This Month.
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Our story continues with our arrival in Rome
A look at the garden.
Ahhhhhhh rats.
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I was about 12 I think when the Cuban missile crisis gripped the world. I remember going to school and learning what to do in a nuclear attack, hide under your desk was our high-tech solution.
As a youngster I don’t suppose it made much of an impression at the time, far too many other things in a young boys life deserved more attention than ‘politics’.
It wasn’t until t joined the Royal Air in 1968 that I learned how close the world had, in fact, come to nuclear war. I worked at an early warning station, our job was to watch for ‘over the horizon’ missile launches and incursions by Russian aircraft into our airspace. Here I learned what would really happen if the world went to war and it escalated to a nuclear exchange. Wind plays a major role in how long any country can survive, downwind of the bombs and it’s a slow goodbye. If both superpowers did launch it would have been bye bye to 80% of the population within 24 months. Food would have become the new wages, no work, no food. Humankind had been hammered back to the dark ages of lords and serfs. Maybe never to rise again. Maybe to not even survive the nuclear winter that would engulf the planet.
Well, we are still here, despite the many close calls. Aircraft, submarines and ships played tag with each other…….and sometimes it went very wrong. Men died during this so-called ‘cold war’ but in the end, sensible heads prevailed against those who wanted war.
It seems to me that we have forgotten that lesson. What a nuclear war (even a so-called limited war) will do to us all.
North Korea and the USA are now walking down that path and yet there is no outcry. Why?
Are we so conditioned by our governments that we don’t care?
Maybe in this age of video games the horror of our situation has been diluted down to ‘You have lost one life’. I really don’t know why the world isn’t crying out against what is happening between the USA and North Korea.
Hiroshima was destroyed by a 13-18 kiloton bomb. We have all seen the pictures of the devastation and loss of life. Well here’s some news folks, the USA now has bombs of over 50,000 Kilotons. Just pause for a second and consider that figure, the results of detonating even one of these weapons over a city are unthinkable.
I truly believe we have never been closer to nuclear war.
We have a situation where two ‘leaders’ instead of diplomatic notes and red phone private conversations and behind the scenes negotiations are now engaging in name calling and threats on public media. North Korea is missile testing, showing the simulated destruction of USA ships by its missiles to its population who are being whipped up into a war fever.
The USA is no better, overflying with bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons, moving its main battle fleet into close proximity to North Korea.
There have already been ‘incidents’ that could so easily explode into war. Missiles fired to fly over Japan to intimidate a long-term foe and one of the most vulnerable US allies.
On one side we have a dictator who cannot be seen to lose face in front of his people. It would be almost impossible for him to maintain his hold on his country if he is seen to be weak in the face of ‘US aggression’.
On the other side, we have a US president who has bullied his way to the top. Who’s irrational pronouncements throughout his campaign and continuing ‘tweets’ now seem to get more and more dangerous.
Two bullies in the same school will always fight. In this case, we have two nuclear powers lining up to fight. Day by day we come closer to nuclear war.
How many other countries would take advantage of this conflict to settle old scores? Nuclear war cannot be contained, it may not kill us all, and many may survive. It will, however, destroy our civilisation for generations to come. It may be the mass extinction event that dooms us as a single meteor doomed so much life on this planet in our past. It may be the Armageddon the bible speaks of. It’s up to all of us to cry out, to end our silence before it is too late.
The inevitability of it scares me.
In my view, we have only one hope. China will step in to calm the situation.
But why should they?
Remember what I said about being ‘downwind’ of a nuclear strike? China sits downwind of North Korea. The two countries have already had ‘tense’ talks about North Korea’s radioactive pollution both from tests and power station accidents. If nuclear war comes to the Korean peninsula China will reap the fallout because of the prevailing winds that blow from North Korea to China. But why should North Korea listen?
North Korea needs China, most of its imports come via China, and it cannot survive without the support of China.
Of course, there is the other ‘China’ scenario.
China allies with North Korea so that they save face, would the US dare to fire? What if North Korea fired on Japan? Would Trump retaliate against North Korea knowing that he may provoke all-out war with China? This is the game they are playing with our lives.
So I offer this prayer to my God,
‘Lord please help those in power step back from the precipice that even now we approach with eyes closed, help all your children to learn to live on this fragile planet in peace, save us from these evil men that would destroy us all’.
Part 4 Our story, continued.
Our flight to Albania had up to a nine-hour layover in Italy, it was supposed to be for six or nine hours sitting in an airport, this seemed such a waste to both of us as neither had seen Rome so we extended the ‘layover’ to four days. We had already booked the flight to Albania at the travel agent in Sunderland and were leaving the city when we started talking about the delay. We quickly agreed that it would be nice to see Rome for a few days so we headed straight back to the travel agent. The young lady who had initially helped us book our flights was more than happy to change our plans and suggested we stay in a nice hotel just outside the city, she thought it was romantic. When we got to Rome the weather was great and we got a taxi to the hotel. It was in a secluded nice area and was quite modern. The staff all spoke English and they were very professional, pleasant and helpful. There was a nice atmosphere and the room was nice and clean. We thought one night we would try the food in the restaurant, can’t remember what we had but it was Italian and very nice. The wine waiter had a great sense of humour and Chris made him a small bike made out of toothpicks which the guy loved, he kept it on the bar at least until we vacated the hotel. I do think he liked it and there were other things of interest in the bar area so who knows it may still be there. We decided not to do the tourist taxi from outside the hotel as we had been told they would just take you where they wanted and charge a lot of money.
Yes, Rome is fantastic; we did the touristy things, saw monuments, paintings and ate luxurious Italian ice cream and soaked up the sun. we watched the Italian parade horses all white and riders in red as the official guard escorted some politician in his big black car and walked the same streets that Paul walked over 2000 years before………..incredible
I (Kris) had studied the Colosseum many years before so was excited to visit. We did the tourist show around the Colosseum then spent the rest of our time exploring ourselves. Although I had studied the Colosseum it did not do it justice, its much better in real life. There was restoration work going on so a few areas were off limit but we did get to see pretty much all we could have dreamed of. It was good being with Chris looking around as he like me enjoys history and is well read.
To see even the bullet holes in the stonework up close makes it all the more real that it was not totally destroyed in World War 2. To see the underground areas where the prisoners and animals were caged and to see how complex the building actually is was phenomenal. It is particularly interesting that the whole Colosseum could be fully evacuated when full in less than ten minutes if it had to be. That is because it has many different entrances and exits on all floors to allow a mass of people to pass without problems. Maybe our modern large arenas could take a leaf out of the designer's book here. If you want to get a real feel for the place its history, atmosphere and great architecture you really need one or two days to look around fully. We would definitely recommend you don’t just settle for the official tour as you would miss so much. A cross stands as a memorial to the many Christian martyrs who died here rather than renounce their faith. We paused to pray for them at what is a poignant reminder of the struggle so many still have to practice their faith openly.
When we left the Colosseum we decided to walk around the old streets of Rome where a lot of the early Christians must have walked. We decided to just wander and in doing so came across lots of interesting alleys still cobbled as in the days of Jesus and hidden gems of buildings and old churches. In one such street, we met a local artist who found out Kris was also an artist invited us to look at his studio which was on several levels.
It was fascinating to see he was still using some of the old techniques and mixing his own colours and the work was very varied from religious to abstract. He did not try to sell to us he was just happy to share the joy he felt in his work. We would have missed it had we stuck to the more touristy areas.
Chris knows how much I love art and sculpture happily came with me to see some of the art museums. There are a lot of buildings open to the public with interesting old and modern sculptures, some charge admission others are free. It was when we came out of one of the museums that we saw the famous steps we’ve seen in films about Rome, very steep and lots of them. I (Kris) remember standing at the bottom of the steps and wanting to get to the top, Chris was just thinking about getting a taxi to take us around which is what a lot of people were doing when I decided I’d try walking up them. Chris bless him knowing me well did not treat me as disabled but encouraged my effort. It took a while and I stopped several times to enjoy the view and yes it was worth it, pain and all. I had a few funny looks and positive comments from people also climbing the steps as I plodded up them on my crutches with Chris at my side. The view from the top was magnificent and there was a small kind of park at the top with plenty of taxis waiting for business. After looking around the park, pausing to soak up the sun, admiring the statues and sculptures we got a taxi to take us back down.
The food in Rome was really good and we ate at some nice little bistro type places. Those of you who know Chris know he loves pizza but hates pasta, I persuaded Chris to try some Italian pasta hoping the original might change his mind, but alas he still hates the taste and texture, but I did try. I have to admire him for at least trying. We are both keen to try local food where we can it’s the only real way to know if you like something or not.
Yes we did have Italian ice cream sitting on some Italian steps with numerous others doing the same thing, as I’m lactose intolerant I (Kris) knew I’d suffer but I had to at least once have real Italian ice cream and it was worth the discomfort.
Both of us have seen many films set in Rome in the past recognised several well recognised landmarks one of which was the Trevi Fountain, we actually stumbled across it when we were walking the narrow streets of Rome. Whilst it is a magical looking fountain we were surprised that it was smaller than we thought and surprised where it was set, not quite so splendid as depicted in films but we did throw some money in and sat on the side and prayed together. Apparently every night the fountains are cleared of money and we were told the money was given to charity but how true that is we don’t know but it is a nice thought.
One sour note about Rome. We found a small piazza, a beautiful fountain, coffee shops and a small church (Roman Catholic). Being tourists we looked around the fountain, dating from the early Roman period as the City expanded and the aqueducts were built to supply water to the citizenry.
Outside on the church bottom step sat an old woman, tired and frail in the heat, just resting. She was obviously not well off but wasn’t begging, just watching the world pass by. Her clothes were worn but clean, she had a certain dignity about her, she may be poor but she was no beggar.
A young priest, handsome in his cassock and coloured trimming wearing his bejewelled crucifix on an elaborate gold chain approached her, we thought he was going to offer help, instead, he told her sternly to move from the steps and not to rest there. There was plenty of room, wide curving steps to the church, no reason to move her.
She moved slowly away, the tourists had all the seats so she sat on the fountain edge in a slightly shaded spot, she looked so tired and poor that our hearts went out to her, but what could we do.
We decided to look around the church since we were there. It was splendid all gold and jewelled crosses, the Virgin Mary on a pedestal, everywhere we looked there were riches bedecking the inside. Painted and gold leaf on the walls and fresco’s, deep carpets of bright red, rare wooden fittings dating back to the time of the crusades. How many millions of Pounds Sterling were in that one small church we don’t dare estimate.
We discovered to leave you had to pass by: the souvenir shop, a ‘paintings of the Church’ stall a postcard stall and finally through a small passage where we found the same young priest we had seen outside with his collection box.
We passed by all giving nothing to support this temple to wealth until once again on the street we saw the same old woman slowly making her way. As we passed her we pressed a sum of money into her hand, she looked so grateful but we just said ‘May God bless you’ and passed on our way. The reason we mention this isn’t because we gave her a gift, it is because with all its wealth the Church is meaningless without compassion. What would Jesus have done!
After three really enjoyable and very full days we hopped aboard the big silver bird and headed finally towards Albania and whatever awaited us there.
Now that’s what we call a proper layover and no airport food!
We had tried to explain to our friends and our church why we had changed from India to Albania, some accepted it was not our choice; some looked at us as though we had become demented. After all, if you look at our decision with no faith in the Lord what do you see? One simple fact, Kris and I were spending our honeymoon in Albania because we believed we had been told to go there by God beyond that we had no idea what we were doing there or what we would find. Talk about a mystery tour!
To be continued
To be continued
A look at the garden
The monsoon has gone (probably) we may still get the odd rainy day but no more huge storms.
Things are in full growth as the weather will continue to be warm for a while yet.
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| Our seeds growing away, Leeks, Tomatoes and Capsicum, on the top shelf are Papia trees that will give us lots of fruit for jam. |
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| Our border next to a very short lawn. Cut hard at this time of the year to reduce weeds and encourage new growth. |
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| Our cactus bed is certainly growing well. Love the one that's in flower. |
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| The herb garden is waiting until winter for sowing and planting. |
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| Pomegranates on our own tree |
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| We are leaving this area of the lawn to run wild. This is going to be the site for the new chicken run. We have decided that their current home isn't big enough and doesn't allow them to graze grass. |
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| This is a Mango tree we moved from a shaded corner to full sun. Since then it has grown 6". It will be years before it fruits. Even if we don't see it we know that we have planted a tree that will fruit there for many years. |
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| We are so lucky to have trees in our garden. The amount of wildlife is amazing to watch, birds and squirrels in the trees or scampering across the lawn. |
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| We think this may be an Indian house martin. We wanted a photograph of the bird but it is very camera shy. |
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| One bunch of visitors we don't want....................wasps, the big sting ones, very nasty. |
Rats.
HORRID HORRID HORRID YUK.
We have had a rat problem for about a week, Kris has trapped 9 or 10 of the buggers and still, they were coming in somehow. The dogs have been going loopy. We searched for holes, open drains anywhere they may be getting into the house.
Next door is a building site at the moment and we suspect they have been displaced from their home.
At last, we found the entry……………..
The downpipe had been eaten and because it was hidden by the pedestal so we never realised. We have done a temporary job for now but will replace it with metal fittings before we replace the pedestal.
Two days now and no sign of intruders.
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| A really wonderful piece of Rajasthan art that wasnt wanted by the owner. We treated the wood to halt the rot and have it hung next to our front door on the porch. |
Comments from Kris
Well, now that the rat problem has been solved I am feeling so much better.
Just sitting here at the desk writing and shredding old papers so I have bedding for the chickens and somewhere nice for them to lay eggs. At the same time I have a great view of Chris and Shrey working on restoring Shrey’s Royal Enfield bike. They have made great progress today completing a tricky job that can often take hours. The bike is certainly taking on its own personality and I even get to give my artistic opinion which is good. So often I find with some men they fail to see that a woman can have a valid opinion or suggestion but I’m lucky that both Chris and Shrey don’t think that way.
Just bought Chilli her first harness so we can take her out for a walk with Bleu’, we will start with a short walk for her to get used to it then progress to longer walks as she gets more confident. It's lovely to see Bleu’ getting more confident with visitors, as Chilli is so friendly it is helping Bleu’ overcome her shyness and Bleu’ is helping Chilli become a guard dog. Although they can drive us crazy when they have mad half hours of chasing each other it is nice to see them relate so well together.
Were about to go away for our annual biker weekend soon so more on that next month with news from Hyderabad. It should be fun and we will catch up with old friends and make many new friends along the way. Hyderabad here we come, this year were flying as its at least a two-day solid ride one way and I’m not up to that at the moment. As it is the flight will be several hours with a change at Mumbai. We have never been to Hyderabad before, so it should be interesting; looking forward to getting a steak or two.
Well, that’s all for this month hope you enjoyed the blog.
Take care and God Bless from Chris and Kris in Udaipur
