http://jeanromsey.blogspot.com: May 2014

Wednesday, 21 May 2014

SUMMER IS FINALLY HERE!

MARCH AND APRIL WHISTLED AWAY...

For many people, who had been adversely affected by Britain's inclement weather that flooded thousands of homes and turned many business ventures into negative equity, damage costs are still rising as they rented and salvaged whatever they could save. Costs to the Nation are into £millions; many are looking for ways to alleviate their burden; and others are trying to muster enough strength to re-build their lives or their livelihood, from scratch.
Our thoughts are with you, wishing you success in all your efforts!

Hopefully, Government grants and aid, will speed up the repairs and compensation for those who have lost everything. Many charities have set up food banks all around the country, giving a lifeline to the homeless, the unemployed and disabled, especially for the sick and elderly, whose health had been damaged by strong winds and disease-causing damp in their homes. We wish you a speedy recovery and good humour to enjoy the best of our summer.

A bunch of brilliant colours

At last the weather is showing signs of warming up and drying out, and the countryside becoming more beautiful every day; the trees are greening and the flowers are brilliantly colourful, even the bluebells are a deep azure, the most vibrant violet blue I have seen in many years.

Roy and I braved the torrential rain to visit Alan and Jan Olden's bluebell fields this year, and we were duly rewarded with a delightful show of bluebells at their best, followed by a welcoming hot tea at their beautiful home, surrounded by various animal statues, carved by Alan's own fair hand, whenever one of their trees fell. His next project has already presented itself by a tree, knocked down in the recent storm, asking to be turned into another piece of art.

Camellia and rhododendron bushes are bursting into shocking pink and mauve flowers, against verdant green woods and hedges. Summer is indeed a gorgeous time of the year in Great Britain! With longer daylight hours, many of us will be spending more time tending the gardens, eating alfresco and working up an appetite for a BBQ meat fest.

Alicia and Irena came to lunch

We continue to enjoy local theatres, such as The Maskers, in their cosy, mini-stage in Shirley, or their open-air productions held previously at Mottisfont and Hamptworth House. Our favourite local amateur group is The RAOD, performing at the Plaza theatre in Romsey, their dramas, comedies and musicals have entertained us for decades. Occasionally we venture up to London for a musical or a play in the West End, but the shows have to be really fantastic to entice us to travel to London.

Eating out is now becoming a favourite pastime, and finding new restaurants on our doorstep is always fun. Most enjoyable of all is being with friends and eating together, whilst catching up on each other's news. We often have coffee mornings at elevenses, or afternoon tea with friends at home, all very pleasant indeed.

Amelie is lovely to talk to.

Our friends, Youzhi and Jerome's little Amelie is growing up into a most delightful, intelligent and bright young lady of under two years old. She absorbs everything like a sponge, and is a gleeful mimic of sound, action, and any new words she hears, so lovely to talk to and to sing with, especially Nursery Rhymes!

Gordon's birthday at the Waldorf Hotel

I had a most wonderful weekend in London, to celebrate our friend, Gordon's 79th birthday, when Genevieve generously treated us to a champagne dinner at the Waldorf Hotel, in Aldwych. We started the day with a guided tour at the busy National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, on the works of several Impressionists.

Being Bank Holiday weekend, Trafalgar Square was teeming with visitors, entertained by groups of street actors, musicians and acrobatic acts. The walk up the Strand to the Aldwych brought back many happy memories of the London I knew in the 1960's, when working for the Birmingham Post and Mail on Fleet Street, I spent lots of carefree lunch hours, indulging in anything London had to offer: Mrs. Levi's deportment class, an hour of French conversation, music in the park, window shopping and delights of London pubs.

Those who know us well, will wonder why we had not made a trip abroad in the last two years. Google's Blogspot writing, as well as renewed interest in digital photography, and the desire to sort out hundreds of diaries that recorded our 25 years of travels, in conjunction with thousands of photographs taken in over 80 countries, that have kept us busy, enough to take time off from our love of gallivanting the globe, in search of pastures new. It was time well-spent to rest and reflect, and take stock of our life.

Doors and Portals by Jean Romsey

I even found time to paint three pictures to exhibit at Romsey Art Group's Spring Exhibition, The 'Doors and Portals' was inspired by a PhotoBook, 'Pushbikes and Portals' produced by Roy, from his photo collection. I chose to collate the second PhotoBook, entitled: 'A Pictorial Peek into Roy and Jean's Life Together', with 26 pages of photographs selected from thousands, to feature the

many activities we shared with our friends and families, in the 42 years we've been together. Quite a task! But what a life!

These two PhotoBooks were gifted to us by our good friends, Youzhi and Jerome at Roy's birthday. It feels so good to be able to hold a book of memories in your hand, and flick through it at any time you like. It's not the same clicking through folders in your computer, looking at masses of thumbnail images. Thanks to our friends, I am so happy with this gift of a Photobook - it's a great idea.

I shall catch up with you again in a few weeks with more news.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

A Change for the Better

With so many hospitals closing in the UK, today we have less than 140,000 hospital beds compared to 550,000 beds in 1948 when our National Health Service was founded. But modern technology from America will soon step in to relieve the pressure on our A & E Centres. Take a look at iDoctor here

iDoctor http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=r13uYs7jglg

We can change our life to do some of the things you have always wanted at any time you feel it is time. Take a look at the SLOMO clip below, just click on the link.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/opinion/slomo.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

A Lion called Christian

In 1969 Ace Bourke and John Rendall from Australia bought a lion cub from a London department store, Harrods, and named him Christian. He grew too big to keep as a pet in Chelsea and had to be returned to the wild in Kenya.

Years later Christian still remembered his 'parents' and like long lost friends. What a reunion! Click this link to watch the video: http://youtu.be/4enNZqNrwYc

My view on current situations

Could our climate really be changing in this Millenium?

Only a week ago we had snow in Devon, one of the warmest places in the South of England that even boasts a comparison with the Riviera in Europe.

In the USA's Tornado Alley, the most destructive tornado in history travelling at 200 mph, flattened the suburb of Moore in Oklahoma City in just 40 minutes without warning, causing so much grieve and loss of lives. This powerful tornado had been rated four, on a five point Enhanced Fujita Scale, making it the second most dangerous type, with more warnings to place Central Texas on further tornado watch.

More importantly the US government must ensure that any new buildings constructed in the Tornado Alley should include shelters, basement or safe rooms, specially built to protect from such tornadoes. This Great Plain experiences more tornadoes than any where else, at the height of the season in May and June, there may be two to four each day.

There are fears that tornadoes may become more common as global temperatures change, and such devastation as Moore must be avoided at all costs.

Having visited Shanghai thrice, I am still astonished at the constant changes to this great city's skyline and the speed of its industrial revolution, from 1949 when Chairman Mao's Communism took power, to 1992 when the People's Republic of China opened its doors again to foreign trade, and to today's superpower it has become, as discovered by Piers Morgan.

This video was recorded over 5 years ago, but if you have never been there, or even if you have but don't know much about the place from your tour guide, then you will be amazed to see how Shanghai has progressed - especially with regards to women CEOs. Click on the link to see modern, glamorous Shanghai today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wbGFeDR7Gg&feature=endscreen&NR=1

FOR OUR ECONOMY TO GROW

We need to get Britain manufacturing again; for goods to utilise our rail freight, road haulage and container ports; to expand our market worldwide and to be self-reliant.

With so much intelligence and creativity in our young and educated population, I am amazed to find that our UK Business Sector has not developed a strong, effective Export and Marketing Department to help develop products created by our inventive industrialists, nor facilitate co-operation between Universities and businesses to research new ideas and promote British Manufactures for export. All over the world, entrepreneurs are learning English to be able to trade with us, we do have the advantage of doing business anywhere.

For the Conservatives to win in 2015, David Cameron cannot rely simply on rhetoric about turning the tide on years of decline here or in the EU, in the battle for Britain’s future.

The government is likely to double the national debt inherited from the Labour government, if we continue to lose high street shops, vital businesses, century-old corporations and franchises, leading to empty premises and redundancies, which serve only to reduce the much needed Corporation and income tax, whilst swelling the ranks of the unemployed queuing for benefits, job-seeker and housing allowances.

The government must put a stop to the culture of rewarding failure with disproportionate pension packages, and gross bonuses unrelated to services rendered, for bankers, health service managers and local authority leaders alike, especially those who failed in their jobs. When an executive is recruited for a job in the public sector, the salary determines the job’s worth, there is no reason why bonuses or pensions should exceed the total pay, particularly in the present economic climate.

Any government that cannot legislate against this extortionate ransom culture, practised by leaders of public services, then they don’t deserve to be re-elected.

Take the news of Sir David Nicholson stepping down next year, retiring with his full pension of £2 million. Not more than a few decades ago he would have recognised his failure in running NHS England and resigned. Should he be allowed to take his full pay and pension package? It's an astronomical sum by any standard, and that same sum spent on improved nursing care at Stafford Hospital would probably have saved all those who died, from living under those unbearable conditions as described in various reports.

How does one man who could never do the job of supervising the whole of the NHS all by himself, deserve so much? We also must remember that in the costly reorganisation of the NHS, hundreds of managers were made redundant, obviously because they have not achieved success in their particular sector. After receiving huge severance pay and pension, why are some of them re-employed with new contracts, and probably on even higher pay packages, to carry on doing what they did before? Are we spending tax-payers' money wisely?

It is indeed time for the Chancellor to look into how much the re-vamping of the NHS is going to cost the nation and really cut down on management expenses, but increase training for good nursing care to properly run each hospital, to make them fit for purpose. Cut out the middleman, trim the fat and get Britain back to basic good value, responsible and trustworthy.

Only then will the Conservative government be returned to power. Austerity alone will not suffice. The voters need to see real changes, and good value for their taxes instead of wastage.

Congratulations to Nigel Farage for leading the UKIP to win almost a quarter of the votes cast at our local elections, thus forming the fourth major political party of Britain.

This is not just a protest vote from the public, but a vote of confidence in Mr. Farage as an honest man of integrity, not greedy for power for himself, but for the nation in trouble, and in debt to the tune of £billion, which no successive governments since WW2, had been able to eradicate.

UKIP's common sense approach to easing our national debt by opting out of EU membership will save us £billions in subsidies, huge MEP pay and expenses, and massive prison expenditure for un-deported foreign criminals. If we also temporarily withhold foreign aids until our own debt situation is no longer as bad as those we sought to assist, we should come out of debt sooner.

Chancellor Osborne should continue with our austerity policy, and also bring civil servants' pay and pension in line with the rest of the private sector remuneration to encourage growth in our economy with youth employment and private enterprises.