Tree Tops Lodge - Kenya

I did say about two years ago I would blog about Treetops, well now I will.

 It was the summer of 1978 and my wife’s birthday was a couple days earlier when we finally set out for the Aberdare National Park in Kenya. We were to spend the night of June the fifteenth at the lodge. The one that Princess Elizabeth had stayed in 1952 was burned down by the Mau Mau in 1954 but a new one had been built. The lodge is actually built in the treetops near the same waterhole where the original one had been. All authentic stuff, but first we stopped at the Outspan Hotel which was nearby and had tea and scones on the terrace looking out onto the lawns – all very civilised – no lions attacking us – actually we never saw any lions during the visit

Eventually we went to the ‘Treetop’s Lodge’ well quite near to the ‘Lodge’ and here we met ‘White Hunter’.  Well that was how he was introduced. Seemed a nice old boy carrying a rifle – just the one ‘White Hunter’ and I did think considering we were in wild animal territory and were crossing the waterhole clearing, which already had some visitors, that we should have had more ‘White Hunters’, he kept saying keep together, and I for one didn’t challenge the suggestion. The ‘Lodge’ was impressive - high up in the trees with wooden steps/stairs to which we hurriedly gained access avoiding the animals that were looking at us and quickly went up to the ‘Lodge’ watched over by our escort! Then we were shown to our bedrooms. Now I’m quite a big man and these were very small rooms with a small window which I promptly opened – and my wife just as promptly closed. ‘There are wild animals out there and some can climb!’ she was aware of our situation more than me. We settled in and then went for a walk about – which meant looking at the observation lounge and the roof terrace.

 By this time our visitors were arriving for the ‘salt lick’ and water hole, a selection of Buffalo and Rhino and others yet to be identified. We looked down and watched - tea was being served on the roof terrace so went up and helped ourselves to sandwiches and tea. Now my wife and I have different versions of what happened next – a troop of baboons came through the trees to join us for tea. I quickly went down the stairs to the lower floor and checked that it was clear for everybody to go below. My wife has a different explanation. I was off without waiting to see what the others were doing and my wife followed behind me, unprotected by her gallant husband who had led the way. To this day she mutters about lifeboats and who will be first in them. The baboons finished the sandwiches and soon had the roof terrace to themselves!

Eventually we were called for dinner in a small and narrow dining room with one long narrow table down the centre, then once seated you were in, and the food was passed up on a trolley in the centre of the table – no room for anyone to serve at table, all very cosy. The menu was very good. Melon followed by soup, then Veal with a variety of vegetables, for desert Linser tart, next Cheese and finally coffee and liquors. It was then time to get seated in the observation lounge.

Now the observation lounge is at a reasonable height but the wild life seemed close enough but we were just high enough. It was the first night when there were no elephants or lions. We could hear the elephants screaming in the distance but this was be the first night for six weeks when they didn’t come to the water hole. However there was plenty to see and a display was put on by Rhino – Buffalo – Water Buck who performed with considerable noise and action stamping and snorting. Was that all we saw. No, there was Bush Buck – Wart Hog grunting in the clearing along with the Giant Forest Hog – Genet Cat – White Tailed Mongoose – Bush Babies – African Hare, and of course Baboons – and all were close – yes very close. We spent most of the night watching and then were first up in the morning (6:30 am). White Hunter was also up early and was watching with us. My wife pointed to a very small antelope near the edge of the clearing ‘What’s that one?’ White Hunter became interested ‘Looks like you are in luck, it’s a Red Forest Duiker, not often you see them, must be because no one is about’ We continued watching for some time but we were still first in for breakfast.. Did we see plenty of wild life? It was amazing all night long the waterhole had been a scene of great activity, not just the odd animal but dozens all night long. We did go to other waterholes but none were as impressive as Treetops.

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URL's and all that

I didn’t think I would get round to blogging today – one of those days when you plan all sorts of things and then get snowed under with trying to sort out one particular problem. Now I use Google Adwords for some of my advertising – or rather I did then a couple of years ago I seemed to lose track of what I had to do making up the advert layout – so I stopped – well I had other things to think about.

But I have got back into several things that have lain neglected and last weekend decided I should get on top of it. Several helpful young ladies at Google AdWords also got involved and so I moved back into the world of Google Adwords for my sins. Now you will notice I said young ladies – I presumed they are young as they seemed to understand what they were talking about – I didn’t. As someone who is in their late seventies the world of URL’s Display or Destination is one I am still trying to understand – maybe tomorrow I will get there – maybe! So it’s late afternoon here in Northants and it’s time I gave that one a rest

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Went to look at the house my daughter has just bought and looked with amazement at the amount of work she is taking on. I suppose I should look back to when I was younger and bought a 17^th century farmhouse which had one cold tap in the house, and one bucket in a shed/hut in the garden.  The builder who worked with me never did understand why I ended up with five toilets but I don’t like to be caught short, and so the sanitation I installed was needed. The only question I asked about to my daughter on the work she was contemplating was ‘Is there going to be a toilet downstairs’

Soon be summer! Well that’s what I am hoping, too much of this damp weather is not much fun. The birds are still blaming me. We have Red Kites here in Northants, never used to, they seem to have settled here a few years ago and now you see them every day, at least they haven’t got round to blaming me for the wet weather.  I often wonder if anybody else has unusual wildlife in their area – not just in England where I live but on a worldwide basis. Always happy to receive comments at the end of my blogs.

Think I’ll wrap up for the day, possibly miss out tomorrow and try and solve the mysteries of URL’s

Regards to all Patrick

Funny thing the Heart

Funny thing I thought no one really looked at my blogs – I just enjoyed writing them.  In answer to those who read them in the past and wondered why I stopped!                            Health was the reason and I have now sold my villa in Spain and no longer spend time traveling to and fro – back and forth, from my home in England. I have done little to correct my health problem – well the consultant said they needed to change some tubes and valves in my heart. I’m a coward and declined his offer, and the odds he gave were not the sort I fancied!  So I decided to settle for a much quieter life and now I fancy blogging again.

Now before I get political or heavy (you can read some of my old blogs if you like) I have decided to try and be light hearted – now there’s a daft comment.  It’s still wet today, and the birds are still looking. The only ones who don’t keep looking are the Goldfinches, we have a couple who arrive settle on their special containers  -  eat as much as possible and disappear for the day. The Doves , Pigeons and Jackdaws just keep hanging around all day. And those starlings, what a crowd, we call them spivs, shows how old I am using terms of the 50’s and 60’s. The Blue Tits come in quietly and take what they fancy, nice people (birds) Blue Tits, very polite and wait for a quiet moment before going onto the tubes and tables.

Same news as usual, do people really love killing each other – the politicians are itching to start a war, why I can’t understand – but then they don’t usually go and do the fighting – just say how sorry they are that somebody is killed or maimed. Pity they can’t be made to lead from the front line – some hope! Getting a bit heavy am I.

I planted an orchard a few weeks ago, if you looked at my garden you would ask where – there isn’t enough room for a table tennis table. But I saw this advert –two apple trees, one pear, a cherry and a plum. All they needed was a large pot each and guaranteed not to grow more than six feet!!! So I thought why not. Five sticks arrived with roots and in tiny travelling pots looking very health, they were soon planted, and that was about five weeks ago. What an idiot you may be thinking – however all are now in leaf and judging by the blossom on the apples and we shall be picking some fruit this autumn - heart permitting. My neighbour muttered something about scrumping, he must be as old as me – nobody goes scrumping anymore –fruit comes from the supermarket in plastic bags.

Joined a Helicopter Club a few weeks ago and go for a flight once a fortnight – another of my flights of fancy. No these helicopters are radio controlled and will fit on the palm of my hand but they can be recommended to anybody who wants to have some fun. – What else?  Well you will have to wait for my next blog.

Regards to all    Patrick

The Early Birds

It’s wet today, not actually raining just looking as if it might. The birds get annoyed with me – yes definitely with me as I feed them a lot of bird seed etc; If it’s wet then I don’t put out so much as it gets damp and they don’t like damp food – so it seems it’s my fault and they peer in through the windows and look at me in a very annoyed way. First it seems I should sort out the weather and then put out more food.

It reminds me of a time when I was responsible for making sure everything on the estate where I lived was kept in order. One of my fellow residents wrote to complain that the waves on the coastal path outside her villa were very noisy and could I do something about it. I declined to go and have a serious talk with the sea and put the matter to one side.

The problem with the birds and the damp/rain is that they know which room I sleep in and first thing in the morning arrive to fix their eyes on me as I lie in bed. Eventually I get up and place a bit of seed on their table and in the hanging tubes. Promptly they leave the terrace area which is the first place I go to and fly round to the front of the house and look at the empty table etc there. Again the routine of looking through the windows continues and I have to put some food at the front of the house ….then they fly off!          Actually they go off and find their friends and then they all return and clear everything in next to no time and go back to looking at me              or is it just that I have a guilty feeling.

I thought I would just tell you about this as it seems much more important than the news I had been watching from my bed. Now that is a load of rubbish and I wonder why I watch it – I tell my wife how to solve all the problems they have – but nobody listens to me.

The birds on the other hand have faith in me it just takes a little bit of concentrated looking!

I will try and a be a bit more serious next time I blog, but I thought this was an easy way to get started again.

Bankers and Politicians Lack Morality

Bankers and Politicians Lack Morality

The public cry out loudly that the Bankers are corrupt, that the politicians are not to be trusted. And now they want to know who is to blame?  We have progressed to a wonderful society of greed, and this, as is often the case, stems from the roots, a plant that is dying always has poor roots. The people - the man and woman in the street of the different nations they are to blame. The public, and they alone, have chosen to elect the politicians of their choice, and they in turn pass the laws that control our society. The politicians pass the regulations that control the banks, and the banks will, finding themselves lacking in the necessary rules to abide by, find they attract the wrong type!

We had established an order of morality, it took many generations, but now that it seems is all to go. The arrival of politicians like Ed Balls and Gordon Brown and their greed for more taxes to give generously to the idle and wasteful meant that the drive to make more taxable profit has given us bankers whose only ambition was to make these bigger profits, and therefore a greater bonus for their banks and themselves.

Honesty and integrity became lost and what has seemed a time of more for all has become bound up in a system of benefits, and the money which we thought we were entitled to, without earning it, has become a monster. Now it seems we have to pay. Well not me, somebody else should pay, anybody but me!

Gone are the days of Prime Minister’s like Gladstone and Thatcher, Prime Ministers not frightened to bring in reforms, the first to bring the civil service under control, the second to ensure our factories could produce the good we needed for export and not controlled by inflexible unions.

David Cameron has replaced Gordon Brown. We have a new Prime Minister who after a couple of years is giving even more money away to overseas countries, who has done little to control the civil service who are out of control again. Companies are endeavouring to put more money into our industries, goods that could be sold throughout the world are being produced, we are still world leaders. But all our leaders, the ones we elected, only seem to be worrying about helping countries that only wish to have civil war.

Sorry gentlemen (Cameron and Clegg) – you were not elected to lead our country – that was done by the party faithful, who are now leaving both parties in droves. Get your priorities right. Bring the soldiers back to the U.K. and maintain them at their current level, the money saved in stopping overseas aid will be enough to do that.

Stop this immigration, possibly some of them could be a benefit to our workforce, but the word benefit sticks in my throat, it seems to be linked to immigration in other ways. We are a crowded country almost the most crowded in the world, we don’t need more people, and you only have to look at the recent unemployment figures to understand that.

Change the House of Lords …why! Just because Mr Clegg has no principles and has forgotten that it was only agreed to vote on it FREELY. by the fortunate well paid few. Mind you it could possibly do with a little alteration.

Still we voted at the last election, and if you didn’t well then you have no axe to grind

John Freame said - !and you know of him of course? -  John Freame said - Honesty, Integrity, and Plain Dealing should be the bye word of every honest fellow. He believed that, and lived by that code. He must now be turning in his grave – he founded Barclays over three hundred years ago.

Holidays in Greece to be really inexpensive -cheap!

Holidays in Greece to be really inexpensive -cheap!

So Greece has solved its problems by yesterday’s vote. We wait to see, and there is a lot more to see. And are they, the pundits’ right – which ones – either I suppose?

Will Greece withdraw from the Euro? The experts say that is not a good idea! But are they right.

Now the problem Greece is suffering is a lack of cash – why! Well it’s not selling enough to pay its bills – some say they spend more internally that they can afford. But that’s another discussion. At the moment they need cash, but not loans – loans only cost more money as you repay one day with interest. That is of course if you repay!

So what do they sell? – HOLIDAYS – we all like a cheap holiday, so the need is to make their holidays cheaper. But to do that it seems they need to be paid less and that they don’t want to be paid less - I mean who does.  They could sell other products, and I’m sure they will, but it is still the same problem. So what is the answer?

We mustn’t let them default on the loans they already have. Well I’m not sure about that – how do we stop that happening if they have no money, and as they are now situated it looks like they will be having even less for a long, long time. We might as well put those loans on a back burner interest free and wait for the proverbial miracle; and concentrate on the now!

So who has the answer, let’s go back to 1967, to the days of Harold Wilson; who! You might well ask. Well maybe I’m a bit older than most. He devalued the pound by 14% and said;-

‘From now on the pound abroad is worth 14% or so less in terms of other currencies. It does not mean, of course, that the pound here in Britain in your pocket or purse, or in your bank, has been devalued. What it does mean is that we shall now be able to sell more goods abroad on a competitive basis." Well that’s what he said and we believed him!

As to Greece, so they can make their products and holidays cheaper if they devalue, as the Dracma will be worth X per-cent less or so in terms of other currencies. It will not mean of course in Greece that the Dracma in their pocket or in their bank has been devalued; it seems they can resume their way of living! What it does mean is that they will be able to sell more goods abroad on a competitive basis. They start earning from their holiday industry, we can  have cheaper holidays. And the people of Greece have still the same money in their pockets!

What else did Harold Wilson say? ‘The only alternative’ he said ‘was to borrow heavily from governments abroad.’ And he didn’t want to do that! Which is what is being suggested for Greece –and that wouldn’t be a good thing for various reasons. The then (1967) Prime Minister of England Harold Wilson, defended his decision to devalue the pound saying, ‘It will tackle the “root cause” of Britain’s economic problems.’ Now as we all know we entered a time of prosperity for Great Britain in the late sixties. I suppose the same thing could apply to Greece. There is only one problem – members of the Euro are not allowed to devalue. Time to leave the Euro I think – well for Greece anyway – the English never joined – so let Greece be the same as us (Out of the Euro)

However to all intents and purposes we devalued in 1992 – Black Wednesday they called it – but that was a very dodgy time for businesses and property prices. But it was described as Golden Wednesday by some as it was followed by a very strong and good economy for the U.K. and the Conservatives were able to hand that over to the Labour in 1997, Mind you Labour soon spent all the money and then flogged off our gold cheap. Seems you just can’t win.

I still think Greece would be better off to get out of the Euro, and Great Britain to get out of the Common Market!

THE WORLD TODAY

The World Today

I started to write a blog then wiped it all out as rubbish. Like so much in the world today. Now I am starting again and will probably scrub this lot after a short while.

First I should like to know why we have such a large number of politicians. I remember someone saying that when God create the world (So it’s all his fault!) , he asked a small committee of men to design a horse and they came up with the camel. So he did the design himself. So I ask myself, should we not get rid of eighty per-cent of Parliament, well to start with, we can consider the situation about the remaining twenty per-cent later. And the same goes for the House of Lords. Personally I would keep the Lords to a select hereditary ones, non of this coming from the House of Commons  – if the Commons have no further use for them then they should go out to pasture!

The next thing is this business of Conservatives – Labour – Coalition etc. WHY. If you’ve been elected to govern then give your opinion and vote for what you believe is best for the country. SOD the party they are a bigoted lot, I am concerned about the country.

Now the money we pay in Taxes, wow that’s a biggy. Still we have to pay them in order to have a well-run country. But that’s my first worry; having given my money – our money to have a well-run country – then told we have to borrow as it isn’t enough – why do we give it to other countries. Don’t tell me it is to help good relations, I don’t agree. I shall blog on Taxes another day!

Why do we have our armed forces patrolling the world. It made sense when we had an Empire. They sent us goods and money, and we kept them as subjects. You don’t know what a subject country is – well look it up. BUT WE HAVEN’T GOT AN EMPIRE, bring them home to look after us and not spill there blood on foreign shore.

But we need to control drugs and terrorists – good idea, but in Great Britain. In Afghanistan the poppy production is up. We are often shown our troops patrolling through the poppy fields. Actually if not channelled through the drug trade we could use more of it for medicine. – look it up. The terrorists train how to place IED’s on dusty terrain then come to lush green Great Britain! Read my blog of the 10^th March2010.

I keep hearing how badly we are doing in trade and finance. I don’t deny there are serious problems, but I also hear Great Britain is becoming a safe haven for investing your money. Foreign investment in the car industry – whisky – e-commerce – and other is steadily rising. We sell more armaments to the world than anybody else apart from America, bit of a worry that,  but then if you can turn an honest buck why not, they don’t have to pull the trigger!

So I’ve got rid of most of the politicians – kept our money in Great Britain – brought our armed services back home – said it’s Great Britain, and will expand another day on all subjects and more. Kindest regards to the World - Patrick