Real Problems with Bloger

Hi there – I’ve been trying to update the blog for the past two days. First it keeps appearing in Chinese and then when I got that resolved I cannot add links as only half the options appear on the template. Unforunately the Google-Blogspot help system leads absolutely nowhere. It is not possible to actually tell them what you problem is with a blog. One click leads to another leads to another than leads you back to the original troubleshooting page. Very confusing and added to the slow response time since the earthquake (we felt two very distinct temors in Hong Kong) it can get real frustrating.

Anyway hoping I can at some point load some pictures of our Cooking Courses, Sapa, temples in Vietnam, the Cao Dia temples, the Mekong Delta and our Christmas in Hong Kong. Until then: Happy New Years to all our friends, family and loved ones.

Love Will and Laurnet

Fundacion del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela*

* The System

Last week the CBC reported on a classical music education programme in the barrios of Caracas and other cities in Venezuela. Started more than 30 years ago it is gaining worldwide attention because of the incredible caliber of musicians it is producing and its social benefits. This weekend’s Guardian features a lengthy article on the System and its impact locally and internationally.

When I went to school – yes smart ass, we had schools back then – music was part of the curriculum until Grade 13. That seems to have ended in Canada just as this programme was starting in Venezuela – a touch of irony?

Haute Hanoi

This is one sight I’m glad I’m not going to see in Hanoi. Sometimes going native is not such a great idea!

The Hat in the Closet

Somewhere in a cupboard in Beijing there is a hatbox containing a very expensive hat – a real made-to-measure British Bowler. Yes a bowler – the favorite of Orangemen in Ulster, Bankers in the City, Max Sennett comics and little old ladies in Bolivia. It has perhaps only been seen on the head it was purchased for on two or three occasions but certainly not in the past 24 years.

What brought it to mind was a comment on CBC radio this morning that 156 years ago today James Lock & Co, St. James St, London sold the first bowler hat to Sir James Coke. It was meant to protect his gamekeepers from low hanging branches – and the butt end of a poacher’s gun! The reason Laurent purchased one during our trip to London 25 years ago – that’s as mysterious as why it’s considered a bold fashion statement by the better-dressed ladies in the Andes!