Author: sheona

According to today’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,  the German Chancellor will this evening present a media award to the Danish cartoonist, whose cartoon of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban roused the ire of hundreds of thousands of feeble-minded Moslems, who of course had never even seen it. Frau Merkel will be photographed with the cartoonist, thus demonstrating, as the FAZ points out, her determination that German and Europe will continue to be places where freedom of expression is upheld.

Left to my own devices in a DIY store yesterday – my interest in Allen keys and such is slight – I decided to try an experiment. I need to repot a houseplant, so was looking for a larger pot and also a plant pot holder.  I found the necessary flowerpot,  then took it to find a suitable PPH.   None of what was available was big enough.   I then decided to see just how many of the PPHs were the correct size to accommodate the flower pots on sale.  Well, you have a choice between a small flower pot at the bottom of the PPH or the flower pot sticking out of the top of the item that is meant to conceal it. Some of the very attractive PPHs were not even large enough to hold the smallest flowerpot on sale.  Does the buyer never get brain in gear and work out that if the store sells both types of pot, they must fit? I realise I probably left someone with a lot of rearranging to do, but if that sends any messages to anyone, I shall feel my messing around justified.

I  have not watched two programmes on Channel 4 this evening; the first one entitled “Britain’s Secret Slaves” and the second “I am Slave”. Strictly speaking neither of these programmes have anything to do with Britain, except that our country is the one painted on the scenery. I do object to this.

It is the familiar story of foreign families, often from Africa or the Middle East,  “buying” servants who have frequently been kidnapped from their families and villages and bringing them to this country when the family comes to work in Britain.   They take away the passports of these poor souls and keep them locked up in their houses. The servants are often mistreated, starved, beaten and terrified.

The only time Britain comes on the scene is as a rescuer. I think the government – though I know it’s got a lot to do clearing up the mess Brown and Labour left – should be expelling families who are found to have treated their servants in this way. Then the servants can be flown home to their own families. So the title of the first programme should have been “Britain rescues secret slaves”.  I suspect this happens in many other European countries. Such foreign employers must be prevented from importing their disgusting traditions into Britain

This story must be irrefutable evidence of global warming. Naked on an Aberdeen rooftop, even in July!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-10818168

I remember my wedding day in Aberdeen in July many years ago. The wind and rain were awful. Things have changed.  Of course it could also be a good advert for the anaesthetic properties of  Scotch!

For the past three weeks my stint of voluntary work at the little local library has been on a Saturday afternoon. The library is next door to the Town Hall and at this time of year the mayor is very busy with weddings. A civil ceremony is compulsory in France, so I hope his deputies helped out yesterday since there were 16 ceremonies.

It’s very entertaining looking out of the library window at the different fashions worn by the guests and commenting on them with colleagues and other – mostly female – readers. It struck me yesterday how many of the female guests were wearing black. I thought that was not done at weddings. One colleague suggested that maybe some ladies only had one smart outfit, the LBD. There are also a few who wear white, which I thought was also not done. I remember the criticism when Princess Grace of Monaco turned up in white at the wedding of Princess Anne.

The most interesting wedding – at least as a spectator sport – took place a couple of weeks ago. Because the Town Hall is in the old town, whose streets were not designed for modern traffic, there are frequently problems with parking the bridal cars, especially if there is also a church service after the civil ceremony because the cathedral is close by.  Perhaps because of this, scuffles broke out among the male guests, several ended up on the ground, the police piled in and various young men were led away in handcuffs and put in police vans. Must have spoiled the wedding atmosphere! What happened if everyone was wondering where the groom or best man had got to?

I said a few days ago that I didn’t understand why Her Majesty’s  finances were the subject of so much scrutiny when other Heads of  State also spent a lot on entertaining.  I didn’t actually expect such a speedy response.

  http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2010/06/03/97001-20100603FILWWW00699-elysee-732826-pour-la-garden-party.php

A French socialist MP is questioning the cost of last year’s garden party at the Elysee Palce on 14th July. Compared with the figures in the millions I’ve seen quoted for entertaining the pope at a Holyrood garden party shortly, I think we ought to get the Elysee’s caterers in!

Sam Stosur has just beaten Serena Williams in the quarter-finals of the French Open. She’s had a great tournament so far and would be a worthy champion. This also means that whichever lady picks up the trophy will be a “newbie”, now that both the Willams sisters and Justine Henin are out. It’s time women’s tennis had some fresh, younger faces at the top.

Bearsy, I realise you are more interested in cricket, but there are other sports…

It is almost three years since we were invited to the unveiling of Jaume Plensa’s sculpture “Nomade” on the Bastion Saint Jaume in the harbour of Antibes.

Strolling down to the harbour today I was delighted to find that Continue reading “Welcome back, Nomade”

a report from Vienna. The train and taxi system worked well, Araminta. Just a pity it was raining when we arrived, courtesy of Niki.com, which is Niki Lauda’s latest venture into running an airline.

The weather today couldn’t have been better, with blue sky and sunshine. We finished a day’s walking round the main landmarks with a visit to the Spanish Riding School in the Hofburg. Unfortunately no photography is allowed. We saw the horses in their stables, but were not permitted to pat them and certainly not to offer them sugar lumps or Polo mints.  Each horse has his diet written up outside his stall, according to what training he is doing, and the bedding, either straw or sawdust, also depends on his programme.  They really are beautiful animals. I felt sorry for the one brown one, but apparently the saying is that so long as there is one brown horse in the riding school, the school will survive.

There is a plaque in honour of General Patton who brought the 2,000 horses which the Nazis had moved to Bohemia back to Vienna before the Russian army got to them.  It was basically a moonlight raid to get them all across the frontier in April 1945. So he saved all the original blood-lines.

The stables have their own fresh water supply  and the horses don’t like the water offered them when they go on tours abroad. In a couple of months they will be off for their summer break in the countryside in July and August.  It seems like a great life except for one thing. Only  stallions are strong enough for the “airs above the ground” and they can’t have a mixed stable, so celibacy is the order of the day for many of them. Even at the stud farm they are kept in separate herds, mares with foals and stallions. Obviously some of the stallions are chosen for stud,  but not all.

Those Lipizzaners not chosen for training are sold, so if you’re  looking for that different sort of present …

While organising the details of our trip to Vienna and Prague next week, I discovered that not only is there an airport check-in facility in the centre of Vienna with a fast rail link to the airport, but that passengers can buy a two-part ticket that provides a taxi from the check-in facility to the hotel of their choice. Similarly passengers can be picked up at the hotel for the return trip to the airport. What a great idea. Vienna has an excellent public transport system, but how much easier to have a taxi ready with no hassle about fares or wondering if the driver is taking you to your hotel via Salzburg. Tickets can be bought on-line and printed off  before you  leave home. Fingers crossed that this marvellous system works well next week!