1306 Juno, Diablo Coady, Ellen Page, Piaf

This afternoon needing to post a couple of communications, visit B and Q and shop at Asda, I decided on impulse to travel to the Bolden Asda and then see the six pm showing of Juno. I do not usually go to see Hollywood films aimed at teenagers and their parents and continued to be hesitant about Juno despite the awards of an Oscar and a Bafta for Diablo Cody, together with other awards and nominations, and the nomination of the film and its star performance actress Ellen Page and a great review by Mark Kermode on Five Live.

II was in the theatre about fifteen minutes before lights out and was joined by around twenty others mostly adolescent girls, a few adolescent boys and one mother with an adolescent and a younger daughter. There was at least three decades between me and the others.

Juno is not a great film and it will be of interest to see where it fits in with other Oscar and Bafta films over time. The script is genius, funny, clever, insightful, empathetic and memorable, which also describes the performance of Ellen Page. I was also interested to see how former West Wing Media front woman and then Presidential chief Executive CJ Allison Brooks Janney, winner of two best lead Actress Emmy's, one for best supporting actress and one Screen Actors Guild for outstanding performance by a female actress. It was a difficult transition to being a different character actress.

Although it is not a great film it should be seen by every Westernised adolescent and their parents but separately. It will be far more effective than any sex education lectures in schools on the need for abstinence or contraception, and many times more effective that the government sponsored cautionary films about unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection.

He story is a simple on, adolescent girl, sixteen years of age has one off sex with school mate who plays in the same music group, he loves her but the sex is more out of curiosity and adolescent experimentation than uncontrollable passionate desire. Her first reaction si abortion, but then she hits on the idea of giving to the child to a childless couple and with the help of her understanding father attends a meeting with a wealthy professional couple, and their lawyer to formally arrange a surrogate birthing.

She rejects the interest of the baby's father and takes an interest in the adopting husband only to discover that he does not want the child and has decided to leave his wife and go back to his bachelor prolonged boyhood. This precipitates a crisis for Juno who has coped with the difficulties of staying in school throughout her pregnancy and is disillusioned with the realities of love life and adult relationships. I only suspected part of the ending which can be described as bitter sweet.

During my training as a child care officer, the course was taken to the local family planning clinic where the realities of contraception options was explained with clinical intimacy which had the most profound effect on the whole course as anything we experienced in other tuition and practical work experience. The message in this film is softer and more sensitive to the emotions of adolescents but treats them as independent insightful new adults .

Diablo Cody the Screen writer, in real life Brook Busey, started life as a Catholic graduate with a media studies degree, started work as a secretary and writer until an amateur night strip and liked making an exhibition of herself and entered the world of sleaze sex with enthusiasm, and leading to a short lived marriage with a musician met through the internet and writing about her experiences as a Blogger. I suspect no one will be more amazed than she by the success and what will have happened to her since the films release and recognition.

I still think and Marion Cotillard's performance in La Vie En Rose merited the Oscar because of the way she transformed herself into looking like Edith from girlhood into her last years, but Ellen Page runs her close because she also transformed herself back into an intelligent, independent and insightful adolescent. Ellen was far being a raw actress taking to acting from an early age, appearing in in a teleplay at the of 10 which was then made into a TV series and then did new work throughout her adolescence. She was 20 when playing Juno and already as four new films scheduled for this year and next. The future work of Diablo and Ellen will be worth making the effort to experience.

This morning I awoke early and attempted to begin on my major work writing for the year, but instead of jotting everything that came to mind down and then organising and reworking, and I wanted to see clearly from A to Z, and became frustrated when after writing A the rest did not automatically follow and understood that I was not yet ready to give the prolonged attention required until the work was well underway.

Yesterday I had decided that the refrigerator from my former home had reached the end of its natural life after fifteen to twenty years. There have seen indication that terminal failure was in the offing but I resisted the inevitable until switch on again the frost free fridge freezer I had inherited with the property and finding that it was working decided to make my move once there was evidence of effective ongoing working. My assumption that both parts of the unit were working was later found to have wrong because this morning I moved the fridge items and cleaned the old fridge to take to the tip. I might with effort have got the thing into the back of my car but held back until checking about Council collections. The next task was to make better use of the freed space having assumed that a replacement was not immediately required, for although the available fridge space has been reduced, with better organisation is should be adequate with the freezer space increased by 50%.

The rest of the morning was taken with moving the remaining items in the day room, the tumble dryer, the freezer, the 4th and 5th black four drawer ground floor confidential cabinets, and the double overflow of videos with one containing sports, mainly of Newcastle United, but also some cricket and athletics and the other music. I break off to go and bring the first video from the top shelf of the music cabinet and after discovering that it contains recordings of programmes about Edith Piaf, I decided to runs these though while I had lunch and did other things.

The task of moving the furniture this morning took longer because the floor between and under items needed a sweep and scrub with the opportunity to also dust and wash down sides. The rearranging enabled the under stairs door cupboard to be opened fully, and the gas fire built into the adjacent wall be used if required. I continue to be able to afford central heating the whole house as I am confident this helps to maintain and keep the place overall warm throughout Winter. I broke off to have lunch, a chicken salad and some prawn from shell with a little later two slices of brown bread and some coffee. I also watched an edition of Flog It in which the highlight was an antique table which fetched £2800, more than £2000 above the top estimate, a batter Hornby Train set with fetched nearly £300 instead of the £100 anticipated an a large Poole pot which also trebled the estimate. I inherited a Poole dish, brightly coloured and signed but it appears to be of little value.

There is a build up of e mails with travel and accommodation offers, £1 one way coach journeys. Time to do some project work before a trip to BQ for some more filler to finish the kitchen floor. I am going to have to get used to going into the kitchen for the fridge, It is a little longer walk and much colder room which will hopefully discourage going for a snack. Well one can hope.

The opening recording of the Piaf video is a French drama about her life with Marcel Cerdan, the married with family world middle weight boxing champion, who died in a plane crash from New York to Paris, having been persuaded by Edith to take an earlier flight than the one planned. after being woken by friends who assemble in her Paris flat. It is a better film than La Vie en Rose, I remember, I remembered when I saw the La Vie En Rose, but did not remember that I had the video, what more surprises are to come. I have not played the music videos for years, having been determined to catalogue and transfer to DVD once I had found time to set up the software and connection from video to computer. There was also an English documentary on her life and one in German which I included because of the music performances. There is also a documentary on the life of e Glenn Miller and his band.

It emerged on the Teletext news as I go to bed that the former Children's Home on Jersey was used as the police station for the Bergerac series. It is not the kind of information which sends me to bed relaxed and in good spirits although it has been a good mixture of a day.

1824 Opera V Film V Life La Boheme, the Men who stared at Goats etc

There is much to write about but until today no inclination to write about experience as I immersed in new additional experience although not necessarily original experience.

I have seen La Boheme before, on stage at Oxford and possibly on the small screen although no recollection and it may have been one of the operas I was taken to see as a schoolboy by my birth and care mothers and their eldest sister. I went to see Carmen definitely either as a schoolchild perhaps later because it was about Spain and gypsies and I knew that my care mother and maybe some of her other sisters had been on at least one trip to see gypsy women as well as Spanish ladies in traditional costume over the border probably at some Catholic festival. I am vague about their recollections before they came to England because their memories were not recorded and there was a long period when we did not talk about their life in Gibraltar. Harriet wanted to, but Mabel and Lena did not. I was a decade too late when I wanted to know Now all their brothers and sisters have also gone as have my older first cousins

It was a good day to watch La Boheme on the BBC i player, the coldest since last Winter, just above zero C for most of the 24 hours. La Boheme is perhaps the most watched opera along with Madam Butterfly and Carmen because of the almost continuous romantic lyricism to the extent that the audience can become overwhelmed by its combination of beautiful singing and profound emotional intensity. Most have heard the aria Che gilda manina What a cold little hand. La Boheme opened the Metropolitan Live relay season this year and I had arranged a weekend trip to see it but then Cineworld bottled out and although I could have gone locally if there were places I decided against and hesitated on discovering there was a recent production, possible the same as being shown on the live relay

La Boheme is intended to convey a place where Bohemians live and although written in Italian by the great Italian composer Puccini, the author of Madam Butterfly, Turandot and Tosca, it is traditionally set in an artistic quarter of Paris such as Montmartre of garrets and cafes, the land of Toulouse Lautrec and Berlioz. In this instance the hero is a poet Rodolfo who shares lodging with Marcello a painter, with friends Schainard, a musician and Colline. a philosopher. The heroine is Mimi, a seamstress, often portrayed as innocent and with Musetta, the singer, as worldly. The friends are cold and hungry until the musician arrives having secured work with an eccentric Englishman. They decide to celebrate with a meal out at cafe in the evening but Rodolfo remains to finish some work and Mimi who lives in the building calls for a match as her candle has blown out. She then loses her key and they interact as they fall in love, one of the most celebrated couplings in culture.

In the Met production there is one of the most dramatic scene changes in the history of opera presentation because of the speed at which the stage is transformed from the garret into a spectacular street and cafe scene filled with people including marching soldiers at one point. There are hundreds of extras and chorus including school children and some 80 stage hands are used to make the switch Rodolfo takes Mini along to meet his friends where Marcello finds a past love, Musetta. dining with a government Minister of my years. She sings provocatively trying to win back the affections of the painter. Musetta leaves the whole bill for the two parties for the Minister to pay when the total is more than the money gained from the work for the Englishman.

Time has passed with the third act in which Mini visits Marcello who is lodging at an Inn where he is working to complain that Rodolfo is rejecting her. Rodolfo is in fact inside the Inn and when he comes out Mimi hides and overhears him explain that he is pretending not to love because he believes she has become seriously ill and as he does not have the means to provide for her care, he is feigning a lack of interest so that she will find someone who can care for her properly and finding that he is overheard the two are reunited in their profound love for each other while Marcello and Musetta quarrel as a counterpoint.

In the final act Musetta discovers Mimi wandering the streets overcome by her illness having lived for a time with a wealthy viscount while Marcello and Rodolfo have been sharing lodgings working hard while separated from their true loves. They do their best to provide medical help and medicine for Mimi but it is too late and she dies. In 1957 papers were discovered which revealed that Puccini had written a middle third act which explains how Mimi came to meet her wealthy suitor after Musetta had been thrown out of her home with her furniture after crossing her protector.

The story is therefore not complex and as with all Puccini it is that unique combination of the operatic voice with beautiful and sensitive music, and with great acting and wondrous settings creates an experience where only the most gifted can match with words. Although on the comparatively small screen and without the sense of immediacy it was as great an experience as with Madam Butterfly and AIDA.

In contrast on Tuesday evening I watched Al Pacino in his 1985 box office and critical flop Revolution which sees the American War of Independence against the British and the French, until the French change sides, through the eyes of a young widower and his son. Donald Sutherland plays a British senior officer and Nastassja Kinski the young daughter of a New York capitalist. He also changes political position according to his financial interests while the daughter is a staunch republican who encounters widower and son early on provides the personal drama. He is fur trapper having lost his wife and other children to disease and the native Americans and his ship is confiscated with the promise of payment and land when the war is won. His son misguidedly joins up and refusing to acknowledge that the boy is underage and to discharge him, Al also joins up in an endeavour to protect his child and two begin their long experience of war. At one point the son is captured by the British who retake New York and is whipped for protesting about becoming a drummer boy for the enemy. Al rescues his who in turn is rescued by some American supporting Indians who help the boy to recover over a six month period. The Indians, Al and his son become lookouts for the American forces and meet up again with Nastassja who brings food and medicine to the fort where they are based. The son takes up with a young girl part of the food mission and just as Al and Nastassja swear undying love, it looks as she had been captured and killed by a scouting party of Brits.

The war is long and brutal and towards the film end before the final victory there is opportunity to take revenge of the Donald Sutherland but the son cannot shoot the man in cold blood. The film appears to end on a sad and unsatisfactory note as seeking payment and the land Al discovers that because of the economic changes the seventy dollars has become forty and Congress has decided that they have to auction off the available land to pay for the war. Father persuades his son and with child bride to go west with the cash when there is land available while he is determined to make a new life in the city, having found not record todate whether Nastassja was killed or managed to survive. In the bustling melee that New York has become reminding of the subsequent film The Gangs of New York, he spots the young woman’s servant girl/friend and tries to follow her an amazingly despite a prolonged search with grating loud musical accompaniment he losses sight but then comes across his true love. Ah for Hollywood. One can understand why the film failed because of its long drawn sequences, albeit epic in scale, its realistic portrayal of was at that time which British officers proving why the revolution was necessary. No one throughout history has successfully permanently subdued a people their will even when they exterminate large numbers, yet they continue to try and do so.

Previously I had watched a modern set production of the modern written Salome in which the Dance of the Seven Veils is performed as a raunchy strip, I must find out about the singer who gives a tour de force performance as the alcoholic pleasure seeking daughter of the licentious king. I will watch it again when I am in the mood to give the Opera a fair hearing. I will also watch again Placido Domingo in a 1985 Performance of Tosca in which he looks the part as do the singers in La Boheme and Salome. I will write about both when I do.

Last night I stayed up longer than I should to watch the Naked Runner, the last film of Frank Sinatra. I had not known the film before and understand why. Sinatra’s antics in making the film are more interesting than the film itself which he thought was going to be as good as the Ipcress file. Sinatra demanded a large fee plus a percentage of the box office take and then went off and married Mia Farrow during the filming and demanding a helicopter for his travels. His lack of committed interest in the project is shown through his performance but in fairness this is a poor script without suspense or credibility and it would not be surprising if one point he originated the cry, You cannot be serious?

A spy breaks free from jail as is shepherded across Europe in a circuitous route to Russia in order to elicit the information the British Government need to prevent by killing him beforehand. Fair enough but the idea that the Russians would need to take him the long route to Moscow before obtaining the required information is ludicrous, just as the notion the Cabinet would give formal approval let alone a Minister. The other damning aspect is that a factory owner of designer furniture is selected for the task because all the state assassins would not get through the Iron Curtain where the spy was already behind.

Sinatra is picked because he is known a Whitehall security chief for being a good marksman and likely to be persuaded too help and because he will be in the right place at the right time. He has become the subject of news reports when a manufactured item wins an award which takes him to the Trade Fair at Leipzig with his son. It at this point the British security masterminds devise an elaborate and sophisticated scheme to force him to undertake the killing. The first part is to make him interested in taking a simple message to a contact behind the Iron curtain. This is his former wartime lover with whom he lost contact and failed to find while she has long since believed he was dead. He had remained in Britain after the war, married and become a young widower left to raise his son, such is the only parallel with Revolution. The amazing implication that he would be able to attend the most important Trade Fair between East and Western bloc countries during the Cold War on his own and not part of a Government delegation or highly organised trip in which both sides would be on the alert about spying and counter spying communications.

All he is asked to do is to get his watch strap mended immediately on arrival in the city and he is told his contact with be his former lover but she is not, or of the bizarre and complex plan to make him kill the escaped prisoner. He is then immediately arrested and accused of being a courier but unlike the book where readers are kept in suspense and in the dark, we know this is planned and his captors are British agents who convince him they are capable of killing his son who they have captured if he does not carry out the killing. There is then an even more complex twist in which he is held to believe he is to shoot the man from his hotel room where he is to spend the night with a woman whose advances he rejects and then finds that the target is not coming and that his son has been killed.

This does turn him into a killer but of the man who has killed his son and only after he has obtained his revenge does he find out that the man as his original target and the whole thing was devised within Whitehall. The most ludicrous aspect is that if the British had the kind of contacts with the kind of freedoms to hoodwink Sinatra why they needed him in the first place. The film is nonsense and a made a sad end for a great singer and an actor was some promise.

The film is of interest because of the gradual admissions over the years that the American and British developed sophisticated psychological warfare weapons in various forms of brain and willpower control and manipulations.

This afternoon I saw a good comedy, I will not go as far to say brilliant comedy, The men who stared at goats. This is based on a book based on a true fact that among the various CIA and military experiments was one on the use of paranormal powers .

Ewan McGregor is an unsuccessful reporter whose wife runs off with his boss. He comes across a member of the special unit who he dismisses as a crank but when in Kuwait seeking to make a name for myself as a war correspondent he comes one of the key men in outfit and learns he has not retired and is on a secret mission in Iraq he decides to join him and in flashbacks we are given the history of the unit.

The unit came to be formed by Jeff Bridges who having been disillusion with the Vietnam war travels around the USA experiencing the various New Age movements and sees the use of paranormal powers in a New Age context as having peaceful and positive use. All goes well until Kevin Space joins the unit with a view to making use of those individuals with special powers for the dark side which is the primary purpose of military with the peace keeping primarily designed for public consumption and keeping the political paymasters happy.

Ewan discovers that his contact played by George Clooney has a dark secret in that he was able to stare a goat to its death. Goats are used by the USA army to practice the field dressing of gun wounds. Soldiers feel more able to shoot goats in the leg rather than dogs so that recruits can administer dressings as they would to colleagues wounded in the field of battle. Kevin decides to test out the kill by thought process after he is put in command of the unit when son of a senior Military officer kills himself after entering the parade ground naked and starting to shoot up anyone on sight. In fact it was Kevin who had subjected the recruit to mind and substances disturbance experiments sending him on an LSD driven bad trip. It is Jeff Bridges who is broken and takes the wrap for the incident and leaves the force. It is Kevin who then persuades George Clooney to undertake the goat kill experiment and which leads to Clooney also leaving the service.

Clooney takes Ewan on his mission into Iraq where they have an accident in desert and are captured by opportunists who attempt to the sell them on to a terrorist faction who already have in their control someone sympathetic to the USA or to the new regime if not both. They manage to escape into the desert and are picked up by a capitalist opportunist surrounded by his private security force. When queue jumping for gasoline they mistake a backfire for gun fire as do another private security force and the two engage in gun fire wounding civilians more than each other. This is based on a true reported incident.

The three rescued men make their own escape from this melee and go to the home of the Iraqi who finds it has been shot up by occupying troops and his possessions stolen and that his wife has left him during his period of captivity. He provides them with a fuelled vehicle to continue their mission. Clooney take the wrong road and the vehicle is blown up by an improvised device which only stuns and so they find themselves without transport and water in the middle of desert. It is a goat that leads them to water where they are picked up and taken to an army base where there is a private military sponsored research unit SICK spelt PSIC and with Kevin Spacey in charge experimenting with goats and a some locals who they have taken prisoner. In one instance they are playing a children’s TV tune which has been laced with subliminal messages for hour upon hour. Jeff Bridges is part of the unit and Clooney has come to get his revenge on Spacey. He admits to dying from cancer and having been given a curse death by Kevin before departing. The revenge is to lace the food and water at the camp with LSD during which time they release the captives and the goats. Clooney and Bridges steal a helicopter and disappear while Ewan returns home to write his story which is largely spiked by the media apart from the playing of Children’s TV themes.

The film has several good jokes and their various references and roles to previous films and film characters but also makes one angry at the reality behind the satire. How many research projects were paid for by CIA in the sixties and seventies and how many since and to what extent has this kind of warfare been developed alongside the weapons of mass human and physical destruction, including the spread of disease and premature decay? Will we ever learn the truth of why the psychiatrist turned his gun on his fellows? Today’s fiction becomes tomorrow’s reality.

The Naked Runner and The Men who stared at Goats coincided with a ceremony in Berlin earlier in the day to mark the pulling down of the Berlin Wall attended by the French, German and Russian heads of State and Gordon Brown and that earlier the German Head, born in East Germany under the Soviets, had attended the spot of the first break through with the former Russian head of state Mikhail Gorbachov who had decided not to oppose the development with force at the time, as had been the custom of his predecessors. His actions changed the world, and state capitalism took over from state communism.

The new allies are now able to continue their experiments on human manipulation and control together in the face of the latest threats and identified enemies.

1823 Turandot and two Christmas films

My third live HD performance from the New York Metropolitan Opera House was Turandot which I have always pronounced and Turando but it is dot and which means I did not listen to the as intently as I should to my Deutsche Grammophon Herbert Von Karajan recording with Placido Domingo as Calaf and Katia Riccardelli as Turandot.

On my first visit to a performance at the Tyneside Film Theatre I used the Hewath long stay car park, returning to find there were two cars left in the isolated and darkened area with the attendant long since departed. Tonight I chose the short stay park in front of the Metro and bus station and where there is also a taxi rank. There is a maximum stay of four hours during the payment period so that by arriving after 4pm one pays £1.70 and this takes you past the time when charges are made. The cost is about the same as the all day charge for the long stay park. I had prepared a salad which I eat most after which I had a banana. I had only eaten a piece of fish for lunch and a cereal breakfast determined to continue to reduce weight having achieve 16.7 which means I have lost a full stone since letting the it get out of hand again. This time there will be no return and I will not be content until another stone has been removed.

Arriving in the city centre around 5.30 I assumed there was time to take a quick look at suits at the British Homes store and indeed after a brisk walk through Fenwicks noting that the Christmas window display was being watched by the usual large crowd and I checked that while there are suits with 44in waists there were only 31 inch trousers and not the 29 I need and a brisk return the clock was only striking 5.45 as I joined a large queue entering the classic cinema stalls. On entering the auditorium I discovered there were only seats left in the first three rows and that every seat had been booked. making the total audience 200 as evidently by word of mouth the good news has spread. On leaving I had a conversation with a woman who said that she and her husband and attempted to gain tickets on Friday and they had been offered the last one. From next until December 11th remains Operas can be booked for a package price from £85 to £110 and then open to the general public. I would not be surprised if the demand continues to accelerate. To mark the development the Cinema provided a programme which was quickly snapped up.

Turandot is not a great opera although it does contain Nessum Dorma although the third act provides the opportunity for some brilliant singing and where the three main performers were exceptional. The settings were also on the scale of Aida.

The story is a simple one with no complications. Prince Calaf and his father who is accompanied by a devoted slave girl are on the run in China. The son meets up with his vanquished father who he has not seen for many years in the city of Peking just as the 12th suitor for the hand of the Princess is to be executed for failing to answer all her three riddles. The penalty for failure to be drawn and quartered and after your head after being severed from the body to be stuck on a pole outside the palace as a warning to other suitors. The Princess is a powerful woman who has no intention of yielding her will or body to a man. The prince is impressed by the devotion of the slave girl played by Marina Popavskaya whose performance was the outstanding one the night although it has come in for some criticism from Lisa Lindstrom. She came to fame in London in 2007 when she took over a role in Don Carlos after Angela Gheorghiu decided was not for her.

A Russian born performer until 2005 Marina has the looks and figure to play young women who can drive any man into passionate madness, as well as the kind of voice I prefer, full of subtlety and sincerity rather than range and power. She was totally convincing as the slave girl who had stayed with the deposed king in the hope she would one day come across his son the only love of her life, a love which she knew was hopeless.

When interviewed by the Evening Standard Marina was very revealing stating that although her mother was a trained chemist with five specialist diplomas she worked as a Taxi driver because it paid more and despite her daughters own new wealth and married to a man forty years her senior with three step sons older than her, and seven step grand children, her mother insisted on earning her own keep. Marina was said have refused to speak of her father or of the Russian billionaires and was spending her time between London and the USA which she now regards as home.

The Calaf is played by the large Marcello Giordani who I saw as the ruthless and despicable Pinkerton in Madam Butterfly in March and again on the Met I player within the past two weeks. This time his role is that of teh crass insensitive and foolhardy Prince who despite knowing that she has callously sentenced 12 predecessors to horrible death, falls in love with Turandot on seeing her at a distance and being able to detect that her perfume fills the night. I could not help thinking that the stench of her blood spilling would have made any honourable young man nauseous. Despite a great performance of Nesum Dorma which brought the house down, but a long way short of Pavarotti of course.

Maria Guleghina played Turandot. She is also Russian born and internationally regarded as one of the great contemporary soprano’s with 130 performances at the Met already to her name and has played all the major female roles for soprano’s around the world. She was brilliant as the bitch from hell prepared to slaughter everyone in the city rather than be forced by her father to give herself to any man let alone the out of town stranger without an entourage or the apparent means to keep her in the lifestyle of someone self proclaimed as no ordinary woman.

The first act also introduces us to Ping, Pang and Pong, something which it was possible to get away with in 1926 when Puccini created this his last operatic work. These are the three trusted servants of the Palace who are usually responsible for the funeral of the rest of the remains of beheaded suitors but who also have plans for a wedding should an individual be successful. They provide humorous interludes between the high drama.

The second Act concentrates on the decision of the Calaf to sound the gong three times to announce his intention to the Princess and the rest of the city to meet the challenge of the three riddles. There are great efforts on the part of the slave girl, his father and Ping, Pang and Pong to dissuade him from attempting the challenge but as is Puccini’s wont, passion always overcomes reason and brings havoc and causing the life of at least one young innocent and good woman.

In fairness to Turandot she was not necessarily born the way she has become but somewhere along in her education, and there is no reference about what age she lost her mother, she learnt than one of her ancestors and been abducted and then killed after he had had his way by a conquering Prince. There is also an element that all woman want a man who will in fact conquer and tame them, a sentiment which Shakespeare also exposed in the Taming of the Shrew and which is frequently the defence of the rapist, she was asking for it or she really meant yes when she was crying out no.

Calaf having worked out the answer to the third riddle Turandot appeals to her father and then to Calaf not to hold her to the marriage, and Calaf also typical for his character is not content just to have her but wants her to submit willingly and gives her the challenge to find out his name and which if she does before dawn he will free her by giving up his life as had the previous suitors. Big Mistake.

The third act deals with the repercussions of this folly. The city is ordered not to sleep and the King‘s men ravage the city in search of clues as to the name of the suitor. Understandably rather than be massacred the citizens draw attention that the suitor was seen in the company with a man and his slave girl and they are apprehended.

Meanwhile Calaf is made offers which most sane men would not refuse. He can have as many young women to be his marital slaves as he wishes, he can have untold riches and he can have power in being given a kingdom to rule all if he flees the city and abandon his hold over Turandot, and in which instance she will stop her reign of terror. After capture the slave girl pretends that while she knows the name her employer does not, thus saving the life of her master. She also fears she will reveals the name under torture and stalls in order to be able to seize a knife to kill herself. This appears to have some effect on Turandot and after we the audience recover from the singing finale of the slave girl there are dramatic and moving exchanges between the Calaf and Turandot in which she eventually succumbs after he forces on her a kiss. I have to say this was the approach of the son good for nothing son of Burl Ives in the Big Country after he had abducted Jean Simmons in order to make her his wife and thus gain control of the Big Muddy. The Opera ends in a grand finale chorus which reminds of One fine day and the couple appear to prepare to be married, to rule together and to live happy ever after while the body of the slave girl, still warm is carried off with the old king holding her hand.

However having listen to the second CD of the Placido Domingo version while writing this, playing Luxor Majong and attending to my feet after soaking them in hot water, I realise that the words and attack on the construction and morality of the story has to be put aside when listening to the Puccini at the height of his creativity and the singing, such glorious singing which led the audience in the cinema to break out in applause along with the Met audience at every opportunity. In the interval I felt in need of a coffee and went downstairs to the street bar where I had a chat with one of the young male assistants who was most interested to hear about what was happening at the theatre and had attracted such a large audience. I also learnt from the programme that at the Tyneside bar which is upstairs between the two upper cinemas shows the interval programmes on screen and is something I must explore in the future especially if they also provide coffee. It was a good cup of Americano. I finished off the salad in the car before going home where I rounded of the evening with a ready made sausage mash and onion and a Christmas film I thought I was to see at midday.

The European lottery of £90 million was won last night with both tickets having been issued in England/ By this morning no one had come forward and then someone had, but another is yet to be confirmed. I checked and double checked my on line numbers and the ticket bought at the supermarket but alas I was not close. Drat Drat and more drat. What I could do with £45 million.

Film 24plusfree channel i.e. within the Sky entertainment subscription ,is showing back to back Christmas films with this afternoon and evening Chasing Christmas and The Christmas Card followed by 12 days of Christmas Eve and A boyfriend for Christmas for Christmas both films viewed yesterday.
The 12 days is a take on Groundhog Day, the film in which the same day is repeated without change until the hero finds the key to move on. In teh twelve days Calvin Carter (played by Steven Weber) is a successful business executive who has it all, but neglects those closest to him. On Christmas Eve, all that changes when the sign on his office building falls on him. He awakens in a hospital bed, attended by Angie (played by Molly Shannon), an angel in the guise of a nurse, who informs him that he has twelve days—that is, twelve chances—to get his act together and achieve the "perfect" Christmas Eve, or there will be dire consequences. The film does take account of the song the Twelve days of Christmas and has elements of a Christmas Carol and surprise surprise he does manage to work out that grand financial gestures especially those of a public kind get him back on the ward and that the solution is to be kind without having other motivation and spend quality time with his family.

A boyfriend at Christmas is three stories into one. A man has spent his whole life creating a year long theme park about Christmas which falls on hard times, especially after his wife who handled teh finances dies and as a consequence he is unable to communicate in a meaningful way with his daughter who goes off to the big city and becomes a successful business woman with no time for Christmas home with dad until he has an accident. She returns to find the business in peril. Many year ago when I youngster she had an influential conversation with a young visitor about Ballet and the Nutcracker favourite for Christmas time. He is the only child of a wealthy couple who have little time for his direct care and he returns to the town where he had a memorable Christmas and where he makes crafted wooden dolls. The two re-meet up and with a common interest in the quality of life and maintaining the Christmas tradition they join forces to try and save the theme park turning to a visitor who appears anxious to help. He is part of a syndicate who successfully take away property in financial difficulties and which has development potential. How they do this is main flaw in this Christmas tale. However a combination of brilliant money raising ideas and Christmas spirit the theme park is saved, the boyfriend becomes financially independent though his individually crafted toys, father and daughter are reconciled and she returns home to a new and better life and love. Oh if real life were so! For the two winners of the £45 million Christmas come early.

1822 Mandelson may be and recovery

I enjoy writing about my life, past and present, but this week it has been difficult still affected by the accident a week ago and preoccupied with the repercussions.

I have only once been involved with a roadway accident which involved another human being. It occurred in Italy on the Adriatic coast in 1965 when out to explore the local town centre after setting up camp, a woman cyclist without lights pulled in front of my vehicle and I hit the cycle before stopping. Fortunate she was not injured otherwise I would have been locked up while the case was processed. On return I had driven the car into a storm ditch at the site and had to wake my companion and a neighbouring group of English lads to get the car back on the path. However I had then driven to Rome and Sorrento and back through Switzerland and France to Oxford

It was seven or eight years before I drove on the continent, driving to Paris, taking the overnight rail car to the south of France and then motoring to our destination at St Tropez Bay. After that there were a number of trips including driving all the way to north of Barcelona

The only other roadway accident involved an unlit builder’s skip where the other party was prosecuted although I felt foolish about not seeing such an obstacle in the dark. I was bruised but my ego was battered more.

Before this while still single I did full circle along a country lane in the darkness on my way from Manchester to Oxford in the mid sixties when I accidentally switched my lights off instead of full beam. It could have been very serious and for a moment I feared for the worse but I did not hit anything but the suspension was affected. The heartbreak was it was a new car, a Triumph Herald with a soft top which was cold in Winter and blowey in summer. I loved that car though which had to go with a family/

Early on in my professional work I had stopped to turn right off the Oxford to Witney Road with adequate passing on both sides a vehicle clipped the edge of my car causing some damage but did not stop and disappeared before I could attempt identification. The only instance in the last decade occurred in a supermarket car park when a vehicle did not see my short wheel base vehicle I was attempting to move into the occupied space while I was starting to move out.

It has taken time this week to establish the position and was only settled earlier to-day after contacting the Legal help organisation for which I have paid premiums for at least two decades and the insurance broker who had recommended the change in company. I kick myself for not having realised this was the course I should have taken early on although teh fault leis with someone who said that the insurance cinema used their own legal services. I will not fully relax until the repairs are completed and I have been reimbursed the excess and other expenses, but I am feeling 100% better than earlier in the week and nearly ready to face the everyday as before.

The highlight of the week so far has been the new series of Spooks, the very believable working of the 006.75 home security team. There was a new episode on Wednesday on BBC1 and a second episode this evening on BBC.

I also enjoyed New Tricks about the mystery death of a young man two years before and the discovery that he had spent two months at a new age communion.

I have also watched the Barber of Seville in HD on the TV via the Metropolitan Opera Player and will write more another time. The ensemble singing is extraordinary and of course there is the famous Figaro tenor solo. I have watched two films.
I have seen William Wylder’s The Big Country several times as well as in the cinema theatre when first released. I always enjoy the Gregory Peck performance as the wealthy shipping member who has been a professional sea captain who is hooked by spoilt brat Carole Baker, the daughter of Texan wide open spaces cattle rancher when she had been to the city in the east. He quickly goes off her when he finds that she expects him to show he is a mans man western style and joins forces with her pappy against their rival, a family tribe of nomarks led by the equally dominating patriarch played by Burl Ives who comes close to stealing the film from Peck who shows that real men sort things out quietly and without showing off and falls love with Baker’s best friend, the school teacher Jean Simmons, who owns a small ranch comparatively speaking called the Big Muddy after the river which the feuding big boys want to own and deprive the water supply to the other. The real delight in the film is when Charlton Heston gets his comeuppance. The film is of epic proportions lasting close to 3 hours but never strays away from the interactions between the main characters. While it may be considered dodgy that a sea going shipping magnate would settle down in the West with a school teacher,. But are cultured individuals suggesting an education but equally at home with the practical things of life and the wide open spaces of the former Texas ranch lands are similar to the ocean, as point which Peck makes in the film as he goes off exploring with a map /chart and a compass. I cannot remember the other film at the moment/

All this is of no significance really as this week has seen two tragedies bound to affect the position of the UK and the USA in Afghanistan and the US fear about the enemy within although the latter has just happened and the details are yet to emerge. More young men have died, one only eighteen years of age.

Five British soldiers were killed and other severely wounded when an Afghan policeman they were training turned his gun on the men who was helping his country. It appears the man was a plant designed to undermine the core policy of training the Afghans to police themselves and provide internal security. As with Iraq it is necessary to look at the big picture. We, the US and UK need a strong military presence in teh country especially on the border with Pakistan to prevent Pakistan becoming an extreme Muslim country with nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.

In the USA a Muslim psychiatrist officer and a fort town with 46000 troops, support staff and their families has killed a dozen individuals and severely wounded a score of others. It is not clear if was also a planted extremist or their are other issues.

The European Treat has been signed and will now have a President, Embassies and a foreign Minister. It is likely they will go for a minor figure as President and therefore not Tony Blair with David Miliband the likely to be given the post. This would leave a by election in one of the safest Labour seats in the country for Peter Mandelson to leave the Lords and return to the House of Commons and then become the party Leader after the General Election if Labour loses which will be the outcome unless Cameron’s creditability is destroyed. He has damaged his position admitting that the commitment to hold a referendum over the treaty was hot air and that once ratified by all the Unites States of Europe, there was no return. Faced with the combined threat of the UK independence party and to less extent the National Front, the Tory party is at risk of major divisions about Europe. Their record in relation to the credit crunch is also questionable and the Cameron economic team is not regard in the city with confidence and threats of stopping the bonus culture has not gone down well in the city if it is meets with universal public approval. Labour’s prospects have changed although there are several jumps before Mandelson can take centre stage.

1821 An horrendous journey on Sunday after a minor miracle

As I concluded yesterday it is inappropriate to detail how my car came to hit from behind by a bus having attended the funeral of friend of a relative on the Isle of Wight. At the time I was shocked and could only think of getting the damaged vehicle and myself to the hotel where I was staying and where I knew there would be close relatives. Not having been in such a situation before it was only in retrospect that I felt I should have done this and that instead of what I did and what I did not.

This is the classic reaction of the victim, to take upon themselves responsibility or something which is the fault of others. I was thinking about this tonight as the regional news gave information fo the latest development in the process of the class action by former residents of a catholic run establishment in the Middlesbrough diosescee which has rules that the church is liable for damages and legal costs estimated to amount to £8. It is not money which teh claimants are after but a sense of justice and that what happened to them is recognised by the community in general, and that the church says sorry. The chief culprit has been sentenced to 40 years, but for the victims, while some have recovered, for many the hurt will last.

Returning to the hotel I was able to park in the forecourt, and went to my room for a changing of clothing and to gather my thoughts. My first reaction was to assume that the AA would be responsible for getting the vehicle to a garage and myself a hire car as had happened on two previous occasions when my previous the vehicle had broken down, but I decided that my first step was to contact the insurers, a company where I was new account, the change being recommended by my insurance brokers.

I only had the insurance certificate on me without a claim line telephone number which the hotel looked up on the Internet dialled on a mobile phone. I was advised that I was next in the queue and had to wait ten to fifteen minuets before someone asked if I minded waiting further as although I was first in the queue it would be a little longer. I continued to hold and eventually the same individual came back and I was able to tell him the issues about getting myself and the car home and the AA. He was sceptical about the AA assisting and was correct as when I contacted the AA they explained that they only dealt with breakdowns and it was the responsibility of the insurers regarding both the vehicle and myself. I therefore returned to the Insurance call line and this time did not have to wait long before I was put through to a call handler who went through a check list, and took the circumstances of the accident and then discussed the options immediately available. I cannot now remember if I then spoke to teh individual who I had been in contact while waiting for a claims handler to be available or if I was telephoned back. The outcome was a plan about which I was uneasy from the outset in that I was asked to drive the vehicle the following day as arranged onto the ferry and telephone the insurers who within an hour would arrange for my vehicle and me to be recovered back to my home. The car would be collected on Monday and taken to an approved repairers and I was given their particulars and I would be issued with a courtesy car. My concern was having to telephone for the transport to be arranged not helped when it was suggested that I should have a cup of coffee and perhaps food as the journey would take a long time.

I therefore spent the rest of the evening with a relative and their friends going to bed around 10pm and going over what had happened for sometime. Two things occurred to me, the first was whether the police should have been called and the second whether the vehicle was sufficiently roadworthy to be driven across the island. The insurers had been anxious that I should get the vehicle off the Island, in order to avoid the cost of having to do so themselves. The concern the previous evening was driving the vehicle in darkness without one rear light but overnight I also realised that that there was no indicator turning light or stop light and the last think I wanted to happen was to be stopped by the island police or be involved in a second accident. It was about 6am when I went quietly downstairs to the guest lounge and dining area and telephone the insurers again with my concerns. The first response was to encourage me to keep to the original plan, even when I asked about getting the roadworthiness assessed on the island and again the first response was that should seek advice from the hotel about a local garage.

I also mentioned further concerns that had occurred overnight. The first was that the police had not been notified and should I do so and I was advised that as no one was injured this was not necessary. I was also concerned about the circumstances of the accident and asked for additional information to be noted and it was during this process that the handler advised that there were two places on island available for the assessment of roadworthiness to be made with the nearest a couple of miles away at Shanklin. I was advised to take the vehicle there and that it would be OK to drive in the circumstances. I was able to contact the garage around 8.30 and explained the situation once more and it was agreed that I would my breakfast first before taking the vehicle. Just as I was ready to leave I was contacted my the nominated repair agents in Gateshead who confirmed that they would collect the vehicle on Monday and provide a courtesy car. I as then contact by a firm instructed by the insurers to deal with allocation of a car in no fault claims. I provided information about the accident and what had been arranged before and in the morning. In both instances it was agreed that further action would await the assessment of the Body Care Centre on the island.

As a consequence of the telephone calls I did not reach the Body Care garage until 11 and by 12 the duty manager showed me what had been done which was for a fully functioning light indicator unit taped into the space where the previous had been. It was evident there was no problem driving across the island to the ferry so I asked about continuing home and was assured there should be no difficult about this. I was thrilled at this development. I was able to drive without anxiety tot he ferry where although I arrive an hour before departure there was already three lanes of vehicles waiting. I was also able to relax on the ferry before arriving as scheduled around 2.30 at Southampton.

The weather conditions were good for driving but I made a mistake travelling in the wrong direction on reaching the M27 which meant having to continuing to the next exit and returning and feeling hungry. Although I had had an excellent breakfast I decided to call in at the same area motorway service station as I had on the outward journey and although I object to the excessive pricing of the food provision I opted for some fish and chops with peas and which is cooked fresh within ten minutes for a nor unreasonable price of £6 in the circumstances. Had there been two of us the price per head would have been reduced to £5. The service area is a quiet one as service areas go and mid afternoon there was no one ordering or eating a cooked meal. There was a young assistant who asked how I was while I looked to see what meal I wanted and standing to one side was another gentleman. Having passed the order to the cook he asked about a drink and I said I would eat the meal first and then decide so I went to a table asking about payment understanding that the account would be settled when I decided about a drink. The meal was brought and was excellent and I I decided I would like a cup of tea. There was no one present at the food counter and after a few minutes I was able to attract the attention of the cook through a glass door and the other man, who looked a service manager as he was in civilian clothes and not service area uniform provided the tea for which I was charged and I had to remind that I had not paid for the fish and chips. I know most people would have not bothered and the thought crossed my mind that it was being chalked up to the management after I briefly explained about being lucky to be there my vehicle having been hit from behind by a bus and the vehicle being made roadworthy to make the journey home

I would like to be able that the journey to the Travel Lodge at Donnington service area was otherwise uneventful. I was aware, or so I thought that having gone through Oxford and joined the M40 it was only a short distance before turning off the motorway and joining the link road which passes near the Silverstone Grand Prix track to the M1. However I was thrown when on seeing the exist it was not also marked M1 and given that I was in a steady flow of traffic I decided to continue to the next turn away and cross back if this was not the right junction. The motorway continued for close on half an hour and 30 miles before the next junction at Banbury. I did nto think it would be easy to get to the M1 from here and considered continuing to the midland where I knew the M40 joined the motorway link around Birmingham, but where it should be possible to cut across to the Mr earlier in the area of Warwick and Coventry. I decided to exist and find a service area or stopping place and all I found was large dark roundabout and continuing towards Banbury, not one but two roundabouts with no stopping or service areas. I decided to return to the M40 and continue northwards and stopping at a service area to check directions. Unfortunately instead of taking the road down to the M40 North I took the dual carriageway road to Brackley and realising the mistake took the first slip road as a means of crossing over and back. Big mistake. This proved to be a one way and leading to what appeared to be a going nowhere country lane but when I attempted to reverse there were clearly marked no entry signs the way I had come. There were only a couple of buildings in dark except for one light. This was a residential school, presumably closed because of half term. I went along the drive and because there was a giant of a solid door I looked in at the window to show myself to what transpired to be the only individual still at the establishment.

Hey came to the door and I explained the problem and was invited into look at the map. I was advised to continue down the lane for what transpired to be a mile or two and then came out at T junction with the right turn taking me down to a roundabout and then down the other side of the dual carriageway back to the roundabout and M40, where I continued until reaching a service area where I stopped for a coffee and a look at the map. The journey to the M69 and M1 just before the Leicester Forest Service area continued to be difficult because of major roadwork developments and inadequate sign posting and it was with relief that I arrived at the Donnington service area. I thought I had noted the name of the establishment that had given the assistance and various searches over the past few days have been without success. I have written ti the Oxfordshire County Council to enquire if they can help as I would like to write and express my thanks,

The Donnington Travel Lodge is the most interesting I have experienced in my experience and I must have stayed at least thirty around the country on or nearer the M1 and AI roadways, in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire and the Midlands, the greater London area, the Home Counties and the South Coast, and South Wales. The Travel Lodge is a first floor building above the rectangular food and shopping service court but on two sides with a first level walkway i side the court so that there are rooms looking into the seating area and one side of the stores. I was near the lift with a view across to Marks and Spencer’s food and W H Smith’s newsagents. The room was as spacious as that three nights before and I arrived in time to watch the X factor, to undertake a little writing and to have an early night. Despite the location is was much quieter than with the motorway in earshot

The following morning I was awake early and found that as forecast the weather had become horrendous with fierce driving rain from high winds. I was soaked getting the luggage and myself into the car. It was said that the weather would pass over by the afternoon but teh idea of staying until midday when the departure was required and then sitting in the seating area until the weather cleared did not appeal but on reflection it would have been a better decision.

It is several years since there was any pleasure in driving on the motorway where any speed of under 70 miles an hour in any lane means that one has other vehicles clamouring for you to get out of their way or move faster. The journey from Donning home is almost 180 miles of motorway or dual carriageway and throughout there were notices warning of surface water, driving spray and high winds and recommending a top speed of 50 miles an hour. I was not alone in observing these requests but we were a significant minority as everyone else disregarded the warnings and hurtled along at 70 miles and more. There was one serious accident ahead which resulted in standings till on the motorway for 15 minutes or more before there was a one lane filter permitted by the police and some distance further there was another accident on the other side with a 10 miles or tailback in continuing nasty and dangerous conditions.

Around 11 I stopped at the newish Wetherby service area and paid an outrageous £4.50 for a Danish pastry and coffee but I despite the price I enjoyed it greatly. I had bought two pints of milk at the service area and on the way into Shields called in at Tesco for fruit and salad, I then bout two medium sized chickens and a carton of spiced spare ribs for £10, the latter I enjoyed as my Sunday meal mid afternoon. It was good to be home whatever was to happen next.

This I will leave to report on tomorrow.

1820 A funeral and personal disaster

On Thursday 29th October I was awake at 7am and was at the Morrison’s Retford, shortly before its opening at 8pm, and making my way to the cafe, I was second in line for a breakfast. However the I was able to select an Early Flier which was brought to the table with a matter of minutes. comprising two sausages, over done bacon and an egg over fried bread, naughty naughty, with half a slice of tomato. It cost £2.27 without coffee compared to the feast with voucher for £1.99 experienced over the past month. I bought what I thought was a BLT sandwich cut into triangles on a platter with crisps and a little salad. Later one of the triangles was cheese and pickle. I had thermos coffee made at the Travel Lodge

Instead of continuing into Nottingham on the 614 link road I branched off towards Leicester which is slower in the first instance being single lanes and with a couple of traffic lights, but then becomes dual carriageway over the last 15 miles to the motorway about 45 mins in time. It is then Fast Track all the way to the Oxford turn off and through to the junction with the M40 which can be busy at the roundabout beforehand. Similarly coming off the M40 after a short distance for the A34 which by passes the city from north to south and confirmed my estimate of a two hour no rush leg of the journey.

I stopped for a second coffee, the sandwich and a comfort break around midday well on the way and in fact it is only an hours drive at 60mph into the outskirts of Southampton. However I was confused by the AA directions and hesitatingly joined the signposted M27 to the East Docks. I decided on another comfort break and relax at the first service area after joining the new Motorway rather than find someone to park within the city. I had hoped to log on to the internet here but encountered problems after doing so twice, first when eliminating the email bumph of the day and then when in the process of buying Euro lottery tickets. I decided to try once more again and then give up having missed the opportunity to use the Southampton Travel Lodge connection by this route and flying past the Premier Lodge at the service area which may have used the same link. There was no problem the third time and purchased two Lottery tickets for the Friday draw.

I was still early on arrival in the city and shortly before the Red Funnel Ferry Dock gate, turned left into a large car parking areas and shopping facility which includes major stores as well as single storey stores such as Boots and Staples where I went to check the cost of white card and white paper.

The cost of white card has trebled since commencing my work although I was able to stock up by visiting Staples stores along the route to London and back to buy 5 ream sets for £25 with a two for one offer and which kept me going for two years. Later I was able to buy the 250 ream packs for around £4 and £5 but now the cheapest is £6 and standards quality around £9. Now for £12.50 to £25 it is possible to get 5 500 page reams of printing paper.

I have several reams of such paper in stock bought several years ago which I will begin to use as well as checking to see if there are white backing cards from existing completed sets which can used for printing. Obviously if my financial situation changes or if it is possible to obtain funding to put the work on display when completed then the card deficiency can be rectified. I have been thinking recently about taking steps to ensure the work is looked after in an appropriate way upon my death whether completed or not, particularly the confidential elements.


It was only after the short walk around the car park to see the stores and facilities available that I saw one of the notices reminding that only the first 30 mins use was free so I set off still over an hour before the scheduled ferry departure. I was able to park close to the ferry just before the riverside carpark and walkway, the ten minutes or so before being the second vehicle then waiting for the arrival of the next ferry. By mistake I handed over the return ticket instead of the outward bound.

I was in fact the fourth vehicle allowed to board with a place at the front of the upper car deck and was able to select a front facing window seat for the 5 pm departure. It was an enjoyable crossing which last just under an hour. There were a couple of cruise ships elsewhere and two large container ships. There were lots of excited children and young people looking forward to a half term weekend on the island. There were also people talking boats and races including participation in the Fastnet,

It was very dark on leaving East Cowes and the route to Newport an onto Sandown is full of unlit twisting and hilly country stretches with some opportunity to use full beam. It was sixty years since two childhood family holidays on the island that in 2008 I took the bus from Ryde to Sandown and as I now know we travelled along the A 3055, a stretch called the Broadway and turning right into a one way residential road with cars parked on both sides before the Albert Crescent and a stop as this joins Victoria Road and the B3329 Road to Ryde and which is also joined by the Broadway further away from the High Street and Esplanade.

On Thursday evening I was unaware of the names and numbers of these roads but seeing a sign on my right town centre and esplanade I had continued on the road to Ryde, also signposted being in a flow of traffic, turned right and returned to the main road and had taken the town centre esplanade road, for some reason believing that the road to the hotel was off the high street. What I did not know is that had I just continued a little further along the Road to Ryde I could have taken a right turn in the road where the hotel for the next two nights is located. That error could have cost me my life or serious injury on the following evening. As it is I remain shaken and upset by what happened and worry about the financial implications despite being the victim and volunteering witnesses.

Having reached the High Street I decided to stop and seek directions and found someone who was able to accurately direct me to continue on to Beachfield Road from the High and then turn sharp right up the hill back onto the Broadway and then continue on to the right turn road for the Hotel, with the warning that the turn was easily missed. What would have been helpful is to say that the road was after the turn marked town centre and esplanade.

As you should guess having reached the turn to the town centre and esplanade I took it again, thinking I had missed my turning and thought I had better ask again and saw an individual walking along Station Avenue towards the junction with Fitzroy Street so I stopped in the road as there was no other traffic but I was told to move around the corner because as I was to learn buses treat Station Avenue as a bus lane. After getting the directions I noted a bus travelling along the road, a residential one at 30mph.

I was pleased to arrive at the hotel where I received a warm welcome as the owners come from the North East, one born in Jarrow and the other from South Shields. There were other guests who had arrived for the funeral and they and waiting for me for a while and then gone out for an evening meal. I retired to my room, unpacked and had a light supper of soup and dry crackers, a tin of baked beans and a carton of delicious grapes.

In 2003 my relative and the deceased had visited Gibraltar with me and another relative and her husband, taking the ashes of my care mother for burial in the tomb of her parents. In January of this year the husband of my relative had died and not the second male of the party had also died. We had all planned to meet up in my visit to the Island in July and I met the widow for lunch in Sandown having travelled from Newport where I was staying at the Island Travel Lodge and travelled by car along the Broadway, along Station Avenue, into the High Street and then down to the esplanade where I had parked. After the meal we had walked to Shanklin and Ventnor along teh sea front and got a bus back to Sandown.

I had also visited the deceased during the afternoons of my stay on the island and had occasion to visit his lovely home and gardens where he was able to return during his prolonged illness and where there had been indications of a recovery.

John was six years older than me and spent the greater part of his life in midlands working in the ceramics industry before deciding he wanted to be become and teacher and commenced a career as a primary school teacher, then a headmaster and then with responsibilities for a number of schools within the Education department of a local authority. He had come to the island to live a couple fo decades before where he was able to enjoy his love of walking. Throughout the greater part fo his life he was not only a walker but enjoyed being a volunteer walk leader in the UK and taking parties to show off the island home he had adopted.

In the summer I had visited Bembridge unrecognisable from the open countryside of the caravan holiday just after the end of World War two, with the village spreading over previous farmland to the rocky headland where there is still no seaside facilities. There is a Lifeboat station and shop where the pier was beings strengthened and parts replaced. There was also a small cafe on the beachside. There is also the Warner Residential holiday Hotel for adults only with an inclusive range of sporting and entertainment facilities on the large site and where at present a couple or two friends can share a double room with bed and breakfast and a full evening meal for £50 a head and enjoy the wide range of facilities although this does exclude the special entertainment weekends and other special activity holiday.

I had sat on a seat near my car and answering the mobile phone with directions to John’s home walking through the grounds of the Warner hotel I had left the car keys on a bench where they had been found by someone who had sat on the seat and then taken them into the Lifeboat shop when I had not returned and his and my cars were the only ones then in the car park. On leaving John’s home I had been unable to find my car keys but on reaching the vehicle there was a map pinner to the side of the car with the telephone number of addressed of a worker at he Lifeboat store who had returned home at the end of the afternoon session. Amazingly the individual lived around the corner from John and they had both attended the same line dancing group about a decade before.

I had an excellent full English breakfast superior in every respect and decided that I would visit the Springwood Woodland Cemetery New church on the way to Ryde where I was meeting a relative and friend before the funeral mass. I had not heard about Woodland burial sites until the death of John. I have since found there are some 30 sites in England and others in Wales and Scotland, with the nearest to the North East at Carlisle, Although the site was marked at Newchurch on the main road it is easily passed by except for a natural car park before woodland. The site comprises consecrated and un consecrated burial areas. A large part of the site now comprises mature trees with natural walkways and wood seating areas. To one side there are new areas being used where the trees are saplings. In many instances there is only a small plaque by the tree to indicate the individual human being and some a perennial flowering plants and some plantings covering the area of a normal grave. The sun was shining and it was a warmish day which added to the peaceful setting. It is usually the practice to use a environmentally friendly coffin, of the wicker kind which is biodegradable and some crematoria give discounts if such a coffin is used because less energy is required.

I had been unsure about he location and continued for a quarter of mile before turning around as I had seen the Funeral Directors and market garden on the other side of the road. I decided to see if there were any suitable pot plants and took time to select a pinky white and pinky red with variegated leaves which seemed appropriate and suitable.

Throughout the stay I stopped to ask directions and received accurate and helpful guidance and I thought the driving of cars and buses matched the nature of the country roads and by ways, I had stopped first, I think it is Kite hill where there is a bridge over an inlet, and then passed Fishbourne which I had used earlier in the year and then into Ryde where there was a significant traffic hold up because of road works

I found the one way system confusing and found myself going out of town again so I arrived at Ryde by midday but failed to find the difficult to reach car park at the back of the St Mary’s Church and stopped and was given excellent directions by a young man and found a place at within the church precincts overlooked by a boarded and window broken convent building behind the church. This car park is only open for masses and is otherwise locked. Across the narrow one way lane there is a second car park used for the community centre and for those who are in the know and use the town centre for other reasons. I went along the yard and noticed a coffee shop part of the church wall and checking that there was a toilet, I made myself comfortable before enjoying a coffee and a biscuit. I then went in search of a Smiths to but a Daily Mail which offered a DVD the Cassandra only to find that for once Smiths was not distributing. I had missed the Smith on the walk down from the church and encountered the same young man who had given directions for the church and who pointed out that I had gone past the building. I suggested that he would make an excellent tourist guide should such a job ever be needed.

I was joined by a relative and her friend and we went for a hot drink. I could not help remarking that this was an extraordinary situation. Over 55 years before as secondary level school children we had “knocked about” together for a short while and then I had no contact with the friend until a family funeral in January and we were meeting again because of a second funeral within year and because the former school friend had made the island home.

There had been a funeral mass in the morning and on returning the car after the coffee and visit to Smiths I had met the priest and his assistant as they left the church, went to their cars and drove off. Seeing me standing there, teh priest asked if I was alright and I explained that I was early for the afternoon mass and was waiting for a relative and friend.

The mass was scheduled for 2pm but did not begin until 2.30 because as the priest explained he had been out to lunch with the Dean and has been caught up unexpectedly in traffic delays. Later when a neighbour spoke movingly about John’s, life he could not resist mentioning that he had often joked with him that he would be late for his own funeral.
I was able to follow the funeral car from thee church to the Woodland burial grounds and the route was across country, through narrow country lanes with passing places and one which I am sure John would have taken on his walks around the island. The sun had gone in and it became cold in the mid afternoon before the increasingly early nightfall. I set off to go back to the hotel on my own as I wanted to relax and perhaps write before the provision of food and drink and social chat. I had switched the mobile phone on to check for messages forgetting to turn it off again and entering Lake just outside of Sandown it had sounded for a text, so I turned off the road into the nearby public car park and read the message. I then returned to the main road and continued in a steady flow of traffic into Sandown along Broadway looking for the turning to the right for the hotel and coming to the road signposted town centre and esplanade I thought I would go down and from there reach the hotel as directed the previous evening.

It is inappropriate to detail what then happened for the time being. What I can say is that my vehicle was hit from behind on the passenger seat corner and the light, indicator and stop lights demolished rending the vehicle unroadworthy. I was not hurt physically but stunned. How I managed to get home and survived a nightmarish journey Sunday will be the subject of the next writing.

1819 Second journey to Isle fo Wight this year begins

I have been on an emotional roller coaster over the past week to ten days and this has affected sleep patterns and ability to concentrate.

I wrote this a week ago and little did I know just what kind of a roller coaster the end of the week would bring. I do not have the words to describe intense emotional experience and I remain resolute in not referring to other individuals if they are living without their permission or the subject has already been made public access. This time I will be making reference at some point although I will do so in such a manner as not to make a difficult situation worse.

Monday, 26th October was a day when I found it difficult to get going and instead of working played the new games on the computer especially as I had two break through’s with moving several stages in Luxor Mahjong and ending this morning at state 9 and three million points and with the original Luxor game also breaking the stage 5.4 a barrier for the first time and moving to the sixth level and also three million points. I need to go out to the bank this afternoon and will watch an opera on the Metropolitan Opera player later but I expect to continue with another monster game on Luxor Rising where the objective now is to reach 10 million points and complete all the stages, although I anticipate this will not be achieved immediately.

It was therefore mid afternoon when I prepared to go out to the bank to pay £25 Premium Bond winnings and then take the Metro train to Newcastle to visit the Tyneside Film Theatre where I was confident I would find my umbrella and then book a ticket for the relay of Turandot on November 7th. However before departing I discovered that the Odeon Cinemas were showing a relay of The Barber of Seville “Figaro” from Madrid and having closed the computer I decided to take the car to the Metro Centre and investigate if there was a showing at the cinema and obtain information about future presentations and then take a train or bus to Newcastle to visit the Tyneside Film Theatre.

The Gateshead Metro centre is the biggest out of town shopping complex in the UK It comprises a four Mall indoor centre with three connecting shopping channels on two floors plus other shopping facilities such as Ikea, Furniture show rooms and specialist stores and outside restaurants not accommodated with the Malls. There have been two changes over recent years with the development of the Red Mall with a Debenhams store at its end and the closure of the yellow Mall indoor Funfare which is where I had expected the Odeon Cinema to be. On the upper floor connecting channel there are new restaurants including a huge Cafe Rouge and an eat as much you want Buffet from £7. There are Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Indian and Chinese as well as USA style Steak Houses in this area as part of the 50 inns, fast food, coffee and sandwich outlets and full restaurant service establishments. Alas there was large hoarding where the entrance will be to announce that the cinema will open in December. I then made my way to the Travel centre and caught the first bus to Newcastle city centre.

This arrives at the new basement level bus station adjacent tot he existing pavement level station which serves the city and Northumberland with the lower level catering for Gateshead South of Tyne and Durham. From here there are now direct access into the John Lewis and Boots stores previously only basement levels services, to the relocated Argos and a few other stores including a food sandwiches and drinks to take away store. As the bus approached the station it passed the new development wing to the store which includes the biggest Debenhams I have seen, at least from the outside. There was also a notice to say that the Green Market had reopened at its new site with more stalls available later but there was no time to explore.

I made my way through the centre to the Haymarket Metro exit and then to the Tyneside Film Theatre where they could not find the umbrella at the box office but it was held in the coffee lounge restaurant and bar. I then bought a ticket for Turandot in November and had to settle for the stalls as the as Classic Circle was sold out. The assistant admitted that one can still hear the metro trains rumbling below ground but at least one can choose a seat by arriving early although there was still a charge of £17 and this was a concession,

Absentmindedly I made my way into the underground station as I had done homeward bound on the Saturday and then remembered I was on the busses. The trip took three hours door to door because of the rush hour traffic. It is only this evening that I discovered that the UCI cinema still signposted has been taken over by the Odeon which explains the list of films for this theatre on their website. I only realised the situation when looking at the Metro centre locate a store map which listed the Odeon where the UCI used to be and after I had contacted the cinema chain by email to express my dissatisfaction at having motored 20 miles each way in vain!

I had returned to the Odeon site to check out the remaining relay showing this year and next until May. It was at this point I discovered a discrepancy between what was shown of he Covent Garden Film Theatre site and that on the Odeon. This caused embarrassment because I had notified others of a particular event. It could be that the particular relay has been sold out at the particular cinema and further enquiries will have to be made to v certain. What was established is that the big relays from La Scala Milan, Madrid and Salzburg are only at the central London Odeon Covent Garden and this included Il Travatore from Madrid and Carmen from Milan. I decided to stay a extra night on my Christmas trip as it was possible to get a reasonable rate where I was already staying. What is amazing is that a premium seat with an over 60 concession came to under £9 including the booking fee.

I was tempted to make a special trip to see the Carmen until finding the cost of the train fare. I could Travel down on the day of the showing which is at 5pm and in theory return afterwards with the 10pm back arriving in the early hours. The coach is available for a quarter of the price but my coaching days are over unless absolutely necessary.

It was 9pm on Tuesday evening before I was in a position to watch an opera on the Metropolitan Opera House player. Before doing on the TV link I wanted to hear the sound on a set of small portable speakers which only require a sound out connection and a USB lead for the power link and they work very well, and in fact I am listening in my travel lodge room to an audio production of Carmen with Carreras from March 1987, while having an evening meal of chicken soup with pepper crackers, baked beans and a carton of black and green grapes. Last night I settled for the HD version of Madam Butterfly which is the first time I have seen HD on my TV not prepared to pay the extra £10 a month required by Sky. I was impressed and again moved by the and performance.

There was no problem connecting to the Metropolitan Opera site but I had to download several extras from Windows as well as from McAfee. Tonight there were even more problems because the lap top caught up with the desk top in downloading Vista pack 2. There was then a problem connecting to Met site although I had logged online via the Travel Lodge link without problems.

The impact of Madam Butterfly last night was such that I was not ready for bed and played Luxor long past I should getting only a few hours sleep before waking just before the alarm sounded at 7.

I was travelling in two stages to the Isle of Wight for the funeral of a close friend of a relative and the original plan was to arrive in the Midland for lunch, but was changed so I had plenty of time to travel the 150 to 160 miles to reach the Travel Lodge for the earliest booking in time of 3 pm

However as there is continued work on the house further alone the back lane and the workmen leave their vehicle blocking the exit I wanted to get my car fully loaded and out of the garage and on to the street before 8, accomplishing this was ease. I did not leave the house until 9 and made the short journey of less than a mile to the station car park where I had had to pay £1 not having the change for an hour’s stay for 70pence. It was then breakfast at the Wetherspoons for £1.99 the last of the vouchers. The couple ahead of me were doing the same and we settled for the meal without tomatoes. It was not as well cooked and presented as previously. There have been different staff on every visit so far.

Rather than go straight into Sunderland in search of a black tie I decided to try Shield’s high street, King Street, without expecting to find one and was surprised that Burton’s had both a plain black and textured black as well as a slim black among small selection in the store. Well done Burton‘s.

On the year I went through a phase of constant indigestion and then with more careful eating, exercise and weight reduction, this ended but I had eaten the breakfast quickly and decided to get some indigestion tablets heading for Wilkinson’s where I thought I might also find some decaf coffee. The tablets are excellent value at 48 for 96 pence and as effective as anything costs two to three times as much. I spotted some attractive and excellent value Christmas Cards and popped into M and S for BLT for lunch, and a couple of other cards for immediate use and was away on my trip just after 10.30. However I did not journey far before deciding that I needed another coffee and stopped at the KFC off the A19 before the Boro. It was then a relaxed drive behind nearside lane Traffic average 60 MPH all the way passing the Blythe Service area where I am staying on to the Morrison’s supermarket at the ancient market town of Retford. Here I eat my sandwich, bought some cold still water and discovered they had black dinner plates similar to my existing one having broken the other recently. I wrapped this unplanned purchase in a rug and deposited in a secure part of luggage area. I then found the Morrison’s petrol garage on a separate site and for once had no trouble removing the petrol tank cap. After an engaging conversation with the reception staff, unpacking and a cup of coffee, I felt tired.

This is one the better Travel Lodges with above average space and appointments There are three electric points separate from the coffee and tea tray which has its own alcove next to open shelves and the open clothes hanging area. The case and haversack fit on a shelf between this fitment and the desk top. There is a full size sofa bed in addition to the king size double bed. There is also a low level full size bath with two good grab rails. The only drawback was being road side.

I relaxed, wrote a draft of the above, played some games and listened to sound only recording of Carmen from the Metropolitan Opera site with the two speakers brought for the purpose. For the evening meal I enjoyed a tin of baked beans and tin of rice pudding, having eaten the BLT on arrival. I enjoyed a good soak and generally relaxed.

It was my intention to have written about the journey to the Isle of Wight the following day to conclude this piece of writing. But what happened when I went in search for the hotel on the Isle has become one of the key moments in the personal nightmare which was to unfold.