Leaving London

Sadly we say farewell to Vincent Square and had a last very small but joyous Carol Party on the 30th of November 2018.

Shrouds of the Somme

I was able to go to this very poignant Exhibition of the Somme, there were the list of the soldiers that had died and had no memorial but an artist had model of each soldier, which was an artist who had had an accident and couldn't use his hands, and felt he needed to portray these individual soldiers.
The names of each of these solders, were read out as you moved round the "Shrouded" figures, there was a large queue by the artist, he saw me trying to wobble over to him and walked over and I was able to shake him by the hand and congratulate him on what he had achieved.
An amazing afternoon. One I will remember all my life.

What is happening in Yemen?

Orla Guerrin is the only journalist allowed into Yemen and able to report on the conditions that the populations are putting up with! This has been highlighted on the television this week, It was said that this could be the World's worst tragedy this century with young children dying of starvation whilst the first world has plenty of food. There is in Yemen a lady called  Moza  who is educating children in that area as there is a whole generation that have missed their education at school.

In America, unfortunately Trump is stating that those families who have nowhere to go will be fined and removed from US soil. These families have nowhere to go. And felt they will be persecuted if they went home.

In Britain even "Sure Start" has been axed there seems to be no money for it. But those who live in the UK most have a meal during the day, what a horrible feeling that there are parts of this world where a lot go hungry and this seems to get worse and worse. What can we do about it? Let Governments know we shall not put up this for much longer.

Elizabeth Kendall - the modern Freya Stark

On September 20th I went to a fascinating talk by a Lady called Elizabeth Kendall talking about that little known and misunderstood country of Yemen. The reason that it is misunderstood is because nobody is travelling there and we are told that it is not advisable to do so.

Elizabeth travels frequently and can speak Arabic and is protected by a large band of Yemeni tribesmen with whom she has made good friends. The Civil war in Yemen has been going on for years and the population is now in a state of not seeing a way out. Those that are perpetuating this conflict are the Saudis and there are not enough people that are brave enough to travel and see what’s going on! How do you start? It’s difficult - one has to have contacts in the country and a genuine concern for the place. I have lived in Oman as a teacher and got to feel very much for that country and I am very concerned about what happens in that region. These travels will expose those countries that are keeping these wars continuing and those countries that are being helpful!

Plastic still a Problem

What can we learn from Kenya as they fine the population for using Plastic bags? Still the problem with plastics hasn't gone away and we hear that plastic pollution has even got to the South Pole and whales have been affected, some things are positive though. The people of the town of Penzance have all decided to all pick up plastics on a walk.
They have encouraged the children to get involved.

But a Gentle man from Iceland said that there were mixed messages from the supermarkets saying that there were no "Plastic Free" aisles in the Supermarkets and most of our plastics went into Land Fill sites! How can this happen? How do we get rid of the Plastics?

Some of the third world countries fine their population for using plastics, Kenya is one of these.
Very well-intentioned people are doing the best that they can. But it is unreal that we are losing the battle against the supermarkets. How do we rid ourselves of Plastic and we are told things that are untrue by the sellers? 20 years ago we didn't have this problem so what has changed, the use of plastics indiscriminately. It is similar to those things that you wish hadn't been invented but had so you have to make the best of them! Unfortunately Plastic was a great advance, So what do we do about the removal of this?

We all have to put our heads together and come up with a solution.

India's hidden FGM ladies

Last night a lady was brave enough having had this treatment in India and saying how it effected her. I have a daughter and that thought makes my blood run cold! She was saying that a trusted lady led her into a room and took this knife and held her Vulva between her fingers and cut it off. The pain was indescribable. Her mother was next door! What a tradition that needs to change. But as this has been going for such a long time and this lady who has been talking about it has been threatened by some members of the public who feel that she has let down those traditional members.

Here is a link to a blog one of our interns did on my behalf on the issue of FGM here in the UK:
 https://nextcenturyfoundation.wordpress.com/2018/08/01/fgm-in-the-uk-how-to-prevent-this-tragedy/

Boko Haram

Boko Haram had five Female suicide bombers who  killed more than 31 a few days ago at Damboa, 31 in the Government area.
Following the attack they concentrated on those who were celebrating Eid al Fitr holiday.
Then the bombers turned a rocket propelled grenade onto the crowd that had gathered after the killings! Boko Haram has been quiet for a couple of months and now we see what is happening, they are consolidating their group in Nigeria. What happened to all those girls that were kidnapped all that time ago? Are they going to start that again? Life for a female in Nigeria is not a good prospect!   What happened to the marches last year of Free our girls! It is concerning that they have decided on female suicide bombers. Back in the old days in Libya, Gaddafi had female soldiers in the bad old days. But they were not fanatics like this! 

Summer in a Vincent Square garden.

Spring has been and gone and summer is well and truly with us but the birds are still being fed in the garden. I listen to the sound of a little coal tit being fed by its parents. We have a large hedge opposite where the birds are feeding.  There is a lot of activity in the garden at the moment. The coal tit is interesting as it bears a similarity to a great tit, but there is a white mark on its darker black crown. We have more robins now. I saw a young robin being fed by a parent. It was very young and its feathers were very fluffy.  I had recorded no robins at all at the time I submitted our annual RSPB bird report earlier in the Spring though there were lots of dunnocks. The young wrens have flown the nest; it is amazing how such little birds have such a loud song.

There was a pair of green finches here today and the gold finches are back which is very exciting (we had thought they'd gone); along with the coal tits being fed, there was a lot going on.  However we have lost the long tailed tits, and the great spotted woodpecker seems to be missing! We usually have chiffchaffs on our patch too! Some people let out their cats first thing in the morning,  which may be why some of the nesting birds in our gardens have become scarce. We sometimes have parakeets in the garden but not as many as some other people in the area.

We didn't have the mass of foxes this year. Last year we found them standing by the front garden gate late at night! A big fox still comes into the back garden; it walks along the wall and jumps into the garden from the side. We are overrun by squirrels, which the dog likes to chase but no way can she catch them!  We still have quite a challenge trying to stop the squirrels eating the peanuts we feed to the birds. We have bought a squirrel proof nut holder to feed the birds but the squirrels still have great fun eating the fat balls.

The rambling rose is tumbling down the hedge on the one side of the garden and the lilac has just finished. The pear blossom is over now but it seems as if its lovely perfume lingers in the garden. There is a maraschino cherry tree with a very sour fruit much loved by the birds next to the rose.
We have no grass. We tried putting turf down on the "lawn" but a huge tree sucks all the water out of grass. The neighbour next door finds the tree annoying but it's hers not ours! AstroTurf is something that a friend of ours tried and could help but it is expensive and most people don't have that sort of money.

This is proving to be one of the loveliest summers.

History Repeating Itself

I was reading the book "The Silk Roads" which said that in 525 BC one of the Persian Emperors was known as as "The Messiah" because of his generous treatment of minorities and his help given to the Jews to aid their escape from Babylonian captivity.
At that time Persia faced persistent problems from the North but had an aggressive army to keep the peace. The Sums paid for that peace were substantial.
Over time Greek generals culminating in Alexander the Great looked East with a combination of fear and respect. Eventually Alexander was to conquer Persia. It was then ruled for nearly 300 years by descendants of Ptolemy one of Alexandra the Great's generals.
It was the Ptolemaic system that applied to Egypt just as it did to Persia that started the registration of all births. In the world of Jesus Christ, his birth would have been registered by an Official whose interest was the birth was in registering an additional future taxpayer for the empire.
Attitudes to Christianity first spread east via The Jewish communities, they received reports of Jesus life and death in Aramaic and Hebrew
There were Christian stories which included stirring stories that were told about the Christians' customs and literature.
The Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity which clearly brought about sea change in how other nations viewed them.
I was saddened to hear when reading "The Silk Roads" that, in the Christian era, when there were hostilities and the troops revolted over a proposed reduction in pay, the Commanding Officer paraded the image of Jesus Christ in front of the Troops. He said that complaint was not compatible with Christianity, but he was Christian. 

Organophosphates

Now what stopped me from being a teacher? I was sheep farming. After Sheep Dipping and the onset of MS, a lot of people in the farming business realised what was happening. At a meeting in Parliament with Andy Burnham there were many farmers who had very sad tales to tell! The Government do not want any link between Organophoshates and illness in farmers but we are now being told by the Authorities to keep away from the Sheep Dip if we are not in protective clothing. Because the toxic Sheep Dip went straight through overalls. Life has been difficult but that is nothing to the effect on some farmers and their livelihood. I saw the most tragic tales of farmers unable to continue doing what they love most on their farms.
This has been going on for years we are left in limbo again! Is there nothing we can do?
Veronica Morris.

Plastic pollution chokes Indonesia's rivers

• Yesterday I saw on the BBC news the problems in Indonesia with the amount of Plastic waste that was clogging the waterways and streams in the area!  
• In the UK we hear on the news that Plastic Mugs and "One off" reusable mugs are not reusable! although the public are told they are.
• We see these rivers clogged with plastic waste in such huge areas and it seems to me that it is almost as much of a crime as what goes on in Yemen's war which I was concerned about  last week!
• Then in Lebanon there are pollution problems that are off the scale. This is because there is a strike with the Refuse collectors, this has been going on for some time
• The Queen has started a new appeal with David Attenborough to set up a Green Planet and has got various nations to donate an area of their nation to make a greener planet by donating areas of forest. This is a great achievement.

Is there any way we can appeal to the striking Refuse collectors for the sake of the Planet? Do something about this!

Lebanon's Trash

There is a Rubbish strike in Lebanon, and all along the road there are piles of plastic bits and pieces. So what will they do with those piles of Rubbish. Call off the strike and get those unemployed members of the public to earn some money sorting out the rubbish.
This would enable the Government to sort the strike and employ some people, which will help the economy.
Veronica Morris.

Staying Plastic Free

How can we have a plastic free shopping spree?
Everything is covered with plastic.
In Sweden they have developed a machine that will gather all the bits of plastic in the ocean together, what happens next?
There are many people who know of the dangers
Of Plastic and what we can do with it?
Very exciting, two Australian surfers have invented Ocean - cleaning sea bins will gobble up plastic waste to recycle! Andrew Tufton and Peter Ceglinski who are concerned about the build up of pollution in the Oceans, It is a world wide problem typified vividly by the dirty waters around various parts of the world.
What we all can do individually is try not using to use plastic items and remembering what is happening to Oceans.

Plastic Pollution Free Penzance

Plastic pollution seems to be the central issue of the moment as it has been found even in the Arctic. I was watching the opening of the Winter Games and thinking about all the plastics that are are sent into the Atmosphere and the plastics that have been found even in the Arctic, there was the commentator showing a bird that had died with a piece of plastic tied round it's beak and the death of a  seal with a plastic band in round it's stomach.
After David Attenborough's Blue Planet 2 it became apparent that more people need to become aware of what we are doing to the planet though a great number are already aware that we need to care for this planet.  People are cleaning up the Plastic they find on the beach. Penzance is the town that holds the first Plastic Free Status Award - at least that is good news:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/05/penzance-wins-first-plastic-free-status-award-to-help-clean-up-beaches

FGM horror

I am amazed that with so many people accused of FGM not one person was prosecuted for this, horrendous violation. The NHS in London saw 2,500 cases. There were some 200 reports to the police in London. But no prosecutions. So we ask why hasn't this happened? Is it because we do not want to upset too many people. It seems strange that having all the evidence of this barbaric practice, nothing  has been done. So why is that?

Moving forward on Plastics

We are trying to get the most publicity in the local supermarkets the Sainsbury and Tescos, Aldi and Waitrose. How can we persuade the big Supermarkets to do what they have done in Holland and have an Aisle free of plastics. People are more aware of the problem and Penzance is one of cities that is committed to becoming plastic free!
We heard today Tuesday 16th 2018 that "Iceland" had made a commitment to go completely plastic free, which is a good start. There is a guy who is travelling in a boat taking samples of the sea and finding how many micro plastic beads there are in the sea; scarey.
What can we do about this or can I change things but with a couple of friends one gets the message.
People are becoming more aware of the situation thanks to Blue Planet and David Attenborough giving advice. This means that each one of us must do our bit and stop buying plastic, very easy to say but we have been so seduced by the use of plastics. We look at how we managed before the war then milk was delivered in bottles and you reused them. Far better!