1793 Woe weather, I am Cuba and Troy Cricket Live and on TV and project work progress

It appears to have rained continuously for 24 hours and the from the look of the skies another 24 hours could follow. It is nasty weather and cold at night, not freezing cold meriting the heating system but uncomfortable. I remembered why I stopped getting a season ticket for the football. I imagine feeling obliged to go out in this. It is the disadvantage of the season ticket for any activity because it means you lose out overall if there are too many instance when you are unwell, something more important arises or the inclination for the activity is just not there.

There has also been little inclination to write during the period. The relationship with the weather condition has been a significant factor, but not the only one. There is also the feeling of the birthday party year having ended and autumn and winter are at hand. It is depressing and disheartening and it has been difficult to rouse myself to anything other than play games I can win against the computer and eat, Even the former has not been successful. Too many drawn games and one defeat at chess is appalling given the extent to which the outcome of every game can be controlled. There has been just as unsatisfactory a performance at the patience games but some enjoyment from the shootem game which involves eliminating triples of the same colour.

There was much slaughtering of soldiers from flights of arrows in Troy, which the critics did not like but I enjoyed again last night before sleep time.

I do not remember Greek legends and have never read the Iliad of Homer or Virgil’s Aeonid and other such works although I promised that I would some day.

Paris(Orlando Bloom) and his older Brother (Hector)go on a good will mission to Sparta where Menelaus rightly complains about accepting hospitality and then stealing one’s wife, Helen, she whose body launched a thousand ships. In this version of the legend she wants out from her parentally arranged husband as well as sexual love with a faithful younger man than her lecherous slave and dancing girl husband. Having run off with lecherous Paris who cannot fight and is a coward at heart, she becomes full of angst realising all the blood, widows and rapes she causes. Priam King of Troy(Peter O’Toole) is presented as a thoughtful and caring ruling and Hector is son as a reluctant warrior who would rather spend his days with his wife and newborn son. However both men were prepared to sacrifice the lives of their people rather than send her pacing, although Priam was right in as much that Menelaus was able to call on his brother Agamemnon who wanted to use the taking of Helen as the excuse to bring Troy into line with the rest of Greece in accepting him as their superlord protection on payment of sending their armies to fight as the superking wanted. Played by Shakespearean actor Brian Cox he promoted the traditional view that history is about the lives of kings rather than individual soldiers. Troy falls because of the beware the Greeks who bear the gifts Trojan horse ploy which the gullible Trojan King took into the city rather than burn. However this epic has a twist in that it features Brad Pitt as a homicidal maniac with a sense of honour about other homicidal maniacs but which does not extend to priests and their assistants, with the exception of the then Vestal Virgin Princess daughter of Priam. He is the ultimate super fighter seeking the glory of historical destiny. Sean Bean plays the wise friend of Achilles Odysseus the King of Ithaca. Achilles has his heel of course and is deaded by Paris who comes good in the end.

The bad weather arrived Wednesday afternoon despite the morning looking promising with large blue patches over the hill when I parked the car outside in the roadway before 8am in readiness to got to the Riverside ground for what I hoped was going to be a decisive day in the County Championship. I made a flask of coffee and prepared half a sweet melon together with the smoked mackerel to go with the salad already in a container in the refrigerator. Then I went to Kentucky Fried Chicken for the two breakfast sandwiches, sliced sausages, egg and bacon for £2.29 which I eat the car with the coffee. It was a good start to the day, and although I had made ready early I arrived at the ground only moments before play commenced.

Given the forecast I made my way to the new stand corner, higher than usual and within a couple of rows of shelter should the weather change. While Durham struggled to overtake the Somerset total of 174 and who produced some of their best bowling of season for accuracy and pace we were all given a batting master class by Shiv Chanderpaul, a man of small build but with brilliant timing and who through a combination of wrist and footwork is able to send the ball to any part of the ground and when he wants to do so with considerable force. He was not out when the innings closed for 117. Durham reached 272. a lead of 98, which I felt was not sufficient to bowl Somerset out again and then gain the necessary runs for victory, given the likely disruption in play over the next two and a half days. That this total was gained was also due to the contribution of Liam Plunket with 30 after Blackwell was out of a duck and Mustard for 2. Chanderpaul had looked invincible and with better partners I am confident the addition 50 to 100 runs necessary would have been achieved.

I returned to the car at the luncheon break for the melon but left the salad as I was still full from breakfast. The wind had been cold and for the first time since April I had worn both the coat and inner jacket and in the warmth went to sleep for half an hour returning to the ground in need of coffee just after 1.30. I could not get going again and continued to feel tired. In the lounge I spoke at some length with one person I knew and said hullo to another and prior to this been joined at the table by several people who knew each other and was included in their conversation. The reason for the influx was a sudden heavy shower but which did not hold up play for long but I stayed until the tea break.

For the second Somerset innings I sat on the first row of the Durham stand still tired from the unusual midday sleep. Somerset survived a good spell from both Harmison and Onions, the latter has been nominated with Captain Strauss on the ICC shortlist for cricketer of the year. Then the skies darkened and with another 90 minutes of play scheduled Somerset accepted the offer of bad light to retreat to their dressing room. I came home along with a third to a half of the spectators. It looked as if only five balls of an over was possible before the day was ended. There has been no play on Thursday and the prospects for Friday are also not good but the rain stopped on Tyneside around 1 pm on Friday so there could be some play if the ground has not become waterlogged. Early afternoon the game was called off as a draw. I have attempted to recalculate the options as Somerset cannot now win the championship even if Durham lose their remaining three matches and Somerset within theirs. The crucial match is now next week’s game between Durham and Nottingham where a draw should be sufficient for although the difference would be thirty points, even if Durham lost their remaining two games and Notts won theirs, Durham would have to get less than ten bonus games, for Notts to be in the running.

The was also not a ball bowled in the second 20 20 game between England and Australia as Manchester lived up to its reputation. On Thursday I enjoyed a day night Pro Forty competition between Essex and Hampshire. Hampshire looked to have a commanding position after their young batsman Vince narrowly missed a century, supported by Dawson not out with 69 and Essex appeared to struggle to keep up with the required run rate. England’s opener Cook then made 104 and young Chopra was not out at 101 saw Essex win with seven balls to spare. Then this evening England needed to score six of the last ball to win the first of the 50 over one day events against Australia. Both sides have recognised that it is the spin bowlers who can contain the number of runs if because of the condition of the pitch they are unlikely to get the batsmen out. There was a great effort by Luke Wright who made a mistake on no ball to be run out and by Rashid, who had bowled exceptionally well in his first proper International one day, supported by Sidebottom. But it proved to be too late. Bopara in particular anxious not to fail in the match as he had done in the Tests with the consequence of being dropped for the last match, failed to keep up with the required run rate. The crowd got their money’s worth as the excitement mounted over the last hour.

I am Cuba is a Russian film about the Cuban revolution. where Che Guevara is not mentioned. The film appeared designed for the uneducated peasantry but was accurate in terms of showing the main components for the corrupt Batista regime supported by the Mafia and USA capitalism. The problem is that each issue was underline with repetition, prolonged camera shots and prolonged musical emphasis. It was interesting,

On Thursday I went early to collect the printer from the Post office as there was an attempt to deliver by parcel post the previous day. It was not at the undelivered post centre but in the main counter where I had to produce evidence of who I was and sign both by name and. It was well packed as a box within a box and I had wisely parked across the road and brought a large carry bag. I had difficulties setting up and this morning decided to uninstall the previous edition and reinstall again from the supplied disk. It has worked well except when I forgot to plug back the USB lead after using the same connection for transferring photos from the memory stick to the desk top. I had a similar moment of self inflicted, oh not again, when I could not get the camera battery charger to work. I then realised that I had only used the second battery briefly and it was fully charged. There was no problem with the second battery which was almost empty and appeared to charge fully more quickly than previously.

The main panic of the day was when the TV screen went black on both the terrestrial and satellite channels. I put off contacting the repair insurance while I worked and listened to the radio commentary, When I had a mind to so I tried again and there was no problem so I was able to watch the England innings and then Rebus. I have worked reasonable well photographing all the completed Creative work files and registering the most recent followed by print out the list of completed works pages 76 to 82 of sets 5000-to 10000 having reached 8550 but still not half way. I will get back into stride once the cricket season ends although I will need a new supply of card where the standard price had reached a level which IO find difficult to justify.

1792 Luxor, Football, Cricket, Wallander, The Fixer, the Blackwater Lightship

Monday August 31st, a bank holiday in England and Wales to make the end of summer holidays and the commencement of the school terms commenced for me as my weekend had been so far. I remember having more sleep, wakings and dreams. I played a few of my standard games, chess, hearts and spider patience and then checked the TV for the day, confirmation hat Newcastle’s game was on Sky this evening late, the fourth occasion in a month compared to Sunderland once. I noted that there was a showing, yet again, of the first episode of Brideshead Revisited. Watching without the emotional involvement or reflections on my Oxford experience as a student and then in my first work after qualification, I was able to consider more the prose and that every word and every scene was carefully drafted to have a point, an effect as well as contributing the whole. I then watched part of Mr Deeds goes to Town to remind myself what the film is about and having remembered the story I was able to move on.

I was ready for some physical activity and returned the volumes ready for photography to the work room lounge from the front lounge. I then the cleared the three Christmas plants and the surrounding carpet strewn with the dead and decaying leaves and vacuumed the entire floor and the room is ready once more for the unexpected visitor and after a drink of diet coke and making these notes I was ready to commenced the final stage of the kitchen floor before luncheon I did not complete the task until later afternoon and a visit tot eh supermarket. On one hand that I did not need to but additional wood to surround is an achievement. The tears to the surface and the uneven aspect in a couple of areas is unfortunate but acceptable in the circumstances.

The evening I watched Newcastle entertain Leicester with a patch up side which include a young striker who rightly was given a standing ovation when taken off just before the end. He was confident and thoughtful, able to hold on to the ball as well as distribute the players with a better opportunity to score which in general they failed. New Newcastle scored the only goal of the match a thundering drive from distance after which they were largely in command although Leicester continued to fight and had opportunities. As a consequence of the win Newcastle are now two pints clear at the top of the division

Contrary to weather forecasts, Tuesday morning was sunny bright with some cloud when I woke in time to put out the general rubbish bin and the environmental box. I then moved to car on to the street to ensure access for an important day at cricket. I lingered longer than I should playing a shootem game called Luxor where my goal is to score over 500000 points having achieved 450000. Some notice up over 1.5million to I am still a beginner although I use a mouse rather than a joystick. I cooked some chicken wings for lunch, and prepared some crackers filled with the rest of the smoked salmon with fresh lemon. There was a pack of melon slices bought from Asda the previous afternoon and freshly made coffee where I had a quarter of a cup before departing having had a cereal mixture of muesli and cornflakes.

I arrive at the Riverside just as the players reached the field but missed the first ball where hero of the last games Thorp put down a difficult chance of the first ball from Graham Onions. Plunket had catch put down as did Ian Blackwell. However despite an excellent start from the Somerset openers, another extraordinary spell from Ian Blackwell 5 wickets for 7 runs saw the ten wickets fall for under 100 and as the visitors were all out for 174. Somerset appeared to have a great start when DiVenuto who fit two first off the first two balls was out for 20 and then captain Will Smith was out within a couple of balls. However Chanderpaul gave an exhibition of how to bat in such situation supported by Coetzer although her latter was out in the penultimate over with the total of 110 for the three wickets with Shiv Chanderpaul not out on 49 joined by former captain Benkenstein. I was joined on the boundary fencing during the morning by a Somerset photographer and we had a great chat lasting an hour which she took dozen of shots from her knew super digital camera. During the afternoon when I went to the Members lounge for tea and the watch the final moments of the transfer dealings in the Premiership, Ian Blackwell wife cam with her baby to greet one of the group of supporters from Somerset who over the tea interval had been offered a tour of ground as it is. The scheduled Member’s meeting was cancelled until the final one of the season at the end of September, Only the bad weather forecast wills top Durham from winning this match unless there is a batting collapse in the morning or Somerset find a way of combating the Durham bowling where in addition to the return of Harmison and Onions, Liam Plunket was on his best form of the season. I felt sorry for Davies who found himself as 12th man with Claydon and Stoneman having to make way for a full first team. However they are all part of the first eleven squad whose combination has brought the club to the verge of greatness.

Last night I watched an unexpectedly good British film which dealt with the subject of Aids and its impact on one family called The Blackwater Lightship, based on a Booker prize short listed novel by the Irish writer Colm Toibin. The story is about the relationship between three generations of women with the married sister of he Aids victim played by Gina McKee and the grandmother played by Angela Lansbury who received an Emmy for her performance. The sister who is a successful school Principal returns to her family community for the first time in over a decade to spend time with her dying brother at the home of the grandmother, and they are joined by the parent who a devout Catholic who cannot accept the homosexuality of her son and his homosexual carer. While the film covers the last days of life of the son its focus is on the relationship between Gina and her mother and what happened when they were placed in the care of their grandmother while their mother cared for their dying father. Gina has resented that their mother did not visit them during the period and had no other contact. In fact she had been advised to do so given the impending death. She had written daily however to the grandmother with passages for the children but this as not been mentioned by the grandmother who in turn has decided the children should be kept in ignorance of the situation and they had also not been allowed to attend the funeral, something which the son had resented. The son has returned to be cared for at the home of the grandmother because he feels she is less rejecting that his mother. The film ends as the son in his last moments turns to his mother and then daughter allows her mother into her life. I did not work out the significance of the film title except that Gina does a walk on the sea edge with a light house across the bay. We all see our experience from a particular perspective and the lighthouse with its all round beacon sees everything.

Someone with the name Tamzin Outhwaite was destined to be an actress. She made her national name in Eastenders when at the age of 28 she held the screen as the wife of Steve Owen played by Martin Kemp. She already had a successful career on the London stage when she appeared as a teenager, in other TV productions and film. She was given her own series Red Caps when she left and now as she approaches her forties I caught an episode of a series called The Fixer in which she supports licenced to kill operator who works along side the official police and security forces undertaking work for the government which the official bodies cannot handle. In the first of a two part series the main story concerns the growing trade in children across Europe and world wide for sex often involving violence. The British end is run by a man from his prison cell and his outside agent is a black gangster who uses his Barber’s shop to distribute drugs protected by paying the local police protection from prosecution money. He has a gang of young gun touting hoodies who think nothing of killing anyone who betrays or wishes to leave the community and Tamzin and the girl friend of one young man who wants to break away narrowly escape a bottle of thrown acid. The episode lacked credibility about a subject which should be of international concern.

The episode contrasted with the latest Wallander which has so far been unfailing in story content and acting. This time the crime concerned a recluse who lived simple with his dogs in a small cottage having sold his surrounding land for 20 million krona about £1.75 million or $2.75 million dollars. When the bank stops issuing pass books he withdraws the sum in cash which he buries under the dog kennel. He is murdered with the dogs as their food has been injected with a deadly substance used in cosmetic surgery and beauty treatments(Botox) The chief suspect is a cosmetic surgeon who is having an affair with the wife of the bank manager and who was in the bank on the day the money was withdrawn. When they are and their son are also murdered in the same way the suspect becomes the bank manager. However Wallander’s daughter believes her husband and her former police boyfriend are wrong and responsibility lays elsewhere. The focus moves to a young divorcee who works at a local store and operates as a skin care adviser who has lost her baby daughter in a cot death and who is given the care of the deceased family’s baby daughter where she is the god mother. She also acts as a paid babysitter undertaking the various jobs in order to pay for the apartment in the luxury block. The team recognise that she is a disturbed women but this does not prevent her attempt to poison the friend of the killed boy who discovers the three deaths when he visits in the morning but cannot disclose his finding to his parents until later in the day. He had the sense of someone else being in the apartment at the time. The disturbed young woman is tricked by Waller into confessing her crimes and the location of the money. His concern is to solve the crime accepting that the woman is in need of prolonged psychiatric help, possibly for the rest of her life. As with others in the series it is possible to highlight story fitting which would not be the situation in real life but the basics are authentic as is Wallander and police team. One issue is the ability of the Swedish police to interview suspects, albeit on tape but on their own and without the suspect being offered the attendance of a lawyer. It was a good day after a less than satisfactory weekend.