My advice for the month is ‘Don’t
Give Up’ as if you really believe in something, keep trying and you will
probably eventually get what you seek.
My youngest son is in his final year at University and decided a little
while ago that he wanted to train to become a lawyer after thoroughly evaluating
a number of options. He has now been
attending interviews and vacation schemes with a variety of law firms for the
last year or two. Very early on he had
an offer from one firm of a training contract followed by a job but he turned
it down as he has set his sights on one of the top five or ‘Magic Circle’ law firms. Although he was determined, he did get
despondent occasionally as the time he was dedicating to this along with a
couple of rejections was making it hard and he started to question whether it
was the right thing for him. Well, despite
all of his Uni work, and giving up most of his holidays to this cause, he kept
going and I am pleased to say that he has just had an offer from one of the Big
Five. A huge relief for us all and proof
that if you put in masses of energy and you don’t give up – you will get there
in the end. This is also a good lesson
for me in the rollercoaster ride I am on in determining how I am going to spend
my time post Grass Roots. More on that
in my next blog. At least I hope
so. Must keep going....
I was fortunate to have been invited with my eldest son to spend 24
hours at Goodwood with Rolls Royce. The event was designed to impress prospective
customers with the quality of the cars, making it more likely they would buy
one. Well while we are not in the market
for a Roller, I can tell you that we were very very impressed. We started off with a dinner with the Sales
and Marketing Director, followed by a presentation and tasting of Louis 13
Cognac which costs £5,400 a bottle. Very
fitting for Rolls Royce. If I had
realised that the booze I was drinking costs £500 a glass I am quite sure I
would have choked on it. Anyway they
sold a couple of bottles so I am sure they were happy. The real fun started after breakfast when we
were taken on a factory tour. The
factory was built by the owners of the brand BMW 10 years ago and is stunning
it its architectural beauty and simplicity.
From the middle of the production line you can see across the
countryside as all of the walls are made of glass. Oh and the cars are pretty impressive
too. We then spent the rest of the day driving
the full range of cars. Phantoms down
beautiful autumnal country lanes; Ghosts and Wraiths around the famous Goodwood
racing circuit. The cars are truly
beautiful and exquisitely and lovingly hand assembled to the owner's every whim. Whether it be the choice of 11 bull hides
(not cows because of the stretch-marks) or the layering of the finest woods
with matching knots on each side of the car, the quality and attention to
detail is second to none and explains the extravagant price tag of over
£250,000 each. Apparently the leather
and wood off-cuts get sent over to Bentley (their joke of course). The event was amazing at every point; my only
mis-hap was when I took the 625bhp Wraith round the circuit and hit a pheasant
at 100mph. At that speed the air current
and velocity were such that it just disintegrated in front of the windscreen in
a cloud of puff and feathers and didn’t leave a mark on the car. Back at the factory, they weren’t bothered and
just said I was lucky it wasn’t a deer!
 |
| Phantom Drophead |
We were invited by a great friend of ours on a tour of the Palace of Westminster to give it its
correct name. We started off in
Westminster Hall which is the only original surviving part of our Parliament;
it is 1,000 years old, the largest building with a wooden roof in Europe, and a
building with more history I would guess than anywhere else in the world; from
its creation in 1077 by William 2nd (Rufus), from its use by Henry 8th
and his court through to the lying in state (funeral) of Winston Churchill and
the Queen Mother, it has seem more than any of us! We visited the House of Commons, The House of
Lords and all of the very impressive rooms that surround them (too many to
mention here). The palace was burned
down and rebuilt by the Victorians in 1850 and now represents the very best of
Victorian architecture and design (thanks to Sir Charles Barry and his team). During the blitz, the House of Commons was
destroyed by a bomb so the Lords chamber was used and it is there that Churchill
made his famous war speeches; and you can see and touch the scars on the table
where he beat his fist and scratched the wood with his ring during those speeches. When you think of the laws that have been
passed in these rooms by great men and women mostly making our lives better
(from the abolition of slavery to votes for women) you feel insignificant and ephemeral
in this place that is so Big. In the House of Commons lobby, there are four full size statues, one at each corner; they are
of Thatcher, Attlee, Churchill and Lloyd George, amongst the four greatest Premiers
the House has seen? There is an
overwhelming feeling of ceremony, history, democracy, fair-play, splendour, britishness,
accessibility, awe and pride that pervades.
After the tour, we attended a session of Prime Minister’s Questions
which was particularly lively. The main
topics were the rising cost of household energy bills, Scottish Independence
(please no) and the cost of living. Both
Ed Milliband and David Cameron spoke eloquently and I found myself laughing
quite a lot to many of the responses.
Finally we had a fine lunch in the Strangers’ Restaurant, ending a great
day and re-enforcing my belief not only in democracy, but in our democracy
which is the oldest and certainly still one of the best. It was a privilege to see at first hand where
our laws are debated and passed and anyone who can’t be bothered to vote should
be ashamed of themselves. Whilst few of
us will agree 100% with any one politician or party, they make the laws, most
of them work exceptionally hard and passionately and most of them are trying to
make their constituencies and our country a better place.
 |
| The Palace of Westminster |
Our first frost this winter
was on November 13th. I stepped
outside at 7am and had to scrape the ice off my windscreen before I could leave
for work as the temperatures fell to close to zero for the first time since
last winter. However, although the cold
is always a shock when you step out of the house, it was a crisp sunny autumn
day, with beautiful colours and the cityscapes and landscapes always look more attractive
with the sun and the colours at this time of year. We have had quite a few of these days and as
we now approach the end of autumn, most of the leaves have now fallen making
for some colourful footpaths and the few remaining trees and bushes with
colourful leaves stand out even more.
This is one of my favourite times of year. And next we move into my least favourite....
 |
| Autumn Colour by my front door |
I cried on my way to work listening to BBC
Radio 4: The bodies of 87
people, thought to be migrants, were discovered in the Sahara desert in the
north of Niger at the end of October. They died of thirst when their vehicles
broke down en route to Algeria. Shafa, a 14-year-old girl from Niger, survived
and told BBC Radio 4’s Newsday programme her story. I listened to her
speaking through a translator and here is the transcript:
We were on our way to
Algeria to visit family members. There were more than 100 of us in a convoy of
two vehicles. Our truck broke down and it took a whole day to fix. In that time
we ran out of water. We managed to find a well but there was very little
water - one of us climbed down into the well and managed to draw out a tiny
amount, but the rest of us went thirsty. The drivers told us to wait
while others went to fetch water, but a night and a day later they had not
returned. That was when people started dying. Some 15 of us died on that
second day without water. We moved on with the dead bodies in the truck.
By this time the second vehicle had returned with some water, Alhamdulillah
(thanks to God). We came across some Algerian security forces - but the drivers
turned around because they didn't want to be caught carrying us since this was
illegal. They asked us to hide inside a trench, we spent another night there -
so that is three nights in a row without any water. One woman started
complaining and one of the drivers used a hose to beat us. Many women and
children died. The drivers had some water in jerrycans but kept it for
themselves. From there they took us back into Niger. Our water ran out
again. There we were, hungry and sitting amidst corpses in the truck.
Once we were in Niger, the drivers removed the bodies from the truck for
burial. They laid them out on the ground - mothers first, then their children
on top of them. Those of us who were still able to move were told we
would be taken back to our village. On the way, we ran out of petrol and they
asked us to give them money to buy more. They told us to get out of the
car while they went to get the fuel. They never came back. We waited for
two days in the desert - no food, no water - before we decided to start
walking. Some vehicles passed by, we tried to stop them but no-one would
stop. One of the passing cars even knocked down three of our group and killed
them. There were eight of us by now, including my mum and my younger
sisters. When we got tired, we sat under a tree, and that was where one of my
sisters died. We buried her there. Then we continued walking and after a
day, my second sister died. Then on the third day my mother died. I buried all
of them myself. None of the vehicles that passed by agreed to stop and
pick me up. After a while I found a tree and sat under its shade, almost
giving up at that point... then a car came by. I took off my blouse and
started waving it wildly. He stopped and asked me what happened and I told him.
They gave me some milk, then water and rice cake. I ate a little bit but
I couldn't continue, then they made me some tea. It was only then that we
carried on travelling towards Arlit, where I was reunited with my grandfather.
So here I am - my father died long ago, now my mother is dead, I have no
sisters, no brothers. I am living with my aunt. I heard that only myself
and a little girl and 18 men survived the journey out of more than 100 of us.
“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this
world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.
Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except
all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Winston
Churchill
 |
| Statue of Churchill in Commons Lobby next to Lloyd George |
No comments:
Post a Comment