I have been trying to remember the last occasion when I felt the need to work at my desk for 12 to 15 hours a day broken only by going through my vast store of original and created documents as part of the 101 installation public and private art or through the remaining 100 to 150 boxes of material still to be processed. Then ten four draw locked filing cabinets for confidential material are full and I have had to use other less secured spaces for the overflow although material I have selected as creative confidential has always been housed in the red boxes while accounts going back the only the last decade are housed on the red display shelving. My registration of completed sets has again stalled and behind me there is now a pile of over 100 sets pending insertion of atman cards, signature and numbering card, The overall total remain 13300 and just below two thirds of the ten year original plan.
My plans for daily notes is now over a week in arrears with little prospect of catching up so I am having to leave some items untold. The week commenced well as my teeth problems appeared resolved, and my sleep and exercise programmes were on track and with few commitments between now and Christmas I was confident have achieved update before going family visiting for Christmas quickly followed by going to London for Carmen at the Royal Opera House where the tickets had already arrived.
I looked forward to immediately completing my notes on the end of the second season of Borgen and after viewing episodes three and four of season three writing about the first four as well as completing a report on the last two episodes of the latest season of Montalbano and my notes on the 12th book which remains on my bed waiting to be finished. I planned to attend a public lecture at Newcastle University and looked forward to watching Newcastle playing West Brom on TV Saturday evening. I was debating going to experience The Hunger Games catching Fire at the Odeon Imax Gateshead Metro Centre and then Tuesday my world suddenly took a dramatic twist and which is reshaping plans for the next moth and for my 75th birthday year.
I had an early morning visit back to the dentist and reported that the filling had worked well and the at times painful discomfort had end on the Saturday evening after my return from an excellent visit to St James Park where I had managed to get a brilliant seat on an aisle and close to an exit and the centre circle. However the check indicted that there was a vulnerability continuing and the decision was taken to remove the filling a replace with another. This was done without the usual injection and there were no immediate after effects although I have had one difficult few hours since and while it looks as if a vulnerability continues to be there, there is no urgency or desire to go back for a further review.
Afterwards I walked from Flagg Court Health centre of GP practices, Community Health facilities, the dentist and Pharmacy where there is still work on the cleared site of the John Wight centre with its registered bar where I was the licensee next to the centre chapel where a Bishop of Durham was served a pint after his service for those with disability ad their families one Sunday morning and something he thought was a good idea which the Anglican church might consider more generally and continued walking up along Ocean Road noting with pride that the expanding Fish restaurant had won yet another prestigious award and which has never looked back sine when the Local Member of Parliament and Foreign Secretary and brought some of his cabinet colleagues for a meal.
While the former pub turned night club at the corner of the group of public building has been demolished and the twin night club at the corner of the road junction are also closed together with the slot machine enterprise on the ground floor I was interested to see that there is another club in the former three floor restaurant and bat next to the art gallery and museum. I had once checked out this building on the market at the time for close to £1 million as a possible venue for my concept of the artman house for the installation 101 the public and private art of josephgrech. The new club with its VIP facilities is open free until 3.30 am and I considered and rejected the idea of going along one night just to view the situation from the outside reminding once more of that weekend when I went to the Cy Laurie club in Soho opposite the Windmill theatre as it was then, and then at midnight went to the Skiffle Cellar for their all nighter and going out in the early hours for a newspaper and to view the scene before returning for the remaining sets and then making my way to the embankment for the Riverboat traditional jazz shuffle to Margate back, finishing off for a visit to Humphs as it still was at 100 Oxford Street for the Sunday night session, and returning to hotel where I was staying with a friend instead of having to rush to get the last train from Victoria to Croydon and from when I had to walk for an hour to my home in Wallington close o 50 years ago.
I continued up the High street to purchase another supply of printer cartridges four black and four colours only to be told that under the latest offer I could get 5 for £7.50 instead of £4 for £8. On the way I discovered that the former HMV music store is now officers Club clothing and ever since Pound Store and a clothing store took over the Woolworth’s site at least five years before, after years of closure,, this is the first time one of the now dozen of closed stores has reopened. At least as in Newcastle’s Eldon square shopping centre some of the closed stores in the High Street have had colourful hoardings creating a better image than the previous dereliction and decline.
On the way back i saw that the Shoe firm Clarks has also been given a front face lift and on impulse went in to enquire if they had a Bravo hushpuppy wide fitting shoe in black similar to my always shinny brown. They had a shoe in my size which was glove fitting comfortable and although not as shinny as the brown, the assistant suggested and clean and shine pad which has a lacquer finish creating much the same effect. I also bought another of the long shoe horns i had left at a Travel Lodge towards the end of my summer visits to cricket,
I went the escalator into Morrison’s but cannot remember what I also purchased before going home, avoiding lunch not wanting to damage the still soft tooth filling. I cannot remember at what point I commenced to do a new Google search of my previous life although it was only later in the week that I also did Ask Jeeves and then coupled my name with the Investigative Journalist Nick Davies and commenced to realise the seismic shift in official, media and more general public opinion to the issue of official covers ups and which has snowballed since Hillsborough, News of the World Levesen also initiated by Davies in a Guardian article, Saville and the most recent focus on Plebgate which brought into high definition many of the points made in the Davies article.
I decided that I could not just ignore as I had when he first placed all his investigative articles on line and they were reduced on a number of sites resting comment and reference. I needed to ensure that appropriate interests understood that my position had not changed, in fact since 1991, and especially since 2003 when it appeared my direct involvement had come to an end
On Friday I took the car into Sunderland noting that changes to the promenade at Seaburn appeared to have been completed. These are interesting but do not have the same impact as what has happened and continues to happen along the sea front at Shields. On setting off I had turned left on reaching the Sea Hotel to see if the work at the front of the new leisure centre has been completed. It nearly has with only a couple of workmen putting the finishing touches. It also looked as if good progress has been made to the new mouth of the Tyne sea wall and the new promenade walkway with the additional car parking. There is also significant work commences in several areas of the lower part of North Marine Park and I must go on an explore before the very cold wintry weather sets in. The Seaburn promenade development is poor by comparison.
It was only on leaving car park adjacent to the Casino in Sunderland that I realise there was a nasty cold wind and I had forgotten my hat and gloves. I listened to the Mayo and Kermode on the DAB with headphones. My first call was the Civic centre noting the shop closures along he way including market some in the small market but also that the small male hairdressing offered hair cuts for seniors at £3. I shall given them a try going by bus to save petrol and parking charges.
There is free parking from 3pm now Thursdays and Friday. South Tyneside Council has adopted a ticket reimbursement scheme where only a few stores are participating but this includes the cartridge store. I sometimes have 20 pence parking time from the nearby car park although mostly I go to Asda and walk back to the High Street before doing the supermarket shop. On return I was seen to talk out loud as Mayo and Kermode appeared not to have grasped the revolution taking place in the number of live relays and films of live relays now being shown primarily in the Odeon and Cineworld chains. Later I tried to send a memo explaining the position but for some reason it did not go or at least am not sure if it was transmitted and now have no time to recreate.
My next call was the indoor market where there was a short queue at the fresh fish counter and I purchased a pound weight of winkles for £2. I will buy a £1.50 bag at the Grainger Market tomorrow. Then too M and S where I bought one pack of white and one pack of black thermal vests which cost over £40. They only white in singlets and I need another two in black for use when swimming. I will check tomorrow if I get to last lecture of the season at Newcastle University on the Actor Richard Burton who I once saw at the Oxford Playhouse with his then wife Elizabeth Taylor. I was about to also list all my Theatre programmes as part of the National 50 years review which I saw on TV and where the full programme is available on line and has been printed out. The final call was to the Abbey Building society for the account to be updated with pathetic amounts of interest which I put in the bank account today after going to the post office to send the passport renewal application. I will transfer the fund online later in the week.
On Friday I went to Morrison for a cup of tea purchasing a pack of Danish in the store for £109 and eat two at the table rather than purchase one for just under a pound. Time for an early evening meal. I will next report on sport ,food and TV and check emails and twitter which has sprung more into life. I must learn to use the Android phone but that will take a day I do not have at the moment.
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