What I reckon is...

I've just posted a request for more information on this great site http://guyanathenandnow.wordpress.com/

Arawatabaru, Barima River, Guyana It seems the entire estate of my great uncle, James Osenton, gold miner extraordinaire , comprised a single share certificate. After Treasury Solicitors' costs the final amount from the government office is...wait for it...a couple of thousand pounds! To be divided among his descendants. Me and my cousins have decided to put the money towards some kind of memorial to James Osenton - he deserved that at least! Just to take the story further: the dear old BBC, in the form of their Heir Hunters programme , have said that they would like to interview me, which I'm more that happy to do - I might then find out more about James Osenton. In fact I will do more than that: I intend to go out to Guyana, go up the Barima River and try and find out a bit more about my great uncle's gold mine. First hand! Settlements on the Barima River, Guyana A gold nugget, found in the Barima River

Well! We all made our money on Microsoft's cute move for Nokia (cute for Nokia that is!) didn't we? Didn't we?  I sold mine yesterday at $6.24 as they began to dip (they're still dipping pre-market this morning, 17 Sept 2013). There's a whole load of Nokia IP now sloshing around the world and why, can anyone tell me, are the biggest number of Google enquiries for "Nokia" coming from Pakistan? Now the good folks of Finland have bought back their fill of their industrial darling I don't think the stock will be doing anything much anytime soon - although I guess they might drift down for a while. I've taken a punt with part of my profits and bought, as a good friend of mine terms it, a "minnow". Well, I've bought such a minnow I couldn't even buy it online through my broker, Interactive Investor , I had to buy my minnow through them over the phone! And this minnow is? I hear you ask. It's that well known hidden gem (delibe

I’m feeling pleased with myself! My positions in Cable & Wireless and Thrombogenics shares have both given me a 100% gain. I have a significant stake (for me!) in Nokia, in which I have complete faith, and at the end of this post I’ll tell you about my new position. Let me explain: in January 2012 I bought Cable & Wireless shares and more than doubled my money when they were bought by Vodafone the following April (more on Vodafone later). In September 2012  I piled into Nokia at $2.55, for a multitude of good reasons, and watched them climb to above $4. I bought more in December2013 and watched them stagnate (that’s a posh word for “got a bit worried”) but there is now ample evidence that Nokia are really coming up on the rails. OK, I know it's not a Lamia - but I like the picture! The recent jump in Lamia sales added to all the previously stated reasons (their patent bank, camera and satnav capability, and steady third world market etc.) is enough to ju

I downloaded this after a recommendation from audible.co.uk .  It wasn’t a straightforward decision because I don’t generally “do” online book recommendations. I needn’t have worried. This is a gripping, intensely moving, evocative and wonderful – I could use more adjectives, but these give you the picture – psychological read. It’s a bit like Joanna Trollope but with barbed wire. I pulled into a layby to listen to the last three chapters and sat there with tears running down my face. It is simply magnificent – and it’s her first novel! Buy it, borrow it, ste** it (maybe not!) – but get it! End of exclamation marks.

Passwords were the last thing on Andrew’s mind as he took his completed appraisal form over to the Personnel Office to give to Denise Smith. He knocked on her door and walked in to her office. She was talking animatedly on the phone and did not appear to have heard Andrew’s knock or entrance behind her. He stood there and waited.              ‘Just a minute, I’m not logged on,’ she said into the phone and with her free hand typed ‘dsmith’ with one finger onto her computer keyboard against where it said Username on the screen. Against Password she slowly typed ‘1$toyota’. It wasn’t difficult to follow. Andrew coughed politely. Still speaking, Denise Smith turned, saw the papers in Andrew’s hand, smiled, and motioned to him to put them in her in-tray. Back at his desk Andrew’s heart was thumping. The company was proud of its strict IT procedures - but he now had the means to access the Personnel  computer system, “Profile”, using Denise Smith’s login - and Denise Sm

Further research indicates that James Osenton had the misfortune to be made bankrupt in the early seventies, according to the London Gazette .  I am still researching that bit! Just who did made my uncle bankrupt? Can any of my readers help here? We have also discovered a record of James Osenton disembarking in Demerara (now in Guyana) in 1933, some months before he established his gold mine near the Barima river in Guyana.  The story will continue.…

In April last year I talked of being contacted by an Heir Hunter   Well, things have moved on from then. We (my cousin and I) have discovered that the guy who passed away was our great uncle – the brother of our maternal great-grandfather – who died intestate and childless. Also the wives of the two brothers were sisters. It saddens me deeply that my great uncle passed away, alone, twenty-three years ago and that no-one was with him. No one in the family even knew of his existence Of course we dispensed with the services of the Heir Hunter after we found out these details and we ourselves began to find out more about our great uncle. And what a story unfolded – and is still unfolding! James Osenton, which is who he was, was an adventurer extraordinaire! He is on the passenger lists of ships en-route from Africa and New Zealand in the 1920s and my cousin hit the jackpot and found him mentioned in the Milwaukee Journal of June 18 th 1933 under the headline, ‘ Starve