I was never a lover of the pop group Queen, their dress style, their hair, their choreography on stage, well that is apart from some of their music.
Is this the real life? 
Is this just fantasy? 
Caught in a landslide 
No escape from reality 
Open your eyes 
Look up to the skies and see 
I'm just a poor boy (Poor boy) 
I need no sympathy 
Because I'm easy come, easy go 
Little high, little low 
Any way the wind blows 
Doesn't really matter to me, to me 

Mama just killed a man 
Put a gun against his head 
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead 
Mama, life has just begun 
But now I've gone and thrown it all away 
Mama, ooh 
Didn't mean to make you cry 
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow 
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters 

Too late, my time has come 
Sends shivers down my spine 
Body's aching all the time 
Goodbye, everybody 
I've got to go 
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth 
Mama, oooooooh (Anyway the wind blows) 
I don't want to die 
Sometimes wish I'd never been born at all 

[Guitar Solo] 

I see a little silhouetto of a man 
Scaramouch, Scaramouch, will you do the Fandango 
Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me 
(Galileo) Galileo (Galileo) Galileo, Galileo Figaro 
Magnifico-o-o-o-o 
I'm just a poor boy nobody loves me 
He's just a poor boy from a poor family 
Spare him his life from this monstrosity 

Easy come, easy go, will you let me go? 
Bismillah! No, we will not let you go 
Let him go 
Bismillah! We will not let you go 
Let him go 
Bismillah! We will not let you go 
Let me go (Will not let you go) 
Let me go (Will not let you go) (Never, never, never, never) 
Let me go, o, o, o, o 
No, no, no, no, no, no, no 
(Oh mama mia, mama mia) Mama Mia, let me go 
Beelzebub has the devil put aside for me, for me, for me! 

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye 
So you think you can love me and leave me to die 
Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby 
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here 

[Guitar Solo] 
(Oooh yeah, Oooh yeah) 

Nothing really matters 
Anyone can see 
Nothing really matters 
Nothing really matters to me 

Any way the wind blows...

        

It was an early start for club members of Kingston's Rotary Club, preparing the 2010 Dragon Boat Race on the River Thames .

        

It has been a few days now since the horrific scenes of the Madingley tower block fire, on the Cambridge Estate in Kingston upon Thames. See Tower Block on Fire in Kingston upon Thames 

        

Today a tower block of flats caught fire on the Cambridge Estate, in Cambridge Road, Kingston upon Thames here in the UK.

Top 4 floors ablaze of the Cambridge Estate flats,

Kingston upon Thames

        

It seems like only yesterday since I last posted a blog, but it has been some weeks.

        

I love my job.

I Love You Phillip Club Gaziantep

        

Further research to my article "Oil spill: Obama to 'make BP Pay" I asked to look at all the facts before coming to a conclusion.

        

I was awoken in the middle of the night here in Gaziantep, Southern Turkey, and listened to the speech made by the American President Barak Obama from the Oval Office about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, where he said he will "make BP pay".

        

The Red Dragon Steam Train Nunney Castle at Fishguard Harbour

        

I have written about many foods I have eaten around the world, and each country I visit will give their own ingredients and presentation styles, but I have never written about an English breakfast.

Stena Line ferry arriving at Fishguard Harbour 

        

Why are we so fascinated by the power of steam railway engines?

Mayor Bob Wheatley greets the Nunney Castle

4-6-0 wheel configuration see Train Spotting, a very British hobby

        

I have not seen so much metalwork being worn for many a year.

The occasion was “The Making of the Mayor” for Fishguard and Goodwick, two towns on the Pembrokeshire coast of Wales.

The Mayor and Mayoress of Fishguard and Goodwick 2010

Councillor Mayor Bob Wheatley and Laiyng, with other dignitaries.

 

Bob, (Robert) Wheatley, has been elected as Mayor for Fishguard and Goodwick for 2010, and the day was a celebration, the the start of his time in office, and along with his wife, Laiyng Wheatley, the Mayoress, friends family, other dignitaries, councilors and Mayors and Mayoress’s of other local towns, all wearing their chains and robes of office, a service was shared at the local church followed by a reception at the Fishguard Bay Hotel .

Welsh people are a proud people, having warm hearts and a very welcoming nature, and it was a shock for me to be walking through the narrow streets of Goodwick, and every person I meet, said hello to me. In London, I could go days without speaking or greeting a single person. 

The Welsh also have their own language, and as those who know me know, language and me do not agree, I speak only English. Part of the service was sung and spoken in Welsh, and thus for part I was lost.

 

It was a pleasure to witness my long term friend take the office of Mayor, and present himself adequately, no, in fact handsomely, with the speeches he made during the evening, all made from his heart.

I have know Bob and Laiyng for many years, and their warm hearts, their kindness, their never failing hardwork and sincerity will serve them and the community of Fishguard and Goodwick well for 2010.

I wish them well.

        

It has been a long journey today, from London to Fishguard in Wales, some eight hours. My train from London was delayed, and we missed the connecting train out of Cardiff to Fishguard. With only 16 passengers wanting to go to Fishguard, the train company, kindly supplied a mini bus, for the passengers to complete the journey and to catch the ferry to Ireland.

Now London cannot compete with this for relaxation.

        

Up to £100 trade in off the cost of a new computer from your old computer at PCWorld. Now there is an offer.


PCWorld offer of £100 trade in on an old computer

For a number of years I have visited my local PCWorld, Dixon's, Dixon's Digital, (all part of the same organisation), in my local town of Kingston upon Thames , being attracted by the electronics, the gadgets, and I have spent good money with them.

People who know me, know that if there is a gadget, Phillip has to have it, I am compulsed to buy the gadget. I get it to work, understand it, use the facilities it offers, and soon after, it gets regulated to the back of a cupboard, being replaced by the latest gadget.

I travel a lot around the world, giving trainings, seminars, presentations, speeches, and shows, and I need a light, good notebook or laptop to do my work on stage. I use the internet to keep in touch with the world, Skype for telephone communication, Slingbox to watch British TV in my hotel.

PCWorld had in the past their own fantastic laptop badged as the Philip's Freevent, a really good fast computer, small with a good battery life for use on an aircraft, train or in remote areas. So far I have had two in the last four years, but PCWorld stopped selling them, so the latest laptop I purchased was a HP TouchSmart tx2, not a machine I am especially happy with.

The first Philip's Freevent served me well, but the keyboard started playing up, which was easy to overcome, I used a USB detachable keyboard, but it was not a good solution for traveling, so I purchased another Philip's Freevent, again a great computer, cheap but good.

OK, you buy cheap, you get cheap. The keyboard on the first Freevent started failing, the case on the second cracked, but it still functioned, until the keyboard started to fail. No problem, both had served me well, and with effort are still operational, not good enough for my travels. So I brought a HP TouchSmart tx2 from PCWorld about one year ago, I am not 100% happy with it, but I made my bed and I must sleep in it.

Yesterday the second Philip's Freevent battery detached itself from the computer, the plastic retaining clips had failed, deteriorated,, fell off, meaning the battery would not stay in place, but I can still use the mains supply. No problem as I do not always take it on my travels.

Then I remembered PCWorld's offer, £100 Trade In, why not upgrade.

I visited the local store and the salesperson said the offer is for "UP TO £100", I would have to take the machine to the in-house technician who would value my old computer.

I was told my old computer was worth nothing, zero.

The computer did not work I was told (although he did not test it). Well yes it does if I used the mains supply or hold the battery in place, and it would not stay in place as the plastic clips had deteriorated, not by my misuse.

The case was split, well yes it is the poor quality of the plastic Philip's used for the casing, not by my misuse or dropping thr machine.
 
The keys showed signs of wear, well yes, I have used the keyboard to work, isn't that what a person does with a computer. I did not use poor quality paint or stencils.
 
The outer casing was marked, well yes I had used it and traveled with it all over the world, that is what we buy a computer for, to work on, it was normal wear and tear.

It seems that PCWorld will give £100 trade in, only as long as the old computer is in pristine condition, or straight out of the box. For every mark, for every fault like missing keys, the price goes down.

PCWorld, why would someone want to change a computer which was pristine, working 100%?

PCWorld you are using a marketing strategy to get people into your store with the offer of a trade in, but then nothing is offered.

I have been a loyal customer of yours for a number of years, and in business it costs a lot of money to gain a new customer, someone who will return and spend more money with you.

PCWorld you have lost my custom, and I wonder how many more customers by your trade in offer that is misleading.

I will now shop it DABS, Maplins or Amazon  in future.

No wonder your stores are empty of customers.

        

Here is a picture, have a look at it.

Sorry I put it up-side-down.

Who is the photograph of?

Does it look acceptable?

Follow the link on to see how your brain has misled you.



Now click here to look at the picture the correct way.

        

It always rains in London.

"ALWAYS". See NLP Meta Model, presuppositions click.

"It always rains in London",  is a saying I often hear on my journeys around the world. But is it true?

Checking the annual rainfall for London and cities I visit on a regular basis gives the following results :-

                London            585mm        or    23"
                Istanbul           843.9mm     or    33" 
                Milan                985mm        or    39"
                Colombo        2400mm       or    94"
                Penang           2670mm       or   105"

Perhaps the difference between London and the other cities is that when rain falls it falls very lightly in a form known as drizzle, compared say to Penang were the rain is very heavy, with very large raindrops.

The drizzle in London can fall or last for a long time, compared to Penang when the downpour will be over in a few minutes.

The climate of London is temperate, with temperatures in the summer moderate having only a few days heat waves, and in winter not having very low temperatures, again having only a few days of freezing weather. Compared to Penang's climate which is tropical all year round, and having a monsoon season of high rainfall. This results in the ground staying wet in London for a long time, compared to Penang where the wet ground soon dries out as the rainwater evaporates to to the high temperature.

I walk every day in London, and it is rare that I need an umberella or coat to keep me dry.

So next time someone says to you, "It always rains in London", please reply, "Always? How do you know?", and quote the above statistics.

Oh, it rained yesterday.

        

It is always sad when a course ends, as after seven days working together, going through a process, sharing experiences, hopes, fears, learnings, stories, we all emerged better people, more knowledgable and with now a choice in our future behaviour and actions.

It will not be long, May and June 2010, before I will be back in Turkey for more training courses in Istanbul  and Gaziantep . Details of courses I will be giving and dates can be obtained directly from NLPGrup  and Gap Consultancy .


Wonderful participants on the Society of NLP Practitioner course
Istanbul, Turkey, April 2010.

        

I am now in Istanbul, a hotel I have stayed at many times, the Seminal Otel near Taxim Square. Although they have put some blue lights on the front of the hotel, refurbished the room I am in, it is the same hotel.

After the grounding, the suspension of flights in Europe, I was able to get a British Airways flight out of Heathrow. I was in Club Class, unusual for me, but there was a spare seat next to me, so the flight was not 100% full.

The delay has left me 6 days late starting the Society of NLP Practitioner course, so I expect that we may have lost some of the participants, which is a pity, but something which cannot be helped.

My visit will enable me to catch-up with old friends and make new. I know there will be much news to hear and share.

So a new day starts, and with a smile on my face and happiness in my heart, I begin the first day of the rest of my life, even after only 5 hours sleep.

Positive. 

        

I was recently asked by a schoolboy who is doing a school project, "What is a phobia?".

I publish my answer as others have asked similar questions, and it may help you with my way of explaining what phobias are.

I have written other articles on the subject within the blog, and you can see a list of phobias by clicking on this links Phobias A - C
Phobias D - J
Phobias K - N
Phobias O - Z
or visit the web sites, www.c4phobias.com

What are phobias?

Phobias are irrational fears that have got out of hand, and in most cases are learned.

There are only two fears that the human is naturally fearful of, the fear of load noises and falling, everything else is learned.

The brain, may be given a situation that it has experienced before, maybe a sound, a vision, a feeling, and it then it searches in its’ memory bank for previous experiences to make an understanding of what is happening. We call this a “transderivational search”.

If you like, a transderivational search is something like this. All that you have learned during your life is placed in a filing cabinet, be learnings or experiences, visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, olfactory or gustatory, (V,A,K,O or G) you have a filing cabinet in your brain, it is your memory.

Now if you experience something, the information you are experiencing, say a photograph of me, the eyes pass this image from the eyes to your visual cortex at the back of the brain.

At this stage you have no conscious knowledge of what is being seen, the processing is at a subconscious level. The visual cortex says “what is this I see, I do not know what it is”, so it goes on a transderivational search, looking into the memory banks the filing cabinet, looking  for a match, the new image is has just received and one that it has stored.

Perhaps finds a visual memory of say an elephant, does it match? No. Perhaps a gorilla, does it match? No. It goes on searching until it finds a near match, and then says, “It is this”. The brain makes a generalisation. This generalised match is most likely is a near fit, not an exact to that you are experiencing, after all nothing is the same twice.

Now, when a person goes into a situation, the brain does a transderivational search, finds the nearest match in the memory banks, and says this happened last time, this is what I experienced before, therefore the same outcome will happen again.

That last subconscious outcome, what happen before will happen again we can agree is not true, as nothing needs to happen the same way twice.

So a person stands on a tall building, the brain takes in all the stimulus, all the information from what is happening, does the transderivational search, and says, “I was not happy last time, therefore I will not be happy this time”.

If the last situation or activity produced the state of not being happy, the brain could now go into what is called a “fight or flight ” state, something that is a hangover from our caveman days, and the brain issues the instruction for the body to produce chemicals to either fight the situation or run away from the situation. Such drugs as adrenaline.

The drugs gives us certain feelings as they wash through our body, and some people do not like these feelings, so the brain goes further into the “flight or flight”, and creates a phobia.

The next time we have or do the same experience, the last feeling created by the “fight of flight” will be remember whilst going on the transderivational search, and will build on top of that last bad feeling, that last fear, making it worse.

So a phobia is a learned state, and it is “anchored ” to fire the response once a situation or stimulus is presented. The more the response or state of the phobia is recreated or happens, the more the brain says it will always happen. This is called “conditioning”, as with Pavlov and his dogs.

Why do we get them?

We get phobias and fears to protect us. It is a natural state, some people love the adrenaline rush, some people hate them, it is how our brains are wired.

It is good to have a fear, say if standing on top of a high rise tower block, and there are no safety barriers, it would be stupid to hang off the edge. But, if there is a safety barrier, why have a fear?

If that natural fear gets out of hand, it becomes a phobia.

What effect do they have on us?

A phobia will stop a person doing something, enter into a situation. There will be a panic feeling, fainting, a state of having to get away from the situation. A “flaming phobic” will often have a high pulse rate, go red in the face, hyper ventilate, and sweat.

A phobia is very debilitating, stopping people doing things, perhaps leaving their house, maybe going shopping, and driving a car.

What are the common phobias?

There are so many phobias that I have come across whilst teaching how to remove phobias around the world, the fear of spiders, snakes, flying, open spaces, closed spaces, public speaking, meeting people.

All these can be treated.

Common treatments are such as “Flooding”. This is where a phobic person is gradually introduced to the situation or the item, that they are phobic about. For example, a person was shown on TV with a fear of heights. They were slowly taken up higher and higher structures, until they were desensitised; actually they were not cured as they were only taken up to half the height the fire engines’ reach of its snorkel. Flooding takes a long time, and the client experiences horrid feelings as they learn to control the phobia.

There is “hypnotherapy”, where hypnosis is used, often to go back to recover the initial cause of the phobia, and change the outcome, the memory. Many sessions are required.

There is “CBT ”, “Cognitive Behaviour Therapy ” which works with changing if you like how the client reacts to the situation.

There are many more “cures” for phobias.

I use a method called NLP , which is very quick, re-patterning the brain, the outcome. I can and have taken phobias away in minutes. And, it is long lasting, forever.

There are many ways of dealing with phobias. Which one is correct? Who knows, they all work. I think it is down to the belief system of the client and the ability of the practitioner dealing with the client.

What often upsets me is that a person, who treats people, the practitioner, perhaps with flooding or hypnotherapy, will often dismiss any other forms of treatment as being hogwash, not any good. This is stupid.

I say, use whatever works, and if it does work, good.

But I still say, my system is the best, as I use whatever works.

Click here to read about some of the clients I have worked with, and references. Should you wish to see me, we will have one session only, for as long as it takes, and I will come to you, as long as you cover my travel.

        

                                                                                                                                                   English version 

"Eyjafjallajoekull yanardağının patlaması sonucu Avrupa'nın büyük bir bölümünde altı gündür süren uçuş yasakları sonrasında, hava sahası yeniden ulaşıma açıldı.

Binlerce insan hala gideceği yere ulaşamadı, eve, tatile, işe... Hava ulaşımı sisteminin tamamen normale dönmesinin bugünden, 21 Nisan 2010'dan itibaren 10 gün daha sürebileceği söyleniyor.

Açılan ilk uçuşlardan, Londra - Istanbul uçuşuna bir yer alabildim ve Society of NLP'nin Practitioner kursu Istanbul'a ulaşır ulaşmaz başlayacak.

Detaylı bilgi için  +902123617777 nolu numaradan NLPGrup 'u arayabilirsiniz.

        

                                                                                                                                                                   Türkçe versiyonu

After six days of flights being suspended and grounded in major parts of Europe, air transport is to start again as a result of the ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption .

Hundred of thousands of people are still in the wrong place, not at home, not on holiday, not at work, and it is said that it could take up to ten more days from today 21st April 2010 to get the whole air transport system back to normal.

I have been able to obtain a seat on one of the early flights from London to Istanbul, and the planned Society of NLP Practitioner course  will start as soon as I arrive.

Please contact NLPGrup  +902123617777 for more information.

        

As I search for ways of getting out of the UK to travel to Istanbul, I am continually told that there are no available seats on trains, no available seats on buses, I watch the news for updates, and see thousands of people struggling to get home, as the ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption continues it is said to spead over the UK and Europe, ceasing all air travel.

I decided to have a break and go for a walk, on a quite nice day here in London, having a few white clouds floating above me.

As I looked up enjoying the fresh air, there were two aircraft vapour trails crossing overhead, over London and Heathrow.


Aircraft vapour trails over London Heathrow 20/04/10

I am not a happy boy.

So OK, they are perhaps above 35,000ft, (10,000m), but if they can do it why not the rest?

        

Monday 19th April 2010, I am still trying to get to Istanbul to give an NLP Practitioner course , and the situation did not look good.

Not wanting to disappoint the participants and to honour the commitment I had made to give the course, I had been continually reviewing my options, and modes of transport.

I had contacted EuroLines, a bus transport organisation, transporting passengers throughout Europe by road, but they do not go to Turkey. The nearest they could take me was Sofia in Bulgaria, a three day journey, and the earliest they could get me a seat was in five days time. I would then have to find my way from Sofia, across the Turkish border into Istanbul, perhaps another day in travel.

I could drive my car across Europe, that was not a solution as I have not taken my car on the road for 18 months, it would need a service, oil changed, brakes checked, the paperwork prepared, insurance, but the worse would be the fuel consumption, my car achieves 18 miles to the gallon, (29 kilometers 4.5 liters approx.)

I could take a train or trains. On my return from working in Saudi Arabia, I had visited a friend in Athens, and on the spur of the moment, decided to take the train home from Athens to England and in 1988, with slower trains, it had taken me four or five days, a wonderful experience, but would I want to do it again, London to Istanbul by train.

I decided to go to the offices of Europe Train in central London, as they were not answering the telephones, their web site did not give me any help, in fact at the beginning of this crisis, their web site was being rebuilt and was unavailable.

Arriving at just after 10am in the morning, I joined the queue of hopeful travelers, which stretched from inside the offices, round a corner, down a street, around another corner, and down that street.


The queue outside Eorope Trains in Central London stretches even further into the distance, inwhich I stood for over 6 hours.

I stood in that queue until 4:30pm, and still not reaching the last corner, and we were told that there was a chance we would not be seen as the offices closed at 6pm.

I was cold, the cold wind had reached my bones. I was hunger, I had not eaten since breakfast, I was thirsty, again not having anything since breakfast.

I was asking myself, was this worth the waiting? But I had made a commitment and a promise, people had booked time off work, not gone on holidays to attend the course.

Would Europe Rail be able to get me to Istanbul, after all, the bus company EuroLines only went to Bulgaria?

There was no information, no-one from Europe Train was to be seen. A young man, a fellow traveler made an effort to get information, and slowly went down the queue informing people that the earliest train to Rome would be Wednesday and the same to Spain. But I was going a different route, perhaps I could get an earlier connection from Paris.

Now, I had an idea, just like the ending of the very funny film, The Italian Job, (the original is far better than the recent release), what if I went to Rome and took a flight from there? Then I thought, would I get a flight? What happens if the ash cloud covers Rome, or as I had been told closed Turkish airspace, I would be stuck in Rome.

I had throughout the day been telephoning friends to keep an eye on the fluid situation, the ever changing news of the air travel, I had my travel agents checking as well. Nothing.

Then I had another "Italian Job" idea, check the internet myself on my mobile phone, and the news from the BBC news pages was, that flights were being allowed from Scotland the next day, and with luck London airports opening in the evening.

I had a British Airways ticket on BA0676 on Wednesday.

After spending six and a half hours in the queue, cold, hungry, thirsty, tired, my legs stiff and back aching, with no guarantee that Europe Train could help me, and at what cost, I left the queue to return home, spirits raised.

Now, Tuesday morning, (20th April), I have seen on the news that there has been fresh eruptions from the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption, and an ash cloud is set to cover the UK.

Oh Poo Poo. 

Then I looked at what aircraft have been allowed to fly so far today from Scotland. They are small propeller driven aircraft being flown to the outer island around Scotland, which fly below any ash cloud, not the jet airliners flying to international destinations the majority of travelers and myself hope to take.

So, were we given the correct information by the news media?

We all assume that if someone says the flightpaths are to reopen, that ALL aircraft will be flying. We put out "cat on the mat", in NLP terms we made a presupposition, we presupposed that we understood what was being said by putting our own understanding.

The other piece of information that was given was that an international flight was made. Where to? Iceland.
 

        

It is a wonderful day in London, not a cloud in the sky, yet there is, an ash cloud, grounding all flights in many European countries.

    
Trafagar Square and The London Eye, basks under a blue cloudless sky, well apart from and ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption

Still trying to reach Istanbul to give an NLP Practitioner course , I was booked to fly on Sunday (18th April 2010) at 0710 hours, but i have just received an email from British Airways to say that its' flight BA0678 is canceled.

I have tried other ways to travel to Istanbul, but it seems to be near impossible to book tickets.

Traveling into Cental London to the offices of Europe Rail near Piccadilly Circus, I was met be a large queue of people, all trying to get train tickets on Eurostar and Continental railway systems.


A large queue outside Europe Rail hoping to buy rail tickets due to the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption 

Speaking to a number of them, I realise how lucky I am to be living in London, and being stuck here rather than being stuck in another country.

People who have been waiting for a number of days have had to find hotel accommodation, find food, all at their own expense.

There was one couple who were going away this weekend to be married, but now cannot get to their own wedding. Their guests were also not going anywhere.

I tried to purchase train tickets out of London to main land Europe, but all seats are booked, and I am told that all trains out of Paris are fully booked as flights are grounded in France.

I intended to get to Milan, but was informed that Italian airspace is also affected by the ash cloud. So, had I reached Milan, I would have been stuck there.

So the course in Istanbul will have to be postponed by one week, and somehow I will find a way to get to Istanbul, as I have just heard that aircraft could be grounded until next Wednesday at the earliest.

Pity that I have already ironed all my shirts, (22), prior to my now defunct trip, I could have spent this weekend with a purpose.

        

I should be in Istanbul this morning, starting a 7 day Society of NLP Practitioner course, but the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption has grounded all flights out of England and most of northern Europe due to the ash cloud in the upper atmosphere which aircraft cannot fly through.

The question I have heard many times is why does not the aircraft fly below the ash cloud? Aircraft jet engines are designed for high altitude efficiency, and burn less fuel at their cruising height. For example it is said that a trans Atlantic aircraft flying at say 10,000ft or 3,000m, would not have enough fuel to make the journey.

I have a new booking with British Airways to fly to Istanbul on Sunday morning at 0710 hours, but I have just during the early hours of Saturday morning that all flights are suspended until Saturday evening 7pm.

Oh Poo Poo.

I have awoken early, ready on my quest to find an alternate way of getting to Istanbul.

Driving is out of the question, the distance is too far, my car is unlicensed, and anyway, the car ferries are all full crossing the English Channel.

I could catch a Eurostar train to Paris, but they are fully booked now until Monday, then if I got to Paris, trains out of Paris are fully booked.

If I got to Paris, where would I go? I did have the idea of getting to Milan, then pick-up a flight to Istanbul, but where will the ash cloud reach, how far south over Europe will it reach? So, I could arrive in Milan and find flights from there are suspended.

So people in Istanbul, I am pursuing all avenues to get to you, getting out of bed early to try something else.
 
The view from my home this morning did not look good, as I thought the ash cloud had desended onto Kingston upon Thames,



Thankfully, it is only early morning mist.

        

One of the other outcomes resulting from the ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption, was to be a beautiful sunset, as the sinking sun shone through the suspended particulates in the upper atmosphere.

To have a view of this sunset on Thursday evening, 15th April 2010, I took a short bus ride to Richmond upon Thames, and climbed Richmond Hill.

A stunning view over Surrey and in the distance a very quite Heathrow, with no aircraft taking off or landing.

Below me was the River Thames, yet to flow through London.


View of the River Thames from Richmond Hill

Many famous paintings have been composed and produced from the same view, although the trees and island in the River Thames have changed, plus the style of dress.


William Turner, "Richmond Hill on the birthday of the Prince Regent", 1819.

Many people stood watching the sun set behind Heathrow Airport. A red sun and sky resulted, perhaps not what I expected, and certainly not worth the cancelation of all flights in the UK and parts of Europe. 


Sunset from Richmond Hill looking over to Heathrow Airport 15th April 2010.

        

Jet setting is no fun, continually flying from one country to another as I tend to do, seems a dream to some people, but it is not.

Having to wait for hours in an airport, a departure lounge, the delays that just seem to happen, having to wait for luggage to tumble down onto the carousel, arranging and getting a taxis, or having to catch a bus to and from the airport, to be squashed into uncomfortable aircraft seats next to other passengers who fight for some personal space with elbows everywhere. Then there is the airline food, promoted as gourmet, promoted as being high class, but then it tends to be just fast food in style, and depending on the airline and their cuisine or culture, not to my taste.

Today has been a horror, a nightmare, due the the grounding of all UK flights and much of European flights.

I spent an hour sitting in front of a travel agent I use, just to find alternate ways of getting from London to Istanbul, perhaps they could get me from London to Paris by Eurostar  train, then from Paris to Milan, and I could catch a plane say from Milan to Istanbul, but there were no seats available on the trains from Paris to Milan, and so it was on all trains from Paris, all are fully booked.

My travel agent gave up trying.

I returned home to try myself on the telephone and internet.

I go onto the Eurostar web site , and there are shown seats available, so I go on the Rail Europe web site, to book train journeys onwards from Paris. Rail Europe  web site is down due to maintenance, so I tried their booking telephone line, engaged, engaged, engaged. Eventually I get connected and put on hold for twenty minutes, listening to music and a woman saying they are extremely busy, please hold, or visit their web site. The *?££$% web site does not work Rail Europe. When I speak to a very friendly sales person, she does her utmost to help, but everything is fully booked.

Oh Poo Poo.

Then I am told that even though Eurostar web site shows availability, actually when you do try and book, it says, no seats available.

Oh Poo Poo.

Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull eruption and the ash cloud has much to answer for. The disruption it has caused worldwide, the cost of lost holidays, work, and visits must be extremely high.

Flitting around the world has become easy, and we now take it for granted, just to jump on an aircraft and in a couple of hours be in a far off country. It is only when incidents like the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption  and the ash cloud over Europe, that one can begin to appreciate how lucky we all are, we take for granted airline travel.

As far as jet setting is concerned, forget it, it is Poo Poo.

I still have to get to Istanbul. How?

        

The Eyjafjallajoekull eruption in Iceland has caused havoc in the UK and other countries in the area, including Ireland, Belgium, Holland, and the Scandinavian countries, especially to the airline industry.

As a cloud of ash is sent into the atmoshere, at about 20,000 ft and as high as 55,000 ft  (6,000 m - 16,500 m) from Eyjafjallajoekull, the jet stream or winds at that hight are sending the cloud over the above counties air space, making it very dangerous for aircraft.

The fine ash being sent into the atmoshere has been created by Eyjafjallajoekull sending molten lava up through a glacier, the effect of the lava reaching the ice is producing a tremendous amount of steam or clouds, plus the super cooling creates very small particulates of glass.

The effect of these very small particulates if they enter an aircrafts jet engine is devastating. The metal will be eroded, a coating of burned ash within the engine made and the fuel and air intakes will be blocked. The result will be engine failure, as happened when a British Airways 747 flying over Indonesia in 1982 flew through an ash cloud and lost all four engines.

I am due to fly on Turkish Airlines TK1980 from London Heathrow to Istanbul in Turkey tomorrow to give a series of courses, starting Saturday 17th April with a 7 day NLP Practitioner course , and I have been monitoring the situation.

I have just telephoned Turkish Airlines in Turkey to be told tomorrows flight is canceled, and the next available flight could be in four days time, even though I am a frequent flyer and gold card holder of their frequent flyer card.

So Eyjafjallajoekull has even more fallout than ash, their will be no course starting this Saturday, sorry to my participants in Istanbul, we will have to delay the start.

The knock-on effect of fight cancelations affects the whole world, as aircraft cannot takeoff say from the USA to overfly the cloud  affected countries. Aircraft are trapped in those countries as are the passengers.

The ash cloud knows no boundaries, it will not just stay over the UK for example, but will follow the jet stream high in the atmosphere perhaps taking in France and Germany.

Oh Poo Poo, I will have to unpack my suitcase and await further news.  

        

                                                                                                                                                         English version

Türkiye’deki herkese güzel bir haber; Istanbul’da 17 Nisan 2010 tarihinden itibaren 7 gün sürecek bir Society of NLP Practitioner kursuna daha başlıyoruz.

Türkiye’yi uzun yıllar ziyaret ederek, Istanbul, Ankara, Gaziantep, Antalya başta olmak üzere birçok bölgede Society of NLP standartlarında NLP Practitioner ve Master Practitioner kursları verdim.

Society of NLP’nin lisanslı eğitimeni olarak uzun yıllar Richard Bandler’ın ekibinde çalıştım ve doğrudan kendisinden eğitim aldım. Bu nedenle, benim katılımcılarım da NLP’yi Bandler’ın öğrettiği şekilde öğrendiklerini biliyorlar.

Malcolm Gladwell kitaplarında, bir kişinin belirli bir konuda ya da disiplinde uzman olabilmesi için o konuyu 10,000 saat öğrenmiş olması, içinde olması ya da kullanmış olması gerektiğini söyler. Katılımcılar bu zamanı benimle birlikte alacağından emin olabilir.

Yakın zamanda yine kurucularından PhotoReading, Zihin Haritaları (Mind Maps), Hafıza (Memory) ve Hipnoz (Hypnosis) eğitimleri de veriyor olacağım. Dolayısıyla umarım Istanbul’da görüşürüz…

17 Nisan 2010 tarihinde Istanbul ‘da yapılacak NLP Practitioner kursuyla ilgili daha detaylı bilgi için  www.nlpgrup.com web sitesini ziyaret edebilirsiniz.

        

                                                                                                                                 Türkçe versiyonu

Good news for my Turkish friends, as I will start another Society of NLP Practitioner course, lasting 7 days in Istanbul from the 17th April 2010.

For many years now I have been visiting Turkey giving courses in Istanbul, Ankara, Gaziantep, Antalya, to name but a few places, including NLP Practitioner and Master Practitioner, to the requirements of the Society of NLP.

Having had trained with Richard Bandler himself, being a Licensed Trainer of the Society, and being on his assisting team for many years, participants know that they are being given NLP as Bandler teaches.

In Malcolm Gladwell's books, he states that to become an expert in a subject or discipline, a person should have been involved, learned, used the subject for 10,000 hours. Certainly the participants will have that time in me.

So I hope to see you all in Istanbul, and on other courses I will be giving in PhotoReading, Mind Maps, Memory and Hypnosis in the near future, all given under the license and agreement of the originators.

For more details of the NLP Practitioner course in Istanbul 17th April 2010, please visit www.nlpgrup.com.

        

My work and travels take me to many exotic places, China, Malaysia, Sri lanka, India, Turkey to name just a few, as I am invited to give my courses in NLP, PhotoReading, Mind Maps, Memory and Hypnosis, plus working with people on a 1-2-1 basis for personal issues like phobias, fears and confidence building, and today was no exception, as I visited Clacton on Sea.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside. (click to listen to the song). Yes it invigorates me, it relaxes me, it clears my mind, I feel refreshed, and I needed all these, so a visit to Clacton on Sea on the East Coast of England, a place I had never visited before.

I took the train, a quick trip into London Waterloo Station, the Jubilee underground to Stratford where the new buildings for the London 2012 Olympics are clearly visible, and then a fast train straight to Clacton on Sea.

Well it should have been a fast train. Unfortunately, the train was stopped at a very small station in the middle of nowhere, Marks Tey as there was a person under the train further up the track, and the police had closed the rail track.

We were asked to get off the train after sitting there wondering what was happening, only to see the train return to London, and we stood there asking the now invisible station staff what was our next move. After a long wait we were told a bus would take us on our onward journey, and it would be with us in fifteen minutes. Obviously the locals had other ideas as the passenger numbers reduced as some of out fellow travelers jumped into arriving cars and taxis.

What seemed like hours the bus arrived, and the driver told us that he would take us onward to the next station, Colchester, were we could take another train to Clacton on Sea. Arriving at Colchester, I asked a member of the station staff what was our next move, and was told to go to platform one and a train would be there in five minutes.

Strange how railway staff have a different concept of time, as we were still waiting an hour later.

Still, one has to consider that someone had lost their life, that there were people who had to deal with the aftermath of that death, and there would be friends and family who would have lost that person. Being delayed seemed insignificant.

The stiff upper lip of the British came into play as we made conversation, told jokes, asked for advice from each other.

Eventually I arrived in Clacton on Sea, a typical small British holiday resort, especially on a not so warm out of season midweek day. It was empty.

I had come for a purpose, and I carried my work out that need.









     Clacton on Sea Pier











I found myself on the seafront, with the pier, amusements arcades, and fast food restaurants, similar to many other resorts around the coast of the UK.

            

I relaxed as I strolled up and the down the prom, watching the sea washing the sand and shingle beaches, with the odd family building sand castles, children enjoying themselves, people just walking taking in the good fresh air.


Clacton on Sea seafront promenade.
It is sometimes good to get away from the stresses and strains of everyday life, to take in good fresh air, to allow the mind to empty, to become one with the environment, even when to get there, there could be many trials, many distractions and many things that we had hoped for do not happen.

        

It has been four days since the temporary closing of Norbiton Railway Bridge, so that it could be replaced after being used since 1869. This 2.9 million Pound (£) replacement was organised like a ballet, with orange clad workers buzzing around the project like bees around a honey pot, each having a particular job to do, each having a piece of the jigsaw to put into place to complete the whole.

The whole project was planned with precision, like a battle.

I was shown the gantt chart, the plan of how the replacement was to take place, and each task had its place on the chart, and the time the task was to start, and the time it was to finish.

At the start of the project on the first day they were one and a half hours behind, but working twenty-four hours, by the second day they were an hour and a half ahead of the schedule.

One can understand the schedule has to be precise, because if the next part of the rebuild requires premixed concrete, and the deliver lorry arrived on time but the workers were ahead of schedule, there would be a lot of standing around. Then if they re-ordered to concrete to arrive early, perhaps the lorry could not get through to the delivery spot as another lorry could be parked there, delivering some other component.


The new railway bridge open for business at
Norbiton Station

I think the next task will be from information I received will be the lengthening of the platforms to cater for ten carriage trains, not only to stations like Norbiton, but also to the main London Waterloo Station, which I am told will require the removal of the central concourse, as the tracks will be extended into that area, with access to the platforms from beneath what is the concourse now.

Those that know London Waterloo Station may ask, why not increase the capacity of the terminus by using the now empty EuroStar platforms, as EuroStar, the continental rail link, has move to London Paddington Railway Station? The answer I am told is that the current South West Trains (SWT) carriages will not fit into the platforms, as EuroStar is a narrower train to the standard British train. Why the planners, knowing that there was only a short life span of EuroStar Waterloo, not facilitate at the beginning the idea of being able to widen the gap after EuroStar move stations, simply by adding a bolt-on extension, making it platform wider for EuroStar, then unbolt the extension for SWT's.

Fascinating work, that I hope all of the work will last another one hundred and fifty years.

But, will we still have trains then? 

        

Many strange incidents happen to me, and one was walking though Borders Books in Penang, Malaysia, I came across the book The Men who Stare at Goats. (Click to view article.)

I had seen trailers advertising the film of the same name, and after reading the book, I needed to watch the film. It has only now been possible to fulfill that wish.

The star line-up of George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey, obviously had great fun in making the film, and billed as a comedy, the underlining message held true to the facts of Remote Viewing, and the screen play by Peter Strughan took many of the stories (true or false) from Jon Ronson's book, creating a very watchable film, creating a storyline that captured the essence of the book.

I would still recommend reading the book.

        

The railway bridge at Norbiton railway station has been in place since its' opening in 1869, taking the railway over the road which cars and pedestrians use to get from Kingston upon Thames to Norbiton station and Kingston Hospital, a walk I, as many others, would make often.

The bridge structure, the girders, the nooks and crannies, were home to many nesting pigeons.
 
Every morning we ran the gauntlet of the pigeons as they returned to their nests from their early morning feast, their breakfast.

Why is it that a bird cannot seem to poo, poop, pass solids, whilst in flight? They only seem about to do their toilet once landed. I know, I have watched them. They land, turn their back to their nest, lift their tail, and poo.

Now some people may argue that birds do not have brains strong enough to reason, to make conscious decisions, to be calculating.

I disagree.

I think that the pigeons whilst flying home to their nest, spy a human walking, especially me, a human that is going to walk under their perch, their landing spot, then they pick their target and wait.

They wait until the human is in bombing ranch. They calculate, wind speed, wind direction, velocity, the walking speed of their target human, and at the correct moment, it is "bombs away".

The pigeons must do, else why have I like many others, have been pooped upon, white runny poo.

The road and footpath under Norbiton railway bridge was white over with pigeon droppings. The authorities placed netting under the bridge to stop the pigeons getting into the nooks and crannies, but still they were able to get in, as I suspect they had undercover agents in the form of "pigeon lovers", who slashed the netting and left food for them, just so they could poop on other humans.

Wire mesh was installed to stop the pigeons nesting and landing on areas above the footpaths, but not over the road. Was that to appease the "pigeon lovers" I wonder?

But now the old bridge has gone, and the poor pigeons have nowhere to go, no home, no nest, and they sit on a near-by roof of a house, I think wondering what has happened, homeless, waiting to take up residence in the new bridge, ready to poop again.

I just hope that the builders and engineers installing the new bridge have eliminated any nooks and crannies that the pigeons can use, and I can walk under the bridge without having to watch for flying poo.

 

 
Pigeons waiting for their new nesting home on the new Norbiton railway bridge

You know, I think I may have got it wrong, I have been pooped on by a flying seagull. Oh Poo Poo

        

Travel from my home in Norbiton, part of  Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, here in the UK into London has been severely disrupted, in fact the trains will not be running over the four day Easter holiday.

Why?

They are replacing the railway bridge.


The old Norbiton Station Bridge.

Originally in the early 1830's, with rail travel in its' infancy in England, it was decided to create a rail link between London and Southampton with the formation of the London and Southampton Railway Company (LSRA). On 21 May 1938 the line was opened between Nine Elms, also known now as Vauxhall, to Woking, with Kingston upon Thames station located due to local Kingstonian opposition, about 1 mile away on Surbiton Hill.

As the benefits of having a railway station were soon recognised by the flourishing suburb of Surbiton, Kingstonions pressed for their own station near to their own town center, and in 1863 after acts of Parliament, a branch line was created from Twickenham to Kingston, which initially was to have stopped north of Kingston at Hampton Wick on the north bank, on the opposite side of the River Thames.

Shortly after 1869, the line was extended through Norbiton, the next town to join the main line from London Waterloo to at New Malden.

The low bridge at Norbiton, built at the above time, has been hit a few times by high sided vehicles, and having wooded rail sleepers, would if I am told by a senior track engineer, have a speed restriction of 20 mew, placed upon trains using it. It had to be replaced.

Due to the restrictions imposed by the water supply company, the bridge could not be lifted in one piece, and using a gas cutting tool, the central section was taken away, leaving the two outer supports to be lifted by a giant 500 ton crane.

The whole operation should take four days, and the teams of workers, work like a ballet dance, as the old bridge is removed, masonry taken away so that new concrete sections can be installed.

Lastly, the new sectional bridge will be built, hopefully ready for the commuters to catch the early morning rush-hour train on Tuesday.

The only sufferers so far on this twenty-four hour operation are the pigeons who nested in the old bridge. (click to read)

        
New concrete supports waiting on trailers, and the old Norbiton Station bridge ready to be removed

       
The old Norbiton Station bridge just begining the lift, and the 500 ton crane ready for the lift

 
The 500 ton crane lifts the old Norbiton bridge on a flatbed lorry

More on trains, the SWT Class 455 train  at Norbiton Station

        

As an International Trainer, Coach and Speaker, I can sometimes loose contact with fellow business people in the UK, and it is good on occasions to go to meetings to meet people.

One organisation I have been a member of for some years is the Southside Chamber of Commerce which holds regular meetings in London, having speakers on various business matters, organising delegations to other countries to establish contacts for potential business co-operation, and arranging social get togethers.

Recently a number of members meet at the The Mercure London City Bankside Hotel on the south of the River Thames in Southwark.

Fine food, wine and conversations were had, and it was a joy to meet fellow members.


Southside Chamber of Commerce members through the looking glass

        

In Malcolm Gladwell's forth book to date, What the Dog Saw, he has put together a number of essays, at taking a fresh look of why incidents or things happen. In NLP terms, to "chunk down", to look beyond what seems to be obvious.

Once again, Gladwell cites examples to back-up his writing, examples of why the birth-control bill, has a monthly cycle of taking the drug and a period of time when the drug is not taken. It makes sense when Gladwell explains that one of the inventors of the birth-control pill, John Rock was a practicing Roman Catholic, going to mass every morning, and the Vatican believes there should be no artificial methods of birth-control. Rock stated that the birth-control pill used the natural chemicals of the female body to trick it to believe it was already pregnant, and thus not release an egg, but still produce the menstrual cycle, thus the church should accept the pill.

Gladwell, explains how Rock's ideas were based upon trying to please the Roman Catholic Church, which prefers the rhythm method of abstinence, and had no bearing in the working of the birth-control pill which could be taken continuously. Research says that females are better off not having their monthly periods, being that the increase in the natural chemicals, estrogen and progestin in the females body at the time of mensuration, can cause cancer.

Gladwell explains why making the tops of medicine bottles more difficult to remove in the interests of child safety, makes them more dangerous due to the complacency of the parents.

He explores how we make instant decisions when meeting people, who is right for the job and who is not, and much more.

In Gladwell's 19 essays, he helps to look at things in a different way. A good read.

        

In Malcolm Gladwell's third book, Outliers he looks at why there are people who are outside the normal population, those who excel, he investigates why these people are so great.

Gladwell again gives examples of successful people, and groups, to explain what he is telling us, and shows us that it is not always genius that makes these people a success, but the history of the family going back generations, the culture of the person, even that date of birth could make the difference between being a high achiever or failure, an outlier or an ordinary person.

Gladwell also explains that to be an outlier we should be in the right place at the right time, and to take advantage of the opportunity.

Having the above factors in-place does not mean success, to become an outlier, a person needs to become involved with the area of expertise of greatness, to DO the action, the work, for 10,000 hours. Gladwell cites examples of the Beatles, Bill Gates etc, of how the Beatles played in Hamburg nightclubs for long hours, amassing the required 10,000 hours, how Bill Gates spent hours and hours programming the early computers, again amassing the 10,000 hours before setting-up Microsoft.

Gladwell looks at the birth dates of those who created the leading computer software companies, and surprise, they mostly fall within a narrow year range, and he looks at American lawyers who specialise in takeovers and litigation are mostly Jewish of a certain age.

Gladwell asks, why are top basketball players birthdays mostly in the early months, January, February, March, and why pupils who achieve better exam results have their birthdays closer to the start of the academic year, than those pupils whose birthdays are nearer the end of the academic year. Simple really, the older pupil is nearly a year older and has a more developed brain, take for example a baby of one year old and compare it to a two year old child, there is a big difference in ability, understanding and behaviour.

An amazing book, which gives an insight to what could make people great, an outlier.

        

In Malcolm Gladwell's second book, Blink, he looks at how first impressions, that within two seconds, our mind has been influenced, asGladwell says "kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye".

The book investigates what is going on inside our heads when we engage in rapid cognition, in the two seconds, and how we should perhaps go with our intuition, which is often proven to be the correct decision, it is only when our subjective, reasoning mind, comes into play, that we get things wrong.

As always, Gladwell gives examples to explain in an entertaining and informative way, for example in a hospital emergency ward, medical staff are trained to look for less information, in NLP terms to stop "chunking down", for patients suffering with chest pains to hone in on just the few critical pieces of information, blood pressure and the ECG, ignoring everything else, like the patient's age and weight and medical history, resulting in a quicker diagnosis.

He writes about how a fire office's intuition told him that the firefighters under his control were in a dangerous situation, and ordered them to withdraw, only to find that the building they were in collapsed. How did the fire officer know to issue the order to withdraw? By intuition, which can take many years to instill into the cognitive behaviour, to become implicit, automatic, so that we can react in the blink of the eye.

For people who are PhotoReading, why we should take the first idea or concept that comes into our mind when activating the book.

        

In Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point, one of his four great books, he explains how ideas, products, behaviours suddenly become the way people think and do things, the items that become desirable, become the behaviours of society, spreading through a population like an epidemic.

He tells us how beliefs can change quickly, how one person can have more influence on change than another, giving specific examples to substantiate his ideas, for instance how Paul Revere got the American colonists around 1773 to become organised against the British, how the Airwalk footwear became fashion, how crime waves were reduced in New York City.

He explains that in any situation or market there will be four major influences.

There will be the "Market Mavens", people who passes vital information to others about their knowledge, perhaps about good prices, good deals.

There will be "Connectors", people who know people who know people. There is a theory, often called "the six degrees of separation", that says it only needs a chain of six people to get information from person A to person B, from yourself for example to the Queen of England.

The "Stickiness" factor, how a message or information will stay in the mind, say like a slogan, and advertisement, how something will become an "anchor" in NLP terms. 

The forth is "Context", how ideas or products rely on the time and place change takes place, and the conditions and circumstances when they occur.

Using examples though-out, this book is easy to follow, a must for those in marketing and places of influence, and a must for those of us who are manipulated by others, by governments, by media, radio, TV and newspapers.

The book will open your eyes.

        

For some time now I have been reading books written by Malcolm Gladwell, Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and What the Dog Saw.

Malcolm Gladwell has been a writer on the Washington Post and The New Yorker. In 2005 he was named as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People, and since the year 2000, has produced the four books mentioned above, and really good reading they are too. It is said he is an author, journalist, cultural commentator and intellectual adventurer, researching his facts and arguments, presenting them in an easy to read and well laid out fashion.

On my courses, training sessions and talks, I am often asked what books I would recommend, Gladwell's work I consider some of the best to see how NLP, PhotoReading, Memory Skills are used in life without using the labels, and more.
 
In his work, it will be seen how little things, small changes can make big differences, how the power of intuition the power of thinking without thinking brings great results, what makes a person more successful than others are they just genius's, and how we need to "chunk down" to look at the deep structure to look at culture and our history to understand why things happen.

Reading his books you will learn what made the Beatles great, why was Bill Gates so successful. I have often been asked how to become a good trainer, and I say in my opinion it takes four to six years to become great. I ask, how can a person who has just learned a subject in January become a Master Trainer in March, in Gladwell's book you will understand why they cannot be. You will learn why we have apprenticeships, learning over long periods. You will understand why I use translators with long experience in their profession.

Reading Gladwell's books will help you understand how our history, our family background, our culture will have a great influence in our outcome in life. You will understand why being born in the early months of the year, January, February, can be the difference in being great or not, and in some education systems, why being born in September, October may make you smarter than a person born in July.

You will understand what makes a product, an idea, a behaviour suddenly the "in thing".

Fascinating reading I would recommend to you.

                         

        

There are times when my brain wants to explode, wanting to shout out "that's the wrong word", when my body justs goes into spasms when a wrong word is spoken.

One word that I am continually hearing in the last few days is "MATH", and it is getting me mad.

The word "Math" is a shortened version of the word "mathematics".
 
In the web site Wikipedia there is an explanation of the word "mathematics" as being :- 

    "...the study of quantity, structure, space, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns, formulate new conjectures, 
    and establish truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions."

which leaves me confused, as "maths" left me confused at school.

But that is not what I am writing about. My confusion about how mathematics (notice the "s") work has been solved, has gone away, because over time, although I am not a mathematician, I now understand how numbers work, how to apply a mathematical formula (one) to work out a problem, how statistics are relevant to me, to calculate how much change I should have after paying a restaurant bill, or to calculate the value of the British Pound to the Turkish Lira, the Euro, or the Malaysian Ringit, and I learned this ability by applying "Maths" to real situations to problems I encountered as I work and travel through life.

What I am writing about is the use of the abbreviation of "mathematics".

"Mathematics" has an "S" on the end of the word, which in the English language infers that it is plural, more than one.

If you had "an orange"  in your hand you would have one orange in your hand, if you had "oranges" in your hand you would have more than one orange in your hand.

So when the word "Mathematics" is abbreviated, why drop the "S", making the abbreviation "Math"? It should be "Maths".

If a student is going to class, are they studying one calculation or many calculations? Are they studying "Mathematic" or "Mathematics"?

Yes I am British, and I speak British English, we say "Maths", and it is the Americans that say "Math" which is American English.

I am on a mission, that when ever I travel abroad and give training, I have to teach my translators real English, British English, the pronunciation, the correct sounds.

Sorry my American readers, but the different pronunciations and usages of words to me is like having a slice of dried bread or a piece of chocolate cake.

        

We are constantly reminded of how ill prepared we humans are to disasters. We instantly see on our televisions images of not only the consequences of earthquakes, mud slides, flooding, tsunamis and war, but images before disasters occur and as they actually happen and unfold.

We witness the suffering now through the whole process, the unfolding of the disaster, from the comfort of our own homes.

We, the fortunate, sitting in comfort, rise to the occasion, and raise lots of money, gather together essential items to house, water and feed those in need.

Organisations are there to provide support, sending volunteers, firemen, nurses, doctors, military to give ground support.

As a member of Rotary Club, where members volunteer their time, talents, professional skills and energy to improving the lives of people in their local communities and others around the world, having the opportunity to give something back, to give hope to those less fortunate and to make lives worthwhile and fulfilled, we also contribute by being part of the ShelterBox scheme.

ShelterBox supplies an extended family of up to 10 people with a tent and lifesaving equipment to use while they are displaced and homeless all in one box.

It was at a recent raid or visit to another Rotary Club, Surbiton, that we were given a talk following a superb meal about the plight of survivors after disasters.

We as organisations, as individuals, are very good at sending to the areas affected, shelter, food, drinks, but what is often forgotten is that what goes in, has to come out.

In other words we have to pee pee and poo poo, we have to go to the toilet, and that is often forgotten, as i have seen on the reports on my TV screen.

Oh Poo Poo.

How often it was asked, do you think about what happens to your waste after you flush the toilet?

It has to be taken away, often underground in pipes that we do not see, to a sewage plant or machinery that is hidden away, that safely treats the waste in a safe way.

Because our waste is out of sight, it is out of mind, and so it was suggested when we deal with disasters.

But, what happens in the disaster areas?

Their infrastructure is often wiped out, perhaps there is no power or electricity to power the sewage works, but more likely, the survivors move away from their devastated towns and cities, seeking shelter in the wide open where there is no sanitation, no toilets, as seen in Haiti Earthquake or Dafur.

Where do they go to the toilet?

How does the sewage get treated?

Does the sewage enter into the eco system, the water supply?

How long is it before diseases, including cholera, typhoid and dysentery, takes over the population, leading to many deaths.

With this in mind, our two speakers have taken the idea of ShelterBox and are developing a unique sanatory system which can be deployed quickly, and they are saying could serve about 100 people. Packed in a box, the system would be shipped to an area, where it would be unpacked, giving a tent for four people with toilet facilities, and a treatment plant which is small, easy to set-up, and results in an output of treated sewage, free from disease.

Still in the design stage, what a wonderful gift this will be to those who find themselves in need.

For more information, please contact the Surbiton Rotary Club. 

        

All of a sudden, my telephone has not stopped ringing from people wanting help with their phobias, fears and confidence building, and I have to be careful how I answer the calls, as these are not unwanted calls I wrote about.

So, today saw me in Central London, working with a client who would not travel on the tube (metro). She also had a fear of escalators.

A phobia is an irrational fear that has got out of hand.

A phobia is a learned reaction to a stimulus or situation that creates an internal response or feeling which is inappropriate to what is happening.

Symptoms can be very varied, from panic attacks, extreme sweating, blushing, fainting, the list goes on.

If something can be learned leading to an irrational phobia or fear, then an alternative better response can be learned, and that better response run to the stimulus or situation.

This learning of a new response can be installed in a very short time, I usually only work with a client once, and for as long it takes for the new response to be installed, two minutes or ten hours.

I do not use an office, I do not have a consulting room with a couch, and I do not usually have clients visit me. I go to my clients, or I meet the client wherever the fear or phobia takes place, a departure lounge of an airport, a swimming pool, open spaces, in a dogs kennel, a hospital or dentists waiting room, wherever is suitable.

I have worked in a swimming pool in Sri Lanka with a lady who I had just met with a fear of spiders, and within minutes we were searching the bushes in the surrounding gardens for spiders.

So there I was in a crowded London street near a London Underground Tube station entrance, surrounded by shoppers, tourists, families and groups of friends unknown to me, with a client who just wanted to be like other people racing about us, getting on with their life.

Unseen by others around us I went to work, we were just two people talking, with me being a little more animated than normal. It was as if we did not exist to people.

After a few minutes, with a smile on her face and happiness in her heart, we entered the tube station, walking down the steps into the ticket hall to buy a ticket, through the barriers to ride the escalator down to the platform.

She tried to get those unwanted feelings of what had been, but they were just not there anymore as we stood waiting for the train along with many more passengers.

We chatted, and watched others not even noticing us, passing through many stations until I got to Waterloo, my stop, when I bid her farewell, never to see her again, as she can now move on in life, do the things she had wanted to do.

Oh I love my job. 

        

The world is in a big debate as to global warming, are we the human race effecting the warming of our world, the only place we can exist?
 
Yes we have a space station where less than ten people live for just a few weeks. Yes we have been to the Moon many years ago, but sorry, we are stuck on this round thing floating in space for many, many years to come, there is not room on the space station to house the billions of people if our world fails due to global warming tomorrow.

Oh Poo Poo.

So we are told that we have to reduce our carbon emissions, use less coal, use less electricity, use the car less to reduce petrol consumption.

The lifestyle of the human race has changed rapidly over the last hundred years, and one of the changes has been how the human roams or move about in the environment.

Before the existence of motorised transportation, people only traveled within a few miles or kilometers of their home, for the average person, to travel more than say ten miles, (16 kilometers), would take a day with meals stops, rest, etc. Now, with cars, we will go and buy a packet of crisps (chips for my American readers), and be back home in half an hour and think nothing of it.

We used to shop, buy our food at the corner shop which was within walking distance, now we go to the large out of town supermarket, maybe ten miles from where we live, and even if we had a day to walk there, we cannot because the supermarket is on a motorway, an autobahn, which does not permit pedestrians, and the shopping would be too heavy to carry back. We need our own transport.

Our jobs, the factories, the offices are located often far from where we live, in central city centers or business parks, we need transport to get to them.

Our entertainment, restaurants, theaters, cinemas are located long distances from where we live.

In the UK as in many countries in the world, we are being told to use the car less, to use public transport, to walk, and this way we use less polluting fuel, and we get healthier.

Being that I drove less than 400 miles last year in my own car, and have done for some years, I have not taxed, licensed, my car to be on the road, so I am car less, I have no transport of my own I can legally use.

So I walk, I use public transport. It is cheaper than paying out for petrol, having to pay to park the car when I get to my destination, and as I am entitled to free public transport in London, it is very much cheaper than driving.

I have a supermarket immediately opposite to where I live, so my daily needs are easy to acquire. The major town center is 15 minutes walk away, so good for my health, and I work from home. I do not need a car.

Until.

Yes, until I have to travel beyond my normal living existence.

My quest to research and look at the Blackburn Buccaneer jet fighter aircraft, took me to visiting the RAF Hendon Museum. That is easy, a quick train journey into London's Waterloo Railway station, about half an hour, a ten minute transfer to then catch a tube train (metro, underground) to Colindale Underground station about another half an hour, (actually it is on the surface not underground), and a 15 minute walk to the museum. Let us say about one and a half hour journey, a journey by car which would perhaps take half and hour by car door to door.

I was asked to give my services to allow local school pupils to experience what it is like to have job interviews. To get to the school by car would take about ten minutes maximum, but by public transport, I had to take two buses, waiting for over 15 minutes for each one, plus the bus rides took nearly one hour.

Last night I went to a meeting which would take about 20 minutes to drive too, and an exceptional meeting it was, making many new acquaintances, but my journey back took one and a half hours, catching three trains, walking through dark country lanes to a deserted train station, where there was only one train per hour, to change to another train with a 15 minute wait, to change to another train with another 15 minute wait, and then a ten minute walk from my home railway station to home.

Then there was my trip to the wonderful Fleet Air Arm Museum of the British Royal Navy at RNAS Yeovilton. This journey meant that I took a train into London to catch another train back the way I had just come from, for on a two hour journey to Yeovilton Junction railway station. I relaxed and read, watched the changing countryside, having no stresses of driving a car.

On reaching Yeovilton Junction railway station I asked how I could reach the Fleet Air Arm Museum, and was told there was just one bus a day, but that left the station at 10:30 am, goes to the museum site, I expect through the villages, and leaves the museum to return to the station at 1:30 pm.

Um. That is useful as it was mid day when I arrived, and I did want to see more than the front door of the museum before I took the bus back again.

The only other options were walking, well it was ten miles away I was told, so I could do it if I walked fast only to see the "Closed for the Day" sign being put up, or I could take a taxi.

I took a taxi. Nice and quick, but £22 each way.

I am trying to do my little bit for the environment, replacing my light bulbs with low energy bulbs, (see Energy Saving Lights, becoming environmentaly friendly ), switching off electrical equipment when not in use, not having the heating on as much as required or set at a lower temperature, using public transport, but I am paying the price of convenience, of my time, of being at the mercy of a train driver, a bus driver or a taxi driver. 

Have they turn-up for work that day?

Is there going to be the train, bus or taxi?

Have they taken an extra five minute break meaning that I miss my next connection?
 
Are there going to be engineering works, closing the rail network?

What are the timetable changes for evening and night time travel, they could be every hour instead of every 15 minutes because there is little demand in the evenings?

We have to start somewhere to stop global climate change. The infrastructure has to be set-up, the extra modes of public transport put in place so that people have a way of moving about no matter what time of the day or year it is, and the organisers of events also have to do think about people doing their little bit to save the planet by using public transport.

I will keep my state, for my NLP'ers, Mustafa, Fred or Antonio, to tell that little voice in my head to shut up and stop complaining, and to relax and enjoy downtime sometimes sitting on a slow bus or train, and stop being a grumpy old man.

        

Reading the history of two of the British RAF iconic aircraft, the Blackburn Buccaneer and the Avro Vulcan in Rolland Whites books, Phoenix Squadron and Vulcan 607, plus my past memories and travels coming across the aircraft, I needed more information, to get the feel of the aircraft.

One of the great traditions and part of the culture of the British people, is a sense of the past, the history of the nation.

Rightly or wrongly, we hoard, we hold onto items which are from the past, we rebuild castles, ancient monuments, we store them in galleries, in museums, we preserve history for generations to come. Sometimes these items are from British history, sometimes these artifacts are from other cultures, there for all to see and wonder at.

It was written, a nation is not a nation without its' history.

History builds the culture of nations, the population has something to build the future upon, to be proud of.

Britain is rich in museums and collections of artifacts of history, and these collections include the armed forces.

I needed to see firsthand a Buccaneer aircraft, to try and understand how a small aircraft manufacturer, the Blackburn Aircraft and Car Company, starting in 1914, could go on and build, design and build, which in its' time, such a world beating, innovative aircraft.

I needed to witness the size and shape of the Vulcan, that was built not so many years after the end of the Second World War, would only be used in anger after thirty years in service, winning many competitions against the mighty American USAF jets, again with its' iconic shape and design features which where world beaters.

My first visit had to be to the RAF Museum Hendon, in North London. The free to enter museum is housed in a number of large buildings, The Battle of Britain Hall, Historic Hangar, the Grahame-White Factory, the Milestones of Flight Hall, and the Bomber Hall.

My aim on this visit was to see the RAF Buccaneer S2B which the RAF flew as late as the Gulf War.


RAF Buccaneer S2B on display at RAF Hendon, London
I needed to get a feel of the plane, to understand the shape the size of this world beating plane.


RAF Buccaneer S2B on display at RAF Hendon, London

Parked in a restricted area of the museum due to renovations, I was kindly given permission to enter the great aircraft's space, to view the plane at close quarters, the folding wings and nose cone, which reduced the area required to park it, especially on an aircraft carrier.

The Buccaneer was designed for low level fast flying to get below enemy radar, and its short wings gave superb handling characteristics, but at low speeds needed for landings on carrier decks, the designers came up with an innovative idea of bleeding compressed gases from the engines, vented through the wings to give extra life, and the tailplane was designed with variable incidence for fast or low-speed flight. The then conventional bomb doors of an aircraft were just that, doors that opened outwards, but the Buccaneer's doors rotated within the fuselage, and with the Coca Cola fuselage shape reduced drag. The two seater jet was designed in tandem, with the navigator behind the pilot, and in the S2B model the aircraft were fitted with powerful Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engines.

        
A RAF Buccaneer S2B RAF Hendon Museum
I then had a feeling to view a Naval Buccaneer, after all, the book Phoenix Squadron was about the British Navy Fleet Air Arm flying from the carrier Arc Royal to reinforce Britain's right in Belize. The Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm Museum houses two examples of the Buccaneer, the original S1B with the low powered de Havilland Gyron Junior turbojet engines and the updated S2B which the RAF flew.


Folding nose cone on a Buccaneer
Royal Naval Fleet Air Arm Museum
RNAS Yeovilton
I knew that at RAF Hendon they had a Vulcan, but I could not see it. Upon asking an attendant, he pointed over my right shoulder, and it was there, and as I looked it was. Perhaps it was a case of  George Millers' 7 +/- 2 or the Monkey Video, but there it was in a corner, a massive aircraft, too big to get into my camera lens.


Avro Vulcan, RAF Hendon Museum.
The Avro Vulcan, later with the powerful Olympus engines which were destine to power Concorde, where introduced in 1953 as part of the RAF's "V" force, being the Victor, Vulcan and Valiant, built to counter the perceived threat posed by the Soviet Block and to deliver nuclear bombs.

The main characteristic of the Vulcan was the Delta Wing.


Avro Vulcan with delta wing
Conceived in 1947, the virtually hand made Vulcan, entered RAF service in 1956, and used as a deterrent against nuclear attack, and was not used for delivering real conventional bombs until it was due to retire in 1982 when it was used to drop 21 bombs on Port Staley Airport runway in the Falklands war, as told in the book Vulcan 607.

Seeing this wonderful aircraft in RAF Hendon, being able to stand under the massive bomb bay, brought home to me the flying skills needed to get from the UK to the Falklands and back again in the Falklands war.

We are lucky in Britain to have such museums, places of interest to visit, to learn, to see, to research, to gain knowledge.

Let us hope that we all learn from all our past history.

        

Following reading Rowland White's book thePhoenix Squadron and at the suggestion of my cousin Glynis, plus my interest in the subject, I obtained a copy of Rowland White's previous book, Vulcan 607.

This book gripped me from the outset, telling the story of when in 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic, which Britain held sovereignty since 1833, having taken over from the Spanish, who were sold the islands by the French for £250,000 in 1767, who had  claimed the islands for themselves in 1764. Argentina regarded the Falklands as theirs, calling them Las Islas Malvinas.

The military junta of Argentina saw the return of the Falklands as strengthening moral of their country and planned to take Las Islas Malvinas with a quick invasion, especially as Britain had only a small garrison to guard the islands, and anyway, Britain was relinquishing sovereignty to other countries within their Empire.

An Argentinian entrepreneur and scrap metal merchant jumped the gun on the junta before they could finalise plans, by landing on the Falklands for its' rich pickings of old whaling ships and equipment. The result was a hasty invasion by Argentina, and a British reply of "no the Falklands are ours".

It was decided by the British Government that the sovereignty of the Falklands would stay in British hands, and despite many days of the USA trying diplomatic means to solve the problem, war broke out.

Britain assembled a task force of naval ships, and the army to send down to the southern hemisphere, and the RAF were tasked with a special mission to show Britain meant business, to show that Argentina were vulnerable to strikes by British Forces, and to have the Argentina junta having to redeploy their forces to protect their mainland.

The result was the longest ever bombing flight ever undertaken at that date.

This well researched book tells the story of how the RAF undertook the task, the training, the modification of old soon to be scrapped Vulcan planes, the operation itself.


Avro Vulcan bomber of the RAF
I was gripped by the story, better than a action fiction book, with true heroism throughout, as the story unfolded. I practically read the book in one sitting.

Yes it was my history, and the whole thing made a lot of sense to me, as I recalled driving passed RAF Waddington only a few years before the conflict began, seeing the Vulcan's sitting waiting to get airborne, and I remember the pride in my heart on arriving in Saudi Arabia for work in early 1983, only months after the conflict had ended, and seeing the Argentinian flag flying above their embassy, proud to be British.

Rowland White writes that RAF Wing Commander Simon Baldwin, the flight commander of RAF Waddington, had stated "only 30 percent of what was being reported was accurate", when reviewing the TV, newspapers and media after the event, I think that the book makes it near 100 percent.

Yes the book captures the story and history of the RAF's involvement, and good it was, but as I read I began once again to think that the book is from the British point of view, and yes I am British and nationalistic as you are to your country, and I wonder what are the views of the Argentinians, their story. Perhaps the book only gives 50 percent of the story, the British side.

Oh well, that leads me further on, more research and reading to find out.

        

It was in the late 1970's that I worked for NCR, a computer manufacturer, and I was tasked to design, write the software to customers requirements, install, train the customers staff, and maintain the installation thereafter.

The area I covered from my base offices in the UK, Nottingham and Leicester, covered a vast area, from North and South Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, down to the south of Liecestershire, from caravan manufacturers to a door-to-door cosmetic selling organization, and often I found myself driving hundreds of miles to visit my customers.

Often my journeys, especially through Lincolnshire, would take me past RAF airfields, and since a small boy I had a fascination of aircraft, mighty birds in the sky.

At RAF Coningsby, the B1192 road I took to my customer in Wragby, passed the end of the runway, and there was a convenient lay-bye, where I could stop and watch the fast jets, Phantoms, take off, looking directly up into their jet exhaust and afterburners. (click to see map).

At RAF Waddington on the A607 road from Grantham to the City of Lincoln, the massive Vulcan bombers of the RAF "V" Force, stood ready to launch at minutes notice on their dispersal pads near the end of the runways, ready to retaliate against Soviet Block targets with nuclear weapons should NATO be attacked. (click to see map).

At RAF Wyton on the A141 near Warboys, English Electric Cambera's, RAF reconnaissance planes flew low over the road as they came into land. (click to see map).

At RAF Wittering, the V/STOL Harrier Jump Jets, would fly over the A1 road. (click to see map).

At RAF Alcanbury, further south on the A1 road, USAF U-2 spy planes, with their albatross length wings glided in to a now closed airfield. (click to see map).

So many more airfields I would pass, fascinated by the power and beauty of the aircraft.

My love for knowledge of aircraft has stayed with me all these years, and reading, researching books, visiting museums on aircraft, gives me great joy and happiness, although my interest does not or has not become an obsession. As I discover more in my research, I need to fill in the blanks, find out more about information presented to me.

It is now I appreciate the art of reading, PhotoReading, allowing me to absorb so much information quickly, and when reading normally after PhotoReading the book to get specific information, getting so much more enjoyment.

Reading fictional books like Biggles, a pilot flying mid world war planes, solving problems and having boyhood fascination capturing adventures.
 
Living in Kingston upon Thames, the home of the Hawker Hurricane, led me to read about the history of the iconic aircraft, and visiting museums, the Imperial War museum at RAF Duxford, the old airfield and race track at Brooklands, the Royal Naval Fleet Air Arm Museum, RAF Uxbridge and the RAF Museum in Hendon.

As I read, one piece of information has led me to another, to another, to the book Phoenix Squadron by Rowland White, which I wrote about in my blog a few days ago. Then my cousin Glynis, read my blog and suggested that I read Rowland White's other book, Vulcan 607, as her husband Dave had been involved with them, and my mind went back to those early days as I passed RAF Waddington, with those big jets, the Vulcan's, just waiting to reach for the skies.

I had to buy the book.

        

Whilst having my birthday breakfast with my good friend Jill Lawday begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting in Kingston's Frank B's Diner, we were served by a very happy and pleasant person, Kapila Amarasinghe.


Phillip Holt and Kapila Amarasinghe in Frank B's Diner
He had time to make sure that he took our order correctly, to make us feel at home and at ease.

Obviously not from the UK, I asked where did he originate from, and he said Colombo in Sri Lanka.

I have spent many days giving training in Sri Lanka on many visits, especially staying in the very old Swimming Club of Colombo, and in the next few weeks I hope to return.

I told Kapila my association with Sri Lanka, and what a wonderful place I had found it, but not what I actually did there.

The time came when Jill and I had finished our breakfast, and it was time to leave, so I went to the till.

Kapila, again being very friendly wished me well, then mentioned that he had been involved with the Sri Lanka tennis team, along with Maxwell de Silva.

"What? Where did that name come from? Why did he name Maxwell de Silva?". Questions raced through my mind.

I was in shock.

Maxwell de Silva and I have worked together for a number of years, being co-directors of a company we formed, NLPNOW-Lanka, to provide training in Sri Lanka.

I never mentioned what I did in Sri Lanka, or my associations with people there, and yet Kapila and I had a common friend.

Here I am in the UK, and Maxwell in Sri Lanka, and suddenly, there is a direct link between us.

It's a small world, you will never know who you may bump into on your travels.

        

I hope I have said thank you for wishing me a Happy Birthday, but is good just to say "Thank You" for no reason, just perhaps for being a friend, just perhaps just being there, just perhaps just knowing you.

Today I have to say thank you to my very good friend Jill Lawday, a fellow trainer whom I have known for many years.

She had been in town, my town of Kingston upon Thames, and we spent some time together, talking about old times, the future, having a meal, me being a tour guide, and it was Jill's idea that we should have breakfast at Frank B's Diner in the Bentall Center of Kingston as a birthday treat.


Jill Lawday and Phillip Holt
Birthday Breakfast in Frank B's Diner
Thank you Jill, it was great, even though I needed a nap when I got home.

Oh Jill, watch the video I took off Kingston upon Thames, by clicking here Relax with views from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

Enjoy. 

see It is a small world