I could have called this writing Freedom Day, or Britain's Electronic new world, or two performances meriting Oscar nominations, but I settled for chicken soup and a roll without fatty chips. I have also written the opening paragraph four times. Twice long hand scribble on the train journey here, once before going out this evening around 4 pm and then beginning again at 10 pm after chicken soup an a roll, some ice cold water and the remaining chocolate peanuts purchased at Sainsbury's Local, Clapham Junction. I awoke this morning after 6 am, the third waking after going to bed at 1am. I returned to bed for twenty minutes or so feeling the need to relax and to wake up fully. I had well packed prepared the previous day so it was relaxed but purposeful activity after rising. First I washed up from the previous evening and then prepared two salmon and cucumber sandwiches and a flask of cold water from the refrigerator. I also put in the packet soups which had proved invaluable on the previous travels. After washing myself I put a couple of more items in the wash bag and placed by it the camera together with the lap top computer, camera and phone mains connections and battery chargers. Above this I placed the shirts, having previously placed the lap top between a tracksuit, a spare pair of trousers some underwear and socks. I added a second note book, telephone address book to the rucksack, completed a birthday card and the package of the DVD Bridget. Then I checked that doors were shut, switches were off and before dressing enjoyed two slices of toast and a coffee. I finished the washing up, put on my suit with a short sleeve top, a new pair of socks and underwear and the one pair of shoes I was taking with me. I added a spare of shoe laces and indigestion tablets and the cinema ticket vouchers, a small London Street guide, and bus and underground map and the reference for the train ticket purchased on line. It was just after eight o'clock, two and half hours before the train would leave Newcastle station, but it was not raining and sky looked threatening and there was evidence of persistent heavy rain on the floor of the patio. I decided to leave by the rear of the house into the back lane so it might not be evident to anyone that I had travel bags with me, even if neighbours heard the sound of the garage door raised and lowered. I held the main travel bag off the pavement until reaching the grassed area between housing as the bag makes a loud noise out of proportion to its size when wheeled along the roadway, with less on the pavement. I continued to the station where I purchased a ticket £2.80 according to a note. The next departure is at 8.30 and I am surprised how few other travellers there are at this first stop on the line, although those needing to reach work before 9 15 will have travelled on earlier trains. Before we set off a man clears away all the used copies of the free Metro morning papers discarded by earlier passengers. He says good morning how are you as he passes. I smile back and say wonderful. The next passenger says, "and how are you?" and I regret that I did not think of saying this. There are more passengers as the train progresses towards Newcastle. I decide to write about the film Bridget viewed before going to bed, but first I note that I have set off in a mixture of positive and negative emotions with the anxiety of leaving the security of my home and the anticipation of new experience. It was worse three weeks ago. On reaching the station there are conflicting announcements. Onboard there is an apology because the lift to the main railway station level is out of order but on approaching each of the two levels of escalators from the Metro to this level, we are advised not to take heavy luggage and to use the lifts. A young man with a giant of case exchanges smiles as we mount the escalators with our luggage. I make my way to the battery of electronic machines to one side of the main ticket office after being greeted with a "good morning" by a watchful assistant at the door. I place my credit card in the machine after touching the screen to indicate an advance purchase. Three tickets are printed, a receipt for £27 (29.80) which reminds it is not a ticket, the single journey train ticket and my seat ticket. I do not need the purchase reference number. It could not be more simple thanks to the great computer in the sky. I make my way to the coffee shop and decided it is too cold to sit on the outside tables and find one by a window looking on to the station and the serving counter. I order a medium size Americano and add the cold milk and sugar, another £2.20(?) (£32) and continue writing until just before 10am. It has been a relaxed and enjoyable hour and I do not speculate on how much of the writing will survive subsequent editing. The young man who placed an order immediately after me added a bacon roll to his coffee and I stood for a second in contemplation of this to an the extent that the assistant drew my attention that the coffee was ready. I explained my contemplation of the bacon roll and the decision to just have the coffee. The young woman before me who was having her Cappuccino on the go, gave me a great smile and said," well done," as if she had needed positive reinforcement herself in past times, or perhaps she was just kind and unafraid of strangers. It was a great start to the morning and my adventure. I waited in the appointed room after visiting the new modern toilets but decided to go out and stand in the fresh air around 10.15 and watched the train at the platform sets off to the midlands and then to the west country all the way to Devon, including Taunton the county town of Somerset with its cricket ground. It stops at the other end of the platform to avoid passengers for London boarding, something which I suspect some have done in the past and may still do. The was a good number of passengers assembled where the signboard stated wait here for carriage D so I moved on to what I thought would be several carriage lengths down the platform where there were less people. I naively thought this could mean spare seats where I use two for luggage and lap top. I am being unfair on myself because I had done this many times over the four decades of travelling to London from this station. Note where the bulk of the passengers were congregating which meant the area for booked seats and then go to where there the least and perhaps the impact of the escalation in fuel prices. What I had not appreciated is the policy of National Express, the coach firm which took over the line last autumn. In fact when the train arrived several minutes ahead of the departure time I found myself at one end of carriage D, the wrong end from allocated seat. Fortunately the first occupant of the adjacent seat to that allocated was from York and then another from Peterborough. Most of the seats were taken up, many who were just travelling to Durham, Darlington and York but who did not have advance booked seats. As we set off there was an announcement about free Wifi being available so I went to my main bag, removed the lap top and mains lead which I fitted to the plus below the seat and set about logging on. I made the mistake of trying to log on to the mail service provider and MySpace without success and then had the bright of idea of using the Firefox browser and came to the National Express log on site where it was required to submit an email address and I was instantly on line. Everything was at a snails pace indicating the volume of users and that we were travelling at speed. I commenced some writing and then looked at emails, the main, the sports and the Olympic news and to M Space. Before I knew it we approached York and the family occupying the four seat table next to me left so I jumped at the opportunity of the table and the window seat. My jubilation was short lived as a young man came to claim his seat but volunteered to take mine when I explained the position. I was joined by another young man who managed to spend the rest of the journey to London without acknowledging the existence of any other passengers around him. A young mother and her seven or eight year old sat opposite with luggage everywhere around them including below the girl which made her sit awkwardly and restricted my foot mobility. It meant that I did not feel free to write so continued to keep breast with the news and also to confirm, the time of the film Elegy at the new Wandsworth Cineworld and then how to get there from Croydon. I will book a window seat in future despite the restrictions as at the aisle one is constantly knocked by those passing by. After Peterborough I was fascinated by the conversation between a middle aged gentleman and a student at York University who was visiting friends in London. He said he was studying chemical engineering which could not have been better for the middle aged middle eastern gentleman who revealed a family history living in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey. He had business interests involving industrial engineering in India and China and talked confidently about the economy and political situation improving over the decade, The conversation commenced after a mobile phone call in which the man spoke in variety of languages, reminding me of Gibraltarian, explaining that he spoke English, French, Arabic, Turkish and Parsee and combined according to the situation but he could not speak any as perfect as most English speakers of their own language. He was a very interesting and cultured man but I was puzzled that he was the standard accommodation. He was the kind of person I used to meet and talk with when travelling first class and enjoying full meal breakfasts or evening meals on the way home. I would qualify for such an all inclusive ticket with free car parking when choosing to take the red eye to London rather than going the night before and booking hotel accommodation in central London, although in my instance if I travelled the night before I stayed with my birth and care mothers and therefore did not claim the accommodation allowance. It was my scrupulous keeping to the rules and accurate record keeping which was to prove invaluable later. The changing nature of a large chunk of Britain revealed by other conversations around me including two young women comparing their experiences of adjusting to New York life on visits. I still have this tremendous sense of England being countryside on this journey with only a few seconds passing housing, work and shopping centres on the stops Durham, Darlington, York, Doncaster, Peterborough and Stevenage, less than half an hour of population in a journey of three hours. The lives of the people in two spaces being so different. It was also evident that every seat on this train had been sold for throughout its journey so that instead of one sale and then a vacant seat, every time someone left, someone else replaced them. This resulted in some passenger having to stand for parts of the journey. I enjoyed half a sandwich shortly after the train was underway and then the second half between Doncaster and Peterborough. Late in the journey the buffet trolley arrived and I enjoyed a coffee and a mars bar for £2.25 (34.25)Imprisoned in my seat and with the toilet fully engaged I needed to pay a visit on arrival at Kings Cross just before 1.45. The journey had taken three hours and ten minutes. I considered using an on board toilet after leaving my carriage at one end of the train as the male toilets at the station were down stairs and the other of a different platform. I decided it would. easier to find somewhere at St Pancras. The new entrance to the undergrounds now serving both station was completed as was all the other work at the front end of both station. It was sunny again. The sun had come out brightly after York and continued until approaching London and the skies had darkened with spots of rain on approaching the Arsenal football stadium. I crossed over the roadway dividing the two stations and walked across the inside front of the station and then found a male toilet to my left passing a queue of women waiting for a cubicle in the adjacent service. Now comfortable I made way to the inland rail extension noting that all the shops were in business and the station looked completed. I used a machine to buy an all zone travel card for £7 (41.25) and took the lift to the appropriate platform. There was ten minutes for the Brighton train which stopped at East Croydon so I took a seat. In times past I would have to make my way across London by underground to Victoria and then take the train to Wallington or latterly if staying in Croydon, a fast train to East Croydon. There was a cross London link to a station several hundred yards outside Kings Cross and which involved a change of trains to get to Wallington. The journey would take over an hour to over an hour and a half depending upon connections. Before the creation of the Victoria Line one also had to change underground stations, Now there was a ten minute walk over between stations and a frequent service to East Croydon. The train stops and several station on the way to London Bridge and then it is fast train to East Croydon. I eat the remaining salmon sandwich and a second helping of cold water from the flask. Although it adds weight the cold drink flask is now an essential on my travels. I decided to treat myself to hot coffees and hang the expense, leaving the second flask at home. This route is now a great introduction to central London as the Blackfriars station is on the river Thames close to the Tate Modern, St Paul's and with Tower Bridge in the distance. As the train leaves the river it passes close to the New Den Millwall's football stadium. There was more light rain on the journey but bright sunshine on reach East Croydon and I was booked in and in my room just after three pm. The room was on the third floor and midway along one corridor. It is rear view over noise workings with the windows open, but closed and the inner window closed the noise is muffled. There was great noise soon after arrival as a great thunder storm enveloped and last for about one hour. I had a problem with the kettle which was replaced. I had been warned that although I would be allocated one room because I had made four separate bookings to get the cheapest rooms I would have to renew the lift and room key card each day but the assistant at the counter said the card had been authorised until departure time of 12 noon on Monday. The cost for the four nights £106 (147.25) There is an unlimited English Breakfast for £7.50. Excellent value until I remember that I can get such a good plate with coffee for £3.50 a pub restaurant within ten minute walking. I am quickly on line paying for another week at £20. (167.25) I decided to leave the coded voucher for two days free pass because of failure to get on line at Nottingham on one night there for another occasion. I recheck the travel times to the cinema and decide to leave just before 5pm having enjoyed a cup of tea, checked the email and the TV. I also decide to travel light as soon as the storm cleared. A short sleeved top, my sleeveless jacket and a change of trousers, plus the small umbrella, my mall street map book and a free book the London Planner with information on Museums, theatres and travel. I was struck by a great sense of freedom as I left in which all anxieties and hears, guilt and ,need to atone departed. It was not a feeling I had experienced for many years. In fact it was not a feeling I could remember previously experiencing. I need to clarify what I mean there have many great and moving experiences in my life, some spiritual some passionate, many unrepeatable. This is not to also imply that the journey had not been without is negative moments and I have mentioned the seating constraints after I moved. I also noted that when walking pulling one travel bag to one side and rucksack on the other shoulder that some people are not prepared to move to one side when approaching in the opposite direction although it is easier for them to do so One young woman and walked almost on top of me before realising that I had no intention of moving to one side possibly in the pathway of someone moving a quicker pace behind me. My solution on reaching London, when I could see this happening again was just to stop and wait for the individual to pass on one side on the other. It was an effective policy. The common courtesies are vanishing and many pay no regard to old age and that we move slower and with care, especially when loaded with luggage. Abandoning my rucksack was a symbolic gesture. The feeling might not last but it was a food one. Back at East Croydon station there was one train at the platform on arrival and left I could reach it without running, but another came in a few minutes later all of 12 coaches to bring back commuters to Brighton, It is only a dozen minutes to Clapham junction. It is several years, perhaps a decade since visiting this part of London non a regular basis, sometimes via the station or others by car. I could not remember the entrance between the platform area and the main road but there is now a local Marks and Spencer's and a Local Sainsbury store. I missed the former until the return journey but at Sainsbury I bought a six pack of crisps, two Danish pastries and a packet of chocolate raisins. Oh what luvely wickedness.£ 2.80? (170.25)I nearly got on a bus going in the wrong direction I had been given three the 37, the 170 and the 737. I was later to learn that the 39 stops outside the entrance to the shopping centre on the way back. There have always been restaurants, bars and pubs in this part of London but since my previous time of visits the number has grown and the majority now have tables on the pavement to cater for the smokers. I remembered watching Newcastle on Sky at the Slug and Lettuce within view of Dagenham's by the station but the greatest memory from past times was when the bus stopped just across from Wandsworth Civic Hall where fifty years ago, yes fifty years ago I represented Croydon Local Government officers in a chess match with officers from that authority and was where I got my first points, a draw. As the bus continued I suspected we had passed the cinema contained within a new major shopping precinct noting that the entrance was opposite Diana's fish and chip bar. I made my way back to the place thinking I might enjoy a bag of chips after the film. The cinema was on the first floor some distance from the entrance and then another floor to where the individual theatres were located. I had forty five minutes to wait and fortunately some young men vacated the comfortable seating area in this part of the theatre. I exchanged the voucher for the seat ticket. As soon as I reached East Croydon station to wait for a train I had noted the cosmopolitan range of languages and races. Waiting as I did at the cinema I noted that only about ten percent of the 100 or so patrons coming and going to films were white and therefore that the majority were a wide range of colours and races originally from across the glove. The main reason for this is that the cinema is a Bollywood theatre and families comes from other parts of London. There are 14 screen and twenty seven films listed. Although there were four films aimed at children none were in evidence at six o'clock. There were three Bollywood films. However for the first day of showing of Elegy there was only one non while in the audience of a couple of dozen. Having looked at the dozen or so critic reviews afterwards while several rate the film highly and rated the acting performances of Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz they do not share my belief that both actors and the film should be nominated for Oscars. None understood the film as I believe I have. " A chilly world of intellect, sex and selfishness" said one, "A haunting testament to the sentiment that we should take love whenever we find it" the second, "a small scale drama that is insightful and affecting" a third, and "there is much tragedy and truthfulness" , the fourth There are aspects of these of all the4se assessments in the film but they all miss the point that this is primarily a film about equality and balance within a relationship. Ben Kingsley fails to grasp what is being offered to him because of the thirty year gap in ages, and that he knows he should have never embarked on any kind of serious relationship with such an age gap as a matter of generality. I am not going to say more about the film because it is one every thinking and feeling human being should see although there are challenging truths and great emotional moments. It will be a very difficult film for some to see without an emotional or intellectual flinch. There is also an ending which I believe few if anyone will predict. There is also an excellent supporting role performance from Dennis Hopper and from Kingsley's long standing girlfriend played by Patricia Clarkson with both meriting consideration for best supporting actor nominations. The music background is fabulous and I will break my rule about not buying more C's and DVD and look out for both when the pass their must have top price season. I can think of only a handful of films which moved and affected me more. Afterwards I decided against the packet of fatty chips and settled for buying rolls for the supermarket between the station and the travel lodge, one to eat with the packet soup and the others to eat with pate for lunch or tea tomorrow. I bought a croissant for breakfast and a bottle of cold water which I am continuing to drink from the flask, £3.46 making total expenditure on the trip so far £173 81.I am now in a dilemma. I am tired and ready for bed but if I do not get up early tomorrow and will be unable to finish before getting to the station again around 9.25 to buy a travel card and journey to the Millennium Dome to see the 11am performance of Journey to the centre of the earth in 3D, a very different experience and then visit Tate Modern in the afternoon before the evening free concert at the Royal Festival Hall. I still need to write about Bridget before this day's writing is done. I elect to try and sleep. When I wake early the following morning I review and rewrite and decide to leave Bridget to another time. The films was not part of this good day, anyway.
