Only in Egypt & Halloween

I have posted funny pictures before from Syria, Libya and other places. This time its Egypt's turn, I hope you enjoy the laugh :o)

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One more thing, have a very scary HALLOWEEN

Hibernation

Yet again, we Libyan bloggers or at least most of us seem to be going through a hibernation period, there has been very little going on recently, speaking for myself I have been off the net for a bit busy with other things, health wise I feel better Alhamdulellah but still waiting for more results.
Saying that, I do check Libyan blogs on almost daily bases and enjoy the very rare updates these days :o)
Hoping that everyone is well and if anyone is in contact with Lebeeya then please let us know that all is well as it has been ages since she updated.

So as the famous saying by Arnold Schwarzenegger, I hope many of you would say:

I"ll Be Back!

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I would like to thank Khalid Jorni for sending me the following pictures, it was a nice thought of him and I was pleased to see more Libyan tortoises.

Imtidad Nominated For Award

Here is something for all the Libyan bloggers to be proud about and participate in:

Ghazi Geblawi's blog Imtidad & Podcast were nominated for the best podcast and Arabic weblog award of the 2007 Best of the Blogs The BOBS organized by Deutsche Welle International the German media network.
You can visit their website for more details and to rate Ghazi's weblog by clicking on the following link:


http://www.thebobs.com/index.php?l=en

You can read about it in Arabic Here, Best of luck to Ghazi inshaAllah.

More 9/11 Theories....

I was sent this short video by a dear friend about the 9\11 tragedy which I thought was interesting and worth sharing, I have heard and seen so many of these theories, some are completely rubbish, some are interesting but at the end of the day they remain just that, theories! unless they are proved otherwise:

To believe or not to believe .....that is the question!

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Here is another story about 9/11, this time its from the Lebanese singer Najwa Karam, apparently she dreamt about it before it happened, Najwa Karam believes she doesn't only have the 6th sense but the 7th sense as well :o)

Eid in London

The Libyans celebrated Eid at the Regent Park's mosque as usual on the second day of Eid with the usual fun, bouncy castles and sweets for kids and the usual snacks and drinks for the adults, this year unfortunately I could not go because I was not feeling too well and missed being there as I usually go every year.

There was a surprise visit this year to the event, 2 boys of the tragic Benghazi HIV+ children who's plight is now world famous, turned up there with the father of one of the boys, I wish I was there just so that I could have welcomed them there, another pleasant surprise is that no one freaked out grabbed their kids and ran out of the mosque fearing they will catch something from these 2 brave boys, in fact from what I heard, they were welcomed and spent the evening playing with other kids and enjoying the Eid atmosphere, that did make me proud of the London Libyan community.

Al-Takaful society took care of the event and as usual made the children happy with all the sweets, drinks and presents that were given to them and for that they should thanked but being me I couldn't help but notice that this year the children were all given Ramadan calenders that include a piece of chocolate behind a door for every day of Ramadan which is based on the Christmas calender!
It is Eid, Ramadan is over so why were the kids given these calenders?? don't you think its a bit too late? :o)
no wonder they just opened them up and ate all the chocolates inside.... Eid Mubarak :o)

Eid Mubarak

At last most of us get to celebrate Eid together this year so Eid Mubarak everyone and the best wishes for a happier more peaceful times.

Gypsies & Silent Witness

For many years I have been seeing a gang of Gypsy women and children haunting the main areas of London that are familiar with Arabs and Muslims, particularly the Edgware Road area, I used to joke with my friends how the boy toddler is usually carried by a different woman on different days, most of these women would approach you holding a card written in Arabic & English telling you of their terrible misfortune and abuse as Muslims and that they need help as they are hungry and homeless, of course many people were tricked into believing them as Gypsy women tend to dress in long skirts and were headscarves which makes them look like poor Muslim women.
For a long time people and even the press assumed these were Muslims that are causing trouble, then the police reported on them some years ago on a TV program and warned people (especially Arab tourists) not to give them any money and that they were Gypsies and not Muslims, the police also mentioned the fact that the gypsies rent kids to others to use them for begging and reported how many rich Arab women especially that were here on holiday were giving large amount of money to the gypsies because they believed their stories. Of course now after Bulgaria & Romania joined the EU there is no restriction on entry for people from these countries, thousands have come to London, many are actually decent and hard working, on the other hand thousands of gypsies have arrived as well and now almost outside every mosque in London, you see gypsy women begging and holding these cards that are written in Arabic & English, I do try to warn people that these are liars and are just trying to get their money, I have even been approached by gypsy men & women outside supermarkets trying to flog me pathetic looking jewellery.

On Sunday I was with Amir my son at a market, we saw 3 gypsy women walking towards us, one of them was pushing a pram with a baby in it, suddenly I saw this man running towards them and then grabbing one of the women, she started screaming so loud that people began to come closer probably to help her, the man kept pulling her coat and long skirt, suddenly stolen clothes started to fall down, the other women started to push the man but he was determined and kept on pulling their skirts and collecting more stolen goods, the women then ran off and one of them lost a shoe but she didn't come back for it, the man looked triumphant and happy and walked back to his shop with a big pile of new clothes. Next to me there was an undercover policeman who was on the phone to the police, what I found strange is that he told the police that there was no need to send any force as the shop man took matters in his own hands, I thought the police should have got involved and arrested these women, gypsies are becoming a big problem here, so many are committing crimes and perhaps instead of prosecuting them, they should be deported back, since they have an EU passports now, it will not be easy for them to re-enter the country.
Amir's first reaction was, why are these Muslim women bad? why are they thieves? I explained to him that they are not Muslims and while there are bad people everywhere Muslim or otherwise, these were gypsies and have nothing to do with Muslims, unfortunately many people in this country just assume that they are Muslims.

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Few days ago we received at work a letter from the BBC to use our building as a location for filming the new series of Silent Witness which is a good long running BBC series, someone came over and checked the building and even offered to let some of us have a part as an Extra :o)

I thought maybe this is my chance to make it as a big star, maybe I will be discovered by the BBC, maybe ............The boss said NO, so there will be no new anglo-libyan superstar :o(

What a Day??

I have been waiting for a hospital appointment for some time now to find out why I am having a bad tummy for almost a year, somehow I knew comes Ramadan my appointment will arrive, I had to go to hospital on Monday for certain tests but I was told to refrain from eating for at least 24 hours before my appointment and drink plenty of fluids, that was not difficult to do although I did become sick of water as I was supposed to drink at least 3 litres of it!

On Monday I travelled to the hospital on the public transport which is something i rarely do because I usually drive but I knew I had to be sedated so the car stayed at home. I got there in time and was given a hospital gown and taken in, they gave me an injection to sedate me but as I knew from past experiences, I am one of those people that can not be sedated and have to be completely knocked out even if it is for a minor tooth filling, well as I thought the sedation did not work and I had to go through a painful experience that almost lasted for ever! then the Doctor said to me, its almost done, I felt relief just to hear the same Doctor say to me that they can not continue and have to wait for the consultant to come and start the same procedure all over again, blast!!

I was wheeled out into recovery where I had to wait for about 2 hours for the consultant to arrive, eventually I was wheeled back in and met the very bubbly lady consultant, I explained to her about my resistance to sedation to which she told me that unfortunately there was nothing they could do about it as I already had my limit, the same procedure was carried out again and, I thought it would never end, it was so uncomfortable and very painful at times, when eventually it ended, I was told that I needed further investigations as soon as possible and that an Endoscopy was to be arranged, I told the consultant it is fine and to send me an appointment as soon as they can, I just wanted to get out of there so you can imagine my horror when she said oh no sir, you are going to have it now straightaway there is no time to waste, I mentioned that I was in pain and exhausted, that did not work with her and I had to go through it, again with no sedation, now that must have been one of the worst experiences I have ever had, it was so painful and uncomfortable that at times 3 people had to hold me down as I felt I could not breath anymore, 20 minutes later it was all over and I was told that my day there was almost a record as hardly anyone is subjected to so much in just few hours, a record that I did not want to take part in!

I was taken back to recovery and I was awarded with a cup of tea and 2 richtea biscuits :o)

I have taken couple of days off work but still have to go through more tests, cat scan and x rays, inshaAllah Khair.