Categories
Thoughts Travels

Xmas Storms Hit Brighton

Its was certainly windy on the promenade in the run-up to Xmas in the English seaside town of Brighton.
Brighton seafront in storm
Was it snow for Xmas?

I needed to visit Brighton two days before Christmas day, and decided to walk along the seafront, what a mistake. It appeared to be snow on the promenade, as my photograph shows the woman fighting the wind whilst hanging onto her dog, she seems to be knee deep in snow, but actually it is foam being driven off the waves off the wild sea.

We had been warned of adverse weather conditions, with winds of between 60 – 90 mph (96 – 145 km/h) and heavy rain all over the UK.
Heavy seas in Brighton
Heavy seas in Brighton
The waves lashed the pebbled beach and the high wind blew the white crests into the foam, which mixed with the rain flew parallel onto land, stinging the face, and inhibiting any forward flight the seagulls were trying to make.
I was drenched from head to foot within seconds, and at times found it difficult to keep my footing.
The height of the storm on Brighton beach (UK)
The height of the storm on Brighton beach (UK)
I only spent a short time on the seafront being quickly soaked to the skin and a train journey to take back to home.
With warnings of possible transport delays due to the severe weather, trees being uprooted, lorries being blown over, and changing trains at London’s Clapham Junction, I was not surprised to hear that my train had been cancelled back to Norbiton. Little did I know the cause was a bus having its roof sliced off as it went under the low railway bridge at Norbiton Station, which resulted in many roads in the vicinity being closed. This meant a long walk around back streets, in more driving rain, by-passing the wreck of the bus.
Now I am in my warm home as the storm rages outside, and the storms are predicted to continue into Christmas Eve. I will not venture out.

Good job I have cooked enough food to keep me fed over the Xmas period.

Categories
Thoughts Travels

Bus Looses Roof in Norbiton

Sometimes it is not worth taking a short-cut.

At Norbiton railway station near Kingston upon Thames, the road infront of the station towards Kingston Hospital, passes under the rail track, and there is a height restriction.
Unfortunately, the driver of this bus did not realise, and thus lost the roof.
Oh Poo Poo.
Bus looses roof in Norbiton
Bus looses roof in Norbiton
Click to see bridge as it was being replaced 2010.
Categories
Thoughts

Disturbed Sleep

Phillip, are you up yet?“, or “Go back to sleep.“, were often comments I got in the morning from my mother when I was a younger boy. If she was awake, then I and the whole world should be awake, to be up and about, but, if she wanted a lay-in, if she wanted an extra hour of sleep, which always seemed to be on a Sunday, then I should also sleep in.

snoring Phillip
snoring Phillip
Living in a block of apartments in Norbiton Hall, it means I have a family above me, below me and to the two sides of me, and noise does penetrate the floors, ceilings and walls, which is understandable when sharing communal buildings.
It is the same in hotels, where one usually has a small room with very thin walls and doors separating ones-self and the other guests.
Travelling the world as I do on a regular basis, I have encountered many styles and types of hotels, and it seems that I do not sleep in the same bed for more than ten days at a time. I also encounter different cultures and behaviours.
Early morning calls for hotel guests, especially those on a tour when their bus/coach leaves at 7am. I did not ask for a call, but with the walls so thin I also hear their wake-up call.
Tours which need to have block booking of multiple rooms is another, “time to wake up” signal for Phillip, although I do not need one or placed one.
Suitcases being dragged down the corridors, and banging doors as guests come and go are a sleep disturbing episode.
School trips or sports team members love to stay-up late at night, perhaps going out to a late night disco, come back in high spirits, laughing, singing, shouting, running from room to room, banging doors.
Chinese tourists seem to have to shout from room to room with their doors closed. Have they not heard of the bedside telephone which they can use? The Oriental women seem to have to shout and in a high pitch voice in all their conversations.
In hotels catering for the Middle Eastern peoples, they seem to travel in family groups, and they allow the children to run from room to room into the early hours of the morning. OK, in my culture from the UK, all children have to be in bed for say 9pm. The hotel guests also leave their doors open to their rooms and shout to each other in conversations.
Then you get the couples, who, after a good night out, or a great meal in the restaurant, return to have an argument in their room. As I will not be able to probably understand their language, it all becomes a mass of unbearable noise which keeps me awake.
Then you get other noises.
A hotel in Ankara, Turkey where I stayed, gave me a really pleasant room, and I went to bed early to get enough sleep to give my course the next day. I was awoken with a thump, thump, thump, on the dividing wall between my room and the next. It was not long before the sounds of pleasure were penetrating the walls. Laying there, I had to endure the sounds for a few more minutes, until they ceased, and I was able to get to sleep.
An hour later, the thump, thump, thump, on my wall started again, waking me up, followed by the sounds of passion and pleasure. I lay there until it stopped and went back to sleep.
On the hour, every hour, all through the night this continued. I was exhausted.
The next morning I left my room to go down for breakfast the same time as the guests from the room next to mine left their room. She was young, model figured lady, and he was a wizen old man. I was amazed by his stamina, or could it be that the lady was a business lady?
I moved rooms.
On top of all the other noises as mentioned above, there are the traffic noises, people snoring, perhaps the person I am sleeping with fidgeting or talking in their sleep, keeping me awake at night.
Last night I knew I was in for trouble. I arrived home from a meeting at 10pm, to see two taxis’s waiting outside the next apartment entrance, and young adults streaming out of the apartment block laughing and joking, obviously going to a night club.
At 3am in the morning they returned, and their party continued in an adjacent apartment, loud talking and shouting, laughter and banging of doors and furniture.
Other residents were obviously being disturbed to, as I heard knocking on floors and walls, loud enough to make me think someone was knocking on my front door.
The noise continued until 7:45am, when all went quiet, and I went back to sleep, only to be awoken by a telephone call half an hour later to inform me by a recorded voice that “Congratulations, you have won a prize…..“. I did not stop to listen, but switched the phone off and placed it under my pillow.
My sleep had been disturbed now and I got up.
Oh for a good nights sleep.
Perhaps I should go and find a desert island somewhere.
But then I expect a flock of seagulls would wake me up as soon as it became light, signalling each other it was time to get their early morning food.
It is now 1:30 pm in the afternoon, and the revellers have just woken-up, and shouting and laughing has started again.
So afternoon nap for me then.

Sleepy Phillip

Categories
Uncategorized

Hawthorn Hedge under attack

Outside our apartment in Norbiton Hall, we have gardens, with trees, bushes and shrubs, flowers and lawns, making it a pleasant place to live.

Around the grounds we also have hedge rows mostly of hawthorn, and as long as it is cut and trimmed adds something to the ambience of the properties.
Hawthorn Hedge covered with web
Hawthorn Hedge covered with web

But, in the last couple of days, the hawthorne hedge has come under attack, from a hoard of black caterpillars.

They seem to have covered the hawthorn hedge with a thick covering of silky web, and beneath, the leaves are being eaten, leaving bare stalks.
Hawthorn Hedge under attack
Hawthorn Hedge under attack
Hawthorn Hedge caterpillar
Hawthorn Hedge caterpillar
Hawthorn Hedge cluster of caterpillars
Hawthorn Hedge cluster of caterpillars
What are these caterpillars?
What do they become?
Will the hawthorn hedge die?
Anyone any ideas please? Please leave a comment posting.
Categories
NLP Thoughts

Push Me Pull Me

I recently went for a walk in the wonderful Richmond Park, which is only a small walk from my home in the UK, Norbiton Hall in Kingston upon Thames.

There are some beautiful sights, sounds and smells as you walk in the countryside so near to the heart of London, and it seems strange that in the distance you can see the City of London, the towering office blocks with people crammed into a small area, yet you are with wild animals, fantastic gardens like the Isabella Plantation, and strange sights.

Here is the Push Me, Pull Me animal. It is an animal that sometimes reflects life.

push me pull me Phillip Holt
The Push Me Pull Me AnimalĀ 

I have often had clients who have had a relationship problem, and recently it was a couple who from appearances loved each other a lot, but they could not become one, a couple.

They were both giving the right signals to each other, they helped each other through difficulties, but that is where it stayed.

When I listened to their individual stories, I could begin to understand.

The lady was making signals that said to the man, I am available, come and get me, I want you, contact me, help me, and the man responded. She was pulling him towards her.

When the man responded, there was the feedback, I am not available, I am out tonight, etc, from her. She was pushing him away.

Just like the Push Me Pull Me animal, she did not know which direction to go.

Now I could not tell either of them which direction to go. It would be incorrect for me to do so as a Coach. It is a coach’s duty to get the party or parties to come to their own answers, yes to be a guide, but for them to resolve the issues.

I had a friend John, who was married, and unfortunately there was a medical problem with the wife, which meant she lost her womanhood. The psychological problems that caused her, meant that she had to lay blame for her loss, and in her mind it was the husband, who had no responsibility for what happened.

The wife hated the husband for what had happened to her, and yet she could not let him go, there was a love hate relationship with her. He stood by her until he became ill, he did not know what to do, should he continue in the marriage or divorce for the sake of both their sanities.

She did not know if she loved or hated the husband, he did not know whether to end the relationship or continue. Push Me, Pull Me.

Sometimes it is good just to talk the issues through with a coach or councilor, or to talk honestly with each other, to tell ones feelings thoughts, not to be a Push Me Pull Me, leaving the other partner not knowing what direction the other wants to go.

In NLP there are techniques to coach people through the Push Me Pull Me situation. Perhaps the best one Perceptual Positions. Seeing the situation from others point of view.

If the Push Me Pull Me is not resolved there will be conflict, and that leads to misunderstanding, mistrust and unhappiness.

Firstly, try talking.

Categories
Thoughts Travels

Fags End

In recent years, the UK as with other countries, have introduced strict no smoking laws.

Gone are the days when I sat in a restaurant, and a nearby smokers smoke drifted across my face.

Gone are the days I went into a bar and came out after an evening enjoying myself with colleagues or friends with my clothes smelling of cigarette smoke.

Gone are the days I walked down the railway platform following a smoker, my air space full of cigarette smoke, whilst the smoker was in fresh air.

Don’t take me wrong, I am not against smokers. As a reformed heavy smoker myself, I know the joy of a cigarette. Thirty years ago I gave up, but I still hunger for that same satisfaction on occasions.

The UK law restricts smoking in any public building or work space. This has resulted in workers having to stand outside the offices if they want to smoke, no matter what the weather is.

Next to my home, Norbiton Hall in Kingston upon Thames, is an office block called Clarendon House, home to many small companies whose employees must follow the law on smoking.

Clarendon House Norbiton Kingston
Clarendon House Norbiton Kingston

On the glass front entrance door can be found a notice:-

NO SMOKING
and
PLEASE DO NO SMOKE IN OR IN FRONT OF ENTRANCE

No Smoking Clarendon House
No Smoking Clarendon House

So what do the employees do? Go into the grounds of Norbiton Hall, and smoke there.

Smoker from Clarendon House
Smoker from Clarendon House

No problem, it is in the open, and some nicely maintained gardens.

But, why do they have to drop the FAG ENDS, the stubs, on the floor, stamping them out, and leaving them for other people to clear up.

Fag ends left by Clarendon House occupants in Norbiton Hall
Fag ends left by Clarendon House occupants in Norbiton Hall

I have a good mind to sweep them up and post them through the Clarendon House letter box.

I’m becoming a grumpy old man.