1771 Returning to normality

It was a day struggling to avoid being overwhelmed by negativity when I wanted to do anything but what I needed to do and so it is at this moment, even more so, and I attempt to cheer myself up and get myself going with a proper cooked, albeit micro waved, breakfast, having first weighed myself to established that I had not gained as a consequences of the recent trips and self indulgences.

It is 8.50 am Wednesday July 29ths after an unusual night in that I retreated to bed early for me at 10.30pm and then proceeded to wake hour by hour often feeling that I had not been back to sleep but knowing that I had after checking the clock. I cannot remember such an up and down night or one so full of dreams. Yet as I begin to make a list in my head of things to write about I know it was a more positive day than I now feel, and which highlights my failing as a would be writer unable to detach the emotions of the moment from the subjects being written about.

I am not sympathetic to the artistic temperament at the moment, reinforced by watching the second episode about the lives of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood last night on BBC TV 2. In order to watch the programme live I watched in the day room using the camping chair for comfort. My displeasure is at their complete self absorption in becoming successful artists, and having pleasures without any regard for anything or anyone else, apparently. Dante Gabriel Rossetti is portrayed as a liar and a cheat and all as young men who on the surface espousing themselves as a brotherhood found it difficult not to follow their self interest even it meant doing so at the expense of the others. I cannot believe I am writing this in such a condemnatory way given my own behaviour and attitudes over the decades. I can believe that I am writing this in such a condemnatory way.

In the first programme of the series attention was devoted to their struggles to gain recognition from the Royal Academy which was a prerequisite to earning a good living from working full time as a visual artist painter in early Victorian times, just before the Great Exhibition of 1851. As with the majority of such programmes produced under the BBC umbrella there is great attention to historical detail but little reference to what was happening in the country let alone world at large. In the first programme the Brotherhood successfully attempted to gain the attention of John Ruskin who believed in progress as opposed to Sir Joshua Reynolds who had founded the English Royal Academy and was therefore justifiably regarded himself a as custodian of “good” art accepted by his generation. The first programme also concentrated on the search and finding the right model, the young woman to also became an visual painter and a poet, Elizabeth Siddal, the only rounded and truly likeable character although Mrs Ruskin comes a good second.

In the second programme the focus is on the creation of the suicide of Ophelia by the young John Millais which made him and her famous when exhibited at the Royal Academy and he was commissioned to undertake portraits of Ruskin and his wife, and where she had nearly died from laying for hours in water which had become icy cold. The episode shows Rossetti tricking Millais to give him £50 as a compensation payment to the father of Elizabeth so that she would continue to pose for the Brotherhood when the father had only requested £30, using the balance for himself. He then commences his love affair with Elizabeth in which she appears to have been as much the instigator as himself and which led to marriage. More on the Brotherhood another day as there is much to do.

I have just enjoyed a micro over cooked breakfast of two sausages, a piece of bacon, some baked beans, two hash browns and scrambled egg in a good size portion as part of a three for £4.50 offer at Tesco from the usual price of £6 and which I obtained free, well except for the 80 pence cost of the Mail on Saturday which included £10 of Tesco vouchers, £5 of which I was able to use.

It was a good shop as either because of the season, the ongoing costs of living in a hard hit community or more likely because of the impact of the new Asda, there were some excellent general reductions in the cost of fruit and vegetables with a large cartons of grapes at £1 and a variety of melons for the same price, plus a large fresh pineapple. There were two cucumbers for £1 and giant lettuce for 80pence. I bought three chickens for £10 and but paid nearly £4 for .75 of a kilo of gammon. I also resisted by Pepsi or Coca Cola and bought two cartons of orange juice which was not made up from concentrate but has a high sugar content. I have just enjoyed a glass after doing a little work at the back with the plants most of which survived the torrential rains of recent days

The decision to go shopping yesterday in the afternoon caused a little panic as I could not find the remote for the garage/rear door and had to use the standby which is temperamental at its best. I had commenced the trip to London via the back not to advertise my departure pulling the case and then walked the back lane until out of sight and this meant taking the remote with me which I thought I had stored away in the inside of my sleeveless jacket. Several searches of clothing had failed to reveal the remote when required and I was reconciled to having to try and obtain a replacement. Later in the evening I could not resist one more search and found it in the lining of the outdoor coat which had been used on the first day but not since, packed away in the case on the return journey. This was a relief and offset the disappointment when having tried the main aerial direct to the TV the sound was good, but only lasted seconds before going silent once more. This continued later but I will keep tot he plan of watching Test and listening to commentary on radio and internet adn then report the need for repair. To night I will watch Do you know you are , possible on the TV at the top of the house in the bedroom I have not used for over a year because of the additional stairs down to the toilet

I accomplished the clothes washing and drying but must do the ironing shortly. I had wondered about an early morning walk before the forecasted rains, but the sky has already darkened. Yesterday here was no inclination to go a walking but to start to sort out this room and accumulated work for the likely visit of the TV repairers. I did the ironing in two sessions.

The weather forecasters have admitted the promised barbecue summer is now swamped by torrential rains for the greater part of August. This may be a mixed blessing otherwise I would devote the three weeks that I am here to cricket watching and going out in the sun, but I would be fitter. The weather office explained later on the evening news programme that their statement that it was on for a barbecue summer meant there was a 65% chance. Unfortunately this meant 35% chance that it would not. He added that we had not reached August but he was not convincing given that August is usually wetter that July. I remember that the two long holidays in Scotland of three weeks and two rained almost every day. And not just the sudden and brief shower by that continuous rain with low lying clouds creating an emotional dampness and gloom as well as the physical wet. I watched someone retracing the Wainwright Coast to Coast hike through the Lakes, going in September because of the August rain only to find the rain extended into the ninth month.

The delivery of the red lever arch files took place yesterday together with the free cheap digital video camera which relies just on memory cards, but I will leave seeing if this will photo documents and my work cards after I have undertaken some key tasks..
I did work through the material from the trip but have left until later today or tomorrow the making up into a volume. I did this late afternoon after registering the Blog volumes created over the second half of the month. As with the visits to Yorkshire and Nottingham, two volumes and as total of six sets were completed and ready to be photographed. I achieve 100 additional sets during the month which is remarkable given that I was on travels for two weeks. This compares with only 20 the previous month. The explanation si that I allowed a mountain of individual card to accumulated and then created the volumes si that the average for the two months is around sixty to sixty five

I had a mackerel salad yesterday evening and again at lunchtime. have enjoyed one piece of fish with tined veg at lunch times. I also enjoyed one of the cartons of grapes on each day together with the expensive cherries although at £2 are favourable priced compared to those at Marks and Spencer’s and the £5 a pound being charged by stall holders in Oxford Street. In addition there was a tin of pudding yesterday and half a sweet melon today. I had a beef mince hot pot this evening to which I added the remainder of the vegetables used with one piece of fish yesterday.

I watched Cash in the attic while ironing, the programme in which families sell of precious and hopefully valuable items usually inherited, acquired as gifts or no longer considered significant and are therefore sold off, sometimes for a holiday, to contribute to family members leaving home or for some special event including charitable causes. There is usually a reminder that going to auction involves VAT, dealer’s commission and other charges which can reduce the total price gained by 30% thus making direct sale to a dealer not as poor an option as sometimes may appear to be the situation and which is the subject of separate programme Dickinson’s Deals. Cash in Attic has been going for a decade with Angela Rippon and Gloria Hunniford recent presenters. In this programme a family of parents, son, daughter and son in law wanted to raise £1500 for a holiday together in the Lake District before the daughter moved to New Zealand. Alas they only raised £500 as a number of items failed to reach within 10% of the valuation. A feature of the programme is that the outcome of the money raised is then shown, in this instance a holiday. What surprises me is that participants are not paid fees for appearing on the programme.

The sound on Deezer.com has become low so I switched to AOL radio and the Big band station. I particularly enjoyed

Buddy Bragman -It dont mean a thing if it has not got swing
Fletcher Henderson- Grand Terrace Swing
Artie Shaw- The Chant
Cootie Williams trumpet featured on San Juan Hill Duke Ellington, and
Will Bradley Three Ring Rag Out. There were lots of familiar tunes and names creating an afternoon of nostalgia.

The downpour did not arrive until later afternoon and was not as bad as recently or elsewhere. Shots of the cricket grounds where the 20 20 quarter finals were to be played revealed they had become lakes. The forecast is better tomorrow but there is a question mark about the Test starting on time. Now for the TV in the other room, avoiding that I was checked mated at chess after gaining over 40 wins at level four in succession. What was I saying about people so absorbed they become oblivious to the plight of the majority?

1767 Kings Cross Regeneration and the degenerate

It is after 9 pm and I am in Croydon on a Saturday evening. Instead of writing about my day I want to go back to the night of arrival on Wednesday and rediscovering the area of London that is Kings Cross, my visit to Houseman’s and home of Peace News, of my experience at the cinema on Thursday afternoon, and of a quiet Friday.

I arrived at the Kings Cross Travel Lodge late and by taxi. I remembered little of my previous stay and the first surprise is that the corridors, the doorways and the rooms have been given an uplift by adding a mahogany décor. However I also noticed that there was no chair so that one had to sit uncomfortably at the end of the bed to use the lap top on work on the bed which was also uncomfortable. I was told by reception that there were no chairs in the rooms but I was able to take one of the lighter ones from the dining room bar lounge and this made a significant difference.

I have stayed at Travel Lodges for at least three decades and it was on my most recent visit that I encountered a coach party, for a wedding, suggested by the attire and attention to hair and make up of the ladies, the suit and ties of the men. The former Royal Scot Hotel Travel Lodge has a desk for groups. One implication of this is late arrivals and early starts. On my previous visit I had an outside room and there was some street noise late into the night. This time the room looked into a triangular courtyard with access for Taxis and some private vehicles. It is a feature of those using this kind of establishment to stand talking in the yard so everyone can hear and to continue to do so in corridors whatever the time of day or night and then to place do not disturb notices up on their doors. Fortunately I was tired on the three nights of my stay from travelling and from activity and was able to sleep well.

I must mention the contrast with my present room which is on the first floor or close to the reception area and care bar, but there is no noise. I have been allocated a room used by those wheel chair disabilities. It is a giant room with no one but three large windows. The king size bed takes up less than a quarter of the space. The bathroom toilet area is equally spacious with a walking shower. The clothes wardrobe and other facilities have been designed for those who spend most of their time in a wheel chair.

It was only as I left the motel on Thursday morning that I remembered my location on the King Cross Road. It is about ten minutes from the station. Between the Lodge and the station there are perhaps twenty places to buy snacks, breakfasts and other meals. There are media businesses and the Poor Drama School for would be actors and actresses. It was also a notorious area for drug use and prostitution. During my walk to the Travel Lodge after midnight on Thursday evening there were indications on drug peddling and this morning around seven there were two women who had been together but then went in different directions who I may have misjudged their profession but I think not. However the area is set to become the greatest land travel centre in the UK due for phased completion in time for the Olympic Games. There are three major stations within half a half and two separated on by one road. Kings Cross station serves Scotland and the North East of England. The fabric of the station has been allowed to deteriorate for many years. Now there is a vast army of workers set to transform in the same way as St Pancras International, National, and Suburban.

St Pancras has been transformed but work is still going on at the from to create apartments and a hotel. The Penthouse is going for £10million. There is now a joint Underground station serving the two main lines and with links also to Euston so that five of the eight main Underground lines across the capital are covered.

St Pancras has become the central London station for Channel Tunnel Trains and the main thoroughfare of shops and restaurants is now fully functions. The trains operate from the first floor level and at one end there are trains to the Midlands. Below stairs so to speak at the far end the International is the new development with a large wide concourse with access from the main roads at either side of the station and a separate taxi service from that serving Kings Cross. Marks and Spencer’s, Boots and Smiths have large station area stores here together with a range of coffee shops and a Sushi bar. There is the latest left luggage centre where this morning the case had to be opened to confirm that the lap top was not on and to identify any other electric devices. At Lords this morning every compartment of my shoulder bag was opened and checked and I was given a full body search. At the 02 centre all hand luggage including bags are scan checked and the latest hand held body scanner is used. Euston station which is relatively modern serves the West Midlands and the North West and Glasgow Scotland. There is also a large area behind the two adjacent stations of former industrial use described as brown land which is being developed.

Along the main road between the three stations is the comparative new British Library Building. Several decades ago the former senior solicitor South Shields, and subsequent chief solicitor South Tyneside became a member of the NALGO national executive and helped acquire their headquarters building. Now a purpose designed new headquarters for UNISON, the former NALGO and NUPE unions is at an advance stage next to Euston Station. There are a dozen or more bus services going east wards to the City of London, into the central areas of the West End and over Thames Bridges into South London, and westward to Paddington which serves Oxfordshire and the West Country. There are buses going into North London and buses direct to Victoria and London Bridge stations.

There are inexpensive hotels such as Travel Lodge with three in the immediate area, Premier Lodge and Novotel as well for the Youth Hostel Association. There are also several internationally known restaurant along one side of the main road fronting the three main line stations. It will be appreciated that the authorities have and continue to take action remove the criminal and sordid aspects of parts of this area.

During the past thirty five years I rarely went outside Kings Cross Station except to walk the short distance along to the separate Kings Cross London station which has now moved to the far end of St Pancras International. However in the late autumn of 1959 I was offered a temporary packing Christmas cards and assisting in the Houseman’s bookshop, which led to joining the weekly sending of copies of Peace News to subscribers and making the acquaintance of Peace activists

On my first outing on Thursday I went along the Caledonian Road and Houseman‘s was just opening so I decided to return later on the visit. I checked the left luggage facilities at Kings Cross and St Pancras and then realised I had failed to shave. On the way back to the travel lodge I had called in and found the store celebrating its 50th year only having opened earlier in the year when I had been given the temporary job. Peace News continues to be published but on a monthly basis rather than weekly.

The Trocadero in Shaftesbury Avenue between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square has seen better days and at present is an odd combination of a tourist fleece market on the lower floor, amusement arcade fun fare at the top and Cineworld Shaftesbury with standard releases and some international at a reasonable price of £6 concession for the heartland of the West End.

For a period of two years when visiting my mother in residential care at Sutton I took out an London monthly subscription to Cineworld, sometimes seeing two films on one day of my visits to see her. My last visit was to see the second Che Guevara film. I was attracted to seeing the Informers because of Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Bassinger, Winona Ryder and Mickey Rourke.

After arriving with 15 mins to go and finding I was the only customers I was then surrounded mainly by men, with one youngish woman on her own and one couple. The opening was puzzling with a series of disconnected scenes and it was only afterwards in the Cineworld magazine that I noted the headline of Greed, sex, drugs and violence in 80s LA and that the film is based on, on the Bret Easton Ellis first novel of the same name and covers the loosely connected lives of seven super rich morally challenged Hollywood players in one week in 1983.

This an awful film, unoriginal and suggests that the film rock pop industry of Hollywood is corrupt, criminal and contemptible.

Billy Bob plays a Hollywood Mogul who has left his wife, Kim B, for a TV front woman, Winona R, and then negotiates a return to his wife Kim B to avoid the costs of his divorce and the growing seriousness of Winona who is messing up her professional life. He then wants to take up again with W R when he sees her at restaurant where he is dining with his two adult children. The daughter wants her brother to stop the situation having had to support her mother when he left and knows any getting together will be short term. Little does she know how short term. Kim B is no saint herself with a young stud who does the pool and who she keeps his interests with picking up his tabs. She tells him no more with family reunion although the daughter or was it some speaks out that the parents might become a couple again but never a family. KB success out the situation and agrees to go to a Benefits where errant husband plans to meet up with WR once more in order to take a closer look at the woman and then tells Billy Bob to pack his bags for good.

A Hollywood based rock group are called informers where the lead singer is on drugs and is found in bed with underage teenagers, boy and girl and in the book rapes a chamber maid. He has an accident in the bathroom and has people looking after him. The band is on tour in Japan.

I worked out that the hotel receptionist was bought up by a paedophile in the desert who he may have captured when only a boy. The man turns wanting a place to stay while he does some profitable work. The man has an underage girl with him who look out of her mind on drugs. He kidnaps a to order boy off the streets who he keeps at the home of the hotel receptionist until someone calls for the package. The receptionist pretends he does not know what the paedophile gang leader is talking about when he calls and as the man has already been paid he insists they all escape back into the desert or be killed. He insists the boy has to be killed and the receptionist fakes this to let him go.

I think Mickey Rourke plays Peter a young man forced to have a holiday with his estranged father. Father appears to have little difficult in picking up two Bimbos in search of good time adventure less than half his age and about the same as his son, but the son is not interested. Instead he takes an interest in someone he recognises and brings her to dinner to meet father. However she and father disapprove of his smoking and manner sop he goes off in a huff, the girl decides it is best not to stay, son tells father they have nothing to talk about and their relationship, whatever it was in not repairable.

A young man has become emotionally attached to a girl who has some disease and who is sleeping around in a situation where there are threesomes and foursomes between bisexuals. The girl appears to be dying on the beach refusing to admit to her sickness and get help. There appears to be attempted links. Which failed to recognise or understand and afterwards it was evident that some preparation for the experience might have saved concern that I was dim and failing to see what everyone else could. The problem with the film is the sum of the parts equals the sum of the parts. At best it is a voyeur’s film for film voyeurs. I did not regret the payment or the passage of time as there appeared to be nothing else to see other than Harry Potter which I had in mind for Sunday, especially if I was tired and the weather was bad.

I did watch Chicago again late night which has some catchy tunes and is an indictment of the preoccupation with celebrity, especially criminal celebrity, and on Saturday Coach Carter which is an indictment of the USA system in which black young people are encouraged into sport rather than into college in areas of worst segregation and poverty. Who is this film aimed at well black kids living in ghetto poverty I guess but which only underline to the parents with money and nonce that they need to move into different neighbourhoods so their kids get a better than 1 % chance of avoiding crime, drugs, prostitution and the hand out.

This reminds that having mentioned Soho sleaze past and present as I left Lords yesterday heading for the bus to Baker Street, my path was blocked by two tall starling beautiful black young women in tight hot pants who gave me a card saying I would be very welcome before I had time to make my usual comment about being too old for the disco or whatever they were selling. It was a VIP pass for the Tottenham Court Road Spearmint Rhino Gentleman’s Club. I kept as a souvenir of an interesting day which I will write about next.

1764 An Umbrella with four films, sport and TV among other subjects

This piece is called The Umbrella for two reasons. The rain has been a constant feature of almost every day this month. It is heavy rain and both day and night time temperatures have varied significantly between and within days. It is the start of the main school holidays and parents so not have the option of sending their children out to play in the garden

The piece is also called The Umbrella because it covers a miscellany of items which I want to write about before setting off on my next trip. I am more anxious about this trip than the others undertaken this year because of the threat of Swine Flu Fever which is said to be raging in the capital with so many people going there as tourists and into work. At one point a government Minister gave the impression that that an immunity vaccine would be available to the population within a matter of weeks, however he meant that it would be available for testing before distribution to key workers and vulnerable individuals. It is now a race between to achieving protection for the majority especially the most vulnerable groups and the pace of the escalation.

My anxiety is about becoming ill away from home. But having paid for the travel and accommodation and got tickets for the Friends Provident Final at Lords and the Chris Barber Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball concert at the O2 Indigo arena.
The highlight of the sporting year for most people is that after the near disaster of the first Test at Glamorgan, England beat Australia by over 100 runs at Lords on Monday morning.

England won the toss and batted first and captain Strauss and Cook put on 196 before Cook was out for 95m with Bopara making only 18, Petersen 32, Collingwood 16, Prior 8 and Flintoff 4 only one hundred runs were added to take the total to 33 for six. When Strauss was then out for 161 it seemed the innings would be soon over but a ninth wicket partnership between pace bowlers Anderson and Gram Onions of Durham added 47 runs with Onions 17 not out.

What then happened was as significant as Durham putting Notts to the sword. Hughes was dismissed at 4 and Ponting at 10 There was then something of a stand until Graham removed Katich when the total was 101 and suddenly this led to two more wickets and Australia were 11 for 5. Although there was also a late fight back by Hauritz and Siddle were removed by Onions to bring the innings to an end at 215. England could have enforced the follow on but the captain following discussion decided that with the third day usually being a good batting day at Lords, it was better to accumulate runs quickly and allow the greater part of two days to gain the ten wickets which would be required than risk Australia using the day to wipe out them deficit and then have a second day to amass a total which would make it difficult for England to achieve under the pressure of the last day, a wicket which could deteriorate and the potential loss of an early wicket or two. With two wickets were down for 74 and the runs hard to come by, the decision commenced to be questioned. However what happened was every batsman made a good start and contributed 32, 32, 27, 44 from Pietersen, Collingwood 54 and Prior and quick 60. There was consideration of the use of the floodlighting but the umpires called it day with England 311 for six and over 500 runs to the good. While there was two days and sufficient time to get this total, no Test side anywhere had got such a total in the fourth innings. But there again this was Australia and this was the Ashes.

The following morning the start was delayed briefly and with the promise of further showers the decision to declare was taken This was generally agreed to be the right choice as getting Australia out again and remembering the defiance which England had been able to must in Wales, the fear of losing was outweighed by the fear of missing out on a win. Australia had not lost to England at Lords for 75 years so the stakes were very high..

The day commenced well with Flintoff taking the wickets of Katich and then Hughes and when Broad bowled Pointing with the total 78, a win became likely. Two further wickets fell during the afternoon session as Swann got Hussey and North and the possibility of the match being over in a day arose as Australia were 128 for the loss of five wickets. Then the Vice Captain Michael Clark was joined by Haddin and the two batted on and on taking the score to some 275 or so by the close of play and some English fans became worried.

Throughout the match there was concern about the condition of Freddie Flintoff who had announced the retirement from Test matches after this series. It was he who in the first over of the fifth morning ended the partnership getting Haddin for 80 and the overnight anxiety vanished from a packed full house Lords on this last day. When Swann bowled Clark for 136 people realised it was only a matter of time although another 50 runs were scored before Flintoff took the eighth and ninth wickets, His five for 92 meant that his name would appear on the Lords board honouring all those with a five wicket haul in a Test Match just as his name is also on the board for those scoring a century. The last wicket was taken before lunch and the celebrations commenced with Freddie being everyone’s hero and the man of the match.

The win was not without controversy has a major question was raised by the English commentators over three of the first five wickets to fall in the Australian second innings, with the first being a clear no ball and a question mark whether the ball carried for the second catch and that the player did not touch a ball where he was given out caught behind regarding a third. However Ponting did not make any of these an excuse reminding that the bowlers failed to get England out on the first day and then his batsmen failed in their first innings.

One advantage of the Umbrella and word processing is the ability to switch priorities in the order of writing about a collection of unconnected subjects. I had intended to watch Do you know who you are this evening which I though was on at nine but it is tomorrow and instead there was a new dramatic series based on the lives and work of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood. Will write about the series after it has ended but the first programme was a great joy especially the scene so common in the world of art where the critics, especially the art establishment savage the work of new people until someone of standing takes up the new style. In this instance it is John Ruskin who gives his blessing and changes their lives.

On Monday there was the second in the new series of contemporary morality plays which attempt to encourage viewing to appreciate the complexity of most situation where moral judgements are all too readily made. Anna Freil is an attractive good actress although not yet a great one. She played a single parent with two boys who becomes a prostitute by night at weekends in order to pay the mortgage on a house in the catchment area of the best local school in order to get her lads away from their existing school where one of the boys was bullied and average outcome was the dole queue and prison. She is taken up by the single parent with of a daughter who comes to fix her boiler and everything between them goes well until she meets his parents and finds that his dad is one of her regulars. It is his mother who has the best moment when she confronts Anna and says that she understands that a mother has to do what a mother has to do to protect and further the interests of her children. Unfortunately these days it only applies to some mothers whereas many will put their own lives and interests before those of their children.

There was also a minor triumph today after finding out that IJT my suppliers of printing ink had deducted 30% from the amount paid for the cartridges returned after the Epsom printer failed. I advised I would take my custom elsewhere worth about £500 a year and after a quick consultation with a supervisor I was advised that the 30% about £27 would be credited to the card.

There was less immediate success with N power who have provided my electricity for some three decades and gas for about half that time. I have moved both to British Gas to servicing the boiler and other appliances. From previous experience when on arrival here I had to take the existing supplier before I could transfer back to the one where I had a direct system. The original account had to be closed and a new one established. It was all a great and unnecessary nuisance. This time I ignored the request of N power to discuss the position and waited for British Gas to take action. In the event things moved quickly once I cancelled by direct debit and provided meter readings on line. First I was told by letter that I was in credit to over £700 which would be carried forward tot he next bill. This was a partial truth as it did not include the outstanding costs of gas and electricity used. This is sharp practice and in time I will draw attention tot he appropriate authorities. Then I was told that separate accounts were being drawn up and then these arrived with a statement that I was just over £100 in credit and that a cheque would arrive within seven days. What caught my eye is that there and been a considerable reduction in usage between the same period January-June this and last year the costs had escalated beyond all reasonableness. I contacted to query if the bill included the July debit and was told yes. I explained that the statement had been drawn up by accountants for accountants and not for customers. I have written requesting a more detailed statements which lists the payments credited for the period as well as the date when the Bill commenced. I appreciate I could track the previous Bill and then work through the bank statement to establish the information but the information should be available without having to do this.

There is no news about the camera and the Staples next day promise order did not arrive!

I have watched a number of awful films on TV during the past couple of weeks. I have seen the Evil Below before although it took a few minutes of watching to confirm some familiarity although I was well into the film before I remembered what it was about and the finale. The plot is preposterous with the use of garish sound and visual imagery in an unsuccessful attempt to create an atmosphere of threat and mystery. Basically it is the continuation of battle within the Catholic church which has lasted three hundred years in the form of a sunken treasure ship. A naive young and attractive single woman comes to the coast of San Sebastian to hire a boat to go treasure hunting and finds the only available kid on the block is someone she has a negative encounter on arrival. Of course he helps out despite natural misgivings and a warning off from local Mafia and the discouragement from the local squire who is distinctly spooky, not surprising for someone who has been around for 300 years protecting his interests. However what annoys our reluctant hero is the death of his father and several others who take an interest in the location of the treasure ship. The solution is to blow it up but fortunately after several near death experiences they not only do this but recover one valuable cross which provides for a new boat a lifetime of taking tourists on cruises and fishing trips with they enjoy developing their partnership

The Omega Man is Charlton Heston who believes he is the only normal survivor on earth having discovered an vaccine as biological warfare plague ravages the planet arising from a conflict between Russia and China. I just wonder if there is any coincidence in the showing of films and TV series with this theme as the main subject. In this instance some being survive as zombie mutants who are set on destroying all vestiges of the society which brought about their living death damnation as they cannot cope with natural light. Heston then discovers two young people and several children who have survived but who will become mutants in time unless he is able to transfuse his blood converted into a serum into them. Unfortunately the baddies catch up with him and he dies Christ like but not before transferring the last batch of serum which should enable the young black man with whom he has had a physical relationship to convey back from the early stages of mutation and as consequence save the others who in turn can perhaps save anyone else encountered and therefore bring life back to the planet. Most of the reviewers out the film in the C category.

The 1971 film was based on an important and thought provoking novel, I am a Legend, published in 1954 by science fiction writer Richard Matheson. There have been several attempts to film the story with Vincent Price in The Last Man on earth is described in an eight page article in Antagony and Ecstasy OFCS as the best attempt after the failure of Hammer Films attempt in the later 1950’s which led to a version created by an Italian studio. Apparently the Heston film is fundamentally different from the book and becomes too intent on the Christ allegory. The Montreal Film Journal however thought the film, despite its liberties with the book was effective with a brilliant script and affected the reviewer in a way few movies ever had. Forty years later we have come to look at things differently as the reality of the Omega man become closer.

The third film experienced also had a major Hollywood personality as its star but this time a man who acting and directing skills are second to none, Clint Eastwood in the 1977 film The Gauntlet. However this is one of his most hilarious escapes with two scenes in which the police in their hundreds try to shoot up Eastwood and a key female witness. In the first effort the firepower destroys a building after the fugitives have escaped and in the second Clint has armoured a bus in such a way that he is able to arrive at the court house with the witness after running a gauntlet of fire power which requires the greatest stretch of incredulity of all time. Eastwood is not only an alcoholic long time serving cop chosen as the fall guy who will not be missed but is so thick that he does not realise that his boss Police Commissioner Blakelock is trying to kill him along with the witness because of evidence which she can give linking him to the Mob, I gather Steve McQueen and Barbra Streisand were originally cast but the two squabbled, Eastwood took over from McQueen and then replaced Streisand with Sondra Locke who gives a good and credible performance as the witness who knows her life is on the line after being hired to entertain Blakelock by the mob, although his official position is unknown to her she only remembers the nastiness of his perversion. As with the Freil play this is another attempt to portray professional prostitute as normal, intelligent, abused, exploited and heroic.

I cannot remember the name of the fourth film which is about an attempt by former soviet bigwigs to hijack and use a new weapon to re-establish their power and create a new East West confrontation. This time the hero is a pacifist inclined medic and a special female agent who re taken on board the submarine to help a vital crew member recovering from illness and it is easy who in the end saves the planet by refusing to set off the multiple warhead. Again the style of the film and level of acting is standard C level made for TV and contrasts with the BBC broadcasting all eight of the George Smiley novel in a radio series in succession and which I have only listened to the first two parts of the Spy who came in from the Cold. The contrast could be greater

While on the last trip I attended a village Garden Party and caught up with all the in fighting that such events can cause when the principal organisers fall out and had two excellent meals. One an inexpensive chicken and Bacon salad and he other a slow cooked lamb shank with vegetables followed by a very delicious bread and butter pudding.

I have since paid off the credit card for the month and realised I must begin to rein in expenditure, hoping that Swine Flue, Heart diseases and such like are not for me yet. While I away I passed blood to a level not experienced before and this led to twenty four hours of worry that my time had come. However it was a false alarm but a reminder that I am truly within the age when such things happen. I will concentrate on getting everything in good order should the worst happen in the near future but also continue to enjoy the year of three score years and ten like no other within recent memory.

1757 The reality of the Swinging sixties and psychedelic rock and roll

I decided to put pen to paper, on more accurately fingers to keyboard, as I waited for the Sussex box office to open in the hope of getting ticket for the Friends Provident Trophy Final at Lords on Saturday July 25th, and my mind went blank about the whole of yesterday. Then I remembered another day of solid work in which I increased the number of completed and registered sets from 33 to 58. There is another batch of completed cards to place into sets later to day. The main area of activity has been in development work, the MySpace and Google writing, the visit to the Isle of Wight which produced two volumes and in personal communications. There is further work required in relation to adding another fifty Blog titles to the MySpace profile and on transferring completed writing to disk from the hard drive. It is slow work requiring method to ensure accuracy, or at least accuracy within my dyslexic limitations.

What else happens has already dimmed. There was an interesting programme in the evening on the Arts Channel about an all night concert at Alexandra Palace in North London in the 1967 which marked the zenith of the 1960’s culture of drugs, sex and rock and roll. The event was called the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream. The programme concerned the rock and roll and the drugs and the place of the Pink Floyd at the leaders of a London self styled scene called the Underground.

The programme premise is flawed and worse significantly misrepresents the 1960’s CND and non violent Direct Action movement. The basic assumption of the programme is that it is possible to argue that there were significant links between the response of young people to the CND movement, anti authority behaviour, the development of rock and roll, the use of drugs, sexual behaviour outside of marriage and the development of an underground movement personified by the publication The International Times. I suggest that at no time in the 1960 could young people be described as homogenous in behaviour or attitudes. It makes for tabloid headlines but not a serious documentary about the lifestyles of a generation

There were individuals, a tiny minority who were into serious drug taking, who were musicians, who supported CND, who wore fashionable clothes and had lots of sex - About a 100 at the most, possible 200. The majority of young people worked, lived at home, went out at the weekend had one or two boy and girlfriends, were unhappy about living in a world dominated by the cold war and nuclear weaponry but were not engaged in demonstrations or conventional politics.

Let’s look at the reality in more depth. Young people who had jobs and a different perspective from those who were in further education of some kind. I was fortunate to be able to attend further education in perhaps the greatest university city in the world Oxford and to participate in life of undergraduates and post graduates and well has gain insight into the mind set of some new thinkers who taught and did undertake research in the university. The majority of students at Ruskin College were not revolutionary and more interested in sex, beer and most of all advancing their prospects in the world. A minority supported the CND and I was the only one with direct action interest or experience.

I had a good friend at St Hilda’s and got to know a few other undergraduates through the university societies and clubs being a college rep re the CND, and also a college rep on a Labour club committee to stop the Party supporting membership of the EEC. There were big audiences for visiting speakers when Labour came to the city although the biggest crowd came for a working class trade unionist who had hit the headlines for a time. I was also a member of a Christian based society promoting multi racialism. All the other participants attending the Criminology seminars and my tutorial partner were post graduates with first or second class honour degrees in subjects other than the social sciences. They were all serious young people working hard in academic studies and practical work placements for their chosen careers. I also had several articles published in the University term time weekly Isis and this led to contact at one upper class contact who knew the then Home Secretary who eh said he spoken with over the Christmas Holiday. Because I was working hard myself and had little time for socializing I accept that most of my experience was only snap shots. I only got a place on the post graduate diploma course because the person who had the place for the first year was asked to leave the college because of psychological problems and the suggestion of some drug use although I can confidently say there was no drug use in the college in general and even drinking was limited to a stretched pint or two at weekends.

I had come across those attending art schools from three different interests. Many of those attending Soho Jazz clubs, especially Cy Laurie attended art schools in the capital and also some of those actively participating in the CND movement and in Direct Action were either attending art schools or had been to art schools, just as some were musicians who became rock and rollers and some who experimented and some became addicted to LSD, Acid and Amphetamines. I also had a friend who attended art school who was not political and married a doctor, who was not promiscuous and who did not take drugs although I also had another friend who became promiscuous and took drugs when at university in Paris. There were all individuals, some with pronounced personal problems, but most did not. They were just caring and thinking people who enjoyed a good time, One good friend who supported but did not participated in Direct Action, completed an honours degree in art, went sailing at weekends, lived in one of the best house in Hampstead and took me to see Beyond the Fringe as well as introduced to writings of Lawrence Durrell and his Alexandrian Quartet.

With a couple of exceptions all the people I knew were part of or seeking serious relationships with the opposite or same sex partners rather than promiscuity I had a couple of friends who were bisexual females who took me to a gay club one evening so I could see their normality. It has to be remembered that the contraceptive pill was only first prescribed by a General Practitioner to married patients and was not generally available in the 1960’s, I was aware of some young people sleeping together, that is sharing sleeping bags in communal areas on CND marches but this did not mean sexual activity after a day of marching. I did know two young women who had a child before marriage. One worked at the Home Office and the other dropped out of an Oxford College. One was happy with her situation while the other was not.

The programme attempted to portray the CND and Direct Action movement at homogenous with ninety percent young people, anti establishment, anti authority and anti police, showing several violent clashes between the police and demonstrators which I thought came from the anti Vietnam war protests where the violence was organised by the CIA and British intelligence services using rent a mob.

I have as good a knowledge of all facets of the CND, anti weapons of destruction movement as anyone still living, having member a member of the Wallington CND which had about half a dozen activity members who were all married adults with families except for me. There were teachers, one who had written an unpublished novel then laying in a drawer and one who had dropped from a balloon over Moscow before the Second World War, I saw the photograph. However we were all nervous about handing out leaflets in the Wallington High Street, but we did it. I formed the Wallington Branch of the Youth CND mainly members of the Young Socialists from council estates in Beddington, although the daughter of the Labour Member of Parliament for Morpeth in Northumberland lived in Wallington as did the daughter of a World War conscientious objector who ran a show shop close to where I lived for the first 15 years of my life. The sons of Ritchie Calder were also involved and we had a meeting at their house the other side of Sutton in one instance

I went on two marches organised by the Youth CND from Liverpool to Hull and got to know many of those involved exceptionally well, including the one friend who went to St Hilda’s and had spent six months in India on her own before going to Oxford. Another young teacher in training became a Professor of Education, while the parent of two others became Attorney General in Labour Government. The daughter of a left wing clergyman who came because she insisted on participating later was reported to have joined a revue in Paris.

I was also the second youngest participant in the Harrington Direct Action Committee where the 80 individuals arrested and who refused police bail were held for the weekend on remand, including the daughter of a Judge and the men taken to Bedford Prison had a great time in sleeping on the floor of the prison Library but the two of us under twenty one had to be kept in apart in single cells for the whole time with only two half hour periods of exercise during which we were not allowed to speak to each other. I was also then the second youngest of the thirteen Foulness prisoners who spent six months in various establishments as guests of her Majesty, We were a very mixed group including a long time Member of the Society of Friends who had been a World War Two conscientious objector, the illegitimate offspring of the upper classes who was intended for the church but became an Anglo catholic vegan anarchist who with his wife is still protesting into their seventies, a potter who wrote a cult novel and who now gives living history talks to school children and another young man who failed as potter because he could not bear to sell his creations. One other was the most normal, Christian motivated and went on being normal afterwards.

The CND movement grew and grew so that by the 1961 Aldermaston March there were large contingents from the Universities, the Cooperative movement, trade unions, and the Young Communist League although the official Communist party was torn between natural inclinations and Moscow orders. The factional supporters of Trotsky fully supported the abolition of British weapons of mass destruction but wanted to keep the worker’s bomb much the same as Muslim fundamentalists and other religious fanatics and political extremists today who continue to be in favour of undermining democratic government while defending the development of fascist dictatorships and abolition of individual human rights, which is a problem for the present day Labour Government faced with a right wing police force and military establishment, such is the nature of both institutions since their development into professionally organised and trained bodies. The Church of England and the Catholic Church in the UK did not support the CND although several clergymen and many parishioners did, much in the same way that the Peace Pledge Union remained justifiably sceptical although the War Resistors did support. The anarchists were fully on board but have you ever attended a meeting of 100 individualists, some prominent culturally and tried to reach a consensus about the size of a poster let alone on what it should say but which reminds of meeting of a dozen senior local government executives in a corporate meeting about the provision of sites for Gypsies and where I was the lead representative of the proposed managing department in which we discussed he merits of ordinary taps or limited flow taps with a leader of the gypsy council.

Nor is my knowledge restricted to England as for a month I was the advance fieldworker for the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War in Scotland organising the first major Holy Loch demonstration which was subsequently supported by the Committee of 100 but not the Scottish CND. The experience arranged from being interviewed on behalf of a national newspaper who warned of the prior editorial instructions on how the story was to be written, to meeting the communist fixer on one bank of the Clyde, to a conversation with the police chief for Clydebank who asked how many men I wanted to protect the march and insisted that the roadway should be closed for the passage of the support demonstration; and a meeting with three chief officers of one local authority who had been asked by the local politicians to provide accommodation and food in schools to accommodate marchers overnight. The Communist Moffat brothers who ran the Scottish Miner’s union had paid the fine for Pat Arrowsmith and the others on the march from London after they had been arrested for marching down Prince’s Street in Edinburgh in contravention to police orders and I had to take the draft for several thousand pounds to the Mine workers Headquarters to repay the sum where the marchers were drinking whisky and being made honorary member of the union. I for my part received a warning letter from the Commander of the Flagship Scotland. Several decades later I came across an article written by a naval historian who claimed that the authorities had been able to prepare and contain the coordinated water and land demonstrations because the plan had come into their possession by luck. There was no luck involved. I had arranged an appointment with the Police Chief at Dunoon and agreed to a secretary to make a hand written note of the details of march and demonstrations from the ferry to the landings for the base as well as the canoe operation based from the grounds of the Youth Hostel on the other side of the Loch. The meeting had been arranged by the Chairman of the local CND who was also a member of the Scottish CND executive. I had attended a meeting of the Executive in Edinburgh after which I was taken to a gentleman’s club where we sampled some fine single malt whisky. This openness at the end of the six week activity matched that beforehand when I went with the London organiser of the Aldermaston March to Scotland Yard to meet police and Home office representatives to discuss the arrangements for the March into London and Trafalgar Square Rally followed by the departure of the mini march of the Holy Loch campaign walkers complete with two canoes and where I was the Marshall for the first week before travelling to Scotland. A time was agreed for when the Holy Loch march would leave the Square and where it was agreed we would do a circuit of the square to allow supporters to joining in. The police however insisted that we leave quickly without doing a circuit and their tactics prevented too many supporters from joining in. Afterwards we found out that in addition to managing the hundred of thousands people who had marched the last stage from Turnham Green in West London and where Hyde Park had been the place where coaches had brought people from all over the UK and to where they returned, the police had to deal with an unofficial sit down organised by members of the Committee of 100. This was typical of the behaviour of Ralph Scheonman who had become the spokesperson for Lord Bertrand Russell after becoming his personal secretary and then controlling his Peace Foundation. I had caught Ralph telling people to sign demonstration pledges at the Two I’s Coffee Bar, even if they had no intention of participating as I was clearing tables. The executive committee of the Committee 100 had decided that a minimum number of participation pledges had to be obtained before the demonstration went ahead. I wrote to Lord Russell complaining about this approach and his wife replied saying my letter had upset her husband and that he had full confidence in Mr Schoenman. I resigned from the Committee as a consequence, as I did as Scottish Field Organiser for the Direct Action Committee when I learnt that Pat had organised different activities from those which I had notified the police and that people would be allowed to join in the water demonstration and sit downs without briefing about non violent behaviour or about the risks involved and the potential legal consequences.

The idea that there was any connection let alone significant connection between these activities and those involved in the so called Underground, the Albert Hall Beat poet readings, the Alexandra Palace all night event to raise money for the International Times court case and the psychedelic drug taking world of some members of the Pink Floyd, is rubbish.

Another feature of the late fifties and early 1960’s was the development of the Teddy Boy suits and the Mods and Rockers conflicts which hit the headlines with confrontations on the south coast especially Britain. I am not denying that there was conflicts which took place in the glare of the media of the day, but the whole situation was reported out of proportion to the reality. I had a work colleague who introduced me to the Jazz clubs of central London and to the record Library of the American Embassy in London where I borrowed records which included the modern opera the Telephone by Menotti as well as those on the history of the blues and traditional jazz. He also had a Teddy Boy suit which he worse only to go with his mates once a week to the local Palais to drink and pick up girls although he was not much of a dancer. Another friend, whose parents ran a newsagent in Croydon, had a Lambretta Scooter which was the hall mark means of personal transport for the Mods and he did have a friend who lived in Brighton who we visited but he not only wore a crash helmet which in those days was not compulsory but had one for me and I was introduced to his parents who wanted to meet his friends.

During my involvement with Jazz clubs and then the London Peace movements I was never offered drugs or was aware of anyone taking drugs although there were suggestion that some of the jazz musicians were. I attended the Saturday night showing of the Bill Haley Film Rock around the Clock at the Davis Cinema in Croydon one the of the largest in the UK with several thousand seats and true there was some dancing in aisle which was considered news worthy but not revolutionary with everyone going back to school and work after the weekend. Going to work at sixteen I was taken into the local pub not by other teenagers but by adult colleagues for a drink at Christmas and got drunk as a kind of initiation ceremony. Between the ages of sixteen and eighteen I did learnt to drink a couple of pints of brown and mild before and during the intervals in jazz club visits in nearby Soho pubs but I never saw anyone intoxicated or getting into fights or other trouble.

The main hard drug of use in London was heroine where there were several hundred addicts and in the later 1960’s the police had a purge on addicts who traded to feed their habit and many went off to the provinces, with a couple ending up in South Shields where they were able to negotiate drugs via the port and thus a cell of hard drug users and minor traders developed so that by 1974 half the residents at the NHS treatment clinic in Newcastle, referred from throughout the Northern Region, came from South Shields. In fact the spread of hard drug use in the UK is linked with the development of the motorway system, to the location of ports and airports. While this again will seem an individual snapshot knowledge later I served on a national Home Office Committee and became a temporary Social Services Inspector for the Department of Health in relation to making assessments about the nature and the extent of drug use in specific areas (visits to areas in London, Yorkshire, Suffolk and Oxfordshire) as well as being responsible for the creation of the Local Government Forum which was the first body to represent all local authority interests in the UK. I therefore gained a very broad view, historical information as well detailed information on problems, numbers and services as well as what was happening and what was not
It is true that the development of LSD, Acid and amphetamines uppers and downers became associated with rock bands and some writers and poets and that the International Times became a voice for the psychedelic culture. Peace News part of the non violence direct action movement was strictly concerned with international peace issues which included opposition to race and other forms of bigotry but did not see itself as Party Political or the voice of new youth movement.

The big change of the 1960‘s was that young people had money to spend on clothes, records, attending gigs and they also had the time from work to enjoy their leisure interests. People did dress up as Mods, Rockers, in flares and glam. The skirts got short shorter and some young women went braless until the feminists worked out this made them greater sex objects than previously. Very few individuals dressed one way all the time or associated in gangs which tended to be the feature of some council estates and which tended to involve issues of territory, religion and race than overt criminality, although the activities did sometimes lead to criminality. There was a long standing link between gangs of football hooligans and extreme right wing groups who were also strongly against a multiracial society. There was then as now an underclass of criminals, starting as delinquents, first time offenders and graduating to old lags. There were criminal gangs who controlled certain activities, major thieving, protection rackets, illegal gambling and prostitution before illegal drugs came to the fore but these were small in number, known to the police who took money as long as the activities were kept within reason, no murder outside the fraternity for example. The greater majority of those who went to prison either as criminals or civil offenders were ordinary people from a range of backgrounds. The recidivist was often uneducated and had been in care or institutions for the those with mental health problems

The programme attempted to link the various and diverse groups and interests into a 1960’s revolt against the establishment by a whole generation and to make Pink Floyd its voice. It is true that individual members of the band did encompass some of the characteristics Its creative leader was heavily into the new drugs but had had significant underlying mental health problems. One member candidly admitted that he was not aware or interested in any movement underground or political. There was a major performances at the Royal Albert Hall which brought over USA Beat poets many of whom were high and as the all night show at Alexander Palace. many of those participating were also on high and a few spent several years in a haze and a daze of sex, drugs and rock and roll but they were always a disconnected minority. More people ruined their lives and those of others through drink and becoming alcoholic, through moving from petty crimes into major, by dangerous and careless driving and most of all by smoking cigarettes. The gloss and glow of the memory of past experience tends to distort recollections and always question those who assert generalizations with academic or moral conviction

1756 Robert Hanssen master spy and the police state

Yesterday was a wow work day plus. I worked hard throughout Monday achieving more in a day than for several months. The intention is for a repeat tomorrow when rain is expected to predominate. These are likely to be the only two days of such activity during the rest of the month.

The most important event of the day was the Panorama programme which explained the latest Police strategy to deal with extremism and anti democratic activity in the technological environment. At one level the approach is totalitarian and 1984 with a strong dose of animal farm moral gymnastics. There is a strong element of Labour Party kow towing to officialdom and need to be in control which is common among those who lack the confidence of inherited power, wealth and its cultural heritage. There is nothing socialist, Christian or pro working people about the political leadership being demonstrated. This is one valid viewpoint. There are others though just as valid

Earlier I watched a three hour two part made for television film about the life of Robert Hanssen, the most dangerous and successful spy in American history who passed 6000 pages of the highest level secrets to the Russians over a period of two decades. He was responsible for the death of three Russians working for the United States and the information he passed could have led to the destruction of the United States and its government in a major confrontation with the Russians.

While this is film drama, it covers all the essential facts of his life. That Hanssen was not identified as a major security risk and watched day and night until long after the Soviets had broken up and Russia decided to join international capital and corporatism and demonstrates the naivety and incompetence of the FBI and CIA during most of the 20th century in terms of US national security. They allowed their nation to be run by gangsters, religious fanatics, racial bigots and the international corporations and they failed in the basics of protecting themselves and their people. They forgot the basic rule of government who guards the guardians!

Not that the British have had any cause for self satisfaction as we have had our fair share of people within the service working as agents form the Russian government. Our problems related to class, public schools and the Gentleman’s club and the old boy network. It is just that one expected the USA to be better organised and professional.

Hassen had all in the ingredients in his background and personality which should have rung alarm bells. He did not have a loving relationship with either parent although little is recorded about his mother or his Chicago Policeman father. He was of Polish-Danish and German background thus lacking in cultural national identity. He was bright studying chemistry and Russian, switching careers from dentistry to business and taking an MBA, started out as an accountant in a private firm but then was taken up by the police Department as an internal affairs investigator. Whether he was properly appraised at this point as a creative is unknown but he became known for his forensic accounting and at the age of 22 was taken in to the FBI where his strengths as an analyst quickly became recognised. He had great skills in joining up the dots and seeing what was there in a way which most people cannot, one of the great characteristics of the creative. I know that in the UK by the 1970’s, possibly before, and elsewhere in the world paper assessments and observation assessments systems had been developed to a high level of accuracy which should have flagged up that while he was useful as a creative in any team and at the highest levels, he was also suspect in terms of loyalty and personal behaviour and open to being bought by the highest bidder.

The crucial development event of Hassen into a traitor was his marriage to Bonnie Wauck of a staunch traditional Catholic family. He converted to the faith and became a zealot joining the Opus Dei extremists with their anti gay, anti birth control and abortion, anti communist and anti atheist positions. It was not just a case of supporting the Republican Party but hating democrats and their approach to policies and the role of government. Hanssen was no sleeper or closet Catholic fascist. He was open in his extreme viewpoints which should have alerted his employers that this was someone who need to be watched as well as used.

He was quickly promoted to the counter intelligence division based in New York. Hanssen became an exceptionally clever and effective spy using his religious fanataticism and his right wing bigotry to convince colleagues he was an alround good patriotic guy,

He appears to have had little difficulty in reconciling his beliefs and opinions with providing the Russian with low level information for money to support his increasing family with three children when he moved to six. When his wife found out about his activities she insisted they discuss the situation with the parish priest and he expressed sorrow, vowed to God to stop the activity and to repay the money gained at a rate of 500 dollars a month over two years i.e. 12000 dollars. In the film he is said to have argued that with the implosion of the Soviet from of government in the 1980’s there was risk of rash actions which threatened the personal security of his family so by giving the Russian information he was helping to maintain an equilibrium.

He quickly ratted on this commitment and commenced to provide the Russians religious and marital commitments and convinced the Russians that he could provide high level information for large sums of cash, estimated at about one and half million dollars. Why the security agencies do not have the power to monitor the financial records of their senior operatives is puzzling .

The double life extended into other areas of his behaviour and relationships. He secretly video taped his sexual relationship with his wife and showed these to a close friend and later created closed circuit television so his friend could view his marital relationship. He would also discuss his sexual life and marital relationship with strangers on internet chat rooms in such a degree of openness that he could be identified. He also visited strip clubs with his friend and established a relationship with one young women taking her on field trip to Hong Kong and also on a visit to an FBI training facility. He gave her money, jewels and a used Mercedes car. However it was confirmed that their relationship was platonic despite her willingness of have sex with him. The young woman became a drug addict and a prostitute after his capture and imprisonment and her relationship became public. The film suggests she was a victim from start to finish. He was someone who divorced the potential impact of his actions on those closest to him, his family his work colleagues, his religion and his country. He did not need the money but became addicted to the excitement of his double life of cheating the system. He was showing them than they underestimated him and did not give him the respect and recognition he merited.

As the Soviet system of government began to break up there was some understanding that Russian actions indicated they had significant information about the USA positions and suspicion was first directed at the CIA although an appraisal of an FBI agent was undertaken by Hanssen who was sufficient of a professional to advise that such a possibility existed. The hierarchy rejected this arguing it could not happen with the FBI where was likely within the CIA. So much for integrated homeland security in that era.

Even when the CIA was caught the attention continued to focus on that service. The former soviet spymaster came to the USA in the new spirit of cooperation and eventually the file on the still unknown Hassen was handed over as part of other information and with the file was a voice recording which took time to clean and then identify. There were prints on the material which incriminated Hassen and also the use of phrases familiar to him. He was saved from the death penalty by making a full confession and was sentenced to life without parole in 2001 and spends 23 hours a day in solitary confinement apart from statutory allowed visits from his wife and family. That he remained undetected and would have remained so had the Soviet union not broken up is an indictment of a system which failed to prevent 9/11.

I also listened late night staying up to midnight to Morrisey in his 2006 Eurockeennes Festival I like Morrissey with his tuneful and mournful statements about the realities of life. Missing was perhaps his most famous number, The first of the gang to die. Also not for a French audience was I did not sing I am dreaming of the time when being English Irish Blood and English Heart. He did sing Coma and Girlfriend in a coma

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In contrast I also listened to the performances of Giordano Luca who sang Verdi and Puccini who was voted the best singer by the public. He missed out because of technical brilliance and powerfully dramatic performances of the Russian Ekaterina Shcherbachenko,

However it was a great work day completing work on 33 new sets, except for photography. I did contact the repairers and was told it was still with them but when I explained about going away I was told it would be with me later in the week. I was also reassured it was covered by the agreement which expired at the weekend. It is my intention to renew once the repair has been undertaken and appears to be lasting.

As anticipated the weather was awful all day. This affected the collection of the rubbish not completed until the afternoon although the environmental box was cleared earlier. I did check the weather here until the weekend, at Headingley where Durham is playing Yorkshire and Nottingham where I travel next week. It will be good for the period Wednesday Saturday, so I might go over for the first dat at Headingley on Friday and then take the ferry for the Tynemouth Mouth of the Tyne festival day on Saturday. There will be a problem because the Tyne Tunnel is closed so those planning to take their cars will have to travel via Newcastle and may be tempted to use the ferry. There is a free bus service to Tynemouth from the ferry bus stop. I will return for the evening activity and fireworks in South Shields.

On Sunday when the weather is expected to be poor I will concentrate on preparations fro the trip which will now commence on Monday rather than Tuesday so I can attend the last day of the game with Yorkshire with an additional night‘ stay away fro £29.

All this week the BBC is showing a new series of Torchwood at 9 pm, a glorified Doctor Who without the Doctor and also produced in Wales. It was interesting thought and I will make it a date over the rest of the week except for Thursday when I am going to sage for a recreation of the music of Louis Armstrong.

I also watched part of the news which marked the return home of the two soldiers killed in Afghanistan at the weekend. The head of the British Army was present for the slow passing through the nearest town. I visited the town and went past Lyneham during my family history visit to Wiltshire in 2005. The reason for the additional publicity was that death of the most senior British Officer in combat since the Falklands. The news was shared by the information that a million people from overseas have entered a competition for rickets for the Michael Jackson Memorial service. To me he remained a child all is life never having a proper natural childhood being thrust on the stage with the Jackson Five and which brings me back to Robert Hanssen and to me. I had a restless night when I went to bed.

1270 Lowry and Don Cheadle

Sunday January 27th I hovered between activities. The only wholehearted engagement came with an Inside the Actor's studio programme celebrating the professional life of Don Cheadle, best known for his role in Hotel Rwanda and Crash. Allowing for his performance on the programme and his reputation for undertaking meticulous research and preparation for all his roles, he communicated as a human being who continues to give to the world, much more than he takes. Although a black American he admitted to having never visited Africa or felt concern for the plight of its citizens until going to South Africa to make the film Rwanda. The programme was a timely reminder of continuing genocide as it was shown on Holocaust Day or the day after, and within a couple of days of seeing the film on the life of Solomon Perel and learning of the life of Alex Kursem.

I had hoped to make better progress on the kitchen floor but I selected the wrong piece of wood to complete on of three areas where special cutting is required. In any event I failed to master using the battery driven hand saw and the cut was not of sufficient width, and when I tried again the batteries needed recharging so I left until later this morning after watching the next episode in the last week of Lost series three. However I did complete further work on the surround and used the wood filler to good effect which gave confidence that I would be to make the overall appearance more professional looking than anticipated, but it will take two or three more days.
It continued to be windy, but was bright enough for me to venture out for some milk, providing opportunity to check the roof. Everyone appears to have survived although our properties are as close to the top of the hill as any, so that they can be attacked by violent wind from any direction, but there is protection being a terrace and among close packed rows of properties, unlike the former home which had an open front to the North Sea and the salted wind created havoc with the wood framed windows as well as knocking down aerials and slates. However the greatest damage had not come this way but from a tornado type blast which had come south west down the hill behind the house demolishing fencing, a neighbour's shed and the end of the roof in one instance, and on another had raised the summer house a few inches from its base, which backed on to the garden shed and then when it dropped had left a small gap all the way round from its former position. I had been away visiting my mother and aunt at the time and only realised what had happened a couple of months later on the first visit of the season to the garden shed and noticed that all the contents on the shelves adjacent to the Summer House were spilt over the floor as if someone had entered and aimlessly ransacked the building. The Summer house was a shed like structure about twelve feet in length and six feet in width, similar in fact to the garden shed except that it had a glass door and large windows on the one side overlooking the garden, sideways facing up the hill and with two smaller glass windows to the sides. I had a large white table, with is now part of my patio garage at which I would work with my laptop on summer days as well as using for meals when it was not warm enough or too windy to eat outside. Originally it was used for the parent of a previous owner who reached over 90 years. The property would be visited by the painter Lowry when he came to Seaburn, staying at the nearby Hotel from where he would walk the beach and riverside, which he also painted from time to time and where some of the canvases are shown at the Sunderland Art gallery. He met the former owner, a baker, and would visit for tea. He telephoned once in the first year of buying the property in 1974 and I provided the telephone number of the former owner. Afterwards I kicked myself for not inviting him to visit. I would sit in the summer house and speculate if he ever there and looked out at the beautifully landscaped garden with a manicured flawless lawn, (at the time of the purchase ) gently sloping upwards to the back of the garden, with six oval shaped beds full of large rocks for shrubs and all season flowering bulbs, heathers and the like.

It was only later that Spring that I realised what had happened as to one side, nearest the house there was a gap overhang over the base which formed a two foot stolen wall to this side. In order to realign the structure with the wooden floor it would have been necessary to hire a giant crane from the roadway over the house to lift the structure and realign, a cost several times its worth. I did a patch up job with lengths of three by one fitted inside to the floor. There had been one other mini tornado situation where it was possible to trace the line of destruction down the hill. Three times in the decade since a neighbour had cut down a giant tree which had covered the greater part of his garden. Living on the coast, witnessing the waves crashing over the promenade some ten feet or more above the beach, listen to the wind battering the house from all directions one learnt something of the power of nature. But the past two years have been years of more frequent extremes, intense heat and cold, torrential continuous rain, saturated streets and prolonged violent winds. It may be a natural quirk of natural origins. It is difficult to convince that the way we exploit and abuse our environment has contributed.

I forgot to put the chicken out to defrost overnight so it was a mid evening meal watching the Dancing on Ice series and fro lunch there was chicken soup with rolls and a small prawn salad. I opened the day after some writing watch Match of the Day at a point when Alan Shearer appeared to be explaining why he was staying as a match analyser for the BBC. I also watch Tottenham at Manchester United early afternoon, where 20 members of the Havant and Waterloo football club had been given tickets by Manchester United to mark their performance at Liverpool the previous day. Manchester United were awesome and along with Arsenal are the two teams of this season. I cannot believe it was a day without film although I see Lark Rise to Candleford before feeling very tired an going to bed around ten pm.

1258 Wishing

Monday January 14th 2008 could become and important day but wishfullness will have to make way for willpower. Is there such a word as wishfullness? I have been awake and active for several hours although it is only 9am. I tend to wash up kitchen utensils once a day in the morning and for once the wheelie bin was put out before the majority of neighbours. Usually I can hear the waste disposal vehicle backing down the back lane.

I have sorted out the outstanding work filing and registration and will complete before going out to the bank walking as it looks fine with rain later though so perhaps will go out earlier than later, Need the walk to make up for having a small packet of hot cereal, Quaker type oats as well as two slices of toast.

First work completed photographing MySpace Blogs creative 5509 5514 231 photos. Last night I completed development sets 1976 1980 and 276 photographs. Last night I completed the registration of 7 set volume of Rivera 2007 and this morning completed the photographing of photographs and text 278 photographs. Completed the volume sets on the House of Windsor last night with 292 photographs. Previous a six set volume on Christmas but not photographed. The second volume of Rivera information, drafts, including draft pictures completed 9685 9690 273 photographs. Communications 19526 19528 set volume completed.120 photographs completed There were various additional sets registered including film 2007 and My Space Friends published information Present total of photographs taken since commencing in 2003 368265, sets 6929, involving cards completed 166296, sets completed this month so far 63.

For an early lunch soup with two rolls and this evening the rest of he chicken breast in a pre made tomato sauce and rice. A glass of wine and later much later some grapes. The intention has been banana and custard but because of the early start I had two sleeps to day both after meals and I am only now awake again at 10.40 again.

Tomorrow morning instead of getting ready to travel to London I will first go through the in tray. I may go to the pictures or recommence the work involving Mabel, or both

1257 Just another day

This has been a long long day during which my spirits plummeted as the day progressed without any specific precipitating cause and it was to be another dozen hours before I understood the feeling and its implications.

Yet there were several reasons to have felt differently. It was a good day in terms of my physical health. There is still a cough but it is occasional and not prolonged. I need to avoid taking further risks and part of the self discipline required is to gradually lose and maintain the loss of weight. It is all about achieving greater self discipline and less self indulgence, except where the self preoccupation directly leads to great self discipline. Self discipline can be self indulgent if it becomes and end in its self.

I completed the second volume of photographs of the coast between the Rivers Tyne and Wear. I replaced three of the cartridges after a continuing problem with the colour balance and this immediately worked, I completed the master volume and then went through the three completed volumes to changing a couple of photographs where the colour balance and then completed the fourth where there was more to do. The master edition created seven new sets and has its own black box, one of the smaller size versions in height, unintentionally purchased from Ikea when I acquired the second supply after those bought over the first three years from Staples, and where I had a gap of several months before coming across those in black, also in red and blue which are of superior quality to those I bought from Staples during the second year. I will upload the photographs to Myspace and continue working on the My Space but only after I have complete a number of minor tasks around the house and in my work. I have a mania approach to things which are not directly part of my work or do not immediately add positive experience. One of my problems is that new experience is a device which prevents dealing with some of the basic problems and tasks of living day to day. I shall label myself an experience junkie running away from the reality of what has gone before.

Abstinence from food excess will have to be matched with abstinence from excessive life experience, I did some registration work before lunch and, the period between lunch and the evening meal although there is still some more to do which I hope to do during the course of tomorrow whatever decision is taken as the day progresses on the trip to London.

I kept to the decision about watching the match on television after a good lunch of the roast chicken breast roast potatoes, some stuffing and small sausages, followed by a bowl of grapes, There evening I had two salami rolls and a banana and for breakfast there was a bowl of cereal and a 50 grams of smoked salmon on one slice of toast, For tea there was carton of prawns in shell. This was a higher quantity than over the previous week, and indication of physical improvement but also how easy it will be to slip back into the situation of before. I also drank more tea than water, and there was no exercise to note other than journeys around the house.

Sunderland won 2,0 against Portsmouth, both goals scored by Richardson who promised much at Man U and was talked of an England regular but never lived up to expectation. I was impressed with him as with Kenwyn Jones. And after the disastrous disappointment of the cup game against Widnes when all seemed doom the three points places the team as one four, where three having the opportunity to cling to the Premiership for another season. There are two other clubs who could be drawn into the end of season scrap and two others who appeared doomed short of a miracle run and one or two have a compensating disaster. It could happened but unlikely.

I watched the first of the new series of Ice Dancing with the surprising contestant Gareth Gates who has become a mature young man losing his stamina but not his determination and perfectionism. In the Big brother House Andy McNab hijacked not only the House but two contestant Anthony and Oxford Ruskin School of Art contemporary art student Amy who were taken for hours of interrogation to reveal a code number. Anthony was eventually conned into giving the number on the basis that he would win a pardon against eviction for all the housemates, which was false if the thought about, given that this series is only three weeks in length. The realization of this was damaging to his pride and self estimation and confidence. The concept behind this aspect of the programme was evidently that these high achievers should be able to cope with the rigours of hardship, albeit temporary and manufactured, than average contestants. The present series however it is dressed up is making a judgement about how a group of high achievers cope with humiliating and self exposing situations compared with previous groups.

The prize of winning for Amy was £5000, exemption from eviction nomination and the choice of one other am unsurprisingly she choose Anthony. There were snippets to indicate that John showed leadership and courage.

The final programme this evening was a report on Liverpool's opening weekend and European Capital of Culture. It was revealed that many of the those heading the project from Chief Executive to artistic director resigned over recent months and that many felt there had been no leadership and vision with everyone doing their own thing The one person who I expected to be trhere but who was not Cilla Black. Ken Dodd out from hospital. Ringo the McCann brothers, there were other actors and artists but I am yet to locate the definitive list. It is estimated that the decision has led to two thousand million pounds of new capital investment and development in the city and Merseyside.

Earlier there was a dramatization of Lark Rise to Candleford, a ten part dramatization of the Flora Thompson memoir of growing up in a corner of Oxfordshire towards the end of the 19c century first published during World War 2.