Category Archives: Short Stories

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?

An AI generated image

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

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.🙏

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.

AI generated Image

Namaste and Thank You for Reading. 🙏

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 £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?

AI generated image

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏

Thanks to Sky News for the Headline

A plane , a Fokker 50 with 55 passengers and crew had to do an emergency landing in Somalia and overshot the runway and ended up in shallow waters in the Indian Ocean. Thankfully no one suffered any injuries which is truly miraculous as the wing of the plane snapped off on landing. Well done to the crew for ensuring everyone’s safety.

AI generated image of Plane , not the actual Plane.

Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏