Road Accident....

This morning as I was driving my kids to school we got stuck in heavy traffic, as the traffic moved I could see what was happening and it was a terrible sight, I really wanted to prevent the kids from seeing it but I had no choice as there was no chance of reversing or doing a U turn, a teenage boy of about 13 or 14 was lying on the freezing road face down, he had been hit by big 7 Seater car and was not moving, it was clear that he was not well, possibly even dead, there was a small crowd of people around him, many were on their phones probably calling the emergency services so there was no point of me stopping as there was nothing else for me to do so I just carried on driving and waiting for the kids response, they were quiet for few minutes, they both could not take their eyes of the boy and I could tell that they were troubled by it. After few minutes Amir asked me if the boy was dead! I didn't really want to traumatise them even more so I said that he was only hurt then Amir said: but the boy was not moving, I think he was dead, I had to tell a small lie here and told both kids that the boy was crying so he was not dead, they both cheered up a bit, of course then I had to remind them of road safety and how if people do not keep to the road code that accidents could happen, all the time I was thinking of this poor boy's parents who were probably at home or work not knowing what happened, Allah protect us all.

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Amir celebrates his 8th birthday today, with many many happy returns inshaAllah

Amir had an early birthday party on Sunday with mainly his cousins attending and a couple of friends, they had a great time with Aida organising a lot of party games for all of them.

I'm A Celebrity.....!!

For the past 2 weeks or so I have been watching one of my favourite programs on TV, I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! is usually on for about 3 weeks every year, it is a program famous for gathering a bunch of celebrities hasbeens, unheard of so called celebrities and WAGs, they are all put in a jungle in Australia and are left to fend for themselves living in horrible conditions, they have to do what is called a Bush Tucker Trial daily in order to win stars which they can exchange for food items that they have to cook themselves, the less stars they win the less food they have to share.

This year alongside the hasbeens and the WAGs, 2 major stars are taking part, they are Martina Navaratilova and George Takei from the Star Trek fame.

The daily bush tucker trial usually involves one or more of the contestants having to either eat the most disgusting food which can be cockroaches, worms and grubs and delicacies such as certain bits and pieces of animals that you wouldn't eat in your worst nightmares, I don't know what it is but most people (including myself) enjoy watching other people especially if they were annoying minor celebrities being tortured this way, it just makes great TV viewing.

The contestants are then voted out one by one on daily bases by the viewing public until one is left who will be crowned the King or the Queen of the jungle, this years favourite to win is ex-EastEnders actor Joe Swash.

Here is some clips that you might enjoy or might make you run for the bucket!

This first clip shows 2 contestants eating a selection of critters and delicacies, it really was my favourite clip (2 parts) the second part of this clip is even more Yummy :o)

This next clip, called the John Trevolting suite might make you scratch a bit!!

The next clip has David Van Day screaming like a girl :o)

There are many more clips on YouTube, there will be another trial tonight, I wonder who will be doing it!! I hope I didn't spoil your lunch or dinner, it is meant for entertainment, hope you all have a nice day :o)

Remember, all people taking part in these trials, do not have to do any of it, they have the optoion of opting out.

The Camel & The Train!!

The job hunting is still going on, I have now officially received my letter of redundancy from my current employers, I have been in this job for 6 years, I have enjoyed being here and got on with my work colleagues but it is time to move on.

I know I need to start tidying up my desk soon but I just cant be bothered at the moment, there is so much stuff that needs sorting out but it can wait a bit, a lot of it will be binned anyway!

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When surfing the Internet, I found this new Luxury Chocolate makers called Al Nassma from Dubai that sell their really nice and delicious looking chocolates online but this chocolate comes with a difference from any chocolate I have ever seen or ate, it is made of Camel milk and supposedly it tastes really nice, I wonder if the big London department stores will be selling it soon, I really would like to try it.

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Many people complain about the heavy traffic at rush hours when going to work or school, be it driving, on a bus or a train (I do), it can put us in a bad mood and we start thinking how bad it is for us blah blah blah.... well spare a thought for those people riding on a train in Pakistan, surely our rush hours are never like that :o)

I wonder if any people actually fell off the train and if any one had noticed!!

Job Hunting!

I have been away from blogging for a while due to being a bit busy and due to that annoying phrase, The Credit Crunch! which has affected my work place and it seems job loss is coming sooner rather than later, couple that with the difficulty of finding a new job, any job, really not easy but hopefully inshaAllah things will get better.
Unfortunately at times like this, coming to work becomes stressful and you loose all interest in doing your work and just wait for the day that you have to leave, I really cant wait! and wouldn't mind having some rest but having a family and responsibilities means you can not rest until you find a new job, so its going to be a, New Year No Job or New Year New Job :o)

For something lighter, my kids have told me to watch this new Christmas TV advert by John Lewis Department Store which they find very funny not just for the weird characters but mainly for the baby that appears towards the end of the advert, I watched it and yes I laughed too, what a baby, keep an eye for this mega cuteness with a clump of hair, here it is on YouTube:

More Rare Pictures of Libya's former Queen

Last year I posted a rare picture of the former Queen of Libya, Queen Fatima El-Sharif, for that was the first time ever that I saw the Queen, it is a shame that in countries such as Libya they would completely erase parts of our history just because it does not suit somebody, here in Europe many countries used to be kingdoms then they revolted and replaced their kingdoms with republics but they never hide their history, they teach it as it was, with its bad and good, yet in our country they only mention the Sinusi family in a bad disgraceful way when the truth is completely different, no one is perfect but compared to what Libya has at the moment, many can only say please bring on the good old days.

Having the Internet is such a blessing sometimes, it gives us the chance to research information that we do not have or we are not allowed to know anything about. During one of these searches I found some pictures of King Idris & Queen Fatima during a visit to Egypt in 1964, again as with the first picture I published, I saw an elegant lady that by far exceeded in her elegance Egypt's first lady and her daughters, who just could not keep their eyes off the Libyan Queen.

A good friend of mine told me that Queen Fatima was always very down to earth that when ever she came to an event, there would be a luxurious seat set up for her and that she always refused to sit there and chose to sit with the people instead, I bet not many can do that these days!

Here I leave you with some pictures that I am sure many of you have not seen before:

Queen Fatima on the left with the wife and daughters of president Jamal Abdul-Nasser

The following picture was sent to me by a friend and as far as I know it is the most recent picture of Queen Fatima and was taken in the mid 1990s during a Haj trip, may Allah give her long life and the best of health inshaAllah:

An Old English Cemetery!

The events on this post happened few weeks ago but I thought it was appropriate to post it now since today is Halloween :o)

During Ramadan, I went for a walk with a friend and my son Amir, we passed a very old English cemetery and Amir got exited and wanted to walk inside, so we did walk around and it was very interesting seeing very old graves, some hundreds of years old, the place was very creepy and looked exactly like an old Hammer House of Horror English film setting.

(Click on pictures for a better view)

A row of very small grave stones, I think these were poor people that could not afford the big graves and so were stacked next to each other!

Creepy Walk

There were many family plots in there with old and some more recent graves

Some damaged graves, the cemetery is kept wild and untidy which makes it even more creepy and adds to the atmosphere


This was the newest grave I could see (Year 2000)

is that a ghost in the window? No, it is Amir!

A small disused church in the cemetery

These graves look out of place!! and the flowers are Plastic!

This is the grave of William Booth, he was the founder of the Salvation Army, Amir keeps telling people that he saw the grave of a King!

It was a very interesting and educational walk, we enjoyed it and had a lot of fun trying to find the oldest and the newest graves without any disrespect to the dead people and of course I made sure that Amir did not walk on any graves.

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About 3 weeks ago both of my kids were invited to a fancy dress Eid / Birthday party at the Muslim College in London, the stores were full of Halloween costumes and at good offers so we enjoyed buying the costumes and kids loved dressing up on the day, here is some pictures just before they left for the party which they enjoyed very much:

Amir the Biker Werewolf and Aida the Witch

Child Abuse in Arab Schools

I have been appalled by this story about the 11 year old Egyptian boy that was beaten by his teacher which led to his death and the reason was because the boy did not finish his home work, it wasn't a freak accident or anything like that, the teacher beat up the boy and kicked him in the stomach repeatedly, he killed him and should be charged with first degree murder, how awful, how disgusting that in the 21 century many school teachers in the Arab world are still beating up children, hitting a school child is considered child abuse in the UK and rightly so.

How terrible for the parents of Islam Amro to lose such a lovely boy and in a place they trusted that it will look after him.

When I was young, I went to a secondary school in Tripoli which was supposed to be one of the best at that time, it was Haidar Al-Saati school, during the three years I spent there 2 of my friends were injured badly by a sadistic teacher, I witnessed one of them, my friend was hit badly by this teachers on his arms, when the pain became too much he kept his arms close to his body yet the teacher continued to hit him, it was horrific, I didn't see the boy for few days then when he came to school both of his arms were broken, another friend of mine was hit by the same teacher and broke his collar bone, he had to wear a neck brace for a long time yet what I remember clearly the teacher was never prosecuted, in fact he continued to teach us!, during the 80s I went with my brother and a friend to Spain for a holiday, we went one day to the Libyan school there, 2 teachers came to say hello to us as they recognised our names, I was horrified to find that the sadistic teacher was one of them!, with a record like his he should be locked up not promoted to teach abroad, how awful!!

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London this Morning

London this morning, it snowed last night, apparently it was the first time in about 50 years that snow fell on London in the month of October, at the moment it is very sunny and freezing, I wonder if this is a sign of a cold winter to come! this year AGAIN we had no summer, it just rained non stop.

Royal Credit Crunch!!

I have been a bit busy lately to write anything plus nothing really happened, it has been a bit boring. Yesterday I had to babysit all day with the kids as their mum had a training day at the Arabic school where she works as a part time teacher, so I suggested to the kids that we go and watch a movie, my daughter Aida straightaway mentioned going to see "High School Musical 3" as soon as Amir heard her he screamed noooooooooooooo, I wanted to join him! I really would never consider watching this film if you paid me but Aida won! we went to watch it and the film did not disappoint me one bit, it was just as bad as I thought it would be, thank God I fell asleep and missed half of it.

This actually brings me to a point I wanted to mention before, Disney channel which produced the movie has more or less taken over other kids TV channels in Britain and probably all over the world, the problem I have with that is my kids know quite a lot about America, ask Amir about many American states and their capitals and he would give you the answer straightaway, you might think this is good! but ask him about Britain and London and England?? he is still confused about them, he is not sure if London is a city or a country, he even pointed out to me the other day when watching something with the Golden Gate Bridge that this is San Fransisco, I doubt that he really knows British or even Libyan landmarks, I am not against them learning about America but it seems American culture is taking over, there are many British TV channels but no one watches them any more, not sure what the solution is but perhaps Disney should consider showing home grown TV programs here in Britain and everywhere else including Arab countries but that perhaps will never happen!!

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Britain has been hit so hard by the Credit Crunch, no one is immune!

Queen Elizabeth II trying to make ends meet :o)

One of the greatest things about living in this country is that you can make harmless fun about anyone you want without fear of losing your head.

* Thanks dear friend for sending me this picture.

Weird & Wonderful Pictures!!

Some weird and wonderful pictures from around the world!

Adverts in the wrong place!!




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Can you Read the following text on the first attempt?

Not Possible to read??

then follow the guideline below

Close your eyes almost 90% then look at the picture again

You can see it now, Right?

isn't that amazing :o)

Arabic School & Parking!

On Saturday the kids Arabic school started at last, the school did what Libya did, that is to postpone school until after Ramadan, this is a new trend that I can not get, when I was a child in Libya we used to go to school in Ramadan, anyway the Arabic school changed premises too, now they are based in Wembley which is still not far but I wonder what the reason is that they had to change places!! I do know that in the old place they had problems with the school owners, remember that those places are normal English schools during the week but are rented out on Saturday and or Sunday to schools of faiths and languages, the problem I witnessed before was the typical ignorant attitude of many Arabs and Muslims that have no consideration for anyone else, many would drive their cars through the driveway and leave them there blocking the one way system, the headteacher of the Arabic school used to urge parents through his loud speaker every single Saturday not to leave their cars there, he even mentioned that the authority threatened not to renew their Saturday school contract if the parking problem is not sorted! I wonder if this is the reason we have a new school and how long it will be before some of the parents find another ignorant activity to practice!!

The new school is actually a very old and creepy school, both of my kids loved it straight away because they said it reminded them of Hogwarts the school in the Harry Potter films, I too thought the school was great.

The day went well Alhamdulellah and hopefully the kids will soon get back into the routine of the Arabic school, it is not easy for them as they loose a day of their weekend and get extra home work but they understand they have to do it.

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Have you seen this short video? lol it is soooo Libyan :o)

Request for Cross-cultural information about Libya

Few days ago I received an Email from the director of a website that is to specialise in cross cultural information, Mr. Michael Landers was requesting information about Libya, here is a copy of his Email:

"Hope you are well. I just came across your site. Great stuff! I am writing to you because I am launching a website that will be populated with cross-cultural information about every country in the world. We will be looking to the web community to help do this with all the information being available for free. I was wondering if you and/or members from your community may be able to help us out with the Libya pages. We would love your input. Let me know if you would be open to this and I'll send along a brief questionnaire"

I have replied that I would like to help and the questionnaire was forwarded to me, I was going to try and answer as many questions as possible but then I thought that since it is about life in Libya then I better ask some of you who are living in Libya to try and take part, some of the questions are easy and straight forward but there are questions about business and student life that I could not possibly answer as I have left Libya a long time ago.

Your help will be appreciated and please try to be as accurate as possible even if the answer is negative, no country and no one is perfect, many thanks.

Any one can contact Michael Landers at his Email if you need further details:

michael@culturecrossing.net

http://www.culturecrossing.net/

Questionnaire

Pictures & Libyan Stolen Art!

I was in Turkey recently for a few days trip, while I was there I took a boat trip round the coast, the scenery was very beautiful, as we were heading back to shore I started seeing a shape of a baby's head in the mountain, I took few pictures, what do you think? can you see what I saw?

Spot the Baby!

Closer!


Here it is highlighted, Weird or what?? سبحان الله

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I have read before that Israeli Jews of Libyan origins are probably the most loyal community to its old customs and rules and that they are very proud of their Libyan connection, I found the following video on YouTube showing or enacting the old Jewish/Libyan custom of marriage, I thought it was good and fun:

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It was very sad to read yesterday about the theft of valuable items from the Islamic Museum in Tripoli, the strange thing is that whole exhibitions have been cleared by the thieves, it just does not seem to be a normal robbery, some people working there must have many answers, what a shame to loose such beautiful artifacts and furniture, I wonder how many more stories of stolen Libyan heritage there are? I bet too many.

Here are phots of the stolen treasures from the Islamic Museum in Tripoli, apparently everything you can see has gone!!

Toilet outside a Mosque!!

2 years ago I wrote about cleanliness in some London mosques or rather about the lack of it here, while London does have a huge number of mosques, west London seems to lack behind, many of us have to go to the Central Mosque of Brent as it is the only one in that area, I have known this mosque for at least 15 years if not more, it has always been under construction, they keep collecting money but it may not be enough or something, only recently they added a dome and the minaret is still being built.

The main problem with this mosque is that it really is quite dirty, the carpets are soiled, the toilets, well the less said about them the better! I usually pray on Friday in the basement because the main hall gets very busy, the basement is so dirty and full of greasy cooking pots and pans and bags of sand and cement that you end up with dusty clothes as you leave, there are even bags of cement there that have been there for years and have become rock solid yet no one bothered to remove them, this mosque is near to my work that is why I go there.

The reason I am writing this was because the Friday before Eid, after the prayers as I left by the side door I noticed a toilet seat & flush just by this side door and I thought this does not look good but no surprise here as the people running this mosque do not seem to care anyway. Few days later I saw a Friend of mine who is Scottish and Catholic, he works in a children's home just behind the mosque, he told me that as he left the home where he works going towards the tube station, he passed the mosque as usual and just by the gate's front door of the mosque, right under the sign with the mosque's name, he saw a toilet seat standing there and looking very offensive, he thought perhaps some Islamophobic person did that as an insult to the mosque to make it look like a public toilet, he actually went in and knocked at the door of the mosque, then spoke to some old man who could hardly speak English let alone look after a mosque, then he spoke to another man and told him about the toilet seat, the man admitted that it was their fault and that they were waiting for someone to come and collect it and throw it away, my friend told him that it is shameful to put a toilet seat outside like that, that they should have more respect to the mosque and that this might make other Muslims think that it was an attack by some ignorant non-Muslim, they agreed that it was wrong and thanked my friend.

Next day on his way to work as he passed the mosque, the toilet seat was still there only this time it had a bin bag wrapped round it! I asked my friend if he took a picture, he said he thought about it but didn't want to offend anyone, shame he didn't!

I wonder if that toilet seat was put there by an anti-Muslim person, what would have happened and how much crying of injustice and Islamaphobia we would have heard??

Are people running this mosque ever going to clean it up? it really does not cost much to be clean and tidy, it is part of our faith after all.

Libyan Eid in London

Salam everybody, we all took 2 days off work and school to celebrate Eid, as usual the first day was spent mainly with family and being sick to death of Magroud and other sweets as they were everywhere! still it was nice to be able to eat and drink :o)

Yesterday we headed to the Central Mosque, Regents Park, for the Libyan Eid Party, we arrived at about 6:20 pm, there was only few people there and the place was still being set up, I keep forgetting that I am Libyan and therefore I should turn up really late as most other people do, yet I still manage to be almost on time every time and find I am the first!!

The Eid party is sponsored by Takaful Trust who have managed to carry on with this Libyan tradition that has been run by other trusts before, as usual there was a large selection of soft drinks and lots of Arabic sweets.

MashaAllah, how cute is this little Libyan next to Amir?

Libyan boys doing what they are good at, fighting and pushing each other, some things never change! main thing is they all enjoyed the party but you can tell that the Credit Crunch has hit the event, in previous years, toys, crisps, sweets and drinks used to be given to all children, this year nothing was given to the kids apart from what was available to the adults and the 3 big bouncy castles, actually that was not a bad thing since Eid is always a bad time for junk food and sweets, the less the better and the Takaful Trust has at least managed to keep the party going even at these difficult times, I think most Libyans here are grateful to Takaful for what they are doing and for the happiness they bring to our children.

Yes that is me dressed in my Libyan suit but with a variation on the shirt! (Libyan suit makes me look fat!! I am not really) :o)

At Mughreb time I took Amir to pray with me at the main praying hall, while he has been many times to this mosque, he had never been inside the praying area before, he was amazed at the size and really was impressed with the huge chandelier hanging from the middle of the dome.

As usual it was great seeing many friends, some I haven't seen since last Eid and the main thing is that we get to wish each other a happy Eid all at the same time, London is a huge city and it would be impossible otherwise to visit people individually.

Eid Mubarak

At last we get to celebrate Eid here with Libya, I really thought it was going to be on Wednesday but it has been announced that Eid is tomorrow, Alhamdulellah.

May Allah accept all of your deeds and I wish everyone a happy, peaceful and healthy Eid inshaAllah.

Unfortunately it looks like a long tradition that I have known for almost as long as I have been here has come to an end! the Libyan community's Eid party which is usually held at the second day of Eid at London's Regent Park Mosque is apparently not happening this year, I hope inshaAllah that this is not the case, I will try to find out more about it.

Update:

There will inshaAllah be a Libyan Eid Party at the Central Mosque, Regent Park, frrom 6 - 9 pm on Wednesday 1st October, all Libyans are welcome.

Eid Mubarak everyone :o)

مجرودة لليبية - Traditional Libyan music by Ahmed Ben Ali

A Film, Iftar and a Birthday!

Ramadan in this country is different from Ramadan in a Muslim country, to us here life goes on, the only difference is that you fast, there are no markets open all night or cafes and places to enjoy after Taraweeh prayers plus the fact that if you are working, then its up early every morning as usual and there is no time for an afternoon nap, I feel so tired that I keep falling asleep for a split second on my desk.

I myself do not like Arabic TV at all, we do have Satellite TV with all the Arabic channels that you could think of but I never ever watch any of it, it is full of crap and never ending depressing soap operas, on the other hand I am not a great TV watcher anyway although I do like watching movies from time to time, horror films being my favourite even though you can hardly find a decent scary film these days, most of them are just gross and gory but not scary at all! 2 nights ago I watched this new scary film called The Strangers it was a bit slow at the beginning but then it really literally went off with a bang on the door, it was a good old fashion scary film full of things that go bump in the night, the way I like them.

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Tuesday night I took the kids to the Libyan community Iftar here in London which is held twice a week during Ramadan, the kids love going there because it gives them a chance to see all their Libyan friends that used to attend the same Muslim school they went to until 2 years ago, it was my first time this year that I went there too, usually I am more active with the Libyan community in Ramadan but this year I just kept away but for no reason.

It was great seeing many Libyan faces that I know and Iftar was really nice, it included the famous Libyan soup, Hassa with gedeed, galaya, Tabeekhet Fasoulia , Rice with massive pieces of lamb and saladas followed by green tea and sweets, lovely.

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Today is my daughter Aida's Birthday, she is 10 years old today, mashaAllah how time went so quick, I can still remember the Scottish doctor that told us we were going to have a "wee girl" :o)kids these days seem to grow quicker in line with technology, presents used to be sort of easy, any thing BRATZ will do but this is not the case anymore, now it is more like MP3 players, Mobile phones and Computers, toys are not satisfying any more! well they are our children and as long as they are well behaved then there is no reason why not spoiling them occasionally, may Allah bless all the children and a very happy birthday to sweet Aida, may she continue to be kind, considerate and a treasure to all that know her inshaAllah.

The Grief of a Community

Yet another horrific murder has been committed in Britain, this time the victims are 2 Algerian sisters, Yasmine Larbi-Cherif, 22, and younger sister Sabrina, 19, details of their awful murder are still emerging, today the police confirmed that they have charged a 28 year old man with their murder, his name is Mohamed Ali, most likely an Algerian too but this is still to be confirmed, how awful to loose 2 young lives this way, their parents who live in Wembley in London must be going through hell, I read about this murder in Alarabiya website and as usual you get many Arab idiots commenting about such awful crimes by actually blaming the victims, many have picked up on such points as, the girls lived an open life and so deserve what happened to them! many blamed what they called "the racist British society" even though it does not seem to be a racist murder,do these idiots know how devastating crimes like this are to the families and the whole community? don't these people read about the awful murders that are committed all the time in Arab countries and everywhere else? how ever people choose to live is their business, we can criticize what we do not like but to actually lay the blame on the victims is almost as bad as killing them, God only is the judge, we can not do anything but ask for his forgiveness to all victims of violent crimes.

I can feel the pain and sorrow of the Algerian community here in the UK. The Libyan community went through a violent murder some years ago but with different circumstances, it devastated us, it was the darkest period the Libyans in the UK went through, we lost one of the most respectable most loved daughter to all of us to a violent crime, it was so horrific that Libyans in their hundreds travelled from all over the UK, hundreds of miles just to pay their respects to the victim's family, many didn't even know the family but still they came, I myself was asked by many people when I was standing outside the place where the 3aza (paying of respect) took place, by many people of many different nationalities where they can go and meet the family, many told me they do not know the family but they were so shocked and horrified they just had to come. It was the only time that I more or less so most of the Libyan men here in tears and I do hope inshaAllah that it was the last time, one English police woman who was sent to comfort the family told me that she really didn't want to come because she thought Muslims do not care about the dead, she told me she was shocked to see how devastated everyone was, so much so that she herself was in tears.

The day of the funeral was a day we will never forget, hundreds of people turned up, the police sent a policeman and the same policewoman to represent them at the funeral, they both stood dignified near the door of the mosque during the prayers, at the burial they stood at the back until the victim was buried, they then put a beautiful bouquet of flowers on the grave, that day the Libyan people here gained the respect of the British police because they saw how we all stood together united in grief.

There are many idiots in this world, many of them leave hurtful comments without realising the pain and sorrow that devastated communities go through.

May Allah forgive all the dead and may Allah punish all those responsible for these horrific crimes.

انا لله وانا إليه راجعون

Hook the Tunisian

2 weeks ago I noticed that one of my Tunisian tortoises wasn't looking its best, Hook was the only tortoise I have with a name and that is because he had a weird mouth that looked like a hook, he was a small male Tunisian tortoise (Furculachelys nabeulensis) with a big character, we used to call him homing tortoise because when ever he was out of the enclosure he would follow any one walking near him and would try to bite their feet, he remained small while the others grew much bigger but that is normal with males, I became concerned because he was not following and trying to bite my hands when I put food in the enclosure, when I picked him up I noticed he was very dehydrated so I soaked him in water then I took him to the vet who could not do much but give him anti-biotics! Hook was not eating at all so I decided to feed him with a syringe (took advise) I bought baby food and would give him few feeds a day, he responded well but then I had to go away for a while (more about that later) and left him with a friend, I feared the worst as feeding him was not easy but there was nothing I could do, when I came back 2 days ago, I was told that Hook passed away last Friday, my friend buried him in his garden and put a little stick to mark the grave with a moon crescent on it to represent Hook's Tunisian origin (how nice is that??).

Hook at the front, 2 Tunisian and 2 Libyan tortoises at the back

Hook's last picture, his legs were so weak he could not lift himself up
Goodbye Hook

With Deepest Sympathy

I would like on behalf of the Libyan bloggers to give our deepest condolences to Ibeebarbie, Amira and their family for the loss of Ibeebarbie's Dear mother.

May God give the family patience at these difficult times

Amir Ben Laden!!

Amir my 7 year old son had his first ever racist abuse the other day, Amir came home and asked me what "Ben Laden" meant? I told him it was just a name and asked him why he was asking! he was in the local park playing with his cousins when he had an encounter with a 5 year old white girl, he told me that the little girl came over to him and called him "Ben Laden" he did not understand what she meant but knew she was being nasty so he told her to go away.
After hearing that, I agreed with him that she was being nasty and that he was allowed to defend himself if anyone called him Ben Laden. of course the problem is not with the little girl, what would she know about Ben Laden, all she knew it was a nasty name to be directed at lets just say, people darker than herself and who should we thank for this racist education? well her sub trash parents of course, who if they had any manners or decency they would not teach their little children to behave like this.

In almost 29 years of living in the UK, I have never really suffered any racist abuse, of course racism is alive and well here, just like any other country but the majority of racist people here tend to keep it to themselves and use it behind your back while they smile in your face, in recent years this has been changing and more and more racists are becoming more vocal and abusive especially towards Muslims, in a TV program about Muslims that I watched recently, some British people were asked to read cards that contained abusive remarks about Jews and then were asked what they thought of what they read? all of them said rightly that this was not acceptable, the same cards were then shown to the same people but the word Jew was changed to Muslim and asked what they thought about the cards now, all the people now said it was different, they actually find the remarks acceptable! even though they shouldn't! (it shouldn't happen to a Muslim - Channel 4).

Of course as usual we have the trashy media in this country fuelling people's ideas about Muslims and not forgetting the so called Muslims that have caused more damage to Islam than anyone else. Allah help us all.

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Today Google released their new Web Browser called Google Chrome, you can download it from the main Google page, I am still looking at it, not sure just yet as I do always prefer Internet Explorer to any other browser.

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One more thing, as I was browsing the Internet I came across the following picture which is making me really suffer, so I thought you should look at it and suffer too.....

Turkish Coffee......mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Ramadan Mubarak to All

I would like to wish everyone in Libya and elsewhere a Happy, peaceful and blessed Ramadan, as every year I do hope that Muslims would fast together and celebrate Eid together but this is wishful thinking and is very unlikely to happen in my life time, Libya as usual started Ramadan on a different day than most countries!

For all of you with a Nokia mobile phone, Nokia has published this Ramadan Applications site where you can download greetings cards, Quran, Emsakya and other cool applications. Thank you Musiclover for sending me the Link.

For information and Ramadan time table in the UK, click on Ramadan.co.uk

For London Central Mosque information, click Here