Joseph Cornell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Cornell
Thankfully our coalition government has gone and there will be new elections in September when once again the election charade will be played out.
At the moment they are still seemingly going through with some of the coalition’s proposed new legislation, one of their brainwaves is to restrict people using coffee shops.
They are now proposing that people who use the coffee shops become registered members, with membership cards.
However the downside is that you can only become a member of one coffee shop and you can only become a member if you live and are registered in the Netherlands.
This means that tourists will no longer be able to go to them, which means that they will maybe choose to go somewhere else for their holidays than the Netherlands.
I wonder if they can really restrict people from being members in more than one shop, can you imagine the row there would be if people could only sign up to use one shop for their shopping.
Imagine if suddenly you were told that you could only use one baker, one butcher, one supermarket, where would your freedom of choice be to spend your hard earned money where you wanted to.
It is amazing that they can’t see the consequences of their actions, these conservative reactionaries don’t realise that the effects of making this law, will cost the economy lots of money.
And additionally they will lose all those tourists to other countries such as Portugal where they can use the coffee shops without a problem and enjoy wonderful weather and excellent food, neither of which they can enjoy here.
In my opinion they have really shot themselves in the foot by proposing this ridiculous knee-jerk legislation.
What I find very worrying is that nobody seems to be protesting about this, I hope I’m wrong about this.
I shall investigate this and see if coffee shops as well customers are demanding action be taken to prevent the freedom of choice being taken away.
Franklin Rosemont
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Rosemont
Trying to keep calm and cope with hearing about the Olympics constantly interspersed with the Silver Jubilee.
We listen to BBC radio a lot and watch BBC TV but intend not to do so during the Silver Jubilee which is from 2nd to 4th June.
I find it amazing that they are celebrating that this head of state, has been there for 60 years just like any other dictator.
She has never done a days work in her life, although she is often referred to as hard-working, it must be exhausting having to endure living a life of such luxury as she does.
Neither have the rest of her family ever worked, last night there was a program about the corruption in Azerbaijan where the Eurovision Song contest is being held this year.
They talked about the fact that the president’s family had accumulated huge wealth, his two daughters own plenty of real estate as well as TV stations and other companies and even the teenage son, who is 13 owns an island in Dubai.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65357
http://www.ifex.org/azerbaijan/2012/03/08/ismayilova_threatened/
http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2199
This doesn’t sound too different to me, then the financial situation of the Royals, who by the way are not English but usurpers from Hanover.
I don’t intend to watch the Olympics as far as I’m concerned it is nothing to do with the beauty of sport and just about the Olympic Committee and multinationals making more money.
Knowing that Dow Chemical is sponsoring the games is revolting, especially after what happened at Bhopal, India in 1984.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster
The torch relay is also pretty sick, seeing as it was Goebbels who introduced the torch relay at the 1936 games in Berlin, hosted by Adolf Hitler, no wonder they don’t mention this important detail.
Nothing must spoil the fantasy of the Olympic Games, which is supposed to be a celebration of sport by amateurs and not professionals who are now the only competitors.
It was started against communalism, nationalism and to promote cooperation, far as I’m concerned it’s become a big festival which is all about money and nationalism.
Penelope Rosemont
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penelope_Rosemont
This weekend has been enjoyable; receiving the letter from the Amsterdam Court and reading I had won my appeal case was quite incredible.
My decision had been to try to invest as little energy in it as possible, but nevertheless to persist in trying to get, what I perceived as a bad decision overturned.
It really is a shame that the Amsterdam Council department whose job, it is to provide the aids and facilities that disabled people need do not do this.
Instead of carrying out their brief they seem to spend their time and valuable public resources on seeing how and why they can refuse as many applications as possible.
Surely Amsterdam City Council wastes a lot of money doing this, when they would surely be operating in a more cost-effective manner by giving applicants what they need and when they need it.
I guess that has little to do with giving people what they need and more to do with exercising their control by applying bureaucratic nit picking.
Up to now nobody has contacted me about winning my case; I think that I shall send e-mails to everyone involved, that I have won my appeal.
This will go to my case manager Jacqueline and Annelies, the Amsterdam Council’s mobility advisor, as well as Maurits my occupational therapists and Janneke, one of the doctors at the Rehabilitation Clinic on the Overtoom, Amsterdam.
I’m quite curious as to when I will hear from the Amsterdam Council Department that deals with applications from the disabled.
Shame that I could not have been there, to see their reaction when they got their letter on Friday informing them they had lost the case.
Hopefully they will do something very soon as the weather is suddenly very warm, and I shall need the air conditioning as soon as possible.
In fact I could do with it now, as the temperature has suddenly shot up, this certainly seems to be the way it has gone these last few years, one day it is under 10° the following day it is over 20°.
No longer does it become gradually warmer, what tends to happen is that one day it is cold enough so that the heating is on, the next the windows has to be wide open as it has become hot.
Any changes in the temperature impacts heavily on me, and my body reacts immediately which causes me problems.
It would be nice if the council approached me this week to inform me when they will be installing the air conditioning.
The quicker that happens, the better for me and hopefully also for all the other people applying for air conditioning.
Winning my appeal against Amsterdam City Council will set a legal precedent that should be very useful to everyone else making an application for much needed air conditioning.
For me, as I’m sure it is for many others, air conditioning is not a luxury but a necessity as I need the temperature in the apartment to be constant.
Multiple sclerosis totally deregulates everything, the changes in temperature have an enormous effect on me, and I’m looking forward to keeping cool this summer.
Didier Drogba
I had a really good day yesterday after I had read the whole of the registered letter I received from the Amsterdam Court.
Once I’d read the entire contents of the document, it took a bit of time seeing as it was legal language.
Then I rang my friend Anja who had represented me at the appeal hearing to tell her, in fact I read the conclusion of the letter to her.
She could immediately confirm that I had indeed won my appeal against the rejection of my application for air conditioning.
Once Anja gave me her confirmation that my case against Amsterdam Council had been successful I was really overjoyed.
I’m really so glad that I persisted with this and wouldn’t give up, but that’s me I don’t give up, and was persistent just like our Jack Russell terriers are.
To celebrate I drank a tiny glass of Limoncella, that was left over from our friends Cecile’s lovely visit here on Thursday.
To make yesterday an even better day we watched the Champion’s League Final between Bayern Munchen and Chelsea.
Typically of course once it started I could barely watch it as I was so nervous, I really wanted Didier Drogba and Chelsea to win.
Not because I’m a Chelsea fan, I really am not, but because I do like Didier Drogba, I think he is a wonderful football player.
Every time I did manage to peak at the television screen it made me very nervous, and when Bayern scored first I couldn’t cope any longer.
Then Didier scored which was a relief, but Chelsea needed to score again in order to win, Didier’s next attempt went over the goal which was an immense disappointment.
This meant they would now have to play extra time so another 15 minutes was played and then another 15 minutes after which it was penalties.
Bayern seemed to be winning but then one of their best players Sebastian Schweinsteiger stepped up to take his penalty shot and amazingly he missed.
He really never misses so it was quite something to see him miss, even Sebastian couldn’t believe it, he was devastated, the poor fellow.
Then Didier Drogba stepped forward to take his turn and he buried it in the Bayern Munchen goal; Chelsea fans erupted with joy at winning this long coveted trophy.
The other side, Bayern Munchen were absolutely devastated they really thought that they would be the winners; in fact I think that they had never considered any other alternative.
Their supporters were absolutely in bits, a lot of them were leaving, the players were all crying on the field, quite a few of them collapsed on the ground weeping.
When they went to collect their losers medals they all took them off around their necks and carried them away in their hands, so disappointed were they at losing, what they consider their trophy.
Chelsea was overjoyed and their supporters delirious with happiness, Roman Abramowitz the owner grabbed his caretaker manager Roberto De Matteo and kissed him, he also kissed Didier Drogba and I think many others.
The Russian owner was so happy; he had spent over £1 billion trying to win the prestigious Champions League Trophy, hiring big-name managers from all over the world.
Yet it was his caretaker manager and ex-player Roberto De Matteo who finally won the trophy for Chelsea Football Club.
How very typical and how true too, so often you can look all over for something and then find that it was right under your nose all the time.
Life is like that full of unexpected surprises; not all good but sometimes like yesterday they were brilliant; I am enjoying both.
Being in the here and now and enjoying every moment that I can, really is rewarding for me.
Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Cornelis_van_Beverloo
Yesterday evening a neighbour came to the door with a large envelope for me; it was registered post from the court.
It was the decision about my appeal against the council refusing me the air conditioning.
A combination of not being able to sit well in the shower chair as well as bad lighting meant that I could not read the letter at all well.
I did scan it is much as I could and I thought it said I had won my appeal, this morning I finally read the whole document.
In which I understood that had I indeed won my court case, I telephoned my friend Anja who had represented me at the court; to read the conclusion of the letter to her.
Anja was very pleased, I thanked her profusely, once she confirmed that I had indeed understood the letter correctly that I had overturned the two previous decisions, I was delighted.
I am so happy that I persevered and did not give up even when it seemed quite hopeless.
Now the council has been told by the courts to go away and reassess the situation in the light of this court case.
I’m so glad that the Council has not been able to get away with it again as they always do.
Whenever somebody applies for something the council always look at the reasons they don’t have to give it to them, they never look at this situation in the light of the needs of the person making the application.
In my case they tried to get out of it twice by insisting that my problems with the heat would be solved by blinds in front of the Windows and sun awnings at the front of the house.
Neither of these two solutions are very helpful for me, we have windows which go from floor-to-ceiling, they open inwards so sunblind’s are not workable.
Our landlord does not permit us to place anything on the front of the building, additionally sun awnings and do nothing to lower the air temperature.
Seeing as our apartment faces to the east on one side and to the north on the other side, this means we do not get much sunshine apart from briefly in the early mornings.
The council also tried to shuffle the responsibility on to my landlord; they were constantly asking whether other people also had the same problems.
I told them several times that my problems with the warm weather were due to my Multiple Sclerosis, as far as I know I am the only person in this building with this progressive disease.
I’m very happy that I’ve managed to overturn the Amsterdam Councils decision not to grant me the much needed air conditioning.
I did not hold out any hope of winning as I don’t have any trust in the justice system, so winning is extra sweet for me.
Maracas Bay, Trinidad.
On Wednesday night we watched a programme on BBC TV called SOS the Big Build.
It is about a wonderful team of workmen and many volunteers who get together to rebuild people’s homes, when they can’t do it for themselves.
This week the team plus a huge team of local volunteers were rebuilding a small terraced house in Enfield, North London.
This is the home of Eric, Davina and their three lovely daughters; Eric was diagnosed with Moto Neuron disease two years ago.
Shockingly his diagnosis was terminal with a prognosis of three years; I hope that Eric will have a bit more time than that with his darlings.
It was an extremely moving programme seeing so many people giving their time freely to help somebody in their own community.
It is beautiful to see people cooperating to work together, it is inspiring and it is something that happens a lot more than people think it does.
Really there’s nothing better than everybody getting involved to help a neighbour.
It was really wonderful watching the rebuilding of Eric’s house; they thought of everything, doors were made wider for Eric’s wheelchair.
They laid wooden floors which are much better for somebody in a wheelchair; they put in a simple lift so Eric can get upstairs to the new wet room and his newly renovated bedroom.
The other bedroom was beautifully decorated and divided so that the two younger daughters each have their own space.
Upstairs the attic had been totally rebuilt to create a beautiful room for the eldest girl.
Downstairs was totally remodelled with an extension added to create a lovely roomy living room and kitchen plus decking outside so Eric can roll out and enjoy the garden with his family.
It was an incredibly moving programme which I did manage to see despite crying so much that my darling Richie had to keep cleaning my glasses.
I was in good company as everybody was crying in the programme especially at the end after the family had seen their rebuilt home.
The whole family came out to thank everybody for helping them to make the most of the time Eric has left, the rebuilt home will make that much easier for them all.
When Eric was thanking everybody he started to cry, this set everybody off including me.
What a wonderful family they are, I hope that making the house more accessible for Eric will give him the extra quality of life that he needs right now.
So that Eric and his family can enjoy everything they can while they can without all the problems that they had before the wonderful rebuild.
Wonderful to see such community spirit in action, a re-affirmation of everything that is so wonderful about people.
Eric’s blog
SOS The Big Build website
http://www.knightandknight.com/index.php/tv-room/bts/49-diysos
Dorothea Tanning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Tanning
This afternoon was pleasantly derailed by a friend coming round, just as Richie had got me back into bed after a long shower the phone rang.
It was Cecile asking whether it was okay for her to come around, she had mentioned that she might be able to come by today.
Very good to see her, she was here not too long ago and surprised me then with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers in my favourite colours, lots of vibrant pinks and reds.
When Cecile rang 14.30 she said she would only pop by briefly and ended up staying until 18.30 which was really nice.
She brought some delicious Italian Limóncella with her its a delicious lemon liqueur which is very nice, it was fun sitting here talking and sipping the citrus drink.
I’m glad she came to visit its nice to see somebody spontaneously like that which is something that doesn’t happen often enough these days.
That is because of my routine which is of course so different to when I was mobile then it was never a problem for a friend to drop by unexpectedly.
Being so handicapped has really changed our lives so dramatically; I think it is a good idea to try and scheduling more of these unplanned visits.
This is good for us, it will mean we won’t be so isolated and it would be good for our friends to be able to come and see us more often.
Clarence John Laughlin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_John_Laughlin
I can’t stop thinking about why it is that so many people believe that they’re not intelligent enough to change the world.
This must be because we are all brainwashed from an early age to follow orders regardless, thinking for ourselves is not encouraged, nor is working together.
They don’t want people to be free thinkers; they want everybody to conform and to follow the herd not to be individuals who make decisions for themselves.
This is one of the functions of school; it gets us ready to be wage slaves and to be passive recipients of authority.
We are told over and over again that we need political leaders, that without them we would be in a mess.
It seems to me that we are in more of a mess with these glorious leaders, who we are told are the only ones that are capable of being politicians.
The rest of us are just not clever enough to get involved in politics, we should all just be happy that we have all these wonderful self-sacrificing people who will put themselves on the line for their countries.
Amazingly it seems that a lot of people accept this as the truth, when the real truth is that these figureheads are just in it to enrich themselves.
No wonder the rich are getting richer and the rest of us have to work even harder right now to keep them in the manner they are accustomed to .
Surely it is time for everyone to consider different ways of organising our affairs, this current crisis is an indication that things need to change.
The way the affairs of the world is organised right now, does not work for the majority of people on the planet.
Nor do they work for the planet which is so slowly being destroyed by the greedy rich who don’t care if they are doing this, all that matters to them is their own needs.
They don’t give a damn about what their destructive activities are doing to this beautiful world we all live in as long as they can keep accumulating wealth.
This is a world of plenty for all of us if only we were allowed to freely share the bounty of this wonderful planet we inhabit.
People need to start cooperating with each other, this is not encouraged, and in fact we are conditioned to distrust each other.
Not to work together which we must do in order to create a better world for ourselves; this is something only we can and should do now.
Zdzislaw Beksiski
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zdzis%C5%82aw_Beksi%C5%84ski
This afternoon has gone quickly after the long appointment with Maurits, my occupational therapist and Werner, an advisor from RTD Het Dorp was over.
It started late because Werner could not find a parking space, however once he got here it was well worth waiting.
We discussed with him my problems with using the gadget that allowed me a small modicum of freedom to control some of my environment.
The iPAQ let me operate the bed, turn on the light, switch on the TV as well as open the front door and our apartment door, once I have checked with the intercom who is at the door.
I explained that I could no longer use the gadget as well as I could before my hand function got worse.
Richie backed me up totally saying that he was the one to operate the bed, turn the light on now that my hands were too weak.
Also nine times out of 10 he also turns on the television and brings me the telephone on which he activates the loudspeaker so I don’t have to hold the phone which I can’t do anymore.
Werner listened carefully to everything we said, he asked questions and made suggestions.
After a short time it was clear to him that I needed to have the functionality of the iPAQ on the computer that Icould operate operate by using the Seetech software.
Before the end of the appointment Maurits and Werner started getting the application organised.
When I asked, they both said that they would complete the application and would get it sent next week.
It was a very good appointment, Werner was a nice person, and most importantly he was a good listener and communicated very well with us.
I think that this application for the long awaited Seetech will be successful; hopefully it won’t take too long, although there always is a wait of up to 2 months.
Hopefully this time it will be quicker, as the application is from the same company just updated to include the iPAQ functions.
Today’s appointment has left me feeling optimistic, it was good to be listened to and feel that finally I would be getting what I need which is very important for me now, so that I can carry on doing the things I enjoy.
Well yesterday really was so exciting, at times it was too nerve wracking and there were even moments when I could not watch any longer.
That was when Manchester City could not seem to get their winning goal, which would have been wonderful for the red half of Manchester.
Today I almost feel sorry for Manchester United that they did not win; they fully expected the trophy to go to them.
in fact when Wayne Rooney scored against Sunderland, they thought that was the winning goal, then just as the Manchester United fans and their manager Alex Ferguson were about to celebrate, their joy was short lived.
Sadly for the Reds, the result of Manchester City’s game was visible on the scoreboard much to everybody’s shock and stunned disappointment
That was the very moment when the Manchester City supporters realised that finally after a long wait of 44 years they had won the Premier League trophy once again, the last time they won was in 1968.
The explosion of joy was wonderful to see, especially as minutes before they thought that they lost at the last moment.
Seeing Noel Gallagher from the well-known Manchester band Oasis having his photo taken was a lovely sight.
This morning we heard him talking on the radio about how wonderful it was that his club had at long last won the coveted Premier League trophy.
Noel then told a very funny story that he heard, that a Manchester United fan had printed up 100 0’s of red T-shirts, with the slogan on them saying:
Why Is It Always Us!
I almost feel sorry for Alex Ferguson, the manager and for the Manchester United team as well as fans.
It must have been very sad for them to cancel their red bus decorated with red ribbons for their victory tour of Manchester.
Instead everything was cancelled including all their parties and now they have had to watch the blue side of Manchester celebrating since Sunday.
This has me wishing that this will happen many times for Manchester City, there really is nothing better then the old order getting overturned.
Surely that is what life is all about, progress and not stagnation; it is really brilliant that finally Manchester United do not have it all their own way.
The football season 2011 to 2012 has really being full of unexpected twists and turns, it’s been a truly brilliant season, I hope to be able to enjoy the next season starting in August.
It seems that they are still plenty of good things for me to look forward to, even though I am now a tetraplegic, I am glad to be alive in the here and now
