21.40 It has been a difficult and an emotional day. During which I completed the creation of one set of files of documentation in relation to the investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman. Late in the day I decided to telephone and if I understand what was said the Deputy Health Ombudsman arranged for someone to conduct a final level review and the result of that review has been with the deputy since March to complete a formal response. The work has spurred on to commencing to review all the key documentation and prepare a latest position of issues as a consequence but tomorrow I will concentrate on sorting out information for a letter on missing medical record information.
22.15 I decided to spend the evening watching the Chelsea V Liverpool semi final of the Champions League. It is a mark of the level of play among the top teams in the English Premiership that three teams, albeit all managed by men who were not born in England and made their name managing clubs in their own countries, have reached the semi finals of this competition: Manchester United who beat Barcelona yesterday and now Chelsea who won 3.2 in extra time, a win which included a Frank Lampard penalty in the week in which his mother died. Now absurdly they will have to play the final in Moscow rather than Wembley. Just think of what the expense means for the average supporter!
As a consequence of transferring files and papers around the house to different locations and filing cabinets according to present access priorities I discovered my semi final complimentary ticket for the Sunderland V Chelsea semi final first leg match of what was then known as the Milk Cup, as opposed to the F A Cup where all FA teams are eligible to compete. Although I had a season ticket for Roker Park, I was invited as a guest of the Local Authority who were the main sponsors for the match and I have a photograph of those at the table where we had a meal beforehand after a Champagne reception on arrival. There was mayhem at the replay about which I have previously. I found the ticket on the Day room floor which is puzzling because I have a number of boxes of football programmes and cricket score cards and the like, although it may have come from the box which had held the paper on violence at or near football matches and where I alerted the football, police and Parliamentary authorities back in the 1980's when over a decade I experienced unprovoked attacks by children and teenagers throwing rocks at coaches after departing from an evening match at Everton, twice witnessed organised violence associated with Chelsea both involving Sunderland away fans but also involving a West Ham gang who broke their way out of a underground train on which I was travelling to get at Chelsea fans and where the police reported that they had come under siege and required reinforcements. I had run for my life from Spurs terrorists while supporting Sunderland, but also been asked by a senior police officer to formally complain about the conduct of one of his junior colleagues at a match at Arsenal. There were several occasion when I felt concern at the approach taken by the police to manage crowds at football matches, but have not experienced anything over the past decade. It was therefore disturbing to first learn that their had been after match problems are the recent Newcastle Derby and the evening phone in programme which covers the rivalry between North East Clubs on century radio from 6 to 8 revealed disquieting reports about the approach of the police towards visiting Boro fans after the Tees Wear Derby. Given the cost of supporting football and that British reputation in the world is at stake this is a situation which needs to be quickly sorted.
In the afternoon I watched the remaining episodes of season 2 Cold Feet which included what for me was one of the most memorable episodes when the three couples spend the new Millennium at a castle on Lindisfarne. All six characters have become fully drawn and their portrayal of contemporary relationships is both touching and realistic and as far removed from the image which popular media, church and state through its politicians would have everyone wanting to believe. I have visited Holy Island and the Castle only once as it is located in north Northumberland and with the tides it usually means an exceptionally early start and then long tiring drive back. It is a proper island although one can drive from the mainland along the causeway but only according to the tides which today were from twenty past midnight to nine fifteen and then from twelve forty to twenty two and five which means that for the past hour it has only been accessible by boat. In the Millennium episode the island is presented as otherwise deserted and the men take a boat to the mainland to collect firework, have a drink and buy Pizza's and become becalmed on the way back when the engine cuts out. When they accidentally set the boat on fire trying to attract the attention of those looking out for them in the darkness, they set fire to it accidentally and jumping into the water, they find that the tide has gone out and they can walk the remaining distance. Usually it is visitors who get stranded in their cars because they leave departure until the last minute and then find the tide has swept in. When this happened accommodation is usually available in one of the 30 properties available, the majority self catering but there are two hotels, two pubs and several others offering bed and breakfast, and evenings meals. Occasionally mooring and walkers get stranded along the causeway where there are above water rescue points if you can make it to them
There Island is a great place to stay for a relaxing, romantic or spiritual retreat, or as a base for also exploring the rest of North Northumberland, with Bamborough Castle, Berwick and the largest human made lake reservoir in Europe at Keilder, surrounded by forests, farms and hills and lots of sheep. There are escorted boat trips to the Farne Island bird, and sea bird and sea life sanctuary
No one knows what the name Lindisfarne means and in this region Lindisfarne is the regarded as the name of a popular folk band which sued to provide great sing song concerts at Christmas at the City Hall Fog on Tyne and all that and the Island is known as Holy Island because of its longstanding religious significance fist established by Irish Monks from Iona and then developed by Benedictine monks from Durham. The most famous work is the Lindisfarne decorated Gospels. Cold Feet is set in Manchester and the use of Lindisfarne rather than the closer English Lakeland was inspirational.
A combination of indifferent weather and wanting to make progress in my work resulted in not going out for the DVD or the monthly stock up of the fridge and freezer and other household requirements. although with going out walking daily, well almost, over the past three weeks, I have taken the haversack and brought back a few items each day.
I also have the making of a cough which drinks have not eased completely and which I shall now use some of my special medicine, a glass of single malt whisky acquired on my few days in Scotland last year. A stay on Lindisfarne Island is tempting if only I was not so busy and lose weight and a few days of continuous good weather could be guaranteed.
I decided to stay up and watch an a challenged to watch British low budget film called Extraordinary Rendition mainly because it feature Andy Gollum Serkis in a serious role as an interrogation. Once you have seen one film or drama documentary about Extraordinary Rendition, which means kidnapped and tortured without the rule of international law, there is no point to any others. This is more of a Kafka version in which the subject appears to eb a British born Muslim, a teacher a higher education establishment with a non Muslim wife who is kidnapped on slim grounds, held in a container and then transported to somewhere extremely hot and then dumped back in the UK when he is found dazed and badly beaten after he agrees to sign a confession. There is no reference to who the kidnappers and torturers are or to any specific crime. The film is a political statement in favour of the rule of law and demonstrating what happens when you give the creatives within the security forces free licence. The films ends with a note on the number of arrest warrants form CIA operative that have been issued by European countries for the adduction of torture of their citizens.
I had with a couple of trivial matters in that given the price of a cup of coffee has reached £1 to £2 and that I recently have taken to drinking coffee again as I can consume without sugar I have worked out that it is possible to have thirty cups from a £2 pack of Taylor's of Harrogate brand which allowing for two pints of milk work out at around 30p a cup plus the cost of electricity for boiling the water. I do not begrudge the made for you cup especially if the surroundings are pleasant and no one bothers if you relax with a paper, if only I had the time, it provides a good business and employment, although one wonders how much goes to the those who grow and harvest the coffee beans. The trivial bit is that having measured out the contents of a pack this morning I read the information on the pack and discovered that the way to keep it fresh is not to put in a coffee jar or in my case in wooden box but keep in refrigerator for a maximum of two weeks. I also managed to briefly achieve an 18% win rate at hearts but it quickly reverted to 17 although this is still a considerable improvement over 11%
22.15 I decided to spend the evening watching the Chelsea V Liverpool semi final of the Champions League. It is a mark of the level of play among the top teams in the English Premiership that three teams, albeit all managed by men who were not born in England and made their name managing clubs in their own countries, have reached the semi finals of this competition: Manchester United who beat Barcelona yesterday and now Chelsea who won 3.2 in extra time, a win which included a Frank Lampard penalty in the week in which his mother died. Now absurdly they will have to play the final in Moscow rather than Wembley. Just think of what the expense means for the average supporter!
As a consequence of transferring files and papers around the house to different locations and filing cabinets according to present access priorities I discovered my semi final complimentary ticket for the Sunderland V Chelsea semi final first leg match of what was then known as the Milk Cup, as opposed to the F A Cup where all FA teams are eligible to compete. Although I had a season ticket for Roker Park, I was invited as a guest of the Local Authority who were the main sponsors for the match and I have a photograph of those at the table where we had a meal beforehand after a Champagne reception on arrival. There was mayhem at the replay about which I have previously. I found the ticket on the Day room floor which is puzzling because I have a number of boxes of football programmes and cricket score cards and the like, although it may have come from the box which had held the paper on violence at or near football matches and where I alerted the football, police and Parliamentary authorities back in the 1980's when over a decade I experienced unprovoked attacks by children and teenagers throwing rocks at coaches after departing from an evening match at Everton, twice witnessed organised violence associated with Chelsea both involving Sunderland away fans but also involving a West Ham gang who broke their way out of a underground train on which I was travelling to get at Chelsea fans and where the police reported that they had come under siege and required reinforcements. I had run for my life from Spurs terrorists while supporting Sunderland, but also been asked by a senior police officer to formally complain about the conduct of one of his junior colleagues at a match at Arsenal. There were several occasion when I felt concern at the approach taken by the police to manage crowds at football matches, but have not experienced anything over the past decade. It was therefore disturbing to first learn that their had been after match problems are the recent Newcastle Derby and the evening phone in programme which covers the rivalry between North East Clubs on century radio from 6 to 8 revealed disquieting reports about the approach of the police towards visiting Boro fans after the Tees Wear Derby. Given the cost of supporting football and that British reputation in the world is at stake this is a situation which needs to be quickly sorted.
In the afternoon I watched the remaining episodes of season 2 Cold Feet which included what for me was one of the most memorable episodes when the three couples spend the new Millennium at a castle on Lindisfarne. All six characters have become fully drawn and their portrayal of contemporary relationships is both touching and realistic and as far removed from the image which popular media, church and state through its politicians would have everyone wanting to believe. I have visited Holy Island and the Castle only once as it is located in north Northumberland and with the tides it usually means an exceptionally early start and then long tiring drive back. It is a proper island although one can drive from the mainland along the causeway but only according to the tides which today were from twenty past midnight to nine fifteen and then from twelve forty to twenty two and five which means that for the past hour it has only been accessible by boat. In the Millennium episode the island is presented as otherwise deserted and the men take a boat to the mainland to collect firework, have a drink and buy Pizza's and become becalmed on the way back when the engine cuts out. When they accidentally set the boat on fire trying to attract the attention of those looking out for them in the darkness, they set fire to it accidentally and jumping into the water, they find that the tide has gone out and they can walk the remaining distance. Usually it is visitors who get stranded in their cars because they leave departure until the last minute and then find the tide has swept in. When this happened accommodation is usually available in one of the 30 properties available, the majority self catering but there are two hotels, two pubs and several others offering bed and breakfast, and evenings meals. Occasionally mooring and walkers get stranded along the causeway where there are above water rescue points if you can make it to them
There Island is a great place to stay for a relaxing, romantic or spiritual retreat, or as a base for also exploring the rest of North Northumberland, with Bamborough Castle, Berwick and the largest human made lake reservoir in Europe at Keilder, surrounded by forests, farms and hills and lots of sheep. There are escorted boat trips to the Farne Island bird, and sea bird and sea life sanctuary
No one knows what the name Lindisfarne means and in this region Lindisfarne is the regarded as the name of a popular folk band which sued to provide great sing song concerts at Christmas at the City Hall Fog on Tyne and all that and the Island is known as Holy Island because of its longstanding religious significance fist established by Irish Monks from Iona and then developed by Benedictine monks from Durham. The most famous work is the Lindisfarne decorated Gospels. Cold Feet is set in Manchester and the use of Lindisfarne rather than the closer English Lakeland was inspirational.
A combination of indifferent weather and wanting to make progress in my work resulted in not going out for the DVD or the monthly stock up of the fridge and freezer and other household requirements. although with going out walking daily, well almost, over the past three weeks, I have taken the haversack and brought back a few items each day.
I also have the making of a cough which drinks have not eased completely and which I shall now use some of my special medicine, a glass of single malt whisky acquired on my few days in Scotland last year. A stay on Lindisfarne Island is tempting if only I was not so busy and lose weight and a few days of continuous good weather could be guaranteed.
I decided to stay up and watch an a challenged to watch British low budget film called Extraordinary Rendition mainly because it feature Andy Gollum Serkis in a serious role as an interrogation. Once you have seen one film or drama documentary about Extraordinary Rendition, which means kidnapped and tortured without the rule of international law, there is no point to any others. This is more of a Kafka version in which the subject appears to eb a British born Muslim, a teacher a higher education establishment with a non Muslim wife who is kidnapped on slim grounds, held in a container and then transported to somewhere extremely hot and then dumped back in the UK when he is found dazed and badly beaten after he agrees to sign a confession. There is no reference to who the kidnappers and torturers are or to any specific crime. The film is a political statement in favour of the rule of law and demonstrating what happens when you give the creatives within the security forces free licence. The films ends with a note on the number of arrest warrants form CIA operative that have been issued by European countries for the adduction of torture of their citizens.
I had with a couple of trivial matters in that given the price of a cup of coffee has reached £1 to £2 and that I recently have taken to drinking coffee again as I can consume without sugar I have worked out that it is possible to have thirty cups from a £2 pack of Taylor's of Harrogate brand which allowing for two pints of milk work out at around 30p a cup plus the cost of electricity for boiling the water. I do not begrudge the made for you cup especially if the surroundings are pleasant and no one bothers if you relax with a paper, if only I had the time, it provides a good business and employment, although one wonders how much goes to the those who grow and harvest the coffee beans. The trivial bit is that having measured out the contents of a pack this morning I read the information on the pack and discovered that the way to keep it fresh is not to put in a coffee jar or in my case in wooden box but keep in refrigerator for a maximum of two weeks. I also managed to briefly achieve an 18% win rate at hearts but it quickly reverted to 17 although this is still a considerable improvement over 11%
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