This morning (Friday 10th August 2007) the sun was shining bright when I woke around 7.30 and refreshed from a good sleep and planned the day. Some writing, some internet work and go out again by 11am, this time take a weekly car park pass at the hospital, as it was evident that the condition of my mother was serious, but I wanted to know more before working out how existing plans and he pattern of my life was to change.
I would make up a salad, possibly as a back up for what was available at the hospital. I would take my camera and walk Temple Memorial Park, the vast open space between the hospital and the Whiteleas Estate but where buildings had been allowed, the Leisure centre first and then the fire station opposite the back end of the hospital complex.
While I was preparing the salad I switched on the radio, a big mistake because of two programmes which followed on from each other. First Desert Island Disks with the extraordinary writer Andrew Davies, now a Professor of Drama at Warwick University and who has effectively cornered the market on period "costume" drama for TV but who has also created great contemporary work ranging from the TV series House of Cards to the Bridget Jones films and is working on Brideshead Revisited, which is perhaps is greatest challenge because the TV series was outstanding and watchable time and time and time again
I immediately had to listen because of several of his choices of music from Chris Barber to Faure Requiem and Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart, but most of all because of the opening work from Jazz on a Summer's which was so appropriate for the spectacle of yachts which reflected the core of this film which I saw the day after release from prison 47 years ago. Now aged 70 he was of my generation but who had dared to risk his future on being a writer working for 15 hours a week at a teacher's training college as his base for providing for his young family, becoming an Honorary professor at the university in 2004 which absorbed the teacher training college during its creation and where over the years he has conducted workshops and talks about his writings. I also enjoyed two of his responses when quizzed about the extent to which he introduced sex into his writing, giving the example of Moll Flanders where there is no explicit references in the text although she has five husbands, one unknowingly her brother, and worked as a lady of the day and night. His defence was that this was far more enjoyable and a good thing to do than all those works about serial killers and human slaughter. He also emphasised that despite the continuing male tendency to think of sex explicitly and implicitly most of the time his excitement and enjoyment tended to come from writing and from food, a common old man's "complaint", so beware young ladies who marry old men, unless of course you are only interested in good food and their money, but also remember that
not all old have this "complaint."
There was still time to do some more work and write these notes later but then I had just had to listen to the last part and abridged version of the Death of Sigmund Freud on his settlement in London and death from cancer during the year of my birth and in which the celebrated his eightieth birthday. There were two important connections with the earlier programme because first related to emphasis on Andrew Davies on Eros versus the fascination with death where Freud argued that all living organisms are attracted - pulled to their own destruction extinction. The writer argues that Freud who had experienced the first World War and the build up to the second, the removal of Eros from Piccadilly Square along with other statues or their encasement before the bombings, symbolised his loss of youthful vigour and decided to yield to ending his life when the cancer returned and that his death that year was hastened by deliberate excessive doses of morphine in what was described as an assisted suicide.
In London he was said to have had an interesting but difficult relationships with the English publisher of his writings, the husband of Virginia Wolf who hotly contested Freud's emphasis on female Narcissism, arguing that men have the greater self love, a view which I have to agree but only in terms of my knowledge and experience, rather than based on any systematic study and proof. I was also unaware of his last and perhaps most controversial of works in which he argued that Moses was in fact an Egyptian, and then is said to put up the case why his Jewish ancestors had deified the man after having murdered him because of their denial of one God and his demand that they abandon their idolatrous behaviour. I would like to know if I had heard the programme correctly, if what was said was accurate, because it would confirm a belief that those who build a reputation and develop some expertise develop the tendency to believe they are experts on everything and are sometimes encourage by the media and public opinion in this self delusion. Now to what was more important to me.
I discovered that I had to feed 8 coins into the machine for the weekly carpark pass at the hospital which meant a journey to the hospital coffee bar for a banana, which was fine, and a packet of crisps which was not, both consumed as it was approaching midday before the walk which I decided to make without the rucksack, but taking the camera. Temple Park was owned by the Church Commissioners, maybe still, and maintained by the local authority. It is a vast area of hilly woodland and shrubs, with stretches of fairway and lighted paths, and with the South Shields Sunderland road to one side and the South Shields road from the Marsden coast to the junction roundabout which leads to Jarrow and the AIM and the Tyne Tunnel. There are council housing estates on the two other sides and the whole area is similar to Hyde Park or Regents Park, but without any cultivated areas of flowers, or water. When I arrived in 1974 there no buildings. There was risk then than any major releasing of the land to the council would have resulted in low cost housing for rent. My walk around the park took place at midday during school holidays on one of the sunny and warmest days of the year, but outside the leisure area and complex I only saw ten people in the hour. This suggest to me that the area is underused with reconsideration required as the nature and economy of the town and surrounding areas of the local authority is transformed.
The move of the fire station from central shields to purpose built opposite the general hospital came after the new ambulance station was built only to find that the new ambulances would not fit in the garages. Temple Park adjacent to the hospital and the Fire station would have been a better location, although the distance between the two locations is short and the traffic on the roads is similar. The ambulance site is however tight.
The indoor leisure centre complex is vast with the swimming pool, three full court size sports halls where on my visit there was basket ball, and cricket in two, table tennis and badminton in the other. There are fitness centres, a large restaurant area and other activity areas. Major entertainment events have been held in the facility and there are small conference/training facilities. I got some leaflets including those on memberships and concessions, and programmes for those over 50 and for females only. If only I wanted to make the time to participate.
Outside there is a large all weather floodlit surface for football, a skateboard facility which was being used by a dozen youngsters and a purpose designed adventure play area for children which was also well used. However apart from the main housing estate to the far west and south of the park, the estate immediately across the South Shields Sunderland road which forms the Eastern boundary has is been knocked down and replaced by a private housing development. There is the added problem that both this road and the East West boundary road are dual carriageway and busy, so making use of the centre is mainly restricted to those with cars. Given that the authority has miles of beaches and coastline, and riverside which is to be developed, that there are five other parks in the town alone, and with parks and public open spaces, and rural walks and vista in the other separate communities which make up a local authority where the population the total population was around 160000, the continuation of Temple Park as it is questionable.
It would have made a great site for a major supermarket development and multiplex cinema, restaurants garage, but one has already been built at Bolden near the junction between roads from Sunderland, to Newcastle, to the AIM and Durham and through the Tyne Tunnel. Another entertainment facility is am indoor bowling centre but there is one on the sea front and another not far away on the main road into Sunderland as there are swimming baths. Another option is the edge of town retail park, white goods, computers, furniture DIY and garden centre. A couple of DIY garden, carpets furniture have developed with varying success close to the riverside, and more recently a small complex of major fashion and designer household store has been created as an extension to the town centres and public transport system. The problem, for four of the five Tyne Wear local authorities, including the two cities, is that on the banks of the Tyne at one edge of Gateshead is the largest indoor shopping complex in Europe with all the major stores also situated around the four wing indoor centre and leisure complex which includes an multiplex and amusement park. There is now just the biggest Ikea but another Scandinavian competitor next door and a short distance away there is every other well known furniture store you can think of and a separate supermarket from the one included in the indoor complex. Therefore any development within South Tyneside will only serve its and any immediate adjacent population. So having decided that this was a space to be developed I was unable to then or now to think of what could be its use. Housing did not seem to me to be an option although there was part towards the Whiteleas Estate where this was a possibility without significantly affecting the rest of the site.
My walking was brisk and my shirt and back had become soaked with sweat so they were removed and I was forced to zip the sleeveless two way jacket with multipockets until the shirt dried by holding it in the wind and then attaching to the window of the car while I eat my salad lunch. It was then time to face what had to be faced.
I would make up a salad, possibly as a back up for what was available at the hospital. I would take my camera and walk Temple Memorial Park, the vast open space between the hospital and the Whiteleas Estate but where buildings had been allowed, the Leisure centre first and then the fire station opposite the back end of the hospital complex.
While I was preparing the salad I switched on the radio, a big mistake because of two programmes which followed on from each other. First Desert Island Disks with the extraordinary writer Andrew Davies, now a Professor of Drama at Warwick University and who has effectively cornered the market on period "costume" drama for TV but who has also created great contemporary work ranging from the TV series House of Cards to the Bridget Jones films and is working on Brideshead Revisited, which is perhaps is greatest challenge because the TV series was outstanding and watchable time and time and time again
I immediately had to listen because of several of his choices of music from Chris Barber to Faure Requiem and Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart, but most of all because of the opening work from Jazz on a Summer's which was so appropriate for the spectacle of yachts which reflected the core of this film which I saw the day after release from prison 47 years ago. Now aged 70 he was of my generation but who had dared to risk his future on being a writer working for 15 hours a week at a teacher's training college as his base for providing for his young family, becoming an Honorary professor at the university in 2004 which absorbed the teacher training college during its creation and where over the years he has conducted workshops and talks about his writings. I also enjoyed two of his responses when quizzed about the extent to which he introduced sex into his writing, giving the example of Moll Flanders where there is no explicit references in the text although she has five husbands, one unknowingly her brother, and worked as a lady of the day and night. His defence was that this was far more enjoyable and a good thing to do than all those works about serial killers and human slaughter. He also emphasised that despite the continuing male tendency to think of sex explicitly and implicitly most of the time his excitement and enjoyment tended to come from writing and from food, a common old man's "complaint", so beware young ladies who marry old men, unless of course you are only interested in good food and their money, but also remember that
not all old have this "complaint."
There was still time to do some more work and write these notes later but then I had just had to listen to the last part and abridged version of the Death of Sigmund Freud on his settlement in London and death from cancer during the year of my birth and in which the celebrated his eightieth birthday. There were two important connections with the earlier programme because first related to emphasis on Andrew Davies on Eros versus the fascination with death where Freud argued that all living organisms are attracted - pulled to their own destruction extinction. The writer argues that Freud who had experienced the first World War and the build up to the second, the removal of Eros from Piccadilly Square along with other statues or their encasement before the bombings, symbolised his loss of youthful vigour and decided to yield to ending his life when the cancer returned and that his death that year was hastened by deliberate excessive doses of morphine in what was described as an assisted suicide.
In London he was said to have had an interesting but difficult relationships with the English publisher of his writings, the husband of Virginia Wolf who hotly contested Freud's emphasis on female Narcissism, arguing that men have the greater self love, a view which I have to agree but only in terms of my knowledge and experience, rather than based on any systematic study and proof. I was also unaware of his last and perhaps most controversial of works in which he argued that Moses was in fact an Egyptian, and then is said to put up the case why his Jewish ancestors had deified the man after having murdered him because of their denial of one God and his demand that they abandon their idolatrous behaviour. I would like to know if I had heard the programme correctly, if what was said was accurate, because it would confirm a belief that those who build a reputation and develop some expertise develop the tendency to believe they are experts on everything and are sometimes encourage by the media and public opinion in this self delusion. Now to what was more important to me.
I discovered that I had to feed 8 coins into the machine for the weekly carpark pass at the hospital which meant a journey to the hospital coffee bar for a banana, which was fine, and a packet of crisps which was not, both consumed as it was approaching midday before the walk which I decided to make without the rucksack, but taking the camera. Temple Park was owned by the Church Commissioners, maybe still, and maintained by the local authority. It is a vast area of hilly woodland and shrubs, with stretches of fairway and lighted paths, and with the South Shields Sunderland road to one side and the South Shields road from the Marsden coast to the junction roundabout which leads to Jarrow and the AIM and the Tyne Tunnel. There are council housing estates on the two other sides and the whole area is similar to Hyde Park or Regents Park, but without any cultivated areas of flowers, or water. When I arrived in 1974 there no buildings. There was risk then than any major releasing of the land to the council would have resulted in low cost housing for rent. My walk around the park took place at midday during school holidays on one of the sunny and warmest days of the year, but outside the leisure area and complex I only saw ten people in the hour. This suggest to me that the area is underused with reconsideration required as the nature and economy of the town and surrounding areas of the local authority is transformed.
The move of the fire station from central shields to purpose built opposite the general hospital came after the new ambulance station was built only to find that the new ambulances would not fit in the garages. Temple Park adjacent to the hospital and the Fire station would have been a better location, although the distance between the two locations is short and the traffic on the roads is similar. The ambulance site is however tight.
The indoor leisure centre complex is vast with the swimming pool, three full court size sports halls where on my visit there was basket ball, and cricket in two, table tennis and badminton in the other. There are fitness centres, a large restaurant area and other activity areas. Major entertainment events have been held in the facility and there are small conference/training facilities. I got some leaflets including those on memberships and concessions, and programmes for those over 50 and for females only. If only I wanted to make the time to participate.
Outside there is a large all weather floodlit surface for football, a skateboard facility which was being used by a dozen youngsters and a purpose designed adventure play area for children which was also well used. However apart from the main housing estate to the far west and south of the park, the estate immediately across the South Shields Sunderland road which forms the Eastern boundary has is been knocked down and replaced by a private housing development. There is the added problem that both this road and the East West boundary road are dual carriageway and busy, so making use of the centre is mainly restricted to those with cars. Given that the authority has miles of beaches and coastline, and riverside which is to be developed, that there are five other parks in the town alone, and with parks and public open spaces, and rural walks and vista in the other separate communities which make up a local authority where the population the total population was around 160000, the continuation of Temple Park as it is questionable.
It would have made a great site for a major supermarket development and multiplex cinema, restaurants garage, but one has already been built at Bolden near the junction between roads from Sunderland, to Newcastle, to the AIM and Durham and through the Tyne Tunnel. Another entertainment facility is am indoor bowling centre but there is one on the sea front and another not far away on the main road into Sunderland as there are swimming baths. Another option is the edge of town retail park, white goods, computers, furniture DIY and garden centre. A couple of DIY garden, carpets furniture have developed with varying success close to the riverside, and more recently a small complex of major fashion and designer household store has been created as an extension to the town centres and public transport system. The problem, for four of the five Tyne Wear local authorities, including the two cities, is that on the banks of the Tyne at one edge of Gateshead is the largest indoor shopping complex in Europe with all the major stores also situated around the four wing indoor centre and leisure complex which includes an multiplex and amusement park. There is now just the biggest Ikea but another Scandinavian competitor next door and a short distance away there is every other well known furniture store you can think of and a separate supermarket from the one included in the indoor complex. Therefore any development within South Tyneside will only serve its and any immediate adjacent population. So having decided that this was a space to be developed I was unable to then or now to think of what could be its use. Housing did not seem to me to be an option although there was part towards the Whiteleas Estate where this was a possibility without significantly affecting the rest of the site.
My walking was brisk and my shirt and back had become soaked with sweat so they were removed and I was forced to zip the sleeveless two way jacket with multipockets until the shirt dried by holding it in the wind and then attaching to the window of the car while I eat my salad lunch. It was then time to face what had to be faced.
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