Walking off a Danish pastry on esher common

I don't know when or how, but at some point in the last year I gave up any form of physical exercise and became unfit in the process. At the end of last year I was losing so many days to colds and coughs that I vowed to do something about it

I signed up to my local gym, and having completed my induction, my "gym routine started this week in earnest and I managed to pack in 3 sessions. I couldn't get to gym on Monday but got there on Tuesday and Wednesday, by Thursday morning everywhere hurt so I stayed way and instead went for a 15 minute walk, before returning on Friday morning.

I had a coffee and a Danish on Saturday before joining the local walking group for a 2 hour hike on Esher common and here are some pics of the landscape along the route we walked.

I have had another 30 minute walk today as i could not face being in the gym. I am not sure how I will fare next week, but I must say I have had a good start

Are you safe at work?

We all go to work where ever that may be and expect a degree of safety whilst at work in fact most employers will have some kind of insurance
Employer's liability for one, they will also employ an army of health and safety officers depending on how large the company is to ensure
that employees do not injure themselves whilst at work. If they don't they may face all sorts of penalties should any of their employees injure
themselves whilst at work.



can you spot the croc in the grass?


Spare a thought if you will for folk who earn a living as fishermen on Lake Victoria in East Africa
on my last visit, I read about fisherman who whilst out fishing he stumbled into a crocodile


He wrestled with it, screamed and shouted in vain. Eventually he managed to get away and climbed up a
nearby tree but not before the croc had eaten away his left buttock as well as part of his thigh. The man
became permanently disabled, with no insurance cover to compensate him for his injuries.
Although he still had his life he had no way of earning an income to feed his family of 5 and in a country
with no welfare benefits God only knows what his prospects are .

Next time you think a health and safety officer is making a fuss over nothing of consequence count your blessings;-)




Nile crocodiles at the Murchison falls Uganda

Ida Horner
Ethnic Supplies

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Could a Mixed Race band teach us something?

Saturday was an interesting day for me. I was invited to take part in a fundraising event in Aid of the Petrie Museum in London. It is all about things Egyptian.

I was to sell Ethnic Supplies products as part of the Souk, and in the evening Bloomsbury theatre became alive with Sahara Sounds more of the story here http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?op=reply&id=122403&pid=591544

I had never been to a Middle Eastern jazz concert and wasn't sure what to expect.I really loved the music and the atmosphere and the occasional jokes from the band leader had me laughing out loud.

However when I reflected on some of things he said as well as the make of the band I asked myself WHAT LESSONS WE COULD TAKE AWAY.

The band was made up of a men from Syria, Ireland, Palestine and Algeria brought together by the love of music. One of the numbers they played was not in any particular language and as far as I could make out it only contained vowels and accompanied with various instruments.

I did wonder whether agreeing with people from different walks of life, whose language you didn't speak or whose culture you didn't necessarily understand could be achieved with a similar concept.. YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW THE WORDS TO SING ALONG..

Realising that we are humans and that is what we have in common, appreciating that a little more perhaps? respecting others for who they are.. do we need to speak the same language for any of that?

What do you think?






Suhad showing off the colourfull hats from Ethnic Supplies





Suhad and I..and those yellow hats

Sauces of Hope

Just got back from London to support a fellow African woman who was launching her company Sauces of Hope. Agnes Mannah from Zambia, makes Aggy's sauces using authentic African ingridients from Zambia. We had a chance to taste and buy the sauces. The most exciting thing about this business is that for each jar sold a African child in Zambia gets fed for a day. The sauces are behind a project that supports 480 children orphaned by AIDS.

Check them out at http://aggyssauces.com/