"Don't part with your dreams - when they are gone you may still exist but you will have ceased to live" - Mark Twain

"Do you know that this blog wouldn't exist if it wasn't for you being here to read it!?" - Bobby Gill

Thursday, 30 December 2010

Time for change or life as usual?

Do you 'Do what you want' or 'Get what you want'?

The difference between the two is that If you do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got!

As Albert Einstein said: "Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them."


If you continue to do it your way, you are likely to get a repeat of the result.

Sometimes you need help from an external source or listen to 'the voice inside' to tell you to do something different.You don't necessarily have to agree with the solution but if you just LISTEN without being judgmental or defensive, at least you'll have a different perspective.

Ask yourself better questions and you will get better answers. Listen and you will get more options. Then go get what you want!

Happy New Year,
Bobby

Sunday, 26 December 2010

What is a Bank Holiday?

A Holiday is by definition a Holy Day, the word originally referred only to special religious days - but the Bankers felt they deserved some time off too.

Historically this would be the day that Bankers went for Confession and then threw themselves out of windows to save the honour of their families and their karma. Black Mondays were around times when they'd caused a financial crisis - there were so many leaping from tall buildings,  in a mass cleansing, that they blocked out the light from the sun.

Those were the good old days! Oh, how old traditions are forgotten. If only...


"Bank Holidays Act 1871

Prior to 1834, the Bank of England observed about thirty-three saints' days and religious festivals as holidays, but in 1834, this was reduced to just four: 1 May (May Day), 1 November (All Saints Day), Good Friday, and Christmas Day.
In 1871, the first legislation relating to bank holidays was passed when Liberal Politician and Banker, Sir John Lubbock introduced the Bank Holidays Act 1871 which specified the days [set out below in italics]. Sir John was an enthusiastic supporter of cricket and was firmly of the belief that bank employees should have the opportunity to participate in and attend matches when they were scheduled. Included in the dates of bank holidays are therefore dates when cricket games were traditionally played between the villages in the region where Sir John was raised.

The English people [bankers] were so thankful that they called the first Bank Holidays 'St. Lubbock's Days' for a while.  Scotland was treated separately because of its separate traditions; for example, New Year is a more important holiday there.

Easter Monday
Whit Monday ( First Monday in May)
First Monday in August
Boxing Day/St. Stephen's Day
The act did not specify Good Friday and Christmas Day as bank holidays in England, Wales and Ireland because they were already recognised as common law holidays, and because of common observance, they became customary holidays since before records began.

Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971

Exactly a century after the 1871 Act, the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, which currently regulates bank holidays in the UK, was passed. The majority of the current bank holidays were specified in the 1971 Act, but New Year's Day and May Day were introduced after 1971.


Royal proclamation


Under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, bank holidays are proclaimed each year by the legal device of a royal proclamation. Royal proclamation is also used to move bank holidays that would otherwise fall on a weekend. In this way, public holidays are not 'lost' in years when they coincide with weekends. These deferred bank holiday days are termed a 'bank holiday in lieu' of the typical anniversary date. In the legislation they are known as 'substitute days'. The movement of the St Andrew's Day Scottish holiday to the nearest Monday when 30 November is a weekend day is statutory and does not require a proclamation." -
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_holiday


That's right. Everyone else knows what a Holiday or holy day is but the Bankers have an Act for it and even the Queen gets involved.  It's just not cricket!

Happy Bank Holiday and don't let the Bankers bite!


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Friday, 24 December 2010

Story of the Nativity - online

Whilst you check your Facebook, emails, shop on Amazon and bid on the bargains at Ebay - remember  what Christmas is all about.

"Times change, Feelings remain the same."

Happy Holidays everyone, Bobby


The Miracle of the Tablecloth

If you believe that all things happen for a reason and believe there is something more intelligent than you 'out there' (or inside), then this story is for you. Be it true or not does not matter, it is the hope it gives to those that have faith in a greater purpose and know there is a meaning to their life. Do things seem to go wrong but are really going right for a different reason that you do not know yet - and may never realise...

As you get ready for Christmas, to spend it with family, friends, strangers or alone - pass this seasonal story onto your loved ones to let them know you were thinking of them.  Your connections and bonds are there to get stronger, not to be forgotten.
Remember, as you read this, someone somewhere is thinking of you too!

Merry Christmas, Bobby



A story about...THE TABLECLOTH

"The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first church needed much work. They set a ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities.
When they saw their church, it was very run down and their goal was to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc., and on Dec 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On Dec 19 a terrible tempest -- a driving rainstorm -- hit the area and lasted for two days.

On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high. The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home.

On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church. By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it.

The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area.

Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet. "Pastor," she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth" The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria.

The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. She was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again. The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church.

The pastor insisted on driving her home, that was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return. One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving. The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety, and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine."
True Story - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid

Who says God does not work in mysterious ways. I asked the Lord to bless you as I prayed for you today. To guide you and protect you as you go along your way.... His love is always with you, His promises are true, And when we give Him all our cares you know He will see us through. So when the road you're traveling on seems difficult at best, Just remember I'm here praying, and God will do the rest.


This story has been around for a long time, and the details have changed over time. The earliest reference I've found to it is in the December 1954 issue of Reader's Digest.
This was published as "The Gold and Ivory Tablecloth" in Christmas in My Heart: A timeless Treasury of Heartwarming Stories, the first in a best-selling series of inspirational books by Dr. Joe Wheeler. In Wheeler's book.


READERS DIGEST 1954:
"The Gold and Silver Tablecloth by Howard C. Schade

At Christmas time men and women everywhere gather in their churches to wonder anew at the greatest miracle the world has ever known. But the story I like best to recall was not a miracle — not exactly.

It happened to a pastor who was very young. His church was very old. Once, long ago, it had flourished. Famous men had preached from its pulpit, prayed before its altar. Rich and poor alike had worshipped there and built it beautifully. Now the good days had passed from the section of town where it stood. But the pastor and his young wife believed in their run-down church. They felt that with paint, hammer, and faith they could get it in shape. Together they went to work.

But late in December a severe storm whipped through the river valley, and the worst blow fell on the little church — a huge chunk of rain-soaked plaster fell out of the inside wall just behind the altar. Sorrowfully the pastor and his wife swept away the mess, but they couldn’t hide the ragged hole.

The pastor looked at it and had to remind himself quickly, “Thy will be done!” But his wife wept, “Christmas is only two days away!”

That afternoon the dispirited couple attended the auction held for the benefit of a youth group. The auctioneer opened a box and shook out of its folds a handsome gold and ivory lace tablecloth. It was a magnificent item, nearly 15 feet long. but it, too, dated from a long vanished era. Who, today, had any use for such a thing? There were a few halfhearted bids. Then the pastor was seized with what he thought was a great idea.

He bid it in for $6.50.

He carried the cloth back to the church and tacked it up on the wall behind the altar. It completely hid the hole! And the extraordinary beauty of its shimmering handwork cast a fine, holiday glow over the chancel. It was a great triumph. Happily he went back to preparing his Christmas sermon.

Just before noon on the day of Christmas Eve, as the pastor was opening the church, he noticed a woman standing in the cold at the bus stop. “The bus won’t be here for 40 minutes!” he called, and invited her into the church to get warm.

She told him that she had come from the city that morning to be interviewed for a job as governess to the children of one of the wealthy families in town but she had been turned down. A war refugee, her English was imperfect.

The woman sat down in a pew and chafed her hands and rested. After a while she dropped her head and prayed. She looked up as the pastor began to adjust the great gold and ivory cloth across the hole. She rose suddenly and walked up the steps of the chancel. She looked at the tablecloth. The pastor smiled and started to tell her about the storm damage, but she didn’t seem to listen. She took up a fold of the cloth and rubbed it between her fingers.

“It is mine!” she said. “It is my banquet cloth!” She lifted up a corner and showed the surprised pastor that there were initials monogrammed on it. “My husband had the cloth made especially for me in Brussels! There could not be another like it.”

For the next few minutes the woman and the pastor talked excitedly together. She explained that she was Viennese; that she and her husband had opposed the Nazis and decided to leave the country. They were advised to go separately. Her husband put her on a train for Switzerland. They planned that he would join her as soon as he could arrange to ship their household goods across the border. She never saw him again. Later she heard that he had died in a concentration camp.

“I have always felt that it was my fault — to leave without him,” she said. “Perhaps these years of wandering have been my punishment!” The pastor tried to comfort her and urged her to take the cloth with her. She refused. Then she went away.

As the church began to fill on Christmas Eve, it was clear that the cloth was going to be a great success. It had been skillfully designed to look its best by candlelight.

After the service, the pastor stood at the doorway. Many people told him that the church looked beautiful. One gentle-faced middle-aged man — he was the local clock-and-watch repairman — looked rather puzzled.

“It is strange,” he said in his soft accent. “Many years ago my wife – God rest her — and I owned such a cloth. In our home in Vienna, my wife put it on the table” — and here he smiled — “only when the bishop came to dinner.”

The pastor suddenly became very excited. He told the jeweler about the woman who had been in church earlier that day. The startled jeweler clutched the pastor’s arm. “Can it be? Does she live?”

Together the two got in touch with the family who had interviewed her. Then, in the pastor’s car they started for the city. And as Christmas Day was born, this man and his wife, who had been separated through so many saddened Yule tides, were reunited.

To all who hear this story, the joyful purpose of the storm that had knocked a hole in the wall of the church was now quite clear. Of course, people said it was a miracle, but I think you will agree it was the season for it!

True love seems to find a way."

Friday, 17 December 2010

Europe: Who let the PIGS Out?

Not a very festive blog but read on if you want to know what the heck is happening in Europe and who's next... Who let the PIGS Out?

The Global economy is a mess right now, Governments want it one way, Banks another and the People... well you just watch the News right now - they have the final say! There's a lot of strange energy around right now, I'm sure you've noticed it even if you don't know what I mean - it appears negative but it's change for the best.

American and World Government and their Leaders have no need to manufacture Bad News anymore... it's really here! We won't discuss The illegal Wars, WikiLeaks Julian Assange or anything else - lets keep it European today!

Watch this great little video showing the background to The Crises of Capital then read on...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOP2V_np2c0


Never mind 'Who Let the Dogs Out', you should be asking 'Who Bailed the PIGS Out?'
They used to talk about investing in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India & China) now it's all about the Bankrupt PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain) aka PIIGGS (to include Ireland and Great Britain). Luckily the EU are making plans to bail them all out... Who has the printing press for all these Dollars and Euros being flooded onto the market? Unfortunately the money is only making it as far as the Fat Cats in Governments and Banks!

Subscribe to this Blog, follow me on Twitter and Facebook and check the other posts if you want to know the truth about what is happening. Share the links and posts with your friends if you find them of value!

Banks, Governments and Corporations do NOT have a conscience or spirit - they require human beings to animate them.  When you ask their employees to tell the truth, be honest and do the RIGHT thing - they will not speak up and represent themselves but go to a Lawyer (pronounced liar) to re-represent them (all paid for by the corporation with your money). As when given the option to be honest, they choose not to!
After all who would bite the hand that feeds them? Even if it was slapping the rest of their family and telling them to as well, before it put leftovers in their mouth - having had the main meal itself!?

You can't bury or hide the truth, as it always comes out.

The Real Pigs are in Government and Banking!
 
[My comments are in italic square brackets in the quotes below]



EU agrees on permanent eurozone rescue fund
"EU leaders have agreed to set up a permanent mechanism to bail out any member state whose debt problems threaten the 16-nation eurozone.

This year Greece and the Irish Republic have received emergency EU bail-outs.

The 27 leaders, meeting in Brussels on Thursday, agreed that in 2013 the permanent mechanism would succeed the eurozone's 750bn-euro (£637bn; $1tn) temporary bail-out fund [how temporary and where does it come from? ONLY $1 TRILLION!], the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

The summit comes amid continuing concern about stability in the eurozone, as national debts and deficits have soared above the EU's targets.

Portugal and Spain have been under financial market scrutiny since the Irish Republic was forced to take an aid package of 85bn euros (£72bn; $113bn) last month. [Do you need to be forced to something if it was in your best interests? Short answer - NO!]

The European Central Bank (ECB) has been buying billions of euros of sovereign debt to ease the pressure on the countries seen as most vulnerable in the eurozone. It is to double the reserves it holds - to 10.8bn euros, from 5.8bn euros at present. [Yes, the ECB will own you too if your country accepts any money - oh, actually don't worry, you should be more concerned about your country milking you before the ECB!]
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12014385



PIIGGS
Portugal - Perception of corruption on the rise in Portugal: www.theportugalnews.com
Italy - Civil unrest & riots: Silvio Berlusconi vote win sparks Rome clashes http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11992034
Ireland - Ireland’s rating cut five levels by Moody’s www.independent.ie
Great Britain - UK Bank's rate rise alert for variable mortgages: www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages-and-homes/
(honorary #PIIGGS) and Civil Unrest starting with the students!
Greece - Civil unrest in Greece after the Bail-out! http://www.bbc.co.uk
Spain - Spain bad loan ratio rises to near 15-year high www.reuters.com

They used to write about 'Blood on the Streets' in the Great Depression - well it's back!



(UK) Bank's variable mortgage rate rise alert
"Two-thirds of the country's 12m outstanding mortgages - held by eight million borrowers - are now on floating deals.

This means they risk seeing their monthly repayments jump if there is any change in the Bank's base rate - which is currently held at 0.5%.

Combined with next month's VAT increase from 17.5% to 20%, deep cuts to public spending, rising unemployment, and the soaring cost of everyday goods, household finances are facing an unprecedented squeeze. [You thought it was bad already, prepare to be bent over a barrel!]

'A relatively small increase in interest rates could have a fairly sizeable impact on the housing market at a time when the market is already pretty weak,' said Jonathan Loynes, chief economist at Capital Economics.
The forecaster said house prices were 20% overvalued and could fall by that amount in the next two to three years.

Among the worst hit by a rate hike would be those who stretched themselves to get on the housing ladder in the past two years.

The average tracker mortgage charges interest of 3.51% while a typical two-year fix has a rate of 3.54%.

Although this is seven times the Bank's base rate, banks do not borrow the money they lend on to customers quite this cheaply. Typically they pay between 0.75% and 1.5%."
[That's right, nearly 500% mark-up (on your Govt. loaned money) - but only for those of you that can afford the large 25%+ deposits required to get on the housing ladder]
Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages-and-homes/



Find out more about protecting your Wealth, Money, Gold and Financial intelligence at: www.richdadstrategies.com


Wednesday, 1 December 2010

Irish Bail Out

"It is a slow day in a damp little Irish town. The rain is beating down and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.

On this particular day a rich German tourist is driving through the town, stops at the local hotel and lays a €100 note on the desk, telling the hotel owner he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night. The owner gives him some keys and, as soon as the visitor has walked upstairs, the hotelier grabs the €100 note and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the €100 note and runs down the street to repay his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the €100 note and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel. The guy at the Farmers' Co-op takes the €100 note and runs to pay his drinks bill at the pub. The publican slips the money along to the local prostitute drinking at the bar, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer him "services" on credit. The hooker then rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill to the hotel owner with the €100 note. The hotel proprietor then places the €100 note back on the counter so the rich traveller will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveller comes down the stairs, picks up the €100 note, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town.

No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and looking to the future with a lot more optimism...

and that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how the bailout package works."



Also check out the other blog post here: The Great Rip-off: Tale of the Dead Donkey