Jurmalas Park, Liepaja

Hello Gentle Readers here are some photos of our trip to the park.

Steering the Pirate Ship

Mama Exercising

Look at me!

Mama and Papa

Hold on!

Yay!!!

Bouncing

Mama, Robert and Babushka

Getting girls to do the work.

Just Swinging.

#liepaja #jurmalasparks

Trump. 100 days

Hey Gentle Reader. Yesterday was The Donald's 100th day in office. Lets have a little look at how he has done.

So after 100 days Trump's approval rating after 100 days was only 40%. The worst in a long time and 20% less than Obama or George W. Bush after their first 100 days.



On the campaign trail Donald made 663 promises of what he would do in office. Thats not unusual in itself. That is what politicians do.
What is unusual is that he has already broken 80 of these promises in only 100 days.

All the executive orders tell us is that Trump likes making speaches. Which of these 30 have actually happened?

Yes Gentle Reader he has kept just 7 promises in the first 100 days. To be fair sone of these were not his fault. Banning refugees from coming to the US and repealing Obamacare were just humiliating defeats LOL.

Oh well Donald the first 100 days have not been so bad. You broke the world record with MOAB.

Thumbs up and heres to the next 1361 days.

#100days #trump #lies #brokenpromises #fakenews

Lena's Easter Egg Snack

Hello Gentle Readers. Time for a recipe thats perfect for using those pesky chocolate Easter Eggs that you may have hanging around the house.

Ingredients

A Chocolate Easter egg
White Bread

Method
Cut the crust off the bread and roll out nice and flat with a rolling pin.
Break up some chocolate into small pieces and place some on each slice.
Carefully roll up the bread so they look a bit like the picture below.

Place them on a microwavable plate and heat on full power for 20 seconds.

Depending on your preference you could serve immediately or allow to cool for a smooth, creamy treat.

Enjoy!

#recipes #eastereggs

Dear Dad 4

Happy birthday Dad


Its been a year since I wrote so I have a lot to tell you.

The big news is that Lena, Robert and I are off to live in China in August. I know mum is a bit worried about it but in my head and heart I know its the right decision for my family.

Robert and Lena are really excited about living in Guangzhou for several reasons including the fact that we will all be together. Lena also has a job in the school.
Its in the tropics so cold winters wont be a problem anymore and it gives us a chance to travel to places that we have always wanted to go but distance or cost have stopped us from doing.
Also the money is really good and we can save a lot every month.

You always told me that a man needs to put his family first and I believe that this opportunity will give all of us more and help make our dreams a reality.

Robert keeps growing and is healthy and happy. You would love him to bits because he is sport orientated and very clever.
He is always asking about you and I tell him all the old stories that you told me. He proudly wore his Scotland top for the schools International day.

We saw Mum, Fiona and Janine at Easter. Please look in on them whenever you can. Janine is due very soon and your 3rd great grandchild will soon be there to look out for Honey and Brendan.

As I said before, mum seems worried about China but she seems well although she had some back pain when we were there.

Look in on her now and again and keep an eye on her for me while I am halfway around the world.

Will write again soon

Love you.
Neil

Spooky....watch with the lights on

Be warned Gentle Reader, this video may give you nightmares.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1345218935531388&id=100001298824350

If anyone can explain this wierd phenomena...please comment.

Top 10 Fun Facts.....The European Union

Hello there Gentle Readers wherever you are. You may have noticed a bit of a trend in the last few weeks. After a year of trying to avoid it my Brexit posts have been catching up with me.

Here is my top 10 fun facts about the EU.

1. Approximately 10% of all EU citizens were concieved  in an IKEA bed.

2. In Washington D.C. the embassies of Slovenia and Slovakia have a weekly meeting to exchange wrongly delivered mail.

3. Ireland joined the EU in 1973 but didnt have postcodes until 2015.

4. If all the Cadbury Creme eggs produced in a year were shared out equally among EU citizens, everybody would have 1.

5. Although within the EU, the Vatican cannot join because it is not a democracy.
Its a theocracy which makes God head of state and he cannot attend all the meetings.

6. The UK is the windiest country in the EU.

7. The widest waterfall (110m) is in Latvia. But its only 2m high.

8. The only EU patented smell is "Freshly cut grass" and is used to give Tennis balls their odour.


9. The EU parliamentary constituency of South West England includes Cornwall, Devon and Gibraltar.

10. In 2009 an EU law stating that dead livestock should be removed from fields was repealed because the vulture population of the EU was starving.

#top10funfacts #eu

Today in History: April 23rd

Hey Gentle Readers its time to once again pull on our spangly lycra pants of history and grapple manfully with the tag team of time.

1954: American film maker Michael Moore is born in Flint, Michigan.

1977: Wrestler John Cena is born.

1985: New Coke is launched leading to protests which inevitably leads to Coke reverting back to its original recipe.

2005: The first YouTube video is posted.

#michaelmoore #johncena #newcoke #youtube #23april #todayinhistory

Puddles and Motorbikes

Hello Gentle Readers. Our shopping trip with Robert today meant he got 2 of his favourite things.

The rain meant puddles everywhere and at Mols shopping Mall in Riga there is a display of new Motorcycles.

Here is Robert enjoying both.

#puddles #mols #motorbikes #happyrobert

A messy divorce. My Brexit view. Part 3

Hello there Gentle Readers, so after my last little rant on Brexit quite a lot has happened.


I was planning to write about Scotland and Nicola (who?) Sturgeon. For those of you that don't know she is the First Minister of Scotland which on the global scheme makes her about as important as Donald Trump's 2nd favourite hairpiece.

Nicola and Velma. Seperated at Birth?

I was going to explain that despite my total lack of trust in her or her party, the SNP, I am now fully behind the Independence of Scotland and its joining the European Union.

Instead I was a little bit side tracked when the Prime Minister, Mrs May, decided to call a UK general election for June 8th.

Teresa May. Dont you think she looks tired?

As a British subject I must admit that this development left me speechless. I can understand why she did it. She needs a mandate from the UK electorate because the "people" didnt elect her. 

She also needs to feel that her vision for Brexit is the right one and she set down a challenge to the opposition Labour party and the SNP in Scotland to offer their Brexit alternatives so that the British people could decide.

I was not able to vote in the Referendum on Brexit and I think you know how I would have voted. But this feels like Teresa May didnt trust the decision that the British people made in June 2016. I disagreed with the result but I have accepted it. Brexit must happen, there should not be any back tracking on the decision the people made.

By calling a general election now. Mrs May has in my view opened the door for political chaos in the UK. Her lack of trust in the British people astonishes me and I see a future Britain where all decisions are constantly second guessed and reconsidered until we cant actually remember how we voted in the first place.

I believe that all UK politicians no matter there political viewpoints need to suck it up, grow a pair and trust the voters cos if you lose the voters, we all lose.

#2017ukelection #brexit #suckitup #growaset #teresamay #nicolasturgeon

Wednesday Thought: Hair

Hello there Gentle Readers after my run in with the 80s the other day and the mullet that time forgot (Lena told me it actually wasn't a mullet but something called a rat-tail) I decided to use my semi regular column to let you know what some other people have said about Hair.

When you lose a lover its a bit like getting a bad haircut. It grows back in time.

Sammy Davies Junior.


Inflation is paying $15 for a $10 haircut that you paid $5 for when you had hair.

Sam Ewing

Why dont you get a haircut. You look like a chrysanthemum.

P.G.Wodehouse


Justin Beiber stole my Haircut.

Davy Jones

#hair #davyjones #pgwodehouse #samewing #sammydaviesjnr

Return of the Living Mullet

Hello Gentle Readers, I hope you all had a pleasent Easter break. Lena, Robert and I visited my mum in Norwich and ate too much. Robert got a haircut from his Auntie Fiona and got to hang out with his cousin Honey.

However.....

 Please look at the picture below with caution...its dangerous.

What you are looking at ......is a mullet.

Growing up as I did in the 1970s and 80s in the UK, I was conditioned to see the mullet everywhere.



I would see them on TV Presenters and DJs. Pop stars and actors would prance or dance on TV or in movies with this monstrosity of a hairdo flouncing around behind them.

Even as a kid I thought the Mullet was the stupidest thing ever and I was happy to see it disappear into the midsts of time.



However here was a Mullet. A Mullet with a Latvian voice. The mullet is back.....and in Latvia.

An appeal.

Please....wherever you are. Dont let this blast from the hairstyles that time forgot make a comeback. Lena tells me that Mullets are actually quite common in Latvia.


Why????

Wherever you go, whoever you see with a mullet. Tell them the Madness must stop
Thank you



#mullet #stupidhair

A Messy Divorce? My Brexit view. Part 2

Hello Gentle Reader.


Last week I started my tirade on Brexit and just how dumb it is. Now for the second part. I hope you have braced yourself.

When I was interviewed for LNT last week the interviewer asked me if I would like to see the Brexit decision reversed.

Although i personally believe that Brexit itself will be very damaging for the UK, I believe that the decision should stand.

"What!" I hear you cry. "Have you switched sides?"

No my friends I have not pulled on my John Bull costume and raised the UK drawbridge. I am still fully commited to my belief that an EU without the UK will be worse off and a UK out of the EU will be knee deep in shit before the end of the decade.

I believe in the democratic process. The UK population were asked a simple question.

Do you wish for the UK to stay in the European Union?

The majority said "No".

End of discussion.

The people decided. Democracy in its purest form. The result should stand and in a few years from now the people who voted with their hearts instead of their heads will fully understand what a mistake they made.
There can be no "backsies", no "take us back, we're sorries". The people who made a decision based on nothing more than their xenophobic worldview will have to live with that decision as they see the children and grand children struggle to find work due to increased taxation and lack of investment.

If you voted Leave. You only have yourself to blame.

#brexit

Today in History: April 6th

Hello Gentle Readers. Today is Roberts 7th birthday and he is getting a skateboard. So lets strap on our elbow and knee pads, hold out our arms and keep balanced on the sweet ride of history.

1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.

• 1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.

• 1974 – The Swedish pop band ABBA wins the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Waterloo", launching their international career.

• 1994 – The Rwandan Genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan presidentJuvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.

2010 -Robert Thomson is born in Latvia

#scotland #rwanda #abba #olympics #robertthomson #april6th 

Roberts Tower of Power

Hey Gentle Readers

We were at school early today so Robert, with a little bit of help from his Papa, created this great tower.

I had to help with the last few blocks just to make sure it was taller than me.

#proudpapa

Wednesday Thought: Brexit

Hello again Gentle Readers following on from my Brexit interview and post. I wanted to use my Wednesday thought column about what other people say about it.

At least from a national security standpoint, none of the problems the U.S. and U.K. face will become easier to solve if the U.K. is out of the E.U.; on the contrary, I fear that a 'Brexit' would only make our world even more dangerous and difficult to manage.

David Petraeus

Brexit was a fantastic example of a nation shooting itself full in the face.

Hugh Grant

Brexit is for the richest in our country: they can afford recessions.

George Osbourne

I worry about the direction of the U.K. and U.K. politics and governance in the event of a Brexit.

Nicola Sturgeon

#brexit #nicolasturgeon #georgeosborne #davidpetraeus #hughgrant