May The Best Team Win.

Alice Rahon 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Rahon

Yesterday there was more football to watch, the Dutch team played against Denmark.

There was quite an air of anticipation in our neighbourhood; everyone was hoping that the Dutch team would win.

They didn't seem to be well organised, they were not creative it was as if they were lacking playmakers, even Robin van Persie, a big favourite of mine, was not playing as well as he always does for Arsenal.

They had 28 attempts on goal but never managed one, whereas the Danish team had seven attempts on goal and scored one.

No matter what they did the Dutch team were not successful, at the end of the game they were devastated that they had not scored.

It was easy to notice by the subdued atmosphere in the neighbourhood that people were disappointed by this result.

What seemed to make it worse was that the next game was between the German team and the team from Portugal.

The Portuguese team did not play creative football; they played defensively, for a draw, not attempting to do anything else.

They played like that or two thirds of the game, after Germany scored a goal, then the Portuguese finally changed their tactics, but it was too late by then.

Real shame especially as the two best players in the Portuguese team, Ronaldo and Nani, are both attacking creative footballers.

Both the Portuguese and the Dutch must play better; in order to win their next games otherwise they will both be leaving the European Championships next week.

The Dutch team’s next game is against their arch rivals, Germany this coming Wednesday, when they will be hoping for a better result.

The Dutch team only succeeded in winning the European Championship, once in 1988.

They beat Germany in the semi-finals and won against Russia in the final, in 1988 Amsterdam was delirious with joy.

This Wednesday could be very different here, because unless they play better, the Dutch will be going home mid week.

What I'm interested in is good creative football, not in the nationalities, I am looking forward to the best team winning whoever that may be.

Kick Fascism And Racism Out Of Our Lives.

Alice Rahon 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Rahon

Last night was the first couple of football games of the Euro 2012, Poland played against Greece.

It was quite an exciting game then sadly a Greek player got a yellow card for doing nothing except playing the ball, in my opinion, he should not have got it.

The game went on and shortly after the referee gave the same player another yellow card, two yellows mean red so he was sent off quite unjustified.

That meant Greece was now down to 10 men this seemed to bring out their fighting spirit because shortly afterwards they equalised.

Then a Polish player, the goalkeeper fouled a Greek player who was trying to get a shot on goal and a penalty was given.

Chesne, who is the Arsenal goalkeeper had to go off he was substituted by the PSV goalkeeper who had no problem in saving the penalty.

Real shame, for Greece who might have won the game if they had got the penalty.

The Polish players did everything they could to produce a winning goal but they did not succeed in their aim.   

I hope Greece do very well, at the European Championships in 2004 Greece were definitely the underdogs at the beginning of the tournament.

Much to everybody's surprise they were the winners, so now having seen them playing so well I would really like them to shine. 

The game that followed was Russia against the Czech Republic, Russia were really unstoppable, their captain Arshavin, a former Arsenal player was on fire.

I've never seen him so alert and so focused, just like he'd been in the European Championships in 2008 when we first saw him

 Then he moved to Arsenal, in his first season he seemed a lively and alert player that gradually disappeared, leaving him doing very little.

In the January transfer window, he left to play for Zenith St Petersburg and now he is captain of St Petersburg as well as the national team.

It was a very exciting game and it finished Russia 4 Czech Republic 1, I'm very excited about this evening games.

The downside of the European Championships is that they're being held in Poland and in Ukraine, where there is alot of racial abuse and extreme violence by fascists.

Yesterday the Dutch team could not do their warming up exercises without the constant harassment of monkey noises being made at them.

They ended up having to go inside into a Hall to do their warming up exercises and training schedule.

Last week we watched a Panorama program about the hard-core fascist thugs, who attend the games to racially abuse anyone who is not white; any opponent is called a Jew.

We watched one game in the Ukraine, and saw how a small group of Indian students were attacked and severely beaten and nobody stepped in, neither the referee nor the stewards nor police who were present.

The Ukrainian authorities try to brush it under the table, saying it's only a few yet, we've seen game after game in which crowds were giving the fascist salute even kids as young as four encouraged to do the same.

The authorities, including the police know only too well exactly who these thugs are and if they really wanted to they could prevent them all from ever attending football again, by banning them for life.

An imposing prison sentences for their violent crimes which they have committed.

It would be really good if they did finally act in an effective manner against the fascist anti-Semitic thugs.

I do hope that's Sol Campbell's recent advice to not go to the games because you could run the risk of coming home in a coffin won't be true.

I'm really hoping that the fascists will be kept away so that the football fans can enjoy what is a wonderful three-week event.

 Come on Greece you can do it, what a wonderful boost that would be for them if they were to win the European Championship 2012.

         

Enjoy The Moments.

Alice Rahon
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Rahon

This afternoon, I had a very enjoyable visit with my great friend Anja; she surprised me by bringing us a home-baked carrot cake.

It was delicious, really light and fluffy with walnuts and a lovely icing made with quark.

This was the very first time I've eaten carrot cake since the mid-80s, when an acquaintance made a really heavy one.

Which sadly put me off from eating that sort of cake again that is now 26 years ago.

Anja's cake was so good that it certainly has finally wiped out that unpleasant memory for me.

A very pleasant visit with Anja, nice to hear her news, typically time flew by and before we knew it she had to go home.

Before she left we agreed that she would be back to see me again on 29 June, which will be good.

Hopefully long before then the council will get back to me about the air conditioning.

Anja thought the responses to the council investigators questions were spot on, as did Richie and I.

My answers were brief and to the point, designed not to give them any room to try and interpret them differently.

Of course I was a bit too optimistic on Wednesday thinking that I might get a response by today, what was I thinking of.
Bureaucrats don't respond so quickly, it will probably take the investigator a couple weeks to get back to me.
Just to be on the safe side Anja asked me for the court letter which she read carefully.
[
Before confirming once again that the court told the council to go away and assess how to install air conditioning, not go away and start a new investigation.

Next Wednesday it would be one month since I won my case, Amsterdam Council must stop prevaricating and install the air conditioning in order that I can have some quality-of-life during the warmer months.

All I can do is not get too involved and stressed about it, not easy to do but it's important for me to remain as calm as I can in the circumstances.

Meanwhile I will enjoy the pleasant moments, like today's as well as Wednesdays, both lovely visits by our friends.

Learning To Recognise When To Stop.

Alice Rahon 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Rahon

This morning we had a visit from two women, from our local district council office.

They were here because I need to renew my identity card, we had everything ready for them, photos, letter from the doctor stating the reason I am in bed as well as the money.

They were here just after 10 o'clock, exactly at the moment when I was wondering whether I would have to phone them at their office to remind them of the appointment.

No need to do that as they had arrived, once they were here they were very pleased that we had everything ready for them.

Then they asked to see my passport as this was no problem Richie went off to get it.

We then heard a lot of activity in the front room; we heard drawers being opened and rummaged in, then closed again.

Finally after what seemed like ages Richie came back in the room carrying the empty leather pouch, all my documents were missing.

In the pouch had been my original birth certificate +3 copies as well as a historic copy of my birth certificate.

There was also my first Trinidad passport, an out of date Trinidad passport as well as an expired English passport and my Dutch passport.

There was also my father’s application to become a British citizen, as well as some letters from my now dead favourite Auntie Josephine.

What a mystery, the last time I saw the documents was when I renewed my Dutch passport and applied for an identity card at the same time that was in 2007.

I was asked whether I moved the documents, my reply was that I could never imagine doing so; my only recollection is that the papers were in the pouch.          

Which was the best place for them, they've been in the pouch from 1988 when a friend gave it to me.

Neither I nor Richie have any idea where the papers could possibly be, the council workers told us my identity card would be ready in a week.

Richie signed a form that he will be the one collecting it, he was told to look for the expired passport and if he couldn't find it they would report it as missing.

Which just leaves us with the question where are the papers, if we didn't move who did and why.

Richie will either discover them in the next day or two, or it will just have to be a mystery which we cannot resolve, not my favourite but there's nothing I can do about it.

Being so handicapped I've learnt that I have to recognise when I can't change circumstances, then I have to let it go which is better than getting stressed about it.                                                

                                                                                       

                     

 

The Reality Of My Situation.

Alice Rahon 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Rahon

Right now I'm feeling pretty good, after a very productive visit with our friend Cecile.

Who came to assist me with answering questions from the councils department which investigates all applications for assistance.

It was brilliant timing that she came today, as I did not get the e-mail from the investigator until yesterday.

The questions were all about whether the air temperature was warmer in our apartment than in other apartments.

I was also asked whether we had the windows open, and if we had the ventilation vents open above the windows.

There was also a question as to whether I used earplugs to stop being bothered by street noises.

They also enquired if I had approached my landlords about my problems with the warmth in our apartment.

With Cecile help, the questions were answered very succinctly, which should leave them in no doubt about the reality of the situation.

Which is that my problems with the warm weather all stem from the fact that I have Multiple Sclerosis; which deregulates the nervous system.

Multiple Sclerosis is the problem, not whether our flat is warmer than the others, or anything to do with ventilation or earplugs.

I also reminded them that the court had found in my favour, they had accepted my arguments that the only solution for me was air conditioning.

The court had instructed the council to go away and assess how to install air conditioning not to start a new investigation.

Now I have to wait to see what the reaction from the investigator will be, fortunately Anja, who represented me in court, will be here on Friday, with a bit of good luck the response should be here by then for us to deal with.

Having Cecile reading the court letter and confirming yet again that the decision had been totally in my favour has given me a big boost.

I'm now feeling confident about the whole matter, I'm glad I decided to fight against the councils flawed decision.

It's good to take on these bureaucrats and show them that they can't get away with their actions, I hope that more handicapped people will benefit from this precedent set by my wining my appeal. n                                                                                                                   

Exploitation Of The Unemployed

Alice Rahon 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Rahon
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/04/jubilee-pageant-unemployed

Yesterday I was not at all surprised to read an article in the Guardian newspaper about unemployed people being exploited.

They were 30 long-term unemployed as well as 50 apprentices; they were all told that they would be unpaid stewards for 2 days during the Silver Jubilee

This was done by a company called Close Protection UK, who informed the unemployed people that if they did not go, they would forfeit the chance of a job during the London Olympics

So the 80 unemployed people were taken by coach from Plymouth, Bristol and Bath at 23.00 on Saturday night, arriving in London at 03.00 in the morning.

When they arrived in London they were told to sleep under a railway bridge, as there was a road under the bridge, they couldn't put up their tents.

They all had to sleep outside on the hard ground, totally unprotected in the cold and rain; on the day they were given thin plastic see-through ponchos and high visibility security jackets to protect them from the rain.

The company also provided boots, trousers and polo shirts, none of which kept them warm or dry.

As there were no facilities for them to change they had to do get undressed outside in the rain with no privacy.

They had to wait for 24 hours to use toilet facilities and were also made to wait for hours to get food and something to drink.

On Sunday night after the event they were taken to a swampy camp site and told to pitch their tents there.

Disgusting way of treating vulnerable people, forcing them to work without pay for two days in such dreadful conditions.

Close Protection UK will be getting a lot of money from the government, to assist people to get employment; seems the only ones benefiting is the company itself.

It seems there will be questions asked in Parliament about this matter and a spokeswoman for Close Protection UK said they were investigating the staff that were responsible for the 80 jobseekers in London.

So once again scapegoats will be found to take the blame for what is surely company policy, how typical, the perpetrators remain free to carry on making huge profits by supposedly helping people back to work.

A Lack Of Tolerance For Freedom Of Thought.

Alice Rahon 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Rahon

]Yesterday although we did everything we could to avoid the Silver Jubilee jamboree in England it was quite impossible to do.

Every program on the BBC radio channels mentioned the event, which looked very dull to us when we saw snippets on the TV.

The journalists who were giving the commentary seemed to be totally at loss what to say, all they could say was here is a boat and here is another.

I couldn't believe that so many people really wanted to go and stand in the rain to watch rich people in boats.

They must have spent a lot of money in the process on flags, balloons and bunting, and lots of alcohol for the long weekend.

If it were just a matter of everybody having their own tastes and opinions I would be fine with that, but this is all about indoctrination from an early age not to think for yourself, but just accept everything you're told.

The other thing I noticed yesterday and in the run-up to the event was that only one view and one opinion was tolerated, and that was everyone had to be a monarchist.

Freedom of thought was not tolerated, and anybody daring to express one was denounced, isn't it wonderful living in a free democratic society.

What was really incredible was the late night news, when the opening headlines were about the dreadful plane crash in Lagos, Nigeria.

I would have thought that such a major air disaster would have been the opening news, but it wasn't.

The first 15 minutes, if not more was totally devoted to pictures of the boat parade, then finally the plane crash was mentioned and after that the dreadful situation in Syria.

Quite incredible that a major disaster, as well at the killing of the civilian population in Syria should be sidelined in that way, by extending reporting of the celebration of such an outdated institution as the monarchy.

                                                                                                           

Free To Live As They Choose.

Frida Kahlo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo 

 

Susan Kalman on the News Quiz this Friday mentioned that the Coronation had been in 1953, so this year it is 59 years that the Queen has been on the throne.

Next year 2013 it will be 60 years; Susan expressed the hope that they wouldn't be having to celebrate all over again next year.

I am not a monarchist; I would like to get rid of it altogether, as I'm not in favour of such outdated institutions, and believe they shouldn't have any place in 2012.

I actually feel quite sorry for the Royals; it can't be pleasant living in a cage no matter how luxurious it is.

They never get the chance to develop as human beings; they are constrained by their restrictive roles.

Sue Townsend, the author of the Adrian Mole books, wrote a delightful book called the Queen and I, in 1992.

It was about the Queen and her family going to live on a housing estate after a Republican overthrow of the monarchy.

It was a lovely book, and it showed the Queen and her family living normal lives and becoming friends with their neighbours.

It was a touching story and really made me think about how restricted the monarchy is in their golden cages.

In exchange for being guaranteed a lifetime of luxury, they have given up their right of autonomy and self-expression.

Never having the right of self-determination, to make their own decisions about the kind of lives they want to lead.

Their whole focus is how to maintain their position, which has meant a lot of interbreeding, with close relatives, as a result none of them is very bright.

Nor do they seem to be happy, Margaret, Elizabeth’s sister was not allowed to marry the love of her life because he was divorced and she was the Queen's sister.

Instead of happiness with the man she loved, she became an alcoholic, drug addict and she's not the only one, the Queen Mother spent most of her life drunk.

Charles was not allowed to marry the woman he loved because she was a Catholic; instead he was made to marry Diana.

So many lives ruined just because they had the misfortune to be born into the Royal family.

In my opinion the only decent thing to do would be to abolish such institutions as the monarchy, and allow the people trapped within to be free to live the lives of their own choices.

Scandalous Treatment Of The Disabled.

 

Frida Kahlo 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo

At the moment I'm still digesting the information I got from my case manager about the council’s decision to re-evaluate.

I'm not going to panic, I'm going to get organised, I shall mail the national handicapped organisation called Ango and update them as to Amsterdam city councils intention to come here to reappraise.

Ango are very well aware of my case, they have been for informed and were keen for me to send them to court documents as they would be able to use them to argue that a precedent has been set by my winning my appeal.

I've also asked a friend of ours, an excellent investigated journalist to come round and read the court documents.

I'm hoping that she will have the time to write an article about exposing the council’s actions.

It's about time I think that this should be brought to the attention of the public; I'm convinced it should be public knowledge that councils are treating vulnerable people in such a shoddy fashion.

This case has very important implications for many others in similar situations that also need air conditioning as a necessity in order to have some quality-of-life during the summer months.

It is quite unbelievable; I am severely handicapped, a tetraplegic suffering from progressive multiple sclerosis having to fight for every bit of equipment that I need to live.

Letting Cyril Be A Dog.

Cyril, Marleen  and Tina.

It is truly wonderful to see how well Cyril is doing these days; he has been here now since 5^th January 2011.

We thought he was barely a year old, until we looked at his passport, and saw that Cyril was five years old, yet he did not have the physique of a full grown dog.

We were also horrified at his very long toenails as well as how emaciated he was, the vet told Richie he hadn't been exercised for up to 3 years.

The toenails were so long they were nearly growing into his pads; the lack of exercise was causing his muscles to atrophy quite badly.

Cyril had also not been to the vets for the yearly injections in 2010, I'm quite surprised that he seems to have had them in the years before, as surely his condition and his nails should have been noticed.

Richie got the vet to immediately give Cyril his injections as well as micro chip him so that if lost he will be returned to us.

He also got his toenails clipped and got worm and flea treatment for him, as soon as his nails were done the poor dog could walk much better.

Then Cyril was all set for his new life, Marleen and him hit it off very well, I think having another dog here, and one as calm, sweet as she is really was good for him.

He was obviously very depressed, as well as traumatised by what he experienced previously; we think that a man has treated him badly at home, which is the only place Cyril panics.

Indoors it is often difficult for Richie to do things, such as picking him up to give him a cuddle or even just patting him on the head will often trigger off a panic attack.

Outside Richie can do anything with him and he doesn't mind, so it just seems obvious to us that he was being badly treated in the house, maybe picked up and thrown, called to come and hit, even in his safe place, his bed.

Gradually Cyril has acclimatised to being here; it usually takes a year for a dog to get used to a new home as well as recover from depression.

Now Cyril is very happy and obviously loves living here with us and the other dogs, Tina and Marleen; they are such a nice pack, who enjoys each other's company tremendously.

He has really come out of his shell, and in the last year he has learnt to trust us and to expect good things to happen daily.

He has learned how to play, he loves going to the park or the woods, I think he still can't believe that it happens every day now.

I really can't imagine how such an active dog, especially such an active Jack Russell like Cyril could have coped not going out and being isolated and alone at home, no wonder he still has flashbacks.

Despite that he sometimes panics, now he has become a very playful loving and happy dog which is really lovely to see.

There is such an explosion of joy from Cyril every time he's about to go out, he jumps for joy and his tail never stops wagging when he is outside enjoying himself like a dog needs to.

What is also good is to be able to see that he has put on a lot of muscle in the last 18 months; he looks in excellent condition now.

Looking back I can see we took quite a gamble taking Cyril on, it has more than paid off we are now extremely happy to have such a lovely lively friendly Jack Russell living here with us.

It is so worthwhile to re-home dogs, to give them a chance to be themselves, real dogs not cute possessions, Cyril is only now discovering what it's like being a dog.

Amsterdam Council Needs To Stop Prevaricating.

Oscar Mellor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Mellor
 

I couldn't believe it when my case manager told me that the council was not planning to appeal the decision, but they want to reassess the situation.

In the court papers I have, it says that the council should reappraise in the light of the decision; and the fact that I had won my appeal against their refusal to allow me air conditioning.

My arguments for air conditioning were accepted by the court as valid reasons for the absolute necessity of it for me.

So now they are basically indulging in time wasting in the hope that they will come up with a cheaper solution.

All this renewed talk of sun blinds, sun awnings or whether the building does not have enough ventilation or speculations as to whether my neighbours also suffer from heat is totally missing the point.

The point is that I have Multiple Sclerosis which causes me a lot of serious problems during the summer months.

They are looking for other solutions which do not work for me; all I need is for the air temperature to be cool.

I will have to keep very cool when they come around to do their reappraisal, hopefully I'll manage as right now I'd like to tell them what I think of them.

No reappraisal is needed

Oscar Mellor 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Mellor

It was good news getting the letter from the courts telling me I had won my appeal against Amsterdam Council's decision to refuse me air conditioning.

For many people it may be a luxury, but for me and others it is an absolute necessity, in order to have any quality of life while the weather is warm.

After getting the judges decision that my case was proven, I looked forward to hearing when they would come to install it.

Last week when I heard nothing I asked my case manager to find out for me.

She promised to enquire and let me know, this was last week Wednesday, and I heard nothing else from her.

As it was Whitsun weekend I could not contact her on Monday, so sent a mail yesterday reminding her of her promise.

Jacqueline’s replied saying that the council had six weeks to consider their next steps; this worried me, I sensed an appeal coming.

We arranged she would phone at 15.00 this afternoon, finally she phoned me at 15.30.

She told me the city council had time in which to reassess the situation, I asked if this meant they were intending to appeal the decision.

My case manager said that it meant that they would be reappraising in order to see what the best solution would be.

I told her the solution was obvious, it was air conditioning, which was why I went to court to appeal against the council decision to refuse it to me.

Sending the same people who came to assess my application last year does not make me feel optimistic.

Again they are talking about sun blinds and sun awnings, sounds like people who are too fixated on finding reasons to refuse requests and totally failing to see reality.

No reappraisal is needed; the situation which the judge recognised only too well is that I have Multiple Sclerosis which makes warm weather difficult to cope with.

I will try to be optimistic that the council will look at the situation in the light of the court’s decision.

Atrocities In Syria

Yves Tanguy 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Tanguy

Watching the 23.00 BBC TV news on Sunday and again last night, and hearing the dreadful reports about the continuing massacres of innocent people in Syria were shocking.

Every day I hear on the radio that the UN Security Council condemns what is going on in Syria, in the strongest terms; France Germany as well as Britain has today expelled Syrian diplomats.

The UN’s special envoy Kofi Anan has been trying to get the Syrian government to stop attacking and killing its own civilian population.

He has been embarked on this diplomatic mission for the last six weeks without any sign of the violence stopping any time soon.

The Syrian government keeps hiding behind statements that it is not the Army who is responsible for the massacres; they say it is the insurgents who are responsible for the killing.

If anything there has been more violence recently since the arrival of the UN peacekeepers not less, the recent reports are all about a town near Homs, called Houla.

They moved onto Houla after the Syrian army flattened most of Homs with their continuous heavy shelling, the Alawite militias then went in going house to house killing everybody they found.

On Sunday we heard that 180 people have been executed in Houla, many of them small children and even babies, they were either shot in the head or had their throats cut.

After the army bombed and terrorised the people of Houla, they again sent in the Alawite militias to go house-to-house brutally murdering everyone they could find.

A 10-year-old boy managed to avoid getting killed along with his entire family, by playing dead near the bodies of his mother and siblings.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/28/houla-massacre-survivor-boy-syria

The Syrian government keeps protesting that it's not them doing the killing, when it is obviously the Syrian army who were and are still murdering civilians.

The Alawite’s are from the same minority sect as the ruling family the Assad’s,

the militias are fiercely loyal to their leader Bashir Assad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Assad_family

http://www.danielpipes.org/191/the-alawi-capture-of-power-in-syria

The ruling Assad family seems to be determined to keep control of the country no matter at what cost, not surprising seeing as their sect, the Alawites only make up a mere 12% of the Syrian population.

It would be brilliant if Bashir Al Assad would step down now to stop even more bloodshed, I really fear that if he doesn't there will be a terrible civil war.

Otherwise Assad could very well end up suffering the same fate as Gaddafi did in Libya, dead with a flagpole shoved up his arse courtesy of his loving people.

The Voice.

Brigitte Szenczi, Hungarian Artist, 1943-
http://figurationfeminine.blogspot.com/2010/01/brigitte-szenczi-1943.html

Yesterday evening we watched the semi-final of the programme on BBC TV called The Voice, which we have been watching since it started last month.

Two of the contestants, Ruth Brown and Jaz Ellington had the best voices; most of the others were generic and did not have good voices.

The only other contestant whose voice I rate is Tyler, a close friend of Amy Winehouse who tragically died last summer, robbing us all of her unique voice.

We watched in disbelief as first of all Ruth Brown was not voted through to the final by the public, they chose Leanne to go through to the final.

What a sick joke, to put Leanne through to the final, when she does not have the voice that Ruth Brown has, Leanne sounds like a club singer.

Whereas Ruth Brown has a wonderful powerful and passionate voice, she is a good soul singer.

The second shock was when we saw the other voice, Jaz Ellington also not been put through to the final.

Apart from Tyler the other contestant going through to the final, with a voice which sounds like a pale imitation of Delores O’Reardon, the Cranberries singer, was a woman called Bo.

How disappointing, once again it seems that the public have voted off the real talent on the show simply because they are black.

I was really hoping that Ruth Brown would win the final; Tom Jones who was her coach seemed to think so too, saying he would do everything he could to make her a star.                                                        

I hope he does, her voice should be heard, and I look forward to seeing her on Later with Jools, maybe this September, an exciting prospect.  

Eurovision Or Euro Crap In Azerbaijan

Kay Sage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_Sage 

Last night we did end up watching the Eurovision Song competition, it was truly horrible and had nothing to do with a song contest.

There was very little that you could categorise as singing, it was all about glitzy costumes and as many spectacular special effects, such as wind machines, dry ice, as they could cram into each performance.

It's amazing to think that Azerbaijan built this obscenely huge venue, which they call the Crystal Hall purely for this competition.

It was nauseating to see the big show that they were making of the fact that they have huge oil revenues.

Which the president uses to enrich himself and his family, as well as small circle of hangers on, who are happy to arse lick in return for their affluent lifestyles.                     .

The army are another section of Azerbaijan who get paid well in order to keep the population in line, by utmost brutality.

What is disgusting is the knowledge that the overwhelming majority of people in the country are  poor and totally subjugated.

Apparently the oil workers are paid low wages and work in extremly dangerous conditions, protests are not allowed, they are smashed.

Of course there is no such thing as trade unions in the country; recently I saw a peaceful demonstration by a couple hundred people.

They weren't doing anything apart from standing to make their protest known, they were brutally beaten to the ground by their paramilitary police, I believe some may have died.

Watching it last night and knowing about the brutal repression was sick making. 

Apparently the large majority of the venue was empty so they handed out tickets and it was made compulsory for everyone to be there so it would be full for the TV shows.

Watching what used to be hilarious cheesy event now seems to be all about nationalism, political manoeuvring, money and corruption.

Looking Forward

 

Kay Sage 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_Sage

What a truly dreadful afternoon that was yesterday, we went to the bathroom so much later than normal around 15.00 and by the time we were finished it was 19.00.

Then later on we both forgot that I hadn't been got out of bed at 21.00 as we had planned, so I could do the leg and arm exercises using the Motomed and going to the bathroom

We’re both really quite disappointed that we've forgotten these basic things, especially as we had watching things on the telly to fill the time before the very last Later with Jools Holland was on BBC two.

There wasn't a lot of time left before the programme started, Richie managed it somehow which was brilliant.

I would never have wanted to miss last nights show, so glad we did as right at the end Jools Holland announced that it was the end of this series.

Very disappointing to hear that, now we will have to wait patiently until the program Later with Jools Holland comes back in September.

It is such a good program; it's really great to see so many good bands and singers, fabulous to see so much new talent.

As well as fantastic favourites, this week both on Tuesday evening as well as last night Jimmy Cliff was there with his wonderful band.

I love Jimmy Cliff, his songs are brilliant, his voice is so good and still is, and then there are his fabulous clothes.

The other thing is that he is not a Rastafarian; in fact he doesn't agree with it at all, he always wears a red star to show what his politics are.

Been absolutely wonderful that we've been able to watch Later with Jools Holland for the last six weeks, it's just so hard to hear that it was the last show of this series.

It never feels like nearly 2 month it always feels much quicker than that, it's a real shame that there is no other good cutting edge music programs like Later with Jools Holland.

Once the two ‘extravaganzas’ in England are over, we won't have to be constantly bombarded with how wonderful the Queen is, as well as the hype surrounding the Olympics.

Then there is something good to look forward to in the autumn, but first we have European Cup Football to look forward to, this is happening sometime soon in June.

A Dreadful Afternoon.

Kay Sage 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_Sage

It has been quite a day, typically what we didn't need to happen occurred when Richie took me to the bathroom for a catheter change and a shower.

The catheter came out all right but would not go back in and no matter what Richie did, he had no success.

After an hour and a half I called the doctor to ask for their assistance, once I explained, I was told someone would be there right away.

Hans, Dagma’s colleague came to see if he could help us, he too did not seem to be able to achieve the desired result.

He ended up making a telephone call to the urology department of one of the hospitals for their advice; they gave him a few tips.

Which he tried without success, then Hans went to the chemists to get a couple of catheters with a smaller diameter.

While he was gone Richie kept trying and in the end he got one of the catheters we used to use inserted without a problem.

So then he tried again with the supra pubic catheter, this time Richie inserted it at an angle and it slipped in no problem.

At that very moment the doctor returned with the other catheters, he was very pleased when he heard Richard had been successful.

Right now we both are trying to recover from spending just about four hours all told in the bathroom this afternoon.

Once I finish this I shall find an interesting piece of artwork the post this and spend the rest of the evening relaxing.

Being Brave.

Dorothea Tanning
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Tanning

How I wish that I didn't have to be brave, I really yearn for life to return to what it was like before the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis in 2006.

Then, as now, I did not feel brave all I was trying to do was to keep going the best way I could.

The reality is that things will never change back, nor will the progression of my MS go into remission and give me more time enjoying life with my darling Richie.

I'm really starting to feel that my strength, what little I have left is draining away; I can feel the steady progression day by day.

It really is shitty, that I not only have to struggle to keep my identity, but I have to seemingly fight for everything I need in the way of aids to make life easier.

How typical of this uncaring capitalist society to make vulnerable people go through hell in order to get mobility aids.

I still can't believe that so much time, effort and money are spent trying to find reasons to not give me, as well as others a vital piece of equipment.

What I find makes it even worse, is when they forget conveniently to keep me informed.

Like my occupational therapist Maurits who despite my asking many times still forgets to keep me informed.

He, Maurits as well as other advisers, consistently forget to keep me in the loop Welzorg and RTD H Dorp are the worst for this.

Because of this attitude I've become accustomed to people coming around for appointments and promising that they will send me the information and never do.

There really is nothing more disenfranchising than being kept ignorant of what is going on; it is rude and totally insensitive.

I really don't understand why my occupational therapist cannot be bothered to let me know the things I should know, such as status of items applied for.

It is not just my current occupational therapist who forgets promises made; Johanneke was also very prone to making promises and not keeping them.

It almost as if this point is not emphasise enough during their training, it seems a strange to me to do a course of training and forget that it is vital to communicate with your clients.

That surely is the whole point of training for the so-called caring professions, for me that means being trained to communicate with the target group is essential.

So often forget that it is their clients welfare that is important, it often feels to me like we are there for them surely if it weren't for us they would not have work.

No wonder that I have to be extremely stoical, brave in the face of such bureaucratic insensitivity.

It's a good job that I am so persistent and able speak for myself otherwise I truly believe I would still be waiting.

Protect Freedom Of Choice

 

Joseph Cornell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Cornell 

Thankfully our coalition government has gone and there will be new elections in September when once again the election charade will be played out.

At the moment they are still seemingly going through with some of the coalition's proposed new legislation, one of their brainwaves is to restrict people using coffee shops.

They are now proposing that people who use the coffee shops become registered members, with membership cards.

However the downside is that you can only become a member of one coffee shop and you can only become a member if you live and are registered in the Netherlands.

This means that tourists will no longer be able to go to them, which means that they will maybe choose to go somewhere else for their holidays than the Netherlands.

I wonder if they can really restrict people from being members in more than one shop, can you imagine the row there would be if people could only sign up to use one shop for their shopping.

Imagine if suddenly you were told that you could only use one baker, one butcher, one supermarket, where would your freedom of choice be to spend your hard earned money where you wanted to.

 
It is amazing that they can't see the consequences of their actions, these conservative reactionaries don't realise that the effects of making this law, will cost the economy lots of money.

And additionally they will lose all those tourists to other countries such as Portugal where they can use the coffee shops without a problem and enjoy wonderful weather and excellent food, neither of which they can enjoy here.

In my opinion they have really shot themselves in the foot by proposing this ridiculous knee-jerk legislation.

What I find very worrying is that nobody seems to be protesting about this, I hope I'm wrong about this.

I shall investigate this and see if coffee shops as well customers are demanding action be taken to prevent the freedom of choice being taken away.

Nothing Must Spoil The Fantasy.

Franklin Rosemont

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Rosemont 

Trying to keep calm and cope with hearing about the Olympics constantly interspersed with the Silver Jubilee.

We listen to BBC radio a lot and watch BBC TV but intend not to do so during the Silver Jubilee which is from 2^nd to 4^th June.

I find it amazing that they are celebrating that this head of state, has been there for 60 years just like any other dictator.

She has never done a days work in her life, although she is often referred to as hard-working, it must be exhausting having to endure living a life of such luxury as she does.

Neither have the rest of her family ever worked, last night there was a program about the corruption in Azerbaijan where the Eurovision Song contest is being held this year.

They talked about the fact that the president’s family had accumulated huge wealth, his two daughters own plenty of real estate as well as TV stations and other companies and even the teenage son, who is 13 owns an island in Dubai.

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65357

http://www.ifex.org/azerbaijan/2012/03/08/ismayilova_threatened/

http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2199

This doesn't sound too different to me, then the financial situation of the Royals, who by the way are not English but usurpers from Hanover.

I don't intend to watch the Olympics as far as I'm concerned it is nothing to do with the beauty of sport and just about the Olympic Committee and multinationals making more money.

Knowing that Dow Chemical is sponsoring the games is revolting, especially after what happened at Bhopal, India in 1984.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster

The torch relay is also pretty sick, seeing as it was Goebbels who introduced the torch relay at the 1936 games in Berlin, hosted by Adolf Hitler, no wonder they don't mention this important detail.

Nothing must spoil the fantasy of the Olympic Games, which is supposed to be a celebration of sport by amateurs and not professionals who are now the only competitors.

It was started against communalism, nationalism and to promote cooperation, far as I'm concerned it's become a big festival which is all about money and nationalism.