this weekend i had the pleasure of visiting Lake Windermere in the beautiful Lake district.

i so needed a breather and this was the perfect way to get it :)

obviously i had to take my essential cup of the good old stuff, coffee mmmmmmmmmmm.

as well as a 2 flasks, one full of Arabic coffee the other full of green tea, i used to make fun of my mum who would always bring flasks and bags full of sandwiches and treats, now i find myself following her steps lol.
morning coffee at the hotel
a church near the hotel
many of the houses/cottages still have the house names.
church graveyard

boats lined up..
seagulls all lined up
scenery pictures:
the british flag flapping in the wind

good old fish and chips, cant beat it :))))
it was a fantastic trip, my only wish was that it lasted longer :)

apparently my dad and brothers (according to the Libyan community in Manchester) are selling Canaries!!!!

well i was surprised as i hadnt seen head, tail or feather (excuse the pun) of a Canary when i go to my parents house.

unless the cat got to it first.

my mum answers the door the other day to a man who was clearly Libyan from his accent.

man: Assalamu allykum

Mum: Waalykum assalam

Man: Ukhti, abu whiteafrican mawjood? (is your husband in)

Mum: La ya akhi (nope)

Man: bahee, Hamza ga3id? (ok, is hamza home?)

Mum: La ya akhi (nope) aya khidma (can i help)

Man: walahi fee nas galoolee in il haj ow wilda ibee300 fe Canary (well to be honest, some people informed me that your husband and son sell canaries)

Mum: afwan? (excuse me)

Man: 3indik canary?

Mum: (holding in a laugh) La ya akhi (nope)

Man: lakin galoolee il haj ibee3 feehum (but they told me that your husband sells canaries)

Mum: in nas ghaltaneenen ya khooy (the people are mistaken)

man: bahee bahee, lakin law sami3tee in had ibee3 fil canary yaretik itbalgheenee (ok ok, but if you hear of some one who sells canaries, let me know)

and that was that...

how weird..

years and years ago we had a pet budgie but we where never in the business of selling birds!!

i was feeling down on the weekend, and i couldnt figure out the reason why, all i knew was that i wasnt happy and wanted a breather...

on sunday even though it was begining to snow, we ventured out to a park, my husband got coffee, we sat in the car and watched the lake to the sounds of imagine fm...

it was nice just to sit and admire nature...

i also managed to talk and air a few things that where running through my mind.

eventually i ventured out into the cold and joined the ducks...

about a month ago or even more, my brother hamza was walking with his friend just after maghreb when a car parked in front of them and two men jumped out and held them at gun point.

they demanded their mobiles and wallets which both the boys gave and then both men took it upon themselves to beat the living day lights out of hamza's friend for no reason, the kid complied with their demands yet they gave him a beating he will never forget!!!!

they then turned to Hamza and hit him with the butt of the gun just behind his ear which made the poor kid collapse onto the floor.

they run back into the car and sped of into the night...

my brother came home and told my parents about this, they where obviously upset about this and he was sligtly shaken by the ordeal.

i was quite surprised that he didnt fight back, my brother hamza hates in-justices and hes the type of guy that will get involved in a fight if he thinks an injustice is being served or will help some one in the street if there being attacked, bullied etc... so lets just say his knuckles are hard...

when i asked him why he didnt fight back, he replied that it wasnt worth risking it as they had a gun. i was happy that he had the mind to realise the seriousness of such a situation.

Hamza contacted the police, and you would think that the fact that a gun was involved would make it a matter of urgency, as of yet they havent even come for a statment, they wrote to him though, a letter that is sent out automaticlly by a computer most probably, informing Hamza that his refernce number is BLAH BLAH BLAH...

its been over a month and the situation could have ended with a life being taken, so why are they taking so long...

kinda dashes any hope for law enforcement...

hamza is actually studying to become a police officer and as of yet he hasnt changed his mind, i guess he wants to get into the establishment so as to change it...

i guess the police are better at shooting civillians....

sent by a friend lol...

some one keeps on taking the margarine from the fridge in the office....

NO ONE TOUCHES THE MARGARINE....

i have a plan...

although there is a cease fire at the moment, it goes with out saying that Israel cannot be trusted as they have continuously stabbed the world a ridiculous amount of times, so it wont be long before Palestine will receive another dose of what Israel refer to as 'medicine'.

yesterday (Sunday 18.01.09) there was a rally in Albert Square, Manchester.

sadly not many attended as the cease fire was announced so people presume that every thing was back to normal, sadly no....

people where asked to bring shoes and line them up on the stairs leading to the town hall...

the day before i attended a charity dinner hosted by Human appeal, Yvonne ridley came as a the guest speaker

Yvonne was the captured journalist in Afghanistan years back, and who later reverted to Islam and is now an activist concerning humanitarian issues world wide as well as a member of the respect party.

Human appeal managed to raise enough for 2 -3 ambulances for Gaza, each ambulance fully equipped costs around £25,000.

Human Appeal is one of the charity organisations that are able to actually send relief to Gaza, they are able to send food parcels, have supplied 100 beds and 200 mattresses to al-shifa hospital in Gaza and have replaced all the shattered windows in another main hospital in Gaza, supplying 5 intensuve care units with incubators, they work round the clock and those working in Gaza are continuously risking their lives to better other peoples situations.

may Allah accept their efforts...

on the 10th of January 2009, London witnessed a massive march to the Israeli embassy in protest against their actions in Gaza, the BBC are saying 12,000, well i was there and if the numbers where indeed 12,000 then I'm a monkeys aunt because no way was that possible, the numbers where closer to the 200,000.

you could feel the anger and frustration towards the Zionist's, people from all walks of life attended to demand a stop on the atroctities in Gaza.

the world is angry and Israel keep digging holes for itself...

this one was my favourite placard, so true...
i think he was meant to be Olmert, very graphic indeed...
the shoe that rocked the world....
the day ended (for me that is) with asr prayer, a few of the protesters stayed and got caught in the riots, i didn't see that part, i was on my way back to the coach near marble arch..