Happy New Year! All The Best in 2010.

It's the end of a decade

In another ten years time

Who can say what we'll find

What lies waiting down the line....

Have a good one my lovelies.

I'm saying nothing...

Stigma and exclusion immigration policy scrapped.

President Obama has announced the end of a 22-year ban on travel to the United States by people who had tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS, fulfilling a promise he made to gay advocates and acting to eliminate a restriction he said was “rooted in fear rather than fact.”

At a White House ceremony, Mr. Obama announced that a rule canceling the ban was to be published and would take effect after a routine 60-day waiting period. The president had promised to end the ban before the end of the year.
“If we want to be a global leader in combating H.I.V./AIDS, we need to act like it,” Mr. Obama said. “Now, we talk about reducing the stigma of this disease, yet we’ve treated a visitor living with it as a threat.”
The United States is one of only about a dozen countries that bar people who have H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.

It was enacted in 1987 at a time of widespread fear that H.I.V. could be transmitted by physical or respiratory contact. The ban was further strengthened by Congress in 1993 as an amendment offered by Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina.
Because of the restriction, no major international conference on the AIDS epidemic has been held in the United States since 1990. Public health officials in the U.S. have long said there was no scientific or medical basis for the ban.
Under the ban, United States health authorities have been required to list H.I.V. infection as a “communicable disease of public health significance.” Under immigration law, most foreigners with such a disease cannot travel to the United States. The ban covered both visiting tourists and foreigners seeking to live in this country.
Once the ban is lifted, foreigners applying to become residents in the United States will no longer be required to take a test for AIDS.
In practice, the ban particularly affected tourists and gay men. Waivers were available, but the procedure for tourists and other short-term visitors who were H.I.V. positive was so complicated that many concluded it was not worth it.
For foreigners hoping to immigrate, waivers were available for people who were in a heterosexual marriage, but not for gay couples. Gay advocates said the ban had led to painful separations in families with H.I.V.-positive members that went to live in the U.S. and had discouraged adoptions of children with the virus.

Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, who led the effort to repeal the ban, said it had now “gone the way of the dinosaur.”
But, Mr. Kerry added, “it sure took too long to get here.”
International health officials said lifting the ban would end a much-criticized inconsistency in United States health policy, with Washington playing a leading role in AIDS prevention in Africa and other countries with severe epidemics, but preserving restrictions that in practice prevented international AIDS researchers and activists from gathering at conferences there.
In 1989, a Dutch AIDS educator, Hans Verhoef, was detained for several days in St. Paul when he tried to attend a conference. Since then, people involved with AIDS issues have not organized meetings there.
“We think this is going to give a very positive image of where the United States is going in terms of eliminating stigma and discrimination in relation to H.I.V.,” said Dr. Socorro Gross, assistant director of the Pan American Health Organization. Hoo-bloody-ray, says Bowlesy. And about bloody time.

Tea With The Mayor of Redbridge

On Tuesday Bowlesy went for tea with the Mayor of Redbridge, Thomas Chan. Mayor Chan is Britain's' first ever Chinese mayor, which is interesting, he's also a very nice man who serves a pretty descent cup of tea and some very tasty eclairs. He also Chairman of the Chinese Takeaway Association.

A big thank you to Helen who invited me along.

The 66 to Romford is never this much fun

Where have all the flowers gone...

Breakfast at The Wolseley with Jude and Rob

A civilised way to launch oneself into the weekend; breakfast at The Wolseley on Piccadilly. Although, Jude's Fried Haggis with Duck Eggs (£8.25 if you please) looked...well, see for yourself, I'm saying nothing ladies.
All I know is that after breakfast (see below) Jude rushed off to M&S, because she suddenly remembered that she needed to buy a sports bra; Rob in hot pursuit.

Give them the shovel of publicity and watch them dig!

Bowlesy drinks Champagne with Grayson Perry

Last Thursday Bowlesy was very lucky to be invited to a Grayson Perry private view and book launch - thank you Clair and Thames & Hudson. There were pots, frocks, books and a rather long tapestry to look at, all very pretty. Handsome waiters served champagne and we listened to speeches from Victoria Miro (in whose beautiful gallery we were knocking back the fizz) Jacky Klein (author) and Grayson Perry (who appeared to be wearing curlers?). All jolly nice it was too.

Bowlesy recorded the event on his mobile.

Bonnie Aloud!

Are you ready!

Hollyoaks Later

Friday 2nd October 2009

Enjoy!

You know when you're having a few pints with your mates in Soho on a Saturday night, and then the Morris Dancers turn-up.

Last Saturday evening I was enjoying a few pints of The Black Stuff with some mates, in The Admiral Duncan in Soho, when through the shrieking, screeching, twitching crowd appeared a troop of Morris Dancers; like they always do!

Anyway, turns out they were on a pub crawl, raising money for charity by dancing outside several central London pubs, and jolly nice chaps they were too. I captured the event on my trusty Cannon and share it with you here.

Bonnie Tyler embarks on acting career - in Hollyoaks though.

Eighties rock Goddess (and Bowlesy favourite) Bonnie Tyler is to make a cameo appearance in Hollyoaks' E4 spin-off, Hollyoaks Later - no I'm serious!

The 58-year-old Welsh-born singer appears in the final episode of the shows five-day run and performs an impromptu duet of her classic 'Holding Out for a Hero' with Carmel McQueen (Gemma Merna). With Carmel behind bars, the songstress appears in a dream sequence and offers some words of wisdom about men, before breaking into song.
Producer Bryan Kirkwood said of the signing: "It's a real coup for Hollyoaks Later to have Bonnie. We're delighted that she's agreed to take part in what will be a hilarious and entertaining sequence." He added: "Hollyoaks Later is a cocktail of drama, comedy and slightly absurd fantasy which I’m sure viewers will love!"

Tyler's episode will air on Friday, October 2 at 10pm on E4. Bowlesy loves Bonnie and will be watching on October 2nd, but, from behind the sofa and with one eye shut.

I nightmared a nightmare

What I love most about this picture (and let's face it, there's much to love about it) is the duster by the telly; bless.


The duster's still visible in this shot (nobody told her - bastards!) and just why is there a man's jacket on the armchair, is there something Susan's not telling us or could it be Simon Cowell's? The Burberry scarf leads me to think it's Simon's. And, as for that carpet... Anyway, these made me smile so I thought I'd share them with you all.

Spotted in Bar at Stansted Airport Last Weekend

I guess the toaster's bust, then...oh well, I'll have a large brandy instead.

Build the bloody thing

It's hard to believe, but, the Mini (the original Mini that is) is 50 years old this year, and, I have to say, it still looks great for it's age.

Sometime in the mid 1970s my aunt and uncle (Joyce and Gordon Wilkins) held their 25th wedding anniversary party, being motoring journalists this, naturally enough, contained one or two notables from the world of motoring. I was 7 years old and was allowed to say hello to a few people before being packed off. At one point my aunt led me over to a corner of the room and up to a group of old men who were laughing loudly and smoking.

"Alec, this is Christopher"

"Hello young man"

A thin figure with a large nose wearing a tweed suit stood before me; glass and cigarette in one hand, the other was being offered down to me. He smelt like the inside of our drinks cabinet. I shyly shook his hand, mumbled something I really cannot remember and was then led away again. This man had, many years before, sketched out the first design for the Mini on a napkin in a restaurant in Switzerland; this man was Sir Alec Issigonis. I only met him the once, but, was deeply impressed by him and loved his little car; I vowed the moment I could reach the pedals, I would own a Mini.

Bare and basic, the Morris Mini-Minor was launched to an unappreciative market (it didn't sell well in its first year) in August 1959. The teething problems suffered by Mini owners were probably the result of the rushed nature of the project, when BMC boss, Sir leonard Lord, was first taken out in the car he said to Issigonis "Build the bloody thing". My family owned a Mini Pick-up (see my post "This Little Mini Went To Moscow) which leaked and rotted and grew moss in strange places. They were not the most reliable of cars ,but, we grew to love them all the same ( Unreliability + cute looks = character).

So it had its problems, and it didn't take-off initially, so why was/is it such a special car. Well, the concept was brilliant, Issigonis twisted the engine through 180 degrees (or transverse), so it was running across the car, and placed the gearbox underneath it. This freed up space for the passengers and their luggage inside. Also, it was front wheel drive. The car really took off and became "cool" when the rally boys got hold of it- and later when the likes of Peter Sellers were seen driving them around swinging 60s London. Mini went from cheeky urban runaround to icon of the 60s. The key to its rally success was first and foremost its handling, together with more than a little magic from John Cooper.

There were many myths about the Mini, my favourite is that on the early Minis the copious door buckets were designed by Issigonis to hold bottles of gin - or maybe it was bottles of milk, I know which I prefer. Well, let's all raise our metaphorical glass of dry Martini to Sir Alec and to the Mini; Happy Birthday!

Good riddance!

Bowlesy (and Friends) visit The Hay Festival 2009

The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on Wye for ten days from May to June - a kind of Glastonbury for book lovers. Devised by Peter Florence in 1988, the festival was described by Bill Clinton in 2001 as "The Woodstock of the mind". Since its inception, the festival has been held in a variety of venues around Hay until 2005 when it moved to a central location just outside of the town.

Bowlesy and three delightful ladies of his acquaintance (Kate, Gillian and Tina) spent a delicious week at the Hay Festival 2009. Kate had done us proud by renting us the truly charming cottage, Cwm Sirhowy (pronounced "gorgeous") in Clyro just outside Hay-on-Wye; it was heaven. Time was spent at the festival going to talks, sitting in the garden reading, eating, drinking and playing Rummikub and Canasta in front of the fire late into the night.

(our beautiful cottage for the week and the view from our garden)

We went to see and hear some true greats; Clive James; Fay Presto; Tony Curtis; Denis Norden and the wonderful Irma Kurtz. The highlight for me was Mr Tony Curtis, a legend in a white stetson, he was very entertaining and I was persuaded ( get it, Persuaders) to buy his autobiography afterwards. I couldn't resist telling Mr Curtis that it was when, at the age of seven, I watched him in The Persuaders that I realised I was gay. He just stared blankly at me and said "Ow" or "How" or "Ahrgh" or something like that, I couldn't quite catch it, but, the moment passed.

And, on Wednesday... it rained.

And out came the wellies.

Some made up words,

and after a week of culture, a fag and a drink.

See you all next year!

And it goes on, and on and on...

Blears claims for second shoe allowance!

Hazel Blears is having a laugh at our expense.

A seriously sad time for British democracy.... shame, shame, shame on them all.

A day at the races.

A few weeks back Bowlesy went to the races - point to point at Cottenham to be precise. Not as exciting as The Grand National, nor as glamorous as The Gold Cup, but, an excellent day out. Here are some snaps from my day, enjoy!

This Little Mini Went To Moscow

Two really old ( really bad) photo's of Bowlesy and 10 MWL in 197????

10 MWL was a gray Mini Pick-up that sat decaying in our garage during the 1970s. On long lonely afternoons I played in 10 MWL steering it dramatically along imaginary roads to imaginary destinations, I would often pretend that me and 10 MWL were in the film The Italian Job, driving on pavements in Milan. I had no idea then that the little Mini Pick-up languishing in our garage had itself once been famous in its own right. One afternoon, with nothing better to do, my uncle Gordon and I pushed the little Mini out into the baking heat of the summer of 1976 with the intention of restoring it together and then, when I was old enough and could reach the pedals, I would learn to drive ( properly drive) in it. A few months later on a crisp autumn morning we pushed it back in the garage again, untouched; it stayed there for the next ten years. The car was actually my aunt Joyce's, it had been her first car, although to me it was now mine because I was the only one who took any interest in it and it had sort of been promised to me for when I was older. We had a three car garage and 10 MWL sat in the middle dwarfed by whatever vehicle happened to be on its left or right. My uncle, annoyingly, used the back of the Mini for storage, I would always carefully remove whatever I discovered in the back of it and relocate it somewhere else in the garage.

I was aware that my aunt had written two books, "Most Women Do It" and "What Every Woman Ought To Know About Men And Motoring" but was not terribly interested in them as a child and, looking at them now, the kindest thing I can say about them is that they were of their time. However, looking at the back cover of "Most Women Dot It" one day I noticed that the picture of my aunt also featured 10 MWL; it had been famous! I later discovered that it had also featured in magazine articles that my aunt had written after her books had been published. This, in a rather shallow way, made me love 10 MWL even more. I started to clean it regularly, be even more vigilant in clearing my uncle's junk out of the back of it and spending more and more time sitting in it thinking of all the adventures we'd have together when my feet eventually reached the pedals and I was able to drive the little truck.

Then one day something happened, I started to have real places to go and friends to go with, suddenly I didn't have time for 10 MWL anymore, in fact, it seemed really childish to sit in it and pretend to drive it; I was growing up. I stopped playing in the little Mini pick-up and really forgot about it pretty much, then in 1983, when I was 18, I moved away from home to London and didn't think about it at all. My aunt and uncle retired to Italy in 1986 and 10 MWL was sold. I never thought about it again until a few years ago when I found an ad' for it, it had been restored and was coming up for sale in auction. I was amazed at the facts that I discovered about "my" little Mini Pick-up, 10 MWL, in the accompanying auction notes. I have included them below.

"Here is an interesting classic car for sale: a 1961 Morris Mini Pickup. This car will be auctioned on 18th, April 2007, at the Pavillon Gardens, Buxton, during the H&H classic auctions.First registered on September 1st 1961 to Morris Motors Ltd, '10 MWL' achieved considerable fame later that month when it was driven from Oxford to Moscow on a single tank of fuel by The Mayor of Oxford Ald. Lionel Harrison and local solicitor E.A. Ferguson. Although, the six-day trip had been orchestrated with help from BMC's chief experimental engineer J.E. Whitehead, the pick-up was to standard specification save for a RAC sealed 50-gallon petrol tank, radio and spare wheel. Arriving in Red Square with thirty minutes and 6-gallons to spare (having averaged 43.18mpg) on September 29th, '10 MWL' was given a hero's welcome. Repatriated by BMC employee Paddy Howells and E.A. Ferguson, the Mini lost its oversize tank and mayoral regalia before being sold to the acclaimed journalist / competitor, Gordon Wilkins, on October 30th 1962."

And as she is today.






A Mini adventure!