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Uncategorized

Malcolm Gladwell a great author

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.

                         

Categories
Culture Thoughts

Math or Maths

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.

Categories
Rotary Club KOT Thoughts

Where does the Poo Poo go?

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. 

Categories
NLP Phobias

Phobias, Fears and Confidence Building.

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. 

Categories
NLP Thoughts Travels

The Transport we use, I’m becoming a Grumpy Old Man

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.

Phillip Holt a Grumpy old man?

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Uncategorized

The Blackburn Buccaneer and the Avro Vulcan at RAF Hendon and Fleet Air Arm Museums

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.

Categories
Books

Vulcan 607, Rowland White

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.

Categories
Books Thoughts Travels

My interest in the RAF and flying

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.

Categories
Eating Out Travels

It is a small world

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.

Categories
Uncategorized

A Big Thank You

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

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