Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Never let them know what you are thinking .

Driving along Britain's roads, I see a lot of bad driving by other drivers. Main culprit is the "me first generation" - drivers who force their way in front of you, no matter what. All time you have to take avoiding action, all you can do is apply the brakes. It is no point flashing the headlights or blowing the horn. Certainly not confront the other driver if they become stationary.

So it makes me laugh when I read this tale on the Magistrate's Blog ...

This week's Mr.Unlucky was driving along when he took exception to the way in which another car was driven at a merge point. He hooted, he waved, he swore. At the traffic lights along the road he leapt out of his car, rushed over to the offending Astra, and attempted to throttle the casually dressed driver. When the passenger held out his warrant card, shouting 'Police!' Mr. Unlucky claims not to have seen or heard.

He was duly arrested after a scuffle, in the course of which he suffered cuts and bruises, and came before us after a night in the cells.

What kind of loser manages, out of thousands of cars on the road, to have a go at two plain-clothes PCs on their way to a job in an unmarked police car?

That's right; Mr. Unlucky.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer .

Eight years ago, a crazed assassin killed the President's oldest friend and left aide Wes Holloway permanently disfigured. Now an impossible sighting of the dead man forces Wes to confront the truth of what really happened on that terrible day.

The Book of Fate is a well researched novel about a very workable conspiracy. I think it is a good book and shall vote it 4 stars on Book Army . This book ticks all the boxes, the story has a good structure and the joy is in the detail. All these little details add up to build a story that clearly unfolds the conspiracy behind the shooting at the Speedway stadium. A nice touch is the explanation of how political aides actually work behind the scenes. What is different about this thriller, is that the lead character is not a glamourous all-action hero but an under-dog who gets stared at because of his facial disfigurement. Wes has to deal with all these stares and get on with his life. His true friends ignore his scars and engage eye contact.

The Book of Fate was written in 2006 and published in paperback in 2009. It has 600 pages and I enjoyed reading this book until page 530. Then the story comes towards the end but it becomes very run-of-the-mill with no surprises. The Book of Fate was spoiled by the rubbish ending, a typical American gun-ho shoot-out that was rather childish in it's appeal. What was a deep, thought provoking conspiracy novel, ended by being a cheap action thriller. The Book of Fate does make the reader wonder if this type of conspiracy does take place in real life, it would not surprise me if it did, human nature being what it is.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Common sense has gone out of the window .

Reading the blog of Richard Scrimger I find that ignorance and lack of common sense is a problem the world over. Richard lives in Ontario, Canada and has received a parking ticket. His crime was to simply place his valid permit sideways on his windscreen, rather than straight up and down. The Parking Enforcement Officer viewed this as a failure to display rather than tilt his/her head to check validity. With some ignorant people, common sense just goes out the window.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Walking with devices .

Nice piece in the Guardian by Anne Karpf about people walking along the pavement oblivious to others because they are using a phone or other personal device. I have noticed this a lot this summer, with high numbers of pedestrians reading and writing texts on mobile telephones. Sometimes to see somebody walking towards you with both hands hanging down below their hips looks rather odd, even naked. What is so important that people have to read and text as they walk, or am I missing something? Have we become a nation of Tweeters ?

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The mother of all traffic jams.

Looking forward to the very probable motorway traffic jams on Friday, I read that British congestion is not so bad compared to China. For 10 days, drivers on the Beijing to Mongolia expressway have been stuck in a 60-mile tailback. Is this the world's longest queue? The Chinese authorities are struggling to clear the congestion, now entering its eleventh day and which, at its peak, stretched for more than 60 miles (100km). But the drivers still joining it are not optimistic about reaching their destinations swiftly. A combination of road works and the huge volume of coal trucks that daily rumble along this main route is said to have caused the problem.

That all makes Hereford appear to be a motorists dream, being able to cross the city in just 60 minutes!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

And on a quiet news day, what have I got? Surfing through some of my favourite blogs I stumble across these pleasing images. Thanks to Nothing To Do With Arbroath and Wabby for picking these up!




Monday, August 23, 2010

Cardamom Indian Restaurant

We went to the Cardamom Indian Restaurant for Faye's 58th birthday meal on Saturday night. The Cardamom is located at 442c Cowbridge Road East, on the corner of Victoria Park in the Canton district of Cardiff. A table for 8 people was booked and we all had a very nice meal and a great time celebrating Faye's birthday.

For my starter I had the Sheek Kebab which was nice and tasty. For my main course I had the Lamb Anawaka with Pilau Rice and a Peshwari Naan bread. The Lamb Anawaka is simply gorgeous, as curries go it is at the dry end of the spectrum. It is not a saucy curry but a well cooked dish that is full of flavour. This is a world away from the common or garden curries like the Tikka Masala and the Balti. The Lamb Anawaka is quite dry but to my palate it is simply beautiful. This is a meal I will be very happy to eat again.

The quality of food at the Cardamom is top rate and this restaurant has a good reputation. The Cardamom was a runner-up in the Welsh section of the British Curry Awards 2008 and having enjoyed their Lamb Anawaka so much, I can see why this restaurant wins awards.

So, I wonder whose birthday it is next and where they will choose to go?

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Should British men learn from their German counterparts, and take to sitting down to pee?

Taken from an editorial in that liberal newspaper called The Guardian...

apparently, lots of German men nowadays routinely sit down to pee. The purpose of this social revolution hardly needs detailed explanation.

...Okay guys, please vote in the comments box below. My vote is: Yes, men should sit down to pee.

There are 2 reasons for this, hygiene and not winding up following female users by leaving the seat in the raised position. Gail is very pleased that I sit down to pee and never raise the seat. I always know when Christopher, her son or David, her brother has been to our home whilst I was at work - they both leave the toilet seat up like a flag!
2012 The Crystal Skull by Manda Scott .

2012 The Crystal Skull starts off...

That which you seek lies hidden in white water. Stone will be rendered unto stone, made safe in a place of hallowed beauty against the Enemy that seeks its destruction. Search north and then east, fifteen and twenty, behind the hanging thorns within the curve of the bow, in sound of the falling river.

Enter with courage. Go forward as far as the dark allows. Step through night's arch and come to the cathedral of the earth. Face the rising of the sun, and its setting, pierce the curtain to the well of living water and discover at last the pearl there entombed.

Find me and live, for I am your hope at the end of time. Hold me as you would hold your child. Listen to me as you would listen to your lover. Trust me as you would trust your god, whosoever that may be.

Follow the path that is herein shewn and be with me at the time and place appointed. Do then as the guardians of night fortell. Thereafter, follow your heart and mine, for these are one and the same. Do not fail me, for in doing so, you fail yourself, and all the worlds of waiting.

...The above is from the ledgers of Cedric Owen, a physician who wrote a special code. These lines let the person decoding the ledgers to search and find a blue crystal heart-stone, shaped like a skull. This is all to do with a Maya legend that the earth will end on the 21st December 2012. The story develops about a time when 13 skulls around the world must be positioned in special places for our planet to be saved from destruction. Cedric Owen needed to keep his blue crystal heart-stone skull safe from the wrong people yet leave a coded message so that the right person could find the skull, keep it safe and do the right thing. Trouble is that this novel swaps between 2 time zones, from periods between 1556 and 1589 to 2007. This swapping between time zones really annoyed me. Manda used these 2 time zones to make each period appear to be a voyage of discovery for the reader. Put the 2 learning experiences together and you should begin to understand and enjoy the Maya legend. Only I did not enjoy this style of story telling and when I got as far as the end of chapter 22 on page 358, I suspended reading 2012 The Crystal Skull and returned to reading another book! This novel is not a thriller. I think 2012 The Crystal Skull is worth only the minimum 1 star on Book Army because it is rubbish. This book has poor entertainment value, it is make-believe for children. This story is bullshit! This novel is one to AVOID.

Stories of alchemy and the occult can work, I enjoyed reading Equinox by Michael White which is in a different class all together. The Crystal Skull was published in 2008 and was re-issued as 2012 The Crystal Skull in 2009. This book has 527 pages plus a further 7 pages of Author's Note. The warmest and most interesting part of this book was the Author's Note at the end. On page 535 Manda writes...

In the end, whether the ancients were right or not is a moot point, and if we're all still here and untouched on Hogmanay 2012 then we can perhaps laugh off the predictions much as we did the hysteria of the Y2K bug and all that led up to it -

...If, for any sad reason you wish to read more about the Maya legends then point your browser to 2012: Dire Gnosis and get your fix!

Friday, August 20, 2010

The joy of text .

Just read a story that made me think of my friend John and the joy of text. Click the link above to read this story that has a happy ending.

When mobile telephone batteries are running low, sending a text message is a very battery efficient way of getting help. Sending a text message demands very little battery power and you can clearly convey exactly what you want to say without any problems of being heard. The person receiving your message can read and study your message at leisure before helping you.

The only problem with mobile telephones is the very small minority of people who think they can go anywhere, whatever because they hold a phone! We all know the type, flip flop sandals to climb mountains and air beds to cross water but they have a phone, just in case!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

When talking hurts.

Eating dinner in Bradford on Saturday night I felt a crunch. I got the food out of my mouth and looked at it. There was maybe a very small piece of bone in my lamb burger. Bad luck I thought, although I have never had bone in my burger before. I finished my meal and thought nothing more about it.

Sunday morning and my tongue hurts on the right hand side. I put my finger in my mouth to smooth it and catch my finger on my back tooth. Ouch! I thought, that feels sharp! I feel the tooth again and wonder if it was not bone in my burger last night but that my tooth had broken? Ah, more bad luck I think as I start work to do the service back to Cardiff. Making the regular announcements over the microphone on the coach really starts to hurt my tongue. This is bad I thought, how long before my tongue heals? Drinking water on my rest break in Birmingham is painful too. When I get home and start eating my dinner, I find eating is painful. Finishing my dinner was a slow and painful drag. I could only manage sips and I could not drink normally.

Monday comes and my lunch is a slow, painful meal to swallow. Still I was fit for work and even managed to joke with Matthew in Cardiff Central Station about making an Improvised Explosive Device from his can of AdBlue . Eating my yogurt in Birmingham seemed to take an amazing 15 minutes as I tried not to hurt my tongue. Passenger announcements over the microphone were painful and softly spoken. When I got to Bradford my usual 30 minute telephone call with Gail was truncated to just 8 minutes because of my mumbling. Talking on the telephone to her simply hurt too much.

Tuesday morning and I still felt no better. I tried breakfast, drinking the orange juice and coffee was painful. Eating the cornflakes was slow. Eating the cooked breakfast was so painful and slow that I had to stop half way through. Friends and family know that I never leave any food on my plate, everything is eaten. But on Tuesday I had to leave half my breakfast, sorry Denise. In Birmingham I did not eat my Ginsters pastie and again drinking water was painful. I sent Gail a text message saying that I wanted no dinner when I got home.

Wednesday morning I decided to phone a dentist as my tongue was not getting any better. It hurts to talk, drink and eat. I have never been to a dentist and am aware of the problems that people have with dentists. I decided to call the dentist that my parents and friends have used. I explained my situation and they said I could have an appointment at 12.00 on Thursday. Dinner on Wednesday was a slow and painful experience. I was just looking forward to Thursday when I hoped the dentist would agree to remove my problem tooth.

No improvement with my tongue this morning but I was looking forward to resolving the problem at the dentist. The receptionist gave me a simple medical form to fill in and then I saw the dentist, Paul Stockford of Canton Dental Care, 339 Cowbridge Road East, Canton, Cardiff. I explained my problem to Paul and that with my job it would be difficult to fit in a course of treatment, so please could he just simply remove my tooth. He said that he would have a look in my mouth.

After looking Paul said that there was quite a bit of decay in that tooth and he agreed with me that it would, in the circumstances, be better to remove my tooth rather than to fit a crown. So Paul set to work with his injections, waited for them to take effect and removed my problem tooth.

WOW! What a relief! Brilliant! There was no pain involved whatsoever. I feel like a new man!

I was worried that upon visiting a dentist they might refuse to remove my tooth and try to sell me a long and expensive course of treatment. Gladly Paul was of a different school and simply said "I can do that" when I asked him to just remove my tooth. Paul Stockford now has one very happy customer and I would recommend him to anyone. I am not registered with any dentist and he was happy to take me on as an emergency private case. For this I am very grateful because living with that torture of the constant tongue pain when talking, drinking or eating was dreadful. The treatment I received today was worth every penny. The costs were consultation at £35.00 plus extraction at £72.31 totalling £107.31

Since then I have been able to talk, drink and eat normally. Result!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

It's not just me, then.

I liked the article by Mary Ann Sieghart in the Independent newspaper entitled "Saving lives can't be the only criterion". She writes a lot of sense in her article and I totally agree with her views. Okay, the politicans and the police go on and on about saving lives and if only the nanny-state go have even greater powers, then maybe more lives could be saved. But these arguements forget that getting out of bed in the morning is a risk, you may trip or slip and bang your head. Life is about managing all risks and people are rather good at managing those risks, without the intervention of government.

There will always be the risk of injury from crossing the path of moving objects. Somebody could open a door against you and knock you over. Respect moving vehicles on the road and do not walk in front of them, that is basic road safety that should be obvious to all. There is no need for the whole country to be reduced to 20 mph so that the ignorant can jay-walk. Roads are for driving on and are not a playground or shopping mall.

Drunk drivers are a deadly problem, nobody will disagree with that. But lowering the drink drive limit will not stop the drunk drivers. The drunk drivers will always be a problem, that is the decision they have made and altering the drink drive limit will never affect their decision to drive. There are many factors that affect drivers' ability and playing around with the drink drive limit will not change things. There is a huge difference between having a drink with a meal, to being drunk and then driving. It is the same difference between having a conversation with a front seat passenger and using a mobile telephone whilst driving.

Mary Ann Sieghart's article is a good one to read and I believe she is right.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Oh lucky you .

Over on Ad Nauseum Quincy Phd has a post about the latest television advertisement for the Halifax Building Society. These advertisements in the current campaign by the Halifax, all taking place in a fictitious radio station, make me cringe. They are daft and do not advertise the financial products on offer from the Halifax but are to highlight just how cool, human and approachable their staff can behave. However, companies should advertise themselves as professionals in their field, not as amateurs having a laugh. These advertisements do not inspire customer confidence and I agree with Quincy's criticism of these television advertisements by the Halifax. These advertisements are worse than the constant bottom slapping from Asda and the patronizing fishmonger at Morrison's.

The Halifax has made a bad television advertisement that does nothing for their brand. Quincy has written an excellent blog post that is a joy to read and far more entertaining than the Halifax totty!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Licence checks.

Check this, check that, here we go again. I have to present my driving licence again to my employer. "Oh," said our transport manager, "please bring your driving licence in for us to check it."

"What for?" I reply, "You looked at it a short while ago!"

"That was 6 months ago, we do 6 monthly checks now!"

For goodness sake, is nobody trusted any more? There are these constant demands everywhere in our society today that you must prove your innocence in your daily life. Gone are the days of innocent until proven guilty, now you have to prove that you are innocent just to continue for daily life. We are under a contractual agrement to notify any change in our driving licence to our employer, yet they do not trust the drivers and demand that they check them every 6 months. I wonder what petty check they will force on us next? Oh yes, it will be the fitment of Alcolocks on the coaches, so that they will not start until the driver supplies a breath sample into the device. So much for innocent until proven guilty, we will have to proove twice a day that we are sober!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

The dark side of suspicion that feeds on ignorance.

Nice to read that a radio advertisement by the Association of Chief Police Officers has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority. The advert included this alarming dialogue...

"The man at the end of the street doesn't talk to his neighbours much, because he likes to keep himself to himself. He pays with cash because he doesn't have a bank card, and he keeps his curtains closed because his house is on a bus route. This may mean nothing, but together it could all add up to you having suspicions."

...Gosh, how to frighten the public with this nonsense. It is all to easy to jump to false conclusions and some members of the public can be rather ignorant of strangers. What ever happened to live and let live? We are supposed to be a nation of tolerance and not frightened into thinking everyone is a potential terrorist. I deplore this fearmongering by the police, some people just want to live quiet and private lives. People have no right to know everybody else's business and should leave others quietly to get on with their own lives. What next, will the police demand that everybody out in public must wear a name badge on their left breast as demanded of drivers working for a nationwide company? Hey guys, what's in my rucksack?

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Madeira Restaurante .

Yesterday was Deborah's 38th birthday and she decided to celebrate it by going out for a meal with friends. She chose the Madeira Restaurante, which is located at 2 Guildford Crescent in Cardiff. This is a small street just off Churchill Way in the city centre and close to the Queen Street train station. The Madeira Restaurante specializes in Portuguese cuisine and Deborah booked a table for 10 people. She was right to book in advance because the Madeira Restaurante is a very busy and popular restaurant.

I had Deep Fried Scampi at £4.25 for my starters. There were 7 pieces of scampi in batter on my plate together with some salad. This was a delicious, quality starter to my main course and worth the money. I then had the Lamb Espetadas - a Madeira Special Kebab at £13.95 - a very popular dish with other diners. What you get are lamb chunks kebabed on a skewer that is suspended above your plate from hooks in the ceiling. If you wish they attach some tissue with garlic butter at the top of the skewer, which then drips down over the lamb chunks adding even more flavour to your meal. We all know what a gamble lamb, as a meat, can be and you only get what you pay for. The lamb sold at the Madeira Restaurante is really, really good - what I would describe as lamb fillet. It reminded me of the gorgeous food I enjoyed in a restaurant at Gumbet in Turkey , where they do a lovely, quality kebab on skewers with only the finest cuts of lamb. My meal last night was on a par with the Istanbul kebap at the Aloah in Gumbet. To compare last night's meal with the memorable meal that I enjoyed in October 2005, shows just how good the Lamb Espetadas at Madeira's really are. The Lamb Espetadas is served with a little salad and for everyone to share, regardless of their choice of meal, are bowls of cauliflower in batter, garden peas and saute potatoes.

Waiter service is good and very discreet. I did not notice our waiter remove from the table our starter crockery or the finished kebab skewers hanging from the ceiling. Another nice touch is the bar at the front of the restaurant where you can march up, select your drinks, pay for them with cash and walk back to your table. This enables the waiters to concentrate on food orders and makes splitting the bill between friends easier, especially when some people drink more than others.

We all enjoyed our meals and it was a nice birthday celebration for Deborah. We paid more than we usually pay for eating out but it was a special occasion and the quality of the food reflected the event. We got what we paid for and we can recommend the Madeira Restaurant for that special occasion. You will be asked to sing and clap to "Happy Birthday" in Portuguese, if the staff know it is your birthday. We were the 3rd table to sing the ritual song, complete with an obscure moving puppet dance last night. I wonder who will be next to choose the Madeira Restaurant for their birthday meal?

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Robbed, then lined up and shot .

The shock of it all astounds me when I first read about it on Saturday night. The shock was still there with me on Sunday when I read some more about it. I could not blog about it on Sunday, yet I read some more about it in yesterdays' newspaper. I am talking about the murder of 10 innocent aid workers by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The medics were heading back to Kabul when they were intercepted by gunmen. According to the sole survivor, an Afghan, the group was robbed, then lined up and shot. The killings were roundly condemned. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described them as a "despicable act of wanton violence" and described the aid workers' work as heroic. "The Taliban stopped them on a remote road on their journey from Nuristan, led them into a forest, robbed them, and killed them," she said.

Dr Karen Woo wrote a blog called DR KAREN EXPLORES HEALTHCARE IN AFGHANISTAN , a blog I have stumbled across in the past. Reading what Karen has posted makes this tragedy seem much closer to the reader. What the Taliban has done is despicable and can not be excused. Okay, Afghanistan was invaded by the West, which was wrong but these aid workers are very brave in coming to help the people of Afghanistan. These aid workers are not combatants and are no threat to the people of Afghanistan. These medics have turned down good paying jobs to provide healthcare to the needy, not the rich. Yes, some of the aid workers may be Christians but surely the Taliban should be able to turn a blind eye to this and accept the good work these aid workers are providing to the population of Afghanistan. These aid workers came to Afghanistan to give medical care to the needy, not to spread Christianity to an invaded country. The Taliban have committed the murder of 10 innocent people and have scored an own goal that the whole world now knows about.

My thoughts are with the families and friends of Dr Karen Woo, the six Americans, a German and two Afghans caught up in this slaughter.

Friday, August 06, 2010

That Mitchell and Webb Look

I enjoy watching comedy on the television and I look forward to any new comedy series. The other night I tuned into That Mitchell and Webb Look. I shall not be watching this programme again as I thought it was rubbish. Okay, I can accept that all jokes will not work with everyone and there will be a few misses. But I thought the complete programme was rubbish, it was so puerile. That Mitchell and Webb Look is broadcast after the nine o'clock watershed and should be adult in it's content. This should not be a time for children's television. There was no quality in this programme, the writing was poor and the performance simply amateur. Not one sketch rang a bell with me and I was glad when this awful programme finished and I could watch a more entertaining television show.

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

The mother of all neighbour disputes .

Time and time again neighbours all around the world fall out over something, quite often it is gardening and plants. These disputes can get quite nasty and occasionally one neighbour can turn violent. Sometimes harsh words may be spoken and the dispute may even turn to blows.



Now look at the tree in the picture above. The dispute over this tree has claimed five lives. Three Lebanese soldiers, an Israeli lieutenant-colonel and a Lebanese journalist outside an otherwise nondescript village called Addaiseh in Lebanon. The tree was a miserable, scrawny thing, probably a spruce and – after a 46-degree heatwave in Lebanon – its foliage blocked the Israeli security cameras on the Israeli-Lebanese border near Addaiseh. The Israelis decided to use a crane to rip it out. So when the Lebanese army saw the Israelis manoeuvre a crane up to the fence yesterday morning, they began to shout at the Israelis to move back. The moment the crane's arm crossed the "technical fence", Lebanese soldiers opened fire into the air. The Israelis, according to the Lebanese, did not shoot in the air. They shot at the Lebanese soldiers. At about this time, Al-Akhbar newspaper's local correspondent Assaf Abu Rahal turned up in Addaiseh to cover the story. And a little time later, an Israeli helicopter –apparently firing from the Israeli side of the border (though that has yet to be confirmed) – fired a rocket at a Lebanese armoured vehicle, killing three soldiers and the journalist. Lebanese troops, on orders from Beirut, fired back and killed an Israeli lieutenant-colonel.

...So there you have it, with quality reporting from Robert Fisk. Typical of Israel to bully it's neighbours in the Middle East. This demonstrates what is wrong with Israel and it's leaders. What is wrong with normal diplomatic channels? Israel has happily murdered four people all because of a tree on Lebanese soil that may have spoilt the view in their camera. This is murder and madness, all on the same day and Israel should hang it's head in shame and apologize to the rest of the world for the crimes they have committed.

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Some spin on a beer belly .

Most people think that spin is confined to Westminster politics and publicity departments of large companies. But no, everybody is at it, including the Campaign for Real Ale. Swapping wine for beer could help people lose weight, CAMRA has claimed. The news could help publicans encourage customers away from the treadmill and into their pubs, as substituting wine for beer for a single week could save as many calories as a half an hour jog. A Beer Academy report revealed that half a pint of 3.8 per cent bitter contains just 85 calories, compared with a 175ml glass of white wine, found to contain 131 calories. Brewing expert Charlie Bamforth was pleased with the news. “For years beer has been blighted by a reputation for being more fattening than other drinks," he said. "The major source of calories in any drink is the alcohol itself, and because beer is the drinks category with the lowest average alcohol content it is also lowest in calories.”

This in my opinion is a load of spin! If you offer me a half pint of 3.8 per cent beer, I will tell you where to put it. I enjoy drinking beer in pints, half pints are for children. Any beer under 4.2 per cent alcohol by volume is not worth drinking. You must compare like with like and a half pint of children's beer is not a fair comparison to a 175ml glass of wine. So changing from wine to real ale will not reduce your belly. Sorry guys!

Monday, August 02, 2010

Saving Faith by David Baldacci .

Saving Faith is a tale of goings on between the CIA, the FBI and political lobbyists. There are lots of threats, lies and dodgy deals. People get hurt and their best made plans have to suddenly change. Like most of David's books there is an awful lot of detail but this does not lead the reader to have empathy for any of the characters. I found this book a yawn and the twists did not inspire me. The plot was like a made-for-TV movie. This story just plods along to a poor but unlikely ending. I took nothing away from this novel. Saving Faith, no thanks, I wished that Leonid Serov had not missed with his rifle near the start of this book.

I will vote this book 1 star on Book Army because it is so bad. Saving Faith is the worse of the 4 David Baldacci novels that I have read. This book has 449 pages and was written in 1999, although it was not until 2003 that it was published in paperback. I purchased the omnibus edition that was published in 2009. I found this book so frustrating as my daily read, that when I got to the end of Chapter 32 on page 268, I abandoned reading Saving Grace and picked up another novel by a different author. I have never before abandoned a book before the end and started reading another book. Ten days later I returned to Saving Faith and continued reading to the end of this poor novel. I was then sure why there had been a gap of 4 years between the publication of the hardback edition of Saving Faith and it being released in paperback. Saving Faith is the David Baldacci novel to AVOID.

Sunday, August 01, 2010

Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind).

This link was passed onto me and it features a witty video on You Tube. Grandmothers have watched it on national television and they like it too. This song is about the city of Newport in south east Wales, a city less than 20 miles from my home. It is a parody of the Alicia Keys song about New York.

I really enjoyed watching this video and I think it is a hoot! This is very good comedy and it is really well done. It features life around Newport and is done with a lot of style. The lyrics are spot-on and you will not miss them because there are subtitles for those users not familiar with the accent of south east Wales.


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