The 2012 Christmas Epistle from Deva

Well – if it all happens – Happy Christmas! What, with the Mayan Calendar predicting the end of all things for Fri 21^st Dec - not that I am an expert on things eschatological – but I may have held back on buying your xmas present thus far; just in case! And with 2013 to look forward to!

Whilst appearing to be a tad bah humbug, I have cut back on the many, many Christmas cards that we normally send this year and hope to do the same again next year... Really with the ‘Internet revolution’ now in its maturity, there is no need I feel to hold back and to do more electronically. Please if I don’t have an email address for you I would welcome one!

A real pleasure this last year has been rediscovering many friends through FB. (Facebook) ‘old’ college friends ‘blasts from the past’ keep hitting the screen daily! FB for me certainly has proved an excellent resource in keeping up with many people in many arenas!

Mark back in March secured employment working in Chester – which has made a considerable change to our lives – no longer the 6am alarm and returning home possibly as late as 7:30pm!

Read War of the Worlds? Well I could write the up to date version! Arrived home from work one evening went straight to my desk to feel the earth move! The aliens had landed! And the battle commenced! Esso had decided to replace an end of life Petrol tank at the garage opposite us – no admittance of leaks etc!! But due to the unique sub-strata of the terrain here – our hse ‘wobbled’ as they ‘Martians’ sought to destroy the concrete encased tank! Well. Needless to say it was a clash of Titans – my featuring in the local press once again! They went – the cracks in the house remained!

No mention of holidays yet I hear! Accused of being in semi-retirement by one certain personage! This year has seen its fair share of my making use of my ‘Visas’ in visiting both Italy and France – the latter more to do with work! Much achieved in France again! In spite of a visit in the summer where I encounted a jungle in what clearly (was) the Garden of Eden! We had to instruct a local gardener to take on the maintenance! (That is; once I had given battle!)

The mention of jungle leads nicely into a high-light of the past summer (or was it winter! – well who does visit the Southern hemisphere to winter?) Unless of course you are seeking a good safari! I had been enlisted by Fr Paul Nener to

organise and book a safari for a suggested group of ten folk to relive an ‘Out of Africa’ experience (Paul had been a surgeon out there many years ago!) And simply this he wanted to treat some friends! We took hundreds of photos, click here to take a look. We of course had experience of ZA some six years previous and wanting to top that – I found myself in correspondence with Archbishop Tutu’s P.A. (Mandela – was thought to be too old to meet us!) And so the ‘Arch’ as they call him out there arranged to meet up – as it happened on our last full day!

But it certainly ended up being a holiday to remember & indeed very much a holiday – away from tools for me! For those who are into blogs further can be read here also:
Tutu / Z.A.

The Villa finished, working out there in May & August it was wonderful to take advantage of last of the heat of the summer’s heat with mum with an actual holiday! Spent a very relaxing week with mum in the Italian kitchen exploring the cuisine for ourselves!

With winter coming in fast: working on the home front in Chester we are about to have cavity wall insulation – from the inside! So expecting some disruption! All will be saved by log fires in Brittany for the yuletide period! It is from there we will be thinking about you and yours this year & let’s hope the Mayans got it wrong!

Every blessing to you all this festive time and forget about the economy, the financiers & the bankers: For unto us a child is borne of two millennia and hope!

Motswari caramel chocolate slice

So much enjoyed this at the safari camp at Motswari - I asked for the recipe! Thanks Grace!

Ingredients:

One cup of self raising flour 140 g
One cup of dried coconut 90 g
One cup of brown sugar 250 g
125 g melted butter.

Filling:
400 g of sweetened condensed milk (a can)
30 g of butter
2 tablespoons of golden syrup.

Topping:
125 g of dark chocolate chopped
30 g of butter.

Method:

Base:
lightly grease 20 cm x 30 cm tray, combine sifted flour, coconut and sugar in bowl, add butter and stir until combined. press mixture of base. Press base mixture into the tray. Bake for 15 minutes -180°. Pour hot filling over the base and return for a further 10 minutes. Allow to cool add chocolate topping.

Filling:
Combine milk, butter and golden syrup In pan, stir over low heat, without boiling about 15 minutes or until mixture is golden brown.

Topping:
Combine chocolate and butter in pan and stir over a low heat until smooth.

Recipe can be made up to 3 days ahead.
Store in an airtight container.

Archbishop Tutu declares war!

 31^st August what a day to recall meeting up as arranged with Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Little did I know he was to have just snubbed Tony Blair the day previous. But it was for no reason I had wanted to meet Desmond Tutu an octogenarian who has accomplished more than a lifetime’s work for peace – for me it was to be in the presence of a living saint!

  

Is this for real meeting this great man!

Visiting South Africa some six years previous it felt a very different place. A young country by democratic and civil rights with much still to address – but one could not underestimate what had been achieved!

Of course we all know the name Desmond Tutu – nobel peace prize winner!

Just occasionally, we have great leaders & prophets with a message for our times - Desmond Tutu is just so! Tony Blair however,  I have always had a deep suspicion of! Saddened,  I was upon my return from South Africa to see a champion of mine Canon Giles Fraser taking issue with ++Tutu.

For me Archbishop Tutu was able to speak collectively for those of us  with no voice (such as myself) and  who were given to taking to the streets (and those of us who wanted to and couldn't at the time - thru circumstances) - against crimes (actions) that were done in 'our' name.

The late Lord Bingham was pretty robust on the illegality of the Iraq invasion in his book "Rule of Law". However whether there is a case in law against Blair, he has become pretty morally repellant over his unwavering public insistence that the half a million deaths later the war was still right!

When Nixon was being considered for "high crimes and misdemeanors" at the time of Watergate the indictment on illegal war (against Cambodia) failed. Almost 50 years later it seems war is an area that national leaders can still pursue with impunity! It remains an indictment that today international law is not effective in dealing with such cases.

But I feel there is a case to be answered... Which is why I for one, was not was not in the least surprised that Mr. Blair  seemingly disappeared off the world  stage so quickly and more especially quietly and perhaps to a safe haven! I bet he thought that there were questions to be answered. And this remains the case!

At the time the written advice of the Attorney General, flatly warned Blair and the inner cabinet that the legal case for going ahead based on the first UN resolution was very weak indeed, hence all the energy and effort that went into securing a new one. Charlie Falconer knew this argument well enough last Sunday on Radio 4, yet proceeded on the basis that UN Resolution 1441 was sufficient. There are plans in the air to make waging an aggressive war a crime under the ICC but they have not been approved yet. If they are, they will not come into force until a year or so after 30 nations have ratified them. And they won't apply retrospectively, to Blair or Nixon. So Tutu is to my mind keeping it to the fore of our minds that change is needed!