Showing posts with label marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marriage. Show all posts

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Informative, educational Stuff!

In the 1400's a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have "the rule of thumb"

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Many years ago in Scotland , a new game was invented. It was ruled "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"...and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

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The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

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Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S. Treasury.

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Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

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Coca-Cola was originally green.

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It is impossible to lick your elbow.

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The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work:

Alaska

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The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% (now get this...)

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The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%

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The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $ 16,400

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The average number of people airborne over the U.S. in any given hour:

61,000

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Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

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The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.

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The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.

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Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:

Spades - King David

Hearts - Charlemagne

Clubs -Alexander, the Great

Diamonds - Julius Caesar

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111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

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If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

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Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.

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Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?

A. Their birthplace

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Q. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requested?

A. Obsession

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Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?

A. One thousand

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Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?

A. All were invented by women.

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Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?

A. Honey

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Q. Which day are there more collect calls than any other day of the year?

A. Father's Day

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In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes.

When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... "goodnight, sleep tight."

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It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.

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In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England , when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down."

It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"

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Many years ago in England , pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.

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At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!

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Don't delete this just because it looks weird. Believe it or not, you can read it.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

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YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 200 8 when...

1. You accidentally enter your PIN on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't even have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.

~~~~~~~~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks, Ijau & various sources-right?!



Thursday, January 10, 2008

Pretend We're Married

A man and a woman, who had never met before, but were both married to other people, found themselves assigned to the same sleeping room on a transcontinental train. Though initially embarrassed and uneasy over sharing a room, they were both very tired and fell asleep quickly, he in the upper bunk and she in the lower. At 1:00 AM, the man leaned over and gently woke the woman saying, "Ma'am, I'm sorry to bother you, but would you be willing to reach into the closet to get me a second blanket? I'm awfully cold."

"I have a better idea," she replied. "Just for tonight, let's pretend that we're married."

"Wow! That's a great idea!" he exclaimed. "Good," she replied. "Get your own damn blanket!"

After a moment of silence, he farted.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Meaning of the Subashini Judgment

The following clear interpretation of the outcome of the Subashini is provided by Malaysiakini-the news portal that exposes everything.

Of the three Muslim Malay judges, one of them dissented.

The landmark judgment in a nutshell
Soon Li Tsin | Dec 27, 07 8:36pm

It took more than an hour for the judgment to be read in court. The majority decision was delivered by Nik Hashim Nik Ab Rahman - who headed the Federal Court three-member bench - while Abdul Aziz Mohamad delivered the minority decision.

Majority decision - Nik Hashim Nik Ab Rahman and Azmel Ma'amor

• Subashini’s divorce petition under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act is deem null and void because it was filed before the requisite three months period.

• Saravanan and Subashini’s civil marriage can only be dissolved using civil law. The husband can still dissolve it under syariah law but it will have no effect in the civil courts.

• Saravanan can seek relief in the syariah courts but it cannot compel Subashini to do the same because she is a non-Muslim.

• Saravanan did not abuse the process by converting his child because the consent from one parent is sufficient according to Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution .

Dissenting ruling - Abdul Aziz Mohamad

• The evidence of Saravanan’s conversion must be tried in order to determine whether the conversion date was based on his certificate or on facts made available to Subashini.

• Saravanan had abused the process in seeking the custody of the children in the Syariah Court because the religious court has no jurisdiction over a non-Muslim marriage.

• Saravanan’s conversion of the children is not unilateral and the wife has a right to object to the conversion as well as seek an injunction to stop the procedure.

• The High Court has exclusive jurisdiction in matters of dissolution of marriage, maintenance, custody and other ancillary reliefs because the marriage was solemnised under civil law.

A Question of Malaysian Fairness.

This case bothers Malaysians a lot because one of the big questions that has to be answered is whether the mutual parental consent of both parents in a marriage or divorce are needed when one parent converts to Islam and permits the Islamic authorities to convert a child who is under the age of consent.

The court has just ruled that one parent could have the child converted without the consent of the other marriage partner!

Subashini case: Divorce comes under civil court
Soon Li Tsin | Dec 27, 07 12:24pm

The Federal Court today ruled that the syariah courts cannot dissolve a civil marriage and all dissolutions made in the religious court is only effective within the confines of the Islamic law.

“The non-Muslim marriage between the husband and wife remains intact and continues to subsist until the High Court dissolves it pursuant to a divorce petition by the unconverted spouse under the LRA,” said justice Nik Hashim Nik Ab Rahman.

This is a minor victory for company secretary R Subashini as her marriage with Islam-convert husband T Saravanan was a civil marriage and she could go to the civil courts for her divorce.

Subashini, 28, a Hindu, is trying to stop her husband, who has converted to Islam and assumed the name Muhammad Shafi Saravanan Abdullah, from taking matrimonial proceedings to the Syariah Court.

Her husband converted in May 2006 along with their eldest son, Dharvin Joshua, 4. The husband then launched proceedings in the Syariah Court for divorce as well as the custody of their second son, Sharvin, 2.

However, the issue of custody of their children remain unclear as the Federal Court today also ruled that Saravanan did not abuse the law by converting his four-year-old son to Islam without the knowledge of the mother.

It said that according to the Federal Constitution, only the consent of one parent is sufficient in the conversion of a child.

The court also ruled that it was within the right of Saravanan as a Muslim to file the divorce proceedings in the Syariah Court.

Nevertheless, the Federal Court three-member panel today delivered a blow against Subashini by throwing out her case on a legal technicality - that her divorce petition was 'premature and invalid'.

In a 2-1 decision, the country’s highest court said that Subashini’s divorce petition was prematurely filed under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 (LRA).

According to the act, the wife can only file for divorce three months after the date of her husband T Saravanan’s conversion to Islam, as stipulated under Islamic law.

However, Subashini’s divorce petition was filed about two weeks before the three months expiration date. The divorce petition is deemed null and void. Nevertheless, Subashini can apply for a fresh application.

Justices Nik Hashim Nik Ab Rahman and Azmel Ma'amor struck out Subashini’s case while justice Abdul Aziz Mohamad was the lone dissenting voice.

Federal Court overruled lower court

During her appeal to the Court of Appeal on March 13, justices Suriyadi Halim Omar and Hassan Lah who made the majority 2-1 decision told her to take her case before the Syariah Court instead, while justice Gopal Sri Ram dissented.

According to the majority decision, the injunction sought by Subashini was unsustainable because the Syariah Court is competent enough decide on the matter.

However, on March 30, Subashini was granted an interim injunction by the Court of Appeal restraining Saravanan from pursuing his claims in the Islamic court.

The injunction also effectively restrained him from converting their Sharvin to Islam and from pursuing his custody claims in the Syariah Court.

It was also held in the landmark ruling that a Muslim could apply to the Islamic court to convert his or her underage children without permission from the non-Muslim spouse.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Lonesome Blues





Don't be lonesome anymore! Go, get hitched before the bad times come again...Well if you think this year has been not as good as we want it to be, you'll just have to see what lies ahead of us...Need I say with a slight sense of pessimism that the cost of living will be going up, rather than down? Just consider, many of the regional states' socio-economical and political conditions... Judge them by yourself without any further elaboration on my part.

Ask any Chinese Fengshui master! He or she will likely advise you this is the best year to tie the matrimonial knot together! Remember next year is the Year of the Rat... and it isn't easy being a rat living in fear of being caught and seeking food everywhere to survive!!!

So why don't you get married and settle down as soon as possible?

If you do, here is my highly recommended romantic number for your wedding night dance...

Yes! Dance! I haven't seen a single wedding dance in Asia these days. It would be memorable if this is part of the ceremony as it is in the West.

I'm not suggesting we ought to ape the westerners in everything. There are always merits to certain practices... and a wedding dance must surely qualify as meritorious... in the sense that it is memorable for all and it can draw the happy couple closer to hold, caress and display to all and sundry how joyful they are to be finally be as one "till death do them apart".

We don't have to be as exciting as the Greeks in their wedding ceremonies. I've been to a great many Greek weddings overseas to be haunted forever by the noises of almost a hundred breaking plates and the favorite Greek hit tune-I'm not sure what the title is-that was used as the theme tune in Oscar-winning Zorba the Greek starring Anthony Quinn.

One thing is for sure-make sure you have this favorite song of mine and I assure you, it's a favorite of millions around the English-speaking world as well. Be the first to sing it. You will be blessed!

You could even feel the presence of the good Lord as it's played or sung by a choir. I would suggest both of you lovers who are to enter into a lifetime of commitment together sing it together...

Here are the lyrics. I promise to include the presentation of the song later as I make arrangements with YouTube.

There is Love
He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubadour is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits, here,

has caused Him to remain for
whenever two or more of you
are gathered in His name
there is Love, there is Love.

Well, a man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home
and they shall travel on to where the two shall be as one.
As it was in the beginning
is now and till the end
Woman draws her life from man
and gives it back again.
And there is Love, there is Love.

Well then what's to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it love that brings you here
or love that brings you life?
And if loving is the answer, then who's the giving for?
Do you believe in something
that you've never seen before?
Oh there is Love, there is Love.


(Short solo)
Oh the marriage of your spirits here
has caused Him to remain for
whenever two or more of you
are gathered in His name
there is Love, there is Love.


Thursday, October 11, 2007

Perfect Husband, Imperfect Wife


Here's the perfect husband at home -without beating around the bush too much about it as a many a wife is prone to do so-doing a fantastic superb job.... Gee, whiz-that wife of his sure needs help!!!






Here are those words of wisdom from husbands about wives from hell...and they are here courtesy of a lady friend, Ijau...

I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry. That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste.
DavidBissonette

When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her.
Sacha Guitry

After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin; they just can't face each other, but still they stay together.
Hemant Joshi

By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates

Woman inspires us to great things, and prevents us from achieving them.
Dumas

The great question... which I have not been able to answer... is, "What does a woman want?"
Sigmund Freud

I had some words with my wife, and she had some paragraphs with me.
Anonymous

"Some people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and dancing. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays."
Henny Youngman

"I don't worry about terrorism. I was married for two years."
Sam Kinison

"There's a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic banking. It's called marriage."
James Holt McGavran

"I've had bad luck with both my wives. The first one left me, and the second one didn't."
Patrick Murray

Two secrets to keep your marriage brimming
1. Whenever you're wrong, admit it,
2. Whenever you're right, shut up.
Nash

The most effective way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once...
Anonymous

You know what I did before I married? Anything I wanted to.
Henny Youngman

My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met.
Rodney Dangerfield

A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong.
Milton Berle

Marriage is the only war where one sleeps with the enemy.
Anonymous

A man inserted an 'ad' in the classifieds: "Wife wanted". Next day he received a hundred letters. They all said the same thing: "You can have mine."
Anonymous

First Guy (proudly): "My wife's an angel!"
Second Guy: "You're lucky, mine's still alive."

Monday, October 8, 2007

Hahaha-So Funny!

Thanks my dear Ijau for this funny masterpiece!

************************************************************

*A letter of Husband to Wife:*

Dear Sweetheart,

I can't send my salary this month, so I am sending 100 kisses...

You are my
sweetheart.
Your husband
Allen.


*His Wife replied back after some days to her Husband:*


Dearest sweetheart,

Thanks for your 100 kisses, I am sending the expenses details.

1. The Milk man agreed on 2 kisses for one month's milk.

2. The electricity man only agreed after 7 kisses.


3. Your house owner is coming every day and taking two or three kisses
instead of the rent.

4. Supermarket owner did not accept kisses only, so I have given him some other items.....

5. Other expenses 40 kisses


Please don't worry for me, I have a remaining balance of 35 kisses and I
hope I can complete the month using this balance.

Shall I plan same way for next months, Please Advise!!!


Your Sweet Heart.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Mrs. Omar bin Laden!

Can you believe it? We've heard of some women's strange weird attraction to condemned killers on death row in prison ... She has found love with the son of the most notorious mass murderer in recent history, Osama bin Laden! Here's the amazing story in the Daily Mail dated 13/7/07.

Well, whatever her frame of mind is, this Jane can be kind enough to make the statement, '... one should never revisit the sins of the father on the son'.


Revealed in the world's first full interview: The bizarre world of Mrs Bin Laden by JENNY JOHNSTON - More by this author » Last updated at 21:10pm on 13th July 2007

Comments Comments (7)

Heavens, what a mess. The new Mrs Bin Laden is about to board a flight out of the UK, and it's not going according to plan.

First, our telephone interview is abruptly halted when the police "would like a word" with her. "Gotta go, I think I am being questioned," snaps Jane Felix-Browne, and the line goes dead.

Ten minutes later, she is back - minus her passport and boarding pass, apparently - and reading aloud from a card that has been kindly handed to her, presumably by some men with large guns.

"Under Section 7 of the Terrorism Act, it is your duty to be truthful... you must provide any documents, passports... blah blah blah... you are not under arrest," she reads.

Woah! Hold on. Is she being detained? On what grounds? Surely even she wouldn't be daft enough to put her married name on her passport?

bin laden

Jane Felix-Browne: The new Mrs Bin Laden

She sounds irritated rather than concerned. "It's a formality. I've done nothing wrong. I've had this before. Let's keep talking until they come back."

However, we are again interrupted - this time by a choking sound that cuts her off in mid-sentence. Whatever now?

Has she been marched away in handcuffs? Strangled? Wrestled to the ground by a fellow passenger who took issue with the family name?

Alas, nothing so dramatic. "Sorry," she splutters. "I was trying to take a drink while wearing a burka. I've poured it down me. What a mess."

So begins the farce that is interviewing Jane Felix-Browne, aka Mrs Omar Bin Laden, daughter-in-law of Osama - yes, that Osama.

A few days ago, her neighbours in the tranquil Cheshire village of Moulton knew Jane as just another slightly dotty grandmother who sat on the parish council.

She was a bit odd, granted, with a face unnaturally smoothed, it was rumoured, by Botox and the surgeon's scalpel.

She was always off on exotic jaunts to the Middle East, and spoke of her devout Islamic faith - but all in clipped English tones.

And, of course, there was the small matter of her five former husbands, as well as her latest, who at 27 is young enough to be her son.

Still, that sort of gossip-fodder was nothing compared to what the good folk of Moulton faced this week when Jane, 51, was unveiled - metaphorically, at least - as Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden's daughter-in-law.

bin laden

Besotted: Jane with Omar Bin Laden

She had met his fourth son, Omar, on a riding holiday in Egypt and fallen madly in love. The fact that his father was the most notorious terrorist the world has ever known was never something that was going to stand in Jane's way.

It seems it's not even an issue that was discussed at length before the marriage ceremony.

Today, she is taking family loyalty to a somewhat improbable level, insisting again that the Bin Laden patriarch might just be innocent. With a jaw-dropping combination of stupidity and naivety, she says in her best school ma'am voice, when I raise the question of the Twin Towers: "I mean, do you know - beyond all doubt - that he did it?

"If so, I'd like you to show me the evidence. I don't think it's nice to make assumptions about someone when you don't know the facts."

The blushing bride agreed yesterday to tell her remarkable story to the Mail - but refused point blank to do a face-to-face interview, presumably because she was too busy making arrangements to flee the country.

It's strangely apt, however, that we end up trying to piece together this astonishing saga over the phone. It is precisely how she communicates with her new husband. She hasn't seen him in the flesh since they tied the knot last autumn.

I ask if it isn't a rather bizarre way to conduct a marriage. She says: "Absolutely not. We can talk for hours and hours on the phone, and we do. We also have the internet, which is fantastic. Then there's the webcam. We both have great cameras, you see."

Word is that as soon as she can be reunited with her passport, Jane is off to Saudi Arabia and back into Omar's arms, although she refuses to confirm this, saying instead that she is "going abroad. That is all you need to know".

She concedes, though, that one day Saudi will be her ideal place to live.

"I would like to settle in Saudi with him. Of course, I'd keep my home in Cheshire - I am British, after all - but a woman's place is by her husband's side."

But doesn't he already have a home? And a wife and child?

"Yes, but I'd set up another home nearby, and he would come and go between the two. It is quite normal, really. I don't mind at all - why should I? I'm not jealous of his wife.

"I have spoken to her. Lots of married men in this country have girlfriends. At least he is being honest."

She says she talked to her husband yesterday, and he is as bemused as she is at the headlines their marriage has generated. "He thinks it's been blown out of proportion, as I do," she says. "It's not that complicated, really. I fell in love with the man and I married him. What else is there to say? Who his father is doesn't come into the equation."

On one level, it's staggering that a Cheshire divorcÈe can get herself into this extraordinary position. Yet somehow, those who know Jane Felix-Browne aren't surprised.

Hers has been, by any standards, an eyebrow-raising life. She says herself that she doesn't do convention.

Her last husband may have been an RAC patrolman, but you get the impression that such mundanity was never part of Jane's grand plan.

"Well, what can I say? Lots of people live in a three-bed semi, go to work, have two kids and are happy with that. I never aspired to that sort of life."

Actually, she seems worryingly in her element in the limelight. I ask how she has been coping with the pressure - meaning the intense strain of knowing your every move will now be documented, whether by the press or the security services.

She misses the point. "I'm doing fine. Nothing really fazes me. I'm pretty good on live TV, as you've probably seen."

Halfway through our interview, I make a comment about her father-in-law inspiring the biggest manhunt in history. She laughs. For a day at least, she has elbowed Daddy-in-law out of the picture.

"Actually, I think the biggest manhunt in history is for me today. Everyone is after me. They're not bothered about him."

IF MI6 agents routinely listen in on Jane Felix-Browne's conversations - as she rather grandly assumes they do - they must want to tear their hair out.

She can talk for England on Millsand-Boon topics like love at first sight and true romance, but is woefully evasive on such matters as her own name. The new Mrs Bin Laden found names irritating long before she acquired her most notorious one.

She snorts as she admits that she came into the world as Paula Joy Hanson. She hated the Paula bit.

"I meet people with the name Paula now, and I have to say 'That's a nice name' because I don't want to be rude. But I hated it. I didn't have a happy childhood and I wanted to be rid of that name as soon as possible because it had such bad connotations."

She won't say what was so terrible about her childhood, but whatever it was, she concedes, affected everything. "I think what happened to me affected every relationship I've been in. I found it difficult to trust men, always have."

With hindsight, maybe just calling herself Joy, her middle name, would have solved the problem. But no. She declared that she would henceforth be known as Jane Felix-Browne. Why? "I liked it. Why not?" she replies.

She gets tetchy when she talks about taking her husbands' names.

"For a while I called myself Wakefield (during her marriage to John Wakefield). Then when I married Andrew Yeomans, he wanted me to take his name, too. I said: 'Enough with these bloody names.'"

Somewhere along the way, she also acquired the name Zaina Mohamad al Sabah - presumably when she converted to Islam as a teenager?

"I never said I converted," she exclaims angrily. She won't elaborate, but has previously claimed Arabic parentage. Her parents are reported as being a George and Beryl Hanson. She refuses to clear up the matter.

"My religion is a very private matter. It doesn't matter how I became a Muslim. Only that my Islamic faith is very important to me."

For all the holes in Jane's story - all of which give the impression that even she doesn't know who she is - we do know that she was a Muslim by the time she got married for the first time, at the age of 16.

This union - like her current one - was an Islamic religious marriage not recognised in law. She won't name the man, but tells me that the pressures of trying to have it formally recognised in this country helped destroy it.

That, however, was not an excuse she could use for the collapse of four subsequent legal marriages - all to non-Muslims.

The first was to fur-cutter Anthony Lomas in 1979, followed by Hell's Angel John Metcalfe, electronics company boss John Wakefield, then RAC man Andrew Yeomans. She talks a little about why each marriage collapsed, concluding that the only common denominator was a clash of cultures - between her faith and their way of life.

"All my husbands after that had a problem with my faith,' she says. 'None of them understood how important it was to my life."

Rather routine family demands also seemed to get in the way. "I had two children in my second marriage, Vincent, now 28, and Dean, 27, but I was ill and in hospital a lot. My husband couldn't cope with the situation.

"With the third, well, I think I went into that one because I wanted to be with someone. You change, you know. You grow up and finally realise what you want."

When she did get the chance to travel - when her children had grown up and she found herself single again - she fell in love with the Middle East, mainly because the culture was so entwined with her adopted Islamic faith.

"I've been described as this person with a very jet-set life. That wasn't true. Until ten years ago, my focus was at home, with my children."

Fifteen years ago, however, she says she was diagnosed with MS, and in the past decade has travelled regularly to Egypt for experimental treatment which involves being in an oxygen chamber. The bohemian lifestyle she enjoyed there was hugely appealing.

It was while on a horse-riding holiday to the Pyramids that she met the darkly handsome Omar. She was embarrassingly smitten and, strangely, the mention of his surname didn't have her running away screaming.

"Of course I knew who he was. Someone told me before he did - but I said 'So what?' When Omar and I talked at length, he asked me if I knew the name. I said: 'Of course.'

"He asked if it was OK, and I said yes, fine. I'm not the sort of person who is fazed by anything, and I truly believe that someone is innocent until proven guilty, so I wasn't about to start judging his father.

"What is that famous saying? 'One should never revisit the sins of the father on the son.'"

Still, on a purely practical level, it can't really be the stuff of dreams to marry someone who, she admits, is penniless and unable to get a decent job because of his name.

She scoffs at her critics who say she is just another naive, middle-aged British woman who has let herself be flattered by a young man with an eye on a cosy life in the UK.

"Look, he doesn't need me to get a visa to come to England. All he needs to do is go to the British Embassy in Saudi. It's ridiculous to say he is using me for that. London is full of Bin Ladens. Many of his uncles and aunts are here."

She also rejects claims that there is something suspect about a handsome young man like Omar being interested in her.

"Why is it ok for a 50-year-old man to marry a 20-year-old woman, but when a woman wants to be with a younger man it's seen as scandalous?"

Maybe she can weather the criticisms of strangers, but what of her own children and grandchildren? How on earth has she explained this one to them?

"My children adore Omar," she says expansively. "He is wonderful with them. He is the same age as my sons Vincent and Dean and he is like their best friend.

"In fact, it was my youngest son who signed the marriage papers. To make it official, he had to go with Omar and say he was giving me away. He was happy to do so. Why would he not be?"

I ask if her husband is proud of his name. "Yes, he is proud of his family."

Even his father? "I don't know. I have never asked him. But I know he was particularly proud of his grandfather Mohamed."

There is much confusion about the last time Omar actually saw his father. Some reports say they fell out after the attack on the World Trade Centre in a row about political 'tactics'.

Jane insists the pair have not spoken "since 2000 or early 2001". Whatever, she says the loss grieves her husband. "Of course, he loves his father. He misses him dreadfully, like any son would. Until someone proves him guilty, how can he stop that?"

Omar's military training in the Middle East - as part of his father's grand plan - seems to be of little consequence to Jane.

I ask if she accepts that he must once have shared his father's political beliefs.

"How do we know what his father's political views were?' she asks. 'How can we say? All I know is that my husband is not an extremist.

"He is not a fanatic. He is very peaceful and loving. He is not anti-Western in any way - how could he be when he married me?"

Jane has some strong political views of her own, albeit ones based on a hazy understanding of history. She says she is proud to be British. I ask her if she is proud of the so-called War on Terror being waged in her name.

"No, I am not proud of that, in the same way that I am not proud of the situation with the Irish, or when we went into the Falklands. Why should we have the right to take over countries and not give them back? We are a very arrogant nation."

And at that, she is off. Her passport has been returned - with security guards clearly concluding that she is a danger only to herself - and her flight is being called. The world beyond a Cheshire village beckons, and she is loving every deluded minute of it.



Saturday, June 9, 2007

Something Funny about Marriage

Thanks, Bong for sharing this... I also saw the posting at the Miri Community Net...I'm not sure if you borrowed it from there but once again, thanks anyway. I always welcome exciting, interesting, amazing, etc stuff here.

Other than the joke here, this thoughtful piece of
writing on a conversation will surely ring a bell for those who have gone through some pretty bad relationships, I'm sure ...

Before the marriage:

He: Yes. At last. It was so hard to wait.


She: Do you want me to leave?


He: NO! Don't even think about it.


She: Do you love me?


He: Of course!


She: Have you ever cheated on me?


He: NO! Why you even asking?


She: Will you kiss me?


He: Yes!


She: Will you hit me?


He: No way! I'm not such kind of person!


She: Can I trust you?


He: Yes.

Now after the marriage you can read it from below to up!!!!