Spring in Valencia

In the past I have always answered that Summer is my favourite season, when asked. I love Summer in Spain, even if it does get a little too hot in the height of the day, but that's what Siesta Time is for. Everybody does it, not just we old folks, and it's called siesta, not naptime. Siesta time is to die for, and the principal reason I came to Spain.

However, I have been doing some thinking about this subject because I realise I have been selling Springtime in Spain short. To get to the joys of Summer we have to experience the wonders of Spring. How could I have missed it? In my country we have Summer, and the next thing we know we have Winter. If there are Autumn and Spring periods in Bermuda we don't notice because everything is always green there, but here autumn sees plants turn brown, and this year the country, except Valencia, has been well and truly snowed in. So, it is with great joy that the country has welcomed back the sun in all its glory, and people are able to sit out in the sunshine and feel warmth about themselves.

In Valencia, Spring means that the province awakens from its Winter hibernation with a great big bang. I mean that literally. March madness means the Festival of Fallas when for three full weeks we make so much noise with fireworks, both daytime and at night. Children go around with petardos and lighters to see how high grandparents can jump. At the City Hall in Valencia City there is a daily 2pm firework display that grows in intensity every day. We fool ourselves into thinking that those big bangs are fireworks, but in Iraq and Syria they are called ordanance. The shows usually lasts between five and seven minutes, but it is the most violent five/seven minutes one could ever ask for.

Why do we make so much noise, twenty-four hours a day? We say that we are chasing old man Winter away. The thing is, it always works, so no need to change that then!

There is singing, concerts, dancing, parades, a band might follow you into the Metro and then play loudly and you would dance if there was room. We eat too much, drink far too much booze, and there are bullfights, both the kind where the bull is killed for the supermarket, and where only the skill of the humans is the main thing. They try to keep the incidence of the bullfighter getting killed to a minimum as there is not a lot to do with a human dead body.

The culmination of the celebrations is the destruction of monuments that have taken a year to create at costs that average a fullscale house, by blowing them up and burning them down where they stand in the street. So far, after so many years of doing the same thing the town is still standing. Also, it's no coincidence that on that day, March 19th, we celebrate Father's Day. Apparently, Valencia fathers don't do sedate lunch celebrations with the kids.

I have changed my answer to Springtime in Valencia as my most favourite time because it's when orange trees hang heavy with golden orbs and are harvested; it's when my garden burst forth in flowers, and my spirit actually takes a leap towards the sun. Its the time of year when hope comes alive with the warmth of the sun.

Springtime in Valencia; all's well with the world. Happiness has returned, and that is good!

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

Flight AU 9525: A Betrayal of Faith!

I'm not sure whether to be more shocked that a 28 year old young man would commit suicide and choose to take 149 other people with him; or that over the past fifteen years there have been ten other such incidents resulting in the total loss of more than 500 innocent lives.

That does not include all those incidents where light, single pilot planes have been deliberately flown into the homes of wives, ex-wives and ex-girlfriends by jilted pilots.

It is clear that we do not live in a perfect world, and we will never reach that level of Nirvana. In fact, the world goes around based on Trust. It will never be otherwise.

We start the day by listening to the news. We trust what the news reader is saying is the truth, which is ridiculous because not even the reader knows that to be true. He, or she simply believes it to be so.

If we take mass transport we trust that the operator is sane, sober, responsible and does not have a death wish that day.

If we have surgery scheduled for that day we place our total faith in the surgeon. In all cases where general anaesthesia is involved we close our eyes while gazing at a person who is wearing a mask and we submit totally. Will we reopen our eyes? Only time will tell.

I'm sure that the families of the victims of a very twisted mind, including the co-pilot's parents and relatives, have the sympathy of the world at large. In particular, I cannot even begin to fathom what his parents and family are going through at the moment. Clearly, what he did is not the fault of his family. Evidently he had been planning to do what he did for a long time. Every passenger that flew on a plane in which he was co-pilot was unknowingly playing Russian Roulette.

That is a very scary thought. What can be done about it? There is only so much that we can do. Beyond that we take our chances. The elderly are living longer and in good health, but there are a lot of very screwed up people trying to kill each and every person they can. We are like baby turtles scrambling towards the sea. Some of us will make it, and others will not.

It is important for us to continue to have Faith that we will always experience good luck!

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael  

 

Dumping the Parents. A very bad idea!

In the news this week was a story of a community that is accusing itself of having resorted to a controversial practise of dumping its elders in care homes, rather than having them live out their lives in their own homes. As senior citizens we are living longer, much longer, but many don't have the luxury of good health to be able to care for themselves.

Having arrived here in Spain to take up permanent residence in 1999 I immediately observed some cultural aspects that I really grew to love. Two were, (a) parents took their children everywhere they went, including to the bar, and, (b) that parents lived out their days at home with one or other of heir offspring.

That was then, but great negative changes have taken place that have placed significant pressures on the average family around the world. First, here in Spain fantastic growth was enjoyed during what we now know was the bubble period. That's when offspring worked very hard and many of their parents had to take up residence in care homes. However, the question is, once they were put there did they continue to have a close relationship with their children through regular visits, or were they simply forgotten? If that was the case they would have been dumped.

"Growing old is ugly!" So said Michael Jackson. He was absolutely correct. We go from young, vital, perhaps beautiful or handsome to the effects of age-creep. The effect gets more severe day-by-day, and  generally, it's not a pretty sight.

Young people are responsible for a number of actions that are taken against older people, and apparently they do so completely forgetting that they too are headed in that same direction. One of those actions is the dumping of their parents. Meanwhile, their own young children observe the treatment accorded to their grandparents, and so of course, when the time comes they will do the same thing to their own parents. They will dump them and forget them because they got the model from their mom and dad, so it must be alright.

The irony is that mom and dad will surely moan and complain about all the sacrifices they made for their children, and now they dump us here and never come to visit.

Also, there is one other class of parent who will complain bitterly: that is those fathers who were careless where they spilled their sperm as young men. They never took responsibility, and in their old age, although they fathered the equivalent of a football team, nobody comes to visit. 

I hope they complain to the wall!

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

I have finally got to know Mr Grey with his 50 Shades!

To me, the headline I have given this is funny, because in my country we call your sunglasses your shades.

I have been a long time getting to know what all the fuss was about. When the three books were released by author, E.L. James, "The 50 Shades of Grey," a great stir was caused among women, particularly of middle age, so I thought it was some kind of idealised love story. I bought the series for my wife so that she might read through them to satisfy herself, but she didn't explain much to me, nor was I particularly interested.

Now a movie has been released, so I got to watch it and I had an Ah Ha! moment. If you have not read the books or seen the movie I am not going to spoil the story line for you, but it is fair to say that the movie appears under the classification of BD, DS, and S&M. That's Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, Sadism and Masochisim. This is where in a relationship between two people one is the dominant and the other the submissive. I have no doubt that there are cases where the woman is the dominant one, but we seem to be dealing with cases where the man is dominant and the woman is submissive.

I wateched the movie and immediately concluded that the movie must be a pale version of the books as it was apparent to me that care was being exercised to avoid a triple XXX rating.

It occurred to me that a very long time ago I had sat through a similar film with a strong male character, also named Mr Grey, and his relationship with his secretary. The film was called simply, "Secretary."

When we enter into subjects under the above-noted headings we enter into a very strange world indeed where people like me might jump to the conclusion that this is all some sick shit, but I am reigned in by the number of serious scholary papers on the subject. Basically we see one set of people who have the need to control others exercise that control over, hopefully, willing subjects, and probably even better would be to control unwilling individuals. Men pay women to beat them up, and women go back time and again to subject themselves to thoroughly sadistic men to be physically degraded and seriously hurt.

Here is where I have a problem: on the one hand women of the world are calling for men to stop violence against women. yet, a whole cult following of women seem to exist for subject matter of this kind. If you want to know how many films of this type for general release there are you need only Google the subject S&M films. I found thirty-three titles. However, these will all be sanitized entertainment films, for the real thing you need to go to a sex store. A "friend" offered to show me one such film and after only a few minutes I said, sorry, I have to go.

I consider myself to be a strong and robust man but images of what people do to get off sexually I find so disturbing, that I simply don't want to know. I suppose the thing that would make it alright would be if it all takes place between willing adult participants who exercise free will.

I somehow doubt that in every case. Where there is one person who is drawn into such activity against their own free will the experience must be so horrific to supersede regular-style torture. That cannot be acceptable by any standards.

Copyright (c) 2015   Eugene Carmichael 

A Bitter Disappointment!

I was so hoping that on this day, Sunday March 8th, 2015, the one year anniversary of the sudden disappearence of flight MH370, the Malaysia flight that so completely vanished, that the plane complete with those persons on board would magically re-appear. Why on earth would I think such a thing possible?

Flight MH 370 changed course from its pre-set flight pattern in a deliberate manner and its contact system was shut down to avoid detection because, presumably it was intended to take the plane to a specific unauthorized destination. My thinking was that this was a well thought out action on the part of Al Queada. I saw it as the follow-up action to their 9-11 show piece, an action that would have to be stunning. To do something in the United States, that was a country on high alert was probably impossible, but in the part of the world of Malaysia, where security was at a lower state of being, something could be possible.

The pilot was Muslim, and he had a simulator in his home. He also possibly had some difficulty in his family, if you believe reports, which would have been likely if he was practising how to land a large airplane in glider mode so as to avoid detection due to the sound of the motors. If the plane had landed deliberately in a pre-determined spot and then hidden, that would have taken a small army that was well chosen and trained. One thing that seems to be certain, judging by the movements of the plane that has been tracked, it appears to have been deliberately flown towards a definite destination.

Let me be clear: I am not saying that the pilot did anything of his own accord to have participated in the disappearence of the plane. We simply don't know what happened. However, I was hoping that in spite of how ludicrous my idea might sound, it would have been fantastic if all passengers and crew re-appeared on this first anniversary, but it wasn't to be.

There is another possibility: we may still be seeing an Al Queada PR action. To make an aircraft completely disappear as if by magic, and to create the world's greatest mystery. That is certainly what we are presently grappling with, but until they take credit and explain how they did it, and what happened, it has come to an abrupt end.

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

On Standby awaiting explosive Breaking News on Sunday, March 8th!

I anticipate that on Sunday, March 8th some absolutely amazing news will be released.

Please Standby!

copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

How Precious is our Sight and all our other senses?

As a natural part of aging, which is not a pretty process, I found that my sight in my left eye was deteriorating due to a cataract. In 2011 I had the operation by a very competant surgeon and all was fine. However, gradually the eye needed more and more attention, including rubbing and lots of drops. Two Sundays ago I awoke lying on my front with my head  resting on my right side. In order to see what time it was I opened my left eye and realised, to my absolute horror that I was completely blind in that eye.

How long had this condition existed?

It had not occurred to me to simply close my right eye to test my left vision, so perhaps I have been operating for some time in that condition, although recently I have noticed a more advanced deterioration. For instance I am having major problems with my sense of depth perception.

I took myself off to the doctor the very next day and when he did an examination he discovered that the eye had become clouded over from a build-up of dust. In other words, I am blind in that eye due to common dirt! Good Heavens! I now have an appointment for a cleaning by laser.

Firstly, the human body is an amazing construct with built-in redundancies. We have two ears, eyes, nostrils and a mouth to take in and expell air, without which we cannot survive for more than a few minutes. We have our two arms and two hands, and legs and feet, and our internal organs. However, just to add an element of grave danger to our design we have only one heart.

We take so much for granted that when we come into contact with people with no sight or loss of other senses we have no way of fully understanding what they must be experiencing. We must walk in their shoes in order to know how deprived their lives are.

My hope is that after the cleaning process I will be returned to a like-new state. However, I wonder why I have been given this experience? I must open my mind for a revaluation of something that I can do to be of assistance, because surely, to have lost at least part of my sight, and then to be given it back must have some significant meaning.

One thing is certain: I am eternally grateful for my sight and other senses, and my good health in general!

Copyright (c) 2015   Eugene Carmichael  

We're Racists and that's how we like it!

This refers to the news item from France this week wherein some English football supporters chanted this as they prevented a black man from boarding a train in Paris.

Well, finally a racist freely acknowledged that he was just that. Normally, people act or say things that stamps them as being racist, or men who hate women, or people who hate Jews, or gays and lesbians, and they are adamant that they are not prejudiced, even going so far as they say they have friends from the particular grouping.

Well, if you are a person with a perverted point of view at least recognise your sickness, because until you do there is nothing that can be done if you want to be a part of decent society.

Do we have a right to hate people? Nowhere is it written that we have such rights and privileges to hate, and to practise hate. Hatred is a sickness because it divides society. We live by laws and rules that promote the peace. Also, public opinion stands in favour of common sense, decency, and conducting our lives in peace and harmony. In other words whatever we feel in our hearts, in public we have to respect one another, and we have to treat members of the public equally, and we absolutely must allow others their own free movement. When it comes to the use of public transportation, no member of the public has any right whatsoever to impede the progress of another if that other person is behaving themselves in a proper, non-threatening manner.

Those men who were seen acting as they did must be guilty of action that broke the law and should be punished under the law, and hopefully severely so. Also, I have news for them: by proudly chanting:"We're racists and that's the way we like it," they were also saying we are some of the most stupid people on earth, and we're proud.

Now we all know!

We don't have to love each other, we only have to respect one another.

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

   

Too Beautiful Two: The Follow-up.

I enjoyed the response to my blog in which I asked the question: Is it possible to be to beautiful?  It caused a lively debate down at the local bar, and I had a response by e-mail which hit the nail on the head.

A debate consists of people both for and against the question, but we were all ordinary citizens, none of whom were blessed or cursed by being overly handsome or beautiful, in the general sense. But my e-mail fascinated me.

It was from someone who fits the profile of being super attractive, although she didn't put it quite like that. She is a woman who says she has been around for a while, been there and done all the things that she could have dreamed of, and now she was facing her greatest challenge. How to choose the right man to settle down with and have a family.

I have said before that in my opinion the woman who gets my vote as "Most Beautiful Woman in the World," is Halle Berry. She is naturally beautiful and fascinating as a woman, and when she puts on her best face she just blows me away. Have I ever fantasied about being her lover or husband? Absolutely not! She is a prime example of being totally too much of a woman. As if to underscore that, she is rich and acomplished to boot.

A woman like that could, without intending to, drive a man insane with jealousy. He would know that every man she encounters wants her for his own. Everything she did by way of daily routine would, or could be shadowed with suspicion by her man. 

That might be the problem from her man's standpoint, but from her view the question becomes whether she should marry a super handsome guy who does not suffer from a lack of self-confidence, which could also lead to unwelcome problems; or should she choose an ordinay man who would likely be overwhelmed by who and what she is, and is more likely to stay at home and count his blessings.

These are also questions for us lucky ordinary looking folks, but let's face it there really is a difference.

From my standpoint I am not overly impressed when I see a really beautiful woman or a handsome guy. I have never wished that I was in the shoes of such a person, nor will I ever do so. Except my hero, Sidney Poiter, but that's because he's Sidney. And Sidney is Super Sidney! Enough said!

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

BREAKING NEWS !!!!!!!!!!!!

It seems that I will have to continue last week's post, "Is it possible to be too beautiful?" Your response is really interesting. However, this week I want to focus on another topic: What is truly Breakin News worthy?

I am a habitual viewer of CNN. They say I can rely on having news up to date, whether I think I need it or not. On Friday February 6th they broke into scheduled programming, even interuppting a guest who was in the midst of answering a question, to tell us that acording to ISIL, who Jordan are engaged in bombing over the savage killing of a Jordanian pilot by ISIL, that due to that bombing an American female hostage who ISIL had been holding had been killed.

The interruption to programming went on for quite a long time as more and more people became involved in discussing the report by ISIL, and in the process everybody was agreed that they were sceptical of the entire report, although it was known that they held a woman prisoner.

So, my question is, was that really worthy of breaking into regular programming under way. From this viewer's standpoint, absolutely not! It is assumed that there will be collateral damage from the bombing campaign, including a number of innocents, perhaps this hostage, who ISIL would probably have killed themselves. That is what they seem to do. 

It's true that I am not in charge of deciding what is urgent to broadcast, or not, and I accept that this could be a never ending argument. However, for viewer's like me, if my viewing is disturbed without adequate cause I get really pissed off, especially as it happens so often.

Here's what I do when I become really annoyed: I simply switch to another channel, or worse, I simply turn the damn thing of and go and do something else.

So, be careful CNN of turning your viewers off. You work too hard to get us in the first place.

By the way, congratulations on placing Robyn Curnow in an anchor's chair. She was born to it!

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

Is it possible to be too beautiful? The view from male eye.

During my young wild days when I was constantly attracted by all women, I walked into a cocktail lounge and saw a vison of pure beauty in a young woman who was sitting alone at a table. There were three men sitting at the bar and some other people sitting at tables. I immediately presumed that she was waiting for someone, but it soon became clear to me that she was simply passing the time of day.

For whatever their reasons none of the other men ventured anywhere near her. I plucked up the courage to make that long and dreadful journey to her table, where I fully expected to de rebuffed. I excused myself and apologised if I was being a bother, but I said I had a question that I thought she was the perfect person to ask.

My question was as follows: I wondered if she agreed with me that it is possible to be entirely too beautiful. That is to say, that I thought that while such immense beauty can be a true blessing in some ways, it can also be a curse.

Her reply was, "Would you care to have a seat, and a drink as you must be thirsty after such a hard journey to get here."

That was the start of a very long chat that lasted past the cocktail hour, and continued over dinner.

I learnt from her that policemen routinely gave her a break, while just wondering if she might have some free time to have a drink with them. She said that she usually gets anything she wants, which actually made her sad because no-one stood up to her. Wheneever she had to compete for something she usually got the role, even when there were others better qualified. She had been pampered all her life, and while it was nice to be treated as though she were royalty it did make her feel uncomfortable and sad. She was there in Bermuda, deliberately travelling alone, and had I said anything other than what I did she would have sent me packing. However, I had asked the question which was the key to the very thing she needed to talk about, and I had proved to be a good listener.

I spent some quality time with her during her visit and we became very good friends. Because her worst problem was that everyone wanted something from her, especially men, not once did I attempt to start anything romantic with her. I think had I done so I would have spoiled what became a long-term valuable friendship.

I keep telling myself that the value of our friendship was far greater than a night of steamy sex. I think I have finally, actually come to believe that.

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael 

Life with Sickness

For my New Year wishes for my family and friends I chose good health as my number one desire for each and everyone of them. I even did that for business colleagues. However, I never got to wish the same thing for myself, so I got sick. It seems like every second person in Spain, is currently suffering with the flu, or as it is known here, El Gripe, probably because once you are within its grip, you simply have to go along with whatever it demands.

As I noted in a previous blog, I came down with it on Christmas Day, as some kind of perverted gift, and I have now suffered through for one solid month. Having ventured out into society I am discovering that we are in the midst of a pandemic of flu. I also discovered that this time last year the country was undergoing the same thing. I sailed past all that, but not this time.

At first you put up a bit of a fight. You try to carry-on and keep up with your routine, and you keep smiling, but the time comes when you have to admit to everyone that you can do no more, and hopefully you have a nice warm bed to crawl into where you'll perhaps do as I did, just sleep for the next forty or fifty hours. That part was quite pleasent for me. I hope you all were as comfortable as I was. I occasionally heard that it was cold outdoors. The only thing I had to do, because no-one was going to help me otherwise, was to get up and go pee. Other than that you get to feel like you are on vacation.

The flu is the great common denominator. It seems in the midst of such illnesses such as the Big C, or Ebola, to be something small, but the flu does kill, and if it doesn't actually do that you can be made to wish for the sweet sting of death.

I was actually one of those persons who tried to guard against it by maintaining good hand health, and quickly covering my nose in enclosed spaces where people might have sneezed or coughed. But, it got me anyway, and as the original thing gone viral, it has got everyone else as well.

So, for next year I will remember to wish myself good health, but I had better do that in November.

Copyright (c) 2015

Eugene Carmichael   

No Pants Day! Where have I been?

Sorry!

I can't download a picture

Ahhhh!

For fourteen years, twice annually, January and May, a day is set aside for anyone who cares to do so, to go through the day without pants, slacks, or skirts, wearing only under pants. It only came to my attention this year, in spite of the fact that my own city is one of the sixty around the world engaging in the practise.

What has the world come to?

This, of course, is a young person's game whereby they choose to shock their parents. I was once part of that game as I tried to make an impression on my parents, without getting my head slapped off. Like the time I was running and I fell onto an upturned tin can and cut my nose open. Instead of yelling and crying I quietly walked into the kitchen where my mother had her back to me, and I walked up to her and tugged on her dress. She turned, took one look at me and screamed. Oh wow! That was good. She got the dettol bottle and a cloth and drenched the wound with pure dettol. The pain was so intense I simply passed out. That was not what I had in mind.

A No-Pants day is the sort of thing I expect of my city, Valencia, where, once a year, the local cycling club apply for permission to ride around the city completely naked. That's what they did to protest the cost to the city of the Pope's visit. So, I think had I happened onto the subway on that day and found myself surprised by a car full of pantsless people, I think I would have simply dropped my pants and simply stood there with my pants around my ankles for the ride.

Now, let's be clear about this from a man's point of view. To be in the company of a lot of other guys wearing only under pants would be no big deal. But to have lots of girls in their panties would be absolutely fabulous! However, having said that, apart from the fun of it all, it does not tend to be sexy. It's like being at the beach in the midst of all those uncovered pert, and not-so-pert boobies. After the first two minutes we all settle down and relax.

One thing is not in dispute: beats standing and staring at the trees!

Copyright (c) 2015   Eugene Carmichael

Who is the Pet?

I was reviewing my routine with our animals: We have two cats and a dog, none of whom we deliberately decided we wanted to care for. Blanca, our pure white cat is a beautiful cat to behold, but she is absolutely anti-social. She wants to be fed when she is hungry and thereafter she just wants to be left in peace.

Lnyx is a rescued male who would have been torn to pieces by some dogs had our son not picked it up and saved it. However, our son has gone to live elsewhere, so for the time being I look after Lnyx. He is my idea of a cat. Very affectinate and purrs wonderfully. The problem is that he keeps himself to the downstairs  apartment while he awaits the return of our son. Blanca keeps herself to the upstairs living acommodation, so we have an upstairs cat and a downstairs cat. When they do meet they usually have a short fight before going their seperate ways.

Then there is Max, a very small type of dog. Max just showed up one day, completely out of breath, pleading with me to feed him. He has been here ever since.

So, I was thinking about my routine with these animals. Feeding times I usually start with Blanca upstairs. I give her half an envelope of food in a gel substance, then I go downstairs and likewise feed Lnyx.Lately, I have been treating Max, who is suffering with Leishmaniosis, a deadly virus introduced by mosquitos. The treatment is quite complicated, and by the time I have finished with Max, Lnyx is calling for the rest of his envelope, and from upstairs I can hear Blanca doing the same thing.

I attend to each when they are hungry or sick. Blanca is our bulimic, sometimes throwing up her meal. I come along behind her and clean it up. I make sure they have clean water and a warm place to sleep.

I talk about them as our pets as though I were their proud father, especially when they do something cute. Hearing myself speaking about them in that manner it suddenly dawned on me, what if I have things completely the wrong way round?

Do they boast about how well trained I am? Do they say that I am always there with whatever they need, and that I am cute and manageable? Lnyx can even say that he has a large double bed in which to sleep and he never has to worry about where his next meal is coming from.

At the end of the day I am rewarded by Max and Lnyx with a show of love and appreciation. Blanca just gives me a look that says, Yea. thanks, but I'm going to nap now, so leave me in peace.

They say that animals choose us, rather than the other way round. I might have said to Max when he showed up, Max, I don't want a dog. However, Max would have said to me, Man, I need someone to feed me and give me a warm place to sleep, and to take care of me when I get ill. You'll do nicely, so get on with it.

No wonder the cat in the picture is having such a good laugh. I would too if I were in their place!

Copyright (c) 2015   Eugene Carmichael

It's a New Year Everyone! Happiness and Good Health for All!

A New Year, but I got the most unwanted, non-returnable Christmas Gift of all.

I got, on Christmas Day, when the British community usually exchanges presents, a case of influenza. I should say, a case of the flu, but I don't think it makes any difference. Once the virus decides to take up residence you will give in to its wishes. Fortunately, it just eased it way in on Christmas Day, not interrupting our celebrations at all. However, after a couple of days I just collapsed into bed where I happily stayed for a continuous period of more than 40 hours, sleeping away the worries of the world.

New Year's Eve found me in bed and New Years night I was still there, nicely wrapped up in my warm blanket. Fortunately, there was none of the real nasty stuff that the flu can bring. I just had to contend with shaking as though I was freezing in the cold north one minute, then suddenly sweating as though I was in the midday sun of the desert the next minute.

Today, its just a memory and it's time to look forward with moderate expectations from 2015. I intend to continue my usual practices toward my neighbours, treating them with courtesy and respect. That seems to have worked well over my 75 years, so no need to change now.

I hope to make some people happy this year by helping them to return to work by becoming new product promoters with FGXpress, a new career option. I will continue to work on keeping my health in order. For the first time in my life, I joined a gym last year and I am sticking to a routine and feeling pretty good about it. I became a Great Grandfather for the second time in December of 2014, so one of the must do things for 2015 will be for me to get to meet my newest great joy.

All of these things I will do in this current year, but none are resolutions, because resolutions are breakable.

My wish for you, dear readers is that this year will be kind and agreeable in everything that you intend to accomplish.If you do have any surprises let's hope that they are of the very best kind!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael 

Kim Jong Un - Uh Oh!

This guy is too dangerous to play games with!


First and foremost, it was a very bad idea to make a film that directly focuses on this man. Always, those two little words, Uh Oh, go before something that got way out of hand and ends horribly.

The Interview is a B class movie, which should stand for Bad, and in my opinion should be classed as  F B, or fucking bad. It has been asserted that Kim tried to discourage people from seeing the movie. If that was so, he was right.

I was a believer from the start when Sony said it had been hacked, and pulled the film. I could see the anger in Americans that a foreign power would even dare to suggest that Americans not go to see a movie, because it bothered The Supreme Leader. But then, with encouragement from none other than the President of the United States, Sony caved in and released the film on the day it had intended anyway. It brought in $1,000,000 on the first day's limited release. People thought it was their patriotic duty to go and see something they otherwise would not have been caught dead anywhere near it, just to flip the bird to North Korea.

 I am not an American, nor do I live in America, so I was not overwhelmed by the hype. I could think straight. My thoughts strayed away from the herd and I started to think, wait a minute. Am I watching one of the smartest merchandising tricks ever played on the American people?

The North Koreans have denied they hacked Sony. Perhaps Kim couldn't care less about this stupid movie. The result is that the film has more publicity than any other movie in living memory. I haven't heard anyone, even the super patriots, say that the movie is great. I suspect that the penny is beginning to drop and people may be starting to think they have been punked.

What the hell has been set in motion? Over a dumb movie? The Dictator , as everybody knows, is an emotional person, with nuclear weapons, and a pressing desire to use them. Simply by making the movie might indeed have been a provocation too far. The world may have to pay for the indiscretion of producers who failed to realise that freedom of speech comes with a high level of responsibility that says, you may be free to say something, but should you?

Copyright (c) 2014   Eugene Carmichael  

The Bermuda Triangle Christmas Tree

Christmas in The Bermuda Triangle is very different!

My two favourite Jamacians, Clyde and Dudley were smoking their daily gigantic spliff, when as usual, one of them started with, "you know mon, I been tinking." These two genuises come up with all manner of bizarre ideas, including the one about Jamaica sending a Toboggan team to the Winter olympics.

It was Clyde who said to Dudley that he was thinking that they should gatheer together a great big shipment of marijuana, because as he put it, "It God's own Herb, mon, and we could ship it to Bermuda 'n sell it fer top dollar." "Good idea Clyde, mon, but how ve ship it?" "In one of dem dere ocean going fancy yachts in the bay tied only wif a piece of string."

And that's exactly what our two heroes did. They slipped out to sea in the still of a moonless night aboard a luxury yacht that they had borrowed, headed due north, destined for Bermuda. However, predictably, after only three days at sea a storm arose. A really big storm that whipped up waves three, four, five stories high. Suddenly the yacht rose upon a rogue wave that carried it ten stories high, then the wave rolled and broke leaving the yacht with nothing under her, so she dove by her nose, straight down into the trough where she hesitated only for a short momnt before continuing straight down.

Clyde and Dudley were astounded as they lay in the fetus position in the cabin with their mouths open, forgetting to breathe. All was quiet until they felt a gentle bump as the yacht settled on the bottom.

"Dudley, what hoppened, man?" "Me no know, Clyde!" "Come, let we go outside and see what happening."

It didn't occur to either man that they were speaking and breathing normally at the bottom of the sea. They had landed in the Bubble at the Bottom of The Bermuda Triangle Sea.

Suddenly, Clyde spotted a light off in the distance. "Dudley, vat dat dere light, you see it mon?" "Seen, mon. Come let ve go and investigate!"

As they drew nearer the light they could see humans, one looked very much like King Neptune with a crown on his head and a Trident in his hand, and all. King said, "Welcome boys, how much ganja you bring me?"

"Eh, eh!" both of our heroes said at the same time. "Never mind," said King, "my men are offloading her right now."

It was then that Clyde spotted the oddest thing. It appeared to be a huge christmas tree off in the distance. It was so colourful and really big. "Vat dat, Mr King, mon, vat a christmas tree doing down ere?

"Well that is the answer to the greatest mystery the world has ever known, and it's here in the Bermuda Triangle for anyone who wants to drop in for a chat. That, my lads, is a mountain made up of every sock that ever went missing from washing machines around the world. It looks like a tree so I call it my Bermuda Triangle perpeptual  Christmas Tree. Beautiful, don't you think?

"Rastafari" yelled Clyde. "Rastafari, indeed," said Dudley. "Mon, I no smoke de ganja no more. It making life too veird!"

From Clyde, Dudley and myself, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and prosperity throughout 2015. If Christmas is not your ting then we hope that you celebrate the end of 2014 in good health, and may good health bless us all for many more years to come.

"Ya Mon!"

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael 

What the world needs more of is Goodwill

As a place to live this is a very small neighbourhood.

So, here we are with Christmas celebrations and the end of yet another year fast approaching. My memory seems to remind me that when I was young a magical spell fell over the world at this time of year during which we were all nice to one another. This was taken to such an extent that during World War II a cease fire was entered into by both sides on Christmas Day, not necessarily because of christian values, but just because people simply felt the need.

Well, the world is an ever changing place. These days, in many countries the season seems to start with Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Stores open their doors at ungodly hours of the night to people who have been waiting in line for days, all to be able to buy things at supposedly deep discounts. Are these discounts real, or did the store raise the prices for a week or so, and now they can say these are great discounts.? That's like shopping at the Duty-Free shops at the airport. If there is really such a place it does not automatically follow that savings will be passed along to the customer. Duty-Free does not necessarily mean cheaper.

We have all seen what happens when the doors open. You had better be sure and fast or you will be trampled upon. Once in the shop the fights begin. I saw this first! Get your hands off my 100" curved screen TV or I will shoot you! Let go of the bra, bitch or I will put your eyes out. Oops, it came apart. Can  anyone use a one cup DD. Maybe as a birds nest or a hat.

What is happening to us? Have we all lost our collective minds, or at least our humanity Somewhere it is questioned, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but to lose his very soul? What indeed!

All around the world there are examples of how deep we have fallen as human beings. We say whatever comes to mind to one another without thinking about the pushback. The Boko Haram boys in Nigeria complained of feeling alone at night in the jungle as they had no women. So, what did they do? They simply went out and stole some. Other groups simply abduct people for ransom, and if nobody will pay they just chop off their heads while the camera is running.

Humans? Not from my tribe, or at lest I would like to think not.  This makes for very heavy thoughts, but still we send Season's Greetings and best wishes for happiness throughout the coming year. We can hope and cross our everything that things will turn out well for our families and friends.

I will say no more than if miracles do happen, now would be a good time to have one affect the entire world of humans. That is all that I want for Christmas!

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael

Bill Cosby: They want you to drink that special Kool-Aid

Dr. Bill Cosby
Standup Comedian extraordinary; actor, author, TV producer, educator, musician, and activist

Cosby is 77 and I am 75, so we are of the same generation. I absolutely revere this man and am eternally grateful for all that he has achieved for the black race.

We are of the generation that was told over and over again that because of our race we could never amount to anything, nor could we hope to achieve anything special in our lives. We believed it! But Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the president said that we had to give our complete cooperation to believe such rubbish, and both Cosby and I sat up straight and concluded that she was right.

Cosby went on to prove that he, a black man could do anything he wanted to, and even rise to the very top of his profession. In doing so he took along with him all of us in his tribe. He was the Barack Obama of his times.

And now, it has all come to a very sad period in his life with people tarnishing his name with all sorts of allegations of behaviour that are way out of date and beyond the Statute of Limitations. Considering the nature of the allegations I'm surprised that people are able to make them without simply being charged for publishing them in public.

America is a peculiar place when it comes to the freedom to say anything you want in public.

Those of us who are prepared to take the half hour to read the Wikipedia account of all that he has done over his life, including what he is allegded to have done, we see that from an early age he was an outstanding personality. He attracted my attention and I don't even live in the same country as him. He very quickly became my idol, at a time when black people needed other blacks who were positive role models to look up to. It follows that if men were drawn to him, so were women. My life, compared to his was very low key indeed, but when it came to having women to sexually play with I had my fill. I wanted to play and they wanted to play. It was a simple as that. But Cosby was a rising star, and male stars of the movies and television will tell you that they have to sometimes fight off groupies.

I am having immense problems in believing that Cosby would have had to drug women to get with them. Why on earth would he have had to do that? I never did, not even with alcohol. In fact, if a woman was so tanked up with booze I would usually pass on her. I think I assumed she would throw up on me, but I always thought it better not to take advantage of her. They always expressed appreciation later, but I didn't think it would have been an interesting encounter while she was in that condition.

Male stars all have one problem in common. They are men with success, and that attracts women with perhaps boring lives who would love to have bragging rights that they laid this star, or that star. Men also have to protect themselves against paternity suits if they are percieved to have deep pockets. It seems to be the price of being rich and famous.

Getting back to a parralell in my own life: For a period I lived alone in a lovely house. From time to time I would hold parties there, but I quickly learnt to take a tour of the house with the last guests to leave to ensure that there were no women hiding to pounce when everybody else had left. I stopped having parties because this was such a problem, even to the extent that one time we discovered three women hiding in various rooms of the house, including the broom closet.

So, I know I'm being biased when I say that I just don't believe that the things the women say happened, way beyond the Statute of Limitations, did happen. If they did, they should have been dealt with at the time. There is a very good reason for a Statute of Limitations, and this is a prime example why it is in place.

Someone made the ridiculous suggestion that Cosby should voluntarily waive his right to the Statute. I think that suggestion has arrived still-born. Also, because there is a rising number of women coming forward with their stories we are supposed to accept that as some kind of proof of authenticity. I say just the reverse is the case. They seem to be circling like buzzards smelling blood. After all, you only have to say that something happened. Well, simply saying it happened doesn't make it so. I fully expect the number to rise to 2000, and perhaps beyond for this reason.

Bill Cosby is an icon who has done a tremendous amount of good on behalf of his people, and The United States of America itself. He is a man with very deep pockets, with an estimated fortune of $350 million. Don't tell me that isn't attractive to those who think they might have a shot at getting some. I can't say that Cosby is and has always been a saint because I was not there, but if he did do something that was illegal and egregious it should have been dealt with at the time.

To wait untl now to tarnish the reputation of an old man who has given so much of positive value seems to me to be worse than any of the allegations that are so easily being thrown about.

Lastly, my enduring memory of Cosby goes back to 1987. I was driving at the time the local radio station decided to play his album, "Those of you, with or without children; You'll understand." This was such a funny album I was forced to pull my car off the road and behind a bush to relieve myself. Now, that's talent!

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael  

Hell hath no fury like a royally pissed-off woman!

Isn't she lovely? But don't rub her the wrong way.


This topic is a favourite with film directors, given the number of movies that have been made in this genre. Their pet theme is that of the aging and faithful wife who is abandoned by her husband for a younger model, and her reaction to get her revenge. The storyline is usually juicy and it involves all of the audience very quickly. The women feel it and the guys just have to duck. We exit the movies and we start to say something and our woman says, don't talk to me. I'm pissed at you!

My most memorable film on this subject is, "Waiting to Exhale" which added colour to the mix. Husband, who was black and successful dumps his black wife for a younger, white new woman. I thought there was going to erupt a riot in the theatre. The husband made his announcement, then said to his wife, I'm leaving now but I will be back for my clothes. What clothes would he expect to find when he came back?

Fatal Attraction was another outstanding film based on a silly premise that a man can have sex with a woman  who he just met, but be expected to be hers for life. When she finds out that he is married she pulls out every nasty trick in the book to stick it to him.

The problem is that both of these stories are based on solid facts. Both also make the man the villian of the piece, when in real life women can be as irresponsible as men, and sometimes they can be more so. Here are a couple of examples that place the man as villian. Case number one involved a work colleague. We worked in a nightclub until one in the morning. After that we went to after hours club, but he always had a woman on his arm while his wife waited at home. I warned him he was cruising for a bruising, but he didn't listen.

Apparently, on this fateful night he went home as usual about 5am, and went straight into the shower to wash away the smell of the other woman, again, as usual. What he didn't notice was the pot of something on the stove that sat over a low fire.  Suddenly, as he stood in the shower completely exposed his wife appeared with the pot of boiling rice and threw it over him. Why rice? Because it is sticky starch that clings to whatever surface, and on him it just burned and burned and burned. Apparently he passed out with the pain. He carried those scars with him to his death, which was an early one, but not so early that she could be charged with murder.

No man would have even thought to do something like that. Sure, we kill one another, and we torture, but that was off the chart.

I should have learned my lesson from that, but I didn't.

 Several years later I was working in an hotel dining room as a person who had no love obligations. There were always visitors available to entertain, so together with one of the other waiters we did just that. However,  I met one of the local ladies and a relationship developed even though she was married. Then she told me who her husband was and I nearly fainted to know that he was none other than my co-pilot and work companion. His wife said that she didn't feel guilty because he didn't care about her, and as I knew he played around rather than going home to her.

The summary of a long story is that she had a plot for him to find me in his home and in his bed where out of insane jealously he would kill me and go to jail and out of her life. It came within a whisker of happening exactly as she had planned. Hell hath no fury, indeed!

I have learned my lesson!

Having said all that I will close with the story of a couple who I came to know about 55 years ago. I knew him as my boss at the electrical power company. He was a smart guy and an absolute straight arrow family man. He worked all the hours he could find to earn a living and to personally build a house for his family. There were times when we guys from his crew would go over on our days off to help him pour concrete, so we knew how super proud he was when the house was finished and he was able to move his family in.

It was less than a year after that when the hammer fell. His wife announced that she was in love with another man whom she had had as a lover all those years when he was working to build the house. He said, I thought you loved me! She replied, "I never loved you!" And then she ordered him to move out of her house immediately. He told us he came so very close to killing her on the spot, but he realised that he could not hurt her without hurting the children. So, with a very heavy heart he left and his life went straight downhill. He became one of those people we see living in a cardboard box. We call them bums. This man was no bum, and I wonder about the stories of all of the homeless.

So, here's a project for someone who has the stamina and the courage and the heart to pursue the stories of so many people who live in sub-human conditions. What happened to bring them to such a place? I bet it would make really compelling reading.

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael

The Censor

Are there any retired Censors in the house?

First, for the young people I will explain what a Censor was. In the old days, men and women were hired by the State to decide what was fit for members of the public to see and hear. Their presence was felt everywhere. Still, to an extent, what we are fed is subject to a voluntary form of censure, although you might not think so.

Official censorship ended because of pressure from the public who felt that having some people arbitralily decide for us was just not right. We thought we were more offended by that principal than having so much junk now dumped in our faces. However, if you are like me you might be fed up to such a degree that entertainment is no longer entertainment when it is just a platform to spew forth with profane language and simulated sex. (I think it is simulated.)

The film, "Three Weddings and a Funeral" begins with the first five minutes where all the actors repeat the same four-letter word for five minutes. I guess the director thought this was what, funny. creative? Other made for television or cinema films can be one continous string of explictives, and that wears the audience down to the extent that we do not enjoy the narrative.

It is becoming so that when we do view a work that is without explictives we may realize a pure form of enjoyment without even realizing why. Writers and directors have got to realize that the absence of censorship simply means that you are free to do anything you wish. It does not mean that you should do anything that comes to mind. There is responsibility that comes with that freedom, and the use of maturity in the production of entertainment is more creative.

I was born during an era of Victorian-like morality and prudence, so I have that as a yardstick to compare where we are now. Playboy magazine crashed through the barrier with its centerfold, and the wonderful mystery of women was lost forever. The other extreme, of course is to require that women dress from head to toe so that they are a complete mystery. That is just as bad, when the proper balance is to be found in the middle. In my opinion a woman who is dressed conservatively holds far more interest than one who leaves little to the imagination.

What has happened is that the pendulumn was stuck to the side of prudence and mind control, and now it has swung to the other extreme. Now, a person can be as sick as they want on screen and in print, and in doing so they infect their audience with such over the top perversion. That is not entertainment! The dialog given to actors and actresses is like vomit coming from their mouths. Well, we have seen that it could be done, and it is not pretty.

Some people really enjoy this sort of thing. I get that. I am also realistic enough to know that it will not change, just because I might like it to. However, if its trash it really does need to be clearly classified as such because I suspect that a growing number of people have had enough.

What I do hope will happen is that a more stringent form of classification will emerge to warn the public that if you don't want your senses to be assaulted give this one a miss. It would still be our choice to watch or read or not, but now we turn to a television channel and without warning our living rooms are flooded with words and images that are inappropriate either for our children or for members of our family.

As for our retired Censors they must be wondering why they even bothered to change the word damn to gosh, golly or Geewhiz.

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael

This is not a rant. Honest!

Just one of those things to upset the peace


This is a story about a commercial transaction that went totally wrong. Some of the actors were reasonable and others completely useless.

Our old kitchen water heater had served us for ten years and had to be changed. Along came the technicion with a new one and installed it and it worked. While doing this he discovered a leak in the butano line that had been a danger to us for a number of years. Every time we lit the stove with the window closed we ran the risk of blowing ourselves up.

The machine seemed to work well for a week, although there was a new machine smell, or so we thought.  Exactly one week after it had been installed, while I was using the hot water in the bath, the water suddenly ran cold, so I turned off the tap, and finished my bath with cold water. When I left the bath I went into the kitchen and found it full of black smoke. The heater had simply caught fire.

First thing we did was to call the installing technician, who practically had a heart attack. He called the manufacturer in Barcelona who promptly called the Valencia office, and they promised to call us. Monday passed, no call. Tuesday we called everybody we spoke with the day before. But the man from Barcelona was annoyed that Valencia had not yet called us to find out what day would be best for us. Eh? Yesterday, of course! After a couple more calls Valencia said they could "fit" us in on Thursday.

Why didn't the manufacturer show more concern that their machine had caught fire in a customer's house? Probably because it happens often? I don't know.

Thursday: The man in Valencia was knocking on our door first thing in the morning. He came in, took one look at the situation and swore. After doing some checking he asked whether we were using Natural gas. No, señor, we use butano. Me cargo en la leche! The technician had installed a machine that was calibrated for natural gas with butano gas. He had taken the machine from a box that read butano. Apparently it was no wonder the damn thing burnt out in a week.

Then the man looked at my receipt and said , but this was installed on the 11th of March. (11/03/2014). I said, no, it was installed last week, the 3rd of November. We argued, I lost. He said the machine was outside its warranty and there was nothing he could do for us, and left. A totally useless turd of a man.

We went back to the installer and politely told him what was the problem and firmly requested that the matter was put right that very day. And it was! He even changed the date to the new day, 11/13/2014. Oh well!

The thing that worries me is that when it comes to the use of gas there have been so many cases of houses having been blown up, and some people have even been killed or seriously injured.

Perhaps I worry too much. Then again, maybe not!

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael

And the Oscar goes to:............Jail!

I feel very sorry for Oscar, but I feel  even more sorrow for Reeva!

Oscar Pistorius demonstrated his great remorse for what he did to Reeva, and I have no doubt it was absolutely genuine. I believe that he will never get over it, but it was a criminal act for which the law demanded justice for Reeva and her family. However, even Pinnocchio congratulates Oscar on his story to the court.

What really happened? Let's try and put together a commonsense version of events:

As a mere man, when you are in love with a woman as exocitally beautiful as Reeva, you know for a fact that every man who lays eyes on her wants to get his hands on her. So, everything she says and does makes you hear and see men everywhere.

She says, I'm going for a photoshoot. He sees the photographer with a hard-on for her. She says she is going to have her hair done, and he imagines the hairdresser as a man with his hands all over her breasts. In other words, he becomes paranoid and jealousy drives him out of his mind.

It is therefore easy to see how a discussion arose between them where he accused her of being with another man. That would have escalated and Reeva would have done what every woman in the same situation would do. She would have run to the toilet and locked the door.

Oscar would then have followed her demanding that she open the damn door or I will knock it down. Almost all men can recognize this scene.

However, during the trial no neighbour testified that they heard an argument going on, or who heard every word, so, this is mere speculation.

We think he was out of his head  with jealousy and anger and said I'm going to get my gun and shoot this door down. In that state of mind he fired four shots through the door and killed Reeva. Then, it became quiet, and he returned to his senses and asked himself the same question  so many other people ask themselves having done something really stupid:"WHAT THE FUCK HAVE I DONE!!!!!!!!!"

I think I can pick big holes in his story to the court:

 If Reeva was not the one in the toilet where else in the house was she? If he didn't know the answer to that question he certainly should not have fired shots through the door.

If the person in the locked toilet was an intruder, presumably, if they had locked the door they would have been having a shit in private. Can you kill a person for doing that in South Africa?

It seems, according to Oscar, he intentionally shot through the door to kill the intruder. Isn't that the definition of murder? And, what did he think would be the colour of the intruder in a white gated community?

I think the judge out did herself in trying to be seen as being fair and unbiased.

My personal feelings are that if one person deliberately, and with malice in their heart, takes the life of another human being, they should expect that they will permanently forfeit the quality of their own life. If a life is lost in the heat of the moment, that is still a crime because there always is a moment for decision. If you punch through that moment and still decide to go ahead you will have committed a crime for which you may well be remorseful afterwards, but a life has been lost nonetheless because of your action, and justice demands that you pay for your carelessness. In a conviction for manslaughter, many countries around the world demand a sentence of fifteen years behind bars, with the possibly of a five year discount for good behaviour.

I do not believe in capital punishment because only one mistake by the courts would be too many. As has been seen there are many convicted persons who truly were not guilty as charged. It is also an unbelievablely stupid form of punishment by the State, whereby they kill to teach us not to kill.

In my mind, a sentence of five years, with the possibility of release in ten months has not served Lady Justice at all. I may indeed feel sorry for Oscar's ruined life, and for all the pain he is suffering, but public policy is unfeeling, and having done the crime he must do the time. 

Such a light sentence is a dangerous precedent to set for other men who would really like to get rid of their women.

Copyright (c) 2014   Eugene Carmichael   

The BBC's 100 Women (and men) Conversation about World Sexism

The Double Standard


I was going to write this blog anyway, but since it is time for the BBC's annual world conversation between men and women about sexism, I contribute this to the discussion.

I have recently watched two television programes, each dealing with the double standard, and that got me thinking.

First, lets look at the fact that men are wired to sexually respond to the visual effect. Some men will say that they are breast men; others say that a well turned leg turns them on. I tend to be drawn to the whole image because I look for perfection. I have found myself totally attracted to a woman who ticks all the boxes for beauty and elegence. Then she lights up a cigarette and I simply erase her out of my mind. Whatever takes our fancy we lose our minds and go running after what looks good.

If we compare men to the animal kingdom we would be the male lions, simply spending our days and nights screwing and sleeping. That's the way we are and its not our fault. In some enlightened societies this is acknowledged by giving the male the right to have more than one wife. This is the honest approach instead of Western socities' practise of monogamy, with something extra on the side.

In reality, those arrangements where the man takes four, or more wives, no-one can be happy. The women go along with it because they get security and dignity in that he can afford to take care of them. Their alternative is to live with a poor man or sell their bodies. From the man's perspective all that he can see is sex with different women. It is true that sex is so much more interesting with different partners, but we are not simply talking about one night stands with strangers, we are talking about having four, or more actual wives, and they are all his.

For those of us who have one wife, I think we would all turn down the offer to increase the experience of living with one person times four. A wife is a whole person with hopes and dreams and expectations and disappointments that she needs to share with her husband. She also has complaints, and she wants to mold her husband into something that he is not.

If one man goes through all that on a revolving basis, he can't possibly feel that its worth it just for the sex. The sex would have to be something Uber good, and let's face it, sex is simply sex.

The thing that confuses all men is this:  those men who choose to commit themselves to one women, but then who think it is alright to have sex with other women, react so badly if their main squeeze decides while he is out screwing around she will have a little fun as well. I am 75 years of age, so obviously I'm not currently guilty of this, but in my past life I have been.

There was an incident when my world and hers clashed. When I took a breath and realised what she was doing while I was busying myself with pleasure elswhere, I nearly had a heart attack. The more my own behaviour confused me the more off the rails I fell. To this day I don't understand a man's reaction when he discovers that his woman has been having sex with another man.

This is no longer the dark ages when men felt that we had a right to own our woman. I know that in many cases the woman is expected to take the man's surname as a form of branding. Preachers still ask, "who giveth this woman to this man?" We know that women enjoy having sexual intercourse with us, because they make it obvious, or not, as the case may be. So, if a woman, any woman chooses to have sex with a man, it must be something she wants to do, including those women our hero has fun with while his wife is at home.

I'm not going to suggest behaviour for consenting adults. No-one will give me any attention anyhow. I simply say that as men, perhaps we need to develop savoir-faire, the know how to deal with these situations. It is not a pretty sight when we lose our minds, especially when we were the spoilers in the first place.

This is especially important because if your woman is trying to teach you a lesson you are definitately not going to like who she chooses to act out the scene with.

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael 

WORLD WAR III

A PICTURE OF A NUCLEAR EXPLOSION IS IMPRESSIVE

There have been, and there are currently so many violent engagements going on at the same time, it's difficult to keep up. Hong Kong has been added to Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Egypt, and all the Arab Spring  regions; plus the United States has had its problems, and of course, there is always the tension between the two Koreas, that the world took its eye off the most likely place that will be the start of World War III, Pakistan and India.

These two nations are in perpetual conflict with 230 nuclear warheads between them, and the will to use them, as crazy as that is.

I apologize for bringing up the subject. I was going to write this week about the abusive situation that exists for men who have prostate problems. However, this subject has forced itself front and centre, so we had better give it our attention.

India and Pakistan are both very volatile nations, and will likely always have some source of irritation between them. The region that is most vexing to both countries is Kashmir. Both countries claim that it is lawfully theirs.  As it is unresolved, Kashmir is cut in half with both countries controlling one half each. The line that seperates the sides is called The Zero Line. It is something like the line between North and South Korea, only there have been three wars fought between the two countries over who controls Kashmir since 1947.

The Zero Line is fiercely defended with more than 650,000 totally committed troops deployed, with the slighest thing the cause of someone getting killed.  Forty-seven thousand people have lost their lives without any declaration of engagement at The Zero Line.

Dr. Kent Moors, a super consultant to 27 governments, and a hugely decorated individual person has written a book, entltled The Great Game, that I have purchased and am awaiting receipt of, in which he explains why he says that a nuclear war between these two countries is simply a matter of when, not if. In the nuclear standoff between America and Russia the M.A.D. principle operated. M.A.D. means Mutually Assured Destruction. If either side were to be so stupid to fire a missile with a nuclear warhead at the other, the result would be the end of all life forms on earth, except the cocroaches. Yet, the Russians did do a provocative thing during the Cuban Missile crisis that led to President Kennedy giving the order that would have led to the loss of all life on the planet.

In the case of Pakistan and India, this would be considered a holy war, and it certainly does not help that there are eight radical Islamic factions involved, including Al-Qaeda and The Taliban, so the M.A.D. principle is not operating at all.

The main sore point at the moment is over water. The Indus River starts in India and runs into Pakistan. Over the years India's population has grown to such a staggering size that after India has taken it need for water there is a shortage in Pakistan.  Probably the only reason war has not broken out as yet is because the United States is franticlly working behind the scenes to develop an effective industrial method to produce all of India's water needs from the sea. If this can be achieved, and scientists are close, this would allow India to allow Pakistan to exclusively use the Indus River.

Should war break out again between the two countries, it is almost certain that it will be nuclear. India has developed a missile with a range of 3,417 miles, so it is sure to draw other countries into the fray. The loss of life will be something unbearable and economic disaster around the world will be unsustainable.

This information was provided by Dr. Moors, a source that is very credible as he is involved as a facilitor trying to hold back the tide.

This is more bad news, but it seems we live in a world of bad news. The moral of this story is to live life as though today is the last day. I don't mean to be maudling, indeed, I am calling for us to look on the bright side  of life and enjoy the moment.

God, give me the serenity to change the things I can; the grace to accept the things I cannot change, and the commonsense to know the difference!

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael 

Bermuda takes a One-two Punch, and survives!

The only way to understand what one of these is like, is to experience it for yourself!

The sense of guilt is great when you know that your family, friends and countrymen are experiencing hell in a very personal way, and you, or in this case, I was experiencing a beautiful, warm 30 degree Valencia day. My home country, Bermuda has had one hellish week. First, there was Tropical Storm Fay that came to visit. Normally, that would not be cause for concern, except that Bermuda hasn't had to deal with a hurricane for such a long time that our flora and fauna had the chance to grow thick, lush  and green. So, the winds of Fay, such as they were did a lot of damage to the environment.

Fay turned out to be what boxers call the setup for the knock out punch, because the very next weekend, October 17/18, a real big hurricane, the worst in Bermuda's history came whistling in like a right-hander from Mohammed Ali. No-one could say how Bermuda would likely weather this storm. There were no precedents. The advice was stay indoors, keep your head low and stay put. Perhaps good advice would have also been to cover your head with a pillow. This was not so much to protect your head from falling objects as to shut out the sound. Watching from Spain through web cameras we could, and did turn off the sound, but no-one in Bermuda could do that.

The terror of a hurricane is the unrelenting high pitched sound that I found could drive me insane. I moved from Bermuda in 1999 for the purpose of new challenges. I wasn't thinking that I would not have to hear another hurricane, but as time has passed that aspect of my life has settled down, although I'm not free of that kind of stress. Here in Spain we do fire and floods, so that is not much of an ideal option.

I don't have all the stastics as yet, but a category Four hurricane means sustained winds well over 200 kms per hour. How much more is a matter for conjecture as many wind measurement meters were simply blown away. The height of the hurricane came at night when the tide was also high, so the storm surge must have been awful, although no-one would have seen it. In fact, no-one saw anything although the damage was extensive.

Bermuda homes are very sturdily built with hurricanes in mind, but this one, which is probably the pre-cursor of what's to come, was unlike anything that had been seen before.

When it was over my family sent me an all-clear message. They had all survived and not one person was killed during the storm, although some little people chose that period to enter into the world. They must have thought, this is one noisy place. It seems that everybody took the advice to hunker down, even boat owners who tend to go see how the boat is doing. That choice always has to be made. Stay at home with the family, or leave them to their own fate and go look after the boat; as though there was really something a person could do.

It is said that come November, it's time to remember. Time to remember the hurricane season. The island was almost there when it got hit, twice in one week. Now we have some kind of idea of what the good folk of Western Somerset, in England went through when they coped with conveyor belt storms over many weeks.

Mother Nature can pack a mean punch when she wants to. Duck!

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael 

Ebola: Our Obligations

A World of Risk


Spain has the dubious distinction of having produced the very first person outside Africa to contract the Ebola virus. The patient is a nurse who somehow became infected in spite of the fact that she wore the Haz-Mat suit and knew the protocols to avoid contamination. Now, I think that as she struggles against the virus, everyone in Spain is with her, saying in our minds, "Come on Teresa, you can beat it!" She has to beat it, because the health care community are rioting in the street. How could this have happened? We can't have a situation where care givers refuse to treat patients out of fear for their own lives. There has already been one case where a caregiver has refused on the basis of lack of training.

I survived the last killer plague, AIDS, through dumb luck. Like most people, I had no idea a killer was on the loose until the news broke that my activities over the last ten years might have put me at risk. AIDS first appeared as a homosexual illness, but then quickly mutated into both homosexual and hetrosexual threats. I would like to say that I survived due to prudent and sensible actions on my part, but that would not be correct.

Ebola has been around for a long time, during which there have been several outbreaks and containments, always in Africa. The latest outbreak has so far been the worse, and now it has spread into Europe and The United States of America. Now, Ebola has our attention because its in our backyards and we are personally at risk.

As a natural part of our daily lives we pass all sorts of nasties between one another. During the flu season we see how fast that gets passed around through coughing and sneezing, and the simple handling of money. It is just unavoidable. Normally these things are not deadly, although people have died because of complications, but Ebola is another matter. This is deadly!

We here in Spain are a long way away from panic stations, but we should start now to develop behaviour, as it is our obligations to protect one another, and especially to protect ourselves. What should we be doing?

We should replace the Japanese style bow for the handshake.
We should carry a small bottle of disinfectant to use for the health of our hands.
We should use the plastic gloves that are provided in supermarkets to handle fruits and vegatables.
We should use air kisses to replace kissing on the cheeks.
We should think about using face masks when mixing with large groups of people to avoid sneezing into densely packed spaces of people. This would also have the added benefit of not taking in other people's sneeze droplets.
When moving among large groups of people we should use latex gloves when touching the railings on steps, doorknobs, escalators, etc. Equally important is not to allow the exposed side of the glove to touch naked skin. Wear the gloves when visiting your doctor's office.

There will be other commonsense things that perhaps we can do to stop the virus, but keep in mind that transmission is through coming into contact with human bodily fluids, and every minute of every hour of each day we gleefully exchange bodily fluids with selected mates. However, one of those  fluids might include freshly placed infected sweat from  the infected person ahead of you who has a fever and sweaty palms. Touch that with your exposed hands and it will be Gotcha!

Ebola is a complicated subject. I think it is probably in your interest to Wikipedia the topic to gain a broad understanding of what we all face. It would be a grave mistake to think that this deadly virus can't get out of control in a modern society with soap and hot and cold running water. We though that about AIDS.

Another thing to bear in mind is that a person who was infected, but who survived because the virus has somehow passed from his blood, is still infectious for up to three months in his seman. You might indeed want to celebrate the all clear signal to him, but think condoms!

Copyright (c) 2014  Eugene Carmichael