Holiday

I had not taken a holiday in a long while but in August 2010 I took the plunge and visited Switzerland. I love Switzerland and first came here at the young age of 9. I fell in love with it and even then told myself I would be back. I did come back in July 1982. At the time the hit band "Imagination" had just come out with the top hit "Illusion". Anytime I hear that song, I remember walking by Lake Geneva, ice cream cone in hand and just enjoying the view of the Jet d'eau against the backdrop of the mountains.

I'm back again in Summer 2011 and this time staying for much longer and enjoying every bit of it. Weather has been great though we have had some rainy spells. Been up to Lugano and I will recommend it to everyone. Wow...that place really made an impression on me. I have made some new friends, people who are friends of friends from back home and it's been great.

I know I shall be back again and will take a whole new set of photos. In the meantime, enjoy some of my photos.

Shouting out Loud!

It's the first day of June and I am on my soap box. Mainly because things are generally going downhill and no-one seems to want to do anything about it. The largest teaching hospital in West Africa, reported last week that its anaesthesia equipment had broken down. As a result, all operations have been put on hold except for super emergencies. The public relations officer for the hospital had the gall to inform the public in such a way that it sounded like the machines (themselves) were responsible for breaking down.

Important arterial highways which should have been completed in 2009 are still being worked on and are causing motorists severe headaches. Illegal warehouses which stocked expired goods by some unscrupulous business owners were discovered by an ace investigative reporter who broke the story last week. However, the Food and Drugs board as well as the Revenue Authority have been told to drop the charges on the owners as they had powerful "friends" in the government's ruling party.

The Power generating company, Gridco have announced that there is going to be some load shedding however they cannot tell us which areas are going to be affected.

Seems to me like services are going downhill and no-one seems to be making any objections. Today I am shouting out loud because I have had enough. We had a huge fire which burnt a significant part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Reason: the ladder of the fire service truck was not long enough to reach the upper floors. Today 1st June, I was in traffic when I heard the head office of the Volta River Authority was on fire; predominantly the 11th and 12th floors. Did we learn from the Foreign Affairs building fire? Did we try and acquire trucks with longer ladders? NO!! So what are we waiting for? Another disaster?

The service providers have to be made accountable, the Ministers in charge of the ministries that are lagging behind need to be made accountable for the poor delivery of services and utilities. People really need to ask questions and be persistent with their line of questioning, if not, we are going to be fed the same spineless excuses we have been fed from time in memorial. Any wonder why a lot of the Ghanaians who live abroad but are looking to moving back home cannot make up their minds? Go figure!

Getting Vexed

Haven't been vexed in a long while but in the past couple of weeks it seems to be happening quite a bit. Vexed with circumstances that I find myself in, vexed with the routine at work, vexed with my ancient car which has decided to go crazy. Vexed with the drinking bar down the road for the blaring music day and night, vexed with shop keepers who don't give you the right change, until you do the calculation out loud (no paper mind you) just VEXED!!

Vexed in the morning, vexed in the afternoon and evening. Think the only time I'm not vexed is when I am sleeping. Vexed when you call people and they don't pick up their phones, vexed when they call you back much, much later when the spontaneity of the moment has dissipated. Was having a Skype conversation with a friend of mine a a couple of days ago and out of the blue, he asked a question and I replied in the negative. He told me he did not believe me and started to go on and on about the answer I gave was not correct. I was livid!!!" What did he know "I asked myself. "What proof does he have?" "Who has been feeding him with stories?" I have never been fond of people who could not take my word because I really do not see the point in telling untruths. I told him if he did not believe me,then that was his problem. What is the point of arguing with someone who has made up his or her mind already.

A friend of mine's favourite saying is: "He who angers you, controls you." So I am going to rid myself of all this anger because it seems like I am letting circumstances control me. "We run tings, tings don't run we.."

I need to detox. I shall go for a long walk, indulge in a massage and a facial, buy some lingerie...and of course read some of my favourite passages in the Bible.
Ok enough now, reading this is making me smile, which is a good sign but hey c'est la vie, n'est-çe pas?

J Martins - Cool Temper (Hot Naija!)

A New Year

Happy New Year everyone! Like the saying goes, better late than never but honestly don't know where the end of 2010 went and now it's the end of January!Christmas was great. After 18 years of living without winter, it was great to experience the cold, snow flurries, chilly winds etc. all over again. I have always loved the snow and I was in seventh heaven being back in it. My son whose first winter this was, loved it also. From our house, we had a lovely view of the Jura mountains and each day it was fun to see more snow settling on the peaks. Other times, it was just covered in low hanging clouds.

New Year's day was even better. An old friend whom I had recently gotten back in touch with before travelling came to spend New Year's eve and day with us. Was really good catching up and talking about old times back in the early 80's. I don't know what it is about being on the cusp of a new year but one somehow gets nostalgic about the past, though at the same time, looks forward to what the new year will bring.

So far January has started well with lots of prospects and I hope this can be the trend for the next few months to come. If you don't stick to your resolutions, don't worry just try and do what you can.

Have a wonderful new year.

Gratitude

What are you grateful for? Have you thought about making a list of the things that you are grateful for? In our busy lives, we tend to forget to take a moment each day and be thankful for both the little and big things that occurred in our day.

Start something new, make a list of all the things that you are grateful for each day, and see how that makes you feel. I can assure you, it will give you such a sense of gratification, you will be amazed.

I started my gratitude list today and was surprised at how many things I was able to list. One of the main things I am grateful for is having this blog. It has given me the ability to speak my mind and for that I am grateful. I know it's been hard to keep it going but from today, I am going to make a conscious effort to write something everyday.

Start yours today and let's hear how it made you feel.

Social Networks - The Good and the Bad

Social networks are the 'in-thing' these days. There are three social networks I belong to; two for business and one for my personal use.I have been a member of Facebook, the social network going places, for almost 4 years. At the time I joined, I was wondering if I was doing the right thing as one puts their pictures and basically their life out there for close friends to see.

For me it has been a great experience and I love it to bits! I have reconnected with people from college whom I thought I would never see again. It has also given me the opportunity to promote my business and at least people get to know what I do...

However with everything, there is the bad side to it. Some people who have bad intentions are hacking into accounts, sending out false information about great deals and it was reported in the papers the other day that a chap had used a female member's picture and name from Facebook, to apply for the USA visa lottery. She received an email telling her that she had been successful in the visa lottery and she became suspicious as she had not applied. To cut a long story short, she reported the matter to the police and two people were nabbed!

On numerous occasions, I have been able to look at pictures of members whom I have not yet connected with and some people have had their profile pictures used in adverts on the network.I know they have to check their privacy settings, but it does give you a creepy feeling knowing someone can check out your pictures without necessarily connecting with you.

A week ago, a friend made a comment on my page and two hours later, the comment had been removed...by whom, we still do not know. I put a message on my status stating I did not appreciate comments on my page being removed, and 10 minutes later, the comment reappeared! My friend has since then changed his password thrice and keeps getting attacks on his laptop from weird countries. He's a computer engineer and knows how to trace these things.

So do watch out on those networks but have fun too and don't go adding people you don't know.