#HeadlineTherapy Chippy Tour reviewer praises Dam Lane fish and chips.

Thanks to Tabitha Wilson and the Warrington Guardian for the Headline.

Congratulations to all for celebrating the staple of many family dinner take- aways in the UK. If you have a good “Chippy” near you , you are very lucky.

Tasty , Crispy, light batter is very important and I can tell if the oil in the oil fryers is not changed regularly. Not sure I really want beef gravy with fish (sounds a bit overkill). In my youth it would have been curry sauce with chips , but now I love a home made tartar sauce which I can get down in Cornwall when the mobile fish and chip shop visits our Camping site. There’s something very special about a fish and chip shop coming to you.

Whatever way you look at it with the costs of running any food business any take-away is costly and so naturally price does come into the equation , particularly when you have a few mouths to feed. So it is still a modern day treat, not a staple.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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My Home Made Non- Alcoholic Gin and Tonic

Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite drink?

Things have moved on from last year since I replied to this prompt.

I can now make my own tonic water, three varieties, one plain, one spiced and one rosy pink and with real quinine from a herby bark from South America.

Everything gets boiled up and then strained, then add sugar and make a kind of syrup which is then put in the fridge. Mix a the syrup with fizzy water with a 10:1 ratio and add it to your favourite gin or non-alcoholic gin home made or not. A slice of lemon and hey presto , civilisation without the alchohol (should you so wish).

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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#HeadlineTherapy Moroccan Billionaire Anas Sefrioui commits $300 million to luxury mixed-use project in Abidjan

Thanks to Ayodeji Adegboyega and Business Insider Africa for the Headline

Being surrounded in our town in the UK by what seems like continuous housing developments being put in with inadequate infrastructure and what seems to be a “build them quick” mentality, it’s interesting to read that the same process is happening in the Ivory Coast at the behest of a Moroccan billionaire.

Abidjan sounds a fascinating city, having being built on various islands and peninsulas in the Έbriέ Peninsula.

The investment is being used to build a luxury mixed-use development in Abidigan’s Zone 4 district. The project will feature four 20 -storey residential towers, office space and a major shopping centre. It marks a strategic shift by Addoha Group ( owned by Morrocan the billionaire investor) toward higher-margin, premium developments across Africa.

It seems the same business model throughout the World, the scheme is expected to start generating revenue shortly, Addoha Group are moving away from supplying much needed low cost housing in the markets it operates in throughout Africa to more profitable high end developments that generate increased profits.

This model has been used in our town of Swindon and frankly has lead to a town centre that is deserted and has looked like a building site for thirty years, will we ever learn?

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Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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Interested

Daily writing prompt
Who are your favorite people to be around?

Some would say interesting,

To me they are all just bling,

They want to dazzle and shine,

Their token efforts are such a bind,

You want to grab a cup of tea,

They want to show off their ability,

You came to the party,

Because you thought it’d be arty,

Now you realise it was just a ploy,

For the host to show you his new toy,

He has his admirers and content advisers,

Three swimming pools with rotating geisers,

It’s all very glam,

But who gives a damn?

All I wanted was someone interested enough to say,

And anyway how was your day?

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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#HeadlineTherapy Tube passengers targeted in text scam, court told

Thanks to BBC Online News for the Headline.

Large suitcases with “SMS Blasters” in them. In my day we used to get annoyed with “Ghetto Blasters”. Thankfully because the large suitcases being pulled along on the tube platform looked very suspicious, this scam was spotted. Within the suitcase was some sort of homemade electronic technology, probably based on a Raspberry Pi, which impersonates an actual phone tower.

Loads of people on the tube received texts saying that a parcel had been delivered to their house and to click on a link where they could retrieve it in exchange for a fee.A massive scam targeting a large amount of people. Some were bound to be fooled.

Apparently this scam is called “smishing” , well fraudsters , you were caught so you can “smish off!”

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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The Red Shoes (1948 Film)

Daily writing prompt
Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.

I remember watching the film, The Red Shoes on television as a child and being quite scared. The thought of my shoes taking over and taking me where they wanted to go is actually quite horrifying.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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#HeadlineTherapy Large cliff collapse closes South West Coast Path

Thanks to Ros Tappenden and BBC Online News for the Headline.

I love the South West Coast Path, I’ve walked a few miles on it , mainly in Cornwall. It always makes me feel in awe as I look out into the distance and see basically the sea with nothing between us and America. It just seems so utterly other worldly and to know that since ancient times people have looked over those cliffs too. Or walked on the beaches below, foraging or looking for shells or flotsam.

Unfortunately it will crumble , it will never stay the same. Perhaps that is the beauty of it. I know people have to be kept safe and warned not to go too near the edge and to be aware that there are crumbly bits and sometimes paths need to be closed and rerouted. It’s the very nature of nature and we must accept it. That is why Coastal Path’s are so beautiful, they are temporary.

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Namaste and Thank You for Reading. πŸ™

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I ain’t the type to grin and share

Daily writing prompt
Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.

I’m not the generous type,

That kindness trip is all just hype,

When I receive a gift,

It’s all mine! So get my drift,

If it comes in a box with my name on it,

Keep your dirty little mittens off it!

It doesn’t need to be the best gift ever,

In truth nothing lasts forever,

Chocolate, Tights a New Alarm Clock,

Or maybe my long lost matching sock,

Whatever it is just beware,

I ain’t the type to grin and share

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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#HeadlineTherapy We won’t pay for Windsor state visits, council says

Thanks to Stuart Rust and Patrick O’Hagan and BBC News for the Headline

The cost of three State visits were paid for by Windsor and Maidenhead Council in 2025 and none of that money has been reimbursed to them.

Quite rightly, the local council for the area has said that they will no longer cough up any more dosh after the Β£350,000 they spent on three high profile visits with celebrities’ attending banquets at Windsor Castle were not reimbursed.

The the up and coming visit of the President of Nigeria would have to be funded from elsewhere. No garden parties for the local councillors this year, then ,to thank them for their efforts . King Charles will have to find someone else to pay for the party.

Funny enough, the Council would rather use the funds they are responsible for, for local services for the people who vote for them. It’s even been raised by the local MP in parliament that the money should be reimbursed, and in true Civil Service fashion , the practical monetary elements have been shoved aside and it’s been said the whole thing is under review and that a number of government bodies should contribute and they would continue playing ping pong with the idea until everyone forgot who was owed what. (they didn’t say that but that is what they mean)

Still surprisingly despite the likes of Celebrities likes of Sir Elton John, Dame Kirstin Scott and Mick Jagger attending for free, well maybe they as well as the King are short of the readies just like us. We are all commoners basically. Still someone has to pay and pay their taxes and council tax too. We all need a break don’t we?

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Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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Is budgeting in a thing?

Daily writing prompt
Write about your approach to budgeting.

Is budgeting a thing? A thing of beauty or a thing of hard won discipline. Is it something we have to do or just want to do for the sake of an easy life. It’s not dangerous if we do, it but it can be dangerous if we don’t. You don’t need to be good to do it, bad people can budget too. I like to think as budgeting as a thing. A scary monster.

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Namaste and Thank You for Reading.πŸ™

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