The Sunday Roast.

A bright sunny Sunday morning in the UK, not a statement you hear often, so perhaps I should be out enjoying the sunshine rather than sat here typing away.  The fact I have about as much motivation as a Premiership footballer at a press conference is blatantly clear, it will take some time to get back into the swing of things and adjust to the UK again, even more so because I don't really want to, I enjoyed Australia very much but I need to get my head down into some meaningful work, so I suppose like everything else in life you have to just get on with it.
During many trips abroad in the 90's I was lucky enough to see many other cultures and also different outlooks on life, in Germany for instance I met some very jolly folk with a zest for life and food (Oh and don't forget the beer!), whereas the Scandinavian Countries I visited found a sense of humour a little bit difficult to handle sometimes, well either that or my jokes haven't improved with age.
 I loved the Dutch attitude and i loved the beautiful clean cities in Holland, I didn't like the food that much though as if it didn't start with Ham or Cheese of some description it didn't seem to be on the menu, even breakfast. I suppose I can now add Dubai to my portfolio as I have made a flying visit or two, but it's a little difficult to get a taste for a Country in 12 hours, most of my memories of it were McDonalds or CostaCoffee, which i suppose is a little off the radar, though there is a certain amount of hilarity if you are Western born and bred like myself at seeing fully regaled Arabs queueing for a Big Mac.
Ireland is a wonderful place to visit if you do ever get the chance, I never went there on business but i did go rallying over there once to the town of Wexford. You will never find a warmer welcome anywhere in the world, our arrival at the Bed and Breakfast coincided with scones and tea while the family parked the cars and trailer, even a lack of batteries for the rally intercom was not an issue as the landlady calmly grabbed the clock off the mantelpiece and handed them over to us without batting an eyelid, despite our protests that we could probably manage!. If you top that off with their sense of humour then it takes some beating, oh and I was never David over there always Davey!, that made me smile.
For now I am back in good old Blighty, it ranks in my top ten of locations but I doubt now it would reside in my top 5, I feel that the UK is losing its sense of humour somewhat, the service is getting worse for most aspects of life, the roads are falling apart, the Health Service is almost on its knees and it needs to realise its status is far from where it was 20 years ago. But I guess my ramblings aren't that important as I am only a voice in the crowd, all 60 million of us.

So I will knuckle down and get on with finishing the novels I am writing, you never know, one best seller and i can choose the next venue from where I write, at the moment the choice is obvious and I would be heading down under five times a week and 3 times on a Sunday.  Watch this space.

Right, I am going to go and enjoy that strange ball in the sky we collectively know as "The Sun" (that's the one without Freddie Starr and his Hamster) and maybe even get a tan, though if i do get my shirt off i just hope the neighbours have their eyes well protected from the glare, or better still don't look, as I find my six pack has now started a two for one policy since I have been away so that is something else on my "to do" list, mmmmmm.... it could be a busy summer.
Keep safe and enjoy your Sunday folks!.

A son's thoughts.

The gentle breeze that ushers through
The chapel grounds as I stand true
To gaze upon my flesh and blood
With haunted thoughts past childhood

For though my father's mortal gaze
Has ceased now to the Lord we praise
To keep him safe and take good care
Until we too can meet him there.

A faith he held and never left
From straightest path now stands bereft
Of warmth that shone into our day
And filled those hearts that came his way

Now I must stand and prove my worth
As he had taught me from my birth
Stand straight and true and hold your ground
For there within true peace is found. 



 

Reaching new heights.

Having just landed from the other side of the world I have been suffering the usual after effects, feeling so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open and then back to almost ready to run a marathon, all very confusing for you and more so those around you, but I am here writing at home on a Saturday morning, not at the yard but at home, its a very strange feeling as we self-employed just don't see a Saturday to ourselves and mostly not even a Sunday!.  It would be nice to get used to it, but staff and finances wait for no mortal, I am sure it will be battle stations again soon enough, but for now I can at least imagine what it would be like to have a wage and a weekend.. bliss !.
As I write I am thinking of getting some treatment for my crazy fear of heights, it's something I have had all my life and trust me it really doesn't get better the older you get, I can manage the top of a long ladder no problem but when you go that extra couple of feet higher I feel like a jelly balanced on a toothpick. My hands shoot out to the nearest thing to hand, (so it's advisable you don't stand too close to me in a lift) and I freeze so well it makes Marcel Marceau look an amateur. It's very funny if you are stood watching me, especially the other day when I was in a flat that had ceiling to floor windows 9 floors up and i was glued to the door at the back as i didn't want to get close to the edge!.
 As you can imagine this is somewhat of a problem when one needs to fly. I would imagine I would be quite comical to observe as it's about the only time i am completely quiet, I don't fidget I just sit like a condemned man, on take off i close my eyes and pretend it isn't happening and then the pilot says "if you look to your right you will see Sydney Harbour Bridge..." No no no thank you Mr pilot just get us up high enough that I cant relate the height to the ground because of cloud cover, do not ask me to look out of the bloody windows for God's sake!.  I know this is crazy, because other people are going "ooooohhh look at that" while i am sat bolt upright with my head facing forwards and my eyes shut, oh yes you can laugh alright,  topping all this off, the new technology available on long haul planes means you can now activate cameras situated underneath the plane, or on the nose, so even if you are looking straight ahead and trying not to look if the guy next to you is watching said views you find your eyes wondering across to his screen, you simply can't get away from seeing outside now!.
So, I think perhaps i need some help in overcoming this irrational thought process, after all we know its not the fall that kills you its the ground. I am tempted to try hypnotism, after all my mind is always open to new things, but knowing my luck i would come out being able to climb the Empire State but start smoking 60 a day. The other way of getting over it I suppose is to address your fears like people do with a spider phobia, like holding a tarantula for 10 minutes or so, but I have been at 40,000ft for 21 hours so i can't see how that will work, just how much addressing do you need?.  The other way is to sit and talk to a shrink, (mmm I know what you guys are all thinking....) but I cant see how they could talk me out of a fear I have had all my life, or maybe I am doing them an injustice.
 Either way I am getting tired of what I can see is a totally irrational fear and if i know its irrational why can't I overcome it?. Perhaps some of you may have suffered with the same thing and can give me a few pointers on how you managed to conquer your fears!.

As I said its been a very calm Saturday, not like any Saturday I have had for many years, I have not been to the yard and looked around or worked, I have simply chilled and enjoyed the sunshine, something I had plainly forgotten was possible. There are many things I need to do and perhaps should be doing but for now this is some me time, no requirements other than be me. I like it. I recommend it. We all need that little bit of time to ourselves.

Gatwick Airshort.

I guess its a little unfortunate to land in Gatwick the day after you have been in Dubai International, well, unfortunate on Gatwick AND myself for that matter.
The extremes seen between Dubai's no expense spared philosophy and poor old Gatwicks no expense spent really highlights the difference between the economies of the two countries. There are toilets and prayer rooms about every 300 yards in Dubai, complete with attendants. I had to ask where the toilets were in Gatwick and was told to use the two disabled loos with huge doors next to the departures drop off point, I had to chuckle.
Instead of people walking around with "can i help you?" on their blue shirts as in Dubai you have the fluorescent "Don't speak to me I am important" bibs in Gatwick..oh and not forgetting son of Adolf patrolling the drop off point with his armband and ever present bib making sure you say goodbye to your loved ones within 15 seconds or you get a ticket, he even stood over the top of one family with his arms crossed and his foot tapping as they said their tearful goodbyes just in case they broke said rule.
It would be better not to ask me about the queue to passport control, it took longer than the flight from Dubai to get a casual look at my passport from someone who could barely speak English, ironic that his very smart Arabian counterpart spoke perfect English. Not to worry I thought, I can go get a coffee and a nice sandwich. Well no, you can get a Costa coffee and no sandwich, so from Dubai with more shops than you find in a city centre to 3 shops take it or leave it in Gatwick, what a total embarrassment, the ferry terminal on Manly has better facilities than this so called International Airport.
Still, all was not lost, the sun was shining and it was 5 degrees warmer in the UK than in Sydney, but no surprise it was 12 degrees cooler than in Dubai!. Surely we can beat those Arabs at something? well of course we can, the queues were bigger... for everything. By the time I had enjoyed a little stop and go fun on the M25 I was crying into my steering wheel in the knowledge i had returned to this third world country and am now planning to sneak back over to Dubai on Friday and seek asylum.

One thing that hasn't improved with age is aircraft food. I only took the top off the "scrambled egg and sausage" before hurriedly putting it back on in case i actually decided I may be hungry, as I did so i swear I heard it growl at me. The coffee should have been ordered by the slice and the water (of which you are reminded to drink plenty) was warmer than a firefly's armpit. The wonderful sky waitresses busied themselves and did their usual sterling job, but if you sit a little too far away from the trolly starting point you WILL lose out because they never return if they run out, something i noticed on more than one occasion, but knowing what was on the trollies I don't feel as if i was mistreated in any way!.
 On the return from Dubai just over the Black Sea we hit some turbulence, this continued in bursts of 10 minutes or so until we reached the Channel, another reason i was happy I fought to put the lid back on my scrambled egg and sausage as seeing it more than once would have been a frightening prospect even for the hungriest of weary travelers.
So, all in all it was a fantastic time in Oz, even though a lot of that time was spent inside writing my first novel and editing, I thoroughly reccomend going if you get the opportunity and Dubai is worth it as the first stop if only for the spectacle of that amazing airport, it is however a stark reminder of just how blaze we have become in the UK about our world status, we are not even close, sorry Gatwick no cigar, in fact not even a tatty old roll-up.

Dubai (DXB) Int. lounge area.

Away..

Dress it up how you like, use the ubiquitous English 'stiff upper lip' but farewell is still farewell.  I am heading back to England within the next few hours and that wonderful British summer my friends keep reminding me of, the truth is I will miss this part of the world. It has grown on me and I am finding it a tough move to say goodbye. The up side is i have two wonderful smiling faces that light my heart up and send it soaring into space to catch up with when I get back, they have been very busy with SATS tests and Karate and parties with friends etc but all the time I wrestle with their absence.
It has been a very deep searching hard fought time out here, I have completed a book and half way finished a second, albeit with much more editing to be done on both, I expected nothing less as the road to producing anything worth while is never a short one. I sometimes wish my mind was not quite so active and deep, it makes life so very difficult at times, almost like a curse, but in reality I know it's a gift that I should learn to  harness better than I have been doing. The rain is hitting the apartment window as darkness descends here in Manly, I am seeking all the positives from the trip and trying to look on the bright side, I would be lying if i said i was finding it easy. But life goes on.

So, I must also tackle the back log of work and enquiries that no doubt sits on my desk in Shropshire, it is just another part of life that must be addressed, I appreciate that and the opportunity to come out to Sydney and be creative and take time out will never be under sold to me, I am so fortunate i can scarcely believe my good fortune, but when you have had something so precious its very hard to let it go.. very hard.
I will be blogging from the UK in the next 48 hours, that in itself will feel strange but i have many family and friends to catch up with, so I guess that will soften the blow of exiting such a beautiful country.

Thank you for your attention OZ, thank you for the welcome and your great hospitality which has been the warmest I have known from any country i have been to. You can adopt me any time :-)).

Dubai International featuring a carp pool, (Koi of course)

Sydney Pictures June 2013

I thought perhaps a few pictures of my visit to Sydney would be of interest to a few of my regular readers,or even better a respite from my wittering, anyway whatever the reason I hope you enjoy.

Sydney June 2013

My Apologies to the Australian Nation for this picture in advance:-)

Sydney 11kms away across the bay from North Point.

Path News.

Straying off the beaten path can be an exciting experience or it can bring you back to earth with a bump, either way it's something that we should all try as perhaps always sitting in your comfort zone is a life only half lived.
I went for a walk around North Point which heads up the gateway to Sydney harbour a day or so ago and visited the Artillery barracks or at least the ex artillery barracks as nowadays the Australian government has set the land aside for a conservation area and to be quite honest the investment is clear to see, it was mapped out well and looked after impeccably.
I would advise however that sticking to the beaten path is the most responsible course of action on said walk as straying off the track here would invite you to meet a few of the local critters who are a little less understanding to your ignorance, in other words they would suffer fools a little less gladly than my hosts.
This said, that is exactly what I did. It was only when i got back to the hotel in Manly and showed the locals what stunning pictures I had obtained and from where that I realised I had been more than a little stupid.
Apparently long grass, swamps and undergrowth mean things that bight here. Lesson learnt.

I strayed deeper into Sydney yesterday,only this time the city jungle, taking the Manly ferry across to Sydney and then on to the train to Central station, where i disembarked for a walk around the City itself.
If anything struck me it was the similarity to London Borough street shops where little businesses sprang up from everywhere, although I didn't miss the smell of Indian cuisine so prevalent the moment you reach Uxbridge Road and follows you until you reach Erith, but what did surprise me was the amount of empty business premises, I suppose very much like our own Town's and Cities the supermarket chains and major retailers are sat in large scale Industrial Estates ripping the heart out of Main street shopping.
Sad times indeed but a reflection on our crazy pace in life that we have to have all the shops in one small area so that it wont take us so long to shop.
I did however witness the same multi-cultured society that London so thrives on, there were many different nationalities and religions clearly in evidence, though it wasn't as crowded as London. The trains are very easy and very frequent, the timetables are every simple to grasp and they are very cheap, my little adventure only cost four dollars, about £2.40 which wouldn't buy you a pint of ale in Blighty.

My impression of Sydney was that it could be a little unpredictable, varied, colourful and sometimes a little uncomfortable if you stray into the wrong area, much like my walk off the beaten track in Manly, that said it is vibrant and the transport infrastructure is excellent, something many of the locals use to its maximum.
I am glad I went into the city and looked around, peering under the welcome mat that says 'tourist areas' is quite often a good way to see somewhere more for what it is than what governments and councils would want you to perceive it to be. I wasn't disappointed in Sydney however, it has many great assets and is well worth taking a good look around, whether you stray from the known tourist spots is up to you but with a little thought and pre-planning it should be an enjoyable experience as it most definitely was for me.

It will soon be time to up sticks and return to England, the process of writing and experience I have gained while over here will stand me in good stead for my next attempts at book writing. I enjoy writing tremendously and my time here has been very beneficial, it would have been nice to be here purely as a tourist but that would involve much higher costs than my budget writing trip incurred.  I take with me a whole host of experiences and adventures, some good some some thought provoking but always entertaining.

True Lies.

This life just beats me up and spits my dreams out one by one,
My open mind a curse I find to all that I've become.

The dirty streets are lined with concrete, Gold is just a myth,
The speed of life the sharpest knife for man to cut you with.

My fingers pounce on laptop keys to find some restitution,
From days like this in dark abyss that shake my constitution.

The thoughts that make me who i am seek also to destroy,
The adult screams at 'worthless' dreams that drown the little boy,

Nothing will tomorrow change, nor life at last become opaque'
For conscience rules we busy fools, decisions formed for us to make,

So just for now I rest my case and roll with all that life has brought,
And take the day that comes my way and not give fools another thought..

Brought To Book.

Resisting the temptation to use the well worn and definitely over-rated cliche "It's been an incredible journey" I sit in the surreal silence of a room that has been both my jail and my bolt-hole for the past few weeks.
Writing a book is a battle not only of the mind but also a battle of physical endurance too, it can be debilitating in it's selfishness and can take your mind and thoughts into black holes and joy rides at a moments notice without you even getting up from your chair.
As you know I have tendencies to let my mind wonder on to all sorts of unexplored paths, this is a subject that has been covered by my blogging here on many occasions, but while I am writing, all that energy is drawn toward the subject at hand, there is no off-piste activity where I suddenly find myself wondering what flavour yogurt I might get when shopping later or what time shall i break for lunch?, I am transfixed on the task in front of me and that, as far as I am aware has never happened before in my life, not once.
 Writing just silences my thoughts for everything except the job in hand and if you have a brain like mine that never stops and constantly has to handle incoming thoughts of every description, only then could you appreciate what a wonderful feeling that is.
So, armed with this new found knowledge what am I to do with it?. It's a no-brainer I am going to continue to write. I have a second novel that is currently 30000 words to the good and I am planning a sequel for the one I have completed this week, I am not sure if it is the passion for writing or the relief that my thoughts are so easily controlled while writing that I like so much but either way I have found a task that, just for once my head has to concentrate on and deal with!.

At the moment the new book is undergoing some close scrutiny from people far better placed than I to decide if it is newsworthy or cringe worthy.  I have to admit I know myself I can do better, (I am actually looking to sell a few but you would never guess) but i was tempted to keep the book accessible to a wider readership rather than make it heavy going, the plot takes a little time to open up and once it does it is like Concorde at 50,000ft but then its slowly descends towards the ending with some uncomfortable turbulence just before the end. The title? at the moment I have called it "Intention To Possess" which is a little bit deep but hopefully covers exactly what i wish to convey.  As a first effort I am pleased, as a piece of worthwhile literature well only time will tell, I doubt it will set the world on fire but it is mine and it's the first of many so if i receive criticism I will grab it and run with it, learn from it and digest it and put it to use in my next book, I don't intend to stop writing now I have started, just don't tell my poor fingers !.

At risk of plagiarising a well known Monty Python sketch from Life Of Brian, "What has Australia done for me?, well I guess it has given me a wonderful back-drop in which to write, pleasant surroundings and pleasant people, the risk of thinking every Australian has a broad smile and says please and thank you is very high as i am in the middle of a well known tourist area in Manly, so i have taken the time to wonder off the beaten track. The majority of OZ people are very approachable and very pleasant to speak to, it's a very diverse country that is having trouble getting to grips with racism and bigotry towards it women folk as most of the late night question time programme topics will bear out, it is not dissimilar to where the UK was in the early 80's though with Social Networks now fuelling the debate poor Australia is having to do some of it's dirty washing in public.  Seeing the at present Prime Minister Julia Gillard quizzed on a radio show about whether her husband was gay or not was astonishing and would have set the tabloids on fire in the UK. There would have been gay rights protest marches and calls for the mans head, which in this case (and rightly so might I add) did actually roll, the man has no business in media if that's the best he can do. But it shows that there is a mentality here that if you can get a cheap shot in and laugh afterwards its OK and i actually like it as it's less clinical than the way we do the same interviews in the UK, but as always some idiot ends up over stepping the mark as in the PM's case.

Would I come back? damn right I would, I love it here in Sydney. Is it what I imagined?, everything and more, the only things that amaze me as i have said is Australia's internal battle with racism and sexism, but the fact it is constantly on the TV agenda here is a sign that it is being tackled head on and I am sure it will not be allowed to spoil what is a land full of promise and plenty.
 Thanks Oz.











 

Fathers Day....

Her Fathers daughter

I lay beside my daddy as he spoke with softest tone
The words that I remembered well when i was far from home

He whispered soft and tenderly as we just cuddled tight
'I'm here when you just need a friend in deepest darkest night, '

'Just close your eyes and lay your head and gently drift away
And never doubt that I am there as promised, every day',

For Dad is never far away, his love is always true
Those hugs he gives are special ones and meant for only you

But as you gaze at tired eyes, the years have passed you by
That look of love's still burning there, enough to make you cry

For now he lays his tired head to rest on angels wings
Your mind just wonders back to all the love a Daddy brings

You're lay beside him one more time as you so often would
and whisper 'Dad I love you so' and 'yes I will be good...'

Though Angels now protect his soul and lift it to on high
I know we'll cuddle once again, my Daddy wouldn't lie.

And yes the tears replace the smiles in each and every way,
But I just know he'll still be there..as promised..every day.

Home stretch.

Nine forty five and I really should have put my laptop down by now, I was up at six a.m this morning pushing ahead to get as much done of my new novel by this weekend as i possibly can, I am up to just over 65000 words and as anyone who writes will tell you there are probably 3 different endings in my head and more than likely not one of them will make it to the finish line.
I am going to try and hit home base tomorrow with the last chapter but the apartment has the cleaners coming in at 11 am so i will be pushing it, I have done all i can do tonight as i really need to overnight where i am up to, its a wonderful part of a book to be at because the hard work has mostly been done and like an airliner cruising down from 40,000 feet to the airport I can now set the throttle back and enjoy the glide into base, of course it never works out just how you want it, something is always there in the writing sense anyway to remind you the God given gift you have, has to be worked at to get just right, but at least it keeps us honest.
This is the first full novel I have penned in my own name and is going to be followed up very closely with a second that i have been writing and correlating for almost 3 years now, it is a much heavier piece and very much a history lesson of hard times in the Shropshire hillsides in the 30's and 40's, I am very much in tune with where that book is at and will hopefully have that ready within the month, exciting times and the products of much hard work and even more patience, something I am not known for generally, but hey we can all change.

Just a line..

It's been a very busy day in the chateau James apartment today, despite not getting dressed until 5:30 pm I am exhausted, I managed a marathon fourteen thousand plus words on the new novel that is as yet unnamed, I am fully committed to finishing this piece of literary genius, (ahem) before my departure from this wonderful country that has left me inspired and full of admiration for our Australian friends, there has been a warm welcome everywhere I have been in Sydney. The problem is I still want to be writing as we speak but the shear amount of mistakes and typo's made makes it uneconomical and frustrating, my guess is it is age related.. or a quick glass of white while chilling out, either way I have to stop. Oh yes I know I am still typing as you are reading this now but I can't sit still in an apartment with a lap top and not write anything it's a disease with no known cure, so i have sat in a dark corner and grabbed a glass of white and some Pringles, it's not exactly Fortnum and Mason's or The Ritz but hey happy people don't have the best of everything, they make the best of everything they have, hope you all have a great evening or a great day wherever you are in the world and remember enjoy every second it's all borrowed !

A lot at steak.

Today is a public holiday in Australia to celebrate the Queens birthday. It was a great excuse for the natives of Manly to let their hair down and enjoy an extended weekend. It was packed here last night and that can only be a good thing for the local economy, it was the busiest I have seen it since my arrival two weeks ago, so i decided i would walk a little further down the front for some food.
 I stumbled across a steak and rib bar, the clue to the food is in the name, it seemed a good idea to settle for a piece of steak as it seldom offends my palate, so I ventured in. It was a little bit American in it's styling and most definitely in some of the portions on offer, the house giant at $84.00 would get you a herd of cattle and four sheep, with a sack of potato's on a single plate, on top of blocked coronary arteries and a pouch to rival Skippy no doubt, it would also get you listed in the restaurants "Hall of Fame" and a picture on the company website if you managed to eat it all, whether that picture was taken at your wake or on completion of the meal wasn't clear but either one would seemingly be possible looking at the size of the meal.
I resisted the urge to eat enough to last the rest of my visit and instead plumped for a much more sedate 400g Sirloin and some chips. The staff were very 'smiley smiley' and in your face which is something I know irks the hell out of most average Brit's but is the norm in such places with an American pedigree, so I just smiled and said "no thank you" every time i was asked or prodded for more "specials".
 I ordered a glass of white and sat waiting my turn, the place was quite busy and there was a mountain of meat on the hot plate the likes of which would make you wonder if the Hereford cattle breed was about to be put on the endangered species list.
Anyway, I did my bit and ordered and waited.  It took a little while and during this time i was frequently asked if "everything is OK with you here sir" which was a little bit annoying as it was obvious it wasn't, if it was I would be eating but being British I just smiled and sad "fine thanks".
It took a while but eventually my medium rare steak duly arrived. It looked very good on the outside and I hastily grabbed my knife and cut into it. I was somewhat disappointed very soon after by the copious amounts of blood on the dish, clearly it was medium rare 10mm in until it got to the centre 20 mm where it was distinctly rare in fact I was unsure if i should eat it or throw it a bale of hay.
People who know me will know that i don't do blood on a plate, the steak tasted very good so I just kept eating, albeit a little uncomfortably if i had to look down at my plate. I finished my meal with some trepidation as towards the fat area of the slice of beef it was still silvery in appearance and very tough to cut, a sure sign of it being far too undercooked for my taste.
I topped the meal off with another glass of wine and sat there for a few moments studying what other people were eating, it seems the lamb is also very popular but people were having a plate of ribs between two and sharing, trust me none of them would be going hungry as the portions were unbelievably large.

I sipped my wine until gone and went round to pay my bill, being a Brit i mentioned the steak was a little too rare for "medium rare" but it just went over the head of the poor Polish girl taking my payment, but at least i mentioned it. All in all it was a decent meal but very different to what I would be used to in the UK, I am not sure if such a place would find a niche market over with us, it was also quite expensive considering the pub 800 yards away is doing two pieces of sirloin for $10. I think I shall play my joker this evening and settle for my $10 surefire winner.

The Sunday Roast

 Oh dear Mr Gove, listen to your Boss.

There are few things in this life that turn my stomach, I have had the benefit of seeing many things as an adult and been accustomed to what that life can sometimes throw up at you, but one thing that has always turned my stomach is inappropriate behaviour from adults or teachers towards children.
This is in the news in a big way again and so it should be. The very fact that Michael Gove's department seems to be rubber stamping the careers of teachers who "kiss pupils on the lips" yet keep their jobs is an indictment that the PC brigade are still very much alive and well in government departments. I can assure Mr Gove that if that committee was made up solely of parents, those teachers would be walking out of their doors with a criminal record and a P.45, not a slap on the wrist and an assurance from those who dare to abuse children in this way that they will "mend their ways".  Abuse is abuse, be it of a sexual orientation or just a kiss on the lips, in my eyes there is no middle ground, any interaction with our future generation from adults who are deemed role models and put in a position of trust is inexcusable and if this is some drive towards a more tolerant society well it can go take a running jump. If any of those teachers are reading this blog then do us all a favour, seek help and leave the profession, you are a disgrace to it and you have no place in a decent society, let alone a classroom.
I see Mr Cameron is advocating banning servers from allowing child abuse on the Internet, yet again about time too, but surely he needs to have a word with that wild card of an Education minister of his and ban those teacher's who deemed it OK to molest and kiss their charges while on his watch, but I somehow doubt that Cameron will do so, I wonder just what hold the said Mr Gove has over Cameron, for surely he is one of the most reviled Education Ministers ever to grace the post, from the Academy fiasco's to the undermining of teaching staff through changing OFSTED's requirements halfway through a school term this man is making a name for himself for all the wrong reason's yet he seems to think up new hair brained schemes every month or so without so much as a whimper from the man at the top, come on Mr Cameron, show us a little leadership and start by backing up your angry words about the Internet showing child abuse by actively seeking out and sacking those 11 teachers who have been given a "second chance" to molest our youngsters, because a Leopard is a Leopard, it can't change it's spots, the same as a yellow streak down your back remains a yellow streak, or can you prove otherwise, I somehow doubt it.

Manly days.

The surf is most definitely not up here in Manly right now. The last few days have seen almost zero waves and a whole host of very disappointed wet suit bedraggled youngsters pacing up and down the beach, some of whom are more optimistic than their buddies as they are 20 metres off the shore expecting at least one "big one" at any moment. The truth is you are more likely to see the Loch Ness monster on vacation than any waves today but who am i to spoil their sense of expectation?.
There has been a steady procession of whales slipping across the cost this last week too, followed by the ubiquitous ferries and tour boats as they make their steady but meaningful way to warmer waters in the north.
Once more we tag along with nature and sit and watch it at surely it's best when we observe such wonderful sea creatures, though I have to admit there is a huge amount of irony that the majority of whale "tourists" are Japanese and Chinese clicking with their cameras yet again but if this were back home the Nikon's would be "Smith and Weston" with a harpoon stuck in the end of the barrel, it beggars belief that they would want to study an animal so close up that their own governments readily kill for "research" reasons, hey ho it's a strange world we live in.
While here in Manly I have to admit I have been amazed at just how many fellow Brit's are here also. There are families obviously on holiday but also youngsters earning a crust in bars and seeking their fortune elsewhere in the world other than Blighty, it's great to see but I guess it's understandable given the fact this is a tourist destination.
 While sat one night quietly soaking up the evening atmosphere in the Mall i heard a familiar accent that immediately got my attention, it belonged to a young cockney lad in his early 20's he was quite tall had a baseball cap and a rucksack, he was shouting into his mobile so i could hardly be accused of eavesdropping. He was telling his mates back home just how great things were over here, he was telling them about the bars and that he had a "quote" "Aussie bird on the go". I listened intently as he shouted out his intentions of "giving her one mate" and that he would be applying for residency very shortly and find some work in a bar somewhere close, far be it from me to point out it needed to be the other way round or the fact he was very much on his own in the square at the time.
This all carried on a while and soon he started walking the length of the mall still chatting at the top of his voice, it was as funny as it was a little sad but a few white lies to the boys back home isn't the end of the world, so i chuckled a little, paid my bar bill and left for some well earned sleep.
A couple of nights after this episode i returned to the same bar for a meal as it was $10 dollar steak night (you can take the man out of Shropshire...etc) never one to miss a bargain as ever, but lo and behold who should come walking across the square than our cockney friend with the same clothes on and the same ruck sack, looking a little less well manicured and worse for wear. His outward appearance may have been slightly rougher but his banter hadn't changed one iota, he was still telling the "lads" back home of his wonderful trip and the "birds", despite the obvious lack of said "birds" anywhere in sight, in fact a few more unwashed days and he will be attracting the attention of a bird or two of a different kind, those with sharp beaks and beady eyes. If he returns to the square again soon i may have to buy the guy a meal,  I am starting to feel quite sorry for him, call me an old softy if you like.

Big Bang? more like ginger nuts.

I have a theory as to why all the dinosaurs became extinct, forget the Big Bang theory.  My guess is they were all doing really well until one night after a shopping trip to Coles in Sydney mummy dinosaur brought home a packet of "Arnotts Ginger Nut Biscuits". They promptly had a biscuit each and broke all their teeth, thus rendering them unable to eat their staple diet of Roo meat, thin end of the wedge as they got passed around the rest of the family I reckon. Those people at Arnott's have some explaining to do I can tell you.

They make 'em tough in Australia :-)

Dirty Profits.

Mid afternoon in Sydney, I sit here tapping away at my laptop, fully immersed in my writing, outside people are passing by taking dogs for walks, taking photo's of the sea or doing everything else from jogging to shopping, this is obviously the tourist side of Sydney, as lovely as Manly is it is so obviously slanted towards the regular visits from the world wide community. I being one of those intruders or welcome guests whatever your slant is on my visit I have noticed the vast majority are of Asian origin, without type casting them the clicking of camera's is a sure fire bet that another group of such travellers is just around the corner. I haven't quite worked out why the vast majority travel in groups, it must be something that they all feel very comfortable with and I do chuckle to myself that if they haven't got a camera to their eye they have an iphone to their ear!.
It is harsh to judge one specific culture as we are all different in our ways and mannerisms and Australia is a very diverse country, not as much as the UK but it welcomes all manner of ethnicity with open arms much as we do. I watched the "football" last night, I was told i must support "the blues" (NSW) as I am in that province, the Queenslanders were definitely the enemy for the night as we shouted and screamed at the game on channel 9, the outcome was a wonderful victory for NSW the first since 2008 i was assured, so perhaps i am a lucky talisman!, it would be good to think so.
I have enjoyed the visit here so far as most of you guys that follow my blog are blatantly aware, I find the people engaging and honest and the city is eminently cleaner and less hassle than London. That said they are a world apart and such differences are to be expected. London is manic, Sydney is busy.

One thing that has stuck out since my visit is the Australian's view on customer service. They cannot do enough to make sure what you buy is what you are looking for and that it serves the purpose of the initial purchase. Take for instance Vodafone UK versus Vodafone Au. You would think the two companies would be very much an entity, but you would be wrong if you thought that was a fact. I was contacted by Vodafone UK while here as my bill had risen above its normal level, not a problem as before i left I rang Vodafone UK and told them where i was going and set up new tariff's for being in Oz and as a result i continued with my phone as normal. After 2 weeks here i received a text to say my bill was unusually high and could i ring them for security purposes. This i duly did and yes my bill was unusually high and I was very annoyed.

On speaking to the service manager of Vodafone UK he blamed Vodafone au for the hike in charges, "They set the tariff over there so if its £1 a minute that's what we have to pay" i was reliably informed, so i asked what was the best way round  this issue as obviously i didn't want to incur more senseless charges,
"well you could buy a cheap phone for 70 dollars and use that while you are over there or perhaps unlock your phone and put an au sim in its place".  OK, fine, "why didn't you tell me this in the first place? i am an old established Vodafone customer and i think you have advised me very poorly" I quipped,
"Well sir we are here to make a profit and it's like us telling you to go to 02, we would never do that, our company is here to make money".  That was quite a frank yet astonishing admission that this huge corporation was solely focused on what it could MAKE out of the customer rather than what it could DO for the customer while retaining a respectable but not disgusting profit.
Thus advised by Vodafone UK i tramped down to the local Vodafone shop here in Manly and vented my frustration at the way Vodafone had lulled me into such a huge bill, despite my taking care of my visit by ringing them beforehand and ensuring the charges would be sensible. The shop assistant listened and asked if my iphone was unlocked, i replied "I am not sure", he took the phone and looked at it and said I am sorry sir the phone is locked into Vodafone UK, we don't sell locked phones here in Oz it's a question of choice for the consumer, we try and give them a good service so they won't go elsewhere. "Well that's mighty noble of you" says I "but its Vodafone au that set the huge tariff i have been paying, i was informed by Vodafone Uk"
"actually sir that's incorrect, your phone is locked in with the UK and we are the same company in reality so they are not correct in that assumption, plus the fact if you had been dealt with in that manner here it would go to senior management and they would immediately drop the size of the bill"
"pardon?"
"Look sir as a customer we do everything we can to ensure your experience with Vodafone au is a pleasant one, yes we wish to make a profit but we wouldn't charge £1.50 a minute and expect to keep the customer"
"but the service manager in the UK told me you were here to make a profit and that you had set the rates so high that is why the bill is so large"
"Well all I can say sir is you go back to Vodafone UK and take that up with them as that is just completely untrue".
Now, correct me if i am wrong but the theme that ran through that conversation was one of customer first in Australia.
Needless to say I am as yet not finished with Vodafone UK, I think they have a lot of explaining to do and I think a good inwards look at their company policy, profit is one thing, but even Dick Turpin wore a mask and pistols so you had a fair chance of spotting him.

Sense Of Duty book 2 snippet. (unedited)

Sam reached for his trilby style hat and that was always followed by a huge rattle of legs from under the kitchen table as the dogs rushed to be the first to get outside, but this morning was different, there was no noise. The dogs had been tied up last night as they were being such a nuisance in the barn, a point that both Jake and Sam were now all too aware of, the worry, if it was there, was unspoken..

Sam climbed the stairs of the old farmhouse and stood on the landing, he looked out of the landing window for a better view of where the snow was thickest and which window would be the best to climb out of. In the end Sam entered Jakes bedroom and opened up the window, he climbed on to the ledge and threw his shovel on to the snow drift about 6 ft below him, before he jumped Sam looked out in to the yard as his eyes were now acclimatised to the darkness of the early dawn, it was a sight that would stick with Sam a lifetime, the farm was under the thickest drifts of snow he had seen in his 40 years of being on the hill side, his farm was almost unrecognisable, like a wilderness, a wasteland, frozen in time and devoid of life, it frightened the big man but he was never going to let that fact be known, least of all to a young seven year old patiently waiting in the kitchen below.

Leaping from the bedroom window was a very surreal moment for Sam, but thankfully the snow had frozen on the surface, he didn’t drop right through it so he started to dig feverishly to the door below, the glow from the kitchen was lighting the snow up giving off a strange unearthly glow it seemed almost a comfort rather than the ever present peril of a huge drift. It wasn’t long before Sam had reached  the door, an overjoyed Jake opened the door to let his dad take the last few steps into the house, Jake immediately ran to get his hat and coat, his boots were already on the moment his Dad had left the table!

“Grab my hand son,” Sam said in a strong voice,

 “We will go and get those dogs loose, they will sure to want their bloody breakfast by now”

With that Jake grabbed his father’s hand and the two walked up the steep drift that had lent itself against the house overnight like some monster consuming its prey slowly but ever surely.

Once away from the drift against the house the snow was down to about four feet deep and less in places, still very deep but something the two had seen before on this barren hillside farm, so they both began to feel a little better at the situation they found themselves in, as they walked across the unlit farmyard they both glanced back at the farm house almost at the same time, it looked so tiny up against the huge drift that covered almost two thirds of the building,

“Hell Jake, it must have been a bit rough out here last night, let’s hope the sheep have got in somewhere out of sight”

As the two walked through the deep snow in the farm yard they waited to hear the barking and rattling of chains that would follow the moment either one of their two voices was heard, but there was nothing it was so strange by its absence, Sam could feel something wasn’t right.

“Strange we haven’t heard the two dogs Dad” said Jake in a quiet voice,

“Aye it is lad, they are probably asleep on the straw we put down for them, lazy buggers” he quipped trying to reassure Jake.

But that reassurance was as ill-timed as it was misplaced, for as the two men rounded the corner of the barn they could see nothing of where the two dogs had been tied up overnight.

Without a word the two ran to the where the small outbuilding had been where the dogs were tied up and started to dig through the mound of snow that had replaced the small building, but alas it was all too clear that it was a vain hope, the sheer weight of overnight snow had gathered on the old rickety shed and collapsed it on top of the two dog’s with a crushing weight that no such animal could hope to ever survive, both dogs lay stiff and frozen under the debris, there was nothing either of them could do.

“Damn it!” Sam said as he pulled the dogs from their temporary frozen grave,

“This is going to make the day a damn sight harder, no bloody dogs!”  the big man trying to separate his grief of losing two of his best friends, “get a sack from by the barn lad we will bury them later when we get back from bringing the ewes back in, we can’t mess with it now”

Jake did as he was told, he looked at the two dogs as his Dad pulled the sack up and put them in one by one, it was the first time Jake had seen an animal he loved dead, he was used to seeing sheep and cattle dead in the fields, he had grown up with it, but the 8 and 9 year old dog’s had been there before even he had and the boy struggled to hold the tears back..

“Never mind piping your eye Jake, it’s just bloody sheepdogs, we will get two more, these two were bloody useless anyway”  Sam said in a matter of fact way, but trying very hard not to show the sorrow that overwhelmed the big man at losing two damn good sheepdogs and even worse a couple of good friends.

“Right, let’s feed the ewes in the barn first me lad” Sam said almost as soon as the top of the sack was tied, “then we have a bit of work to do to fetch those other sheep in now we haven’t any dogs to do the legwork for us”

Jake was still trying to take it all in as he went along the pens of sheep with fresh dry hay in bundles feeding expectant and now very noisy sheep, Jake seeing the two dog’s in that way was a harsh reality call for such a youngster but he was born on the land so he would soon adjust, it’s the only way the families survived on these hillsides.

Small excerpt from as yet unamed novel..

The morning of the will reading Marie dressed in her very best clothes and some new heels she had managed to squeeze out of the family budget, Mandy had seen the last one’s off after a heavy night out so she was very careful where she wore them. Arriving at the downtown office she was made to wait in a small side room while the solicitors grabbed all the paperwork, she was then led through to a large office where the solicitor Anthony Simpkiss was waiting for her, he was sat behind a huge desk in the middle of an old Victorian style room with law books catalogued and shelved like a local Town library, he stood up and shook her hand across the desk and immediately began to open up a folder in front of him.

“Right Mrs Davies I see you are the sole beneficiary to the last will and testament of Mrs Felicity Margaret Summers, this being the case could you supply me with the paperwork my office asked you to bring along with you, just to check you are who you say you are of course”

Marie handed all the paperwork across the desk including passport and birth certificate,

“That’s fine, all in order, now I gather that you are currently residing in the deceased’s property at 57 Malin Rd is that correct?”

“Yes that’s correct” Marie said feeling more like a school girl in the Headmasters office than she ought to have done.

“Right the will is quite short in it’s requirements obviously cremation and her ashes scattered on the heath land where she loved to walk, I presume that has been carried out to satisfaction?”

Marie just nodded and quietly said “yes”

“Right well the property at 57 Malin Road is actually subject to a garnishee order I am afraid Mrs Davies, it basically means that it is being seized on behalf of H M Treasury in lieu of unpaid taxes, so I am afraid it will be put up for auction as soon as time permits, this will probably be within the next 21 days”

“B-but it’s Mother’s house, was Mothers house, she lived in it for 40 years!” Marie exclaimed,

“That is in fact the case Mrs Davies but your mother had also guaranteed a tax debt on the property and there is a substantial amount of money left to pay on that debt, in fact Mrs Summers was in possession of the Garnishee order before her untimely death, she had been served the papers 10 days before, so I am afraid there is little one can do, the house will go to auction within the next three weeks and that is the fact of the matter”

“How much does she owe the tax man?!” Marie said in a quivering voice,

“well she doesn’t actually owe the tax man her previous errr boyfriend did, he has failed to keep payment up on an agreement with HMRC and I am afraid your mother guaranteed the agreement with her property, the amount is around £175,000 as it stands, plus accumulative interest of course, I am afraid it’s a substantial amount and once our fees have been taken into account and that of the tax office you may even be a little out of pocket I am afraid Mrs Davies, not the sort of news I suppose you wanted to hear?”

Marie sat stunned in the chair, she could hear Mr Simpkiss but she wasn’t listening, her mother had guaranteed a debt on her property for her previous boyfriend who was a complete layabout, Marie had never liked him and she was overjoyed when Felicity had given him his marching orders over twelve months previous, but it all made sense why she had done so, Marie couldn’t help wondering if all the stress of this had brought on her Mothers early untimely demise, she was harbouring all this and never said a word, Marie was stunned, speechless.

“Would you like a cup of tea perhaps” Mr Simpkiss asked,

“You do look a little pale, perhaps if I called my secretary she could give you some time in the side office to gather your thoughts, if I can just get you to sign these documents before you do so we can finish up with the formalities”

Marie stood up, she grabbed the gold embossed pen out of the solicitor’s hand, she signed in three different places and placed the pen back on to the desk in front of him,

“Thank you” she said and with that she turned and walked out,

“Oh err we will be in touch!” he shouted as she left,

“I am sure you bloody will” Marie muttered under her breath as the secretary led her to the outside door....