WHO IS THIS GUY CALLED ARIEL?

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Friday, July 28, 2006

ARIEL'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE IN A SPANISH HOSPITAL, PART 3. The procedure

I seem to be tied up with a mass of things of late, hence, and it’s yet another fiesta over the weekend – this one the Fiesta de Melocotón – ( The Peach Festival ) which it is unlawful not to attend at least once. You can be fined and/or imprisoned for not going out and enjoying yourself. So, what with one ting and another, I haven’t thanked all you good folks who’ve left comments on my blog. I do so now, in hopes that things might one day calm down a bit. Okay, the story continues … And here... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

ARIEL'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE IN A SPANISH HOSPITAL Part 2 The plot thickens

Many thanks to you all who’ve left birthday wishes after I posted my little thank you to the first batch. We ended our last piece on this excellent hospital adventure with the morning’s routine beginning … After breakfast came one’s morning wash, which, as common people who like clichés say was “ something else again! ” Those gals in that hospital have brought the washing of bedridden patients to an art form, and I’m thinking of contacting an impresario to have a typical bed bath performed on... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

ARIEL THANKS ALL HIS BLOG FRIENDS FOR THEIR BIRTHDAY GOOD WISHES

We had our daughter, Francie, come up from Cadiz yesterday; which was a nice birthday surprise! Lady Ariela and I have been (sort of ) partying, on and off all day today, with friends various, down in our local town. We've just got back, and it's starting to cool off a bit now. Althoug the nights are still very warm, and we usually have a fan going. Just had a phone call from a friend in Loja, near Granada, and she said that she and her husband went Antequera, which is in the middle of a vast... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

YIPPEEE!! 75 TODAY!! ER ... HANG ON, SHOULDN'T THAT BE YIKES????

Yep, the last T Rex had just popped his little clogs, when I popped out into the world; looking – as Ma told Lady Ariela many years later – “ … like a skinned rabbit.” Nice. To give you perhaps a more clear perspective, this was two years before that nice Mr. Hitler came to power in Germany. I said to watch out for that guy, ‘cos he was gonna be trouble. I mean, could you trust a guy with a dead mouse under is nose? I told ‘em, I said “ His eyes is too close apart! ”, but there, they wouldn’t... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, July 24, 2006

ARIEL'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE IN A SPANISH HOSPITAL

“ But, what will you do if you fall ill? Friends in England said – many, many times –before we immigrated to Spain. It’s as if they imagined that Spain is a Third World country, where medical care consists of some guy in a hideous mask prancing around your bed chanting spells. ( And if you think that’s bad, just wait till he takes his mask off! )And this from the inhabitants of a country where the standards of care and cleanliness in so many hospitals are utterly abysmal; when you finally get in... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

FEAR NOT!! OUR BELOVED LEADERS HAVE EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL

And here we were worrying ourselves silly over the world situation; you know, wondering if our beloved leaders were up to the job. Well, now we can rest easy in our beds at night, for all is well. They’ve got everything under control. Er … well, what do you think? At the recent G8 summit, a microphone was ‘ accidentally ’ left switched on, recording this highly illuminating exchange between Bush and Blair. Except the coloured bits, that is; they’re mine. Bush to Putin: I gotta leave by 2.15.... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, July 21, 2006

SPIRITUALLY SICK SOCIETIES, PART TWO - WHY ARE WE SO CRUEL TO CHILDREN?

Compare the picture of the status and the treatment of children in Spain in the first part of this post with that of British and American children, and those of the countries of northern Europe. Compare: and be deeply ashamed, for Spain affords a dismal and humbling picture of just how far those other societies are sunk into abnormality. One can see how far the activities of child sexual predators, and those whose avowed aim is the protection of children, have perverted and subverted every... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

WESTERN SOCIETIES ARE PROFOUNDLY SPIRITUALLY SICK

I have a little more tidying up to do on my series on the Spanish Civil War, and my family history, so I post the first part of this piece, which is a sort of follow-up from an earlier one “ Why Do We Go On Calling Them Paedophiles? ” When we go to check things over in our rental house in a nearby village, I pick up Rosio, the beautiful seven year old granddaughter of our neighbour, Isabel, and I kiss her and giver her a nice hug. For don’t all young girls need to feel that men are just a teeny... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

SPAIN'S FORGOTTEN WAR, PART TWO. THE INCALCULABLE DEBT THAT WE OWE TO SPAIN

One of life’s greatest satisfactions – and a rich source of deserved smugness – is to find others belatedly coming round to one’s point of view after decades of scepticism, ridicule or simple disbelief. Surprise! Surprise! Historians far better qualified than I, and with access to a mass of archives denied to me, are finally beginning to think “ Hey, maybe Hemingway wasn’t such a great historian after all. And perhaps this guy Ariel was right all along! ” Thank you, guys; about time! In the last... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, July 17, 2006

ECHOES OF SPAIN'S PAST, FORGOTTEN WAR. ( FORGOTTEN BY US, THAT IS.)

Keywords. In the first short story that I had published, one of the characters, ( this is the man in “ The Lovers ”, which I posted here some time ago.)while on holiday in Spain, ruminates upon Spain and her people: upon historical and modern Spain. He thinks about the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath. Since writing that story, and coming to live permanently in Spain, I have thought much more about this subject. Because they invariably stem from long-standing social and/or racial and... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

THE PRICE OF SIGHT

Can you see this okay? Are your eyes comfortable in their sockets? Are the words in this post clear, so that you can know my meaning? And what about before you logged on to Blogit; while you were cooking, making the beds, feeding the baby, showering; doing all those mundane things that we do every day? Could you see okay, doing those chores? Those so boring chores that we sigh about, and sometimes curse, because they’re so repetitive and mind-numbing. But aren’t we lucky; lucky that we can see... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, July 14, 2006

ARIEL'S FAMILY HISTORY. WORKING CLASS LIFE IN LONDON IN THE 1920s

keywords It is strange but true, how the simple act of survival engenders within the survivors of both minor and major calamities a sort of febrile lust for living; which explains the enormous bulges in the birth rates of many states after WW1 and WW2. It is a natural human urge, after having passed through the valley of death, to reaffirm the joys of life and of living and loving, and despite the harsh conditions, poor people in the 1920s enjoyed themselves as much as was possible within their... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

ANTI-SEMITISM IS ALIVE AND WELL, AND LIVING IN BLOGIT.

Let me make some things clear from the outset: I am not Jewish, nor Arab, nor do I have any Israeli or Arab friends. I have no personal, business or political links with Israel, nor any Arab state; nor do I have anything to gain by supporting the interests of either side in the tragic mess that is the Middle East. I simply tell things as I see them to be. This is not a book, but a post, and willy-nilly, some aspects of the subject are left un-addressed. I have lived through the worst excesses of... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

ARIEL'S FAMILY HISTORY. MA AND PA IN " A LAND FIT FOR HEROES!" THE 1920s

Keywords will take you to more pages than a single link A little note before I launch into this piece; I was so pleased that Bel_1965’s Carl spent some hours reading up on the 20 th century British involvement in Iraq, and Afghanistan in the 19 th and 20 th centuries. Everyone should make a point of studying this history of incompetent, cynical and corrupt meddling in the affairs of other states. One imagines that had Bush, Blair and co. the slightest knowledge of history, they would have balked... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, July 10, 2006

I DIDN'T WRITE THAT IN A FIT OF PETULANCE, NOR IN A PIT OF FETULANCE!Onnist

Just lately, in my worst moments, just lately, I seem to be spending half my life in the doctor’s consulting room; the administrativa of the Medical Centre, the farmácia or the hospital, having a barrage of ( so far ) inconclusive tests ). That last post of mine was really … well quite an effort to write, feeling as I did, and I was a bit taken aback ( altho’ I didn’t take affront! ) to see that nobody had read me for, I guess, 24 hours. I reckon you know the feeling; like when you get all... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, July 9, 2006

I WONDER WHY EVERYBODY HAS SUDDENLY STOPPED READING ME.

Perhaps I oughta change my aftershave, shave off my beard, or something. Or maybe get a rug. Or maybe... yeah... perhaps I oughta litter my headlines and posts with the B word? Or maybe it's;cos I still use that old-fashioned " post" instead of " entry". Whaddya reckon? Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, July 8, 2006

MORE ARIEL'S FAMILY HISTORY. SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN BRITAIN, 1921

In the headline of my last post, I mentioned 1920, but on thinking about it, I think that it was more likely that Ma and Pa returned from France in 1921; not that that’s at all a critical date. And I mean, we ain’t gonna argue over a year or so, are we? The country to which they returned was vastly different from that they had left earlier, and one is sure that there was a certain air almost of schizophrenia about it. The unremitting carnage of the Great War had to a certain extent sucked the... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 6, 2006

MORE OF ARIEL'S FAMILY HISTORY. MA AND PA RETURN HOME FROM THE WAR1920

By the end of the war, the Allied ammunition and supply dumps were vast affairs, a single one covering possibly hundred of acres, with ammunition boxes, and boxes of tins of bully beef, hard tack biscuits and meat and vegetable stew stacked in rows twenty feet high. Then there were the tank, vehicle and artillery parks, and the petrol and oil dumps, which, with the clothing and equipment, and munitions dumps were if anything even larger. In addition to all this of course, were the hundreds of... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 5, 2006

ARIEL'S FAMILY HISTORY. MA AND PA IN WORLD WAR ONE. 1914-1921

I’ve noted elsewhere the deplorable tendency of military men to fight the last war – or, as often as not – the one before that – and the Salonika campaign against the Turks was a virtual re-run of the Crimea War of the 1850s. The soldiers were scourged constantly with fly-borne diseases such as dysentery and malaria, and the trench lines were regularly swept by flu epidemics. Medical care was rudimentary to say the least, and marauding German U boats made evacuation of the sick impossible until... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, July 3, 2006

ON THIS ANNIVERSARY, GOD BLESS AMERICA

I post this piece a day early, because I think I might be too tied up with that beast called Life to post it tomorrow. If the crying in aid of the name of God by an avowed atheist in my headline offends any Christian in here, I apologise unreservedly: but I know of no other commonly understood and powerful method of expressing strongly held opinions. Discussion of the domestic and foreign policies of President Bush – especially the Iraq war – both here in Blogit and without, have degenerated... Sign in to see full entry.

About this Blog

Fiction, poetry, articles and a whole lot of other Ariel's stuff ; musings and ponderings ; they're all here, and i hope you'll find something here that you like. But I have a deeper purpose in mind. See, reading the papers and watching TV, it's so easy to think that the whole world's motivated by racial and religious hatreds of various kinds. Well most of us aren't, are we? We ordinary people are moved by love and compassion for our fellow humans ; and respect and tolerance for their differences. It's true that all that it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing, so we who are motivated by love have a duty speak out against the evils of the world ; not to be ashamed of our histories, nor embarrassed about being and saying clearly what we are and what we believe. If we don't learn to love each other, we'll perish. Although I am an atheist, my guiding principle is, and always has been, Christ's adjuration to " Love thy neighbour as thyself"

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