DAY 3#
I woke up today relieved to hear on the news......that aid worker Kate Burton and her mum and dad, Hugh and Win have been released during the night/early hours by their captors. Separately and via individual cars at different locations they were each set free.
I am really really pleased.
I was genuinely disturbed, worried and very concerned as to who had 
taken them and what motives were behind their being taken in the first place. Let alone what fate may have been awaiting them. Owing to the fragilty this once safe (ish) area and the miriad of terrible injustices that certain other governments have put upon both this and other parts of the middle east with their interfering I imagine I was not alone with my concernes.
Kate along with other United Nations employees working from the UN in Gaza had no option but to leave having been told by those in charge that Western hostage had become a very serous concern.
So having left the UN, she stayed in the same area but began working for the "al-Mezan Centrein"(Centre for Human Rights)
Kate who had invited her parents over to stay had been showing them around the town of Rafah which is near the Egyptian border. And it was here that their nightmare ordeal began. However Kate has made it very clear that not only was she treated well, but that her captors made a point of regularly asking her if she needed anything.
It is also aparent from the video that The Mujahadeen Brigades released yesterday showing Kate and a masked gunman, that she was not made to wear a mask or Quantanmo Bay type orange jump suite that has become symbolic and reminiscent of those shown in videos released by the Iraq insurgent groups who kidnapped and killed westerners as a last line of defence to fight the illegal US led occupaton of Iraq.
Kate is also seen to be in my own opinion quite together athough obviously frightened.
I wonder too that being able to speak French,Spanish AND Arabic, whether this would have been a blessing or simply added to the fear she must have already been feeling. I mention this because on the video we can see Kate standing beside the gunman who is reading a statement out in what I would imagine to be Arabic or similar. And if Kate could understand some or all of what was being read it would either have been a blessing to know what was going on or simply added to an already worsening nightmare for her.
I admire her courage and faith without question. Well done Kate. Especially since she's already said that she wants to carry on her work over the in Gaza.
It's very sad that this previously unheard of group "The Mujahadeen Brigades" has said it will go further in the future by kidnapping international monitors if it has too. From what I have read and heard, (thanks Sky news and BBC WS) the group have denounced the UK for it's involvement and the part it's played throughout history in what has been happening to Palestinians since 1918. This goes far beyond my understanding as I am not educated enough or up to speed on middle eastern history but I have a rough understanding. I will be researching it though as I think it is important to know what's going on especially in this world climate.
The second news story that needs mentioning is that from the Russian gas compnay Gazprom is threatening to cut off supplies to the Ukraine by a January 1st threatened deadline,unless it begins paying for it's gas supplies life everyone else. 
The problem is not an easy one to understand and certainly won't fade away.
The basics of the situation are that the Ukraine has been used by Gazprom for many years as an outlet and throughport by which Gazprom has been using it to shift it supplies via the Ukraine straight through to parts of Europe, and in return, the Ukraine has enjoyed more or less free gas.
But the company is now saying it needs to increase it's overall fuel prices and by what is percieved to be a considerable amount. Hense forth the Ukraine too is now being told it must also start paying.
It's a sad state of affairs as the Ukraine is a middle man for a quarter of the Wests gas input too!!!!!
To top that off the Russian government has offered to bail out the Ukraine by way of a government loan to help pay for the fuel costs. This has no doubt enraged the state who say they don't want handouts and want to be independant. Who can blame them.
And looking a the situation further....even though we are on the other side of the water from them, we here in the United Kingdom may suffer too. the point is...We may see problems over her before long is this Jauary 1st threat of "switching off supplies" actually happens.
What's more worrying is that we are now under a really cold spell and yesterdays electricity problems have drawn home the bigger picture should the gas be interrupted in any way.
It was about 5pm 
or so late yesterday afternoon when the telly went off as did all the power.
We had no electricity for a good two hours. Thank heavens I bought my daughter a ton of batteries for christmas that are in the cupboard. May need them all at this rate should the powercut last the night.
From what I can understand, one of the main sub stations suffered from bad weather blues and caused a black out both in Trimley and (thanks mum) around the felixstowe area.
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Have just found out:
(Homes last night without power)
East Anglia: 44,000
East Midlands: 17,000
North Wales: 18,000
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I imagine some of the smaller shops and perhaps some of the supermarkets suffered quite badly too. I am talking about food products kept in the freezers and fridges although perhaps they were ok.
Luckily for us, daddy has been taught well (thanks again mum...LOL) and learnt over the years to always have standby lights ect.
I may not have had candles but my daughter who slept through most of the outage, woke up with fully charged batteries in her portable player and one of the battery lights beside her bed.
My old but reliable computer came in handy too what with it's battery supply. It's only good for an hour JUST!!! But it allowed me to whack across several of my daughter favorite cartoons from her drive to my phone. I wanted to have something for her to watch as my good old phone has four spare batteries and she would have been fine with it if everything else ran out.
What's funny is that she didn't seem bothered at all by the outage when she woke up and all I got was "I want my dinner" and "Can you put Thomas on"(Calling all Engines....Thomas the tank engine film)
She never ceases to amaze me. The best thing of all though was having dinner cooked just as the power went off. Luckily the meal was nearly cooked anyway..And the hot oven stayed hot enough to cook everything. I imagine others weren't so lucky so my thoughts went out to them whilst I savoured every mouthful of hot chips..Gravy...Beans...Sweet potatoes and pie...(like heck it did.....Am I sarcastic or what....He he he he he)
I digress....
Onto today....
Well..I have been up since waking at dead on (kid you not) 4am. I didn't even want a cigarette either which made me feel wonderful. I got up tucked my little one in....Made her a fresh water bottle and fresh milk bottle....Refilled her pooh bear water bottle.... made a coffee...changed my patch,made a quick phone call (not to a person as I am not in the habit of winding and waking people up at such as time LOL)... And then sat down to write this.
It's day three now of my stopping smoking and I am already seriously noticing the complete lack of being knackered first thing in the morning. I HAVE however felt a new 24hour urge to eat everything I can get my hands in relation to sweets and chocolates oh...And prawn cocktail crips too.....
And I don't mind telling you Mr.Blog that my daughters goodies that I always put on one side each week as treats may be next to go if I show the same lack of self discipline as I have shown my own treats/goodies...He he he he. She may be just coming up to her 3rd birthday but she is one amazing child. She knows how to throw a guilt trip and has become expert at letting the world know when she's annoyed. I'm sure she'll go far in life anyway...But with this talent at making daddy feel bad she will grow up to be just like a real female of the species....HE HE HE (only kidding....)
Anyway....(yes I KNOW I use the word "anyway" far too much but it'd one of those gorgeous words that one throws about at the beginning of a sentence when one is thinking and a little stuck at how to write the next paragraph....Something like that)
Like I was saying...I feel tired right now, but I don't feel miserable at the coughing I was suffering from only 3 days or so prior to stopping smoking. I also don't ache when I get up to do something....I am not out of breath so much when I move around quickly...
The perfect scenario for this would be like yesterday.....Sophie asked me to get her something from the other room like her garage and cars...And no sooner was I out of the door...She went and called me back in to get her a DVD she wanted to watch.....Then she will expect me to get the cat for her.....Seriously....She WILL literally ask me to "can you bring cat over her daddy" she always says please as myself and family have made a point of always teaching her manners whenever possible. I realize how crazy that may sound, as with manners should come the point where she should do things for herself...don't get me wrong as she's just like most children in that respect but when she can't be bothered and is comfortable on the settee that's when she'll expect ME to get things for her. She IS getting better though as yesterday she actually peeled her own banana.....honestly.....no word of a lie.
Anyway...I love her to bits and wouldn't be doing half of the things I am nearing to completing in life if it wasn't for the fact of knowing shes in my life. Even smoking...when I had my last cigerette on Wednesday night I was saying a little prayer asking for help and guidance throughout the coming year and though I was being quiet enough. But no....little miss heard some of it and came over, asked me for a cuddle and simply said "daddy are you not going to be going out the kitched window anymore" She hates it when I put my head out of the window to smoke and has told me everytime I would say where I was going, that she wanted me to stop. I have told her how bad smoking is now and that when daddy tried before to quite that daddy wasn't ready. Now she has been checking asking me if I have got a patch on. It may not be a lot but I know she understands enough to realise that her saying that and telling me not to smoke helps me so much. I pray that she never smokes and ever has to go through having to get to the point I did before realising it's time to make a concerted effort.
I am wafling on a little I think....sorry about that if I am Mr.Blog.
I will go get another coffee and do some of my assignment now.
Cu
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