What the hell is this?

So what's with the Middle East? The UK, US and chums have decided that democray is fine, but if they don't get what they want out of it, the Palestinians must be punished. And why not? After all it's not as if the victorious powers of the Second World War came along and told them they were freeing them from the imperial rule of the British Empire, but taking land they had been on for many centuries and giving to people who were there many more centuries ago. It's not as if they are stuck in two bits of land without control of their own borders. It's not as if the 'new owners' of the land are creating settlements outside of their legitimate borders with the aim of setting new borders more to their advantage. It's not as if Jerusalem is important to any other religion.

I'm resigned to be called anti-semitic for my belief that more should be done to make Israel obey international law and withdraw settlers from the occupied territories, not to mention ceasing construction of the 'land-grab' barrier. Or my belief that Israel holds the key to peace in the Middle East, but is unwilling to use it, since they want all the land God 'gave' them (despite the fact that God seems strangely unwilling to intervene on either side - wonder why that would be...). Or that the international community are acting in a truly disgusting manner by making ordinary Palestinians suffer for exercising their right to vote. I don't support bombing, whether suicide bombing or the reaction it garners from Israeli forces.

And yet it is not at all difficult to see why the non-Western world lacks trust in the West based on their actions (or inactions) in the international community. When the West puts self-interest aside and starts actually helping (rather than just throwing money or troops around) maybe by actually supporting the UN rather than tearing it apart just because it doesn't do what it's told, then we might be able to make the world a better place...

But the world continues to spin...

I've not written here in a while. Well, other than the old emails I've not written anywhere.

Life has, once again, flown by. At the time of my last blog I was in Vancouver with my intented. We had a blast. We managed to stay at two different Fairmont hotels - Hotel Vancouver for one night, a fabulous present from the friends we were staying with, and the Empress in Victoria. Originally it was for one night as a Christmas present for the love of my life. It ended up being three nights, and I have to say I was bloody marvellous. In fact, the trip to Vancouver was just so totally beyond expectations that we stayed an extra two weeks. My thanks, as always, to everyone who made the trip so great, including Maya, who was about a month old when we got there, and about four months old when we left...

After three months in a different time zone, the jet lag was pretty painful. I'd wake up between 04:30 and 05:30 for two weeks, so would get up and wathc the news on the BBC. We used it as a way of trying to start getting up ealier. The first meal we had was fish and chips. Now, while I love Vancouver, it does suffer from a lack of a decent chippie. Cornish pasty and chips? Not a chance. So when we got back, I had to have my fix. Not long after we got back we headed to my parents' farm in Wales. Cool place. Very relaxing (not counting the 'unpleasantness' which I'll get to in a moment). We were there for about a week I guess before we were asked by Mel's parents if we could look after thier place as they were going to Spain. We were heading out there ourselves for a wedding in March but they were going early. We agreed, and back to Hindhead we went. Bear in mind, it's about five hours by car.

It was good in a way, as not long after that I had a call from the last company I worked for. They had acquired a company called GFI, and all of my old team were being made redundant as they were closing our office and relocating to just north of Birmingham. I was asked if I would consider going back to help out. We had four weeks before we were heading to Spain, so I did it. It was actually really good. I went back on a not bad salary, four days a week, six hours a day. The lack of stress since my employment there last time was great! Unfortunately, it was at this time things started to go wrong elsewhere.

I'll jump ahead here and say Mel has been fabulous. I understand now the expression "he/she has been my rock." Without Mel, and with my closest friends being in Vancouver, I don't know if I could have done the little I have done in the last couple of months. So I reiterate here and now, without reservation, that Mel is my everything, and I am hugely grateful that she will soon be my wife.

But anyway, back to the events. While working back at my old job, my parents went away for a week to see my sister. My grandfather remained on the farm as he needed to feed his animals. Everything seemed to be going fine, but when my parents got back, they found the range which heated the house (including the hot water) wasn't working. My grandfather accused them of trying to kill him. He apparently believes that they sabotaged the heating, so he would get hypothermia and die, and they would get his money. Now this seemed a bit strange to me, for two reasons. The first is knowing my parents (it may be sad to admit, but I have lived with them for at least 29 of my 30 years on this planet) this is not something they would try to do. The second reason is that if they did decide to do it, he wouldn't still be here complaining about it. What gets me is that he didn't call my parents to say the heating was off. He just did nothing. They had had arguements before, but this was it for them. They said if that's how he felt, he had a month to leave, which they followed up in writing. They had to get an engineer out to fix the heating in the end.

So you'd think that would be it. My grandfather, believing his life was threatened would move out, and everyone would be happy. But no. One morning, the post arrives, and with it a letter from a solicitor saying that my grandfather was very disappointed to be told to leave the property, as he owned a third of it and had invested another considerable amount in animals and equipment, for which he wanted money. I couldn't believe it until I saw the letter. It was somewhere around here that me , Mel, my sister and her husband decided we'd all pitch up at the farm and see what was going on. It was fairly awful. Mum and Dad were both stressed beyond belief, and my grandfather, despite wanting money for the aforementioned bits and pieces, had removed them from the farm. Mum and Dad felt that they couldn't leave the farm unattended. Mel and I decided to stay, as I was only temping, Mel wasn't working, but both my sister and her husband had jobs they couldn't really take a break from at such short notice.

To summarise the next events, Mum and Dad now have a solicitor who advised that my grandfather was entitled to two months notice, which was duly given. That runs out this Monday. After that, they'll need to apply for a court order (as he has repeated stated he isn't leaving until a judge tells him to). So here we are waiting. There have been a couple of altercations, including one where my grandfather said he will make it his business to become the majority owner of the farm so he can call the shots. He's basically turned spiteful and vindictive. I didn't mention how he told my mother that he didn't love her or any of his kids, as he was too busy working. Nice.

It is draining being here, but I would make the same choice again - between hearing my Mum cry on the phone at least once a day and living here, I know I made the right choice. With me and Mel here, Mum and Dad can get on with things - they can go out together or work on the farm while we stay in the house. They don't feel so under siege in their own home. We can't do anything more until his notice expires, and then it's anyone's guess when the next availbale court date is. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I try and think that every day that passes, we are a day closer to getting this resolved.

And although it's not easy when the law gives rights to enable a house guest you want to leave to stay for three months before you can even apply for a court order, the world continues to spin...