Freezing Europe – In Photos

Heavy snow in spring?

Many Europeans are facing winter’s icy grip on lands that should be thawing in springtime temperatures by now, with Britain on track for the coldest March since 1962.

Please click here for the pictures

Britain’s ‘Ghost Train’ Images Of Long Lost Railways By Stuart McPherson

Photographer Stuart McPherson, who lives in Norwich near its former route, has attempted to bring it back to life with these incredible images of a time gone by merged with the present day.

(Please click the photos for larger images)

‘Nature got straight back to work reclaiming the remains’

Water under the bridge: This image captures the scene near the former Drayton Station

Lives along the route: Mr McPherson’s pictures combine people past and present

Rural stations: Many disused stations such as at Hindolvestone (pictured) connected villages to wider conurbations

Overgrown: May of the sites along the old railway are now popular with dog walker

Related post:

1. World War II “Ghosts Of History”

Photos: Bad Floods In Britain

Reuters/Reuters – Holiday caravans lie in floodwater in St Asaph, north Wales, November 28, 2012. Dozens of properties were flooded in St Asaph after the River Elwy burst its banks yesterday. REUTERS/Andrew Winning

Britain starts to clean-up after heavy rains and high winds caused bad flooding in the midlands, west and north of Britain.

At least 3 people were killed in the flood.

The flood is disrupting parts of the road and rail network, and damaging buildings as heavy rain falls on north-east England and north Wales.

Heavy rain caused a landslide in Whitby, North Yorks that damaged some houses and five houses will be demolished within two days.

Five of the houses of the 150-year-old row of terraced houses in Whitby, North Yorkshire, will have to be torn down after their gardens became saturated by rainfall and slipped away last night. Another two at the end of the property also faced demolition but it is thought they will now be allowed to stay. (MailOnline/DailyMail)

One places that was worst-hit by the flood is the small city of St Asaph, North Wales.

Experts warned there could be more downpours in certain areas early next week and 140 flood warnings are still in place across England and Wales.

The South East may be facing further flooding as river levels continued to rise.

The River Thames at Oxford had reached its maximum and downstream towns such as Reading, Berks, and Sunbury in Surrey were on flood alert.

(Please click the photos for bigger images)

Waves crash against the sea wall at Sandsend, near Whitby

Flood waters come close to covering houses in St Asaph, Denbighshire

Telegraph reader John Hampson writes: To the left is the River Calder. To the right is the main A-road between Hebden Bridge and Todmorden. In the middle, under water, is the recently built 10-foot high flood defence wall. Send us your weather pictures: mypic@telegraph.co.uk Picture: John Hampson

This picture taken on November 25, 2012 shows floodwaters at Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire (AFP Photo / Justin Tallis)

A Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) crew make their way through flood waters in St. Asaph, North Wales, Tuesday Nov. 27, 2012, after the town flooded overnight. (AP Photo/PA, Dave Thompson)

A property stands surrounded by floodwater near the the River Severn in Tewkesbury, England, Tuesday Nov. 27, 2012. Thousands of drivers and residents face further chaos today after heavy rain continued to fall across Britain overnight. (AP Photo/PA, Tim Ireland)

Related post:

1. Big Freeze, Britain’s Coldest Winter For The Century

M’sian Latest Stamp: The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II And the Royal Visit.

The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II stamp series.

This morning, I went to the General Post Office at Dayabumi Complex, Kuala Lumpur for the launch of a very beautiful new stamp series, The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

We queued for almost 4 hours!

The queue was so long that people had to queue in the sun outside of the building.

I reached there at about 8:30 am but the queue was already very long. I had to queue for about 4 hours to buy the stamps! Thankfully we arrived quite early because people who arrived 10 minutes after us had to queue in the sun. While waiting, I saw my big sister Kafah weeping and when I asked her why, she said that she felt dizzy. My mother took her away to find a seat and she fainted. But after a short while, she was okay. After that she waited for us in the office.

Below is the front side of the folder.

When we reached the counter, the stamp sheets were already sold out and the folders are almost sold out too. We bought some First Day Cover with Miniature Sheet, First Day Cover with Stamps, Maniature Sheet, Folder and some stamps.

Stamps to mark the royal visit of Prince William and his wife to Malaysia.

Both stamps are RM 1.50 while the miniature sheet is RM 5.00. One of the of the stamps from The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II is a replica of the 10 cents red coloured 1953 Malaya Selangor Queen Elizabeth II Coronation stamp. The other is of Prince William and his wife to mark their royal visit to Malaysia from September 13 to 15, 2012.

First Day Cover with Stamps

First Day Cover with Miniature Sheet

Fortunately at about 1:30 pm the post office received a new stock of the stamp sheets and we managed to buy some. Both stamp sheets are beautiful but I prefer the replica of the 10 cents red coloured 1953 Malaya Selangor Queen Elizabeth II Coronation stamp. The whole series of The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II is very beautiful and I am so happy to be able to buy them. It is worth the very long queue.

The stamp sheets.

My photo at the post office.

Abang Moza and me.

Luckily we managed to buy the stamp sheets.

Italy Beats England: UEFA EURO 2012 Quarter-Final 4

The Italy football players celebrate their victory.

Italy beats England 4-2 on penalties, on June 25, 2012 at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine.

Below is the list of the penalty shootouts:

1. Italy vs England 1-0 Mario Balotelli scores

2. Italy vs England 1-1 Steven Gerrard scores

3. Italy vs England 1-1 Riccardo Montolivo misses

4. Italy vs England 1-2 Wayne Rooney scores

5. Italy vs England 2-2 Andrea Pirlo scores

6. Italy vs England 2-2 Ashley Young misses

7. Italy vs England 3-2 Antonio Nocerino scores

8. Italy vs England 3-2 Ashley Cole misses

9. Italy vs England 4-2 Alessandro Diamanti scores

So, Italy will advance to semifinals together with Portugal, Germany and Spain.

>>>Please click here for videos of the match highlights and the goals<<<

Please click below to vote for your favourite team:

UEFA EURO 2012 Semi-Final 1: Spain VS Portugal

UEFA EURO 2012 Quarter-Final 4: England VS Italy

The UEFA EURO 2012 quarter-final 4 match between England and Italy will take place on June 25, 2012 at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine.

Which team do you think will win the game?

The winner will  join Portugal, Germany and Spain to advance to semifinals?

Please vote   

Aliens From Jupiter 5

Please click here for Aliens From Jupiter 4.

Written and illustrated by: Ahmad Ali

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Emoden was an alien from Pluto. Kamosa, Goplaga, Hilama, Meido and Emoden became friends. Meido invited Kamosa and all his other friends to visit Earth. Anyway, only Kamosa and Emoden agreed to go with him.

 

Kamosa's spaceship was about to land on Earth.

 

On Earth, they met three new friends named Qoyris, Clara and Insyirah.  

 

Inshirah is at the right, Clara is in the middle and Qoyris is at the left.

 

Qoyris gave Kamosa the ’4 Players Chess’ set that Kamosa left on Saturn.

 

Qoyris was very, very happy to get a '4 players chess' set.

 

Qoyris found it the last time he went to Saturn. Anyway, Kamosa gave the ’4 Players Chess’ set to Qoyris because he already had another set that Goplaga gave for his birthday. Qoyris was very, very happy.

Qoyris said that he came from Saudi Arabia. One day, he went to Calovinia for a holiday. But when he wanted to go back to Saudi Arabia, he forgot where the airport was. So he was stuck in Calovinia until he built a spaceship and became an astronaut.

Clara came from England and Insyirah was from Riyadh but they traveled to a lot of places because they were astronauts too.

The next day Kamosa went back to Jupiter to meet his family. Anyway Emoden stayed on Earth and he met a lot of new friends.

The End

Sir Isaac Newton’s Birthday

Today is Sir Isaac Newton’s birthday.

He was born in England on 4 January 1643 (1643-01-04).

Sir Isaac Newton is the person who discovered gravity.

He discovered gravity when he was sitting under an apple tree.

After that an apple felt on his head.

Then he started to think what made the apple falls on his head.

I think Sir Isaac Newton is very, very, very clever.

Sir Issac Newton

Khalifah Institute Dinner and Talk

On 25/7/09 2 Syaaban 1430 I went to  Khalifah Institute Dinner and Talk at Grand Ballroom, Flamingo Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Bro Idris Tawfiq give a talk entitled From the Vatican to Al-Azhar. Bro Tawfiq is a British Muslim writer who now lives in Egypt.

[Here is his blog -

http://idristawfiq.com/]

He was a Roman Catholic priest for 20 years.

For many years he was Head of Religious Studies in different schools in England and Wales.

There were lots of people at the Flamingo Hotel.

I reached home at 1:00 AM.

My father’s car broke down and we have to walk back home.

I slept at 2:30 AM.

I think there are going to be more ‘Dinner and Talk’ in the future.