1902 Counting the Cost and a City development

With my new Oyster card to hand I set off for the journey home on Thursday content after an excellent break in which I had visited the outside of my former home at Teddington, noting the plethora of places to eat and drink in the High Street, marvelled at the Atrium to the Bentalls’ shopping Centre at Kingston where on the third day I had enjoyed a meal at a Wetherspoons’ before taking a bus through the villages of Ham and Petersham and a walkabout in Richmond until reaching that most wonderful of English Greens. I had seen the psychological thriller Shutter Island, been a little disappointed with a filmed production of La Boheme from Convent Garden and stood in appreciation at the end of the musical Blood Brothers, some 25 years after its opening performance. There had also been a good day with members of the extended family of my late birth and care mothers.

My mind was still on these experiences when I correctly touched in the Oyster card and went onto the first platform taking the first train which came in for Victoria. It was only once the train powered away non stop to Clapham Junction that I remembered. I was not going to Victoria but to St Pancras International on the cross Thames route to Luton and Bedford. As with the train I had boarded, both originated at Brighton. Woe was me and Woe was me again when at Clapham Junction the train pulled onto a platform where the line going in the opposite direction did not go back to Croydon. I therefore had to place the heavy laptop holding bag over one shoulder and lift the case step by step down the two flights of stairs along the passenger tunnel and then up the two flights of stairs to the platform where fortunately a train going back to Croydon was soon arriving. At Croydon instead of pausing and remembering the platform for Bedford I dragged the case up the long steep slope to the transfer passage between the platforms and down to where I thought the Bedford train departed only to find this was the platform for stopping trains to London Bridge and had to drag the case and bag back up the slope and across and down to where I had just been as the trains departed from Platform 2, something which I have done ever since the new link to St Pancras opened three years ago, possibly five or six times!

The right train arrived less than a minute later so in fact I had probably arrived at the station just in time or just missing the previous St Pancras heading train earlier. I was fully recovered on reaching the first destination and headed for the gents before going to Marks and Spencer’s for a carton of grapes, resisting the other goodies as a penance for my lack of due attention. It was a pleasantly warn sunny day so rather than take the underground route into Kings Cross I crossover the road between the two stations entering towards the end of the long distance platforms hearing an announcement that the non stop train to Cambridge was departing from one off the four platforms at this end of the station where the new roof and other works is now well underway. In the thirty five years that I have been using Kings Cross Station, this was the first time I could remember learning that the train to Cambridge was non stop. Cambridge of Cambridge University was to be a significance later in the journey although at the time I did think of planning a days trip on one visit when staying in central London.

I found a seat and enjoyed the sandwiches and the grapes having arrived at noon. Just before the quarter hour when passengers are usually allowed to rush to get on the train I made my way to the platforms and quickly worked out that there were only two options for my train and correctly positioned myself at the end of the platform where the notice soon went up, all stations to Newcastle. I headed immediately for my assigned compartment, hoping there was an unallocated disability seat. This was one of the older carriages with no such seats but there were a couple of tables foursomes available and I grabbed the second one, taking the forward facing window seat. A young man in his late twenties and thirties took the rear facing aisle and without luggage except for his laptop I accurately assumed he was going only as far Peterborough about 50 minutes down the line as were a number of others entering the compartment and I presumed others along the length of the train. I relaxed and went online, checking the mailbox and then started to write notes on the experiences gained by the visit.

At Peterborough a young woman took a twin seat vacated by other passengers and started to phone her friends and I and the other passengers quickly learnt all about her life at Cambridge that she was good at working during the day, but liked to spend the evenings drinking, eating and watching films, had only recently passed the driving Test and planned to get in some practice before setting off over Easter, collecting friends on the way to a get together either before or after a family trip to Ireland. This was very interesting and an enlightening insight into the life of an undergraduate today, but for close on two hours it became irritating. She departed at Durham when the journey to Newcastle only takes ten minutes of peace and quiet and when I went for my case shortly before arriving in the city I noticed she left what transpired to be a high fashion magazine, under which was the cursed mobile phone. Now I will not write the thoughts which came immediately to mind but I did hand in the phone to the information counter saying that I was confident who the phone belonged and they said they could probably contact via information on the phone. Thus my reluctant good deed for the day before continuing homeward where I found my home cold but otherwise all was well.

It is now time to count the cost of my third trip of the year. My travel to Newcastle on Sunday was via the age permit say 50p and breakfast of a bacon roll, hash browns and coffee £3.60 approx (free muffin and coffee on train). Purchase of Time out London £ 2. 99 Train to Kings Cross £23.60 and to Croydon from St Pancras £4.40. I bought a prawn salad £2.20 for the evening with still water £1 and 4 Croissants 98p at Marks and Spencer’s, a total of £4.18. Internet for day £4 Accommodation for the night £9.50.Total for Day 1 £52.77.

On Monday the bus to Teddington and then to Kingston was free. Lunch of a sandwich, fruit juice and Crisps cost £2.00(Tesco). A discount of 53 pence. The Cinema ticket cost £6.30. I took the train to Wimbledon £3 and the evening meal at the Coal Grill with tip cost £12. La Boheme ticket £12.50 and tram to Croydon £2.Accommodation for night £9.50, Internet £4. Total £51.30

On Tuesday I purchased hot chicken wings for the evening meal with Pain au chocolate £1.59. Shaving form £2.19 and Pontefract cakes 1,09 a total of £7.36 at Waitrose, Accommodation was £9.50 and Internet £4, a total of £20.86.

On Wednesday purchase of an Oyster Card £3 deposit and initial top up of £5, Lunch at the Kings Tun Kingston came to £4.54. Theatre Ticket £17. Double chocolate Ice Cream £ 2.50, Programme £3. (£2.70 was deducted from the Oyster card for the train to Wimbledon from Kingston and £1.20 for the Tram back to Croydon a saving of £1.10 on the previous journey without the card). Chicken Wings for evening 2.49. Prawn sandwich 1.10 and Salmon Sandwich 1.60 Hot Cross Buns £1.25 Crisps 47p and Nestle 51p Kitkat chunky and Snickers Bar 44p (£8.66 from Waitrose), Accommodation £9.50. Diet Pepsi Travel Lodge £1, Internet £4 a total of £58.20

On Thursday £5 added to Oyster Card. Packet of 15 biro pens St Pancras Smiths £2.99 Carton of red grapes £2.29 from M and S. Train fare to Newcastle £15 and coffee on train £1.70 Internet morning £4. £30.98 Total expenditure over five days £214.11 with the £250 budget for mini trips of less than one week.

England had won the second Test in Bangladesh which I had listen to on the internet radio on the Monday and Tuesday mornings over breakfast. I also caught up with Prime Ministers Question Time on Wednesday evening on the BBC I player.

I worked hard on Friday washing clothes with two washes. I had missed the meter reader and over the weekend sent readings for the Gas and Electricity accounts by text return and now fear the worst. The latest Income Tax code for the coming year arrived and this prompted me to consider making an annual budget once more. I paid in full the amount outstanding on the credit card and ordered two cinema seats at the Cineworld with my rewards balance. There are rewards left for 4 more ticket at present.

I kept one eye on a Marilyn Monroe musical film called Let’s Make Love, in which Bill Crosby and Gene Kelly play themselves as tutors to Yves Montand a wealthy man who is confused as an out of work actor seeing a brief part sending up the wealthy millionaire. Frankie Vaughan plays Frankie Vaught a singing and dancing actor in the musical revue featuring Marilyn Munroe. Tony Randall plays Montand’s flunkey and Wilfred Hyde Whyte plays his usual character perfected in My Fair Lady. This is not my kind of music and story is naff and the actors clearly thought the film naff as did he critics.

The holiday spirit continued on Saturday when I left early for Newcastle, taking the Metro as I wanted to see the latest Extension to the Eldon Square Shopping Centre. When built in 1977 Eldon square was the flagship town centre Mall in the UK and with an outside structure which includes Brick and Glass. It occupies most of the city centre to the North of Greys Monument with direct access to the Metro system at this end and to a lower level bus station at its centre This level also provided entry for Goods vehicles with lifts and conveyors direct to the stores. A new bus station was first created close to the shopping centre across from the University buildings and close to the Haymarket Metro station This station has been revamped costing a fortune over the past two years but now looks finished and is smart, bright and the best on the system.

Buses from this part of the bus station go to all parts of Northumberland and North Tyneside as well as the administrative area of Newcastle City. The central underground bus station has been moved to the side with access from Street level as well as from the shopping centre and provide services south of the river to Gateshead and Durham. I am not sure where buses to South Tyneside and Sunderland depart. The new bus station development provides direct access to Boots and John Lewis and Argus has moved here from elsewhere in the centre. On this side of the shopping centre there is an eight story circular car park with direct access to the centre.

The existing shopping centre occupies both sides of the main road now restricted to buses from the Monument towards St James Park, the home of Newcastle United. There is also first floor passage way across the one way main road with St James Park, the University and Playhouse theatre on one side, the shopping centre and the bus and Metro stations on the other. This leads to the separately owned Eldon Square Garden shopping centre with its own separate multi story car park as well as an external park to its rear and where there is a short walk to the Football stadium complex.

My visit was to see the large extension which includes a two story high mall where each of the stores has internal lifts and stairways and a new Debenhams store occupies the far end. It is very impressive and there are plans to upgrade the rest of the centre over the next few years without disrupting ongoing functions. The development makes the shopping centre the largest for any city eclipsing those in Manchester and Birmingham. However it is not as large as the Gateshead centre located on the Banks of the Tyne at the edge of both cities. Nor is Eldon Square and Eldon Garden the only precinct in Newcastle because across the road at the Monument is a separate and small development which includes a food court on the top floor. In between this centre and East side of Eldon Square is the great Fenwicks departmental store. There is also direct access from the Eldon Square to a huge Marks and Spencer’s’ and which in turn has direct access to the bus station. The Debenhams Store and new Mall is also directly opposite the new Cinema, Casino and Restaurant complex across the roadway. There is a fitness and indoor leisure centre including basketball and Tennis as part of the Square complex

A former small in door market area has been closed to make way for developments with key outlets moving to the Grainer market, and there is a large market style restaurant cafe in the far corner here where Argos used to be located. Here are plans for further development with a street only access to a new store.

In between the new Mall block and the road leading to the Monument with the older part of Eldon square to one side is the famous indoor Grainger Market, a huge city centre facility with internal shops rather than stalls including everything from hardware to shoe repairs, from books, records and DVD’s to the traditional greengrocers, fish and meat suppliers. One of the lanes of shops has been roved to make areas of tables and seating for full meals and snacks. It remains one the big indoor city market areas in the UK
To the east of the Square centre is the pedestrianised Northumberland Street where on the eastern side there are large stores such as WH Smiths, Curry’s HMV, British Home Stores and Primark. Further east still there are the central Baths, the City Hall, the Laing Art Gallery, the new City Library and some restaurants. To the north west corner there is China Town and the Journal Tyne Theatre and to west there is the great Newcastle gem, one the greatest architecturally designed Streets in all of the United Kingdom, Grey Street, the work of John Dobson and Richard Grainger and where a short way from the Monument down to the Riverside where there are also streets of restaurants and drinking houses, bars and night clubs, there is the awesome Theatre Royal and much beloved Grainger Arcade which I also visited. There was only time to gaze into the windows of ‘Windows’ which occupies the whole of one side of the arcade with a basement level for rock instruments, amplification and audio equipment, the ground level for other instruments which included a dozen pianos at one end, and a first floor for folk and jazz and any forms of music you can think of. It is one of the few places left keeping a stock as well as supplying sheet music. Just around the corner from the Arcade is the New Tyne film Theatre, my destination for a relayed and rare performance from the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, of Hamlet not produce there for over 100 years and with Simon Keenlyside in the title role. There was time for a coffee and toast. The menu stated one round of toast but I was given two and the refreshment only cost £2.70 which I consider most reasonable as I did the double chocolate ice cream in the interval which required a climb to the third floor bar but it cost only £2 compared with the £2.50 at the Richmond Theatre. I will leave the opera until my account for Sunday, The Australian Grand Prix, Sunderland at Liverpool, catching up with all the last five episodes of Babylon 5 and Lark Rise to Candleford. On Friday I fell asleep after 20 minutes of Lost and dragged myself to bed sleeping fully but waking early and making Saturday along day so it as just was well the Opera started at 5 because the USA had already altered their clocks to summer time. I stayed up late on return, not appreciating the change to summer time until then.

1897 Chocolate Heaven and Hell

I had intended to combine scrubbing an outside wall today, if the weather permitted, with writing an update about Babylon 5, but instead it will be about chocolate sweets and candy. The reason is a radio programme about the Fry’s Cadbury Schweppes factory at Keynsham, pronounced Cane-sham where workers have been made redundant twice in three years, first by Cadbury’s and now by Kraft

Because of World War II rationing which did not end until I had become a teenager and family poverty, it was only as a young man that I was able to enjoy as much chocolate as I wished and in those days I was very slim and active so consuming chocolate products did not have the effect it would have to day, although sometimes the craving becomes too strong I still indulge the experience of letting the bite into a chocolate bar or individual chocolate sweet, dissolve in the mouth, and then enjoy the nut, raisin or other centre, the toffee or caramel. The restrictions of childhood does mean that I have a mouth full of my own teeth, apart from the crown inserted earlier in the week.

I am yet to work out an order of enjoyment which I will work on as I write, so my first list includes Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut bars, Buttons, and the Crunchie Bars and the Curley Whirly, the Roses chocolate box with the long departed Montelimar, plus the Milk Tray Box (also Jelly Babies), Fry’s Cream bar and Turkish Delight; Foxes Just Brazils and (Glacier Mints and Fruits) Payne’s Poppets; Mars for the Mars Bar and Maltesers, the Milky Way and Bounty bars, the Galaxy chocolates, Minstrals and Revels, the Twix and the Snickers which used to be Marathon; Rowntree’s for the Yorkie bar, the After Eight Mint, the Aero, the Kit Kat, the Rollo and Smarties, Coffee crisp and the Lion Bar (also the Fruit and Wine Gums, the Pastilles, Jelly Tots, the Polo), Terry’s Chocolate Orange, Neapolitans and Old Gold. There are chocolate covered pea nuts and raisins and chocolate toffees. Other confectioneries includes the Nougat Bar and Liquorice sticks and whirls and the Pontefract Cake, and the Marshmallows, Lemon Sherbets. Having completed this list and the preliminary writing I remembered the Rolo and who can forget the Rolo and my favourite selection as a teenager, the Dairy Box and my present Favourite of Favourites which I shall name and drool over later.

Having undertaken the research over a day I have two problems. All the British companies, including the great Quaker trinity of Fry, Cadbury and Rowntree which came to dominate Somerton Keynsham, Birmingham and York, together with other firms such as Terry, Payne’s, Mackintosh and Fox have been munched and gobbled up by each other and then by international corporations, closing factories, making large numbers redundant, and transferring production to mainland Europe, France, Germany and especially Poland, with Nestle first and now Kraft dominating alongside the private family firm, still, of Mars. My exploration has revealed the nature of contemporary capitalism and the general decline of British manufacturing but also the startling information that much of the present world’s cocoa production comes from West Africa using child labour in slave conditions.

There are many things which happen in my day which do not provoke the need to produce a piece of writing open to anyone who wishes to read. I have an overall writing plan related to my main project work and I have some 200 boxes of papers, programmes, receipts and other others to work through, to make into sets and write commentaries where appropriate and when I have the time. However I constantly move away from the programme because of some unplanned event and on Wednesday when I went to the bathroom to prepare for a visit to the dentist to have the crown fitted and switched on the radio, my attention became concentrated on the BBC Radio Four programme about the history and demise of the J B Fry and Son chocolate Factory near Bristol in the West Country of England, near Bristol. After the dentist visit I returned to writing about Babylon 5, intending to make a piece about chocolate the nine hundredth completed work for MySpace and the one thousand nine hundred since commencing the Blogs some five years ago, but then the power of chocolate took hold and I devoted the greater part of yesterday to the subject, although a good couple of hours, in two spells was spent scrubbing an outside wall, clearing damaged plaster and working out how to repair and redecorate while continuing to garage the car overnight,

I first confirmed a statement in the programme that it was a member of he Fry family who used a process for making soap bars to make chocolate bars anywhere in the world at their Bristol factory although fellow Quakers, the Cadbury‘s followed two years later. I listened to the radio programme again, learning it is the first of three and I shall make a point of listening to the other two in the future.

I then looked up the history of chocolate using Wikipedia where it is said that the word entered the English language from Spain and central America with is roots debated but with the origins of the cocoa bean brought first back to Europe by Christopher Columbus and then introduced to Europeans as a drink by Spanish Friars. The indigenous Americans made the drink with vanilla, chile pepper and achiote and the Europeans got rid of the pepper, the vanilla and achiote replacing with milk and sugar and other additives to first create the chocolate drink we know today.

Just as we have had gin and ale houses, milk and coffee drinking bars, the first chocolate drinking house is known to have opened in London in 1657. It was not until 170 years later that solid chocolate was developed first in Turin and then in Switzerland, but credit for the first chocolate bar as we have come to know it goes to Joseph Fry in1847 and then the Cadbury brothers in1849.
A Swiss candle maker is credited with creating the first milk chocolates in 1857 with the help of a neighbour, the then baby food manufacturer Nestle and Rodolphe Lindt invented the process which ensured that the liquid is evenly blended.

While coffee production continues in Central and Southern America, two thirds of world’s cocoa is produced in West Africa with half of this in the Ivory Coast.

The problem is that the Cocoa Bean is a traded good on the futures market with prices fluctuating from £500 to £3000 a ton and with 90% of trade pure speculative buying and selling and ten percent the actual cocoa bean used for manufacturing chocolate products. The consequence is that the actual growers are adolescents in conditions Europeans and North Americans must regard as slavery.. This aspect requires further attention and will govern my future approach to chocolate eating.

It was 50 years from when the Fry’s started making chocolate to selling the first chocolate bar on a factory produced scale. The chocolate Cream Bar was first made in 1867. It is sometime since I purchased a bar of that dark chocolate with peppermint cream and one of my problems in writing and wanting to establish some order of personal delight is the urge to engage in a shopping spree and tasting. It will be resisted but will require a great effort

In 1873 the Fry firm created the Easter Egg and in 1914 Turkish Delight which I have continued to enjoy in the form of wafer thins, chocolate covered, similar to the after dinner mint. Some 220 products were placed on the market by the company.

It was in 1919 that the great merger took place with fellow Quaker Cadbury’s and a giant factory was created on a Greenfield site at Somerdale, Keynsham. Keynsham is a name familiar to Radio Luxembourg listeners of my generation because of the Horace Batchelor Infra Draw betting system advertised on the station and where the name Keynsham was spelt out letter by letter, because the proper pronunciation is Cane-sham!

Somerdale factory had its own railway station with long twelve coach trains bringing in the factory staff from North Somerset towns and villages, over 5000 in its hey day, becoming the home of the Cadbury Fruit and Nut Bar. While I have always enjoyed the Cadbury‘s milk and plain chocolate bars and the all Hazel nut bar, it is the Fruit and Almond Nut which remains my favourite with the chocolate melting in the mouth leaving the fruit and nuts to be enjoyed separately. The programme revealed that when one interviewee went for a job, the Personnel Manager asked if he had a church character, a reference from the pastor or priest of his church. He was not asked for a school reference. Others speak of being in heaven working with chocolate in a family friendly atmosphere. However post World War 2 the factory shrunk in size to 1500 as modern production methods were created and by 2007 then Cadbury’s announced the closure of the factory the workforce was only 500. 400 were involved in the Kraft closure this year with production moving to Poland.

My interest in the Fry family was first created in the early 1960’s and had nothing to do with chocolate, as in 1962 I was asked to write an essay on the influence of voluntary bodies on Penal reform by the then Reader of Criminology at Nuffield College. The occasion remains vivid in my memory because my effort was hopeless compared to that of my tutorial partner, who admittedly already had a first class degree and was rightly praised for his well researched summary of involvements and conclusions. While for many people the experience of presenting work alongside someone of the highest academic standards could have been demoralising, it helped create my understanding and personal striving for the need to establish as much fact as possible before attempting any analysis and reaching of conclusions. This has created problems when placed in a position to make a decision affecting others without any let alone all the relevant information.

Elizabeth Fry made her name as a penal reformer before the chocolate bar was invented. She was the major driving force to make prison conditions more humane and since 2002 her portrait is on the back of the British £5 note. She grew up with responsibility taking charge for her father of the younger children when her mother died when she was twelve years old. Miss Elizabeth Gurney was part of the Barclay family. At the age of 18 years she was deeply moved by the preaching of a visiting Quaker and as a consequence commenced to take an interest in the welfare of the sick and the poor, and she started a Sunday School to teach children to read. She met Joseph Fry who was a tea merchant banker and a Quaker when she was 20 years old and she bore him 11 children between 1801 and 1822 with one daughter writing a history of the Parishes of East and West Ham published in 1888. Her husband was the third son of the original chocolate maker.

Invited to visit Newgate she was shocked at the conditions of the women prisoners and their children, and would not just visit but stayed nights with them inviting her well connected friends to join her. She subsequently founded a prison school and for the reformation of the women prisoners and her British Ladies Society is generally agreed as constituting the first nationwide women’s organisation in Britain. She was the first woman to present evidence to Parliament. She took up a campaign to abolish capital punishment, established a night shelter for the homeless in London and instituted the Brighton District Visiting Society after a visit to the resort. She also set up a training school for nurses which inspired Florence Nightingale to take a team of her trainees to the help soldiers wounded in the Crimean war. She was by any standards are remarkable person.

The amalgamation between Fry’s and Cadbury not only made business sense in post World 1 UK but created a giant factory organisation of the highest order and a model of social responsibility and treatment of employees. The Cadbury family had not only created the village of Bournville, which has to be viewed alongside that of Port Sunlight in the Wirral, the other great factory based community founded by the Lever brothers, but pursued a programme of worker’s rights and amenities with staff canteens and sports grounds, including a fishing lake and outdoor swimming pool, followed by an indoor pool and boating lake, works committees, and education facilities as well as savings and pension plans. They then extended their philanthropic interests setting up the Birmingham Civic Society in 1918, donating a country Park and a Hospital. The family had the foresight to create Trusts and foundations independent of the commercial chocolate making company. Bournville Village Trust was formed in 1900 and is now responsible for 7800 homes on 1000 acres with 100 acres of parks and open spaces. The famous Bournville Plain chocolate is now made in France.

The brothers were the official providers of chocolate and cocoa to Queen Victoria. The family supplied troops with books and chocolate throughout the first World War

Cadbury’s are known for their Dairy Milk chocolate bars and sold all over the world including the USA where it is made by the Hershey Company. My Impression is that all went well until it became an International company as Cadbury Schweppes. The company was fined £1 million in 2007 due to its products from its Herefordshire Factory being at risk of infection with Salmonella and £30 million was spent on decontaminating the factory. Later that year there was a further recall because a printing mistake at the Keynsham factory resulted in the omission of the nut allergy labels from one of series of Bars.

There was also public outcries when attempts were made to replace the cocoa butter with vegetable oils such as palm oil. I suspect the motivation for the change was cost and to by-pass the instability of the cocoa futures market. I would like to think that there was concern about child slave labour. However under pressure the company reverted to the use of cocoa butter as in he USA it would not have been possible to brand the product as chocolate. There have been further problems at the increasingly widespread manufacturing practice of reducing the size of content while keeping the same price.

Cadbury’s have been responsible for several imaginative advertising campaigns with the glass and a half of milk in every half pound and being a Fruit and Nutcase. There has also been the James Bond type Milk Tray Man. The firm has also tried various rebranding campaigns with less success. For several years production has been in France, Poland and Ireland as well as the UK. In the UK in addition to Milk, Whole nut and Fruit and Nut bars we have become familiar with chocolate caramel and Turkish delight bars and Crunchie Bits as well as Button and Giant Buttons.

The Milk Tray selection was introduced in 1915, called trays because the chocolates sold loose were packed in trays for delivery to the merchants and in 1916 the half pound purple box and then in 1924 the one pound weight box quickly became the best seller in the UK with over 8 million boxes currently in the UK alone. There are two other Cadbury chocolate products which I have enjoyed. The first is the gold and red packaged Crunchie bar with a thin layer of chocolate covering a chunky honeycombed sugar centre. The bar size has varied over the years. The other product is the Curley Wurly comprising two entwined strips of chocolate covered soft caramel. Yum Yum.

It will be interesting to see what Kraft will do with the Cadbury brands and its UK factory at Bournville where the number of employees has already been reduced by three quarters. As mentioned the Keynsham has been lost to Poland and Kraft are reported to want to make a profit by selling the large land holding for housing development. Kraft are an international giant known in the UK more for Cheese products such as Cracker Barrel, Parmesan, Philadelphia and Dairylea, but also for Biscuits, Pretzels Crisps and Crackers, and for Pickles, Salad dressings and Barbecue Sauce, for Cafe Hag and Maxell House coffee, and Pizzas and Jell-0, Macaroni and peanuts and Starbucks. In addition to making Toblerone they have already taken over Terry‘s Chocolate Orange and Chocolates and closed the York factory.

They do not only but companies but they also sell them with Birds Custard, Birds Eye, Del Monte, Shredded Wheat, and Vegemite catching my attention among a list of forty, plus ten brands which have been discontinued altogether.

The Terry Family established their business in 1823 and with Rowntree had made York in a chocolate capital city. Fortunately it remains a walled city on a river with its Minster and quaint shopping area to make it a tourist favourite and a nightmare to drive and out. In fairness to Kraft, Forte, Colgate-Palmolive United Biscuits and Phillip Morris had all bought and then sold the factory since the end of the second world war. The factory is presently owned by a company who want to continue some form of chocolate business. The first application for planning permission was declined by the local the Council. Because of its location next the York Race Course there has been much interest proposing the site for clearance and development. In 2005 the local Member of Parliament explained that sugar cost 10% more in the UK than the rest of Europe and was three times higher in Europe than in the USA. I have enjoyed Terry’s chocolate bars but never been a Chocolate orange fan.

Overshadowing Terry’s in York was the third Quaker chocolate dynasty of Joseph Rowntree and now owned by Nestle. Production commenced in the city centre factory in 1862, relocating to a site north of the city in 1906 and joining with Mackintosh, the toffee manufacturer in 1969. Mackintosh had taken of the Norwich based Caley Chocolate company from Uniliver in 1932 and they started production for the Quality Street brand in 1936, for Rolo 1938, Carmac 1959 and Toffee Crisp 1963. I love the Rolo pronounced Roll-Oh especially as it is currently made at Fawden on Tyneside, I also have enjoyed the Rolo Ice cream. I am not sure who originally made the chocolate covered peanut and raisin but I can eat bags of both at the same sitting. Another long time favourite is the After Eight Mints where the factory is in Castleford West Yorkshire and in Germany

Large tins of the Quality Street mixture still appear at Christmas Time and are rivals of Cadbury Roses and Celebrations. I bought the large tins one year for the staff of the residential home where my mother was resident as she approached her 100th birthday and of course kept one tin of reach for myself! My favourite Quality Streets include the purple one, the brazil nut with caramel in purple wrapper, now a hazelnut. The Hazel nut Cracknell in the red wrapper, is also no more, as it the Hazel nut Eclair . I like the Chocolate Noisette Pate in a green triangle and the Toffee Penny as well as the Coconut Eclair. In the Cadbury Roses I loved the no longer produced Montelimar, the Praline Moment, the Coffee cream, the Turkish Delight and the Bournville tiny slab of dark, all discontinued although the Bournville can be found in Heroes. I like the Hazel Whirl and Hazel in caramel I have also eaten my share of Rollo’s in the past and was unaware of their background and manufacture in Norwich along with Yorkie and the Easter Egg until Nestle closed the plant in 1994 after a 100 years of operation and with the loss of 900 jobs.

Joseph Rowntree lived for 89 years and made his family business into one of the most important in the UK. Aged 14 he visited Ireland with his father and witnessed the impact of the potato famine. This changed his perspective on life and his company was one of the first to provided an occupational pension. He married again after the death of first wife a cousin Emma Seebohm and they had six children one of whom became Lord Seebohm Rowntree who chaired the report into the organisation and training of the personal social services in 1960’s. I once had the bedroom next to him and his wife at the Randolph Oxford. Discovering this only when we had to leave our rooms in he middle of the night because of a fire alarm. His father created a foundation to research the causes of social problems such as poverty, poor housing and other forms of social exclusion. The Housing Trust also provides care homes for the elderly and disabled. There is a charitable trust working for Quaker ideals including international peace and justice. The Reform Trust supports progressive politics and supports the Liberal Party. Rowntree donated half his personal fortune to provide the Trusts with their ongoing income. A school was built in 1942, a parkland created as a memorial to those members of the company who died in the first World War.

When I stay at the central Croydon Travel Lodge the building is over overlooked by the Nestle Tower a fact which the busy Railway station proudly announces that Croydon has become the home of the company in the UK It is also the home of the Home Office immigration services. All those confectionary jobs handed to Poland and for a time the Polish population appeared to have emigrated here!

Now for the Nestle Rowntree Mackintosh products. There was a year back, not so long ago when I spent some £50 on Kit Kat trying to put in a successful bid for an item several times the value of the purchases. I failed but eat a lot of Kit Kat!. The wafer finger bar was first produced in 1935. The name is believed to be taken from a political club in the eighteen century. It is also the name of the Christopher Isherwood Club in Berlin made more famous by the musical Cabaret. There are now over 100 variations of the traditional bar in various flavours and shapes. I do like the chunky single bar but Cucumber flavour, Caramel and salt, Pumpkin, Pepper, Soy Sauce, and apple vinegar as favoured in Japan, I think not.

Another established favourite is the Smarties chocolate beans, created in 1939 and re-branded as just Smarties in 1977. Those made at York are now made in Germany while the largest production unit is in Canada. Until 2006 chemical dies were used to create the colourings but these have been removed because of concerns on children’s health. I believe those with an orange chocolate or coffee flavour are no longer made. In the USA M and Ms are the equivalent. The cylindrical cardboard tube with a coloured plastic cap is the British standard although they also appears in boxes and other packaging as will as in chocolate bars, eggs and ice cream.

The Coffee Crisp was first made in Canada in 1938 although he main ingredients are wafers and a chocolate coating with coffee flavouring. There is a small amount of actual coffee. I have also enjoyed the Lion Bar which is a chocolate coated bar of wafer, caramel and crisps cereal. This is late comer from 1977.

What has become the most famous is the Yorkie bar, a chunky bar aimed at men and at one time it was branded as not for girls. In 2006 a for girls version was produced wrapped in pink. Although not a chocolate, Rowntree’s Wine Gums and Fruit Pastille were much loved in my teens and since. I still use the Nestle Rowntree Polo Mint to this day and I am sucking one now.

I grew up in Wallington and a couple of miles away at Waddon on the road to Croydon was the Payne’s Poppets factory and where one of my cousins, a former Prisoner of War and his wife worked for a time. Payne’s was taken over by Fox’s Confection famous for its Glacier Mints and fruits and also Just Brazils. In 1969 the Leicester based company was acquired by Mackintoshes before they merged with Rowntree. When Nestle bought Rowntree Mackintosh they sold the brand and site to Northern Foods and in turn they sold the company to Big Bear Ltd in 2003. It is surprising that no one ahs brought the Chocolate Merry Go Round selection.

The one company which has not been a part of part of the British Quaker Trinity is the Mars Corporation formed in 1911 in Washington State in the USA and about which I gained some knowledge during an International Management Course attended in the mid 1980’s where one of the same seminar group was a research Director with one of its subsidiaries. That I got to know some information was remarkable given the general secrecy of this private owned company run by three aging brothers at that time. One died in 1999 and family has moved into fourth generation control since the retirement of the remaining two, with the development of non family day to day management with over a dozen manufacturing sites throughout the USA. There is a British Branch based at Slough. Mars is responsible for some of the great chocolate treats in my life, The Mars Bar, of course but also Maltesers, Bounty, Galaxy, Milky Way, Minstrels and Revels, Twix and Snickers which used to be Marathon, which brings me nicely to my tops of the pops selection box by the widest margin possible Celebrations because it includes mini versions of Mars, Bounty, Snickers, Twix, Topic, Maltesers, Galaxy caramels and Milk Way. I could eat a boxful now. I must find out where they get their cocoa butter. The Mars Group remains the International standard bearer for effective management.

1392 Nineteen hours

6am. Having risen three times, discontented but familiar waking dreams, I rise sleepily and play games for 35 minutes with continuing a chess winning streak, level two, to 35 games and Keeping my short run of Hearts at 21% , alternative over the week with 20% but not lower, then work on the overnight Blog before concentrating on the in tray and decide to write the day as the hours which is the basic construction of the work which governs my life now.

7am. Continued writing and then stop for coffee and two toasts. I am satisfied with the rewrite.

8am The writing is almost done but I break to put out the wheelie bin and to water those plants under cover and which do not get rain. I consider getting a water barrel for one of the corners nearest the house. That would be an environmentally friendly decision and could add to savings when I arrange the water meter good. As a consequence of watering there is water down one sleeve so I need to change the jackets I tend to wear in house saving shirts for when I go out. It is a damp cold morning which lowers spirits.

9am. I have commenced some work. Last night I had a horrendous time with the printer as four cartridges had to be changed in three separate instances and this led to some not being recognised and other issues which was frustrating and irritating. I complete a Culture 2008 set and upload and print the Blog and decided on another coffee before tackling the communications in tray. The spirit is low and I am already physically tired from being up so early.

10am. Spirits raised by listening to Andrew Marr's Start of the Week on BBC 4because of the contribution of two writers. I miss the first part of the programme where the conversation appears to have been about the long of Iranian middle class culture. I first listen to an English liberal environmentalist who has written a story about an American from Wyoming, born on the freeway, spending his youth with cattle and horses and then goes into oil drilling as his father and grandfather had done only to die with a small reference in the local paper along with three others and leads the author to investigate what happened and his life, and to create what is said to be a powerful work reproducing the speech and thought patterns of the community, a good feat for an English woman

What attracts my attention is the description of once open wild landscape which is now said to take only half a day to cross because the rest has given way to intense drilling for oil and gas such is the U.S response to the real global challenge with is not in fact global warming but the demand for energy. The programme stops at this point to continue the literary discussion. I switch off mentally to consider the irony, the horrendous poetically justice of western capitalism so intent on expanding markets to increase profits and destroy communism that it had created new monster economies which will quickly subordinate those economies which do not have their own energy resources to meet domestic demand.

The second writer, also a musician, comes from India and is attempting to redefine and progress his cultural identity from the post colonial position of the past decades into the new India which is re-establishing its ancient history and making constructive use of the colonial legacy. He conjured what is likely to remain the best concept for many a day The Empire writes back.

On a different note, I receive invitations to order Mediterranean and Asian meals for home delivery about once a week. This time it was from Danaroso in Fredericke Street, over a mile away whereas I have over half a dozen take away and deliverers of meals 100 to 150 yards away. I have to spend over £9 to get free delivery. It is wasteful marketing but suggests desperation through overprovision at a time when everyone is looking at ways to save money. Later going through the box I come across another offer of the delivery of Chinese food, also from Fredericke Street.

11am Progress is slow even with a second cup of coffee. I am reminded of when I worked in an office for most of the day and hated having to tackle the delay my own personal in-tray, although I had full control over the amount of the and nature of its content, as the decision to allocate work, including the incoming communications was mine.

I had quickly learnt that in a situation where politicians expected you to know everything of relevance to their interests there were three methods for ensuring that you were not caught out. The first was to quickly read through the morning papers, the Journal and the Northern Echo and two evening papers, the Newcastle Chronicle and the Shields Gazette. I also had delivered to my home the Sunderland Echo. I could have asked someone else to go through the papers for me, but I knew better than anyone else what issues would be of interest to Councillors and what issues might be raised by colleagues in other departments of the local authority, together to those issues which were of other importance. I had also learnt the value of keeping one eye on the hatches, matches and dispatches.

The second method was to see all the incoming post and copies of all Headquarters' post sent out by management. I had learnt the need to do this from the first head I had worked for although she went further and insisted on receiving copies of the notes required on all phone calls and which because she was away a lot from holding a national position she would work through a pile of 1000 messages at a time. I did not open the post myself and the preliminary allocation was made by administration, and after a couple of years or so it was rare for me to alter the allocations and I tried to avoid doing so as we kept a record of everything received and when and to whom it was allocated. This was important to avoid accusations that communications had been received and then lost but it was more important that I knew what everyone was doing and could reallocated if it became important to do so. The post trolley was then available for the rest of management to see what had come in and where allocated if they wished, and to collect, or have collected their individual in-coming mails. An additional copy of all outgoing mail was collated and then circulated to the senior management in rotation. No one could complain that that they were not kept informed. This was additional to the weekly Monday morning meeting to review the activities of the week ahead or the circulation of the weekly activities sheet in which we all listed our planned engagements. In addition to knowing who would be in the office and who would not, it ensured that we had one appropriate representative at every political and officer meeting when required or when we believe it was in the interests of our service to have representation. It also helped to avoid duplicating representation. The third method was keep a register of all formal complaints received throughout the department. This indicated the brief nature of the complaint, when it was received, who was investigating and responding and when the matter was dealt with. Any anonymous list was circulated to the Committee each month so Councillors could raise an issue if they wished although this rarely happened and most approached the officer dealing with the matter if the complainant raised concerns with individual councillors. I saw all replies where I had not asked to receive the draft and accompanying papers. Most of colleagues around the country did not pay similar attention to detail and some immediately passed on anything directed at them or arranged for their secretary or deputy to do so when they were absent from the department and relied on briefings when they returned to the office, or subordinate colleagues decided they should be briefed. The majority of these individuals failed to survive long although some did by concentrating on being loved, visiting their empire in much the same way royalty visits and responding to the enquiries of Councillors in such manner that they appeared to support everyone and every interest, so that when things went wrong there was always someone else to blame.

However this hands on approach meant that I had an active in tray which I would sort into priorities but then try and work through on a daily basis in so far as information was immediately available and did not have to be obtained from others. I was much happier when I was able to concentrate on one issue at a time rather than juggling through the wide variety of issue covering the interests of residential, day care, domiciliary and fieldwork, policy, finance, personnel and other administration issues and any of the client interests divided broadly between children, the elderly, mental and physical disabilities. It still amazes that I and others managed to overcome the handicap of being trained and working in only one aspect of a service jumping overnight into taking responsibility for one aspect and not another. I still prefer concentrating on one subject rather than going through an in tray which now covers only the range of personal, household, work and personal interest activities.

12 noon. I have sent a text for a new cheque book for the first time. I have sent my subscription and a support donation to the Calne, Wiltshire Heritage centre and advised of the death of my mother whose grandfather left the town in the 1865, three months after the deaths of his father and his mother to join a British Arm regiment the 29th of Foot. I also telephone to enquire why my subscription as a Friend of redeveloped Tyneside Cinema has not arrived. This reminds that yesterday evening there was an excellent programme about Television cities, an edition about Tyneside on TV and film. This included shots from the four Catherine Cookson films with scenes at Marsden Beach, Rocks and Grotto, including of before part of the arched rock became so dangerous that it had to be blown up. There was film and photos of the early days when the Grotto was developed into a living and working structure. There were shots of the Tyne Bridge, the Gateshead Car park and other scenes from Get Carter, including the final beach scene which the local council subsequently made into a naturist beach until local opposition made using the beach impossible. It was also one According to the film footage it was also one of the most inappropriate locations for such a beach in the North East. There was also the history of the two ships converted into a night club, two because the first was taken to Glasgow as an expansion while now 25 years later the lease of the second is not being renewed. I decide on an early lunch with the main course a stir fry using the rest of the shoulder of lamb. I have set aside until later in the month renewal of the House insurances.

1pm. I enjoyed making and eating the stir fry which contained the lamb, an onion and a yellow pepper, the remains of the tout mange and a good portion of the bean sprouts with sufficient left for another fry later in the week, noodles and chilli sauce. I watched Bargain Hunt and the news headlines which gave the impression that the Prime Minister Gordon aims to impose his authority on his Parliamentary colleagues through insisting on the change from detention without charge from 28 to 42 days in restricted circumstances involving reference to Parliament. It will be interesting to see how this works out now that the Members have returned to Westminster after visiting their constituencies.

Yves St Laurent has died at 71, another contemporary reminds me to make the most of the hours. There is a good piece in the Sun on line about the 14 year of winner of Britain's Got Talent where it is revealed that he was advised by Simon to redo the semi final routine after rehearsing new one. This confirms the extent to which the final show was controlled and possibly the outcome. The bank has Text back to confirm that new cheque book will be issued. I am impressed with that. The cost of my text 3p compared to 32p for a postage stamp. Ericksson is sacked by Man City which suggests that Mr Grant of Chelsea may be on his way there in the Merry Go Round, although the subsequent front runner is said to be Mr Hughes of Blackburn. The Sun also has a provocative headline that Kate Moss has lost her panties; that is her half a million a year contract with Agent Provocative underwear to a Brazilian socialite aged 17 years and with a ring through her nose. She has also lost contracts to Burberry and Yves St Laurent, The Sun tells her not to mind the loss of income in excess of 1.5 million a year as she can be expected to get the Coke contract. Ha Ha.

2pm Whereas the news is all about the credit crunch with the Bradford and Bingley showing a loss over the first quarter it shares falls again from 74 to 65 pence having been £4 a year ago, I received yet another invitation for a new special Credit Card. I took a break and did the washing up and then as it looked as if the Spring bulbs had dried out I commenced to cut away the dead growth but found that some water had crept in from table top spillages so the task could not be completed. I will leave sorting out the bulbs into their types later but given the increase in containers I envisage an additional supply in for next season. That is optimism.

3pm I have written before of the importance of having attended a Henley International Senior Management course in the mid 1980's and I continue to receive the annual invitation to Alumni member's annual garden party day which used to take place during Henley regatta week although as boat trips on the river Thames are mentioned this suggests a different time. There is Music on the Lawn, Tombola on the Terrace, a Pimms Bar, Strawberries and Cream, with a BBQ or Fish and Chips available noon until 3 and traditional cream scones tea available. There are the usual activities available of swimming, badminton, tennis, squash, boule and croquet and a number of activities for children including the Smartie Artie Magic and Puppet Show. The serious aspect of the newsletter is that the College has decided to become part of the University of Reading as its Henley Business School although the change will require approval of the Charity Commissioners and the Privy Council. I was also impressed to see that the chairs of the 23 branches of the International Alumni Association also had a meeting at the college, including from Malta. The black Tie annual Alumni Ball is to be held in October with tickets £100 and the evening aiming to raise £25000 for the Scholarship Fund. I was never actively involved in that world but my former involvement has become part of the fog of the past which I am now clearing.

4pm The first In-Tray going though was completed before four so I decided to see what was on TV while I sorted material suitable for set work from, material which was then junked, (the major amount), and from that held in trolley trays for possible future reference and that which still required some action. Yesterday I watched part of the Sign of the Four the Sherlock Holmes mystery and today I was able to see the rest while continuing to work completing some developments sets, start one for Durham Cricket some registration cards for a political record
5pm A cup of tea and slices of smoked salmon with lemon on Hovis bread before going to post the DVD's and the letter to the Calne Heritage centre. It is a fine evening but I had to drag myself up and out and decided against taking the rucksack for a supermarket visit I watch a familiar episode of PD James Inspector Dalglesh. I will go sometime tomorrow for rolls for Wednesday's quarter final at Chester Le Street. I forgot to mention yesterday day that Durham won the four day county game at Sussex in three days after a disastrous when they were 15 runs for wickets in reply to Sussex first Innings of over 200, however there was then a partnership of 200 between Smith and Blenkenstein, each getting a century. A Steve Harmison Hat Trick helped to reduce the Sussex second Innings to 212 which left Durham with just over 100 runs to win which they were able to achieve with difficulty thus bringing their second win of the season and a move to mid table with one or two game sin hand over those above, the position could improve again this weekend.

6 pm A glass of red wine and a small dish of peanuts. Among continuing work activities was the preparation a new composite ream of coloured cards. The standard ream is 250 with five colours but I also have older reams of single colours pastel shades, making a total of seven colours which I interspersed one of each colour to create a master ream of 500 which is used to stick on materials such as tickets, cut outs from used food packaging, notes, cuts out from newspapers which means something in terms of my day or days past. Of course this kind of montage making is old hat in terms of contemporary art, except that what I do represents my past in a considered way as well as my present. The Baltic is hold a SMART Arts course to help people understand what contemporary art is all about.

7pm The World's Got Talent. Piers Morgan has taken over the world as no sooner is his stint on Britain's Got talent finished does the American version appear on our screens this weekend where he is also one of the judges and then tonight he is hosting a collection of clips from the world wide programmes from Russia, Israel, Norway and lots from the USA. Some of the judges comments in the recent series are better understood as it is evident that many of the acts this season have followed on from those in other countries which featured last year. I eat a prepared small pasta dish with broccoli for tea

8 pm Ice cream and some work confidential.
9pm-11pm This is England Channel 4 film was being a shown on a day when yet another teenager is reported to have died in London from multiple stab wounds although in this instance a man twice her age rather than another teenager has been arrested. The death is but one of a succession of young lives brutally ends over the past two years and is symptomatic of a streak in English culture which has been there for generations and which boils over every few years or so and which is beyond sticking plaster political remedies and where punitive and custodial measures only enhance status and reinforce positioning within the under culture.

The film is an accurate portrayal of skin head, racist, football hooligan mentality and culture and contains an outstanding performance from a boy who was fourteen years of age Thomas Turgoose playing a twelve year old whose father was killed in the Falklands War and who is bullied at school. On such a day when he has been in a fight and given corporal punishment at school, he comes across and gang of older youths, including a mixed race lad and someone who is educationally disabled. They adopt the boy into the gang. He is given a skin head hair cut, a check shirt and braces and his mother is persuaded to buy him boots. The gang leader has a regular girl friend as does the mixed race lad and other girls associate themselves with the gang including a girl who appears to be much older than Thomas because of the extreme difference in heights as he is of small build and she is tall. She initiates him into a boy girl relationship and become his official girl friend. She is called Smell for Michelle.

Although the group drink and smoke they are relative harmless and offer Thomas considerable emotional support especially when they find out about the death of his dad. However everything changes when the former leader of the group returns from prison having done the time for a crime committed by the present gang leader and where we subsequently learn he had slept one night with the girl friend when she was only sixteen and drunk.
It is not evident the extent to which Combo (Stephen Graham) was already a violent man holding extreme right wing national front beliefs before going to prison but once out of prison he sets on taking over the gang and Thomas is one of those who join him and is taken to a National Front meeting held at a secret location. In response to the incitement of the meeting the new gang raid a shop run by an Asian. One member defecates on the floor and leaves the owner terrorised and humiliated, and warned they will return whenever they feel like for cigarettes, drink and sweets.

The film climax follows the rejection of Combo by the girl friend of the former gang leader and unfortunately the person he next encounters is the mixed race lad and his girl friend. He is persuaded to leave the girl to go home on her own while he goes for dope for the new group but then all the anger and frustration of the recent rejection, and the earlier rejections of his life comes to the fore and he explodes battering the mixed race lad to death and turns on his other friends including Thomas. This is the turning point for Thomas and the audience is left believing that the relationship with his mother has returned to that before the death of his father and that he is rejecting the extremes of the life recently experienced. However this films deals with reality of their lives and we know he will be very lucky if he is able to break away into a different life, given the neighbourhood where they live and the school he attends. The boy's mother died of cancer during the making of the film and she was only able to see a small portion before her death. The firm maker dedicated the film to her and Thomas received a most promising newcomer award. The film was shot on estates in Nottingham and in Grimsby, the actual home town of Thomas. Because of overt racism, the violence and the language. the film was given an eighteen rating which meant that Thomas and teenagers in general were unable to see the film at public performance. Three Councils, two in London decided to overturn the rating to enable local teenagers to view the film, although how far they would influenced in a positive way is questionable.
11.11.30 pm note making. Half sandwich supper.

11.40pm- 1.30 am Play Hearts then confidential Correspondence and MySpace

1375 A concert in Rome, Reality TV, some politics and the History of Mr Poly

Friday May 14th 2008 became an unexpectedly enjoyable day. The morning commenced late with very fine drizzle outside which aptly expressed my state after the exertions of the previous afternoon. The main problem was from bending at the knee rather than bending down and underlined the lack of exercise and the onset of physical old age, which I will have to counter. I know some things are or become irreversible but it is important to try. When late in the afternoon I walked to the supermarket there was a noticeable stiffness in my thighs and I had intended to have a hot bath but forgot to turn on the water heater. Perhaps tomorrow,?

I begin with a WOW event. I did not visit the Circus Maximus on foot during my brief visits to Rome separated by over three decades although the area was pointed out on an organised coach visit after the Millennium. The Circus Maximus was the first and biggest circus area which can be ignored by the casual visitor with limited time because it is such a vast open area but I had not grasped the number which can be accommodated with 250000 in the days of the Caesars with a similar number having a mor distant view from the surrounding hills. When Italy won the World Cup in 2006 it was estimated that nearly three quarters of a million people packed the area in celebration. Last year Genesis were the group chosen to give a free concert and over half a million people attended with a giant stage and super structure. It was an amazing event now captured on video/DVD. I have several records by Phil Collins and have seen perform live at Newcastle City Hall as well as enjoyed his film career. It is always good to see that an old un can still do it.

I missed Britain's got talent on Saturday and waited until tonight for the re run and for someone who could become the series winner produced another WOW from my lips. This time is was a twelve year old girl with an extraordinary mature deep embryonic operatic voice. I did not note her name. She attended the Birmingham Britain's got talent and has a mum who is an hairdresser and a father who is a Health and Safety Officer. The girl admitted she practiced for hours in her bedroom with her parents giving her encouragement. It sounded as if her singing teacher school may have suggested she should enter the competition. She was both excited and then nervous and I predict that one day she will sing at Covent Garden, the Metropolitan and Milan and anywhere else she chooses to if that is what he decides is to be her destiny.

The second American Idol saw the obvious become reality and David Cook and David Aucheleta will contest the final next week seeing Seyesha Mercardo placed third but with over million votes recorded all three can record and know they will sell a million albums. All three returned to their home states and towns in trips organised by the local Fox broadcasting to an adoration level which has reached hysterical proportions as only the USA can do. This is not a criticism. When Americans are enthusiastic boy they are enthusiastic and there is a unity of purpose which is remarkable given the diversity of ethnic origins, cultures, religions and non religions and extremes of political and social viewpoints. It is understandable and a pity that the accumulated energy is sometimes misdirected.

The main purpose of the visit to the supermarket was for new razors but I went to see what there was in gardening pots and discovered some very expensive black containers some rounded shaped other squared which are pleasing to the eye and the ideal size for the window ledge The four square ones were placed on the window ledge outside the working window with geraniums. and the five rounded were used for the upright fuchsia's and placed on the day room window ledge and the table. I had a sufficient mix of potting compost to complete this task. However I had also been unable resist some wicker hanging baskets with a sacking liner which will require further investment in plants and some compost, which I will leave to next discount Wednesday, although it is tempting to go beforehand.

Friday is traditional fish eating day for but I had forgotten to defrost so during the day I separated the bream and also cut the salmon and tuna slices from the fish platter and will have one half tomorrow. Later I defrosted prawns to go with a salad. Today I had had salmon steaks in tomato sauce from an inexpensive flat tin which was part of the day's enjoyment and this evening peppered steak with vegetables followed by apple strudel and ice cream. I must remember to note the wine before the bottle ends.

I watched Distant Drums yesterday, a vehicles for Gary Cooper as a backwoodsman fighting an uprising in the Florida jungle and trying to rescue is half Indian son. Today I watched the History of Mr Polly, the H D Wells amoral tale of Polly as he progresses from an inability to work for others until he is left a princely sum by his father and gets married to a cousin and opens a shop. He soon tires of both although given the poverty of the time he behaviour was rightly condemned by society. John Mills portrays the character as a weak, harmless romantic, who ends up accept a job as a thatched covered Inn on a river bank with a punt ferry punt in pre car Victorian England. The challenge is the a criminal thug relative of the Innkeeper, a good woman looking after the child of his sister and of the thug. But like all bullies he in such films justice prevails and by good fortune because he is wearing a pair of Mr Polly's trousers, when Polly returns to find out how is former wife is getting on, he finds that she has been declared a widow and is enjoying life having turned the first floor of their former home above the shop into a tea room which she is running successfully with one of her sisters. He returns to his rural idyll with a cleared conscience. Oh if life was really like that!

As anticipated the political talk was on the fight back of Prime Minister Brown after being attacked by about everyone from the Opposition parties and the media, to sections of his own party and one suspects members of his own Cabinet. All talk of Cabinet reshuffle appears to have temporarily ended as he cannot risk creating a rivals and rebellion leaders. The truth was revealed by Ms Diane Abbot who after being part of the downfall of Tony Blair and years of public carping criticism has been extraordinarily uncritical of Gordon Brown, especially on the issue of the General Election that was not and the 10 pence tax abolition. Last night she admitted that there was no one who could take over and command support within the party or the country, so the factions will jockey for position and influence and plot the succession if as must be anticipated the party loses the next election. It is possible for parties in mid government to regain the initiative and public support but the political mood has changed from concentrating around the centre and there is a move to the extremes in England especially with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland having the safety valve of their own forms of Parliament and self government. England is left with a large cosmopolitan population in its capital and other cities and some town which is alien to the population who enjoy the country shows and rural pursuits and how we operate our Parliament, administration and judicial system. We actually liked as well as were good at running an empire which covered a quarter of the people on the planet, of ruling the high seas and of coming through as victors in two world wars. We are now part of a very different world and power economy where others have taken over our role and the basis of our economic fortune, and yet there is something in the native British character which adapts, has the drive and the initiative to remain powerful and rich. It is this quality which he post Thatcher governments squandered until Tony Blair and which I though Gordon Brown was up to. There were signs in during the crisis which arose upon appointment a year ago and over the past week that he has the strength of personal will and political purpose to survive and win through but he cannot afford a third mistake. The political hope is that energy and food prices will bottom out for time to make rank and file support fear the Conservative alternative, or for the Conservatives slip up or for forces within their party to attempt to push the leader in a different direction from that being taken. Equally there is a risk that Labour back benchers on the traditional left as well as the pro Blairites will create such havoc behind the scenes which will spill out as usual and destroy the last chance saloon position. Thursday's late night political review was an extraordinary mixture with Bruce Forsythe and Les Denise and Lord Levy. The theme was the need for political decorum and good manners something which the political classes jettisoned two decades ago and can never be recaptured. Unlike Wales, Scotland and Ireland, England in its present form is doomed and that will be the legacy of the last decade of government.

1374 The Patio and some TV

My body is tired from a day of unusual physical activity and my brain is numb. I want to write but I allow myself to be distracted. The cause of this condition was not a long walk or prolonged activity but a solid day of giving the small patio and garage areas a thorough pre summer clean and planting. There was time ton watch a film Distant Drums I think but I retain some images, to catch up with missed viewing, Waking the Dead a two parter and Doctor Who, some cricket and the midday and late night political programmes which merit further comment. I also did a work sort out, knowing that I fallen way behind the achieved target of the previous two months but may at least manage an average of 100 new work sets a months for the last three, which is the lowest number planned for the remaining year.

First however more about the patio and garage area which was in two parts. The main part was to nearly completing the planting; nearly because I bought more plants than containers and may acquire some more from a visit to Asda later as I need some new razor blades as the set I acquired last time has been a disaster and is scrape with the consequences of cuts. First before than some toast having gulped coffee which brings indigestion. Usually I write later into the night and correct and rewrite first thing mornings, but it is already 10.40 the following morning so I rely more on memory than usual and on getting what I want say right first go and an order of significance to me.

I created the base of the patio (when) with red textured flagstones separated by redee, purplish tinged grey chippings cover the whole area and a concrete ridge which has the effect of surface water moving towards the first of two outside open grill drain points, with the second the other side of the back door and which takes water from the kitchen sink and the washing machine as well as the. garage roof. (I have allowed the toast to harden so am liberal with the spread to compensate which reminds of the two submarine mariners Tyrone Power and Dana Andrews as they returned from a tour under the waves and ordered, fresh milk, fresh vegetables, fruit and lashings of butter in quantities which would have been regarded as obscene in the UK as we survived on powdered milk without tropical or Mediterranean fruits and vegetables.)

I have four giant pottery tubs. (I must create a 101 photo album) of a redee bluee mauve. The first has my pride and joy a large nameless evergreen which has more than doubled in size since it was rescued from its neglected condition while the house was attempted to be sold over a year. Its base has become tree like divided into two with a present height of 62 inches and a spread approaching 47 inches. The second evergreen was of smaller size but the differential has increase so that it is about half the size of the other but with a similar spread and wider leaves, but has remained sickly and requires constant attention but again looks amazing given its inherited parlous state.

The two other plantings in the big container tell a different story. I bought the Hydrangea Blue Lace cap lat into the its season June October because of the unusual nature of its flowers, but they have never reproduced in the same way since and I have promised to find out more about the plant which I have kept in partial shade and well watered, and which in theory should grow in height and width. The failure this season and tis mine and mine alone is the most expensive of the purchases a standard Fuchsia Red Tyrol acquired for £14.98 and provide a magnificent feast of continuous colour until the autumn. Alas although I did read the instructions and had planned to move into the garage covered area, I forgot and the late spring frosts may have killed the plant although there are some slight signs of life towards the base. I have transferred to a small pot contained and replaced with a new Evergreen, an Aucuba Crontonfolia, a bushy plant with large leaves of bright green and bold golden yellow variegations. It should also teach 60 inches with a 48 inch spread.

I now have five hanging baskets, two inherited and three acquired. The inherited are attractive to look at, located adjacent to each other on house and side wall with attractive metal brackets. The three new ones ate of green plastic and came full of flowering red and mauve trailing petunias last year. These baskets hang from the cross wood guttering which marks the end of the garage on inserted hooks from which was previously hung a large green canvass awning which when dropped full length obscured the garage area from view as well as from raid and wind. It is now used from the an end hook up to cover the wheelie bun and the redundant refrigerator. More on the garage area later,

This year I have change the colour scheme of two of the green plastic baskets to yellow, with trailing Petunias Surfinia Victorian Yellow and which also contain one Chrysanthemum Firecracker. The three other baskets are packed with Surfinia Double Purpose Petunia.

I have three bronze coloured metal window ledge containers each with carrying handles and one of these is packed with Snapdragons La Bella Yellow and the other two with Upright Fuchsia Winston Churchill red and mauve.

This leaves my other pots and one long plastic blue contained which forms the end of large white garden tabled with sits under the garage roof and when I sometime eat a meal or sit and work in whatever space is free. I have a mixture of pots and plants. I have green pots with green pottery sauces although some are green or blue plastic and three posts of different sizes but of similar contemporary design of white stone with geometric glass like inserts. In one of these I have I am trying a Perennial Lupin Gallery White. I am also trying a Celosia Venezuela with mauve feathery flowers which are already bringing colour to the table along with the peaking Chrysanthemum. The long smoky blue container is full of yellow snap dragons, the peaking Chrysanths and training Petunia which should as last year hang over the container and table end. I have a large upright Geranium Tango Neon Purple in addition to a tray of other uprights Bullseye Cherry where I need more pots to fit on the window ledge. Two pot geraniums survived from last year and two of the smaller ones are already potted and on the table. I also have three other survivors of last year. One post is full of green shoots some six inches in height but what are they ? And there are two other plants from two years ago whose name is on the tip of my tongue but which a quick look at a photo gardening book failed to identify.

Yesterday's work including scrubbing the flagstone, removing weather debris from the chippings and then cleaning out the fridge to make into a store and then cleaning out one of the drains. The spring bulb collection was sorted and put under the table for the greenery to dry and decay. Need to clean and attend to the side of the garage where I have a shelf with plates and goblets and then the frame of pictures. The floor requires a good scrubs but I will defer repainting until next year or the year after as although the blue has faded, the surplus paint from my former home should last until then. I will leave this until later or tomorrow as I want to make progress elsewhere.

I was able catch up the TV as the audio driver arrived although I had difficulty working out how to run and need to ring back the agents who have proved to be exceptionally helpful. I still have reservations about this series of Dr Who but its simple message that violence begets violence was well scripted and acted. Waking the Dead was also interesting with theme of the power of beliefs and guilt when the demons of darkest fears within are released. In this instance white man's corruption of the ancient Navaho culture. However as with the series so far the underlying issue was the relationship between father and estranged drug taking son, whose death from an overdose is announced as the programme ends after Trevor Eve has brought some comfort to the son of the principle murder victim. It was also semi final night when David Cook stole the march on David Aucheleta and both at the expense of Seyesha Mercardo although I thought she put up a great fight. I will leave the politics until tomorrow

1373 Disasters abroad and Politics at home plus To serve them all my days and the Winslow Boy

The media and consequential public response to the natural disasters in China and Burma could not have more different. The failure of the Burmese to allow foreign news media and aid agencies into their country had turned interest away and all the indications are that as a consequence starvation, lack of water and safe sanitation will kill hundreds of thousands more. To-day I watched the horror as the full extent of Chinese earthquake has been revealed because Western journalists and camera men have been taken to the worst hit areas and allowed to report freely and although the government has directed vast resources of rescue and aid workers and materials it has accepted the need for external help and perhaps more important the understanding and sharing of the grief. We all cry and feel helpless.

Yesterday the Brown Government launched its defence by reversing its policy on taxation by borrowing more and going beyond its 40% ceiling originally set by Ken Clark. And was Ken Clark's approach which the government followed over its first two years reducing borrowing substantially and repaying previous debts. Then with the Millennium the strategy changed with increases in taxation and public spending and pushing the borrowing towards the ceiling it had set. For the first time in a decade inflation has breached 3% and worse is to come as warned by the head of the Bank of England. The ten years of stability have come to an end and a bumpy ride is forecast. I suspect any government would have had to face similar problems although one suspects the kitty was used up in order to win the last election and to sustain the Prime Minister after the recent shaky period
.
Two months earlier that planned and again just before the by-election the Prime Minister decided to bring forward the announcement of a new legislative programme which will be announced by the Queen when she opens the next session of Parliament. Once upon a time the legislation programme was announced once a year by the Queen when the Commons attend the Lords. Now it is done in the Commons first, Similarly the budget was a once a year activity often with measure which came into effect the following financial year, Now there is an autumn statement of how the year has progressed and this year the work of the previous budget has been undone. So whatever the spin is put on the activity the rest of the country know what is going on and does not believe what is being said. Before stating what would be in the next programme the Prime Minister, affectionately known as the Supreme Leader, announced that some £200 million of existing money would be redirected to buy unsold new homes and rent them to social tenants. On the basis of £200000 a home this is 1000 homes and therefore an inconsequential amount in terms of social housing need but it will help the building trade. There is also £100 million for shared equity schemes for first time buyers, thus another 1000 new home owners. Something is better than nothing but a pathetic gesture in terms of unmet need.
Most of the legislations sounds good and necessary and the overall package appears to be a good one. Whether it will quell unrest at Westminster and within the Labour party in general remains to be seen. The extreme left, the pro Blair and the anti Brown factions will regard this as open season knowing hat he may well make concessions that risk a challenge to his leadership or defeat on government business which will amount to a vote of no confidence.

I approve of the business rate surcharge proposal to pay for local economic development. There is an interesting piece of legislation designed to open up some coastal areas for leisurely development. However how will this work if the private landowner is opposed to any public development? Will the Heritage Protection Bill aim to open up projects to wider community interest and involvement or will the upper class nature of the management remain? A new Education Bill to end the poorest performing schools and promote fair access cannot work because the good parents will do what is required to provide the best education for he children while a significant section will be indifferent. The Equality Bill sounds good but is misnamed because it is primarily about anti discrimination measures. All women short lists by political parties is good. Concerned if right to criticise, including to make fun is eroded. Further measures to reduce long term dependency on benefits sounds good if new training opportunities are implemented and the skills assessment is of good quality. New Police Bill will provide for the direct election to Police Committees rather than nomination from controlling political parties. Measures to control anti social behaviour should be interesting and Councils will have to work out that they cannot create binge drinking clubs and bards and then shut them down by imposing new control on binge drinking in public places, You tackle the cause not the symptoms. Cutting red tape re police is also a two edged sword.

Transport Security sounds interesting with new measures to act in relation to piracy and terrorism. New measures to enable gathering and storing of internet data in relation to serious crime which includes terrorism. The Law Reform measures also sound positive and I like the idea of promoting Citizenship especially among new arrivals, I also, like the idea of introducing Performance Pay to Hospitals especially if staff will be penalised for the number of patients who die because of secondary infections. The Constitutional Bill also has some interesting aspects taking away personal patronage and political bias. The Community empowerment Bill will be interesting in terms of the inherent conflict between the party political control of local government, There is also what appears to be a technical Bill of minor significance concerned with the Geneva Convention but which is said to provide protection to UN workers who move into difficult places.

There is to be a measure to improve the position of part time and sessional workers also this is double edged as any improvements for these workers will be used as the spring board to press for inflation breaking pay rises for everyone else.

There are two new measures about which I can have a moan. The Banking Bill will be designed to prevent what happened in relation to the Northern Rock but appears to do nothing to deal with the greed of bankers and their incompetence which has caused the crisis and plunged capitalism into crisis. The British and American Governments in particular are talking as if the forces at work are mystical and alien whereas they are were first pointed out by Jesus Christ some 2000 years ago, It is not rocket science. If you lend money to people who cannot pay it back in the hope of charging higher than usual interest you will just accumulate bad debt, The loss should be borne by the bankers personally but instead they draw ever higher salaries and bonuses.

The next legislation is also nonsense in that there is to be Bill to help the least able to save called the Savings Gateway Bill. How on earth are those with least wealth able to save and why should they, unless of course this is another move to reduce the support structure of the welfare state. You had better save even if this puts you in a worse position than before because we have measure up out sleeve which will make you even worse off. However it could be helpful if you are allowed to cash the savings in quickly. I can see a whole new enterprise. I give a poor person £100 pounds top save and the government gives them another £100. I then cash in the savings and give the poor person £25 for his trouble and I make £75 profit from the government the deal

There is one measure which interests me greatly. This is the Coroners and death certification Bill which will create a pattern of full time Coroners and the right of appeal given to bereaved families. There will new medical examiners to examine the cause of death given by doctors,

And now for a complete change in mood and subject. I had planned to make an early first visit to B and Q for by summer season planting combined with some food shopping but then decided to postpone until after lunch hen I learn of the Prime Minister's speech following Question Time and which therefore postponed some of the sting that Cameron would have been able to draw. I then stayed home even longer listening to an episode of To Serve them all my days, the R F Delderfield story which has been turned into radio and TV series since its publication in 1972. I have not read the book but enjoyed the TV mini series with 13 parts and a running time of over 11 hours. While the work is centred on a minor public school it covers the political and social changes between the end of World War and the commencement of World War 2, following the life and teaching career of a miner's son who is commissioned, injured and shell shocked and becomes a popular teacher and eventually the school head, battling a colleague early on and then an authoritarian new Headmaster, losing his first wife and family, losing a potential second partner to another only to find later that the son she bore was his, and finding happiness with a prospective Labour Member of Parliament who joins him at the school as his second wife and a teacher.

Another film which also follows life in a public school from a teacher viewpoint is Goodbye Mr Chips, based on the James Hilton novel first published in an evangelical newspaper in 1934. The book and film follows the long career of Arthur Chipping and like To serve them all my days, covers the political and social changes from the Franco Prussian War of 1870 through to the rise of Hitler in Germany, Retiring at sixty five he is called back to fill during World War I and is deeply affected by the loss of pupils, including a former Austrian master who dies while fighting for the other side. I prefer the 1939 film which stared a young John Mills, Robert Donat, Greer Garson and Paul Henried. In 1969 the book was turned into a musical film staring Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark and music by John Williams and Andre Previn and his wife. In 1984 there was a TV mini series with Roy Marsden and in 2002 Martin Clunes was the star of a made for TV film and this is a less sentimental version than the original film

I have been fascinated by public school life since reading the Thomas Hughes novel Tom Brown's School days first published in 1957.The Public School in question is Rugby and the work begins with an idyllic view of village and country life which makes what happens to him at the school that much more horrific. The books centres on bullying by an older boy called Flashman who is defeated and then on Tom's progress with the help of the headmaster and through the friendship of a new boy he is asked to take under his wing they turn into young gentleman, The book has been repeatedly turned into films and TV series with films in 1916, 1940, 1951, and 1971 together with a TV mini series in 1972 and a two hour TV film in 2005

Another film which affect me greatly traversing my childhood and adulthood is The Winslow Boy based on the Terrance Rattigan stage play, a court room drama in which a father fights against the expulsion of his son from a navel college accused of stealing a five shilling postal order. Again my favourite is the film seen in a full cinema in 1946 1947 with Robert Donat and Cedric Hardwicke but I also enjoyed the 1999 version with Nigel Hawthorne.

My interest is such book and films contrasts with the dread I felt about school although I went to a small Catholic Preparatory school between 1944 and 1952 and experienced some success in the first year and a half at the Independent Catholic senior school which included boarders. Now of course I fully understand the cause of the dread and the combination of circumstances which prevented me reaching my scholastic potential.

On Sunday I enjoyed three thick slices of braised beef with Mediterranean stir Fry vegetables and a mixture of small roasted potato cuts and other mixed vegetables. So although I had my roast in a pleasant country pub for a modest £5 I decided yesterday on a second roast meal this time a joint of pork with crackling. It was a mistake to use the grill oven because such was its size that the crackling started to burn before the meat was cooker thus setting of the smoke alarm in the Hallway twice. I eat a portion of vegetables separately and then about a third of the joint with some of the crackling which had been rescued. While to night following the visit to the supermarket I prepared another stir fry concoction following on from last week but adding a portion of courgette and a few slices of tomato to the previous ingredients and enjoyed even more so, looking forward to the second helping tonight. The actual cooking is about a third of that required fro the supermarket version and interestingly as expected the supermarket preparation ahs been reduced in price back to £3 but only the on the basis of buying two. For lunch I had a sandwich of slices of French Salami followed by fresh pineapple and after the main course there was the last banana with custard, and as a late evening snack some water melon and some snap crackle and pop. This was by way of celebrating reaching my first 101 win at Hearts although there were 447 loses