Mersea Island

Today we have been the house of ill.  Yesterday we went to a friends house for New Years drinks.  I felt terrible, though got better while I was there (paracetamol is a wonderful thing).  However I crashed on getting home.  The downside was that my wife then started to become unwell as well.  So today we went out for lunch.  We have been to the West Mersea Oyster bar before (the picture above is part of the amazing view that can be seen if you eat outside) and have always loved eating there.  Today was no exception and

for the kids, they found a Pokéstop there.  Considering how busy it is there, the service, for the price you pay is great, and the food was fantastic.  Parking as always is fun there, but there is a car park just down the road from it now which we have used at times in the past.

After this meal, it was a drive to the beach, though we did make a slight diversion to allow the children to get more Pokéballs.  We left my wife in the car to read and enjoy the view while we went down to the beach to walk along it.  With little wind, I found the sound of water lapping against the shore to be very calming, and it was not too cold.  The children entertained themselves looking for shells and also by throwing stones into the sea and also playing chicken with the waves.  That last bit was why our walk was cut short, as my son, when distracted ended up with this shoes being soaked through!

So home again, and my wife and I took it in turns to help cooking, me peeling the potatoes and preparing the sprouts, while she did the clever bits.  After dinner, a bit of Modern Family and now, it is time for the kids to get ready for bed.  They are not too keen on this, but they will be back at school soon and need to get used to waking up early.  While my wife rests, I may get a chance to use the Fire Stick that I was given at Christmas to watch Vikings.  Though I will need to make sure that it does not wake her!



Anyway chess now.  I did spend time going over a bit of chess with the kids.  My daughter hates it, but they are both improving when it comes to thinking about it, and I hope this will help them with logic in the future.

I on the other hand have not done as well as I would have liked since my last update.

33rd Chess.com Quick Knockouts (1201-1400)
GALAXY TOUR 1000 - 1499 #1
THE BIG EASTER PARADE CHESS TOURNAMENT 2015
Super-Fast Mega Tournament
Top Of The Pops 23
Bird Watchers Winter Season Tournament
1st Arsenal Chess Championship
Oliver's Tournament-(2) 5-2
31st Chess.com Quick Knockouts (1201-1400)
GALAXY TOUR 1000 - 1499 #4

Wishing you all a Happy New Year

Just a quick post to wish you all a Happy New Year!  Hopefully, there will be no repeat of the numbers of dead legends, but more importantly, I am hoping for a just peace across the world, notably in Syria, Burma, Nigeria and Palestine/Israel.

Was the US election fixed?

The answer to the question, about the US election being fixed is that it was not.

However, Putin, the great believer in democracy, influenced the elections.  It has been argued by some that Russia hacked both parties, and released the contents of those from the Democrats.  While there have been allegations that the hacking allegations should have been brought up before the election, it issue was.

But, while there is lots of evidence that Russia influenced the outcome of the elections, the American public had been made aware of the allegations.  Which means, that the outcome of the elections is valid.

There is no doubt that Putin won it, and this shown with several things.  One, is how the next Secretary of State is a recipient of the Order of Friendship from Russia.  And of concern to many nations in NATO, the proposed cancellation of the F-35 fighter will reduce the ability of nations in Europe to defend against Russia.

I am sure that there will be lost of people who will say that Russia is no threat.  But tell that to Georgia and Ukraine.  And we in the UK have known, since 2007 that the Red Star has been flying close to our nation.  That means, that I think that we do need a nuclear deterrent, but with Trump being in charge of the USA, part of me wonders if we should team up with the French on this one.

Fake News about both candidates had been spread, so the way that the Russians had hacked into the servers of the Democrats is not a reason to invalidate the election.  I am old enough to remember the Fake News abut Swift Boat when the war hero John Kerry lost, in part due to the lies spread to make him look worse that the draft dodging George Bush the second.

If anyone had hacked into the servers counting votes, then yes, the election should be re-run.  But no one did.  Which means, sadly, even though Clinton got almost 3 million more votes than Trump, this election counts.

Hate leads to suffering

I have been involved in an interesting discussion on Twitter with a tweeter about Jews.  I am of the view  that a religion should not be defined by standards not applied to others and that hatred and extremism corrupts the core message of most religions (santanism being an obvious exception).

This discussion had started when I had responded to a tweet about an LBC presentor and links to Zionism. Since then it has resulted in one poster accusing me of racism despite my repeated statements that all racism is wrong.  Sadly it appears that hatred may have blinded them. I say appear, as I may be wrong on this matter.

Anyway, for the record, I don't like the current actions of the state of Israel towards those in the West Bank, and the way that Gaza is being treated. But people have to remember that Israeli Arabs have more rights than Palestinians in Gaza. As for if one side is right or wrong people have to remember that the history of both Arabs and Jews in the area is riven with horrors.  Sadly some decide to deny history and in this discussion, several people have redefined history to say Jews never lived in the Holy Land. But such bias has been present on the other side with some stating that Israel has just taken land where it was not being used before.

I remember that wrath, which also applies to hate is one of the seven deadly sins and the reason for this is that hatred begets hatred.  Only through love and tolerance can we learn to live together.

So let me go on record, that I want a just peace for all in the Holy Land. If that makes me racist, then so be it.

Merry Christmas everyone

A quick post before bed.  We have been at home after spending Christmas with my mother and brothers.  The morning was spent opening presents, and afterwards, breakfast.  Sadly it appears that the children no longer accept Father Christmas as being real, but despite that, it was an amazing morning.

Come the afternoon we got to my mother, who to describe her as happy on seeing her grandchildren, would be understating the issue.  My brothers had yet to arrive, but they were not too far away and then we ate.  It has been a while since my mother cooked a Christmas meal for me, and this was the first time that the children got to eat there.  And they loved it.  Of course, presents came afterwards which the children loved as well.

Anyway it is late and I must sleep.  Good night.

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree

I forgot to post some of the pictures taken by my daughter yesterday on the blog update.

Anyway, today was my last day off.  In the morning, after walking the children into school, my wife dropped me at work for me to go through some paperwork before she collected me for lunch at a local diner.  Sadly both of us seem to have contracted one of the many viruses going about and on getting back home, we were both knackered.

But later, we got to watch the kids in the annual school carol service.  My secondary school stopped singing hymns during my stay there, so it is nice to see the Christmas spirit being taught to children.  The kids both love Christmas, and even though they do not believe in Father Christmas, they seem to be taken in by the magic. I just need to get my daughter to sing louder...

Today did not go quite to plan

Today did not go quite to plan.  But, it was still awesome.  We had intended to travel into London in the morning to get some breakfast for the children, spend some time on the South Bank and then take them to see the Christmas lights and then see my mother before heading home.

But, sadly, we did not wake in time to do exactly what we wanted.  The children had been up the night before watching the Strictly Come Dancing Final, but had not gone to sleep straight afterwards.  Due to this, and a late night on the part of my wife and I, a rest in bed meant that we had missed out on the early morning window that was needed to park in Brick Lane.  In the past, we had taken the children there for bagels, and this was a plan that they were keen on.  But, due to the time taken to get there, we were not able to get any parking as close as we wanted.  But instead, we went to a past memory.  When studying in the East End, there was a bakery that we had gone to after we finished our degrees.  During our courses, my wife had got me into eating Challah (cholla) and when in the area, we would often get bread from there.  But when driving past it last, we noted that it was closed.  Today we saw it was open.  And as our usual place to park was taken, we turned around and found a place to stay near the bakery and ate there.  Unlike the place we had eaten before, this had seats and that meant that we had a more relaxing time.  But with the time that we arrived, this was more of a Brunch than breakfast.

After this, it was a trip to the South Bank.  The kids, as on the day before, were playing Pokémon Go, and as we drove through London, they had loads of fun doing so.  We have learned though that we have to stop them from doing this when we are not driving slowly, and this has been learned the hard way as they can get headaches or start to feel nauseated.  Once we parked, it was a walk along the South Bank to the Tate gallery were we sat for another coffee and after some art work from my son, a walk for them to some of the entertainment that was on offer.  We did not get to see as much as we would like, but later, had a late lunch and then made for the lights at dusk.  And they my wife and I felt that the lights that we were able to see on Regents Street.  We did not get to show then Buckingham Palace, but were able to show them other sights and explain bits about them.  However, we were not able to get time to see my mother as my son started to feel unwell.  Hopefully, he will be better tomorrow, but they are both now asleep, tired after a great day out for the family.