion we must find out the facts about it and come to our own decisions.
Its Been A Bad week for One Estate Agent.....
They have been terminated (just the contract, not the people) for being absolutely useless and downright liars! They told a neighbor of ours that they had sent four lots of people to view our property in a fortnight, when in reality not one prospective buyer has crossed our threshold since November 5th! So it's goodbye to them and....
HelloTo...
Your Move, lets see if they can sell out most desirable little residence!
Good Movie
Walk The Line, the story loosely based on Johnny Cash life story. It is a BRILLIANT film I wanted it to go on forever. Joaquin phoenix was just so good in the part of Johnny Cash he did all the vocals and had the guitar action absolutely perfect. I haven't stopped singing 'Jackson' and 'Fulsom Prison Blues' since Saturday, sorry everyboby who has had to listen to it.
Barry can do a pretty mean impression of Mr Cash, I suggested he should do Stars in their eyes but he would have to be 'Toy Boy Johnny Cash' as he is about half the size of the man in black.
Work
Not such a bad week, lots of moral support from my colleagues which is great. Down moment last Friday when I had to with my boss and actually sack some-one! Not a pleasant thing to do but it was the only thing we could do!
My boss has been away from the office this week soI have been able to get a lot of stuff done (my way) and coped really well with all the queries and problems the franchisees have thrown my way.
High points
Saw a Kingfisher this week, I adore it when I see these mystical little halcyon birds. A flash of quicksilver and the most iridescence blue flashing in the gloom and mist of an early morning walk by the canal. Priceless. It made my day.
Did some gardening, I love to garden, get mud under the finger nails, get up close and personal to sweet smelling earth (not where the cats have been). I planted 48 little plants in the front garden and gave the back a good tidy up. Saffy (cat) was very excited and dashed from fence to fence doing her clucking mewing noises, a characteristic of the Maine Coone is that they almost chatter to you when happy. Ta-shi did some ungardening later and knocked over a newly planted pot of pansies as he decided it was the very place to hide a chewy bone! A few sharp words has persuaded him this is not the case!
Down Point
Barry is back in Liverpool!
High point
Tidy House!
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