Comments on: Guilt by Emigration

By: Ingrid

Ingrid — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:42:33 +0000

Thanks Rob, I realise that “astute tactical brain” is what it says but the phrase was new to me. Now I know that having an “astute tactical brain” is useful in a competitive field. Please forgive the throwaway comment of mine which now, on rereading, appears abrupt. I wrote and posted it quickly while chuckling at the thought of cats becoming like their owners in much the same way as couples or a dog and its owner, after a long time together, end up sharing similarities and looks. I should have thought to expand on the comment, intended as a compliment to you and your cat’s “astute tactical brain”, or at least ended the comment with a smiley 🙂 Also, thanks to your comment, I read up on Cloughie and Peter Taylor and found they’d enjoyed many years of great times and laughs together. Trouble was, it seems to me, business got mixed with personal. Years ago, a shocking experience with a very dear American friend of mine taught me a golden rule in life that wherever one is in the world, business is business, never confuse or mix business with personal. Give Cloughie a cuddle and tell him that worse things happen at sea 🙂

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:23:31 +0000

“Astute tactical brain” is what it says it is. “Peter Taylor” was Cloughie’s sidekick for many years at Nottingham Forest. The two fell out when Taylor went to derby and bought John Robertson without letting Cloughie know. They never spoke again. Taylor died without them making their peace. Cloughie doesn’t often let his emotions show, but I know he still hurts.

By: Ingrid

Ingrid — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:53:54 +0000

Cats become like their owners. Off to google what is astute tactical brain and who is peter taylor.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:44:25 +0000

Cloughie has a strong personality, is never afraid to air his views and has an astute tactical brain. He’s never been quite the same since Peter Taylor died, mind you

By: Ingrid

Ingrid — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:24:11 +0000

Great Rob, looking forward to it, thanks. Cloughie is a good name for a boy cat. I wonder if it's something to do with football or he likes playing ball. My cat never fails to chase swirly-multi-coloured-flecked ping pong balls but totally ignores white ones. I think cats can't see colours. Must look into it. Here's another thing, my cat cannot see herself in a mirror which makes me think they see the world in a much different way than we do.

At the moment it's 2.20 Wed afternoon, weather grey, cool and overcast, sea's calm, awaiting a BT engineer to arrive and connect my laptop to a fancy new wire free mini hub sitting next to me. My landline was switched to BT broadband Oct 6 and here I am on Oct 15, being charged for a service that I'm not receiving. In all it's been a 20-hour nightmare dealing with them over the phone from here to India, right from the start of trying to order and having to use their dial-up service in the interim. I had forgotten how slow pages and photos are to load. Can't wait to try broadband. I wonder how many visitors to our sites are still on dial-up. None I hope.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:59:00 +0000

Ingrid,
I’ll be posting about Cloughie and his story in the next couple of days

By: Ingrid

Ingrid — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:56:43 +0000

Dear Rob, I was so surprised and happy to see that you have a cat. Please, please tell us about it and post a photo. I love cats and want to start a cat blog that I can visit for some cheer on the days when the going gets tough at my watchblogs and I feel disappointed in human beings. I promise to lift all of your catposts and photos and stick them in my cat blog with credit to you and link to this site :) Cheers, Ingrid.

PS Incase you don't want to do any catblogging at From The Frontline, I would be most grateful to receive your catphotos and captions by email. Please note, my current email address ceases Nov 28 as I am switching my ISP to BT broadband.

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:07:58 +0000

One point that shouldn't be ignored. Many of the liberals who feel this guilt also do not beleive in the free market. When you hire people to work, they are getting something they want and they are not begging to get it. My house staff (two nannies, two guards and a gardener) would all like better jobs, but they are happier to have what they have than nothing at all. This is trade, not aid, to use an old slogan.
To feel guilt over helping others is, well, a bit odd.

As for eating ugali, I hate the stuff! Ever seen a Kenyan resturant overseas? When my wife wants to remember her mom's cooking, she makes it and I make some rice... Githeri is a different matter, as is irio, those I enjoy.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:21:30 +0000

Toaf, no idea about pingbacks. And as for the rest of you, this is one of those themes that I swore I’d never post on because I wouldn’t be able to help myself and would fall out with people. As I did in the first house I lived in here, with a White Kenyan whose father had knocked down a local girl and not stopped (see my ten reasons…). I got kicked out after I offered my views on that one

By: Vasco Pyjama

Vasco Pyjama — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:15:55 +0000

Eating ugali (which I hate) and githeri (which I like) may not solve the problem. But I'm not completely helpless in this. I may not be able to change everything, but I think I can make significant changes in the lives of a few.

We have a friend who cooks for us twice a week. She's currently a student, and was unable to support herself and pay for her college fees. We figured if we go out for an expat dinner, we would pay at least $20. So we pay her the equivalent (1,200 shillings) for the meal she cooks us. Plus her githeri is great. To us, it's a only half of the $40 per diem we get per day. Great deal for us! To her, she can now continue her studies to become an accountant. Plus, there is inevitably too much food (she can't get used to cooking for two), that we feed all the guards and the groundsman too.

I suppose I'm wondering if I should use more of my per diem in this way. Instead of buying cheese and wine.