Grandchildren

We have our "London" grandchildren staying for a few days and nights. The house goes from order to disorder very quickly! 

I am still suffering the after effects of my cerebellum brain bleed in Sept 2013 so I get tired quickly. I really love seeing all my little ones, but wish I had more energy.

This is a recent picture of them all taken by one of my sons in Kent.

St Helena and its new airport

After hundreds of years of isolation being served only by the regular mail boat from Cape Town every few weeks, St Helena will have an airport (£250m) opening next year. The population is only 4000, wages are low and the opening of the air link is likely to change this small territory for ever. It was once the home of Napoleon after his defeat at Waterloo. Otherwise it has no real claim to fame. It is located in the South Atlantic.

Tristan da Cuhna much further south remains without air transport.
Relatively near Ascension Island has air links with the UK and the Falkland Islands.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31945384 .
See also http://sthelenatourism.com/ .

FTSE 100 - will it reach 7000 today?

The FTSE 100 share index has been up and down recently.  However, it is edging (on average) ever closer to the 7000 barrier and as long as it continues its climb today, it could end the day above 7000. We'll soon know. If not today, it seems likely this barrier will be broken, although it could fall again just as fast.

UPDATE 1508z:   At the moment, the FTSE 100 index is at 6991.41.

UPDATE 1614z:  Well, it climbed over 7000 and currently is at 7013.

UPDATE 2005z:  It ended the day at 7022.5 i.e. way up.   I wonder how long before it has a dramatic fall?

Eclipse - a non-event here

As there was quite thick cloud here, the partial solar eclipse was a bit of a non-event here, although it was better elsewhere in the UK. I did a walk at the best time. Although the clouds were dark and it looked like it was about to rain, the sun was not visible here sadly. This was a partial eclipse but at 95-98% in the UK still pretty full. I remember the full eclipse in 1999 as we were on holiday in Gloucestershire and got good views. The next chance is in 2026.

East Anglian Churches blog

Today we went up to the north of the fenland area (these days pretty dire!) to visit Walpole St Peter, which A.Clifton-Taylor called the loveliest church in England. The East Anglian Churches blog has been updated.

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

Israeli Elections

So exit polls suggest no clear winners, so no surprises then. Coalition governments are a way of life in Israel and there will no doubt be some tough bargaining in the coming weeks.

All I hope is that whatever coalition is formed that it takes the peace process seriously for once. The Middle East has too many conflicts and a good, solid peace deal with Israel's neighbours is way overdue.

I am always amazed that the Israeli's seem to choose  conflict and violence to settle old scores. Let peace blossom.  Israel, you know it makes sense.   I know it takes at least 2 to forge peace, but frankly Israel has not even been trying for as long as I can remember. I was born in 1948.
  .
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel .
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Oil prices

Funny (strange) how oil prices have fallen again in the last week or so, yet prices at the pumps have increased. Of course, the big oil companies will have many reasons for the lag. Let us hope prices for oil and diesel do actually fall again.