Dateline Monday 29th April 2024

Good morning, I hope you are well and looking forward to NEXT Monday when we do not have to go to work yaaayyy its May Day bank holiday.

Last week’s weather was awful, cold yes cold, we hardly saw the sun even the Sun thought the weather was so bad it didn’t want to come out. Hopefully these warm Monday morning wishes from me to you from London W10 will help the weather warm up, the forecast looks promising but that doesn’t mean very much. A retired friend of mine went to Spain last week for a 10-day holiday, he chose a perfect time to go but I kind of have a thought about that, why do retired people need a holiday? a holiday from what work? the office? Tesco and Sainsbury’s, a retiree’s life is one long never-ending holiday, I just don’t get it 😊  

Monday is the 7th day of the Jewish festival of Passover so if you are still celebrating this wonderful festival, I wish you chag sameach. 

OMG those poor spooked horses running amok in London last week all four of them were injured crashing into cars, a bus, and a taxi, sadly a pedestrian was also hurt, I wish them all a full recovery. You never know what you might see or encounter on your way to work. I hope your journey to work was uneventful although these days a lot of peoples’ journey to work means going from the bedroom to the home office, settee or sofa via the kitchen.

It’s soap box time

Today is the 206th day of the war in Gaza and the 206th day that Israeli babies, toddles, children, teens, women, men and seniors have been held hostage in the Hamas terror tunnels in Gaza.

What is it with these teenage protestors in far too many USA based elite University Capus locations protesting about something they know very little about except what they see on tik tok and telegram perhaps snap chat and Instagram. They ae blindly supporting the terrorist organisation Hamas, sadly some of these protests are turning violent which is the modus operandi of Hamas so they are clearly following the Hamas doctrine of violence and aggression. Hamas is very good at brainwashing the teenage public with their multimedia social posts of lies, fabricated and enhanced statistics as well as dubious content. Whilst I fully accept no one side is innocent in this conflict there are degrees of guilt, and I am sure Hamas is winning on that level. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is in Saudi Arabia to try to restart fraught ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel and discuss efforts to prevent spiralling regional conflict. Good luck with that Antony, save yourself time and send Hamas my Monday morning e mail “To Hamas release the hostages, lay down your arms, recognise Israel’s right to exist” then there will be peace, progress and prosperity.    

Humza Yousaf the First Minister of Scotland seems to be in trouble so does Rishi Sunak with one of his MPs crossing the floor of The House to join the opposition benches. Regardless of what Rishi wants the fact is a General Election in the UK is needed just to get the country on the up again regardless of who wins, it needs to be done. 

Russia’s illegal and immoral war against Ukraine seems to show no signs of slowing down, indeed as the weather starts to get better, I guess the aggression will increase, Prick Putin seems hell bent on destroying what he can’t gain militarily.  

On Thursday 2nd May Local Council elections take place, everyone in England and Wales will have some sort of vote to cast on 2nd May, with elections for local councillors, mayors, police and crime commissioners there are more than 2,600 council seats up for grabs in 107 council elections. More than half of the elections are in district councils - which look after services such as bin collections, parks and planning - leaving county councils to fulfil the remaining responsibilities including road maintenance and schools. There are seats up in 31 metropolitan boroughs. They look after a similar range of services to district councils in metropolitan counties, such as Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield in the metropolitan counties of Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. Also up for grabs is the Mayor of London position I do hope there is a change.

Off the soap box now 

Elon Musk is all over the news, he is in China, coincidentally ( I don’t think)  China is the largest market for Electric Vehicles and China is the largest maker of electric vehicles, Tesla is struggling, sales are not going as well as they have been or were forecast to do, is he there to do a deal perhaps? Elon’s rocket company Space X has just launch another rocket into space caring several satellites, he is a busy bloke.

Lots going on in the destination where MM and Company represents a DMC :-

Amsterdam where we represent DELTA DMC they have been celebrating The King’s Day (Koningsdag) it is an orange-filled celebration held annually for the King’s birthday on 27th April. It is renowned for being one of the biggest and most colourful festivities in the Netherlands, especially so in Amsterdam. I have looked at images online I think I may just go there next year and join in the fun.

South Africa where we represent The Inside Edge DMC they have been celebrating Freedom Day 27th April.  Freedom Day is a public holiday in South Africa and is the celebration and commemoration of the long struggle for democracy in the country. The first democratic election was held on Wednesday, 27 April 1994, The African National Congress (ANC) won the election with 62.65% of the vote, and the party’s frontman, the revered Nelson Mandela became the first black president of the country on the 10th May.

Japan where we represent The J Team DMC they have started Golden Week, this is a celebrated week-long extravaganza of multiple holidays in Japan. Specifically, it includes a succession of four holidays from the 29thApril to 5th May. The sequence of events commences with Showa Day, where Japan commemorates the late Emperor Showa, followed by Constitution Memorial Day, which observes the enforcement of Japan's new constitution. Then, Greenery Day acknowledges the natural environment and, lastly, Children's Day, which celebrates children's happiness, well-being, and growth. 

And finally please do not forget to commemorate Star Trek Day on Saturday 4th May “may the force be with you”

That dear reader that is about it from a David point of view for this week at least.

MM and Company news update

Abu Dhabi

Jyoti, Christina, Candy and the team at TRAVCO DMC Dubai Abu Dhabi and Oman have told us some amazing new that British Airways has resumed flights from London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi, following a four-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The year-round daily route is operated by a Boeing 787-9 aircraft, with flights departing LHR at 2225 and arriving at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport at 0830 the following day. The inbound flight departs the UAE capital at 1010, arriving at LHR at 1520.

IMEX Frankfurt May 2024

Eva of Cornerstone DMC Germany has asked me to tell you that the Frankfurt IMEX stand number F110 is hosting a get together on Wednesday 15th May at the stand F110 from 4.30PM and you are all welcome. It will be a traditional German affair with apple cider and snacks in a typical Frankfurt style.

The build up to IMEX in Frankfurt has started, I have booked my hotel and flight; I have asked our DMCs if they will be attending IMEX so far declared are;

Pascal and Enrica of NACARA DMC France they will be there only on the Tuesday.

Stephane of Hello Islands DMC Mauritius will be on the Euromic Stand G500

The J Team DMC Japan will be on the Tokyo City stand 

Nassos has just told us that AME DMC Greece will be at IMEX  

Muge or her business partner Alper Bayulken of Blue DMC Turkey will on stand # E470, the Turkey stand.

Eva Hoffmann of Cornerstone DMC Germany will be on booth F110 Germany

You are now totally up to date; you know as much as I do, wishing you an outstanding week ahead. As it is bank holiday next Monday, there will not be a Monday morning e mail.