Seasons Greetings....

Wishing all people that celebrate it a Happy & Peaceful Christmas

Just come back from the supermarket which was like a mad house, crowds of people buying anything and everything even though supermarkets are only closed for one day which is tomorrow Christmas day, I suppose people are the same everywhere when ever the thought of no shops open then they have to stock up!

The fact that Britain is going through a recession did not put people off shopping actually the truth is that I haven't seen better prices for a long time, there are many discounts and offers to entice people to buy, sales have started already in many shops and many goods are affordable, bless Britain a country that knows how to look after its people a lesson to many countries out there that have no respect what so ever to their own people.

Here is the fabulous voice of Fairouz singing the Arabic version of "Silent Night":

Yes Eid......No Eid!!

After days of confusion in Libya about which day to celebrate Eid, the authorities did not disappoint! they took the ridiculous decision of deciding that Eid is on Thursday 26/11 while the whole world celebrates Eid today 27/11.

As far as I know most Libyans ignored the Libyan decision and are celebrating Eid today, any way my family are having their Eid today, many people in Libya showed their frustration by making a lot jokes about Eid... is this enough? are people in Libya so used to being controlled that they will do nothing!! have they not had enough.......

Eid Mubarak to all Muslims and Allah bless Libya and her People

Wedding Wish

My younger brother got married in Tripoli 2 days ago, I thought long and hard about going back to attend the wedding but it didn't happen, the children wanted to go too but they had school and it is not easy to take time off school here, we all felt a bit upset that we couldn't be with the family at this happy occasion, I wish my brother and his wife the best inshaAllah.
Sometimes I think that if going back to Libya for a short visit was straight forward then I would do it but I am worried about the delays and obstacles that might be thrown at me while there which could keep me stuck in the country for weeks when I really need to get back here and be with my family, I have friends from other countries that go back and forward between the UK and their country of origin with no questions asked and can stay for as long or as short as they want, perhaps when this is what it would be like in Libya then I will take the big step and go back for a short visit.

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Remember Susan Boyle? I wrote about this talented lady here, after disappearing for months, she has made a come back and is releasing an album next week titled I Dreamed A Dream, which is the song that made her the most famous woman on earth over night.
Here is Susan singing at her best "I dreamed a dream" a week ago at the Dancing with the Stars TV program:

Here is the link if video does not work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C8xCDzEdr4

Digital Photography

I have just bought one of these Digital Photo Frames, the kids have been asking me for a while to get one, I am not sure if everyone is like me but since digital cameras came out it seems we print less photos than when we used to have normal cameras with films (that seems like a very long time ago!) now computers and camera phones are jammed full with pictures that we seem to forget about, I downloaded 100s of photos into the new digital frame but after few minutes of viewing them I got really bored, I might be old fashioned but you cant beat proper printed photographs, viewing them on computers and these digital photo frames is just not the same, photos seem like they have lost their magic, technology isn't always that great or maybe my age is catching up with me and I am becoming an old boring man!

Get Stuffed!!

In a area in north London called Angel, I usually drive by a weird shop that sells or hires stuffed animals! its a grubby shop and usually when driving by I can spot large animals inside such as ostrich and zebra, the other day as I was driving by, Amir my son spotted the shop and asked me if we can stop and have a look so I thought why not, I too always wanted to have a look and this was my chance, we parked the car and walked over to the shop but unfortunately it was closed, I am not sure if it is closed for good or just for the day, the shutters were down which made looking inside the shop and taking pictures difficult but still we managed to spot many animals inside and just about managed to take few photos through the shutters, that is why pictures are not clear, they had a sign saying no photography was allowed but there was no one there to stop me!

(Click on pictures for a bigger view)

in this picture there is a lion and a hippo's head!

Unsurprisingly the name of this is... yes you guessed it right:

Taxidermy (stuffing animals) must be a dying tradition and the truth is that these animals do look quite freaky and there is no way that I would put one in my house, I think this shop mainly hire their animals as props for movies and shows and so on......

Staying on the subject of stuffed animals, yesterday (Saturday) I took the kids to the Natural History Museum we travelled by train which added fun to the day, the museum was very busy being a Saturday and school's half term holiday, there was a long Que outside and once we were inside, the place was jammed even though we got there early, we only managed to go through half of the museum in 3 hours, it has been many years since I went there and it had changed a lot, the most popular exhibit was the Dinosaurs area but there was a Que of few hundred people trying to get in, by then we were tired and the kids didn't want to stand in the Que so we gave it a miss, hopefully we will come back another time when its quieter.

The last of the Dodo which has been extinct for hundreds of years

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The X Factor which has taken over British TV as it does every year at this time is in full swing, from what I have watched so far there aren't many talents this year but I do like 2 girls that seem to be talented and do have a good voice, one of them is Lucy Jones who comes from Wales, she has given good performances so far and I think she has a chance of winning the x factor this year, here she is singing My Funny Valentine on last night's show, very classy:

Here is the link to the song in case the above video does not work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kblg2qV9Vmo

Halal Food!!

Halal food is becoming more and more the norm in London, where ever you go there are shops and restaurants selling halal food, even most primary schools now offer only halal food as standard and it is becoming acceptable by most people, in fact many people I know have admitted that they do prefer the taste of halal meat and appreciate the fact that it doesn't contain blood.
Many well known food outlets now offer halal branches, halal Nando's and Subway are every where in London, I actually think that the halal branches are more than non halal branches and I think it wont be long before most places here will offer halal food.
On the other hand I myself do occasionally go to some fast food restaurants for a non-halal burger like the Angus burger at Burger King which is not available in a halal version and I believe since Britain is officially a Christian country then we have a licence to say Besmellah (in the name of Allah) and eat non halal meat, many years ago I was at some one's house and one of London's highest Islamic clerics was there, I asked him if it was OK to eat non halal food, he told me that while preference is for halal food that if I fancy something that wasn't available as halal then I should go ahead and eat it and that's what I do sometimes, it is common sense, for example in an area called Wood Green in London there are 2 Subway restaurants within 100 meters of each other, one is halal the other is not, in this case I wouldn't go to the non halal Subway when the other one is only few minutes away.

So the other day I had a discussion with friends who weren't convinced that I should eat non halal food and they thought I should only stick to halal food and so on...
The day after I was in a busy high street here in London, at lunch time I felt hungry and fancied a burger at Burger King, as I was walking towards the restaurant I noticed this new hut selling burgers and hot dogs, all food was advertised as Halal, it looked clean so I thought I will try it, I went there and saw a man inside cooking burgers on a hot plate, I stood there trying to get his attention but instead of serving me he was looking at a girl who was wearing a muffin top, he kept whistling at her and doing funny things with his eyes with no respect for me what so ever, he looked north African and was young enough to be my son, I thought to myself this is not going well but kept myself calm and waited for him to serve me, eventually he turned to me and asked what I wanted! since it has been many years since I had hot dog, I ordered a hot dog even though I wasn't sure if I really wanted it, he put the hot dog in a bun and I told him to put some mustard on it, by then a friend of his passed and they both spoke in Arabic/Algerian, as he handed me the hot dog an old English lady came over and ordered something, I paid him and walked off. I took a bite of the hot dog and it was stone cold and really disgusting, I got angry but still kept calm and thought no I am not going to let it go, I walked back to the hut and spoke to the guy in Arabic so to be discreet, I told him the food was cold, he became angry and started shouting so I said to him, listen I am speaking to you in Arabic so that I don't put off your customers, by then there was a Que of about 6 or 7 people and told him to taste the food that it was stone cold but no he wouldn't accept it and kept shouting and saying his food is good and that I was nasty to him and so on that's when I told him that perhaps if he wasn't ogling the girl and paid attention to cooking then his food would be hot (still speaking in Arabic to him) he continued shouting back in English and said he didn't want my custom so I said in English, fine just give me back my money which he did while swearing at me, that's when I really had enough of him, I turned to the people queuing and told them not to buy anything from him that his food was cold and disgusting and that is why I got my money back, they all looked at me and walked off so fast! he went mad and was screaming abuse at me in the middle of a busy high street, I smiled at him and walked away, I don't think someone like him would become successful, he had no customer service or any manners, me! I went to Burger King for a well deserved Angus Burger, Yum...

Staying on the subject of food, here is a channel on Youtube about Libyan Cooking, they are posted By Libyan Jews living in Italy and Libyan recipes from Italian TV (La cucina tripolina) cooked mainly by old Libyan Jewish ladies, very interesting to watch, here is a video about cooking Libya's national dish: BAZIN

Queen Fatima of Libya

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

"كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ ثُمَّ إِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ

"صدق الله العظيم

It is with great regret to read the news of the passing away of Queen Fatima Al-Shifa Al-Sinousi, wife of Libya's late King Idris Al-Sinousi.

Queen Fatima died today in a hospital in Cairo after she fell ill last month, Queen Fatima was born in 1911 and left Libya in 1969 with her husband the King, they both never returned back to their beloved Libya.

Queen Fatima is to be buried in Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Here is a link of a post I did about her which includes rare pictures of a lady that shunned the lime light and lived her life quietly in Egypt refusing to get into any media interviews or comments, she had a dignified life, an elegant beautiful lady that was never to see Libya again.

A friend of mine left this comment on my facebook which I think says it all:

"I feel today that a page of our history has been turned for good. A nice and a clean one, representing all the hopes we had for our country and the future ...رحم الله الملكة فاطمة و اسكنها فسيح جناته "

above picture taken from: Libya Al-Mostakbal

إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون

Libyan Slap Up Meal

Salam, long time no see :o)

I have been away from the blog world for a while as I had some issues to deal with, I am not sure if I will continue to blog the same way I used to but we will see.....

It has not been long since Ramadan finished and we all celebrated Eid, I actually have a rant about Libyan Ramadan here in the UK which I know some people wouldn't like but still I have to say my piece, most Muslim communities in the UK celebrate Ramadan by doing the occasional Iftar (Ramadan dinner) for their community where families and single people gather together in a hall, restaurant, hotel or even a mosque, usually a selection of their national dishes are served and it can be very enjoyable if done correctly, now I know that the Libyan community here is not well off but there are other communities that are lets say, a lot poorer, I myself over the years have been to other Arab/Muslim community Iftars and they were usually simple but clean and well organised, after all here in the UK they cater for all pockets, you can actually organise a decent clean hygienic dinner for very little money which brings me to the Libyan community Iftars, one of the official Iftars held in Ramadan was advertised on the Internet and Libyan families were invited to attend, I didn't attend this one but have been to similar ones few times, the advertised Iftar I mentioned was attended by many Libyans, they even posted pictures on the Internet but is it just me or was that not right!!

people were served food straight from the cooking pot as you can see from the picture, believe me this is normal! it really does look like a slap up meal served in prison, I have even seen people serve French bread tucked under their arms (remember they work in hot kitchens and might be a bit sweaty!) then when they arrive at your table they break the bread with their hands and just pile it on top of the tables that have no dishes or even table cloths, some of these tables have old encrusted food stains that even Bacteria wouldn't like, how is that for hygiene? and if you dare mention anything you would just get: eat man its not going to kill you!

A friend of mine who lives in London but travels a lot to Libya told me that it is nothing like that there, that food events are well organised and clean and that the Libyan community here need to move on, I am not sure why we are not trying to improve our standards here, I only see this with Libyan community, of course I am not saying everyone is like that but it does seem to be the norm with most, maybe we should look at other Muslim communities here that are lees fortunate than us yet they got it right, we can learn a lot from them.

Looking at the picture again, I bet the UK hasn't seen anything like this since Victorian times!

Market Shopping....

Yesterday I went to Ridley Road market for some vegetable and fruit shopping, another reason for going there is usually the excellent Turkish supermarket at the end of the road where you can almost always find clean mumbar (Masareen) for sale although I didn't buy any this time, this is a strange market, it is full of all sorts of nationalities, Asians Arabs Turks and a lot of Africans, a lot of African produce is sold there all sorts of weird looking veg, the butchers sell tripe, lamb heads and a lot of feet! cows lambs pigs legs and other parts too plus many fish stalls too so you can imagine what the smell is like, very stinky! usually when walking there I have to lift my trousers up a bit since the ground is wet with fishy water!

apparently the police raid this market from time to time because bush meat was found for sale there (illegally) bush meat is Monkey meat mainly, imported from Africa in dry form (like Gedeed) then sold illegally under the counter to certain customers.

The fruits and vegetables are usually quite good and it has to be the cheapest place in London to buy Mangos and other exotic fruits.

Most of the stalls are run by down to earth white English people, some are run by Asians and Africans. as you enter the market the first stall on your left is the one I like best, they have great variety of fruits and is always busy, the English lady working there was asking everyone if they were fasting, if they said no she said shame, if they said yes she would have a big smile on her face and says, good that you are fasting means you will be buying a lot of stuff from me and she was right, Muslims were buying her lovely fruits non stop, I got some too.

By the time I finished shopping, I was carrying about 10 heavy carrier bags full of fruits vegetables and cakes, Turkish bread, Kunafa dough and lots of nice and wonderful things from the Turkish shop, it was a struggle to walk back to the car but worth it since the kids loved everything.

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Here is something that might make you smile, I think its from Algerian TV, I thought it was very funny when I first saw it at a Friend's Face Book :o)

Fatwa Du Ramadan!

Hero Or Mass Murderer?

Wishing everyone a blissful and happy Ramadan, here Ramadan starts tomorrow and as usual Libya starts Ramadan a day earlier and insists they are right and everyone else got it wrong!

Ramadan Mubarak

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A Hero or Mass Murderer?

Al-Megrahi returned yesterday to Libya, I too was hoping his return to Libya would be a low key event but he was received as a hero!
I do not know if he is guilty of this horrible crime but this man was convicted of killing 270 innocent civilians yet the Libyan authorities showed how distasteful they are at a time when the victim's families were watching in pain, to most of them this is not acceptable.
Al-Megrahi protested his innocence for 10 years then few days ago he dropped his appeal and therefore accepted his guilt, I know he is ill and dying but if he is innocent he should have stuck to his appeal to the end, his family were never prevented from visiting him or even living near by. at the end of the day whether he did this crime or not, Al-Megrahi was working for the Libyan intelligence and I do know from people that worked for Libyan Airlines in the 1980s that he was feared and was involved in many nasty acts against Libyans, this does not make him into a hero, what about the thousands of Libyans that died just because they cried freedom, people like Al-Jahmi and the hundreds that were killed in Bu Sleem prison and many others... they were the real heroes.
The Scottish government did take a courageous step by releasing Al-Megrahi to spend his last days with his family, whether they did it for compassionate reasons or purely for business is for you to decide.

If he was innocent, he should have stayed and died fighting to clear his name and the Libyan authorities have embarrassed themselves yet again

Wives Of Kings & Presidents!

Salam, it has a been a while since I blogged which was due to spending sometime with the family and loosing the blogging bug a bit!

A good friend has sent me a funny Email which I thought I would share with you, the Email was in Arabic but I have translated it to English to the best of my knowledge, hope you enjoy:

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Wives of Kings and Presidents

Sheikha Moza, wife of the Amir of Qatar

Glum!

Princess Haya, wife of the ruler of Dubai

He really chose well

Wife of the Algerian President
They suit each other!

Queen Lalla Salma, wife of the King of Morocco
Why so angry?

Safiya, wife of President of Libya

And people wonder why he is so confused!!

Queen Rania, wife of the king of Jordon

Just great

Susan, wife of the President of Egypt

So cool!

Wife of the President of Sudan
What's up Man?

Asma, wife of the President of Syria
She doesn't look Syrian!

Laila, wife of the President of Tunisia

Wow!

Suha, wife of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat

What did she see in him!!



And finally, the prettiest Queen voted for the year 2008 (and I could not agree more)

Her Majesty, Queen Mobutu Sisi Kuku, Queen of Congo Brazzaville
I think she looks very sweet :o)

An Evening At A Libyan Do.....

Last night I was invited to a Fat-ha or Islamic marriage ceremony, these events are usually attended by men only. I got ready on time, put on a suit and tie even though it was a hot day but looking smart in events like this is a must, I had to stand in front of a fan for a while to stop my self from sweating then ran to my car which luckily was serviced only few days ago and the air condition was working perfectly for a change! I left a bit early in case of heavy traffic even though it was a Sunday and I am glad I did, twice I got stuck in heavy traffic and instead of the journey taking me about 35 minutes, it took me one hour and 25 minutes to get to central London and to the hotel where the event was taking place. I found a parking space easily and walked to the hotel where I found younger members of the family that are celebrating the marriage, standing outside the front door of the luxury hotel, they were there to escort the guests to the hired hall, usually I am early at events like this but as soon as I walked in the hall I noticed that most guests were already there and seated, I found a chair at the front and sat down then used my eagle eyes to scan the place, almost everyone I know was there, I must say that us Libyan men are not usually the smartest dressed men in the world but it was nice last night to see that almost everyone made an effort to look their best.

Soon I saw some of my best friends that I have known since my days in Oxford over 25 years ago, they still live in Oxford and because of this we do not meet as much as we would like to, they really are some of the best men that you could have for friends, our eyes just light up when ever we meet and we always realise at these rare occasions that we do miss each others company so much, so it was hugs and kisses all round, so nice.

The grooms father then escorted the Muslim cleric into the hall with the bride's father and the 2 witnesses and after a short speech by the cleric on the advantages of getting married, the signing of the contract took place and within few minutes the marriage was official.

The event was a bit low key because of a recent death in the family, no dinner was served but instead a selection of beautiful cakes and deserts were served along side nicely presented sandwiches, juices, coffee and tea, it was a good change from big pieces of lamb fit for a lion and huge plates of rice and masareen (a type of Libyan sausage) there were waiters and waitresses serving everyone that needed it, the waitresses were young Portuguese girls that looked quite good in their smart uniforms, I had to laugh as suddenly I started to notice the flirting that was being poured on these girls, it was all harmless and fun, watching young and not so young Libyan men flirting but without being offensive and the waitresses seemed very happy with all the attention, they looked relaxed after looking quite tense at the beginning and were talking and laughing back, even some of the more strict men and more religious were doing some of the flirting, everyone was well behaved.

The groom and his younger brother were mingling with the guests and made sure that everyone was looked after, it was a good relaxed evening that was enjoyed I would say, by all that attended, first class event.

I wish the bride and groom a happy, healthy and prosperous marriage inshaAllah.

Haj. Rajab, Abdul-Salam, Sami and Yousef, it was a pleasure seeing you all last night and I hope we get to meet again soon :o)

Swine Flu Gets Closer!

Swine Flu makes an appearance close to home! my kids have been given a letter by their school today informing us that a case of swine flu has been found at school.

The letter did not give much information but few schools in the area have had similar cases and were closed to pupils, I have been trying to phone the school but they are not answering the phone, when kids were being picked up by their mum, she managed to talk to one of the school governors who said that there are no plans so far to close the school and that they will wait to see if there are more cases.

Today is Friday and I suspect that they will wait until Monday to take a decision on what to do, swine flu cases in the UK have mostly been mild with no serious illness so far, so inshaAllah khair and hope there will be no need for medications for all affected.

People's Power

Again the ghastly, ridiculous leaders of the middle east blame everyone else but themselves for the unrest in their country!

Leaders of Iran, instead of accepting that they are not wanted by their people, what do they do? they blame America and Britain for the unrest! do not blame yourselves and your dictatorships!

Things never change, I remember as a boy growing up in Libya in the 70s, we used to be forced to go on marches supporting the government, I can still remember the members of the secret service telling us at school that if we do not join the march or if we leave the march and go home that they have cameras and will know and that we would be punished severely, imaging that! boys and girls under the age of 16 threatened with all sorts of horrible acts if they do not support their government! unfortunately it is the same in many Arab and middle east countries and when the people dare to speak up they are branded traitors and terrorists.

I only hope and pray that the people of Iran do not suffer anymore and I wish them the best for what they are doing is heroic and lacking in many middle eastern countries. Allah with you.

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More Middle Eastern Democracy!!

Israeli soldiers humiliating a terrified innocent Palestinian while they laugh

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Today is Father's Day and I wish all dads all over the world a happy and peaceful Father's Day. My lovely kids got me a card and gifts which you can see in the above picture, Allah bless them for they did make me a happy and proud father.

Today is also the longest day of the year, from tomorrow days start to get shorter, that is a depressing thought since it sounds like summer is over!

Weather in London has been quite good recently, lets hope it continues to be nice and warm for a change.

Drag Me To Hell with a Libyan Flavour!

Today with a friend decided to take advantage of the Orange Wednesdays offer that you get if you are with the Orange network, basically the offer entitles you to 2 cinema tickets for the price of one on any Wednesday plus 2 meals at Pizza Express for the price of one if you want! even though I have been with Orange for some years now, I never tried this offer so when my friend suggested it I thought why not! we went to Angel at lunch time straight to Pizza Express, out of the many pizza chains here, I think pizza express is the most acceptable as their pizzas do resemble and taste as pizzas should, unlike other places that just serve you soggy chewy bread covered in tomato sauce and cheese and they call it pizza! of course if you want a real proper pizza then you should go to one of the many Italian Pizzerias all over London that serve pizzas cooked in wood oven as they should be.

After a quick pizza we headed to the cinema, we both wanted to watch the new horror film Drag Me To Hell as we are both horror film fans and the film had some good reviews, it is directed by Sam Raimi who made the Evil Dead films.

The film was one of those movies that make some people jump in their seats with fright while laughing at the same time, I enjoyed it a lot and laughed a lot too but as soon as they said the name of the evil force in the film or the demon, the name was Lamia, it struck a chord in the back of my head, I read sometime ago about a Libyan queen in Greek mythology called Lamia that became a demon or a Libyan Ghoul غولة ليبية , so as soon as I came home I searched the Internet and sure it was the same Lamia, even the film's page on Wikiperdia links to the same Lamia!
This made me wonder! what was a Libyan demon doing in the USA?? could it be the warming relationship between Libya & America that made Lamia travel over there? was Libya not good enough for Lamia? what a surprise! :o)

It was a good fun afternoon, it really cheered me up since most of us do have and suffer occasionally from daily life stresses and we need to relax occasionally.

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The other day while walking with my son, he asked me to buy him a drink so we went to a shop and I bought him a can of orange Tango, as we left the shop I noticed that the writing and logo on the can were upside down!! I thought maybe it was a one off, a production mistake that could be worth a lot of money, maybe I could sell it to some weirdo on EBay or something! so we walked back in the shop just to find that all cans of orange Tango were printed upside down, about 100 of them! so all dreams of becoming rich flew away. at least Amir enjoyed the drink and that was priceless :o)

A Day At The Museum....

I mentioned before that Amir, my son, is learning about the ancient Egyptians here, so when he had a day off school last week because of the local elections, I thought it would be good to take him to the British Museum, this museum is only British by name but definitely not by contents!, we did not have enough time to tour all of the museum and decided to only visit Ancient Egypt gallery and outside of Egypt you can not find a better collection of Egyptian antiquities than this museum, the amount of Egyptian artifacts here is so massive, some of the statues are so big it makes you wonder how the British brought them to this country, of course this museum has problems with some countries around the world as these countries are saying that their antiquities were stolen and must be returned to their original countries, these include Egyptian, Roman, Greek artifacts and others, including the famous Greek Elgin Marbles, on a visit to this museum many years ago, I saw a miniature statue of Septimus Severus in the Roman gallery, the information said that it was found in Leptis Magna in Libya.

Once an English gentleman told me while he was winking, that the Egyptian antiquities were not stolen but given to the British as a gift by the Egyptian government at the time, then he added that the British were ruling Egypt then and so they gave the gifts to themselves!

I myself am a supporter of any country that is trying hard to get back what belongs to them and do feel uncomfortable when I visit the British museum, saying that, countries have the responsibilities to look after their heritage and need to make sure that they are displayed properly and protected, I visited the Egyptian museum in Cairo some years ago and I really thought it was a disaster waiting to happen, it was over flowing with antiquities, most displayed wrongly and packed next to each other, it was untidy and it seemed all they were interested in was getting as many tourists as possible inside without any thoughts about safety, my daughter was young then and in a pram, we had to leave after about one hour because the crowd was unbearable, we could hardly move inside yet as we left we saw hundreds of tourists standing at the front with more coaches bringing more tourists and at the door they just kept letting everyone in!

Britain has a responsibility to return what does not belong to them legally although this is not going to happen just yet although I must say that the British museum does display everything in a fantastic organised and very safe way.

I am not sure what the state of museums is like in Libya but do hope that they are at least well organised (is that wishful thinking?)

Here are some pictures:

Ramses II

This is the famous Rosetta Stone

The next section was Amir's favourite, actually it seems to be every one's favourite section, the life and death section that includes many mummies:

Amir is fascinated by skulls at the moment just like many boys of his age, you can even see skulls all over his T.shirt!

This is the newer section of the British museum, its a huge round court yard with glass roof, it contains gift shops and cafes, amazing architecture.

Smuggling Libya's Antiquities....

Music Lover sent me a link to an article about the looting of Libya's antiquities by gangs mainly operating from Egypt, the precious antiquities are smuggled to Egypt where they are then sold to the highest bidders in Europe and North America!

Here is a quote from the article:

"Libyan officials will admit off the record that looting has severely damaged the spectacular and extensive Roman ruins spread across their country’s 2,000km-long Mediterranean coastline. But they shy away from direct criticism for fear of incurring their government’s wrath or of offending Egypt, Libya’s neighbour and ally"

This again shows the importance of the Libyan authorities when protecting any Libyan wealth or heritage and allowing Egypt which has exhausted its resources to ruin anything precious that belongs to Libya, I have even mentioned before how Egyptian gangs are illegally collecting the rare Libyan tortoises and smuggling them to Egypt where they are sold as Egyptian tortoises to tourists because this tortoise has become extinct in Egypt.

What can I say except shame on Libya and Egypt for allowing these major crimes to take place while they turn a blind eye!

You can read the full article about the looting of Libya's antiquities Here.

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I was disappointed to read an article on Libya Alyoum about the opening of Chicken Cottage restaurant in Tripoli and the article praising the place and even saying how some Libyan people were sent to London to be trained to prepare the food for this place!

There really is nothing fancy about Chicken Cottage which is owned by some British Muslim, it is a fried chicken chain, one of many that you find all over the UK serving unhealthy greasy bad quality food!

Libya is a very rich country and if it must provide Western food chains then they can afford a much better quality than this, this is fried chicken at its worst and I can describe it in 2 words: Cheap & Nasty.

Here is the article.

Susan & Coraline!

Susan Boyle sang "I dreamed a dream" again at Britain's Got Talent final, another impressive performance but she lost to Diversity, I am not a big fan of dancing groups, it must be my age! but they were quite good and were supported by most young people.

Susan Boyle came second, it must be a relief for her that it is over, she did have a tough week with the gutter British press that had nothing but bad publicity for her all week, still she has captured the world attention and she will, I am sure, become a very successful singer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2xiAQCTy2E

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Today I took the kids to Stratford in east London, we saw some of the construction of the 2012 Olympics city which is in this area, the place is like a massive workshop!

After walking through the not so glamorous shopping centre, we went to watch Coraline in 3D, Aida liked it, Amir said it was OK...ish! I fell asleep at the beginning and woke up towards the end, I was still wearing my 3D glasses! so I cant really give any reviews about this film.

Britain, So Talented!

These are the 40 semi finalist acts of Britain's Got Talent 2009, you can see Susan Boyle in the middle of the picture behind Ant & Dec!
8 finalists performed live tonight, 2 of my favourite acts were among them, the first one was Sue Son who plays the violin beautifully, here is her performance tonight which I thought was fantastic but unfortunately she did not make it as her act did not qualify for the next stage:

If the video does not play then please click on the following link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2-pCHW1ZPs

Of course the whole world has been waiting for Susan Boyle's next performance after the massive success worldwide of her first audition.
We all waited eagerly for her, many watched tonight's show just to see and hear Susan Boyle! She sang live tonight and what a choice for a song! she sang Memory from the Musical "Cats", she must have been very nervous knowing that the world is watching, she even had a makeover and looked a lot better but her nerves got her a bit at the beginning of the song, the start was a bit rough but being the strong person she is, she composed herself and gave a great performance, she really nailed it at the end, obviously she qualified to the next round, the final act that will win this year will be chosen on Saturday, Enjoy:

If the video does not play then please click on the following link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmWCqIVQpEI

Gruesome Gardening!

We all laugh when we see pictures in Libya, Egypt and other countries of spelling mistakes with English names but they do get it wrong here too, I mean Burger King is a massive company with a lot of money to spend on advertising, you would think they would hire some one to write the word YES correctly in Arabic! instead they just put the Arabic letters next to each other without connecting them, its like writing the word YES this way: Y.E.S, in Arabic this is wrong!

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Every year at this time you know it is time to tidy up the garden, after a long and cold winter without cutting the grass, the garden looks a right mess with long grass everywhere, I am still waiting for the weather to dry up few days before I attempt to maw the grass.

Few days ago the kids went out in the garden with their cousins to play, that evening after I came back home, Amir was very excited and could not wait to tell me, he said: Baba, we found a skeleton in the garden, I think its a dead fox!

I didn't take him that seriously but he insisted, he said it had sharp teeth and you can even see the ribs!

There is a family of foxes that is living at the end of the garden, we leave them alone as we hardly use the garden in winter and they usually leave after their cubs are old enough.

Any way, next morning I went out in the garden with kids, led by Amir while Aida was hiding behind me and ... well it was a long dead fox!! it looked quite gruesome, I am not sure if it was one of the fox family or an intruder that was attacked, killed and eaten!

(click to enlarge)

look at these sharp teeth

that's what is left of the body!