The Benefits of the Gold Card

Every now and again IF YOU HAVE TO, travel on an airline other than the one with which you have your gold frequent flyer card. You WILL appreciate the difference!

DW

Good men and true in short supply

I wrote this in response to an article by Lord Paddy Ashdown that was posted by Foreign Secretary William Hague on his Facebook page. Sorry, gentlemen, but you have to take responsibility for many of these kinds of situations. Of course I am not blaming you for Bosnia but in general, your jobs mean that you interfere in all sorts of situations and your perspective is generally that of a politician. Take Syria at the moment: where is the Tony Blair to go there and get a grip ... against the wishes of a US President? Kofi Annan is not the man and he left BiH etc under a cloud didn't he? I was ashamed of Annan post tsunami when he went to Sri Lanka to see the situation there but refused, even as a gesture of humanity, to reach out to the Tamil Tigers who were also suffering. That was a purely political gesture that really didn't sit well with me. Where is the person or people to get a grip? Blair blotted his copybook over the Lebanon of course but at least he took a risk and the lead over that lot. Among the many other places I have worked, I have worked in BiH and it was a pleasure to work with everyone there and to appreciate the beauty of their country and hospitality. We don't need glad handing and back slapping, we need good men to act when things go wrong. I can't even renew my passport in the UK Embassy in Riyadh and no one will explain why. Britain helping Brits abroad? I doubt very much that either gentleman will have the courage to reply! DW

Eye? Aye!

After four months or so of suffering from Vaseline Vision, I had the implanted lens in my right eye zapped by a laser beam yesterday.

Today I can see very clearly out of my right eye again as the laser cleaned off the residue from the lens.

Medical research and research into laser beams are so impressive.

DW

Who Moved Venus?

I have never noticed this kind of thing before. Last week, in Gulu Uganda I noticed Venus in the sky. I also noticed that there was another fairly bright star/planet near Venus. Just now I looked out of the window here in Halifax, Northern England and spotted Venus ... and that sister star/planet looked much further away from Venus than it did in Gulu as well as being in different places in the sky. I understand all of the above ... relative positions etc and am just saying it is the first time I have ever noticed anything like this. So I am not saying this is awesome or amazing!!! DW