Alan Skeoch

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  • EPISODE 341; Champagne lunch may 13 2021 at the farm (not flattering)

    EPISODE 341   CHAMPAGNE LUNCH AT THE FARM MAY 13, 2021 (NOT FLATTERING)


    alan skeoch
    May  2021

    Marjorie found a small bottle of Champagne in the refrigerator just as she

    was making soup for a Spartan lunch.  That seemed a nice beginning on a

    May afternoon.  It got out of hand as you will see.























    What is Woody thinking?

    alan


    Sent from my iPhone


  • EPISODE 340 TWO THINGS THAT SURPRISED US IN CHINA…FIND THE SURPRISES

    EPISODE 340   TWO THINGS THAT SURPRISED US IN CHINA…FIND THE SURPRISES


    alan skeoch
    May 2021

    As I mentioned earlier, Marjorie and I did not want to  go to China but Kevin insisted.
    We felt we would be strangers in a strange country with differing political systems
    that were hostile to each other.

    Right from the start we were surprised to discover two things about Beijing.  See
    if you can find them.


    The surprises ?   One you may have guessed.  The other is the last picture in this series.  


    THIS young girl was our guide hired by Kevin.  She was a very funny person…told lots of jokes that were tasteful and very
    funny.   Jokes that were not part of a routine.  She liked us and was super relaxed.  She was very proud of her country…normal.
    But also very interested in our country.





    ANSWER:   1) WE seemed to be liked…big smiles often
       2) the street signs and other signage was in two languages…Chinese of course but also English.  English!
    Why would the signage be in English?   Why would people on any street in China want to smile at us…warm smiles.?
    Even the boys who could well be soldiers.

  • EPISODE 339 GREAT WALL OF CHINA



    EPISODE 339    THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA   circa 2013

    alan skeoch
    May 2021




    “So Kevin, what’s up for today?”
    “First, the hotel breakfast…take what you want buffet…including bacon and eggs and coffee.
    “Then what?”
    “We will need all the energy we can muster.  We will have to climb on ancient stone blocks
    to get to the site and then we can walk for 13,000 miles “
    “Get serious Kevin”
    “We are going to climb onto the GREAT WALL OF CHINA…One of the great wonders
    of the world.  13,000 miles long with some gaps.   We will climb onto the most famous
    parts of the great wall.”
    “Many people will be there I bet…”
    “Lots of people but the wall is so big it just swallows the crowds…you will be stunned by
    the place.   Up top it is as wide as a highway…up and down high hills…ramparts…forts.
    “Why was it built?”
    “Good question.   The Wall was designed to stop barbarian invasions.   It never really did that.”
    “What year was it built?”
    -You mean what century…the wall took hundreds of years to build.  Began perhaps as far
    back as the 5th century B.C…some parts even earlier…around 220 B.C. The Chinese emperor
    at the time ordered his people to build the wall…3,500 miles constructed with primitive tools and
    animals and thousands of people…some say that over 400,000 workers died building
    the Great Wall of China and many of their bodies are buried here and there under and inside
    the wall.”
      


    Marjorie and I could hardly believe that we were actually going to walk sections of
    the Great Wall of China.   But we were there.  First we wound our way up a steep
    hill which was packed with little sales booth…souvenirs, food, silk clothing…everything
    from soup to nuts.   Then we had to climb up a rather chaotic stairway of large stepping
    stones until we arrived on  top of the wall.

    We were part of large crowd of tourists…all nationalities included a whopping big
    number of caucasians.  Once on top of the wall the crowd seemed to disappear.  Getting there
    however we had to thread our way through a forest of arms, legs, elbows. On top the crowd just disappeared.  As you will see.
    An interesting crowd.  When they saw Marjorie’s cane many offered help…the cluster parted to let her through.  Manners…respect
    for older people.  Just a bit surprising.   

    HERE IT IS…THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA



    WHY THE CANE?  Marjorie just had knee surgery…titanium knees yet she was able to scale the wall.  She had to do that.  Feared
    we would leave her behind sitting of a block of stone carved thousands of years ago.   On top of the wall the walking was easy.




    UPDATED:
    NOV 5, 2019
    ORIGINAL:
    AUG 24, 2010

    Great Wall of China

    The Great Wall of China is an ancient series of walls and fortifications, totaling more than 13,000 miles in length, located in northern China. Perhaps the most recognizable symbol of China and its long and vivid history, the Great Wall was originally conceived by Emperor Qin Shi Huang in the third century B.C. as a means of preventing incursions from barbarian nomads. The best-known and best-preserved section of the Great Wall was built in the 14th through 17th centuries A.D., during the Ming dynasty. Though the Great Wall never effectively prevented invaders from entering China, it came to function as a powerful symbol of Chinese civilization’s enduring strength.

    Qin Dynasty Construction 

    Though the beginning of the Great Wall of China can be traced to the fifth century B.C., many of the fortifications included in the wall date from hundreds of years earlier, when China was divided into a number of individual kingdoms during the so-called Warring States Period. 

    Around 220 B.C., Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China under the Qin Dynasty, ordered that earlier fortifications between states be removed and a number of existing walls along the northern border be joined into a single system that would extend for more than 10,000 li (a li is about one-third of a mile) and protect China against attacks from the north.

    Construction of the “Wan Li Chang Cheng,” or 10,000-Li-Long Wall, was one of the most ambitious building projects ever undertaken by any civilization. The famous Chinese general Meng Tian initially directed the project, and was said to have used a massive army of soldiers, convicts and commoners as workers. 

    Made mostly of earth and stone, the wall stretched from the China Sea port of Shanhaiguan over 3,000 miles west into Gansu province. In some strategic areas, sections of the wall overlapped for maximum security (including the Badaling stretch, north of Beijing, that was later restored during the Ming Dynasty). 

    From a base of 15 to 50 feet, the Great Wall rose some 15-30 feet high and was topped by ramparts 12 feet or higher; guard towers were distributed at intervals along it.

  • EPISODE 338 CHINA SURPRISED ME IN 2013

    NOTE:  Tension between Canada and China is very real this year.  Too bad.
    So I thought readers might be interested in our visit to Beijing  back in 2013.


    EPISODE  338    CHINA SURPRISED ME IN 2013


    alan skeoch
    May 2021

    “Dad, I have booked a flight for all of us to fly to China tomorrow.”
    “Awww Kevin, we’re quite happy here in Korea.”
    “China will surprise you.”
    “To much tension Kevin.”
    “Tension?”
    “Tension between Canada and China…..different people.”
    “Scared, dad?”
    ‘No need to take risks…not sure the Chinese Would like us.”
    “You will be surprised, Dad…pack your bag….I have 
    booked us all into a small Chinese hotel in Beijing for a few nights.”
    “Your mom and I do not speak Chinese, Kevin.”
    “You will be surprised to discover that many Chinese speak english.”
    “Why would they do that?”

    LOTS OF SURPRISES


    SURPRISE #1

    OUR first surprise was the hat seller.   Chinese military hats … fake fur with 
    a Communist red star.  I bought six of them from these street capitalists.  WHY?
    I have no idea but Thought the price was right.





    2)  SURPRISE #2  

    A LOT of Chinese citizens were quite ready to bargain … got to be fun.
     



    SURPRISE #3

    THE food for sale on one street in Beijing was really bizarre.  We ad read about the Chinese ‘Bug’ market.  Sure enough
    there were candied bugs…for sale.  A special street for foreigners.   A bunch of Russian men
    were having a great time wolfing down some of  these bugs.   But this was special for
    foreigners.  No Chinese customers that I could see.




    SURPRISE #4    THE CHINESE WE MET WERE GLAD TO SEE US…MADE US FEEL VERY WELCOME



    SO, Marjorie and I went back and bought a couple more hats.



    So let me tell you about these surprises.  No one was hostile.  Granted the hat sellers wanted
    to make a buck but they did it in a very friendly way.     More stories about China coming

  • EPISODE 337 HERE IS A TRIP YOU CAN TAKE: FIFTH LINE SOUTH FROM STEELES AVENUE…DO IT NOW WHILE CHANGE IS HAPPENING


    EPISODE 337   HERE IS A TRIP YOU CAN TAKE: FIFTH LINE SOUTH FROM STEELES AVEUE…DO IT NOW WHILE CHANGE IS HAPPENING

    alan skeoch
    May 2021







    SOMETIMES WE SEE THINGS WE WOULE RATHER NOT SEE.  THIS IS ONE OF THOSE TIMES.



    TAKE THIS DRIVE IN THE COUNTRY…ONLY TAKE TWO HOURS FOR MOST READERS

    You want something to do?  A chance to see some changes in our
    country that are inevitable but at the same  time disturbing.  A chance
    to see change happening before your eyes.   Change is the only sure
    thing in life.  Changes occur every day.  Irreversible.

    If you want to see change rather than read about it then take
    this simple trip.  It will not take long. Perhaps two hours or even
    less.  The road is paved but harrow.  The road shoulders are too
    steep to pull over.  Probably you would not want to pull over
    anyway.

    Best to start at Steeles Avenue  and the Fifth Line … Halton County …drive south
    until the Fifth Line ends and curves over to Trafalgar Road.  

    What will you see?  You will see just how brutal change can be.  
    You will see Warehouses being built on a gargantuan scale.  You
    will see a land being flattened,  You will see jobs being created
    by the hundreds, perhaps thousands.  How many will Lululemon employ?

    And if you are there in time, you will see hints of what was once thousands
    of acres of fine top soil now piled into immense artificial hills high enough to
    blot out the horizon.   

    You will see the best top soil in Canada.  Yes, best in Canada.  You will see that
    soil being covered with concrete with black steel trusses popping up like nightmares in
    a horror show.    

    So consider the upside.. jobs being created for far more people
    than could ever be sustained in agriculture.  Measure that with the
    downside … the loss of soil.   Are we winners or losers?