With friends.

On Paul's boat.

Of Christmas past.....

1 week, 1 funeral, 1 wedding and. 2 christenings.

 Busy week, although I was only at the christenings in spirit, but my brother, father and Sue were there

My cousin and her husband were also godparents apparently,  I still haven't seen a single picture, not that I was told or invited. In fact I haven't seen a single picture for a year.

Hank Moody's letter

Hank Moody's letter

I'm writing you a letter. That's right a good old fashioned letter. It's a lost art, really. Shit.
I have a confession to make, I didn't like you very much at first.
You were just this annoying little blob. You smelled nice, most of the time, but you didn't seem to have much interest in me, which I of course found vaguely insulting.
It was just you and your mom against the world. Funny how some things never change.
So I cruised along doing my thing, acting the fool, not really understanding how being a parent changes you.
And I don't remember the exact moment everything changed. I just know that it did.
One minute I was impenetrable. Nothing could touch me. The next, my heart was somehow beating outside my chest, exposed to the elements.
Loving you has been the most profound, intense, painful experience of my life. In fact it's been almost too much to bare.
As your father, I made a silent vow to protect you from the world. Never realizing I was the one who'd end up hurting you the most.
When I flash forward my heart breaks, mostly because I can't imagine you speaking of me with any sort of pride, how could you?
Your father is a child in a man's body, he cares for nothing and everything at the same time.
Noble in thought, weak in action. Something has to change, something has to give.
It's getting dark, too dark to see.

Boring father

Becca Moody to Hank Moody:
I live in the real world where I need a fucking father. You're so proud of yourself for being such a cool Dad, well look where it fucking got you!
You know that I pray sometimes Dad? You know what I pray for the most? That I wake up one day and you've become a total bore. The kind of father who gets up every morning puts on his suit and tie drives to some lame office and comes home at 5.30 on the dot, has a drink and hangs out with his fucking family.

How hard would that have been for you Dad? To just be like everyone else!

Wonderful world

I love you Hunny Bunny

My 39th year.

Wanchai and elsewhere

Beautiful things

Change-NO!

Given my time again, would I change who I am? No, fucking NO.

The chilling truth.

This is what the banks face, not more importantly what people will face(in addition to the measures already being felt).This is why some senior economists are now warning of a 'lost decade'.

From the BBC http://t.co/mESGicZd.

.......The model looks at the impact of disorderly default on the core capital held by Europe's banks, and it does so in two tranches. The lesser would be Greece, Portugal and Ireland defaulting. The greater would add Italy and Spain. It won't be lost on you that these Mediterranean giants are now very much in play.

In short, the reckoning, or rechnung, doesn't look good for the Germans. But then, it doesn't look good for anyone.

Eye-watering figures

The assumption is of a 50% loss - or "haircut" - on government debt (the level already assumed for Greece). It goes on to assume there's nothing to be salvaged from bank debt, and lending to individuals, households and companies takes a 40% write-down.

This model looks at the impact on four countries for which figures are more readily available: Germany, France, the UK and Belgium - the latter because its bank sector is exposed to its French neighbours.

If Greece, Portugal and Ireland hit that level of default, half of German banks' capital buffers are gone, a third of Belgium's and a quarter in France and the UK.

But there are indirect effects as inter-bank insurance and lending unravels, and that wipes out 100% of German banks' core tier 1 capital.

Belgium's left with only 7%, France with 25% and the UK with 50%. Britain would take a hit from Ireland in particular, but RBS and Lloyds Banking Group have already written down a lot of their exposure.

And what about adding Italy and Spain? The figures are eye-watering.

The direct effects would require governments to recapitalise German and French banks with 125% of their current core capital, meaning nationalisation.

Chilling reminder

But add in the indirect effects, and you find it would require 275% of German banks' core capital, 270% in Belgium, 225% in France and 130% in the UK.

At that point, Germany is only able (it would hope) to meet the bailout requirements of its own banks, while it is every other eurozone country for itself.

That impacts directly on the banks' ability to lend to businesses, individuals or, indeed, governments.

And it's hard to see how you would keep the eurozone together in those circumstances.

For Germans, the crunch decision is getting very close - between bailing out their profligate, indisciplined partners at vast expense, or letting the euro project collapse.

These figures are a chilling reminder that the impact comes back to wallop Germany hardest of all.

And for Britain, it's not much consolation that it won't face quite as big............

Helper denied Permanent Residency.

The first of many.The High court may have asserted helpers the right to apply for Permanent Residency, but not the right for it to be granted.
Court rejects abode application    

10-11-2011      RTHK Suresh Chandar reports
High Court dismisses bid for permanent residency.
The High Court has rejected a judicial review brought by a Filipino maid and her Hong Kong-born son for permanent residency. Josephine Gutierrez and her son, 14, challenged the refusal of the immigration authorities to grant them permanent identity cards.

They argued that the decision was made without properly analysing evidence that they'd made Hong Kong their permanent place of residence.

However, Mr Justice Johnson Lam agreed with the authorities that Ms Gutierrez hadn't taken any steps to prove she lived permanently in the territory. He also said her son didn't qualify for right of abode because he hadn't stayed in the SAR continuously for seven years

Another example of strange justice in Hong Kong

Another example of strange justice in Hong Kong;
This guy was caught filming a student and  'A total of 70 video clips and 436 photos, 15 taken from under skirts, were found on his phone'.
'Acting principal magistrate Gary Lam Kar-yan said Chui had done well academically, held a good job and been the subject of a "very positive" probation report.
As a result, Lam said he had decided to sentence Chui to 15 months' probation.'
Why did the judge take into account his 'good job' and academic merits?.......Does this mean that a stupid, jobless man would have been given a bigger sentance?
 Video sneak at school toilet gets probation (The Standard)
http://bit.ly/vT7TNA

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it

  Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it -George Santayana
Images (follow the link)from WWII , particularly Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (where I attended primary school in the 70s  and 80s). 12 million civilians died in Europe alone during that terrible time. When we say soldiers died for our freedom, this is what is meant. This is how tyranny and evil looks, everywhere, anytime. The images are horrible,that is a warning.

http://danjswade.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/pictures-of-horror/

Armistice day-lest we forget

Poppy

FIFA have disallowed the England football team from wearing poppies this weekend.

As someone just mentioned in pmq's. On Xmas day in the Somme, both sides laid down their arms and played a game of football. Armistice/Remembrance day is a day to remember why we should never return to the dark days of war. A poppy is a symbol for peace-for all the world.

Autumn days

Causeway Bay 

Amusing today as I walked through Causeway Bay. It was blowy, and felt lovely and fresh.Looking at the throngs of people though, and it looked like a winter's day in London.Jackets were on and zipped right up, heads were , and the pace was much faster than usual.I even saw couples hugged close together against the elements.I felt like a Geordie in my t-shirt on a Christmas night out. The temperature?.....19c

I told you so?

CNN - Europe populist parties feed off crisis sense

Could Greece lead Europe to war?

C.Mercer 7.11.11

This is not a prediction, more of a worst case scenario. Some would say far-fetched, but modern history would say otherwise.

Greece will now hold elections around February. Who will the people vote for. Will they choose the most sensible option of a government that will follow the punitive austerity measures as needed to pay for the massive debt caused by decades of not paying any tax? Or will they choose a party who will water down the measures and possibly take it to bankruptcy? Or will even more radical groups emerge? Throughout modern European history those countries brought to their knees by financial mismanagement  have headed into extremism, left or right. A nation's wounded pride is a dangerous thing. As resentment and nationalism increase so does   the   chance of conflict. This happened with both Germany and Italy, and more recently with the former Yugoslavia. Greece borders the Balkans, and the relationship has never been easy. The Republic of Macedonia on Greece's northern border annoyed Greece from the start for stealing the name of the northern state of Macedonia in Greece. Then of course there is Turkey, a rise of nationalism can do no favours for that relationship.  The peoples of the former Yugoslavian states seem very nice today, but back in 1992 as I hitched through war-torn Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia, I saw the hate that comes with war first hand. When a country has its back to the wall, it is those with the loudest voices (and biggest fists/guns) that tend to be heard. Athens has already been affected again and again with violence because of the anger of its people. How about Italy, also on the edge, maybe a much bigger edge? No, Italy would never be ruled by a charismatic leader who will do anything to retain power, would it?

It is worth remembering during these times why the European union was founded in the first place, to prevent war and encourage communication between all of the people throughout Europe who have always, constantly and for millennia done nothing but kill each other.

Universe

1 year ago

2 Little boys

Brothers-Jo and Jack

Human

Run

missing

Happy birthday little boy.

Happy birthday to my little angel,Jack Loreno. Happy 8th birthday little boy
And Happy birthday to his mother, my wife, may you find peace and happiness this year.

one year

2 weeks away from a whole year.The last night I went into Jack's bedroom,I kissed him goodnight,trying desperately to hold back my tears.I told him I love him,and I hope he will be a good boy for his mother

Then I went into Joseph's bedroom,Joseph already knew something very wrong was happening.I explained to Joseph that I would be away for a very long time and that it was his job to be the man of the family and be brave.I also told him that my leaving had nothing to do with him or his brother,and that adults sometimes argue. I kissed him and held him for so long,I couldn't hold my tears back.He also cried but the same as me he tried to hide it.I then went downstairs and completely broke down and sobbed-alone. The next morning as they went to school I tried desperately to be brave,but instead was short(in time not temper) with them. I once again broke down when they left.Later as I was leaving and my taxi had arrived,my wife,who had not spoken to me for a month,came and kissed me. One year.

How to get out of a prison term in Hong Kong.

How to get out of a prison term in Hong Kong. 1. Be a very rich banker 2. Have an expert invent a fictional mental illness.
"But he (the judge Joseph Yau Chi-lap)accepted a defense submission that Yan Shen suffers from "dependent personality disorder."
http://bit.ly/n0U0vY

Lasers

http://youtu.be/C4FCu0snv2o

Banker escapes jail for having gun. Hong Kong, where you can flout the law, if you are rich!

One rule for the rich-again! If this guy had been a dishwasher he would have got 5 years, if this is not corruption then I don't know what is. He was found at the airport with a gun and ammo! Ignorance is not a legal defence, and he must be a bloody stupid (b/w)anker not to know that guns are not allowed on planes. THIS IDIOT SHOULD BE IN JAIL.
Rthk-
Banker escapes jail for having gun
06-10-2011
A senior banker has escaped a prison sentence for possessing an unlicensed gun found in his luggage at Chek Lap Kok airport. Yan Shen, 43, was ordered to carry out 240 hours of community service and fined HK$50,000.

Mr Yan, who headed the North Asia institutional clients group of Deutsche Bank Asia, was arrested in May when a pistol and ammunition were discovered during a search of his baggage.

District Court Judge Yau said the case was a special one. Judge Yau said he did not accept the defendant's explanation that he was unaware it was illegal to possess firearms.

However, Judge Yau said he'd decided not to jail Mr Yan because he was suffering from a "dependent personality disorder," and a prison term might affect his treatment.

The charge of possessing firearms without a licence carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in jail and a HK$100,000 fine.  The gun was found in his luggage at the screening checkpoint in the departure immigration hall of Chek Lap Kok airport. 

iquote

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. Steve Jobs (2005)

Robbed

I have just been well and truly fleeced.Bought a battery charger,which charges everything at WanChai computer centre yesterday for $235.went to the bank today and was surprised I had no money,I went home and found out I had been charged $2350! Went back to the shop and basically they told me to fuck off.twice I had asked them the price and both times they had said 235,I remember shit like that! In the cop shop now Sunday at 2:53pm via BlackBerry
But it is their word against mine-not a good day! Sunday at 2:54pm
Police basically won't do anything,but I got a case number and officially requested all their notes on the case so I can show the bank and consumer council. I now have the world's most expensive charger,anyone looking for a portable universal charger?
If the shop had made an honest mistake,then when I took the unused boxed product back 12 hours later, then they would have given me my money back,but no, these people are robbing bastard mutherfuckers.
The shop is on the first floor of Wanchai Computer Centre. If you know the layout,it is at the back right hand corner.It sells some laptops and accessories,there is a camera/phone shop opposite. If you don't know the layout it is called Manu Digi Creation Co. Shop number 114-115, 1st floor e-mail manudigi@hotmail.com.hk
Tel 34899822

Hug

I arrived home one day a few years ago in Lantau,to what could only be described as a raging storm which started off with "Who is she?" Never a good sign, "Who's who?" "The girl you were seen with at the ferry pier" I protested my innocence,and couldn't for the life of me remember who I had been with that night.
I knew I hadn't 'been' with anyone,but I may well have been walking with one of my mates,a lot of whom are women.
Many,many hours of protestations later it hit me like a lightning bolt."AHHHHH! Philippa!" This didn't calm matters down,neither did my explaining that yes, I had been hugging Philippa at the ferry pier.I explained that it was the first time that I had seen her since her cancer had gone into remission and being a close old friend,that me hugging her was perfectly natural.
That was the last time I saw her-hugging her at the ferry pier,and how I will remember her.
The storm did subside,but never completely.

Goodbye

RIP Philippa.



 

Queen Mary 2 sails up River Mersey to a sky of fireworks - Local News - News - Videos & Pics

Queen Mary 2 sails up River Mersey to a sky of fireworks - Local News - News - Videos & Pics

sleep

the Mercers on the move: 5 years

the Mercers on the move: 5 years
From 5 years ago.

5 years

5 years ago today, was of course 9/11, or 11/9 as it is in the UK, funny how everyone calls it 9/11.
5 years ago after finishing a really crappy teaching job that i had only accepted as it paid cash- I went to Kowloon Park to chill out, and have a couple of cans.I had just returned from the UK. Joseph was 4 months old, but was with his mother in the Philippines. I had decided that it would take too long to get Teosdee a Uk visa, and that i may not have been able to. Teosdee didn't have a Hong Kong visa either, as there were complications left over from her Domestic helper visa.
I had arrived back with less than £100 and was determined to stand on my own feet-hence the crappy job.
I was staying in Mirador Mansions-next to ChungKing mansions. I had my own room, in a guest house, which i paid nightly.
The room next to mine was full of Mongolian women earning some extra cash, I think they worked in TST East.They didn't entertain at the hostel, so it wasn't too bad. Occasionally, the South Asian guests would get pissed or whatever, and staying inside my room was mandatory.
They would often knock on the doors at night to check that none of the Indian prostitutes were there.A few years after I left, a couple of them were murdered in their room.
I can remember an Italian guy, who was sourcing for cheap textiles in China, and an English girl staying for a while-they seemed normal, but still not quite.
The room was tiny, and the door didn't open fully, as the bed was in the way. I would smoke outside on the landing, and listen to noisy goings on above and below.TST, was 'run' at that time by Pakistanis, Indians and others. These were not Hong-Kong residents but recent immigrants illegal, or semi illegal who ran the prostitutes from India and Bangladesh, and sold drugs to locals and travellers.
It was a dangerous place at night, full of people whose religion apparently forbade drinking and drugs. It was impossible to spend all your nights laying down, so I used to hang out at the 7/11 downstairs.
I was never bothered, but saw plenty of bother." Hey man! you wanna drink beer?", these drinking Muslims were friendly to me-the long haired westerner. The prostitutes would nod at me, but knew that I could never seriously be interested. The drug addicts were drug addicts, I would buy them a can of beer-if they didn't ask.I wouldn't if they did.
I spent 3 months there, saving, trying to balance 'cash work' with getting a decent monthly paying job.This wasn't easy when the rent was due every night.

This takes me back to Kowloon Park, on the evening of September 11th.
I didn't have that night's rent, so I was hanging out until my landlady had gone home, and the Northern Chinese girl, who didn't speak a word of English or Cantonese was on reception(a few doors down).She wouldn't ask me for money, as the next day was generally okay.
My room did have a TV, and after I had closed my door, pleased not to have to explain my lack of rent, I settled down to eat my noodles.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing or seeing.The first plane had just crashed.There is 12 hours time difference between HK and New York. I sat there for hours transfixed, shocked, and suddenly feeling a little scared being surrounded by so many Muslims.
I went out onto the landing to have a smoke, no longer caring about the landlady, I needed air, it was too much to take in, in that cramped space-alone.
I went down to 7/11, got some supplies, stayed for a while to hear and share reactions.
News is not the greatest forte of HK tv, and the chance to watch rolling coverage from the US was too much of a temptation for me, I watched the coverage overnight, and grudgingly dragged myself away the next day for work.
Over the next few weeks tensions heightened between myself and a few of our Muslim brothers, as I got into heated arguments outside the 7/11. It never came to blows though, even as the war in AAfghanistan got underway.
I was glad to get out to my own flat and bring my family over in December.
Over the next 5 years I dropped by occasionally to remind myself of the sights and sounds, and the danger outside the 7/11 or is that 11/9 in English?

first time

Days gone by

Razor-every song tells a story.

Comfortably numb

Hijacked blog?

Just annoyingly found out that my blog was being redirected to blogrolling.com, making reading the blog impossible. I found the offending html code and removed it.Seems to be okay now. If you are having the same problem, look for anything containing blogroller and delete from your 'design'.

William Shakespeare - To be, or not to be (from Hamlet 3/1)

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

Purple Rain

Weird dream last night,me and the artist formerly known as Prince,now known as Prince,were on the run in Liverpool.We were chased out of this bloke strangely enough wearing a tracksuit's house! Running away to the tune of Purple Rain.The bloke chasing us was on a bike,but strangely, even though we were not running that fast,as we were running in time to the song he couldn't catch us.

Even though Prince being considerably shorter than me, kept ahead of me somehow,the fella on the bike would occassionaly pass me but didn't stop me as he was really after Prince,I kept running anyway!

As we ran through the streets of Liverpool,people would say "arrite Prince lad?" I kept on hoping he would shout back "arrite Queen?'(In the dream)

As we kept on I started to pray that this wasn't going to be some 12' remix version of Purple Rain as I was knackered! Along the way we also started to discuss a 'Scouser's Charter' a bit like a human right's act for Liverpool..Most of the clauses I won't go into but the first one was to be freely able to wear a tracksuit or replica kit at all times,the second was for your skin colour to be a weird shade of orange. I hadn't quite finished the rest, involving working on the side and the Beatles and football,when my neighbour decided to knock down every wall in his flat!

FOOT (!!!) massage

There must have been quite a few 'misunderstandings; in the past! (Sign outside a FOOT massage place in Wanchai)

Mui Wo music festival 2011

Riots hit Birkenhead.

People should avoid Birkenhead police say, that's what I have been saying to my estranged wife for 5 years!

RT @LivEchonews Four arrests in Birkenhead after 100 youths gathered committing criminal damage. Businesses inc McDonald's smashed #liverpoolriots

Also cars reported burning in Birkenhead

Great place to raise(my) kids!!

Riots spread to liverpool

There were reports of cars being damaged in Manchester and of up to 200 youths with masks roaming through Toxteth in Liverpool.

Merseyside police said they were dealing with a number of incidents in south Liverpool, including cars being set alight.

• Cars were set on fire in Lewisham
• A bus and shop were set alight in Peckham
• Several fires broke out in Croydon, including one at a large furniture shop which spread to neighbouring buildings and tram lines
• In Hackney 200 riot officers with dogs and mounted police were located around Mare Street where police cars were damaged
• Looters raided a Debenhams store and a row of shops in Lavender Hill in Clapham
• In Birmingham, police said officers had made 87 arrests, including six juveniles, on Monday evening
• Buses were diverted as the violence spread to Bromley High Street
• There were reports of looting of phone shops in Woolwich High Street, in south London, and a torched police car
• Shops and restaurants were damaged in Ealing, west London, and there was a fire in Haven Green park opposite Ealing Broadway Tube
• Football matches at Charlton and West Ham which were due to be played on Tuesday have been postponed at the request of the police
• At Clapham Junction looters stole masks from a fancy dress store to hide their identity

London burns

Burning

Lonodon is burning!

Laughing

on the ferry, I can hear a very happy baby laughing and laughing,I love it,it makes me laugh,the baby is nearly two years old,and and I can't help but laugh,this is possibly the best sound in the world.
But at the same time it stabs me in the heart,I remember every single laugh and giggle and kiss from my own boys,and it takes my breath away

Sunlight hurts my eyes.

Hurt

Old friends

Met an old friend tonight, an Indonesian girl, she was with her German husband and her 2 beautiful children. She used to come on days out with her ex-boyfriend and join us for BBQs at the beach. She pulled out a photo of her with my eldest son when he was a baby.It was laminated and cut around so it really was only of her and my son.
She was a lovely girl, and she doted on our kids, my heart broke when I saw the picture, she had it there, in her wallet. 8 years later.

Wrath

Relationships these days are ended in a myriad of ways,text,facebook,etc.General​ly those are used for boyfriends and girlfriends,and we all gasp at the inhumanity. How about An 11 year marriage,where there was no single act,no crux,no discernible point or reason.but no text,no e-mail,no notice in the paper,just nothing.because the people invilved were 7000 miles apart,silence was absolutely deadly. 13 years,2
children,a whole life of UPs and of course downs,met with a deadly silence.indefensible,insur​mountable. 8 months go by,I am still as fucking clueless as I was then,of course then I put it down to stubborness,but as time has passed by,there is something else at work,and it is so negaive in nature,I cannot Speak about it.over the years people have good times and bad,people that know me,know I have always tried to keep a positive spin on shit,and until the day I die,I will never curse the mother of my children,I just wish I knew what I did to provoke such wrath


Sometimes I wonder if there is a difference if they had all died a horrific car crash,but of course I know there is a difference,although lost to me forever,at least I know they are okaY,they continue,they go on.It works vice-versa also,and I think it would be easier for them if they didn't know I carried on,surely it would be better if I didn't exist.don't take that the wrong way,I am too cowardly for anything so drastic,naturally life will soon catch up with me anyway.

Machine

I sleep in 4 hour cycles,to the minute.I could set my clocks, it is that exact.If I sleep at 10,11,12 I will wake up exactly 4 hours later. Can't sleep with the air con on,too cold,but I wake up too hot and have to cool the room down again.Once cooled down I begin my second 4hours,which again will be spot on 4 hours(unless interrupted by my alarm clock).I think I must have been replaced by a machine.

Father recalls farewell to children http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23969734-father-recalls-farewell-to-children.do

The End

For 8 months, I listened to the advice, and kept my head down.It did no good, things could not possibly be worse.This week, my parents were once again insulted, and ostracized, for no reason. The shit is beyond belief. I left because of the abuse so now I am far beyond the reach . No matter how many hoops we jump through, it is never enough. So it is time to finally accept defeat, there is no way back. Of course it is my boys who will suffer, and that is why I have tried every avenue possible, but 5 months ago my wife stopped speaking to me, and has not said a single word to me since. That silence as they say is louder than words. If you would like Teosdee's side of the story or find out how my kids are doing e-mail her.

Hurt so good and Stardust

For my boys

Just spoke to my 2 angels for the first time in 4 months,today is a good day!

Papa was a

Happy Father's day

Pension Burden

The Uk Govt have announced a number of measures to counter the growing pension burden, including making civil servants work for longer and giving them smaller pensions.And in a bold move they have also begun a trial voluntary euthanasia scheme for people living in Birkenhead, which it is hoped will be rolled out to other grim Northern towns and eventually the whole nation.

Where do I begin?

Serve yourself, and the beast in me

Sunflowers

the Mercers on the move: 7 days is a long time

Happy birthday Blog-Here's a glimpse of 6 years ago

the Mercers on the move: 7 days is a long time

the Mercers on the move: Jack and Teosdee at the airport

Happy birthday Blog-Here's a glimpse of 6 years ago
the Mercers on the move: Jack and Teosdee at the airport

the Mercers on the move: The journey

Happy birthday Blog-Here's a glimpse of 6 years ago
the Mercers on the move: The journey

the Mercers on the move: wassup?

Happy birthday Blog-Here's a glimpse of 6 years ago
the Mercers on the move: wassup?

the Mercers on the move: baby cot

Happy birthday Blog-Here's a glimpse of 6 years ago
the Mercers on the move: baby cot

the Mercers on the move: On The Move

Happy birthday Blog-Here's a glimpse of 6 years ago
the Mercers on the move: On The Move

1001 posts

My last post was my 1,000th, since I began this blog almost exactly 6 years ago.Pity about the content, a far cry from the photos and videos of the family hiking, swimming, playing here in Hong Kong, or in the UK. 'Trying Europe' was definitely my biggest mistake, should have just carried on here. We certainly have been 'on the move' and a look through the archives was on the whole, always optimistic until just 6 months ago.As it stands now, I should rename the blog 'The Mercers divided'. As it stands I still have no contact with my boys, I have not spoken to them for months, all phone numbers have changed. This was all done without my knowledge, and I have no idea what my boys have been told. I have a stark choice now, to stay here in Hong Kong, working, furthering my career-as I have always done, but without any contact with my children.Or return to Mersyside, jobless, with little hope of gaining employment, to fight for the custody of my children.If I am forced into that corner, then I will fight with the same vigour as I have fought with all these years, when I got my wife visas here in Hong Kong and in the UK, against all the odds and all expectations.

Kids' views on separation.

"I was real young. I didn’t know what was going on. I knew Dad was missing, but I didn’t know why."
Eight-year-old girl

"Dad couldn’t really be as bad as Mom says he is."
Nine-year-old girl

"I don’t care who I live with. I love you both. Please don’t make me choose--just tell me."
Nine-year-old boy

"I really didn’t understand at first. But as the years went by, I thought it was my fault. It was a very confusing time for me."
Eighteen-year-old boy

"Divorce is like two lions in a den attacking each other. You know somebody is going to get hurt real bad. All kids can do is sit behind a window and watch it happen."
Nine-year-old boy

"My dad didn’t leave us. My mom took me while I was sleeping and she left him. I didn’t even know about it."
Five-year-old girl

"It makes me feel like my arms and legs aren’t attached."
Ten-year-old boy

"Daddy left. Will Mommy leave me too? What will happen to me?"
Eight-year-old girl

"I’ll promise to make dad chocolate chip cookies every week. They’re his favorite. He’ll come back then."

"If I don’t fight with my brother any more will you come back and live with us?"
Twelve-year-old boy

"If I go live with grandma can you and dad stay married?"
Seven-year-old girl

"I hate it when my mom asks me how she looks. I don’t like being put in that situation. I wish my dad were here to do it."
Fifteen-year-old boy

"My mom doesn’t think she’s a good cook. I don’t want her to feel bad. So I tell her it’s good, just like Daddy used to do."
Eight-year-old boy

"It has been four years since the divorce. I do not know what it is like to love or be loved unconditionally. I find it hopeless to even try for fear of this gut wrenching pain I knew/know from loving two of the most wonderful people in the world, mom and dad. I do not know if I will ever heal, when will this torment in my head and heart finally cease? I am 20 years old and I want nothing to do with marriage nor children. I am chained by the wounds of those that should have loved me the most, and I am confused"
Twenty-year-old woman

"I cry at night when I’m in bed, but my mom never knows."
Four-year-old girl

	"I’ll probably grow up and get married and have babies, and then I’ll get a divorce. Everybody does." Ten-year-old boy
	"I was real young. I didn’t know what was going on. I knew Dad was missing, but I didn’t know why." Eight-year-old girl

"I wouldn’t miss my dad so much if I didn’t hear my mom crying so hard every night. It’s not fair my dad isn’t here to do his job."
Twelve-year-old boy

"It really hurt. It was hard for me to accept not being able to live in the same house with both parents."
Teenage girl

When asked how long it took to get over the divorce some of the kids said:

	"You never get over it." (Fifteen years later)
	"I still haven’t." (Twelve years later)
	"It’s been four years but I’m still not over it."
	"It took me about seven years to really get over it."
	"I wasn’t upset at the time. About a year later it hit and it lasted for a year."
	"A few years of therapy."
	"I still haven’t gotten over it. I may never." (Ten years later)

What we do to our kids,

Philip Larkin - This Be The Verse

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.   They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had  
And add some extra, just for you. 

But they were fucked up in their turn  
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
 And half at one another's throats. 
Man hands on misery to man. 

It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,  
And don't have any kids yourself. 

Who gets hurt?

Judge quotes Philip Larkin's This Be The Verse to divorced parents of 'emotionally damaged' boy



Stanza of reason: Philip Larkin's famous 1971 poem This Be The Verse was quoted in court by a judge admonishing two warring parents

A warring divorced couple whose son has been emotionally damaged by their battles were given a message today by a senior judge - who used the powerful words of poet Philip Larkin.

Lord Justice Wall quoted: 'They f*** you up, your mum and dad / They may not mean to, but they do / They fill you with the faults they had / And add some extra, just for you.'

In his Court of Appeal judgment, he added: 'These four lines seem to give a clear warning to parents, who, post-separation, continue to fight the battles of the past, and show each other no respect.'

The case involves the future care of a nine-year-old boy whose 'parents have undoubtedly caused him serious harm by their ongoing, mutual dislike and recriminations,' said the judge.

They had come 'within a whisker of losing their child', said the judge, who reversed a county court ruling ordering the boy to be removed from the home of his mother.

Lord Justice Wall said Judge Everall QC had decided at Luton County Court that it was no longer possible for the parents and the boy to work together.

He added: 'I do not do so. I hope this case has given the mother a fright. I hope it has also given the father a fright.'

The appeal judge then gave his message to the parents, urging them to improve their relationship for their child's sake.

He said: 'Separated parents, in my experience, frequently fail to understand that their children love both of them, and have loyalty to both.

'The fact that one parent has come to hate the other, or that both hate each other is no reason for the child not to love both and have loyalty to both.

'It thus poses the most enormous difficulties for the children of separated parents when each parent vilifies the other, or makes it clear that he or she has no respect for the other.'

Lord Justice Wall, who said the case had a 'profoundly dispiriting' history, added: 'This mother and father are no different from many separated parents who make the damage to their children caused by their separation much worse by continuing their battles against each other in legal proceedings.'

He said they had already caused their son 'serious harm'

But he allowed the mother's appeal to keep the boy with her and contact for the father and said he hoped the judgment gave them 'an opportunity to mitigate that damage.

'If they do not do so, they may well lose the care of their child,' he warned.

The original order that the boy should live with his paternal grandparents was set aside.

The identities of the 31-year-old mother, 37-year-old father and their son - referred to as CR in court - are protected by reporting restrictions.

Lord Justice Wall said the parents met in South Africa in 1999 and married in 2002 but their relationship was already in difficulties both in England, the home of the father, and South Africa where the mother was born.

The couple were divorced in 2003 and at all times since their separation the boy had lived with his mother.

Court battles over custody of the child began six years ago and psychiatric reports found that his involvement in the parental battle would have a 'high risk' of increasing his 'negative and aggressive behaviours', causing a negative self-image and relationship difficulties.

A psychiatrist wrote that if the allegations about the way the parents had treated their son could be proved, they would be enough to indicate emotional and physical abuse.

Lord Justice Wall said: 'None of the professionals in this case doubts that the dispute between his parents has caused CR serious emotional harm.

'The simple fact of the matter, however, is that the local authority, which is the ultimate arbiter of these matters, does not think the threshold has been crossed, and had made it clear that it will not institute proceedings.'

The poetry used by Lord Justice Wall was taken from Larkin's This Be The Verse, written in 1971.

It is said to be the poet's best known and most frequently quoted poem.

A Reading-again

After the Rapture

Ryan Giggs-exposed

This is a victory for freedom of speech,footballers,Tv stars, politicians,bankers,and others in the public eye, should not be able to make a mockery of the legal system because they have the money to be able get these Super-injunctions.The legal system already has libel laws which can be used in these cases.These are civil cases, and if newspapers are guilty of defamation of character, then they can be sued accordingly. I don't give a toss who they are screwing or what twisted sex games they pay for, but if they didn't do it they would havbe no problem. These footballers earn millions, and unfortunately that is the price of fame, the lack of privacy.This has nothing to do with my being a Liverpool fan-honest! Well it is funny though!

Sunday Herald reveals Ryan Giggs.

Ryan Giggs is outed by The Sunday Herald as the footballer involved in an affair and who is responsible for the Super Injuncttion restricting the freedom of the press and for attempting to control twiitter.

continue

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” -Winston Churchill

Who you are

Caution

The first lesson to be learnt from all of this is; Be wary of women who will do anything to get their hands on a UK passport and UK residency.Bizarre as that seems to most of us-who would want to live in the Shithole we know and love (and left)?There are indeed people who regardless of moral and ethical concerns will somehow wheedle their way in, and once there, you will find your services are no longer required, and said woman will join her compatriots in some English ghetto or other. Strange thing is, is that the exact same thing happened to my elder brother a couple of years ago, with a woman from the same country, luckily for him no kids were involved, just lots of money! Detractors may say, then don't marry an Asian woman half your age. I married in my twenties, my wife was 5 years older than me.

Why?

Does it make you happy to hurt and punish me like this?but punish for what exactly,what did I do? Never in a million years would I ever ever have cut you off from your children,never! Why?

No windows.

woke up,thought 'what a nice sleep', made up a rhyme about the coming weekend, bathroom,smoke, glanced at clock-only 2am, only been asleep 2 hrs! Body clock out of sync, no windows to the outside world from my room.Back to sleep!

Super injunctions restrict our freedom of speech.

Billy Jones Two stars of the TV show Shameless, David Threlfall and Pauline McLynn (Libby Croker) had an affair. Both are married. #superinjunction Billy Jones Jeremy Clarkson has an injunction preventing the publication or mention of intimate photographs of him and Jemima Khan. #superinjunction Billy Jones British actor Hugh Bonneville paid £195 for the services of prostitute Helen Wood. Wood used a sex toy on Bonneville #superinjunction   Billy Jones Footballer Ryan Giggs had an extramarital affair with Big Brother star Imogen Thomas which lasted for 7 months. #superinjunction

Super injunction