Tag: Rotary

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Rotary Club KOT Thoughts

I found a new friend Oakley

Last night at a concert featuring Kingston University Chamber Choir, Chorus and Ensemble entitled, Ancient and Modern, Innovation & Modern: c1656 – 3/5/2013, I made a new friend.

Composition Competition 2013
Rotary Composition Competition 2013
The concert had been organised at St. John’s Church, Hampton Wick, to present prizes to three winners of the Music Composition Competition at Kingston University, with prizes given by the Rotary Club of Kingston upon Thames.
I was asked as a Rotarian and member of the organising committee to take photographs of the event, and as an added advantage, I got to hear the concert, plus meet many people.
But I made one special friend, if only for a moment, Oakley.
Oakley is a Labrador guide dog for the blind, and his owner sat infront of me. He lay next to his owner, listening to the music in a deep slumber, as he was off duty.
Then he awoke, stretched, saw me and came and rested his head on my leg, looking me directly in my eyes with his big brown and black eyes.
Oakley my friend at ease
 Oakley my friend
I was in love. My heart went out to him, and in an instant I had made a friend, perhaps for a short time, but one of trust between the two of us.
Now the evening has gone, the music has stopped, the prizes given, I will probably never meet Oakley again, but that moment will stay with me forever.
We all have those special times when deep friendships are made, perhaps for a few moments, perhaps from a weeks holiday, perhaps over an acquaintance of ten years, perhaps over a near lifetime of togetherness, then we go our separate ways, but that special friendship can never be taken away, neither the memories or feelings can be erased, forever etched into our personality.
Thank you my friend for our brief time together.
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Culture Rotary Club KOT Thoughts Travels

Fireworks in Kingston upon Thames 2012

Every year on 5th November, to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day, of as it is also known, Bonfire Night, the British people burn rubbish piled high, and on top of the bonfire, we will have a Guy, or a mannequin or dummy, which is the representation of Guy Fawkes.

During the evening when we light the bonfire we will let of lots of fireworks.
It is also tradition that the children will take the “Guy” into the streets, and ask passers-bye “A penny for the Guy“. As a boy, I would collect enough pennies to buy the fireworks for the night, and have great joy in firstly building the “Guy”, and then seeing him burn on the bonfire.
In 1605, a number of conspirators planned to assassinate the then King, James 1, to restore a Catholic monarch to the throne by blowing-up the House of Lords in the Palace of Westminster.
The Gunpowder plot was discovered, and the conspirators arrested. And, it is this that the British celebrate.
Due to health and safety, the population no-longer having gardens capable of having a bonfire, individual households or small groups getting together is now a rare occurrence to have a bonfire, but in Kingston upon Thames, the Rotary Club and Roundtable, get together and organise a large firework display. Along with the local radio station, Radio Jackie, who provide the commutation and music, the local Royal Borough also support the venture.
Amodest entrance fee is charged, and the many hundreds of people enjoy a superb evening of fireworks, and much money is raised to help the local community.
I have produced a small video of the evening, I hope you enjoy it.
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Thoughts

Still a boy racer in my RX7

My early introduction to cars as seen in the previous article My early introduction to racing cars had and still has an influence on me. In Saudi Arabia I had a Nissan 280ZX sports car, not very good for carrying diving equipment and driving in the desert. I replaced that car with a Toyota Celica. Still a little sporty, but I could just about travel in the desert with it.

Phillip Holt Nissan 280ZX
My Nissan 280ZX in Saudi Arabia.

It was my intention, my dream whilst working in Saudi Arabia to own a Mazda RX7. I wanted to drive the car from Jeddah, all the way back to the UK. That was not to happen.

But, syncronicity, the first garage I went to on my return to the UK looking for a car after years of working in the Middle East, was a Mazda dealer, and they were selling their managing directors wifes RX7 car, she had owned for six months and hardly ever used.

The car is still mine, all mine.

I have not used it, and it has not moved for nearly five years, as I have a Mercedes to carry all my sound equipment about in, but today I got the RX7 back on the road, taken it to a local garage for a full service, in the hope that I can drive it once again.

Phillip Holt Rotary engine Mazda RX7
Phillips’ Rotary engine Mazda RX7

Mazda introduced the RX7 in 1978, although my car was first registered in 1988. It has a twin rotor rotary engine, also known as a Wankel rotary which it had licensed from NSU-Wankel, rather than having the conventional piston engine.

The rotary Wankel engine, with few moving parts, is quite and smooth, so smooth that Mazda had to put a buzzer alarm in case drivers over-reved above 7000 rpm. But it is very costly in petrol, only achieving some 18 miles per gallon. *

Very few RX7‘s, styled on the Porsche 944 but looking more like the Porsche 928, were produced, and have since been replaced by the RX8, still with the rotary engine.

* 1 mile per gallon = 0.425143707 kilometers per litter

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NLP Travels

There will always be danger and monsters, Inoculate yourself.

There will always be danger and monsters (click to see monsters in my garden in Bukit Mertajam, Malaysia) in life, and there will always be things and people that go against our wishes and wants, that seem to want to harm us.

Grasshopper In Malaysia

Grasshopper hiding on a Hibiscus flower.
Just be aware that they could be there, and inoculate against them..
In the medical field, we have been able to eradicate many diseases, for example polio (Rotary Club End Polio Now), smallpox, and it continuous to be a fight to stop these diseases re-establishing themselves.

We can prevent people, animals and plants from getting diseases. In humans, the flu, measles, mumps and rubella to name just a few.

How can we prevent these diseases taking hold?

We inoculate against them.

We give the body a small dose of the disease in the form of an injection, and this small dose will grow and reproduce, and what it does is to allow the body to learn to fight it, to boost the immune system by creating and inducing anti bodies that will attack any future infections.

If you know that you may be traveling to some far off distant land, were there could be some potentially dangerous diseases, you go to the doctor or clinic and ask for an injection to inoculate against catching the disease.

If you are going out, to shop, to celebrate or just to walk, and the sky looks black, heavy with rain clouds, it is sensible to take an umbrella. You are looking forward, preparing for something that could happen. Inoculating.

As you go about your daily life, business, leisure, pleasure, be aware of the potential things that could go wrong, and prepare for them, just in case they do happen.

For me as I travel the world teaching and training (visit my web site www.nlpnow.net for courses) with people from differing cultures and beliefs, I know I am going to say and do the wrong things, I inoculate the participants against my unintended mistakes by telling them I may do or say the wrong things.

In business have a contingency plan for happenings that do not follow the original structure or plan. Inoculate.

If entering a relationship, as a young lady I know was hoping to do, what happens if the other person has no interest, perhaps in this case it turned out that he was gay, something she could not see or recognize as she pursued him? Rather than letting her get hurt by his rejection in the future, I inoculated her by suggesting the possible rejection and why, but allowing her to carry out her quest. She was rejected, but they remain good friends.

Do not dwell or stop doing what you want to do, just because there could be dangerous monsters lurking to get you, just be aware they could be there, prepare, inoculate, but go for your dream.