Izdihar - Magic Kingdom Escapology

In the normal course of events, I'm not overtly political, but I was struck by the image below from Telzey (Lydia Marano), one of my flickr contacts, which seems to me to sum up what is happening in Iran at the moment.

Whilst neither I nor many others beyond the boundaries of Iran really know what the outcome of the Iranian Presidential Election really was, it is clear that vast numbers of the Iranian people believe that it was not as it was called. The basic human right to free speech is essential if Iranian democracy is to be seen as a fair and open process within that country's political system. Every indication is that this right is being abused.

I know precious little about Iran, most of what do know comes from the media and a recent focus on the country in NGM. It is though a place that has long intrigued me and a place I would like to see for my own eyes. I get the impression that the people their have more in common with Western society than the many Middle Eastern countries that mainstream media would like to lump them with. Iran has long held a tradition for making its own mind up - something very vividly demonstrated in 1979 - hopefully the beneficiaries to the inheritance of the revolution will reflect on that tradition and will allow its own people to speak.

For some obscure reason, I decided to log into Facebook tonight and almost instantly was passing messages with my (much) younger sister. I used to do this, but some of the crap that gets circulated at times is ever so slightly juvenile (old fart alert), so I dropped out about 18 months back. Anyway, a few minutes were passed, then she said she was heading off to bed, on which topic I haven't yet made a move and am listening to some Audioslave. I have though cut out the middle man of lying in bed wide awake, and have gone straight to the Horlicks - thought I'd try breaking the pattern tonight

Or at least that's what I wish I was doing.

Since coming back to Riyadh and the workplace that goes with it, my sleep patterns have got majorly disrupted. Go to bed tired, lie awake for a while, get too hot, maybe my back starts nagging away at me, realise that lying there is going to do nothing to help, get up again, have a drink, surf the net, go back to bed at maybe 02:30, finally get to sleep, alarm goes off at 05:45 and somehow at around 06:30, stumble into the bathroom and try to get into the office at best semi-conscious.

For anyone who actually wants to do a days' work, this is probably not the most practical solution in the world. I've tried medication on a couple of occasions, but they just turn me into a zombie the following day and leave me feeling like I've been sedated (best guess, never actually been sedated). The problem now is that I think my body clock is developing a pattern, though I know that over the weekend, this will magically go away. At the moment, I'm not sure how to get this out of the system, in the intervening period though, I will be the one who looks like this in our office

Turned the blog trackbacks on again this evening - not a clue how they work or what I need to do to ensure they are working for me rather than against me, so drop me a line if you know.

EDIT: One other thing whilst I think about, who exactly is responsible for the views the blog seems to be accumulating and why don't you ever say anything?

Over the last few days, since getting back from the UK, I've managed to finish off a couple of books. One was 'What, is the What', an autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, the other was Girl With a One-Track Mind by Abby Lee a.k.a. Zoe Margolis. What very different books they were. One has taken me months to read, the other took less than 24 hours, I'll leave you to work out which way round that was

Shall we say that these two books were very different? I think we shall. Both though were very endearing and thought provoking - I don't think either life is one I would wish to lead. In one, the chances are that I wouldn't have survived the experience, and in the other AM would have probably got in their first.

Anyway, should you wish to read more, you can always have a look at their respective websites:

• The Valentino Achak Deng Foundation
• Girl With a One-Track Mind

The chances are that this is both the first and last time that these two links will appear side by side in a list, but I do though thank both for enlightening me in a most enjoyable manner.

This is what you get when you mix oil, water and a photog --> check the link out to see how it's done - Adorama & PPSOP

This was taken at the Melton Mowbray market during the TPF Rutland Meet-up. The guy running the stall was from Nepal and had loads of these fantastically coloured shirts, trousers, jackets and what not. How could a guy with a camera resist when one of the few patches of sun passed overhead - it was a bit breezy that day.