Living on £3 (or $5) a day !!!

Last week I found myself trying to survive on £3 ($5) a day. Well, that sounds rather ambitious. The truth was that I had my weekly train ticket and was skipping breakfast but I knew that dinner was waiting for me at home in the evening.
So my £3/$5 was for newspapers, lunch and coffee.

But suddenly I realised that Starbucks is an expensive habit at £5/$8 for coffee and a muffin.

Especially when lunch could be a sandwich for £3/$5 !

Then the day after I finished that self-imposed hardship regime I bought two soft drinks in the railway station for a total of more than £3/$5 plus a packet of crisps/chips for about £1.
In other words I spent more on an easily-forgotten snack than I did on lunch.

A Trip from Haringey to Ealing via Malaysia ...

At the end of May, I finished an interesting period working on e-Government at Haringey (30 miles from home).
Then in June I took a trip to Malaysia (12,000 miles round trip) and attended an e-Government Conference sponsored by the EU in my wife's home town of Ipoh,(an Ipoh is a tree with poisonous leaves, formerly used in blowpipes, but there are only two Ipoh trees left in the town of Ipoh !!!).
Finally, in July started at the London Borough of Ealing (15 miles from home) working on another interesting e-Government Project.

Racism is alive and well and living in England !

Yesterday, an 18-year-old black teenager was waiting at a bus-stop with his (white) girl-friend.
He ignored verbal abuse from a gang of white youths, but they chased him into a nearby park and he died when they split open his head with an axe.

Some more terrible Headlines in England

1) 'Yesterday, a 27-year-old man was stabbed to death on a bus when he tried to stop a black guy throwing fast food at his girlfriend.'
Nobody tried to stop the killer who just walked calmly away.
2) 'Boy of 14 on murder charge', accused of stabbing a 16-year-old with a knife in an argument.
3) 'Boy, 14, is charged with raping four schoolgirls,' following seven attacks on a 10-year-old girl, two 8-year-olds and a 7-year old.
4) '5,000 people every year die in British Hospitals from a Super Bug' caused by dirty surroundings.
5) 'Mothers and newly-born babies in poorly-run birth wards are at risk' from acute staff and equipment shortages, poor training and weak management.
Britain has one of the worst infant mortality rates in Europe with only Poland and Slovakia being worse, says the OECD

Libraries, Open Web Services and VIEWs

In Local Authorities, Libraries are always a good starting-point to think about Citizen, Customer or Member Data.
Of course, people who develop and work with Library Systems are usually thoughtful, creative people. In fact, they have developed their own VIEWS discussion forum for a 'Vendor Initiave for Enablin Web Services' :-
http://www.views-consortia.org/


Talis is a leading supplier of Library Management Systems which is forward-looking.
Talis has a Project called Keystone to provide Web Services Integration :-
http://www.talis.com/research/keystone/keystone.shtml

Keystone has its own Discussion Forum :-
http://www.talis.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=55&sid=c6de59181a6d681ff0ec69381276d5e9

here's an item about CRM and 'a single source of the truth' :-
http://www.talis.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=629

A week of Ups and Downs in London

1) Downs - early in the week the Police issued a warning to Senior Citizens to avoid confrontations with teenage gangs because a number of times this has led to them having heart attacks and dying on the spot.
2) Downs - the next day, a retired person died of a heart attack when he was engaged in a 'Road Rage' incident with another driver who decided to chase him by car.
3) Ups - London was awarded the Olympics. Wow - maybe this country is not so bad after all !
Everybody felt positive and it seemed to show that we could compete and win on the world stage, even though the country is in a terrible mess.
4) Downs - Bombs explode in London, about 50 people die and 700 are injured.
The good feelings about the Olympics are instantly destroyed and replaced by worry, concern and apprehension. I am going to a meeting tomorrow with a Government Department and have been told to arrive 40 minutes early to allow for security checks.
The strange thing is that a survey showed that most British people still think we should be in Iraq and Blair's popularity has gone up !!!
5) Downs - yesterday 20,000 people were evacuated from the centre of Birmingham, (the second largest city in England), as the result of what the Police called 'a serious and credible threat of terrorism'.

Teenage Gangs kill 4 men in 11 days in England

England is getting worse all the time.
Yesterday, newspapers report a common pattern of drunkenness and violence.
This is not just in London, but ranges from Cornwall,(small towns and villages in the South-West) to Manchester, (a large industrial city in the North-West).
Each incident involved Anti-Social Behaviour on the part of drunken teenage gangs,(some involving girls as young as 12) and started with confrontation between the gangs and
respectable husbands and fathers trying to protect their houses or property from vandalism.
Then the incidents ended with the death of the individual - either being beaten with sticks or iron bars or jabbed in the face with a broken glass or beer bottle.

Let's all emigrate !

Here's a book to watch out for ...

David Belchiver is the author of 'The 90-Minute Manager'.
His new book, out in October, is entitled "The Living Dead : The Shocking Truth about Office Life".

Some Newspaper Headlines in Britain

"Teenage Gang kicks man to death for refusing to give them a light"
"14-year-old drowns after being thrown off a bridge into a river by two 16-year-olds even though he told them he couldn't swim"
"Secret film shows pupils running wild in London school while teacher looks on, powerless to stop them"
"Visitors go up by 20% at Bluewater Shopping Centre after ban on youths with hooded tops"
"Girl of 13 youngest to be given Anti-Social Behaviour Order"

Some Newspaper Headlines in the Middle East

"Man in Saudi Arabia beheaded for rape"
"Booby-trapped dog injures Iraqi policeman near Kirkuk"
"Saudi Arabia University returns tuition fees to students who can't get jobs"
"Police Officer in Pakistan sacked for sewing prisoner's lips shut"
"Police vehicles killed 2,000 in a year in the UK"
"Man to serve 20 years in jail for beating Indonesian maid to death over unfinished chores"
"Pakistani Minister was mobbed and beaten at funeral of Muslim scholars"
"Iranian exiles in Canada vow to Blog Iran to democracy"
"Why should you study at UK Middlesex University in Dubai?"
"Disney trusts Feng Shui experts for design new Hong Kong Disneyland"
"Dubai e-Government logo contest won by secretary in Buildings Department"
"You can study to be a Doctor at the University of the Seychelles (American Institute of Medicine)"

Best Practice underpins everything

Having just finished a Study of Indigenous Knowledge among the Orang Asli ('Original People') of Malaysia, it seems to me that Best Practice underpins everything we do in life.
It is variously described as Corporate Social Responsibility,('CSR'), Standard Operating Procedures ('SOPs') or simply as 'How we do things around here'.

e-Government in Malaysia

We are in a city called Ipoh, where my wife is from.
Ipoh is the third largest in Malaysia, with a population of about 600,000 which makes it comparable but somewhat larger than Haringey.
Ipoh is the name of a tree from which the Orang Asli,('Aborigines' of Malaysia), derive a poison that they use with the darts from a blowpipe.
I checked in at our usual hotel in Ipoh to find myself in the middle of a Conference entitled "Best Practices of E-Government and E-City : Vision, Innovation & Opportunities'.
Ipoh and the State of Perak has announced a 5-year budget of £200 million to get E-enabled, starting from nothing.
For some strange reason, the EU and Brussels is helping with this ambitious plan and has established something called 'The EU Ipoh Virtual City'.
This Virtual City has its own Web Site at www.eivc.org.
As a result of this, there were three Brits representing European e-Government expertise of the sort who hang around Brussels trying to get their snouts in the trough.

Gaining Weight and Losing Momentum

After 2 weeks in Malaysia I have put back on the 7 lbs I lost in England.
I have also discovered there is a demand for e-Government expertise so I have lost momentum and interest in returning to the UK.
Unfortunately, it takes quite a while to negotiate the labyrinthine complexities of the Malaysian Government bureaucracy.
So I guess I will have to return to England and try to set things up long-distance and then plan to return in a few months.

Crime and Punishment in Malaysia

There are three Ethnic Groups in Malaysia. The largest are indigenous Malays, who are Muslim and are forbidden by their religion to drink alcohol. The other two Groups are Chinese and Indians who mainly think about their families and making money. They are not big alcohol drinkers. As a consequence, you very rarely see any Pubs in Malaysia. In Ipoh, a city of 600,000 I saw only two signs saying 'Pub'.
Another consequence is that is no drunken mindless violence that you see so much of in Britain.
The only violence or crime that you see here is with the clear objective of making money.
Last week, we visited the United Nations here in Kuala Lumpur where the Director had his BMW stolen at gun-point. Apparently they usually find their way to the Middle East.
You also see a lot of motorbikes with two guys riding them. The job of the guy on the back is to snatch the bags from shoulders of unsuspecting women shoppers as they walk along the street.
He also frequently carries a large machete or knife to chop at the strap or arm or whatever is nearest. They are now targetted by police who shoot first and ask questions second !
In Malaysia, there are no Unemployment Benefits so no job equals no income. Therefore a lot of people get desparate for money.
About a year ago, there was a sudden increase in the number of foreigners being mugged in the expatriate area of KL. Again, the Police descended on the area and would shoot any suspects on sight ! The Malaysian version of zero-tolerance is pretty drastic.

So far, in the company of my wife, and her knowledge of Malaysian Silat (Self-Defence) I have been OK !!

Mobile Phones in Malaysia

12,000,000 people in Malaysia own a mobile phone, which is about half the population.
About half of these 12,000,000 pay in advance, don't sign a contract and don't have to give any ID.

There are two strange things that happen as a result. One is that, because the rates are so high (about 10 times what they are in the UK), people soon run out of credit on their mobiles so they resort to using SMS which is free.
Therefore, nobody ever says 'Phone me', or 'I will phone you back'.
They all say 'Send me an SMS'.

The other strange thing is that there seems to be an awful lot of people sending obscene, blasphemous or downright libellous text messages, secure in the knowledge that they can't be traced.

This has got so serious that it is being discussed in parliament and a change in the law is being proposed to require people to give some ID when they buy a paid-if-advance phone.

Turkey Bacon and Chicken Sausages

Malaysia is predominantly a Muslim country, and therefore any food 'derived from the swine' is not allowed.
This cuts out a lot of things that we take for granted in England - such as ham sandwiches, pork pies, bacon and sausages.

As a result, you find you are offered bacon made from sources which are not the pig, such as turkey and beef, as well as sausages containing chicken and no pork. Oddly enough, these taste quite like the real thing.

Although, it's difficult to understand why Muslims should want to eat bacon if they don't know what it tastes like and how do the people who make it know what it is supposed to taste like ?

Maybe they have a special Certificate allowing them to taste a pork sausage so that they can make a chicken sausage that has a similar taste. Maybe some non-Muslims,(aka Infidels !) sell them bottles of bacon flavouring, guaranteed not to contain anything 'derived from the swine'.

So for my first breakfast, I passed on things like Dhall Curry and took a slice of Turkey Bacon. After a moment to think about it, my taste buds sent back a message saying ' Who are you trying to kid ?'
So now I stick to cornflakes, scrambled eggs and orange juice and my day gets off to a good start !

On the plus side, they play Santana's Black Magic Woman so that's great.

Bye for now.

Todays' headlines - "Caning for Boozing" and "Pirates Overwhelmed"

1) Caning for Boozing
The Daily English-language Malaysian newspaper reports that two 20-year-olds were caught drinking alcohol in a public place. This is against the Muslim law that prevails in Malaysia.
In accordance with Section 125(4) of the Muslim Criminal Procedure Code they were sentenced to 6 strokes of the Cane. This caused heated discussion about how wide the Cane should be (the majority vote was the width of a man's little finger), and how far from the side of the body the arm should be raised when the Cane was being lifted,(this time the majority said that the elbow should not lose contact with the body-you get the picture of a robot with a cane!).

2) Pirates Overwhelmed
This sounds like something from an English Christmas Pantomime !!!
But, in fact, this item says that 25 brave Malaysian Police Officers overwhelmed a band of 12 armed Indonesian pirates who had captured an oil tanker about 20 miles off the Malaysian coast. The tanker was carrying oil worth about $3,000,000 and the heavily-armed pirates (who were thought to be part of an international gang) raided at about 4.00 in the morning.
The pirates surrendered asking for a promise that they would not be hurt !
Captain Abdul Rahman of the Malaysian Maritime Police received a Commendation from the Prime Minister.

It is reported that the Captain received scratches to his face so I guess he didn't ask the pirates not to hurt him !

I have to go now, because it's over 90 degrees outside and the sky is blue so it's great sunbathing weather - which is good because it's is often cloudy and humid - in other words, very hot but very uncomfortable.

Bye for now.

Barry

And finally, here we are in Malaysia.

Right now, it's about 2.00 pm here in Malaysia but my body thinks it's about 7.00 am and time to get up - which would be OK, except that we were up 4 hours ago, (ie at 3.00 am my time) having breakfast.
After breakfast, my energetic wife went to the Gym (ie at 4.00 am UK time) and I went back to bed - then she went to visit her ex-boss, the former Malaysian Ambassador to the South Pacific,(which is how I came to meet her in Fiji) - while I stayed in bed.

Then in a couple of hours, we have a meeting with the Malaysian office of the United Nations, where my wife will have to be in good form as she explains her Research Project investigating Knowledge Management among the Orang Asli ('Original People') of Malaysia. I hope she doesn't fall asleep half way through.

Bye for now.

Barry

So Far, So Good ...

Here I am in the Business Class Lounge of Qatar Airways in Doha,(the capital city and where I change for the flight to Malaysia).
It's somewhat bizarre - flights shown on the departures board go to places like Beijing, Kiev/Kuwait (how can they both be linked?), Kathmandu, Seychelles, Islamabad and Hyderabad, and Kuala Lumpur (luckily for me !).
The first leg of the flight was uneventful - my wife and I were like kids - the seats had buttons to recline half and then recline full like a bed,(and they made a satisfying whirring noise) - so we were happily making lots of noise in competition for which of course could go from upright to recline and back the quickest. Other Business Class passengers looking scadalised at our childish behaviour. The other great thing was having our own individual video displays with about 50 films, 6 music channels, and so on. I watched 3 of the latest movies and suddenly the flight was over, Plus good quality French wine, and people bowing and scraping and saying 'Yes, Mr.Williams, No Mr.Williams, Three Bags Full, Mr.Williams'.
It's the life style I could easily get used to - in fact I think I should have been a few rungs higher up the social ladder and maybe at the turn of the century,(the twentieth century, that is), then I could have been independently wealthy, with 'my people' to attend to all of life's unpleasantnesses - like paying the bills !!!

My people have just told me I have to go now to catch my next flight.

So bye-bye.

Regards

Barry

Losing Weight and Gaining Momentum ...

Right now it's Saturday night - funny how time flies when you are having fun !

I have lost half a stone since finishing at Haringey on Tuesday of last week - mainly through fasting and going to the gym every day. My wife is happier because she says I will look better when I meet her family next week. I try to tell her that in the Malaysian culture 'Big is Beautiful' but she keeps reminding me that she is the Malaysian person in our marriage - no sense of humour.
Tomorrow we leave for Kuala Lumpur (commonly called KL) on Qatar Airways. We are flying Qatar because they have a 'special' deal whereby we can afford to fly business class. My wife is paying her own fare (I am obviously giving her too much housekeeping money !). A few years ago we were upgraded on American Airlines (one of those occasions where my wife was successful in persuading me to dress smartly for a flight) when I guess we looked the part of Business Class passengers. The flight was like sitting in a leather armchair from London to Miami. Since that date, my wife said 'In future, when I fly, I always want to turn left when I board the plane'. We haven't always managed it but we have this time. We change planes in Doha,(capital city of Qatar), where we have a chance to wander in the streets and stare at all the Arabs who live on very little money and spend most off their time simply trying to survive. There are a lot of beggars and you have to resolve not to give any of them anything otherwise all their friends and family surround you and you never get away. Then the flight leaves without you and what was a diversion turns into a nightmare.
Then after another 3 hours we arrive in Malaysia where my wife will be perfectly at home and I feel like a visting dignitary. I get the feeling of what it must be Prince Charles - people surround me and wait for me to say something smart, entertaining and funny - in a language they can understand - which often does not include English !

Then when we visit my wife's sisters, she sits on the floor in the kitchen with them, and I sit at a dinner table in solitary splendour, being served an endless series of courses to eat while assorted little nephews and nieces stare at me, say 'Hello, Uncle Barry' and then laugh and run away giggling !

All for now.

Take care.

Regards

Barry

Life in Transit

This morning (Sunday) I woke at 6.00 am and then got up at 6.15 after finding that I couldn't go to sleep again. That's even earlier than when I was going to Haringey every day !

Three days after finishing at Haringey I am preparing to leave for Malaysia a week today.

This involves a lot of packing, which I try to leave to my wife - I just do the 'manly' work of supervising. It also involves helping my wife in arrangements for a Research Project looking at Indigenous Knowledge Management in Malaysia. Unfortunately, this seems to lead to a lot of arguments between us even though (as I keep telling her) I am trying to help ! It's a lot like "don't teach your wife to drive".

On Thursday I dropped in on a session at the Local Library about researching your Family Tree.
It was a sad insight into how some people spend their lives. There were about 9 people at the session, 6 were elderly retired people who looked like they were just waiting for the Grim Reaper to come calling. There was one couple in their late 30's who seemed to have figured out a way to make money out of Family Trees judging by their energy and commitment. Maybe they are selling Family Trees on eBay ?
Then there was me - and I found it hard to decide which category I was in - finally I thought I was like an actor resting beteen parts.

To everyone at Haringey - take care and I'll keep in touch.

Barry

The end of the first day of a new Chapter

It's the end of my first day after finishing a very interesting contract at the London Borough of Haringey. I woke up at 6.45 am from force of habit, went to the Dentist at 12.30 pm and the Gym at 4.00 pm so I feel a whole lot better !
I decided I should lose some weight (having put on 7 lbs at Haringey) - I looked at books on GI Diets but my wife refused to cook anything special so I guess I'll have to switch to Plan B (whatever that might be).