Obamaday

This morning at 11 oclock Airforce One carrying almost-ex President Obama of the United States of America landed at Eleftherios Venizelos Airport, Athens Greece.    Historical moment bla bla bla.  He is the 4th president to have visited Greece:  Eisenhower ('we' had a king and queen back then), Bush the 1st (who visited again later on his huge luxury yacht) and Clinton (with Hilary and Chelsea) .  Obama has come 'by himself', no Michelle, no children, but with  500 security agents (CIA say the newspapers) and health care workers .  The 'hospital' follows him wherever he goes, by plane or limo,  in case of an accident.

Athens is sewn up as tight as a fortress.

- 24 inner city schools have closed in areas close to where he will be visiting
- over 5,000 greek police officers are on duty in the capitol
- 600 parked cars were removed by crane from streets he is driving through
- it goes without saying that all buildings along the route will have roof-top snipers ready to shoot anyone who dares to sneeze and then search his jacket for a handkerchief (another of my favourite words)
- the sea around his beachside hotel has been searched by divers and now has a fleet of greek coast guard vessels sailing up and down
- all traffic around the airport was stopped while his plane landed and until he left the airport area.  No vehicle was allowed to move even a metre
- as his car moves through the city all tele/satellite communications are shut down using sofisticated CIA equipment
- buses, trains and trams have stopped from noon till 4pm
- Obama travels in an armoured Cadillac named 'the beast'.  It can stand up to rocket attacks and bombs and like Pepe La Pew can emit teargas ( stink gas in his case) At the end of its life the car is blown up to destroy it's secrets
- along with the beast which is flown in from the US come around 50 other vehicles which form the official motorcade

- the president will visit the Acropolis which he says 'he wanted to visit ever since he was a child'
- he will attend a state dinner and no doubt we'll be given a run down of the menu and what he ate and didn't eat by misguided tv gossip reporters
- he has already met and talked with our tie-less Prime Minister


On Wednesday he flies off to Germany to greet Frau Merkel and then continues on to Peru for an Asian economic summit (with Pacific Rim powers).

Down in my other homeland, The Shaky Isles, we had another first, the first US warship to enter NZ waters in 33 years.  

The massive 7.5 earthquake was centred around the South Island town of Kaikoura where thousands of tourists gather to whale watch. Sperm whales feed off this coastline all the year round. As well as the sperm whale you may sight  Humpback whales, blue whales, Pilot whales, Southern Right whales, NZ fur seals, Dusky dolphins, an Albatross or an Orca.  No wonder there were about 1000 tourists, many of them chinese, trapped after the earthquake-s.  Access roads around the town were closed by landslides cutting it off from the rest of the country .

Along came the cavalry to sail them to safety.  

 In 1985 NZ banned any nuclear armed or powered ship from entering their waters.  The US decided not to send any of their ships for the next 33 years in reprisal for the kiwis anti-nuclear policy. 

 A fleet of international warships had already gathered for the 75th Anniversary of the Royal NZ  Navy.  

Now the USS Sampson, the Canadian HMCS Vancouver and the Australian warship  HMAS Darwin are sailing down to Kaikoura to help, along with a few NZ navy ships (we do actually have a Navy in spite of rumours to the contrary from across the Tasman sea).

If you saw the photo of the three cows stranded on a tiny grassy outcrop rest assured that they have now been rescued and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) says the cows should be allowed to retire.