It is the early hours of 2012 and I cannot sleep from congested chest and lots of wind and difficulties breathing naturally. At such moments I tend to panic fearing the worse although in truth I have never been a good patient I tried to go to bed and sleep but was uncomfortable so have risen. I usually experience what is usually no more than the symptoms of the common cold a year although on one occasion my temperature zoomed up adding to the alarm,
Because my father was over sixty years of age when I was born it is over one hundred and fifty years since the birth of my grandfather and I have only to live another seven years for this also to apply to my maternal grandfather.
I have been gathering information on all those who died through war, including civil wars, during this period having found only one year when there was no armed conflict. Yet more have died from the great floods and earthquakes, the mass starvations and the pandemics which occurred with similar regularity. And yet the population of the world manages to increase by thousands of millions compared to the hundreds of millions who prematurely perished. So what is one life and what value my preoccupation with recording the events experienced? I have only reached half way in my end of life 101 contemporary art project.
Earlier this week there was the first theoretical sighting of Higgs bosun particle in Switzerland in the same week that the original particle collider at Chicago closed down. One of my correspondents reminds on a weekly basis through his general email newsletter of the potential significance of the Mayan Calendar ending in 12.12. My concern is more for 2013 when a new cycle of sunspot activity is scheduled to occur.
2013 is going to be an extraordinary year but I am not clear how far the 10000 troops on the streets of London will help celebrate the Queen’s triumphant barge led flotilla of a thousands ships along the Thames river, the Olympic Games, England winning the European Football Cup and a Scottish lad winning a grand Slam or Olympic Medal at Wimbledon, or indeed both; Or will they be there to protect from a police strike, an attempted right wing coup to break the coalition, or from the frustrations of escalating unemployment, loss of homes and diminishing living standards here or the wrath and vengeance of our enemies afar? The Iraq War Inquiry report will be published along with Leveson part I.
If Cameron is forced into a successful leave the EU referendum I am tempted to think that as the Queen’s children and Grandchildren travel the globe they may ponder on the wisdom of returning home but then conclude where else is stable and safe? If I win the European Lottery I will offer to establish a new political party in the North East for a referendum that we should be governed from Edinburgh and Brussels rather than London and Washington DC. At least we would have a chance of winning the Premier League and enter the Euro competitions!
I suspect that the main conflict will be over which spectacle Queen V Olympics proves best! The Olympic Torch will pass through South Shields but in addition to the school children given time off to cheer I wonder if the crowd will exceed the 20000 who crammed into our show park on a hot July Sunday this year for the free concert of X Factor and Pop to Opera Star Joe McEldery performing in his home town, and although only two of this year’s foursome winners, Little Mix, also come from the town I would not be surprised if their home town concert proved an even greater attraction especially as the Council is allowing the sale of alcohol next summer.
Despite the so called double dip recession Tyne and Wearsiders’ know how to party and I attended one of the four 50000 Take That concerts in Sunderland, albeit only because I was given a ticket. There were several remarkable aspects of that event in an audience predominantly female and drunkish and were per head expenditure appeared to be of the order of £100 including ticket there was no trouble in or out of the ground, everyone appeared to have a marvellous time and I got home quicker from my street parking spot than from a match. There were over 100 additional stewards in and out of the ground. The crew who created the spectacular multi million pound staging stayed at the local Marriott where until October I had risen for over a year for a six am 750 meter four times a week swim. They clocked up a bill of over £100000 for their stay with Take That staying separately at Seaham Hall. There were few hotel and guest house beds available in the area for the ten of thousands who travelled from all over the UK and beyond. The expenditure bonanza did not all go into the local economy with the lads each pocketing at least £1 million each per location.
Nor would one gain the impression of widespread poverty from visits to the local Supermarkets where we have Morison’s part way down my Hill, Asda in the town centre and Tesco on the way out to the AIM, plus similar size stores in Jarrow, Hebburn and Bolden, with the 7th at Seaburn all within half a dozen miles and a Borough population of 150000. Nor is it all gloom on the jobs front with a BT 400 new jobs centre recently opened on the Tyne edge by the ferry landing and work well under way on the eight lane 25 metre, plus leisure pool, 80 fitness station, plus dance studio plus rooftop restaurant centre conveniently overlooking the mouth the Tyne at the bottom of my hill for opening in 2013.
It would be foolish to suggest that the local economy is not suffering more than elsewhere given the all round loss of public sector jobs and the local night clubs closed or opening only for one night a week although the prize winning fish and chippy has doubled its restaurant area and prices, and seems busy whatever the time of year and weather and a second gourmet establishment has joined the 100 other eateries all within a mile of the bottom of the hill and I have a folder with leaflets from nearly 100 take away and home delivery meal offers although in the majority of instances while the addresses remain the same the names have changed two to four times.
I was allocated Olympic games tickets in the first public ballot but alas for two days of football at Wembley. I managed to book Travel Lodge accommodation for a five night stay at three times less than the present advertised prices and where one Lodge where I have stayed in Summer for £9 a night is offering rooms at £400. I also was able to book the train travel a year ahead for just over £30 return. My £40 Wembley tickets and which include a quarter final cost £16 with a free London Travel ticket included. One of the few joys of old age. The ability to watch 40 days of Country Cricket for £100 plus parking and petrol costs extra is another joy with visits to Lords and the Oval to look forward to in April as Surrey and Middlesex have returned to the first division. The Aussi’s also come to the Emirates for a one day in July. This year I enjoyed a visit to watch Durham play Lancashire at Liverpool but enjoyed less their defeat at Trent Bridge. The civilized County Cricket fraternity are a declining global minority although I also enjoy the 20 20 game.
I have given up on sitting cold and unhappy at Premiership football and decided against the Wimbledon Ballot with centre Court tickets £100 a time preferring the comfort of watching events in large screen TV 2HD and 3D or even larger screen relayed Opera, Ballet, drama, concerts and sports at the local Cineworld and nearby Odeon although the Bolden 25 as we are on average did not appreciate Philip Glass’s Satyagrapha set to verses of the Gita.
Another form of masochistic self indulgence is to be one of the few outsiders who has watched every session and read every transcript the Home Affairs, Culture and Media, House of Lords and Joint Lords and Commons inquiries into the news media, Investigative Journalism and the law of Privacy as well as glued to Leveson 3 to 4 days a week plus reading the submissions and transcripts. Did Cameron really know what he was doing when appointing the remarkable Lord Justice? If the Tories replaced Cameron with Mrs May and boy George with Ken Clark the coalition would become invincible despite the impressive rise of Ed although he needs to show the same courage against Murdoch by replacing his shadow Chancellor with David.
Alas the shrill Ms Cooper must go too. Growing up getting off the trolley bus at Reeves Corner Croydon and having relatives in that area I returned to see the damage and hear first hand accounts of the rioting in August. In fairness the police did protect the main town centre but everyone in the area including the admirable commander at Sutton seemed to know what was going to happen hours beforehand. Mrs May was terrific putting Hugh Orde and ACPO in their place. Ms Cooper has got it wrong about the police and on the immigration fiasco too.
Is it really 50 years since I spent a summer working for the Family Service Unit in Salford and drank tea from jam jars with water boiled on furniture fires before checking that the pill had been taken that day at the Lee Crescent Birmingham Family residential unit the following Easter. It is good that the idea of providing intensive family care and having one individual represent the family in relation to all the agencies and officialdom has caught on once more.
It is therefore difficult to forecast the kind of year it is going to be for the majority although I was impressed by the firework display in London and the crowd roared their appreciation with fervour I have not witnessed before. There appears to be a genuine sense of excitement and a party mood which augurs well for the year
I did not put on too much weight over the Christmas visit just over one pound and I have quickly got bad into my pattern of food and with the cold have less of an appetite. I enjoyed a half pound of sprats cooked in batter and breadcrumbs for lunch and then had a platter of cold meats with some salad beans, red cabbage, tomatoes and small beetroots. However I think the solid food contributes to the congestion and wind. I had started the defrost of a medium size chicken and smoked salmon before the chest congestion and wind problem developed so I may limit to just the chicken breast finely chopped and the salmon if the problem persists. When purchasing the sprats I noted a whole fresh salmon for £31 although I prefer the tinned and the smoked, I has also planned to drinka bottle of Asti tomorrow but will postpone if there is need to continue to take the medication. There is Sunderland at home to leaders Man City on Sky in the afternoon. I had recommenced to organise my store of completed volumes in cupboard in the box room on the second floor but there was no will to day because of the indisposition.
I have a backlog of films to report as well as the experience of 3D TV in a home environment but for the moment I will mention some of other highlights which have struck me over the past week. I have recorded the best 50 moments in the Harry Potter film series on ITV this afternoon which is just as well as I fell asleep when watching the final hour. The best 50 was a show originally shown in his summer and the Christmas 2011 edition was an update to include all the films. At the moment I cannot find the list although I have discovered the extent of fan sites and interests that has developed over the years. I have watched much music compared to my normal practice of listening to music and watching films, sport, news etc on TV. I was not impressed with the Pink Funhouse show which like that of Kylie 2011 is remarkable and expensively staged. I have appreciated the vocal range and artistry of Pink before but this time she excelled herself with an aerial display to circus standards in which she continued to sing while water dripped of her. I have been an Alyson Moyet fan since the days of Kazoo. She seems to have lost a lot of weight over years and she was recognisable in her gig at the Prince’s Trust Rock concert. The revelation was Joss Stone. I was not impressed with her performance at the Diana Memorial Concert which I saw live but will view on the video sometime or by the other appearances I have seen over the years. Yet I was knocked out by that at the Prince Trust. She has raw power with conviction which reminds of Janis Joplin. Westlife, the Irish band were conventional in their 02 show but the top spot goes to a DVD of the Take That Concert tour, filmed in Manchester. The new Year end and the morning were accompanied by the Jools Holland End of the Year extravaganza with the usual plethora of Stars. Most impressive was Cindy Lauper with Girl’s Gotta have fun. I also enjoyed Imelda May a swinger and Ruby Turner a Blues lady. Sandi Shaw and Buddy Greco had individual numbers to remind of times past. It is not the show James Morrison and Caro Emeraldo from Holland is a night club songstress. The band the Vaccines did nothing for me. Jessi J is the one of the finds for 2011 and Betty Wright is a soul singer form the USA who showed she can give the youngster a lap or two. I was not impressed by Aloe Blacc anther visitor from the USA although a jazzy country group whose name I am yet to remember was OK. Henry Blowfield dressed loud and drank a lot at the same table with Joe Brand who stole the show with the resolution for 1012 to Shoot Jeremy Clarkson, or watch his family shoot him.
A footnote is that I complete a run of 2000 games of Hearts still going at 99.9 percentage on over 6000 game but still behind the 10000 consecutives undertake a decade ago. There was also the second highest total a Luxor Mahjong but still unable to break the 18 million points barriers.
Because my father was over sixty years of age when I was born it is over one hundred and fifty years since the birth of my grandfather and I have only to live another seven years for this also to apply to my maternal grandfather.
I have been gathering information on all those who died through war, including civil wars, during this period having found only one year when there was no armed conflict. Yet more have died from the great floods and earthquakes, the mass starvations and the pandemics which occurred with similar regularity. And yet the population of the world manages to increase by thousands of millions compared to the hundreds of millions who prematurely perished. So what is one life and what value my preoccupation with recording the events experienced? I have only reached half way in my end of life 101 contemporary art project.
Earlier this week there was the first theoretical sighting of Higgs bosun particle in Switzerland in the same week that the original particle collider at Chicago closed down. One of my correspondents reminds on a weekly basis through his general email newsletter of the potential significance of the Mayan Calendar ending in 12.12. My concern is more for 2013 when a new cycle of sunspot activity is scheduled to occur.
2013 is going to be an extraordinary year but I am not clear how far the 10000 troops on the streets of London will help celebrate the Queen’s triumphant barge led flotilla of a thousands ships along the Thames river, the Olympic Games, England winning the European Football Cup and a Scottish lad winning a grand Slam or Olympic Medal at Wimbledon, or indeed both; Or will they be there to protect from a police strike, an attempted right wing coup to break the coalition, or from the frustrations of escalating unemployment, loss of homes and diminishing living standards here or the wrath and vengeance of our enemies afar? The Iraq War Inquiry report will be published along with Leveson part I.
If Cameron is forced into a successful leave the EU referendum I am tempted to think that as the Queen’s children and Grandchildren travel the globe they may ponder on the wisdom of returning home but then conclude where else is stable and safe? If I win the European Lottery I will offer to establish a new political party in the North East for a referendum that we should be governed from Edinburgh and Brussels rather than London and Washington DC. At least we would have a chance of winning the Premier League and enter the Euro competitions!
I suspect that the main conflict will be over which spectacle Queen V Olympics proves best! The Olympic Torch will pass through South Shields but in addition to the school children given time off to cheer I wonder if the crowd will exceed the 20000 who crammed into our show park on a hot July Sunday this year for the free concert of X Factor and Pop to Opera Star Joe McEldery performing in his home town, and although only two of this year’s foursome winners, Little Mix, also come from the town I would not be surprised if their home town concert proved an even greater attraction especially as the Council is allowing the sale of alcohol next summer.
Despite the so called double dip recession Tyne and Wearsiders’ know how to party and I attended one of the four 50000 Take That concerts in Sunderland, albeit only because I was given a ticket. There were several remarkable aspects of that event in an audience predominantly female and drunkish and were per head expenditure appeared to be of the order of £100 including ticket there was no trouble in or out of the ground, everyone appeared to have a marvellous time and I got home quicker from my street parking spot than from a match. There were over 100 additional stewards in and out of the ground. The crew who created the spectacular multi million pound staging stayed at the local Marriott where until October I had risen for over a year for a six am 750 meter four times a week swim. They clocked up a bill of over £100000 for their stay with Take That staying separately at Seaham Hall. There were few hotel and guest house beds available in the area for the ten of thousands who travelled from all over the UK and beyond. The expenditure bonanza did not all go into the local economy with the lads each pocketing at least £1 million each per location.
Nor would one gain the impression of widespread poverty from visits to the local Supermarkets where we have Morison’s part way down my Hill, Asda in the town centre and Tesco on the way out to the AIM, plus similar size stores in Jarrow, Hebburn and Bolden, with the 7th at Seaburn all within half a dozen miles and a Borough population of 150000. Nor is it all gloom on the jobs front with a BT 400 new jobs centre recently opened on the Tyne edge by the ferry landing and work well under way on the eight lane 25 metre, plus leisure pool, 80 fitness station, plus dance studio plus rooftop restaurant centre conveniently overlooking the mouth the Tyne at the bottom of my hill for opening in 2013.
It would be foolish to suggest that the local economy is not suffering more than elsewhere given the all round loss of public sector jobs and the local night clubs closed or opening only for one night a week although the prize winning fish and chippy has doubled its restaurant area and prices, and seems busy whatever the time of year and weather and a second gourmet establishment has joined the 100 other eateries all within a mile of the bottom of the hill and I have a folder with leaflets from nearly 100 take away and home delivery meal offers although in the majority of instances while the addresses remain the same the names have changed two to four times.
I was allocated Olympic games tickets in the first public ballot but alas for two days of football at Wembley. I managed to book Travel Lodge accommodation for a five night stay at three times less than the present advertised prices and where one Lodge where I have stayed in Summer for £9 a night is offering rooms at £400. I also was able to book the train travel a year ahead for just over £30 return. My £40 Wembley tickets and which include a quarter final cost £16 with a free London Travel ticket included. One of the few joys of old age. The ability to watch 40 days of Country Cricket for £100 plus parking and petrol costs extra is another joy with visits to Lords and the Oval to look forward to in April as Surrey and Middlesex have returned to the first division. The Aussi’s also come to the Emirates for a one day in July. This year I enjoyed a visit to watch Durham play Lancashire at Liverpool but enjoyed less their defeat at Trent Bridge. The civilized County Cricket fraternity are a declining global minority although I also enjoy the 20 20 game.
I have given up on sitting cold and unhappy at Premiership football and decided against the Wimbledon Ballot with centre Court tickets £100 a time preferring the comfort of watching events in large screen TV 2HD and 3D or even larger screen relayed Opera, Ballet, drama, concerts and sports at the local Cineworld and nearby Odeon although the Bolden 25 as we are on average did not appreciate Philip Glass’s Satyagrapha set to verses of the Gita.
Another form of masochistic self indulgence is to be one of the few outsiders who has watched every session and read every transcript the Home Affairs, Culture and Media, House of Lords and Joint Lords and Commons inquiries into the news media, Investigative Journalism and the law of Privacy as well as glued to Leveson 3 to 4 days a week plus reading the submissions and transcripts. Did Cameron really know what he was doing when appointing the remarkable Lord Justice? If the Tories replaced Cameron with Mrs May and boy George with Ken Clark the coalition would become invincible despite the impressive rise of Ed although he needs to show the same courage against Murdoch by replacing his shadow Chancellor with David.
Alas the shrill Ms Cooper must go too. Growing up getting off the trolley bus at Reeves Corner Croydon and having relatives in that area I returned to see the damage and hear first hand accounts of the rioting in August. In fairness the police did protect the main town centre but everyone in the area including the admirable commander at Sutton seemed to know what was going to happen hours beforehand. Mrs May was terrific putting Hugh Orde and ACPO in their place. Ms Cooper has got it wrong about the police and on the immigration fiasco too.
Is it really 50 years since I spent a summer working for the Family Service Unit in Salford and drank tea from jam jars with water boiled on furniture fires before checking that the pill had been taken that day at the Lee Crescent Birmingham Family residential unit the following Easter. It is good that the idea of providing intensive family care and having one individual represent the family in relation to all the agencies and officialdom has caught on once more.
It is therefore difficult to forecast the kind of year it is going to be for the majority although I was impressed by the firework display in London and the crowd roared their appreciation with fervour I have not witnessed before. There appears to be a genuine sense of excitement and a party mood which augurs well for the year
I did not put on too much weight over the Christmas visit just over one pound and I have quickly got bad into my pattern of food and with the cold have less of an appetite. I enjoyed a half pound of sprats cooked in batter and breadcrumbs for lunch and then had a platter of cold meats with some salad beans, red cabbage, tomatoes and small beetroots. However I think the solid food contributes to the congestion and wind. I had started the defrost of a medium size chicken and smoked salmon before the chest congestion and wind problem developed so I may limit to just the chicken breast finely chopped and the salmon if the problem persists. When purchasing the sprats I noted a whole fresh salmon for £31 although I prefer the tinned and the smoked, I has also planned to drinka bottle of Asti tomorrow but will postpone if there is need to continue to take the medication. There is Sunderland at home to leaders Man City on Sky in the afternoon. I had recommenced to organise my store of completed volumes in cupboard in the box room on the second floor but there was no will to day because of the indisposition.
I have a backlog of films to report as well as the experience of 3D TV in a home environment but for the moment I will mention some of other highlights which have struck me over the past week. I have recorded the best 50 moments in the Harry Potter film series on ITV this afternoon which is just as well as I fell asleep when watching the final hour. The best 50 was a show originally shown in his summer and the Christmas 2011 edition was an update to include all the films. At the moment I cannot find the list although I have discovered the extent of fan sites and interests that has developed over the years. I have watched much music compared to my normal practice of listening to music and watching films, sport, news etc on TV. I was not impressed with the Pink Funhouse show which like that of Kylie 2011 is remarkable and expensively staged. I have appreciated the vocal range and artistry of Pink before but this time she excelled herself with an aerial display to circus standards in which she continued to sing while water dripped of her. I have been an Alyson Moyet fan since the days of Kazoo. She seems to have lost a lot of weight over years and she was recognisable in her gig at the Prince’s Trust Rock concert. The revelation was Joss Stone. I was not impressed with her performance at the Diana Memorial Concert which I saw live but will view on the video sometime or by the other appearances I have seen over the years. Yet I was knocked out by that at the Prince Trust. She has raw power with conviction which reminds of Janis Joplin. Westlife, the Irish band were conventional in their 02 show but the top spot goes to a DVD of the Take That Concert tour, filmed in Manchester. The new Year end and the morning were accompanied by the Jools Holland End of the Year extravaganza with the usual plethora of Stars. Most impressive was Cindy Lauper with Girl’s Gotta have fun. I also enjoyed Imelda May a swinger and Ruby Turner a Blues lady. Sandi Shaw and Buddy Greco had individual numbers to remind of times past. It is not the show James Morrison and Caro Emeraldo from Holland is a night club songstress. The band the Vaccines did nothing for me. Jessi J is the one of the finds for 2011 and Betty Wright is a soul singer form the USA who showed she can give the youngster a lap or two. I was not impressed by Aloe Blacc anther visitor from the USA although a jazzy country group whose name I am yet to remember was OK. Henry Blowfield dressed loud and drank a lot at the same table with Joe Brand who stole the show with the resolution for 1012 to Shoot Jeremy Clarkson, or watch his family shoot him.
A footnote is that I complete a run of 2000 games of Hearts still going at 99.9 percentage on over 6000 game but still behind the 10000 consecutives undertake a decade ago. There was also the second highest total a Luxor Mahjong but still unable to break the 18 million points barriers.
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