You know lah...

There are many ways to leave a room... and after all the jet-a-way-and-back-again over the years, the riverman~~~ has mastered the art.


For example... there's the "Straight out through the main doors, spill onto the red carpet and smack into the screaming flashbulbs". Alternatively, there's always the "Sneaky detour through the kitchen, squeeze by the waiters and out through the delivery doors down the side street where the smokers congregate". For today however, I feel like a good old dependable "Go round the room and say goodbye before the taxi arrives".

This last month, I have sort of felt like a guest who has stayed too late at a party. You know, the type where half the guests have left, the music is on re-repeat, the confetti is on the floor and the wine's gone warm in the glass? Yes, I have been itching to leave for quite a while, and for many a recent day I have felt that the call to leave hasn't come quick enough.

Don't get me wrong though - it hasn't been unbearable by any means. I have YOU to thank for making these days absolutely wonderful! Thank you for the beer in the afternoon under palm trees and for the char kwey teow under that sole unlit umbrella in Tiong Bahru Market. Thank you for the guitar session with maggie mee on the side at 2 am. Thank you for scolding me for smoking and then allowing me to dip into your ciggarettes. Thank you for that gin and tonic up at Balcony Bar. Thank you for Bak Chor mee and the introduction to your new girlfriend. Thank you for putting up with my barrage of election update texts. Thank you making me realise that Chi-wa-was can be very sweet. Thank you for teaching me how to fly my kite out in that empty field near Kampong Java. Thank you for allowing me to empty your refrigerator of coke light and tiger beer. Thank you for playing me opera in your car. Thank you for wine at Dempsey. Thank you for telling me off, encouraging me on and driving me up the wall and teasing me to death. Coming home would not have been the same without YOU.

My bag is a little heavier than usual this time - a testament to the elastic nature of the "bare necessities". It is remarkable how quickly a suitcase fills out in the last 24 hours before you leave home. Almost as quick as the urge to get nostalgic as soon as you zip that suitcase close and look around your room. Almost as quick as the taxi takes to get to your door after you call. Almost as quick as the frantic "Goodbye" texts in a street-lamp-lit back seat. Almost as quick as the trip down the ECP and almost as quick as you see the airport control tower straight ahead...

Too quick!

So before I lug-out onto a trolley and up the terminal gates... it is simple, pretty unoriginal and you probably know it already, but you know lah...it still needs to be said:

Take care and please do call, write and visit if you can. I am so going to miss YOU!

~~~

PS: The embeds are of a Berlin based band called "Virginia Jetzt". Something I discovered over these last two months while watching too much YouTube.

Change

There are blog pages and write-ups aplenty congratulating America on electing its first African American president. Pundits spend hours on the TV and gallons of ink on the page dissecting everything and anything to absolutely nothing - from the shifting demographic of the American population... to the irrelevancy of the "Bradley Effect". Everything related to the campaign is analysed-digested-regurgitated-and-reanalysed again: from the would've-n-could've of the McCain/Palin ticket... to the "could it be possible" resuscitation of an embattled and rattled GOP... to the "what-type-of-puppy" will move into the White House with the Obama kids come January next year.

Yes admittedly it is all a little mad, but the riverman~~~ believes that having gone through the despondency of the last 8 years, the world fairly deserves to happily go Obama-crazy for a little while. The man has come to symbolise so much of what the world around America hopes America to be.

I remember as I type out this post how as the state-by-state results came in on election night, my finger-nails correspondingly grew shorter and shorter. When Ohio's results came in, my mobile phone started ringing. I picked it up and the voice of an obviously over-caffeinated friend from London blurted out anxiously, "What do you think? Has he won?".

The texts and calls came fast and furious after Virginia's results slammed home. Then an almost dreamlike sequence of events followed: the exuberant roar of the crowd from Times Square; the flourished wave of the stars and stripes over the sea of people in Chicago's Grant Park; the close-up of tears streaming down Rev. Jessee Jackson's face; the wild screams of 'Yes we did!" from the students from George Washington University; people, both white and black and every colour in between hugging each other on the streets of Harlem; the choked-up speechlessness of some of the anchors on CNN and MSNBC... and all the while those clear fluorescent words "PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA" flashing out from the alert titles on every news network.

As the world waited for the future 44th President of the United States to get on stage for his acceptance speech, the news channel I was watching put on a recording of that historic speech by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 1963, as he stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It was hard not to get choked up as his words rang out: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."".

From the hopeful optimism and faith of a Baptist minister from Atlanta, Georgia in 1963 to an acceptance speech by an African American president-elect in 2008... America, you have come a long way!

Just to illustrate, let's go back in time...

On April 16, 1963, a 22 year-old man dressed in worn out denims walked onto a stage in Gerde's Folk City in the West Village with his folk guitar and harmonica. As the mumble of the crowd around him fell into whisper, he strummed into the air what was probably one of the most iconic songs of the 60's civil rights movement. The melody was inspired by an old Negro spiritual. The lyric was a plea made on behalf of generations of people denied a voice. How many roads must a man walk down, before they call him a man How many seas must a white dove sail, before she sleeps in the sand How many times must the cannonballs fly, before they are forever banned.*The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind.* How many years must a mountain exist, before it is washed to the sea. How many years can some people exist, before they're allowed to be free. How many times can a man turn his head, and pretend that he just doesn't see. How many times must a man look up, before he can see the sky. How many years must one man have, before he can hear people cry. How many deaths will it take till he knows, that too many people have died.

Today when I listen to Bob Dylan's immortal "Blowing in the wind" I still find it extraordinary that a song that stabs so truthfully into the pain and injustice in racism came from a white man. And yet, why indeed should this be remarkable? Truth is colour-blind... and the questions asked in that song demand and just as surely provoke a truthful answer.

On October 8, 1963, an American Gospel, R&B and Soul singer named Sam Cooke and his band tried to register at a "whites only" motel in Shreveport, Louisiana. They were summarily arrested for disturbing the peace. Sam had heard Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind" a number of months before, and had been so impressed that after the incident at Shreveport, that he pushed himself out of apathy and penned the words of another immortal song called "A change is gonna come".

Within the stirring heartbeat of Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind", was a powerful question: "How many years can some people exist, before they're allowed to be free?". Sam Cooke responded to Dylan's question in his song "A change is gonna come", by insisting that even while change had been "a long, long time coming", nevertheless change would be inevitable in the end. Despite the steadfast hope that "change" would eventually come, the weariness of waiting for what seemed to take forever to be granted is evident in his words.

I was born by the river in a little tent. Oh and just like the river I've been running ever since. It's been a long, a long time coming. But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will. It's been too hard living but I'm afraid to die Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky It's been a long, a long time coming But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will. I go to the movie and I go downtown. Somebody keep telling me don't hang around. It's been a long, a long time coming. But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will. Then I go to my brother, And I say brother help me please. But he winds up knocking me back down on my knees. There been times that I thought I couldn't last for long. But now I think I'm able to carry on. It's been a long, a long time coming. But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will...

Both "Blowing in the Wind" and "A change is gonna come" constituted and began an extraordinary form of social dialogue via music with regards to race relations in America. Black American musicians from Otis Redding to Aretha Franklin to Al Green to Seal have steadily interpreted and reinterpreted Sam Cooke's response to Dylan's question for each new generation. And so, this indefatigable dialogue has continued by way of tentative question to hopeful answer from 1963 up to the present.

And so from 1963 Reader, we come to 2008.

On November 4, 2008, close to midnight, Barack Obama stood on the stage facing a 200,000 strong crowd in Chicago, and with a clear voice declared emphatically that "It's been a long time coming, but tonight,... change has come to America". Reader, as I listened to these words, a chill literally ran up my spine. The words that Barack Obama shouted into the night air on the 4th of November were a mirror of Sam Cooke's original words in 1963, but this time voiced with an air of decisiveness, certainty and finality. This was a jubilant shout of victory and no longer a weary prayer. Gone was that tinge of desperation... that hunger half dowsed in melancholy. Almost 45 years later, the world saw a unified America... white and black, shoulder to shoulder and with both sides of the civil rights dialogue finally responding in concert to the question that had been insistently blowing in the wind, from that evening in Gerde's Folk City in 1963 to the present day.

And as I watched the crowds chant "Yes We Can!" into the early hours of the morning after, the riverman~~~ believes, those three simple words, whether indirectly or purposefully, were that long awaited final triumphant reply to the question Dylan asked so long ago.

Well done America, and congratulations!

~~~

It's the election, Stupid!

I am not American... but these days I almost feel like I am.

Yes, I am as close to American nowadays as what a combustible chunk of CNN, a saucy spoonful of MSNBC and a dangerous dash of of FOX can create within the space of a heated month of televised presidential debates, campaign ads and snarky SNL. All that, and then add in the gosh-darn-it-betcha-risms that have found their way into the international stream of consciousness and from there unconsciously into my vocabulary - thanks but no thanks to Sarah Palin. In fact this intensive crash course in "AmeriMcCainObamanation" will probably leave me feeling very hollow when I wake up on November the 4th and realise that I can't bl**dy vote!

Oh well Reader, but at least some of you will be able to. The closest the riverman~~~ will be to a voting booth in America will be the "Authentic New York American Pizza - Extra Hot Pepperoni Special" in my freezer which I am saving to nuke and tuck into as the ballots get counted up into the wee small hours of the morning / afternoon / evening.

I know that Americans don't care what the rest of the world thinks with regards to the choice they will have to make in a little less than 8 days. And really, they shouldn't have to. What other country cares about the opinion of the world around them when it comes to electing their representatives? Why, that would be tantamount to a sneaky surrender of national sovereignty if anything!

No... the clamour for free trade from China and India or the shaky day-to-day existence of Palestinians in Gaza are not factors that Americans NEED to consider when casting their ballots. These are factors they can privately CHOOSE to consider of course, but the overall legacy of the volitional process in any democratic election should be exclusively for that country's citizens.

So when CNN airs viewpoints from the bus-driver in Oz to the film critic in Canada and everyone in-between during its "America Votes 2008 - International Voices" segments, this is merely of reflective value... reflective of the sobering fact that whatever choice Americans make on the November the 4th, will be a choice this inter-connected world will have to accept and live with.

So what will you do on election day, America?

Not long ago a singer songwriter based in Austin, Texas called Kat Edmonson(http://www.myspace.com/katedmonson) hunkered down to work with another songwriter called Kevin Lovejoy (also from Austin, Texas), and submitted a jointly-written original song to a CNN film competition. You can view and listen to it in the YouTube channel above this post. According to Kat, she simply handed out old cardboard squares and strips to random folk in Austin and asked them to write out what they would do as president. Simple concept, but pretty powerful... especially when you see what they wrote. And if what they wrote is indicative of what America as a whole wants of its new president, then the riverman~~~ thinks that the rest of the world will be pretty impressed with America come November the 4th.

Go on then America! Choose for YOU... and if you do, I believe you will choose wisely.

In the meantime - I leave you with a lighter look at what has been without a doubt, the most entertaining US election ever.... Gosh, I'm going to feel so bored after election day!

~~~

"Be the change that you want to see in the world" - Mahatma Gandhi

Vice President Sarah Palin - Pure Pa(in)lin-Speak

It's gotta be that fantastic crisp moose-flavoured air in Alaska that she's been brought up in, but Vice-A-Heartbeat-Away-President-Candidate Palin is a woman with spunk, and she never gives in. Nope... and say it ain't so Joe! Not even when the going gets down-right dirty... and it's been dirty all right this last week or so hiding out in Fox TV's bunkers behind an army of Joe-Six-Packs and avoiding them gawd-awful Katie Couric liberals. Poor thang! Betcha that's been hard!

So let's give Governor Palin one more chance shall we Reader? Any woman who wears a pair of pumps the way she does deserves another opportunity "to walk the walk and not just talk the talk". The riverman~~~ decided this week to lower the bar below the ground and invite Governor Palin to submit all her possible answers to the most important questions she has ever been asked by the press and in the televised debates. Just one... and I repeat ONE of these answers that Governor Palin submits here needs to hit the mark in order for her to pass the test. Yes, the riverman~~~ believes in "lifelines". The world will probably need one if Governor Palin makes it to the White House.

Without any further to-do... Take it away Sarah!!!


Question: All-righty Govenor Palin, how will you fix the economy?

Two possible Pa(in)lin answers:

(a) Our economy and putting it back on the verbiage that Senator McCain chose to use them. It's about creating jobs under the umbrella of job creation. So we have got to put the pressure on Iran and we have got to get people to understand what he's been talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to do this with you. I believe that America has to be considered also. But again, it's got to have a good guy who is saying that. Now, one who would seek to protect the good guys in this, the leaders of Israel and her friends, her allies, including the United States of America, where... where do they go? It's Alaska.

(b) The economy and putting it back on the right reasons and serving for the right reasons and serving for the other party. Trying to get a more democratic nation with democratic ideals. That's why we have got to flow into our domestic markets first. As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that I have the confidence in that Washington establishment, where, yeah, they've had opportunities to meet heads of state these last couple of weeks... it has been overwhelming to me who the good guys are. Through reform, absolutely. Look at the end of the United States of America, where where do they go? It's Alaska.

Let's give you another lifeline Governor. Let's get this very clear - what DO you mean?

(c) Yes Charlie! Our economy and putting it back on the side of the earth. Now, one who would seek to wipe them off the face of the solution to the problems on Wall Street. Well, it was unfortunate. That manifestation that we saw - Charlie - with that invasion of Georgia shows us some steps backwards that Russia has recently taken away from the race toward a more coordinated and a much more stringent oversight regime government can play a very, very appropriate role in the trade sector today... we've got to be considered also. But Charlie - again, it's got to get people to understand that the people of America are not noticing that there are mistakes made. But we're mavericks.

Let's really get to heart of the issue. What is your foreign policy experience?

Two possible Pa(in)lin-esque rejoinders:

(a) Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, overseeing the oil and gas development in our state to produce more for the United States of America, where... where do they go? It's Alaska. It's rearing it's head. It's just right over the border. It is obvious to me who the good guys in this, the leaders of Israel and her friends, her allies, including the United States. I want you to not lose sight of the status-quo, the politics as usual and somebody's big, fat resume maybe that shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment, where, yes, they've had opportunity to meet heads of state and I can see Russia from...

(b) Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right next to our state. He's got the track record of the United States. I want to do ... and... and serving for the other party. Trying to get that gas line built, so pray for that. I see the collapse that we're seeing today, you know that something is broken and John McCain had pushed for, more troops? A counterinsurgency strategy?" And he also showed great appreciation for what America needs today. I'll try to destroy not only our democracy, but communities like the community of New York.

Errr... I see...! Would you like one more try Sarah?

(c) Alaska - that we can show is economic sanctions perhaps could be more comfortable and certainly taking shots from the race toward a more coordinated oversight regime government can play a very, very important .... when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space .... of the message that Americans are getting sick and tired of a process that's not allowing that process of that progress to be found here. Consumers and those who are hell bent on destroying our nation.

Question: What is the role of the US in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Two Pa(in)ful responses:

(a) Iraq - that John McCain had pushed for, more troops? A counterinsurgency strategy?" And he said, "yes." And he said, "yes." And he said, "yes." And he also showed great appreciation for what America and American troops are providing in his country. But no, the Pakistani people also, they... they want freedom. They want democratic values and tolerance and freedom. I see the United States, in my world, those are the good guys. Through reform, absolutely. Look at the oversight as people are trusting these companies with their insurance policies, and construction bonds, and everything else. When we see right now in Washington - it has got to be considered also.

(b) Afghanistan will lead to war and it doesn't have to stand for that. I believe that they, too, want to do with foreign policy and national security issues. Let me speak specifically about a credential ... but that John McCain... that I am so proud of his independent and strong decision he has made, what he decided to do this with you. I believe that - what Congress is going to take everybody working together on this, and not choosing a real easy path where he could be implemented if things weren't gonna go right. I thought yes, right off the face of the status-quo, going with the energy source that is part of the United States of America, where where do they go? It's Alaska!

I would ask you to try and answer the question Governor. What Exactly DO you mean? One last time for the folks at home!

(c) Iraq and Afghanistan will lead to further security of our best interests to fight against a regime, especially Iran, who would seek to protect the good guys ... they are in this nation at this time. It is from Alaska that we work with our allies to help us do that in this nation at this time. People are getting into crisis mode here. I think if you go back and look at that as more opportunity. John McCain... He's also known as the solution or not. You know, it's going to have nuclear weapons, what can we do - it's very important to us and they do not like the community of New York.

Question: Why should the US elect Senator McCain?

Two Pal(a)in-speak explanations:

(a) McCain has a great plan to get a more democratic nation with democratic ideals that are democratic. That's why we have been put in where it is in this case, for Georgia. The support that we send those out to make sure that an eye on Russia and Putin and some of these countries, especially Russia. We will not repeat a Cold War, but economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, again, counting on our allies to help us ... Diplomatic pressure. We need to pursue those and we need to reform government. We have got to get that gas line built, so pray for that. It is obvious to me... that confirmation of the people. It's a nice thing about him, too - is he is not asking me or anybody else to check our opinions at the door. He wants that healthy deliberation and debate with it. John McCain and I - We're mavericks.

(b) John McCain and I have not and I think it was unfortunate. That manifestation that we work together on this, and not choosing a real easy path where he could be implemented if things weren't gonna go right. I thought yes, right off the bat. When he offered me the position, as his running mate. No, I've worked all my life. In fact, I usually had two jobs all my life until I had kids. We got to put the pressure on Iran and we have got to be a multi-faceted solution that has to exercise all options out there on the world. Sorry Sarah! I just got lost in that blizzard of bullets. Just to make absolutely sure... ?

(c) McCain chose to use them. So we have been and mistakes made. And with new leadership, and that's the beauty of American elections, of course, and democracy, is with new leadership comes opportunity to change, and who's actually done it? That's something that John McCain has done, that has been lack... I believe, here at the door. He wants that healthy deliberation and debate with it. Oh... and just in case you didn't hear it before: MAVERICK!

Good night and Good Luck... and God bless America!

BTW - watch the Youtube entries above and below - betchya-all love em! ________________________________________________________

(All art by Zina Saunders http://www.drawger.com/zinasaunders/ and lots of thanks to http://www.interviewpalin.com/!)
~~~

Scenes from a mobile phone...

It is amazing.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you NEVER deleted a single photograph from your mobile phone? Over the past one and a half years or so, I have been clicking away at the random anything-and-everything-to-anywhere-and-everywhere on my very outdated Sony Ericsson, and yesterday was the day of reckoning for my refusal to delete or archive. As I tried to save a new number, to my horror, my phone screamed out a long *Beep*, sputtered a few muffled expletives and sighed into silence in my hand. You can imagine how I reacted Reader.

After an hour or so of hissing and cussing, I went down to the shops and gingerly deposited the carcass across the counter. I was more afraid of having lost all my contact numbers, but I was quickly assured that all was well. My contact numbers were safe, and so were my four hundred and three pictures.

FOUR HUNDRED AND THREE PICTURES?!? Bl**dy hell!!

Half-an-hour later I left the shop with a thumb-drive of pictures and my thoroughly disemboweled but miraculously resuscitated phone safe in my pocket. I am now sitting at home staring at the following treasures which have tumbled out onto my computer screen, and they are truly... Amazing! Somehow and very unconsciously little Sony-boy and me have created something really special. A haphazard record of very special moments - from funny to sad to contemplative to reckless to choreographed to liquor-laced to hung-over-dazed. I think that my camera did a better job of recording these last two years than this blog ever did... Naturally I am not at liberty to post every picture I have on this post - personal privacy and space being the primary limitation here. However, I will post a very selective selection. Every picture here comes with a remarkable story, and some of these stories I know some of YOU would remember just as vividly.

So let's rewind...

Much of my days at work at Canary Wharf were spent staring out of the window... and this is the superb view from my room on a rare sunny day in London. Yes... you do get sunny days in London!

One morning as I walked to work, I chanced upon this fellow walking out of the Canary Wharf tube station wearing a massive fluffy dog's head. I have no idea why. Probably a new way of "walking the dog".

Yes... working in Canary Wharf does make one go a touch crazy...

Glorious evenings in my garden in the middle of June last year... when Matt was around and Binny made her world class Pimms. Miss you all guys!

I still remember this day in April this year, when I woke up freezing and ran into the kitchen to switch on the heater, and this winter wonderland scene met me from my garden doors...

I actually forgot how cold I was.

On the day my new dining table arrived, I received a furry visitor from next door, who refused to leave until he conducted his own personal inspection of every rivet and joint...


Now that was a momentous occasion of sorts, but definitely nothing to the one below...

Thanks for being such a good sport Greggy!


(PS: The sequel to Greggy's latest movie will hopefully follow in the next post. I am so proud of you my little "Megastar"!)

I personally think that THIS is the best reason for having garden furniture!

And THIS is the best reason for champagne...

...and the best reason to wear summer dresses from Matalan!

(GBP10.00 per dress, Matalan (Lewisham) - Just in case you want to know.)

Wine (especially in the amounts I imbibe) invariably leads me to fancy myself an artist, and that in turn usually leads to me taking very random shots...

.... of wine being poured into a glass...

... or random dead leaves on an even more random pavement...

...or new fangled-angled shots of champagne glasses while lying on the floor when invited to a dinner party with a number of good friends...

... all of whom are pretty remarkable people with even more remarkable ideas at around three in the morning...

... before they all start to drift off at sometime around four.

Two things that go together in London after a day at work... (1)Footy and (2) a Pub...

Actually Rina, could you remind me... WHO EXACTLY were we supporting that evening - Liverpool or Man U?

I don't care for Footy really, and I won't pretend to! For me the reason for a night out in London is the live music - especially the Jazz scene. Thanks Kalam for expanding my horizons beyond institutionalised Ronnie Scotts!

I thought it was remarkable the way these two were able to sit attentively at their chess game throughout all the kerfuffle about them on a Friday evening in a local Weatherspoons. Remember this Ling?

And this is the way a Friday night usually ends for most of London... either outside a club snogging someone you don't know or alternatively kissing a curb...

Another Friday-night institution in London: The very expensive taxi ride home through a winding maze of screaming green-yellow-white-and-red lights...

Londoners love Karaoke.

So does Ling. She belts it out in my living room on a regular basis...

Just sign the woman on for the X Factor!!

Many people say that pure British food sucks. I disagree... and refer you all to the great Loch Fyne restaurant at Portsmouth... Seafood done the way Neptune would order it - simply pure bliss!

This was part of the World Naked Bike Ride that came to London for a weekend as part of a protest against world fuel usage and consequential global warming - SHEESH - whatever!!

Those Naturists will try ANYTHING!

So will Ling. Here she is - contemplating Ascot... (nice hat Dhharr-r-llinn-nggg!)

(I know she will KILL me for putting this up!)

Here is Tania meticulously cutting the weeds in my garden... specifically a dandelion flower. Observe the concentration.

(Shhh.hhhh... she just may miss...)

In order to make herself feel better for abusing my hospitality for a month... Tania decided to weed my garden. Leslie decided to assist as well, in order to protect my garden from Tania...

And they did work very very very hard for a whole of one afternoon!


And here you are guys! The result of Leslie's and Tania's hard labour in my garden after two weeks... What do you know: The bulbs were viable after all! WELL DONE!!!


The new tenants of Undercliff send you both their love!

And here are a few of my pictures of the informal goodbye-do on Friday night!

Angelique's glamourous pose gets outdone by The Corporation Of London Garbage Van in the window! Whadd-deh-hell!!!

*muak -muak* to you too! (Michael's really getting into it!)

Given the fact that I have exposed all of you on my blog this week somewhat against your will and largely without your permission, I thought I would do away with a riverman~~~ tradition and put my mug on this post as well in a show of solidarity!

More importantly, to the guys in London: I miss you all, and please do remember to phone and e-mail and finally visit me when I send you all my new address. The riverman~~~ will be on Facebook and amenable to all manner of "pokes" and "trout-slaps" you dispense my way!

After all, this is hardly goodbye... and no matter what, you know this river will meander.

~~~