Everything that starts with E ...

EDEN - the cause of Suez? Overview The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the 'Tripartite Invasion', was an attack on Egypt by Britain, France, and Israel in late October 1956. It followed Egypt's - specifically their new Presidednt, General Nasser's - decision to nationalise the Suez Canal. It marks a huge turning-point in British foreign and colonial policy. The Suez Canal is a canal between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. It was designed by British and French architects and built by Egyptian workers. It opened in 1869. Essential as a Western trade route, Egypt's nationalisation of it (it ... more

Here I sit with my eyes drooping with more luggage under them than Heathrow airport, realising that this is will be my last review of 2005 as I am going away for the month to visit my family for the Christmas holidays this week, so therefore I feel it's time to write about something other than a movie I just watched. So I will sign off with a review on Ciao itself, with the experiences I have had with the site, and some of the members who I have read from to whom I have become to really appreciate. So here goes………… When asked for my Ciao user name I chose to call myself DempseyReview, My god ... more

As a child it was a matter of curiosity to me that my elderly relative's green house was just that - "green". All the other greenhouses around had conventional glass, you could see inside, rows of little plants in pots, elderly gentlemen lovingly tending their seedlings. But not Great Uncle Bill's! Mysteriously he had painted all the glass green; roof, sides, door - the lot. If anyone asked, he told them that it was to protect the tender plants from the suns rays, as a small boy one did not really question this, but surely the same rays also beamed on Uncle Bill's neighbours greenhouses too ... more

Eight years ago on Christmas Eve my fiancé, who is now my husband called me into the lounge. “Look at the tree” he grinned “It’s moving” Really busy and rushing around I told him not to be so daft, I looked anyway, and well we do don’t we? There to my surprise there were two little glassy eyes staring out of the pine branches. I thought the light was glinting on the decorations until this bundle of black fur fell out of the tree. That was how I met her. Well now, I just had to marry my fiancée after that surprise! If you have read my op letter to an animal you will know that I have always ... more

As a bit of a pre-amble, I was getting a bit stuck for inspiration about something else to review and fancied a change from writing about household things and bathing products, so it suddenly came to me to "think outside the box" as my Art teacher used to say and write something about . . . well, Art! So this review is about an exhibition that I arranged for last month and which I've just about decompressed after. I've got an idea . . . hang on, what am I actually doing? I can't really remember what came first - the idea to have an exhibition or going onto our local area's Arts Alliance ... more