Impotent chiefs

Tonight, we (well not 'we' as such for we the people have no say in this) have elected the first President of the European Union. He is apparently, the prime Minister of Belgium, but I doubt that few outside Belgium have ever heard of him. And never forget that Belgium was once described as the 'opposite of charisma.' Same goes for the Secretary-General of the UN. Do you know who is? I can't be arsed to even Google it. It will be a name like 'Bum Arse Twat' and he'll be from some country that has never appeared on the world stage nor even made any effort to change it. And so it goes on. I have no bloody idea who leads the world's major international organisations - NATO, UNESCO, UNICEF, and so on. There was a Burmese guy who once headed the UN, U Thant as I recall. Seemed to be a nice guy which must have put him in a minority of, say 5, in that Godforsaken country.

So what do these people achieve? Bugger all. I am sure that they are all very nice and good company for dinner. They may even like cats. But as the saying goes, 'You can't make omelettes without breaking eggs.' It's time we put real leaders in these jobs or scrapped them altogether.

Water

I bought a book on Water the other day. I can hear you saying, 'Anorak, Geek, Nerd, etc.' but do I care? No. Water is one of the most fabulous substances in this world and possibly the entire Universe. Think about it.

Without it, you and I and all the creatures we know would simply not exist.

It is sometimes called the universal solvent. Well, not everything dissolves in water but many things do, an awful lot of things, in fact, but sadly not plastic bags.

It has the chemical formula, H2O - sorry cannot do the subscripts on here. Basically that means two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom in one molecule. So take my word for it, it has a molecular weight of 18. Now molecules of that weight move around quickly and cannot be retained by the gravitational pull of the Earth. Methane (aka cows farts), molecular weight 16, buggers off to the upper atmosphere and causes global warming.

We don't have puddles of methane here so why do we have oceans and lakes of water?

Well, water molecules are friendly so they clump in groups of six so the weight goes up to 6 x 18, which is 108 and that makes them too heavy to escape. And that's why you and I are here.

You don't believe me? Have you ever looked at a snowflake, any snowflake? They are all hexagonal.

I am free

I have got back from the Silk Road, 55 days and it was wonderful.

But that is not my reason in writing this night. I was listening earlier to the song 'I will always love you' by Whitney Houston but it has more gentleness from Dolly Parton who first sang it. Love her.

At the beginning, there are the words, 'I would only be in your way.' That's it, isn't it? I am both cursed and blessed. I need no one but I adore the feelings you give to me.

If I am honest, I need no one. I am self sufficient.

Free at last!

Daniel

Daniel William Oates is my second grandson. He will be 2 years old on October 7th when I shall be far away in China which is a pity. Daniel is cool, an overused word but entirely appropriate for this little man. Nothing fazes this little guy, almost always happy (cept when he's shit his pants). He's anybody's - happy to be held and cuddled by anyone. He seems to have no fear, looks like a little thug, which my son did at his age. This is Daniel unhappy. Life's a shit Daniel but you will get bye.

Presentations

For many years, I was terrified about making a presentation. Sure, I had been on the courses but that only told me how to do it; it did not cure the fear. On the rare occasions, I did one, people said I was OK but I never felt so. Every time, I was shaking.

Then in the late 80’s, I got a job where I knew that presentations would crop up frequently. Sharp intake of breath, swallow and thinking of how to go forward. I suppose it’s like facing any irrational phobia really – only way to cure it is to face up to it. So I completely reversed my historic attitude and sought every opportunity to speak to an audience.

I remembered the lessons I had been taught, chief amongst them being preparation and practice. It does not matter how long it is, you must rehearse it and rehearse it to the point that you know what you are going to say without reference to your slides. I used to practise mine at my office window chatting to the green woodpecker. He never complained, indeed he seemed almost interested but I doubted him.

In my life, I have coined two phrases with regard to making a good presentation:

‘Never let the facts get in the way of a good presentation.’

‘Bugger the truth, I want impact.’

And that’s it really. A presentation is a selling job be it ideas or products, concepts or dreams.

But never forget, you have to give people dreams.

Life and Cefn Onn Primary

I see my life as being made up of four phases:

Infancy
Education
Work
Retirement

They have all been good on the whole but the best is yet to be even if I drop dead tomorrow.

As you pass from one phase to the next, you pick up new things and drop off old things – people and ambitions.

Right now I am totally absorbed with the little children of Cefn Onn Primary school. I am fighting to keep it alive but it is much more than that for I am looking to the future. I want these children to be great and I shall hound everybody to make them be so.

I want this school and the kids to be a shining beacon of what can be done with love, thought and attention.

And that is why this blog has been neglected. These kids are more important.

CDC

This is the centre for disease control and it based in Atlanta. In my opinion, it is the best in the world. So if you are going to travel, go there first and get the latest advice.

I use it lots