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28 January 2012

Posted by DMC on 29 January 2012 in Diary |

From time to time I hear from my readers that they cannot open some of the diversionary pieces that I add to the end of my blog. This is because they are probably .docx documents and in order to be open by others I should convert these to .doc documents and will do so in the future if anyone still has trouble, opening these little gems,. please let me know.

‘ My lovely’ told me yesterday that she had seen that my carers were questioning whether or not I should still be using the standing hoist as they were concerned about my breathing. There is no doubt that if I’m left dangling too long the harness squashs my chest and diaphragm and I become a little breathless on landing.. The alternative is to use the body sling hoist that we have had parked in our inglenook for the past year or so. The trouble with this is that it is so much more cumbersome and time-consuming so I was you want to avoid making the switch earlier then we need to.

a couple of days ago, the American equivalent of the British SAS raided a compound in Northern Somalia and rescued two American citizens. Who were being held captive, for ransom, by the Somali pirates It seems that we have enough intelligence penetration to know either precisely or roughly where individual hostages are being held. This being so, I can’t help wondering whether anything is being planned for Mrs Tebbit,t, whose husband was shot in front of her when they were snatched, by the Somalis, from a beach honeymoon suite in Kenya. Nothing has been heard of poor Mrs Tebbit, who apparently is very deaf. must be terrified I understand it is not our policy to pay ransom is to terrorists but it wouldn’t be the first time that the SAS have been employed in such an exercise. The sinister aspect of this particular kidnapping is that no demands have made, or at least we have not been told of any on behalf. Mrs Tebbit, which begs the question as to whether she was still alive?

The mention of Somalia reminds me of the polo trip that we made in early 1963., Down to the Cape T. We sailed from Aden -the British protectorate in the southern Yeman -to Lorenzo Marks, the Portuguese colony or protectorate. On the way we disembarked some passengers at Mogadishu but for some reason the ship was too big, or the sea was too rough, for the ship to be berthed dock side, so passengers and cargo had to be transferred in a large basket, from ship to shore. A pretty hair raising experience which I captured on my camera and is part of my 50 year old film record of this amazing trip. The passengers had every reason for being apprehensive about this manoeuvre, as more than once we saw baggage being dropped into the sea. which could equally well have been a passenger. Fortunately, we did not have to disembark at the port in Lorenzo Marks, which proved to be not much better than Mogadishu, as they managed to drop my trunk into the sea, The Indian agent, was delightfully apologetic and seemed genuinely concerned, opened it up the trunk, as soon as it was fished out, and all of my personal belongings was stretched out in the sun on the quay for all to see. The most valuable part of that cargo were several boxes of photographic transparencies. which I assumed had been ruined. Not a bit of it, showing a lot of initiative, the agent stripped them out of their soggy cardboard cases dried them in the sunshine and then rre-set them into new surrounds, all within a couple of hours or so. The only problem that resulted from that was that, whereas the original transparencies were all labelled some of them, we could not identify, precisely where they were taken even to this day

Oh dear, the number one cricket team in the world, the English test team, were humiliated today in Abu Dhabi by Pakistan. Our bowlers had done their job, leaving the English team to score 142 winners during our 2 ½.days to do it. This should have been a cakewalk. Instead, we were all bowled out for 72 ,the third lowest score ever in test match cricket. Add to that Andy Murray’s defeat in the semi-finals of the Australian Open Tennis by Djokovic, admittedly in a fine five hour marathon, but a loss. nevertheless and British sport has taken yet another dive.

Whilst I’m feeling sorry for our defeats, I might as well compound it by showing you some amusing signs used around the world where our language has been murdered. Click here hopefully to be amused.

2 Comments

  • Maureen Jones says:

    Dear Mark,
    After having a giggle at the little gem today I had to print out a copy for the residents of the village in which Ray and I live. Please keep up the good work, it really does make a difference.
    Regards Maureen

  • DMC says:

    Dear Maureen.

    I’m so glad you enjoy the diversions I add to the end of my entries. Having said that, I do hope that you read the blog as well as the jokes.

    Best wishes

    Mark

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