London Traffic Again

It is always difficult to get back to work after a holiday, I only had 5 days off work but as usual they felt more like 5 minutes.

Yesterday afternoon I had to drive to north London, as usual I listen to LBC Radio when I am driving as they provide a traffic news bulletin every 15 minutes, the traffic news was not good, in fact it was never that bad for me, first they said that Seven Sisters Road and Blackstock Road in Finsbury Park were closed due to a police incident (I will write about this later in this post) so straightaway I started to think of an alternative way as I was heading towards Finsbury Park, I thought OK I will go through Manor Park then Stamford Hill just to hear the radio presenter saying, avoid Stamford Hill as police have closed the road due to a teenager stabbed to death, he then said the delays were affecting Manor Park and causing massive delays, I thought mmmmm, what shall I do? the other alternative is to drive round the other way through Dalston or Clapton, it is a bit far but at least it is not closed or so I thought, the presenter went on to say that due to another police incident, Dalston and Clapton were experiencing massive delays, by then I felt completely lost, I was heading towards Stokenewington but according to this traffic news all roads leading there were blocked, great!!

Anyway, after a long delay I managed to get there thinking somebody must have put a spell on me or what?? all this in one day and one area!

Going back to the police incident at Blackstock Road in Finsbury Park, the police carried out a raid on this street yesterday afternoon, it was described as one of the biggest police operation to be carried out in London, I watched the report on the news, about 600 police men & women charged through this street, it looked like an invasion, at the end of this massive raid some people were arrested and stolen goods were recovered, something like 120 laptops, 110 cameras & 20 satnavs.

What I found strange about this is the fact that the stolen goods the police were boasting about recovering is hardly anything to write about in a massive police raid like this!

Blackstock Road is what we call here, Little Algeria, it is a road well known for its Algerian businesses and community, it is not the best place to be in as it can get quite intimidating at times, usually in the evenings there will be 100s of Algerian and Somali men hanging about, some of them can be a bit threatening, when driving there it can be difficult trying to go past the crowds without being sworn at, it is full of cafes and restaurants, while I am sure a lot of crime goes in there, does that justify what the police did? I mean London is famous for its hard core gangs like the Yardies who are responsible for much more dangerous crimes like black on black murder and arm robbery or the Triads who are known for similar crimes, shouldn't the police have put their efforts into these crimes especially that on almost daily bases young teenagers are being stabbed to death including 2 yesterday one of which was a 14 year old Egyptian boy.

Incidentally, Blackstock Road where the raid took place is situated between 2 of London's main mosques, one of them is the notorious Finsbury Park Mosque where Captain Hook Abu Hamza used to preach his hatred & claptrap some years a go.

Internet Grooming

Internet grooming is a rising problem here in the west, it usually involves young girls and boys getting contacted by an anonymous person on chat rooms or even on blogs, the people making contact usually pretend to be of a similar age to the victims and start grooming their prey slowly and over time they get their confidence the victim gives out his or her Email then it progresses into exchanging phone numbers and even addresses. On many occasions it has been found that these people are usually older males or paedophiles, some were caught as they met their victims as their activities were monitored by the police.

Some of these men do contact young vulnerable women, deceiving them and pretending to be falling in love with them, many women had thought they found an ideal partner just to be heartbroken or even worse...

The reason I am writing this is because I have heard that this problem is beginning to surface in Libya, my advice is do not give your personal details (Emails, Phone numbers) to any stranger that contacts you online and remember, these strangers are not going to ask you for your personal details straight away, it will happen after a time when they think that you started to trust them. If you have young children that go online, please do monitor their activities within reason, take a lesson from the appalling incidents that happened in the west and do not think that this is a problem that only happens else where, it is happening in Libya as well as any other country on the planet.

Take care of yourself and of your family and may Allah protect everyone.

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Have a Happy & Safe Mailud everyone

Hannah Montana

Yesterday, Sunday, was a very miserable day non stop rain, the kids were bored and wanted to go out, the only possibilities are usually indoor shopping centres or stay at home, this is life in a rainy London. Aida my daughter has been nagging me for a while to take her to watch the film/documentary made by Miley Cyrus (daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus) Hannah Montana 3D, Hannah Montana is a popular show on the Disney Channel that is loved by girls, of course my son Amir was not happy at all, he was almost in tears as he really didn't want to go and see the movie, to be honest I hated the idea as well but what sold it for me was the fact that it was only 75 minutes long and made in 3D, so off we went to Whiteleys in Queensway where we have not been for quite sometime, after paying an arm and a leg to watch the film Amir started to tell me that he was bored within 5 minutes, I myself was bored soon after, Aida was happy and enjoying it, her mum was happy because Aida was happy! the 3D effects were amazing but that was about it, the things we do for our little princesses.

The shopping centre was having a face lift and not many shops were open, the kids chose Nandos for a late lunch which is always a big hit with them, Amir eventually enjoyed the day after I promised him that I would take him to see The Spiderwick Chronicles. Another day in good old London, kids were happy, my wallet was screaming but that is what parents are for :o)

One more thing, Happy St. Patrick's day to our Irish friends

Libyan Documentary

I found this very interesting travel documentary about a trip to Libya by The Travel Channel, the trip goes from Leptis Magna to Tripoli, Ghdames then all the way down south to the Akakas mountains trying to find out about the history of the Roman Chariots in Libya, the presenter is accompanied by a Libyan female guide/interpreter Najat and her brother Naji, although I think the documentary gives a bit too much credit to Libya than it should, still I thought it was compelling viewing and very enjoyable with stunning scenery, all 50 minutes of it.

Click on image to watch the Documentary

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Yesterday I decided to strip and clean one of the tortoises enclosures (I have 2 enclosures), all 5 tortoises (3Tunisian & 2 Libyan) were moved to the bath were they had a good soak while I removed all the sand, changed the wooden bottom then filled it again with a mixture of sand and compost, the tortoises had a good look around and a sniff when I returned them before they all moved to bask under the warm light. Next week inshaAllah will the turn of the other enclosure which houses my prized 4 Libyan tortoises (Testudo Kleinmanni).

the enclosure after the cleaning

Bullying!

Yesterday Britain celebrated mother's day, so happy mother's day to all mums in the UK and all over the world

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It has been a while since I updated, not much has happened, my kids have moved to another school few weeks ago, the school where they were was conveniently located near the house but it did not have a good report and had many problems with bullying, my daughter was bullied by other girls in her class ever since both kids moved into this school just over a year ago, we have complained to the school but nothing was done, my daughter always loved going to school but in the few weeks before we moved them she started making excuses about not going, like not feeling well and so on... I talked to her and she started to cry and told me that the bullying got to the stage where the other girls have made sure that Aida was always left alone during break time, she hated not being able to talk or play with anyone, the strange thing is that the leader of the bullying girls is a neighbours daughter who often comes to the house to play with Aida or when ever her mum wanted to go somewhere, she would bring her to stay with Aida, we talked to her mum but again nothing happened, one of the worst incidents was when she came home one day with her arm bleeding and leg bruised which was because she was pushed by these dreadful girls.

They have now moved to another school which is not near the house but the children have adjusted well, this school does have a good reputation of being one of the best in this area where bullying is kept to a minimum, I am glad both kids are very happy and enjoying the new school and have already even got certificates for being good behaved and hard working.