My adventures In Gibraltar

Why travel across the Atlantic for seven hours? forget Floria for sunshine as just within two hours you can be in Gibraltar, a British outpost to the sun where there is no need to change your money into another currency since pounds sterling is the currency there. There is a sense of freedom in Gibraltar, from its shores you can see the North of Africa on one side and Cadiz on the other and a ferry ride can take you anywhere in the Mediterranean you heart desires like you can go to the Canarie Islands, Corcega, Malaga, Tunisia, Melilla, Tetuan etc. these are all within reach by sea as North Africa is only 40 nautical miles away, or you can simply cross the border and head into Spain and visit Jerez de la Frontera where they make excellent port and wines. The first day, we went up to the rock to see the Barberian monkeys by cable car when we got to the top, as the tourists arrived in their mini-buses we heard a woman scream: A monkey had gotten hold of her bag! the cheeky monkey took out a sandwich and she tossed away the ham being interested only in the fruity contents of the bag. She tenderly gave the cheese of the sandwich to her baby monkey and she had a green apple. When we returned to our suit in the hotel, I headed towards our room whilst Peter went to the living room and I could hear him talking to someone I went to investigate and found Peter with a menacing monkey. The monkey was standing up, arms held up in a threatening stance, showing him all his teeth. Peter stamped his foot on the floor and the monkey sat down looking at him like saying with his gaze: What do we do now? Peter reached for an apple in the fruit-bowl and threw it outside the open window, the monkey ran after the apple and Peter and I rushed to the window to close it behind the monkey who was contented outside chomping at his apple.

The Artist That Never Was...

It is said that the hoax which fooled certain Art critics as well as readers who fell for this deceit, was done with the complicity of David Bowie, John Richardson ( who is an expert on Picasso's life and times) and the U.S. author Gore Vidal.

According to them "Nate Tate" was an American artist born 1928 - 1960 the "painter" was 31 years old and he suffered from depression. One day, after having destroyed 99% of his work, he bought a ferry ticket to Staten Island and once on board, the "artist" walked towards the back, climbed the fence and jumped. His body was never found. To give it a realistic touch, Boyd included in the book paintings made by him, the photos that were shown, he took them from his private collection without any identifiable persons.

The hoax became stronger when he convinced Gore Vidal to include an anotation on the book. On the false biography Gore Vidal "remembers" Nate Tate as a "dignified drunk, without anything to say". Karen Wright who is co-director of Publication 21, where Bowie used to work said to the British press that the joke was not intended to be malicious. She added that part of it amused them a lot that people were taken in are were agreeing to have heard of him. Some went as far as saying his work was great. According to Boyd this is a fable for our times or any time in which people become Art celebrities over-night.

The Financial Terrorists

Whilst I was in Ireland I read an article in The Irish Times about an e-mail sent to the staff of the Anglo Irish Bank written by their Chief executive a David Drumm where he writes to his staff about a party themed: 'The Back To School Doombuster Party' that he organized at a time when the financial crisis was deteriorating and the economy was turning deeply negative. The e-mail read:

"Dear colleague, the stock markets are down. They say the economy is in recession. It rained most of the 'summer'. The holidays are over. This is Anglo, so there is only one thing to do - party!"

Whilst the bank's financial position was becoming more precarious in December 2008, the bank spent 175,000 Euros on a Christmas party for staff, that month the bank also spent 53,000 Euros on hampers and wine for clients and 24,000 bringing customers and their children to the annual Christmas panto in the Gaiety Theatre Dublin. The previous year, Anglo spent 272,000 on Christmas staff parties in Dublin, London and Boston and 229,000 Euros on three Christmas parties in addition to 87,000 EU on hampers and wine. Anglo Republic is the bank that broke Ireland. Like if that was not enough on September 5th 2008 ( just three weeks before the government bailed out Anglo from collapse) the bank spent 80,000 Euros on a party for about 600 staff, at the Mansion House in Dublin. The cost excluded accommodation in hotels for staff who travelled from the bank's regional offices for the party. The drinks bill alone on the night, amounted to 24,000 Euros and staff were entertained by a live band.'

Whilst the financial terrorists are having a great time, it is the poor tax payer who has to foot the bills for their extravagances, it is high time someone goes to prison, how is it possible that these people can take a whole country to the brink of bankrupcy putting it into debt with the EU and there is not even one single person accountable for all this financial fraud? I ask. The politicians are in it as well, since its not their money that they gave to the same people in the bank who broke the economy in the first place. It amounts to legalized thievery at a large scale. Its happening in many countries, one cannot help thinking that its organized to fail so that the banks can get a hold of people's money. In other words, the countries are artificially being made to become bankrupt so that they can get their hands on the tax-payers money to create a single European Super State that no one in their right mind wants.

Back from Ireland

Hi there! Whilst we were in Ireland with friends we were talking about the strange custom in the 1700 where the husbands could sell their wives in the market by simply putting her on a plimth and another man would offer a price that the husband could accept. Mischiviously, one of my friends asked Peter how much would he be prepared to accept for me. Peter got serious and he replied that there wasn't a price that he would be prepared to trade for yours truly, my friends looked surprised at this answer and they said they were very impressed to hear this after a marrriage of nearly 30 years they said that was not the answer they were expecting to hear maybe that was a reply a newly wed man would give not after a 30 year marriage. I have to say I feel the same towards Peter as well and this brings us to.. in a couple of years time it will be our 30th wedding anniversary and I'm thinking of something special and romantic where we could go to. I Thought about the Orient Express, although I'm a bit claustrophobic I do like travelling by train anywhere especially if it will be to Venice and Austria on the way and all the lovely places the Orient Express takes you to. I also like the idea of dressing up in the evenings and imagine I'm in one of Agatha Christie's stories but without the murder because I think that would spoil the romance of being in such lovely surroundings. I'm however not too thrilled to hear that the rooms haven't got their own bathroom and you have to share it with other people too by walking along the corridor, that is what it really stops me from going ahead with this plan. We have done the cruise travels and frankly, we both don't fancy doing that again besides, I get sea-sick anyway. I'm thinking of something else to do and I would love it if someone can give me ideas. Where is a romantic place to visit. Whatever it is, it has to include Venice because for me Venice is the most romantic place on earth but of course there has to be many other places in Europe that I still have not visited that might be very romantic too. I would like it to be special, so there is no room for experimentation as I want everything to go smoothly and without a hitch. Any ideas?

I may have been discovered

Well, this has been an exciting couple of weeks for me. The town cryer asked me if I would lend a couple of my paintings for a show at their church, to raise money for repairs and one thing has led to another. Whilst the paintings were on show at the church, a gallery owner saw them and he has invited me to put them up for an exhibition he is having on the 27th of August. Later on, I learned that this gallery owner is extremely well connected with famous people like Zandra Rhodes ( the fashion designer and Rula Lenska the actress ) among some of his friends and that last year, David Hockney had exhibited at his gallery. Everyone in the art world knows who David Hockney is, as he appears in every contemporary history of art book. So, I suppose this is great news for me. I also learned that this gallery owner also has another gallery in London, so I hope that this leads to more exciting things. He came to visit me to my home last Saturday and told me to be prepared to meet famous people at the show opening on the 27th of this month and to bring the paintings on the 26th. I will try and take photos. I will keep you posted...

Evil Racist Breivik

The enemy within. Billions are spent in wars abroad whilst the real danger resides in our midst as our own online bigots encouraged Breivik to carry out this massacre on its own people its about time that these racist bigots should be classed as terrorists. Is not enough to show contempt for these evil xenophobes, they have to be starved of excuses and of anecdotes, to stop them feeding their twisted bigotry to others by closing down their organizations and stop them from operating. Anyone with a modicum of biology would know that these people who fool themselves about inbred racial purity doesn't make biological or cultural sense, its only an ignorant delusion. Inbred racial purity in real terms only brings haemophilia, stunted growth, premature aging, stupidity and a much shorter span of life. It has been proven. They also cannot accept that as an enterprising, roaming and colonising nation, we are all a mongrel people with a mixture of Saxon, Viking, Celt, Roman, Greek, Norman, Arab, African, Indian etc. our blood is a cocktail. Racists fail to see that this is a source of strength and interest, not weakness and dilution. They don't know that the very language in which they rant, is a tapestry of borrowings from incomers, from the moment they drink their morning tea or coffee in pyjamas, to the last cup of cocoa under their duvet.The next thing we see, is one of the BNP chiefs Chris Hurst giving a Nazi salute crying: "Seig heil" to Breivik's heroine, a Swedish pop singer who goes by the name of Saga and who sang the Norwegian fiend's favourite songs at a rally in Hungary. Chris Hurst also spouted racist bile to an undercover reporter from the Sun who infiltrated the hate-filled festival attended by thousands of neo-Nazis from across Europe after the massacre in Norway. Chris Hurst, the far-right party's London Regional Secretary gave a chilling verdict on the massacre committed by the Norwegian madman Anders Breivik. He said: "Its good to fight back- but not by killing young white people"

Painting Shows

I have been working for two paintings exhibitions, one takes place on the seventh of Ausgust whilst the other one a solo exhibition is on the 10th and my kind friend Sue, is going to organize the nibbles, the wine and the invitations for the opening, I have managed to paint a small series of landscapes plus other paintings for the four walls of a room in my solo exhibition, which I'm hoping will do well. On top of that, I have a House Warming Party here at our home of which I'm organizing and looking forward to, plus my dear friend Marilyn and her daughter Ximena are coming to visit us later this month too, so August is going to be packed of fun and only fun for me. Then in September our friend Carlo is coming to visit us and we will also go and visit him in Florence so that is another exciting event to look forward to as well, then in November we are off to Gibraltar and we have already booked Christmas in a hotel in Oxford, so we pretty much, have got the rest of our year mapped out. As soon as I put on the finishing details of my last landscape, I will post it on the blog but now I must run !

Heir Hunter´s Show

The BBC has approved the seventh series of the ´Heir Hunter´show. We have now finished the sixth series which will be shown either Jan or Feb of next year and the BBC liked it, they are pleased with it so that´s why they have now commissioned the seventh series too, which in my opinion will be even better than the last ones, because we have very good, exciting stories and they will be surprised by them when we write them the new ones for their approval, as this show has in itself become an effective tool to reach more people and even solve cases that have remained unsolved until now.. in very surprising ways but I won´t be letting the cat out of the bag as I want people to see the show and find out for themselves. Peter is also getting more used to the cameras, so he looks more natural having had all this experience now is coming to him like a second nature.

I learnt that David Pacifico from Fraser & Fraser's is a keen ball room dancer so if the series continues the way it is going.. I can see myself dancing with David in that other show for celebrities! ha,ha,ha. I had better start to learn how to dance though. Just kidding here. It was a member of the public who told me this detail about David Pacifico she is a Jewish lady who watches Heir Hunters and had met David somewhere. Also, the BBC has sold the show to the History Channel and also to the Australian T.V. where some of our clients have seen us in the show there too. They also put sections of the show in You Tube. In the new series, we will appear at the new office, so you will be able to see how it all looks, with its wooden beams, Oh.. and before I forget as this is the most important thing, is that the BBC are going to start showing the programme at Prime Time, round seven O'clock maybe they will have Peter and Hector presenting the show or they might just re-edit it the series for a one hour show in the evenings, we are not sure yet what they will decide to do, but all in all, things are going very well.

Once the show hits the prime time slot ( which it has already been approved ) everyone will see it, as right now, we are missing the people who are at work in the mornings but this new slot will reach people who come back from work and sit to watch their telly whilst having dinner. I can see that it will really take off. Although at one point last month, it was being shown in the morning and again in the History Channel at 7 P.M. so I suppose the viewing was good and have now decided it will do well at the other BBC channel in the evenings. Well, that's all the news.

Sketching in the summer

"Every life can be told as a novel, each of us is the protagonist of his own legend" wrote the famous author Isabel Allende. I prefer to tell what I see in drawings driving through the beautiful countryside in my car; stop when I see a pretty view and set to work. The sun was shinning and the troubles and cares of this world vanish the moment I find my pastel colours. The only way to describe it is bliss! I work quickly before the weather decides to change and the image of that first impression is gone. Somehow when you draw, the scene gets imbedded in your memory and it becomes part of you. That is my tree and my hills. Are things really as I remember them or as I have painted them here? When it's done, I always feel disappointed that I have only managed to grab a 10th of what I saw. Still, the impressions of the day are there in mere chalks of what it was like to me that day.

Lone toddler's Bus Trip Shocker

The things that happen around here. A TWO year-old got on a bus and travelled 24 miles to Shrewsbury unaccompanied. He was just wearing his pyjamas, a nappy and socks, but no shoes, he somehow got on the bus and made the one hour trip to Shrewsbury without anyone noticing the parents were nowhere to be seen. The bus picked up people as usual and this little child managed to crawl on unnoticed and make his way to the back seat. Everyone in the bus naturally assumed the child's parents were on the bus and didn't make any comment about the child sitting on the back seat among a small group of teenagers. The bus driver tells the child wasn't in the slightest way distressed and didn't call out for his mother or father at any time. It wasn't until the bus pulled up at Shrewsbury's bus station that people started to realise the toddler was alone! When the last of the people started to get off the bus, the driver asked 'What about your child? to which everyone replied: 'It's not mine.' That's when it dawned on everyone that this child had made this trip all alone! Until that moment, everyone thought the child belonged to someone else and kept quiet. The concerned bus driver and one of the women on the bus, who had a pram, took the child to the nearest police station, a few hundred yards away and reported the incident. The police have commended the driver for his actions because he made sure the child was safe. The woman the driver was with, also purchased wet wipes and nappies to change the child. Isn't that something ?

Hi ! I'm back.

I have been devoting my time to my painting; the views around here are magnificent, everywhere you look and I have plenty of material to keep me busy painting away landscapes. I go in my car, to my chosen location with all my painting gear and its just really wonderful, we are having a good summer here of sun with a little bit of showers, so I have chosen to paint with pastels, that way, I don't have to scamper into the car with a wet oil painting that will smudge everywhere and also carry in the umbrella, the easel, the brushes in a real hurry when it rains! a dry medium like pastels means I can paint inside my car, for the most part, I try to choose locations where there is easy access to parking and where I can be seen but not disturbed as I hate being watched when I work, but at the same time, I like places where I don't feel isolated in a lonely spot, in case something goes wrong like the other day. The battery of the car went flat when I wanted to come home. I had borrowed Peter's mobile phone but unfortunatelly for me, these modern mobiles think they are computers or cameras or calendars or playing consoles except a real phone and for some reason, I only kept getting his list of contacts and unable to call him but just before panic set in, all of a sudden as If by magic, I spotted one of the RAC lorries that go in aid of broken down vehicles, so I flagged him down, his company isn't the one we are affilliated with but he still helped me to charge my battery and he didn't want to accept any payment. Without his help, I would have had to continue struggling with the blessed mobile phone to call Peter or.. walking a few miles back home. Anyway, I took my car to the mechanic which is only a short walk from our new home. You would never know the garage is there, the shop is a quaint looking cottage but inside it, it has all the modern equipment to service a car. Now, I love to paint plein air landscapes and it seems not a single day is the same, the second day I was prepared with a new car battery, a new simple mobile phone but got stung by a wasp that day and unfortunately I had to cut the painting session short. The lesson here, is to be prepared with a good insect repellent, a sun blocker and continue to persevere whether it rains or shines.

Moving House

A new dawn will start for us this Friday when we move to our 'new' home with new friends and neighbours. They say one of the biggest upheavals in anyone's life is to have a death in the family, a divorce or moving house but Peter and I have been for the past two weeks gradually moving there and not in one go as most people tend to do, this has made the task easier and pleasant. I have already moved the most delicate things like my china cupboard with all my precious Lladro figurines and my Wedgewood dinner set plus the Venecian chandellier which had to be disasembled piece by piece from our present ceiling and then I carefully washed each individual piece and delicately packed it, then it was transported over there and the electrician assembled it again and hunged at our new home, it took a whole day but it was worth it, as it looks simply marvellous. The new beds are also there, so today I will go to make the beds with the new bed linen and place the curtain poles in the bedrooms. Some clothes and furniture have already been transported there, so we can say we are half way done as we can comfortably stay there as it is right now. We are lucky in the sense that there will be more space at the new home than we have here right. The only hicup his been British Telecom who have already transferred my private line to the new house, or at least is in limbo as is neither here nor there since the telephones have not yet been connected at the new house so I'm incomunicado until the beginning of May. We have been promised by BT that we can retain the same telephone numbers so I hope that goes through alright as I have no desire to remember another set of three different telephone numbers. I think we will be very happy there as we already have friends and the last time we went to our new home we were made welcomed by a really nice group of ladies with whom we shared a joke and a laugh and we were informed that there will be a street party to celebrate the Royal Wedding in front of our home! I feel so happy to hear about this, as I have never been to a street party before. Everything here seems to be so unreal and happy. The town is self-sufficient as everything seems to be either in front of our home, along the road, behind our home (like the doctor's surgery) or around the corner. It is simply fantastic! this lovely market town is located at the foot of a castle where the views are of outstanding natural beauty. It also has a small museum where you can see the inside of a real house and how it used to be furnished long ago, with interesting memorabilia of the people who has lived there over the centuries and how life used to be then. The museum is run by volunteers. There are so many things to do as they have a calendar with lots of activities throughout the whole year and I can learn to do things I always wanted to do, like grow strawberries and cucumbers in an alotment for fun. There are cinema days where for a couple of pounds you can see a film and just across the road a new French restaurant has just opened too. The owner is French and he has a good reputation as a cheff since he owns another restaurant at a nearby town so this is very good news. Visitors come here every summer and I over-heard a lady saying: 'There aren't very many towns like this one left. It is such a pretty and quaint town that I wish I could live here' I just felt doubly lucky that we are going to move there this Friday, only two days to go! I'm so excited and the weather has turned sunny and pretty today with limpid blue skies. I can't believe our good luck!

My ADVENTURES IN MEXICO

Have you ever gone through the feeling that this might be your last day alive ? Well, that happened to us on the way to Merida. When I saw that we were going to board a small airplane on a pitch dark tarmac taxiway as we walked towards this plane, I said to Peter: ' haven't I told a thousand times that I hate small planes ? “ He didn't answer me. When we boarded, I noticed there weren't any lights inside this plane, just in the pilot's cabin and I counted 20 passengers in the dim light that came from the runway lights outside. We took off alright, the weather was very bad, furious winds and rain battered the small plane and at one point it felt like if the plane was going to flip upside down as it had already flipped sideways as
I could tell we were not flying straight; we had to hold on to the seat in front in order not to slip out of our seats and the wings of the plane were tilted sideways. When things couldn't get worse they did: We hit turbulence, bad turbulence and the plane was shaking like a milk shake in a can. I looked at Peter and instead of being scared I got cross with Peter and asked him: What airline is this? He replied: 'Maya Airlines' then suddenly the little plane plunged 100 feet in free fall; it looked like the pilots couldn't get any control of this sudden plunge and gust of wind. Everyone in the plane was screaming. I watched the pilots in the cockpit crossing themselves and I thought to myself: when even the pilots are crossing themselves it’s not boding too well. Then I turned to Peter and still cross at him I told him: You realize we are also going to fly over the Bermuda Triangle where ships and planes disappear without a trace and we are also flying with an airline no one has ever heard of, where small planes frequently fall of the sky like mosquitoes around here, we won't even appear in the news, no one will know where the hell we are. I thought about my friend Robert who doesn't like airplanes and Hector and our new house that I would not see finished and then I started thinking how we could survive if the airplane went down, thinking that maybe airplanes should have a large parachute in case it failed. The flight seemed interminable after what it seemed an eternity the weather got better and we could finally see the lights below of the city of Merida.
Phew! it looked like if everything was going to be fine after all. When we landed in Merida I heard a passenger saying she would have been better off travelling in a third class bus with the chickens! She thought that would have been a lot safer than this flight. If that was her first flight I'm sure it put her off for ever but I think I would have sooner travel in third class with the chickens had I known what an awful flight this was going to be.

JAPAN AND THE NUCLEAR DEBATE

Today is exactly a week since the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster happened in the beautiful country of Japan. I have been very impressed by the way the Japanese people have conducted themselves in the face of such a holocaust with orderly lines to get what they need and already the teachers are giving classes to children from tents and doctors are working hard to assist their patients. Japan, has always been a country I have admired for their discipline and exquisite manners. They recovered from the bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when the world thought they would never be able to lift their heads up again, to become over the years the third economic power in the world. It says a lot about the character of these exemplary people who live in a small island, and if anyone is going to overcome and triumph in the face of disaster it is going to be the Japanese nation. Of course, it is bad enough to overcome a tsunami and an earthquake together, events which occurs in nature with an unimaginable devastation and quite another one, to such a man-made disaster as a nuclear plant which the so called experts say is "cheap" energy, I think not; this is not a cheap technology once it fails, and hundreds of lives as well as land will be lost once its deamed unliveable. Our land masses are limited and we cannot afford to have vast areas of land empty for millions of years because of this type of "accidents": what the so called "experts" were saying only a scant few days ago that 'Chernoble cannot happen here' is very quickly turning into the worst nuclear disaster in history, even surpassing Chernoble. General Electric designed these Japanese plants that are now failing, so therefore they have a duty as well as a responsibilty to try and remedy the damage as they have a case to answer in this other hollocaust that they have now created. The excuse of: 'it was just designed for a 6 on the richter scale doesn't wash, this is a technology that cannot be controlled like a pandora's box where no one can predict the horrible devastation where other innocent people will have to live and suffer the consequences. I now hope that the bright bulbs in government will finally wake up to the fact that there are other means to produce greener and safer energy like for example: the hydroelectric technology, which can be harnessed from the rivers or the sea, they should be doing that, since Britain, and Japan are island nations surrounded by water, this technology is more viable and safer to obtain for all our energy needs, not to mention solar energy and to a smaller degree windmills too. Perhaps something good will come out of this disaster and goverments will finally shelve the nuclear nightmare technologies for ever, in favour of other natural fountains of natural energy.

MERIDA, MEXICO

Merida its a peaceful and lovely colonial town, just a walking distance from the hotel where we were staying at, is the Montejo Avenue, lined with grand beautiful houses in different styles, either French or Spanish styles. Merida prospered quite well by growing henequen or Izamal as some call it, after the port of Izamal where they used to export the ropes and bags made out of henequen. Great fortunes were made out of this industry but unfortunatelly the industry floundered with the invention of plastic
However, plastic bags have been found to rot the grains and its not echologically green as it doesn't degrade back into nature, so the Mexicans are beginning to see an answer in this plant to reintroduce it for commerce as the left-over of the henequen has been discovered by the NASA scientists to be more resistant than plastic in intense temperatures as it doesn't melt like plastic does, on top of this, there is a nice liquour that can be extracted from this plant and even though henequen is related to the agave (the plant that produces tequila) the liquour is completely different in taste to tequila. There are plans in Merida to start re-growing henequen again.

Robert, you would perhaps be interested to know that chilli peppers (without the bit that makes them hot) has been found by the Japanese to increase a person's metabolism
and Japan is marketing this discovery in pills to help people reduce weight.

Top Gear & Viva Mexico !!

Thank you, thank you guys for nearly wrecking our holiday in Mexico. The first time I heard about this fiasco was, when the Mexican taxi driver asked Peter and I, 'From where are you visiting us? we said Britain, our driver frowned and said if we had heard about the three idiots who insulted Mexico, from a British motor-show called Top Gear? We hadn't. When we got to our hotel, the British flag was being pulled down from the pole and that same night Mexican T.V. repeated the undiplomatic and ignorant remarks. I must say, it was Richard Hammond who started it all and the other two hyenas just continued the banter. So this picture is for you guys. Here we are.. In Mexico with our Viva Mexico sombreros accompanied by..Richard Hammond our donkey! After that, it was embarrasing to own up where we came from, so for the rest of the Mexican holiday we said we came from Canada. I have heard that Top Gear has since that apologized, although it wasn't quick enough for us over in Mexico. In future, think about your fellow country-men, as you are now infamous in Mexico. The Mexican spirit is a happy one and they will forgive you and they might even invite you to visit their country so that you can sample their hospitality. I recommend Cancun, San Miguel Allende, Guanajuato, Oaxaca and if you like Tequila, you can visit the blue hills where the agave plant grows. After we 'changed' our nationality, things were a lot better for us. Although at the second hotel we stayed at, in Merida, the hotel didn't have the British flag flying either. They had the U.S. flag, the Canadian, French, German and Italian flags but no British flag. Thanks guys!

The ' new ' house

As usual in the Birchwood family household every minute counts and Sunday is no exception. Today we have gone to meet the bedroom furniture designer. It is amazing
the range of things on offer, I got a hydraulic clothes rail so that I no longer have to stretch on tip-toes to get at my clothes. The shoe-rack is designed so that you can pull it out like a drawer so no more blind searching underneath the clothes. Every inch is useful. The inside of the closet doors have hinged mirrors so that I can move the mirrors around. In general, things are looking up. At the moment it has only bare walls as you can see but tomorrow Monday it will be the time when the kitchen furniture will be fitted in, and also the bathroom furniture and shower too. It really is very exciting to see it at this stage, where its no longer plans and dreams but the real thing.

After so much bureaucracy with the council of what nail was allowed and which one wasn't and after intensive renovation from top to bottom of this historical and listed home, the project is finally coming to be completed! in what I estimate would be another two months. Considering it was two years ago when we first started its really wonderful to come to see it at this final stage.

A message for my sweet sister

Patty querida cuenta conmigo con mi amor y carino especial para siempre estas en mi
corazon y mis pensamientos de tu hermana Maria

Heir Hunters, Christmas in Oxford

Today, the series will be shown in the History Channel, Hector will appear tonight at 7 p.m. on an aparthaid case from South Africa. Whilst the new series of Heir Hunters will start on BBC this month or at the beginning of February don't know yet.

Anyway, Christmas in Oxford was absolutely wonderful! we stayed at the Randolph Hotel where they used to film the Inspector Morse T.V. series. The attention was really superb. It is an old fashion hotel where you have to dress up for certain formal evenings and there was live entertainment every night with someone playing the accordeon one night or someone else singing romantic songs the next evening where we could dance and on this particular night, as I was dancing with Peter an 80 year old stopped us at mid dance because she wanted to dance with Peter. Peter and I were stunned! Peter told her that his feet had an ache and that we were just about to sit down. Diplomacy at its best because we had just began to dance. No sooner had we sat down at our table, when a real bold 70 year old woman tried to pull Peter to dance with her, she was tugging his shirt saying that life was too short and he should come and dance with her. I don't know what these ladies had in mind... a toy boy ? I was looking at this scene with real amusement. Again, he made his excuses. Peter was looking quite fetching that night with the clothes I chosen for him which by the way, he didn't particularly wanted to wear, as he is not really fond of dressing up with a tie and suit but it was a formal night and so we both had to make an effort but I think with the pulling power Peter had wearing these clothes he is looking at these clothes with other eyes now and I have to watch out for predatory older women! He was looking at me saying: "can't they see that my wife is ten years younger than me? why would I want to go and dance with a woman that is two decades older than myself? they could be my mother's age, it really was astonishing! I can only speak for myself but I wouldn't dream of asking a man to dance with me, specially if he was with his wife. Oh wow! what a night.

The next day, on boxing day we went to the theater to see a panthomime: 'Cinderella' oh what fun!! I had never been to a panto before and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. The best thing is that it had amusing things for children and adults alike it was just wonderful and really well made too. The clothes, the theater backgrounds, the storyline, the singing everything was really great and it was only two minutes walk from the Raldolph too. Our hotel manager had bought two rows of seats for the guests of the hotel and he made quite sure we were having snacks at the interval as an enormous box with assorted chocolates was passed around. When we left the theater, someone from the hotel was sent over and as he opened the door to let us out of the theater he told us that refreshments were awaiting for us at the tea-room in the hotel. I have to say I have never eaten so much in my life! I had to skip some meals because it was breakfast, lunch, tea-time and then dinner everyday. I don't think anyone could eat all that every day. I have never felt this pampered anywhere I have been to. For instance, one of the staff must have heard that I have trouble sleeping at nights and on that night, I had a spray mist that helps you sleep on my side of the bed, plus a stress-relieving hydrosoak from Molton Brown a really wonderful treat to relax.

We met some really nice couples too, who go there every year and I can see why, the atmosphere is really happy one and traditional too and its sad when its time to leave, a really worthwhile treat.