A Feline Love Story .....

I'm normally not one to get all teary eyed when hearing about "long lost lovers" reunited, but when it involves two city gents and a lion called Christian I have to admit I found it hard not to be moved.

Check out the following link (especially the video):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14284320

The video, apparently, is also a major hit on YouTube but I think the BBC present a good back story to it (sorry - it's CNN who do back stories, isn't it, with that insufferable, irritating Australian presenter who taps the screen all the time).

Anyway, I digress. The story is heartwarming and wonderfully uplifting.

Norway

I've been to Norway possibly 25 times for work and pleasure. I've seen the northern lights light up the snowy landscape above the arctic circle, the majestic fjords around the picturesque Hanseatic town of Bergen, the rolling hills and valleys in the interior and the relaxed capital, Oslo.

To say that Norway is blessed as a paradise is not to sell that word short.

Knowing Norway so well, I am aghast that such a lovely country could be the scene of such a horror as the recent bombing and shootings.

My thoughts go out to all those who have lost loved ones or have been involved in such a tragedy.

Having been to Norway so many times, not only do I know the land, I know the people there too. Such a resiliant people as the Norwegians will not bow to the acts of one crazed zealot. The pledge by their Prime Minister to react with "even more democracy" could not be a more true reaction from a stoically strong people.

If there is any country in the world I would rely upon to pick itself up and get on with its way of life, it would be Norway.

But for the time being, I lend my support to such a brave nation by saying:

I dag er vi alle norske.

News of the World .....

I didn't buy the last ever copy of the News of the World. It was a souvenir copy, advert free (except for charitible ads) and all money was going to charity. Despite all of this, I'd rather give my money to charity directly than support an organisation which condones its newspapers to hack into vulnerable people's lives.

Just what did the NotW think they would achieve by listening to the voice mail of a murdered girl; or reading emails of a soldier who died in battle?

Just what did they think they could report?

It is quite sickening.

Oman has quite strict press censorship. I raged against it when I lived there, aching for the time when the press opened up and reported what was really happening, rather than what the government wanted to tell the people.

Well, if the greedy need for information from a liberated press pushes news reporters to infiltrate into people's lives without consent, compounding the grief of recently bereaved relatives or reveal personal details of those in the public eye, then I'd rather stay with the state controlled media.

I want to read news, not scandal.

Coming to Oman!

Just booked up some flights for me and my other half to visit Oman on holiday in early 2012. It'll be four long years since I was there. We'll be staying with old friends (OK, friends - they're not too old). I used up some precious air miles for the flights, so all in all it'll be a nice (and cheap) winter break full of relaxation, socialising and reminiscing!

I'll be interested to see how things have changed since I left in 2005.

I always said that living in such a 'young' country as Oman, a year was like a decade living elsewhere - buildings pop up from nowhere; shops, restaurants, cafes come and go; urbanisation creeps ever outwards as the suburbs become bigger.

When I first lived in Oman, there was nothing north of Bowshar until you got to Seeb other than the airport. There was one cinema showing English language movies (Star Cinema in Ruwi). There was no satellite TV, only a 15 minute daily news programme in English on Oman TV. There was no Muscat Festival (thank God!), no Hyatt Hotel, no road along the beach at Qurm, no paved road from Quriyat down to Sur, no City Centre, no big auto showrooms on Honda Road, no tourist visas at the airport, no Grand Mosque, no flyovers anywhere....etc....etc...etc...

Like I said, it'll be interesting to see how things have changed.

What should I be looking out for when I come?

Drip Drip Drip .....

So there I was enjoying a nice weekend away in London when I got a call from my neighbour at 7.30am on a Sunday morning. Now when I saw his name on my phone at such an early hour I knew it wasn't good news. Boy was I right!

"Come back quickly", he implored me. "There's water pouring into the flat below yours and into the one below that!"

I've never moved so quickly!

Bathroom flooded, torrents of water cascading down into the nearest two flats underneath me. Horrendous!

Thank God for insurance. Didn't have to pay a penny. Got a new toilet (it had been the cause) and bathroom floor for free. I even got them to replace the old sink to match the new toilet.

So here's me now visiting kitchen suppliers and thinking on how I can cause just a little leak in there :-)

I've never been interested in football.....

.....until now!

I get bored very easily. So having to watch 22 men kick a ball about in what seems to me to be a wholly uncoordinated way bores the heck out of me. I can usually last until half time IF it is a World Cup and IF England is playing. Anything other than that and I'm distraced before the first set piece.

But no longer. I'm hooked. I didn't know football could be so interesting! OK, I'm not talking about that knock about on the pitch, but the intrigue at FIFA. Sepp Blatter seems to be inhabiting a different universe to everyone else. I saw his press conference - the "crisis? what crisis?" one. He should head to Libya and join forces with the only other rather delusional totalitarian who's desparately clinging to power right now.

And to think that this association governs the rules of the game and organises what is credibly the most watched world event, the World Cup. The odd footballer playing away with a model or two pales into insignificance compared to this.

I have no sympathy for the FIFA members - they deserve what is coming to them.

I have no sympathy with professional footballers - they're overpaid prima donna thugs who seem to think that the normal rules of decency and decorum don't apply to them. How wrong they are.

I have sympathy for the 7 year-old child who plays his heart out on the school pitch in the middle of winter and for the proud Mum and Dad who stand there cheering him on. How can the members of FIFA show their faces without shame knowing that they have let down people like that.

Bye Bye Osama

Well, well, well ... Bin Laden is dead. Good riddance to him. No-one should shed any tears at the passing of a tyrant. People of all faiths should rejoice that this man who mis-represented Islam is badly is no more. Perhaps we can get a little closer as a result.

However, the practical slant on all of this is that although the notional leader of al-Qaeda is dead, the terror will continue. It's time to steel ourselves for the backlash and hope the balance has been tipped in favour of the fight against terror.

What we all should be worried about is the sheer lack of knowledge of the Pakistani government that Bin Laden was residing in their country, not in some remote mountainous cave but half a mile from their most prestigious military academy in a respectable town an hour's drive from the country's capital!

Talk about exploiting the naivety of an incompetent government! Bin Laden was audicious to the last.

Oh, and Americans jumping for joy, singing and dancing at the news of Bin Laden's death......I understand where you're coming from but probably not the best response, at least not in public.