Tuesday, 31 December 2019

Top 10: Worst things in the 2010s

Hello Gentle Readers



The last 10 years have been good for me personally and professionally. I married Lena, we adopted Robert and my career is getting better all the time.

This post is about the 10 things I have disliked about the 2010's.

1  The rise of populist politics.

Right wing policies and nationalism have turned politics into a joke, unfortunately noone is laughing.

2. Brexit

Pointless and useless. The populist policies of the UK government have wrecked my country both politically and socially. I will never return to live there.

3. Trump.

The Idiot in chief. NUFF SAID.

4 The rise of ISIS.

Although mostly gone the activities of the Islamic State have left a scar on the world. The most horrible part of which has been the radicalisation of European Muslim youth due to their treatment by the governments of their home countries.

5. Genocide in Myanmar

The treatment of the Rohinga muslim minority is a genocide and the Myanmar government and their military are to blame.

6. Treatment of the Uighars in China.

Brainwashing and re-education. China sucks in so many ways. We lived there for 2 years.

7. Continuing denial of Climate change.

Forest fires in Australia. Sea level rise and droughts and floods. Yet politicians still dont accept that its happening.

8. The Rise of Clickbait.

Advertising is important but this manipulative form is having a negative impact on our youth.

9. The 'Gender' debate.
There are 2 'Male' or 'Fenale' enough said.

10. Fake news. Journalism used to be trusted now anyone can claim what they want when they want.

#top10 #2010s

Sunday, 29 December 2019

Christmas adventure: Budapest

Hey Gentle viewer.

Here is the vid of our 2 full days here in Budapest.


#thomsonsworld #budapest #youtube

Thursday, 26 December 2019

Christmas Adventure: day 4 video

Hey there Gentle Viewers.

Another interesting and exciting day on our Christmas adventure.
We have arrived in Budapest and now we will relax for a few days.

Enjoy the video



#christmasadventure #thomsonsworld #youtube

Wednesday, 25 December 2019

Christmas Adventure: day 3 youtube

Hello Gentle viewers

Here is the Christmas Day video. Austria and Czech republic



#christmasadventure #thomsonsworld #youtube #eating

Wednesday thought: Funny Christmas

Ho ho ho gentle reader. Christmas is a serious matter.   NOT! So here for you are some funny seasonal quotes.


'Santa has the right idea. Only visit pepple once a year.'
VICTOR BORGE












Ho ho ho...hee hee hee

#funnychristmas

Tuesday, 24 December 2019

Christmas Youtube video: day 2

Hey gentle viewers. Here is video number 2 of our Christmas adventure.


#youtube #thomsonsworld #christmasadventure

Christmas Adventure. Day 2

Well Gentle Readers, our Christmas adventure continued today.


We picked up our car from Budget in Budapest and drove out of the city heading out on the highway. It was really windy but the roads were very good.

We stayed overnight in Croatia in the town of Varezdin and we went to our first, rather small, Xmas market. We bought a hat for Robert, gloves for me and a rather fetching set of ear muffs for Lena.

The hotel was small and the staff were friendly and very helpful.

We drove north into Slovenia where we had to buy a road tax sticker called a vignette. We needed one for Slovenia and Austria.

We seemed to take no time at all to cut through Slovenia but it looks amazing and we will try to come back in the future.

We didnt get a chance to stop in Slovenia but we did stop for lunch in Austria and had Schnitzel. I am sure in Vienna it would be better but we were disappointed with it.

The drive was uneventful apart from Robert making up a song and we arrived in the beautiful city of Vienna about 3.30. We checked into our hotel and headed straight for Vienna's metro to go to the central square for Vienna's famous Xmas market.







It was amazingly beautiful and we boughr lots of tasty food including soup in bread, bratwurst and drinking gluwein.

We are now back at our hotel and will have a nice quiet relaxing evening.

Check out our youtube video to see our adventures.

Merry Christmas everyone.

#christmasadventure #slovenia #croatia #austria #day2

Monday, 23 December 2019

Christmas you tube day 1

Hey Gentle Viewers. Here for you is part 1 of our Christmas adventures.


#christmascountdown #christmasadventure2019 #youtube #thomsonsworld

Christmas Adventure: Day 1

Hello Gentle Readers.

Our Christmas 2019 Adventure has begun.
Last year it was Cambodia and Ankhor Wat. In 2017 it was Australia.

This year is a proper road trip and we will be visiting lots of countries visiting as many Christmas markets as we can.

As today is about day 1 and day 1 starts at approx 7pm on Sunday. Arman our driver picked us up to take us to Tbilisi in Georgia (my 38th country).



It was an interesting journey. Once we crossed into  Georgia we were amazed by the number of little stalls at the side of theroad. These stalls sold exclusively 3 items. Toilet Rolls, detergent and Tangerines.

Apparently these items are very cheap in Georgia and expensive in Armenia.

We arrived in Tbilisi and Robert got a pocket watch and I got my flag and we waited for the flight to Istanbul. It took off at stupid o' clock (5.25am).



In Istanbul we wanted coffee so we found a Starbucks....bliss...no Starbucks in Armenia. Then hunger growing we found a McDonalds to eat and get the free WiFi.

As I write this we have  a 3 and a half hour wait for our next flight...to Budapest.



#christmas #tbilisi #istanbul #budapest

Saturday, 21 December 2019

Top 10: Best Christmas Number 1 singles in the UK

Hello Gentle Readers. Well Ladbaby did it again and has his 2nd consecutive UK Xmas number one with "I love Sausage Rolls"


I wanted to list the 10 best (in my opinion) Christmas chart toppers in the UK. These are in chronological order.

1962: Elvis Presley - Return to Sender



1966: Tom Jones- Green green grass of home.


1967: The Beatles- Hello Goodbye


1973: Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody


1975: Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody


1979: Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall


1994: East 17 - Stay another day


2003: Gary Jules - Mad World


2009: Rage against the machine - Killing in the name



2017: Ed Sheeran - Perfect



#top10 #xmasnumber1uk

Tuesday, 17 December 2019

Today in History: 17th December

Hello Gentle Readers. Lets put on the big, white, pointy hat of history and speak Latin all the time.



497 BC: In Rome the first Saturnalia festival is held. As Christianity became more popular it was adopted as Christmas.




1538: The Pope excommunicates Henry VIII of England.

1892: Vogue magazine is published for the first time.



1903: The Wright brothers fly for the first time.

1936: Pope Francis is born.


1989: The first episode of The Simpsons airs.





#december17 #todayinhistory #popefrancis #thesimpsons #wrightbrothers #vogue #henryVIII #saturnalia


Sunday, 15 December 2019

Today in History: 15th December

Hello there Gentle Readers. Its that time of year when we think about others and try to be human. So lets forget about the Nationalist right-wing policies of time and embrace the joyful socialism of history.


37: The future Roman emperor Nero is born.



1890; Lakora Indian chief Sitting Bull is killed in the lead up to the Wounded Knee massacre.

1939: The movie "Gone with the wind" opens in the USA.



1966: Walt Disney dies.

1970: The Venera 7 Soviet probe lands on the planet Venus. It is the first probe from Earth to land successfully on another planet.

#todayinhistory #december15 #nero #venera7 #waltdisney #gonewiththewind #sittingbull

Christmassy Cinnamon Buns

Hey Gentle Readers.



Xmas is getting closer and today Lena decided to try her hand at making Cinnamon buns. I suggested making them Christmassy so she will add a pinch of ginger and nutmeg that was left over from last weeks gingerbread cookies.

They were very tasty by the way and they are all gone.
You can get the recipe here.

https://ascotsmaninriga.blogspot.com/2019/12/christmas-countdown-gingerbread-cookie.html?m=1

And the video here.

https://youtu.be/XgC3C_c9Ugk

Ingredients
300g milk
4g yeast
2 small eggs
4g salt
100g sugar
200g butter
750+g plain flour
100g brown sugar
13g cinnamon
3g ginger
2g nutmeg
130g sour cream
45g powdered sugar

Method
Heat the milk in a pan until warm and melt the butter. Add the yeast to the milk and stir. Add the eggs, sugar and salt and stir through. Add about 600g of the flour and the melted butter. If the dough is too wet you can add the rest of the flour and knead it until it becomes dry to the touch.

The dough is made and resting.


When you have kneaded thoroughly let the dough rest in a warm place for 30 minutes. Knead it again and then leave for another 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting mix the brown sugar, cinnamon powder, ginger and nutmeg in a bowl.


Take some of the dough and roll it out so it is about half a centimeter thick. Use a spoon and sprinkle the cinnamon mix on top so it evenly covers the dough.

Carefully roll up the dough so that it makes a sausage shape.

Slice the dough so that each bun is about 2cm thick. Place on greaseproof baking paper on an oven tray.  Place in a preheated oven 180 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Ready for the oven

To make the icing mix the powder sugar and the sour cream  Drizzle the mix over the hot buns.

I drizzled my goo on Lena's sweet buns
#christmascountdown #cinnamonbuns #thomsonsworld

Friday, 13 December 2019

4 months in Yerevan

Yes Gentle Readers we have been in Yerevan for 4 months. We love this place and when our school asked if we wanted to renew our contracts next year we said Yes!

Here are some photos of our time here in Armenia.
































#armenia #yerevan #thomsonsworld