"Happiness is appreciating what you have rather than getting what you want."
" He was a courageous fellow, but he was also a national resource, and there are always courageous individuals willing to replace him."
"Such certainty, I do not understand. We do not need to understand, we just need to stop them."
My comment, "I do understand, however I agree they have to be stopped. The only pity is that the stopping did not begin earlier
Monday November 10th commenced quietly. I had gone to bed about 4 am and slept through without waking until 9.30 so it was a rush to get up and down to put but the wheelie bin and environmental box. It was bright but cold.
I had two long letters to finish writing and enjoyed a cuppa soup with a plain slice of bread around 11am and then around lunch time a lightly toasted sandwich with grilled tomatoes. After the letters were ready I thought of what was needed regarding Christmas cards and calendars, presents and such like before making my way down the hill to the main post office to have the letters weighed at the automatic machine and obtained the postage paid stick-on at the first class price. This is no guarantee of next day delivery, especially from this positing box at this office so I put them in my bag to use the nearest posting box to where I live which is yet to fail. I use this to return the DVD's from the internet loan library which sends out receipt confirmation emails and which are the earliest new mails of the day along with the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Sun newspaper.
This morning there was also the past week's national lottery results indicating that I had not won anything from the Euro Lottery and Saturday's national draw. I had won £10 from my subscription account Wednesday's national draw, but this still means a 25:75 investment success ratio, whereas a couple of years back it was 50:50 for a period of six months because I had won twice the money from the next prize up from the basic. There were nine emails over the past 24 hours. Undertaking research last night to see if information on the twelve Foulness other's had increased on Google I thought the most famous one Pat Arrowsmith had a site on Face Book, so I joined face book only to find it was someone else. Facebook is so less interesting than MySpace although it does have a programme which checks your email records for existing Facebook members. More on the implications of this when I write about the five episodes of Spooks viewed later afternoon and this evening.
After the visit to the General Post Office I made my way through the town centre to the market square and Wilkinsons in search of a polished wood empty cutlery box. I had joined Auctioneers UK site last night which enables one to make bids on item on offer at the included auction houses although my purpose was for empty cutlery boxes. I found none and the only wood boxes were from a specialist sale for fisherman's tackle. There was also an invitation to test and keep the new Blackberry Gold smartphone while Amazon UK advised there was still time to save money by shopping early for Christmas.
I bought some tissue paper at Wilkinsons, the last four packs of white with ten large sheets in each pack. I noted that coloured tissue paper is now available but five sheets cost 30% more than the white. I wondered for how long coloured tissue paper had been on the market. I cannot remember when I last bought tissue paper.
I went to W H Smiths for Calendars. I bought several of the Northumberland and Durham which this year includes Bamburgh Castle, Durham Cathedral at night and Fulwell Mill. I also bought the Lake District Calendar for someone who will appreciate the glorious photographs and it was difficult to resist buying one for me. I was also tempted by on British Coasts, another on the Countryside and the more local Calendar for Newcastle and Tyneside is brilliant . I also discovered some unusual and striking Christmas wishes cards in one of the specialist cards shops and where there was a note on the back explaining that the printing ink is made from soya oils a renewable resource and printed from trees planted and harvested in a sustainable and environmentally responsible manner. Usually I take the Metro to Newcastle where Fenwicks have an extensive range of cards where a small donation is made to charities.
On the homeward journey there was no sun and the wind was sharp. I yielded to the need for a cup of coffee and hoped for a mince pie. The place was closing up but I enjoyed the coffee with two sugars but there were no mince pies. As mentioned on previous occasions the pedestrianised shopping centre in South Shields only comes to life after ten am weekends and by four the streets are deserting. I did not linger over my coffee as I was anxious to return home and commence work. However I listened as to ladies, a little young than me talked about how personal physical health dominated as one got older. They both had problems, one appeared to think se had picked something up from a visit to Russia where travellers are apparently warned to stay away from trees and bushes. I must try and remember to find out if this is true.
There was an accordionist from middle Europe playing Some Enchanted Evening as I approached the lower level entrance to the supermarket and I continued singing the song as I made my way up the escalators bringing a mixed reaction for other shoppers, wonderful what you can do when you are old. I bought the tomatoes and forgot the milk.
Although there dusk had just turned there was a full moon beaming at me quite high in the skyline with one strand of pink cloud attached to one side. Instead of taking my usual route diagonally up the rest of the hill I continued to the post box at the end of the road and then enjoyed the sight of the dusk over the river mouth and Tynemouth Abbey and Castle before going to the back lane to bringing in the wheelie bin and environmental box back into the area between garage and patio.
It was after 4pm and I was ready to work, but first checked the TV to see if there was anything meriting attention. There was Spooks at nine on BBC1 and this was programme four. Where had I been the past three Mondays?
Spooks is thee best ever series about British homeland security with top notch acting and contemporary themes which are written on the hoof within an overall planned storyline for the series. This is a bold claim because the George Smiley series based on the John Le Carre books are also outstanding along with some of the work of Graham green. James Bond remains an embarrassment by comparison. I suspect that although the British men and women involved lead less dangerous lives and their work is more pedestrian, the series shows their courage and convictions and the difficulties created as a consequence of the work, creating the inevitable barrier it must do with parents, partners and children. The only comparison I would make is with the West Wing in terms of being close to the reality to what life is like on a day to day basis at the USA White House.
I checked the BBC I player and raised a cheer as all previous three episodes were available and there would be time for me to catch up, cook. a chicken stir fry, and listen to the news of the day For some reason I believed the series ended for good last year with one of the female members of the team dead and another raped. A younger version had been tried in the summer which was awful by comparison, but watchable.
The first episode concerned the kidnap of a British soldier while home on leave to celebrate the birth of his first child and where he is asked to read a statement for video broadcasting in which he condemns British Behaviour and requests that Remembrance Sunday is cancelled. He refuses making an impassioned speech that he would rather his child grew up knowing that he had lost his life holding true to his beliefs than giving in and living. This obviously harked back to the situation when several member of a naval patrol were hijacked by Iran and made such broadcasts including a one female who was also a mother. There had been some consternation in Parliament and the Media that serving personnel had yielded under psychological torture.
An important feature of every series is the relationship between the homeland security special unit, the various other homeland security services, the involvement of the police, services of other countries especially those operating on behalf of the USA, and the upper echelons of the Civil services and Government Ministers. In this first episode the Government decided to cancel Remembrance Sunday because of the political implications of a beheaded soldier being shown on the internet and British media. This is unacceptable to Adam Cater the unit senior case officer who urges his chief to use his influence to advise the monarch to persuade the Prime Minister to change his mind and this approach is agreed on the understanding that the unit will be successful in gaining the release of the officer unharmed. This is achieved only for the unit to then realise that the abduction was a decoy from the main attack, to explode a bomb at a memorial for the families, including children of a previous situation. (I cannot remember if this was a previous bomb or soldiers who had been killed while on active service). Adam and other members of the unit rush to the where the atrocity is to take place. The event is times for 11am on the Sunday while the minute's silence is being observed.
Overall series is focussing on the renewed threat from Russia as it attempts to rebuild itself into a world power through the control of the World's energy supply along with the Middle East. An exchange is arranged which brings home a British agent arrested tortured and imprisoned over and the Russian leading the exchange is a former cold war figure known well to Harry the "calm and collected" unit chief. When the recovered man is brought back into HQ to commence debriefing he mentions something which indicates that the Russians know that a member of the unit and former lover of Adam, Ros who he believes is dead is working in Moscow and is close to bringing back vital information. She manages to get the information immediately after her contact is killed and makes her escape home transferring the information on a portable data storage device, via her mobile and a laptop, On learning of the bomb threat she makes her way and arrives as Adam discovers it is a car bomb, and drives the car off to somewhere else to minimise civilian casualties, There is only time for a look of amazement and goodbye. An attempt is made to capture the driver of the car who has the codes to stop the bomb but she commits suicide. The car is removed to an area where it explodes. The public are unharmed but Adam and two security workers are killed.
It was the impact on his son and that the boy's mother who also worked for the service was killed in a previous series which made me cry. Not because I do not know this was fiction at that moment but because I thought of all the loved ones who had died and were dying in the service of their country. There is that Song don't cry for me Argentina. Well I think there are those for whom we all ought to cry and keep crying.
More on this series of Spooks over the week
" He was a courageous fellow, but he was also a national resource, and there are always courageous individuals willing to replace him."
"Such certainty, I do not understand. We do not need to understand, we just need to stop them."
My comment, "I do understand, however I agree they have to be stopped. The only pity is that the stopping did not begin earlier
Monday November 10th commenced quietly. I had gone to bed about 4 am and slept through without waking until 9.30 so it was a rush to get up and down to put but the wheelie bin and environmental box. It was bright but cold.
I had two long letters to finish writing and enjoyed a cuppa soup with a plain slice of bread around 11am and then around lunch time a lightly toasted sandwich with grilled tomatoes. After the letters were ready I thought of what was needed regarding Christmas cards and calendars, presents and such like before making my way down the hill to the main post office to have the letters weighed at the automatic machine and obtained the postage paid stick-on at the first class price. This is no guarantee of next day delivery, especially from this positing box at this office so I put them in my bag to use the nearest posting box to where I live which is yet to fail. I use this to return the DVD's from the internet loan library which sends out receipt confirmation emails and which are the earliest new mails of the day along with the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Sun newspaper.
This morning there was also the past week's national lottery results indicating that I had not won anything from the Euro Lottery and Saturday's national draw. I had won £10 from my subscription account Wednesday's national draw, but this still means a 25:75 investment success ratio, whereas a couple of years back it was 50:50 for a period of six months because I had won twice the money from the next prize up from the basic. There were nine emails over the past 24 hours. Undertaking research last night to see if information on the twelve Foulness other's had increased on Google I thought the most famous one Pat Arrowsmith had a site on Face Book, so I joined face book only to find it was someone else. Facebook is so less interesting than MySpace although it does have a programme which checks your email records for existing Facebook members. More on the implications of this when I write about the five episodes of Spooks viewed later afternoon and this evening.
After the visit to the General Post Office I made my way through the town centre to the market square and Wilkinsons in search of a polished wood empty cutlery box. I had joined Auctioneers UK site last night which enables one to make bids on item on offer at the included auction houses although my purpose was for empty cutlery boxes. I found none and the only wood boxes were from a specialist sale for fisherman's tackle. There was also an invitation to test and keep the new Blackberry Gold smartphone while Amazon UK advised there was still time to save money by shopping early for Christmas.
I bought some tissue paper at Wilkinsons, the last four packs of white with ten large sheets in each pack. I noted that coloured tissue paper is now available but five sheets cost 30% more than the white. I wondered for how long coloured tissue paper had been on the market. I cannot remember when I last bought tissue paper.
I went to W H Smiths for Calendars. I bought several of the Northumberland and Durham which this year includes Bamburgh Castle, Durham Cathedral at night and Fulwell Mill. I also bought the Lake District Calendar for someone who will appreciate the glorious photographs and it was difficult to resist buying one for me. I was also tempted by on British Coasts, another on the Countryside and the more local Calendar for Newcastle and Tyneside is brilliant . I also discovered some unusual and striking Christmas wishes cards in one of the specialist cards shops and where there was a note on the back explaining that the printing ink is made from soya oils a renewable resource and printed from trees planted and harvested in a sustainable and environmentally responsible manner. Usually I take the Metro to Newcastle where Fenwicks have an extensive range of cards where a small donation is made to charities.
On the homeward journey there was no sun and the wind was sharp. I yielded to the need for a cup of coffee and hoped for a mince pie. The place was closing up but I enjoyed the coffee with two sugars but there were no mince pies. As mentioned on previous occasions the pedestrianised shopping centre in South Shields only comes to life after ten am weekends and by four the streets are deserting. I did not linger over my coffee as I was anxious to return home and commence work. However I listened as to ladies, a little young than me talked about how personal physical health dominated as one got older. They both had problems, one appeared to think se had picked something up from a visit to Russia where travellers are apparently warned to stay away from trees and bushes. I must try and remember to find out if this is true.
There was an accordionist from middle Europe playing Some Enchanted Evening as I approached the lower level entrance to the supermarket and I continued singing the song as I made my way up the escalators bringing a mixed reaction for other shoppers, wonderful what you can do when you are old. I bought the tomatoes and forgot the milk.
Although there dusk had just turned there was a full moon beaming at me quite high in the skyline with one strand of pink cloud attached to one side. Instead of taking my usual route diagonally up the rest of the hill I continued to the post box at the end of the road and then enjoyed the sight of the dusk over the river mouth and Tynemouth Abbey and Castle before going to the back lane to bringing in the wheelie bin and environmental box back into the area between garage and patio.
It was after 4pm and I was ready to work, but first checked the TV to see if there was anything meriting attention. There was Spooks at nine on BBC1 and this was programme four. Where had I been the past three Mondays?
Spooks is thee best ever series about British homeland security with top notch acting and contemporary themes which are written on the hoof within an overall planned storyline for the series. This is a bold claim because the George Smiley series based on the John Le Carre books are also outstanding along with some of the work of Graham green. James Bond remains an embarrassment by comparison. I suspect that although the British men and women involved lead less dangerous lives and their work is more pedestrian, the series shows their courage and convictions and the difficulties created as a consequence of the work, creating the inevitable barrier it must do with parents, partners and children. The only comparison I would make is with the West Wing in terms of being close to the reality to what life is like on a day to day basis at the USA White House.
I checked the BBC I player and raised a cheer as all previous three episodes were available and there would be time for me to catch up, cook. a chicken stir fry, and listen to the news of the day For some reason I believed the series ended for good last year with one of the female members of the team dead and another raped. A younger version had been tried in the summer which was awful by comparison, but watchable.
The first episode concerned the kidnap of a British soldier while home on leave to celebrate the birth of his first child and where he is asked to read a statement for video broadcasting in which he condemns British Behaviour and requests that Remembrance Sunday is cancelled. He refuses making an impassioned speech that he would rather his child grew up knowing that he had lost his life holding true to his beliefs than giving in and living. This obviously harked back to the situation when several member of a naval patrol were hijacked by Iran and made such broadcasts including a one female who was also a mother. There had been some consternation in Parliament and the Media that serving personnel had yielded under psychological torture.
An important feature of every series is the relationship between the homeland security special unit, the various other homeland security services, the involvement of the police, services of other countries especially those operating on behalf of the USA, and the upper echelons of the Civil services and Government Ministers. In this first episode the Government decided to cancel Remembrance Sunday because of the political implications of a beheaded soldier being shown on the internet and British media. This is unacceptable to Adam Cater the unit senior case officer who urges his chief to use his influence to advise the monarch to persuade the Prime Minister to change his mind and this approach is agreed on the understanding that the unit will be successful in gaining the release of the officer unharmed. This is achieved only for the unit to then realise that the abduction was a decoy from the main attack, to explode a bomb at a memorial for the families, including children of a previous situation. (I cannot remember if this was a previous bomb or soldiers who had been killed while on active service). Adam and other members of the unit rush to the where the atrocity is to take place. The event is times for 11am on the Sunday while the minute's silence is being observed.
Overall series is focussing on the renewed threat from Russia as it attempts to rebuild itself into a world power through the control of the World's energy supply along with the Middle East. An exchange is arranged which brings home a British agent arrested tortured and imprisoned over and the Russian leading the exchange is a former cold war figure known well to Harry the "calm and collected" unit chief. When the recovered man is brought back into HQ to commence debriefing he mentions something which indicates that the Russians know that a member of the unit and former lover of Adam, Ros who he believes is dead is working in Moscow and is close to bringing back vital information. She manages to get the information immediately after her contact is killed and makes her escape home transferring the information on a portable data storage device, via her mobile and a laptop, On learning of the bomb threat she makes her way and arrives as Adam discovers it is a car bomb, and drives the car off to somewhere else to minimise civilian casualties, There is only time for a look of amazement and goodbye. An attempt is made to capture the driver of the car who has the codes to stop the bomb but she commits suicide. The car is removed to an area where it explodes. The public are unharmed but Adam and two security workers are killed.
It was the impact on his son and that the boy's mother who also worked for the service was killed in a previous series which made me cry. Not because I do not know this was fiction at that moment but because I thought of all the loved ones who had died and were dying in the service of their country. There is that Song don't cry for me Argentina. Well I think there are those for whom we all ought to cry and keep crying.
More on this series of Spooks over the week
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