Thoughts of the day every day in 2014

[Anthea]

I was going to go out for a romantic evening but my friend could not get here

Nothing and nobody is travelling around here - I expect restaurants are losing a fortune

[Anthea]

Lots of trees falling down - many train-lines closed

[Anthea]

Trees down all over South England - no trains until lunch tomorrow

[Piling]

In Brittany, 100 000 houses without power, many trees down. Here, it was just a bit windy at dawn, but nothing now.

The inconvenient to be an island : no place far from coasts

[Anthea]

In Brittany, 100 000 houses without power, many trees down. Here, it was just a bit windy at dawn, but nothing now.

The inconvenient to be an island : no place far from coasts

I am still here - my roof is still on - now gusting 60mph - I am NOT going outside to check for damage just yet

[Anthea]

Still gusting more than 60mph

By now most people will know about all the floods and falling trees in UK - but many of the problems such as those below will not appear in the news:

Railway lines closed do to flooding - landslips - trees - expected to be running tomorrow - buses replacing many trains

Below is Brighton beech - that has now moved up to the path and covering the road:



Strong waves around the coast - see below:



Many houses and roads are being weakened as foundations are washed away:

[Anthea]

16 February

Blue skies NO wind

[Anthea]

17 February

It is raining again - deep joy

[Anthea]

18 February

Nothing exciting happening - it has been raining most of the day so I did not even bother to go to a meeting this evening

Far too many meetings and very little action - most people go to meetings for the refreshments - the Geneva 2 conference was just as bad

Recently some people including myself - have been disputing the validity of maps purporting to show the location of Kurds - what we should do is start a campaign to get funding and send a team out to investigate for themselves exactly what is happening and who is living where

A team of researchers could not only find out who is currently living in areas - they could also find out about changes and movements in populations from people now living within those areas

We all know that demographics of the Kurdish population are manipulated by those who oppress them and seek to mineralise their habitat

[Piling]

Concerning Syria, all maps are now invalid : Most of Syrian population are out of the country.

[Anthea]

Concerning Syria, all maps are now invalid : Most of Syrian population are out of the country.

I have often thought the idea of giving millions of Syrian refugees - especially Kurdish refugees - safe havens in other countries as being rather absurd - all that is happening is that the Kurdish area - and other areas that contain anti-government sympathisers are being depopulated

By taking in the refugees other countries are helping to rid Assad of those who stand against him - they must be making Assad a very happy person

[Piling]

That's Barzani told the the Kurdish refugees in August 2013.

Bashar and Islamists (ISIS especially) could be satisfied : Syrian could be shared between both of them.

[Anthea]

That's Barzani told the the Kurdish refugees in August 2013.

Bashar and Islamists (ISIS especially) could be satisfied : Syrian could be shared between both of them.

You me and Barzani - why cannot the rest of the world understand what is happening

All the money other countries are spending on refugees would be better spent on stopping the fighting and rebuilding Syria

[Anthea]

19 February

The weather is due to turn bad again tomorrow with possible gales on Sunday - I think I will buy photos of lovely sunny beaches and stick them over my windows so I do not see the clouds

[Anthea]

20 February

We still have flooding in England and expect to have more gales next week

I have been watching some of the Winter Olympics - do not know if anyone saw it - not on youtube yet

Sochi 2014: Three-way photo after ski cross finish-line chaos
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A huge crash on the final jump wipes out the field and causes a three-way photo finish in one of the quarter-finals of the Olympic men's ski cross competition in Sochi.

Switzerland's Armin Niederer was the only rider to go through on his skis, with Russia's Egor Korotkov, in the yellow bib, grabbing the second qualifying spot.

Sweden's Victor Oehling Norberg (red) and Finland's Jouni Pellinen (blue), narrowly missed out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/winter-olympics/26269430