Day out fishing.

Day out fishing

Fishing trip in the south of England.
We had some Pollocks. On the way back to land was very fogy and at some point was really dangerous because was impossible to see a thing, specially a little island that look like a submarine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akG395rFWos&feature=youtu.be

Four more years.

US embassy in UK. Election Night

After four years, I was again invited to the US embassy in London to wait for the result of the possible, at that time, re-election of their first black president, Barack Obama.

This time I was incognito, because on the last occasion, when people discovered that I was a Cuban from Cuba, they immediately ran away. At one point, I thought that I had some disease.

Despite the music, canapes and drinks I could feel the tension everywhere. People were quiet and talking nervously, at the TV screens displayed all over the building.

I am sure that for Obama the last four years have been a challenge to kick-start a system that was in bad shape. 

Four more years.

He suffered attacks that look like the work of a Hollywood science fiction script:  he was born in Kenya, is a communist revolutionary, or secretly a convert to Islam.

From the beginning of the election campaign, I, personally, disliked  Mitt Romney’s  declarations about immigration, the right to abortion and the necessity of a stronger America in international policy. For those reasons, I was supporting Obama's possible victory with all my heart.

Almost all night neck to neck.

I think that Romney's main mistake was that he disregarded the growing power of the minorities:  Latins, blacks, young people and women.

Also, few weeks before the elections, he was criticised after the emergence of a secretly taped recording in which he derided 47% of Americans as dependent  on the state.

Although he won the first debate on TV, he was unable to repeat the Denver triumph in the following two contests and was forced to take a step back from campaigning just a week before election day when Storm Sandy hit the US East Coast.

Thank's to Susan and Glenn for the invitation

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama rode a wave of broad support from minorities, women and moderates to win re-election.

At 3:00 am we left the Embassy, with both candidates still neck to neck in the race for the presidency; at 6:00am, I was one of the happiest men on earth after listening to Obama's victory speech on the BBC website.

“While the road has been hard, while the journey has been long … we know in our hearts, for the United States of America, the best is yet to come,” Obama told supporters in Chicago early on Wednesday.

Obama's supporters celebrating 

Does Britain need more of us?. Who knows?

I Recently started a new job. It is not the job of my dreams, but in times of crisis it is  good to know that at the end of the month one will have some money to contribute to the family expenses.

The job has some drawbacks, I have to get up very early in the morning, receive the  minimum wage, and my colleagues speak all the time in their own language, Pakistani. This was very annoying at firs but It is alright now  because I discovered that  I can focus on  my job and learn the process faster .

However , that doesn't mean that we have a bad relationship. On  the contrary, they now call me  Chacha Arnold, which means Uncle Arnold,in Pakistani,  because I'm the oldest.

That friendly treatment began when I started  to learn some words in their language. 

In all the years living here,  I have  learned  that the best way to build a relationship  in an immigrant environment is to trying to learn, at least, a few words in your colleagues' language. That has always worked and it is working now.

I  have also discovered that the majority of them are well educated. There are some people writing their PHd dissertation and my supervisor was a member of his country's national shooting team which is very impressive.

I still don't understand how it is possible that 70 percent of the shop staff are immigrants. The proportion is divided between a majority of Pakistanis and Indians and a  few Caribbean Africans. The rest are European with  only two British people.

This is  surprising in a country where people are looking for work, shops and business are closing down and the unemployment figures are rising. 

Maybe it is the  survival  instinct witch  that drive  every immigrant to work no matter what.  Maybe that survivor instinct  breeds dreams success. 

This phenomenon not only happens in the developed countries but also in the developing countries where one can find specialist personnel from the countryside fighting to make their livings in the big cities.

So, despite right wing's comments and racist comments in some of the press immigrants labor are the backbone of this country. Does Britain need more of us?. Who knows?