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.
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.
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