My mate went to a fancy dress party last night dressed as a loaf of bread and the birds were all over him!

Olympic Torch Relay Day 11 but Day 1 for me!!

Yesterday it nearly caught up with me, today I caught up with it!


Ok so I saw it!!! In person, as it were! The Olympic torch!!

Yeah the Olympic Torch Relay, Day 11 of 70 swept in to town or a number of towns to be precise on its way out of Wales. There is some amazing statistic that the circus that is the Olympic Torch Relay will come within 10 miles of 95% of the British population. Maybe, maybe not but I have to say that every one of that 95% of the population of Shotton turned out this afternoon to wave a flag of some description - remembering of course there is no Welsh Olympic team, the Welsh flag was obviously in support of  Team GB by default.  

The main sponsors of this part of the Olympics that is the Torch relay are Lloyds/TSB, I think they are mainly British, Samsung and Coca Cola, lots of loud music, big trucks, dancing girls and free stuff, strangely enough not money from Lloyds/TSB! 

Lots of sunshine, lots of British flag waving coupled with lots of drinking, German beer and even more cynicism.
Smiling policeman waving from their German bikes and German cars, organizers in their BMWs, French transit vans in support of Belgian coaches carrying dignitaries and essential personnel.

Sorry the cynicism is creeping in!!


It was fabulous!! Because of where I live I can see it again on Friday and I really think I will!! It's about the community champions and local heroes that are carrying the torch through their communities and makes people feel really involved. Especially here 200 miles away from where the actual Olympics are taking place. The people of North East Wales will remember today, the day that the Olympic Torch Relay swept through the local communities like a well oiled machine and brought with it that magical bit of the Summer Olympics. London 2012.

More of the OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY

So the Olympic torch is travelling it's way around the UK and (peculiarly) the Republic of Ireland. 
70 routes through all different types of communities in 70 days.
As I write this a lantern lit by the torch is on a train heading up Snowdon, I mean to say, just how cool is that.
It's been on a train, a cable car, a boat and on the back of a horse and it's going on a ferry, it's great!!
All kinds of websites are allowing you to follow its course but I have no idea how they are being viewed internationally but here's the main ones - If in doubt the BBC seem to be doing the main amount of coverage over HERE.
There's also a Facebook page around about HERE



Anyway the torch on its relay will get to within, I think, 10 miles of 95% of the British population and it so nearly caught up with me!! I was in Bangor yesterday and the torch was arriving later! I was in Conway yesterday and the torch got there at 8.40 this morning!! Wow I saw the official bus getting washed!! >>>> Once again I say - "How cool is that?"

Right then later on today is my turn at being within that 95% and 10 miles of the torch relay and I'm going to let it catch me. 


I will show you pictures at the earliest possible opportunity, promise.... on this page!! Yeah pop back by all means!!


UPDATED HERE.

MEMORIAL DAY

A fountain and a suitable flag show outside a cemetery in New Orleans.

The weekend that marks the start of summer is Memorial Day weekend. Last Monday in May we call Spring Bank Holiday so it's, normally, the same day. This year 2012 we have an extra holiday - yay - but next weekend because of the diamond jubilee of our Queen. So it's a 4 day weekend for us, next week.
For me it's strange, if you know me you know I am a huge Americophile and unlike so many of my fellow countrymen a great admirer of most Americans - especially those who fight for their country and even more especially those that give their lives for their country.
We don't do patriotism like Americans, we don't do Memorial Day.
We should do Memorial Day, no really we should.
Again unlike a lot of my fellow countryman I support our troops wherever they are and most importantly whomsoever they are fighting alongside. I have got in to arguments for saying this but I do believe that American troops are always amongst the very best in the world.
My son was in the RAF and when he went to war in his still secret part of Iraq there were 60 Brits and 15,000 Americans, that's another story of course but all this just goes to answer why I as a Brit feel justified in remembering America's dead on Memorial Day.




So raise the flag and remember and I'm with you in spirit - oh and have a great weekend!     

Some human rights that are blatantly wrong.

A friend of mine, who writes beautifully from the heart posted this just a few weeks ago. Her blog paints a gruesome picture and includes two podcasts that yes really should be listened to for the background to what is one of the most atrocious examples of human rights in the world. Concentration Camps in North Korea. I will not be angry in any way if you say to me now, Never heard of them or Surely not. 
I am not a writer in that way, nor do I know enough about these horror stories. What I want to do quite simply is just to educate people in the long term secret horrors that are being carried out daily and have been over a very long period of time in a country that gets its knuckles wrapped by the international community regularly for serious misdemeanors but nobody ever looks behind the scenes at the goings on in the realm of human rights. 
Blaine Harden is an American journalist who has caringly told the story of Shin Dong-hyuk in the book Escape from Camp 14. One man's remarkable odyssey from North Korea to freedom in the west.
Also you can buy it here through Amazon. Also for Kindle!
All I ask is that you read and find out what you can about everything that is going on and tell others. Ignorance and apathy are the things that regimes such as the existing one in North Korea thrive on.





 

Well I thought it was funny!!

You are driving in a car at a constant speed. On your left hand side there is a valley and on your right hand side there is a fire engine traveling at the same speed as you.
In front of you there is a galloping pig which is the same size as your car and you cannot overtake it. Behind you there is a helicopter flying at ground level. Both the giant pig and the helicopter are traveling at the same speed as you.
What must you do to safely get out of this highly dangerous situation? 

Get off the merry-go-round - you're DRUNK!