Belfast Riots

I just want to say thank you to all my friends who have asked if I am OK? If you live in N Ireland, you know it is awful, unnecessary, and killing all the work done to bring peace to this beautiful part of the world. If you don't live here which is most of my friends, the media allows you to focus on the very worst.

It is horrible and spreading, but I live outside of Belfast about 20 miles from the centre and to date about 7 miles from the closest trouble. On Friday when I flew home from London my taxi driver had been affected getting to me and the drive home was very hairy. I was once in my own car in a riot and that was one of the worst times of my life and spent an hour on the phone to a friend who just talked rubbish to me to get me through it.

I don't want to belittle the problem, it is not what we want, it is affecting the economy, no one wants to go shopping in town, more than half of the cruise ships planned to stop in Belfast have cancelled, and I am sure we have lost our place in the top 10 places in the UK to visit. BUT it is not the whole story, N Ireland is beautiful, I love it and normally I am proud to stay I live her.

But thank you all for caring, I do appreciate the messages and emails - I love you all

Doing her Bit

If you know me at all you know how proud I am of my daughter. I tease her, I laugh at her and if you read some old postings on this blog you can see just how much she makes me giggle.

Yes I am proud of her, she is an officer in the British Army and she got there herself, no pedigree, no silver spoon, no sponsorship, she achieved everything she needed to get there. In a few weeks she has her first posting and will have her first set of soldiers depending on her for leadership, but first, she and her fellow young officers of the Royal Artillery are raising funds for SSAFA, a charity that helps the families of service people.

This challenge is one that Brooke is not only taking part in, but is one of the organisers. It is a tough time for raising money, soon after Movember, Christmas and alongside the January Dryathlon, but dig deep and support them.