2479 Two more Montalbano's read in reverse order

Rounding the Mark is the sixth Andrea Camilleri book in the Montalbano police detective series that I have enjoyed reading over the first weeks of August 2013. I should have read the Scent of the Night, the next book in sequence but in fact Round the Mark has a great connection with Excursion to Tindari the previous book reviewed which covered the exploiting, maiming and murder of poor people, frequently migrants, for their organs by a Mafia funded and organised operation!!!!

In this book Montalbano, given his age and foodie lifetsyle, takes one of his long and potentially dangerous swims given his proneness to cramp and encounters a badly decomposed body which he manages to get ashore by using his swimming trunks much to the horror of a visiting couple whose husband keep Montalbano at bay until his colleague police officers and a TV camera arrive to give the scene a national significance.

Who is this man and how he got to where he is found is the first question followed by did Inspector Salvo Montalbano do the right thing in reuniting an illegal migrant runaway with his mother? Readers of this brilliant series will also ask what is the connection between the two events?

The book begins with Montalbano trying to work off one of his evening meal extravaganzas` where he has a tendency to consume several portions of some delicacy, presumably without side dishes, at times wolfing if he does not concentrate, hence the need to eat in silence even when he has excellent company. In this instance he mentions baby octopus a strascinasali, baby fish boiled in salted water and then dressed in olive oil and lemon juice which I have in stock but the baby octopus does not appeal while and sardines beccaficio- headless cleaned sardines stuffed with sautéed bread crumbs, pine nuts and anchovies all I have except the pine nuts but which I will try.

During the book the owner of the Trattoria where Salvo has many meals announces he is to retire and this cause the Inspector great anxiety and various trips in search of a replacement home from home. His daily help creates one meal a day and the Inspector is not content with making do with cheese, olives, salted sardines and salami as a second meal of the day. After experimenting in half a dozen places the one found which is passable involves a car journey which being such a busy man created problems. He therefore takes up a suggestion of a Trattoria recommended by a friend of his deputy Mimi. The owner chef Enzo and been waiting for him to arrive having heard thought the grapevine the Calvary, the Inspector faced.

He has an antipasto of salted octopus followed by the pasta with a sauce off squid ink(There are 12 results for this on Amazon). He then has a fish grill which included mullet, sea bass and gilthead reminding of what if the great meals experience when visiting in Northern France one year commencing with a whole dressed crab on shell and claws to crack with a bottle of white Sancerre, followed by a red mullet with more wine and the crème caramel before coffee. I still have the receipt somewhere.

As the pressure of the case built up Salvo rejects beef roulades left for him by the daily help and goes to the Trattoria Enzo for more spaghetti in squid ink followed by crispy fried calamaretti. As his mood improves he enjoys a pasta ncasiata from the oven. Having persuaded his married Swedish friend Ingrid to assist in his inquiry she takes him out for meal comprising a dish of ditalini in a sauce of fresh and properly salted ricotta with pecorino and black pepper on top. The second course was costi imbriachi, drunken pork ribs drowning in wine and tomato concentrates. He is supposed to pay but forgets his wallet.

All this food makes my hungry for good cooking but I am unlikely to try making most of the top ten public voted Italian dishes which were broadcast on More Four on Saturday August 10^th 2013 and which would have sent Salvo into raptures of ecstasy with the insistence on freshly made with the best ingredients, except there was little mention of the fish other than part of a pasta dish with, clams. The most favoured was the Pizza, not surprising and the gelato form of ice cream. I was most interested by the making of lasagne and an aubergine dish, and noted the meat balls with polenta, the wild mushroom risotto, the brochette options and the tiramisu plus finding out for the first time was is gnocchi placing the recipes in my More Four scrap book just in case. I also discovered that I have a recipe book at home on the pasta which was given when I purchased a Fiat motor car one time. All making me very hungry again at writing so I had two ready made omelettes with cheese (£1) from frozen with my coffee followed by a glass of lemonade for breakfast and a few dried figs to get me going for the rest of the writing. For lunch there is a pork chop, jacket potato and corn on the cob while later afternoon there was smoked mackerel, a cheese toastie and red grapes all with lashings of lemonade.

Back to the book the problem Detective and the faces is that while body had been dead and presumably in the sea of a month at the time it was found it could only have been in the particular current for short time and from along a short distance fo coast otherwise the current would above taken long long distance further. The answer found much later is that the body was trapped in a secret small harbour attached to one of the properties put up without planning permission, part of the new towns of such properties created along this part of the Sicilian coast. The three towns although unauthorized have electricity, running water, sewerage and gas etc and pay taxes to the appropriate municipality. These property eventually get amnesty with the officer adding that there are also several houses built on the beach. This is the significant information which Salvo will eventually follow up,

The next phase of the story begins when Salvo becomes involved in the daily arrival of migrants(tourists) taken from captured or rescued stranded vessels and spots a young body breaking from the crowd who he then finds hiding in the docks and befriends reminding of his experience of the lad in the Snack Thief who he and Livia planned to adopt before the child made it plain he wanted to stay with the sister of Mimi, her husband and their two sons. When the boy is claimed by a female migrant with other children, Salvo reunites but notes the reluctance almost pleading of the boy. The mother has an accident and is taken to the local hospital by an ambulance that is regularly on hand to deal with medical problems arising for the daily arrivals and rescues. However when Montalbano goes to see the boy and his mother at the hospital he finds there is no record and a nurse later contacts to say that on returning to the hospital she had seen a woman mother with boys getting into the car a little way from the hospital and who had not appeared injured in anyway..

The Inspector then learns that the boy is found run down and killed by a car on an isolated roadway leading to or from the new towns, where the witness although from his vantage point did not have a clear view has the impression that the vehicle deliberately changed course to hit the child. Salvo understandably is very upset. This has a traumatic effect who announces to Livia he has arranged to see the Commissioner of Police to give his resignation. Meanwhile he goes over his recollection of what happened at the dockside and this leads him to make inquiries about the Ambulance paramedic.

His assistant Fazio finds out interesting things about the man such as the shop inherited by his wife burned down from arson after failure to pay protection money. However he appears to accept the Mafia involvement, expands and gets into debt with Mafia Loan Sharks. Salvo dresses up like a gangster after having a few business cards printed and engaging the help of Ingrid (the Swedish wife he assisted in a previous case) and goes to the gift shop run by the wife of ambulance paramedic to buy a present for a friend who is getting married. The impact of the visit to cause the paramedic to ask to see Salvo at home rather wait for their morning appointment.

The terrified man confirms that he has been part fo a racket helping to bring in migrant children and escaping from the authoritative by feigning an accident and need for medical help which he is on hand to take to the hospital with the help of the driver who he pays off and then enables the woman and her charges to leave just before the hospital to be picked up by the car. He admits to doing this before involving adults and children. He had given the boy a sedative to quieten him. Salvo is so angered he hits the man and blackmails him into agreeing to go through with the next request that comes, keeping the Inspector informed throughout.

During these events the team tries to find out the identity of the dead man discovered by the Inspector when swimming he is contacted by an investigative journalist who Caterella and his ability to mispronounces everything says is Pontius Pilot. On returning home has found a letter delivered from the Journalist Fonzo Spala who having seen him TV wants to meet and talk to him about his investigation into the involvement of the Mafia and illegal immigrants.

In order to have some break through Salvo gets forensics to create an image for the dead man who is recognised as Ernesto Errera, a fugitive for two years with a long criminal record but this only adds to the mystery because the man in question died previously and was buried. However Salvo remains open minded and when someone like the man in the made up photo is reported to have been seen since the alleged burial in an area of the new towns and from a small group of private and secluded villa on the beach or with sea access, he investigates further. One of the witnesses at a garage recognises not only the man but also boy who was run down. It is evident he had been taken to a property from which he has run away and then run down. The two cases have become linked.

Salvo arranges to hire a dingy to be taken along the coast so he can view the isolated and now vacant holiday villas and discovers one with warning lights for an entrance avoiding the rocks and where there is a metal barrier into a mini harbour immediately below the property. The property was created by an American Italian known for criminality, but has been recently rented out.

Salvo has the tendency to discuss his cases which ever one fo his women folk admirers has his company and after their meal out it is Ingrid who provides the information which reveals that one of her recent lovers is that same man found by the Inspector when swimming. This is a believable coincidence given the nature fo Sicilian society and the range of affairs which Ingrid enjoys.. They had met queuing for petrol. The man was married to a girl from Cosenza who died after two years. The man she knew as Ernesto D’Iunio looked as being Ernesto Errera fugitive.

The relationship had only lasted two months and she had ended because of concerns about the man. He had cancelled arrangements to meet three times arranging to see her the following night although on the third occasion she had not gone. The second confirmatory breakthrough comes when he receives through the post a paper clipping for the death of Mr Errera that he had only been identified from documents in his wallet, the body being smashed from being it by a train in the Cosenza area! Things moved fast as next the paramedic contacted after being told to be ready for another pick up.

Salvo also meets with the journalist whose investigation concerns the trafficking in immigrant children who come in their thousands alone from Albania, Rumania, former Yugoslavia and Moldavia, Morocco , Algeria, Turkey, Iraq, Bangladesh etc. The main purpose is use them for organ transplants, to sell to paedophiles or to become part of he begging rackets.

The journalist had come to Vigate because one of the key figures of Mafia involvement in the trafficking was seen in the area, a thirty year old with an army of killers to hand and that it was believe that in the area was a holding and sorting facility for those who would be passed on, sold, or move into terrorist cells Events them move fast with Salvo getting into major difficulties from an underwater explore and then being shot in the shoulder in an exchange of fire with one of the lieutenants involved in this horrific criminal trade.They find a group of terrified children who have been unloaded directly from the smuggling vessel to the house.

The eighth book I have read in reverse order is the Scent of the Night which is primarily a story about a financial swindle plus unrequited love.

There is a sub plot which for once is unconnected with the main story. The Commissioner discovers that the murdered mother of Françoise, the child he and Livia were to adopt but since this had taken place with the sister of Mimi and her husband and two sons, had a substantial amount of money in account where the pass book had been taken by Salvo. Now we as readers of the book in question Salvo not wanting the state to take hold of the money had asked a local Magistrate notary to take the account and invest on behalf of he boy until he was of an age to benefit. Fortunately he had received a receipt and the child been formally adopted. However in the natural course of his life he had forgotten about this and disclosed to anyone including his long distance partner Livia, his deputy Mini or he sister and her family. Being Salvo he was understandably aghast at the accusation knowing that the Commissioner was not his friend. Rather than explain the position given the attitude of the Commissioner he visits the notary who has retired and is momentarily anxious in case the money was invested in the King Midas Fund but all is well and the funds are secure and he finds the receipt which he sends without explanation to the Commissioner. With lots of goodies he goes to see the sister and explains the position which she takes in her stride. The boy now has his own horse and tells Salvo that his ambition is to become a policeman when he grows up. He also find out that Livia has been to see the boy secretly and this does not help the difficulties the couple are experiencing.

The main story begins when an angry investor tries to hold up the King Midas Associates office of the head the one man investment company who had disappeared. The swindle is a familiar one. Investors are offered an exceptional rate of interest of 20%. This is paid to the first investors which is in effect one fifth of the amount invested at that point. The consequence is that all their friends relatives and friends what to join in and offer more money as well as some of the original investors. The swindler then arranges to disappear with all these funds which he has invested in various off shore accounts. The Inspector investigates the two assistants and the secretary receptionist office keeper. According to the office assistant the young man who dealt with the computerisation of accounts had gone to Germany and would be back within a month. The team discover that in fact he had not gone to Germany but had bought a ticket to another destination which he had also not used thus attempting to provide a false trail.

They discover that this young man was having a house built on isolated land which contained the olive tree that Montalbano would visit and talk to seek answers when he was stuck on a case. When he discovers that the tree has been torn down to build the property he breaks windows and splashes graffiti and action which is discovered by an assistant who nevertheless covers up when the father of the man makes a formal complaint about the vandalism attack. Payments for the house appear to have been made direct to the young man from account of his employer but were not part of the swindled funds.

The other assistant is an attractive young woman Michela Manganaro living with her parents in a ten story block of public housing and in bed when Salvo calls and finds that she is strapping, tall and beautiful with a brief miniskirt and a blouse barely containing her other attributes. It emerged she had already been seen by his deputy and he quickly assumed seen in every despite the engagement to Beatrice and the forthcoming wedding. She regarded Mimi with hostility, hence also the Inspector because his deputy had not disclosed the engagement and marriage until after their encounter. They go on a car ride so she can talk freely and during their conversation the Inspector asks if she had slept with her boss. She laughs and discloses that he is gay and that he was having a relationship with the other assistant, the man who said he was going to Germany but who whereabouts also remained unknown. She had that from the public appearance he was courting her and his secretary Maristella who he showered with chocolates and flowers and who adored him.

The search for the assistant continued until evidence of buying but not using a ticket to Lisbon leads them back to the half built villa where they find two packed suitcases but they do not find a brief case which they find contained diskettes and computer account codes.

It is then he decides to approach a retired university teacher who has caused previous amusement mixed with irritation from reporting saving seen tings like flying saucers and aliens. The married man appears sane and sensibility but admit he does end to see things are not there but figments of his imagination but in this instance he is adamant about seeing a car and a motorbike in an area on a cliff top known to be used by lovers while taking of his usual late night walkabouts. It appears to be the car used by the missing King Midas swindler. The inspector visits the place, looks over onto the rocks below and then arranges one of his diving expeditions. He arranges for the vehicle to be raised with inside the body of the shot assistant.

Salvo began to work out the mystery and that the assistant had in turn worked out not only what King Midas was doing but how and used this knowledge to blackmail his boss and lover into ensuring their relationship was to be long term. Despite being in love with the assistant the boss knew his own future was in question wile the young man lived and had killed him. This knocked on the head the belief that the two men had been killed by the Mafia upset to find that their money laundering investments were part of the swindle. But where is he?

It then that the maestro works out that the secretary is more involved that she has let on as she did not appear surprised when the Inspector had reported various developments and concerns. She was convinced King Midas would return as would the male assistant. He learns from the friend (Voice of the Violin previously) who is a distant relative of the secretary that she lives alone in a great house inherited from her parents and that she had been very attached to her father to an extent she had not reported his death for several days as if unaware he had died. After he witnesses he involvement as a pedestrian in car accident he helps her home after she refused to go to the hospital. He persuades her to show him the home and finds King Mafia dead, shot with the briefcase nearby in a bedroom with the woman genuinely unaware he is there, repressing what she has done. After shooting his lover he turned to her for help and she had killed him, perhaps to save him from what lay ahead when he was caught. They may never come to really known her motive at the time. He arranges for the doctor to send her into a long sleep so he can have forensics in the house and remove the body the following morning. The case is solves and the briefcase will enable the authorities to find the missing money.

Having commenced with food and end with first Salvo wolfing two servings of grilled fish as first and second courses and then having an explored her finds a rural restaurant no more than eight tables in the middle of nowhere. He is given a jug of dense red wine while the food is prepared. He is offered burning piraciati something the Inspector accepts even thought he warned, “if you are up to it. His mouth burns and he chokes when it arrives and then enquires what is in it! Olive oil, half an onion two cloves of garlic, two salted anchovies, a teaspoon of fine capers, black olives, tomatoes, basil, half a pimento, salt, pecorino cheese and black pepper. Extreme cooking proving pleasure and agony intermingled. He was unable to eat a second course as it took a day for the taste buds to return! He also enjoys nannatu, flat crispy dumplings studied with fish eyes from the tiny baby fish not thrown back to the sea and cooked with lemon. To punish himself for eating a technically illegal dish he does not ear another course. Returning from an unsatisfactory day’s work and an unholy exchange with Livia as he forgets she is coming over fort he wedding and has purchased the present he has forgotten he finds a dish of patati cunsati- a potato based dish with onions, capers, olives, salt and pepper and this is the overture to the arrival of Mimi having second thoughts about the wedding and in need of several tots of whisky. During the visit to see Mimi’s sister he had eaten pasta al ragu and pork and on return he cooked himself and egg with four fresh sardines tossed in olive oil, vinegar and oregano. Feeling hungry the following day he goes to the restaurant for the pasta in squid ink and a dozen baby octopus dumplings.

And Mimi ? Well the wedding is delayed a month because of a family illness but it does take place with him as witness accompanied by Livia. And as for the book it does not satisfy as much as several of the others and I wish I had read them in the right order of publication.

2478 A visit to Northants for the cricket has disastrous moments plus Asian Buffet in Croydon

My visit August 2013 to Northants became a very mixed fortunes experience with Durham losing in the quarter final of the 20 20 competition and my getting lost in the city centre on return from the game which I nevertheless enjoyed.

I had a quiet day on the Monday August 5th  in preparation for my plan to leave the Travel Lodge on the following day around 11- 11.30 taking the train from East Croydon Station to St Pancras, depositing the large case in left luggage and then taking the expensive one station underground train to Euston with the haversack and the sleep apnoea machine and then waiting for the 13.52 to Northampton which cost only £6, booking in at the Travel Lodge, unpacking and making my way to the cricket ground having established that it would be open from 16.00 with ticket collection available from 09.00. From the map the travel lodge appeared to be a short walk from the station and number 1 and 16/17 buses took one to the ground alighting at the Abingdon Pub from the bus station. The following morning I would rise early for the 7.32 back to Euston and the 10.30 from Kings Cross back to Newcastle and South Shields, after colleting the case from left luggage. That was the plan on paper.

I was aware that I would bring with me the heavy computer plus toilet bag and pyjamas bottom together with the information and tickets/bookings folder. There was no capacity to bring a second shirt after I took the decision to obtain a Macintosh type coat as I anticipated it would get cold as the evening went into darkness. I would wear my new suit, more about that in moment and the subsequent need for a second shirt which I did not possess. The alternative was travel in the blue summer trousers, and a soft brown zipped jacket which would go well with the shiny brown shoes and socks. I wanted to wear the suit. Doing what you want against rationality and logic sometimes has a high price and by nature I am not a gambling man.

Although I had expensively dry cleaned the suit before departure I only discovered after returning from my visit to see the film about the later life of Renoir that is remained badly stained giving parts of it a brownish tinge which suggested some adverse chemical interaction. On Monday morning after a breakfast of a ‘pain au choclat’ and a Danish for £1.20 from Sainsbury local with coffee I made the decision to look for an inexpensive new suit, still clinging to the belief that I am able to reduce my weigh to below 15 stone despite the time and challenging of getting below 16.

I first visited Debenham’s across for the closed Alders in the High Street and then found British Home Stores in the Alder’s end of the Whitgift centre, and then went to the Marks and Spencer’s at the far opposite end of the centre, noting the wide range in the price of suits. At M and S I found an excellent mid grey plain suit for £69 with a short leg fitting waist size pair of trousers and a long jacket which I could button and with an attractive blue lining. In the subsequent circumstances it was just as well that I did not purchase something more expensive.

After returning to the Travel Lodge to hang the suit I decided to try out the new Asian Buffet that has opened close to Church and Surrey Street by what was the former entrance of the now closed Alders departmental store. I was the first sit down customer although the number of reserved tables and the arrival of constant stream of diners indicated the popularity of this establishment where one can eat as much as one liked for £4.95 and where commercially supplied soft drinks are kept in a cool cabinet and sold for £1 in or 80 pence to take away.

The range of food is limited with about eight main dishes of chicken and meats, various rice and noodles, some prawn crackers and sauces. There are no sweets or puddings offered. The price goes up £1 after 4pm. I had two large plates of main courses without the rice or other side dishes or sauces and two cans of coke and was very satisfied although the quality and range does not compare to that at the Millennium Dome and which I had considered visiting if there had been something to interest me at the Cineworld or the weather had been such to have attracted a trip on the Emirates Cable Car.

It commenced to rain when I went on walkabout after the meal and became heavier as the evening progressed and I went across to Sainsbury for a sandwich £3 deal. I spent the rest of the day dozing, reading and writing and listened to the Proms on the headphones radio.

It is an appropriate point to confess that after an excellent control of food over the first two days of the trip on Sunday the madness took hold. I crossed over from the station to visit Sainsbury after the disappointment of Lords, assuming that Waitrose would be closed only to note that it was not as I passed by on the other side of road. On the previous two evenings I had purchased a carton of spiced chicken wings from Waitrose together with a carton of grapes and cold drinks. As there was only chicken that required heating up at Sainsbury’s I opted for a two packets of salami deal for £2 and two rather stale ciabatta rolls but which were Ok but then could not resist an inexpensive block of Vienetta type ice cream which melted quickly in heat so had to be immediately eaten at a price of £1 reminding when I had bought a pack of 4 possibly six Cornetto type ices for a similar low price on one the Mansfield visits. That is my admission and it was only after the ice cream did I eat the Ciabatta and salami. It was very enjoyable despite the guilt.

Apart from Sunday morning when I watched the Test Match on the laptop I have kept in touch via the pocket digital radio. It has been a game where Australia appeared in control from winning the toss and electing to bat on a good wicket with captain Clark 187 supported by Rogers 84. Smith 89 and Haddin 63 declaring, in the light of events and the weather too early on 527 for 7 He should have continued and set England an even tougher task to avoid the follow on. The only bright aspect of the first innings was the dismissal of Warner for 5 who it will be remembered was lucky not to been sent home after hitting Root at a night club after what appears to have been a taunt about losing the first Test. When he came to field he had to run the gauntlet of boos but after a subsequent press conference when he again held up his hands (no word play intended) and making everyone laugh he appears to have commenced to win back support for his obvious talent. We shall view with interest his reception at the fourth Test which begins at Chester Le Street, later this morning

England in their first innings demonstrated that they are not as good a side as the media has built up with 3 wickets going for 64 and 4 for 100. Only a brilliant controlled 113 by Pietersen after Cooke 62 and with Bell 60 helped the side to avoid the follow on hence the comment about declaring too early. Given the known weather forecast, Australia’s only hope of keeping the series alive was to bowl England out twice in succession. The next issue was for how long should the Australians bat in their second innings. It was here that Warner did well getting 41 quick runs. After bad light stopped play on the 4^th day Australia declared setting England to get over 300 to win. England were 37 for 3 when the rain set in on the final day leading to a draw which means that even if the Australians win the last two Test march at Durham this week and then the Oval, a drawn series means the Ashes are retained. If the game at Durham is won or drawn then England will win the series and thus win rather than retain the Ashes for the third time in succession.

The weather also helped Durham in the Championship table creating draws in the latest round of matches together with the great win of Derbyshire against Sussex Yorkshire retain their first place with 158 from 11 games played and still over 100 points to play for, Sussex with the extra game played are 148 and Middlesex with 11 played on 144 and Durham with six more games to plan and 150 points still to play for on 132.5 and Warwickshire 121 also from 11.

I now focus on what happened on my second only ever remembered visit to Northampton with the first made at night to a car park adjacent to a theatre and an immediate return to my then home in Oxford City afterwards. I bought a couple more of the Danish for £1.30 for breakfast and a king prawn sandwich, orange fruit juice and crisps combination £4.40 in total which I consumed between eight and 10.30 and remarkably not eating again until around 9.30 the following morning. I packed well wearing the suit but not the comparatively thick wind and rain cheater I had purchased the previous afternoon from Hewitts, a store in Church Street selling walking and camping gear as well as school uniforms and sportswear. This was the largest size available for only £12. It reminds that on my walk down to Reeves corner where work of some kind appears to be being commenced at the site of the burned down store although damaged shops and accommodation adjacent appears as before with presumably the legal battles with the insurance company continuing.

I made my way to East Croydon station around 11.00 noting that the rucksack had become heavy because of the computer and wishing I had decided to travel light to the game, returning on the 10.55 train to Euston which arrived at 12.30 and then making my way to Croydon for the night where the room was already paid for and using some fo the money for the night at Northampton on Taxis to the ground and back from the station. Life as one gets older consists of making choices without the information necessary to predetermine that will prove good or bad. The art is to relax and attempt to enjoy experiences irrespective of how the decisions work out. Saying this is easy.

The train between Brighton and Bedford was more than half empty so there was no problem about placing luggage in the rack provided and selecting a six seater space just for me. The guy at the left luggage followed his training instructions to the letter and I was pleased that the cost would be only £9 for the 24 hour holding session, although this was money I could also have saved had I not arranged the overnight stay. I then took the escalator down to the underground station complex for the Northern line noting there was a queue of people to be photographed holding a luggage trolley at the entrance to Platform 9 and ¾ a la Harry Potter books. I arrived at Euston a good hour before departure time collecting tickets by the platforms marked for Watford and Northampton putting in the code for the cricket ticket instead of that for train until checking. Unlike the ticket dispenser for the Cineworld Cinemas the machine is able to offer printing one or both sets of tickets. I managed to find a seat where I watched the travellers come and go as departure platforms were announced. With about 15 minuets before departure I moved position standing below the main departure board rather than the separate area for Watford and Northampton, a good move because in fact the train was listed for a different plat from the designated platforms. During the waiting it was good to see trains for Crew and Chester as well as Birmingham and Manchester reminding of the three years when I lived and worked for the County between 1971 and 1974 over 40 years before.

It had become quickly evident why the difference in available prices for the journey to Northampton where trains appeared to be departing every few minutes. This is because that is the West Midland services which ends at Northampton but which has a variation in stops along the route is less expensive that the trains which go on to Birmingham and further North, Thse while stopping at Northampton only stop at Watford Junction and one or two other stops before their first main destination.

On the outward journey my train which was fairly full but with spare seats made different stops from that taken then following morning when we also stopped at Harrow and Wealdstone after Watford Junction, There were stops at Hemel Hempstead, Leighton Buzzard, Berkhampstead and Bletchley in both directions but only at Overton on the afternoon journey The following morning there were additional stops at Tring and Cheddington. The track is very wide leaving Euston and in parts along the route. A feature of the stations is a double decker car park indicating the extent of commuting. Because of electrification the cross over stairway between platform are exceptionally tall and although here are lifts these were said to be temperamental and a cause of constant complaint by regular users as I was quickly to learn.

I have been to Harrow by train station having parked en route to Wembley. I cannot remember if I have been to Watford for the football but I did visit a computer shop there to acquire the pack which converted my Amstrad green screen 256 to 512. I remembered I had been to Beaconsfield and to Berkhampstead when I lived and worked at Oxford. I have stopped at Milton Keyens during coach rides to London as the stopping place for connections to London Airport. Once to avoid a traffic hold up on the M1 I found myself driving around and around Milton Keynes passing the stadium of the MK Dons, former Wimbledon Team and also stopping at the town centre. I have never been to Bletchley where the Park is famous for the government centre which racked the German code system using the Enigma machine. I have been to a professional managerial annual conference at the County Town of Hertford. The land is pleasant, undulating but which separate character or identity and thus I came to Northampton just after 3pm on Tuesday 6^th August with the weather sunny and warm after a dull shower looking start at Croydon.

The tall staircase from the platform looked challenging with the two bags and impossible if the case had been with me as well so I went for the lift which was working although had not been earlier in the morning according the father of the young woman with a pram who had come to meet her off the train. There is considerable work going on at the station entrance but as I was to find out the following morning the road from the Travel Lodge in theTown centre to the station is direct and straight. However this is not evident at the station itself and with a good number of taxi’s in line I decided to take on £3.50 for the journey.

The Travel Lodge is an adapted building on four floors with small ground floor reception. The young lady at the desk mentioned that she caught the 10.50 something train at night home to Milton Keynes where she lived confirming that it arrived at Euston at 12.30. She also explained that the hotel operated an electricity control system requiring you to insert the key card in a slot by the door to bring the lights on. My room was at the back quiet small given that it was a double and overlooking what could have been a former church building but which appeared to be used for something in relation to children. The TV was fixed on the wall above the end of the bed. I unpacked and set up the Sleep Apnoea machine deciding to make my way immediately to the ground after having a quick orientation along the High Street. I quickly saw a sign towards the train station but there was no indication where the bus station was located.

　

Following the sign to the Train station I enquired about the bus station as the junction which appeared to be a major thoroughfare with a Vue Cinema at the corner. I was directed to the bus station a short distance away which was under a shopping centre. I noted that it would not be a good place to use the under passes at night and reached the station via an entrance leading to the shopping centre. There are bus bays on either side fo the station and I went to the bay (8) for the 16/17 bus where the driver confirmed bus went lose to the cricket ground and that I should alight at the Abingdon Pub.

It was on the bus that with horror I realised that a ball point pen had leaked in the inside pocket of the new suit jacket and that there was significant patch of ink on the blue lining below the pocket and consequently on my white shirt. I removed the jacket hiding the inked shirt with the rain and windcheater in which I placed the pen wrapped in a handkerchief and deposited in the bin by the bus stop. Later I noted a small spot of the ink was visible on the from of the jacket disaster as unlikely to be removable.

Across the road appeared to be a large park with in the distance a number of cars entering and where I remembered from the notes provided on the club site there is free car parking, but where was the ground? An enquiry revealed it was located down a small residential street to the side of the Public House. However this proved to be the Members entrance and I had to reverse steps continue left along the road with the park opposite and then left again until reaching the main entrance of the county ground.

Northants has been a first class county in 1905 but has never won the Championship coming second three times and is one of the oldest if not the oldest clubs commencing in the Minor Counties championship in the 1880’s. It can only hold around 5000 spectators and even with planned developments the ground is unlikely to host major international games. Arriving early and collecting my ticket one of several hundreds booked on line and available at two tables in the car park by the main gates. With the Winchester to hold and with two and half hours before the match commenced there was plenty of opportunity for me to explore the stadium and select the best possible vantage point, There are seats on this side of the ground above the wicket although they are not high backing on to the indoor cricket school building which also houses the club shop. The main stands and pavilions are opposite although as I discovered the main upper view had been taken over by Sky equipment as the stand also features the broadcast and media centre. There were some seats to one side but I decided against as this was the wrong end to get to what I believed was the first bus stop from the ground after game ended.

There was access to the right had side of the upper side but this was area restricted to Chairman and members of the cricket committee. The player and officials pavilion was to the left of this stand while what looked like a members Pavilion below that of the chairman’s area. Below the main part of the stand there appeared to be what would be regarded as a members areas on match days but this was being reserved for seven tables of diners from sponsors. There were stands to the sides and also several outlets for food and drink more than would be normal at Clubs like Durham on 20 20 days with about seven food including burgers and hog roasts, several soft drinks as well as beers. In one corner from the main entrance and nets there was a club pub type with some splendid seating inside and it looked as if they were preparing to also supply food. I selected a seat at the back of what is named the University stand to one side overlooking the wicket, close to the exist and some male toilets. On my walkabout around the ground I considered purchasing some food as I had not eaten anything since well before 11 but as I was not hungry I held off.

I was very impressed with crowd that developed with the overwhelming majority families or people in groups. There was an excitement and realism given that Onions was playing and Collingwood was the Captain, as one parent explained to his son the man had been captain fo teh successful England one day side. They did not expect to win but they had come along in hope and to support. There was a sense of people being part of something special and the Northants Rugby Club had come along en masse to give their support.

Opening the batting for Northants was Kyle Coetzer who showed great promise when at Durham several years ago and who captains the Scotland one Day side that has performed so badly in the 40 40 competition and is not competing next year as a consequence. Another Northants player is the young fast bowler Luke Evans a former member of the Durham academy but who has not made the senior team. The most significant connection between Northants and Durham is that long serving Cricket Coach Geoff Cooke was a long time player for Northants and Wayne Larkins who also played for Durham was a Northants first team played for a decade.

Some of the most well known players for Northants moved on like Monty Panesar and Raman Subba Row was captain 58 to 61 when Northants had become one of the top teams with Freddie Brown playing for Middlesex when he captained England on that famous 1948 last Test at the Oval when Bradman was out second ball and where at the age of 9 I was taken by an older cousin queuing outside the ground for hours among some twenty thousand people. The fast bowler Frank Typhoon Tyson played for Northants as did batsman Colin Milburn plus Allen Lamb are other well known team members who also played for England.

A number of famous International cricketers have played seasons at the club with current side player Matthew Haddin, plus Mike Hussey and David Lilee and from India Capel Dev, Bishan Bede, Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly and Curley Ambrose among the West Indies cricketers.

The Northants innings had two distinct phases with Collinwood, Onions and Rushworth opening the bowling for Durham and appearing to contain and restrict the run scoring but with Coetzer and Wiley taking the total steadily to 89. It was the arrival of White who changed the game hitting three successive 6’s in one over and making 52 from only 32 balls and increasing the total from what would have been a par 140 to 160 to 183 for the loss of only 4 wickets.

Stonman who has batted well for Durham in the Championship earlier on had not had good form in a number of 20 20 games failed at 10 and Mustard found run getting very difficult but managed to reach 46. Stokes who is the Durham on form player this season was not out 51 in a total which was always 20 runs behind the pace and ended at 147 which some excellent end of innings bowling by Northants who were worthy winners much to the delight and amazement of their fans.

Northants have been to finals day twice before failing to win their semi final. This time I think they have a very good chance of beating Essex, the other third placed team who gained surprise win at Nottingham in the fourth quarterfinal. In the first quarterfinal, Surrey, my boyhood club beat Somerset which pleased me greatly. While Lancashire are not one of my favoured teams, I dislike Hampshire because of the Finals day experience at the Rose Bowl and because they have reached Finals day in each of the past four years. This proved the best match of 4 with Lancs nearly getting the 200 plus runs required failing with last ball of the over. I will go to finals day hoping for a Northants V Surrey Final and for a Northants win. But a Hampshire defeat of Essex is also a good possibility which could herald an early departure from the ground.

On returning home I checked to find that my ticket should have arrived a week ago and only then noted that the Warwickshire club had resurrected my old customer number from 15 years ago with my former address. immediately telephoned and the sent tickets cancelled. The correctly addressed ticket and car park pass arrived yesterday which is excellent service. Tickets are now only sale to the four clubs involved with only after they have taken up whatever they need will the public have access.

I left the ground as the final over commenced, I had noted only a handful of Durham supporters present and it was locals with children who had decided they and won also went to avoid the comparative rush at the end. The idea of walking into town was not a good one so waited fort eh bus which took over 15 minutes to arrive and takes an almost straight route through shops, eating houses and entertainments before raking off along the one way system into the bus station.

I had no idea how to get out of the bus station and my first effort took me to an area similar to where I thought I had arrived with access to the shopping centre closed and the need to take an underpass and then stairs to a roadside level. There were people moving about across the road and into a car park to I crossed over by found myself not as expected with the town centre shopping in view but at the edge going into residential areas. To admit one was lost at that time of time was potential dangerous but I asked and was sent in what proved the right direction although I thought I recognised a stairway upwards and then found myself in the delivery area of shopping area. Fortunately I remained calm and did not panic even when at one point I found a door into the centre but found progress barred and had to press a release button to get out again. Eventually I retreated the route and eventually a second request for direction go into the town shopping centre but with out a sense of direction or landmarks to say which way I should go for the Travel Lodge. I asked one young woman taking on her phone who sent me in the right way but it was two young girls with coloured streaked hair out on the town who escorted me along to the street which they were also going stopping at a cash machine just before the Travel Lodge. They had been out for the evening and said it would be 3pm before they went home so obviously going on somewhere open at that hour despite it being a Tuesday. We had a great chat about life along the way. I purchased a Fanta orange drink and then watch TV until after midnight setting the alarm for 6 am.

It was 5 when I awoke and 5.30 when I started to pack and got myself ready leaving the Lodge around 6.30 and told by the night staff that the station was straight down from the Travel Lodge in the direction I had taken the previous afternoon.

At the station I was confused because while there were trains to Euston listed on the first platform, the second train departing was at 7.39 whereas my ticket said 7.32. There was nothing for it but to climb up the stairs to go back over the track as I did not fancy taking the lift on my own. The 7.02 departing train was on the platform but as it was a pleasant morning I found a seat and waiting for my train although the cost fo the ticket for both trains was the same at £14, only a pound less than I was paying to return from London to Newcastle. While again I was able to chose six seats to myself by the time the train left Milton Keynes it was filling up with all five other seats taken and people standing as the train reached Euston.

On the way to Northampton we had been held up for a good five minutes just outside the town because of a goods train and while waiting at the station foods trains with container oblong and round with thirty plus travelled in both directions from Germany, Poland, China noted among the main countries of origin.

It was a fine morning so I decided to walk station to station and this proved a good idea as just before St Pancras there is a pavement cafe with just a few seats but an early morning offer of a coffee and large Chelsea bun for £2.50 while the bun on its own usually costs £2.40 and the coffee £2 plus. It was very enjoyable and much needed. There was plenty of time to collect the case and go to the first floor overlooking the departure board where I found a seat at a table shared with a couple who provided the information that the relative they visited who worked at the British Library said that London was being overrun by young visitors and not so young visitors from South Korea.

Although the train was ready to board 20 minutes before schedule we were not allowed to board until ten minutes because of an approaching train on the adjacent platform. I was able to get a table and window sear facing the direction fo travel. I was joined by three men in succession, the first was a table invader not only taking both seat facing but encroaching on my side with his computer and papers.

He was replaced by a very busy businessman who gave his first caller seven minutes as he was expecting a call which he took and then went into the corridor moving i suspect to his first class booked seat where he would seem more in place. He offered to talk to the caller again when he was on the move the following morning. The third table guest was equally busy but less attracting of everyone’s attention.

I arrived home to find everything Ok but there had been a major rainfall at the weekend with some local flooding. There was just a day before the Durham Ashes Test was underway with a ticket for the 5^th day and then only a day before my trip to the Midlands for the 40 40 game at Derby and the 20 20 Finals day at Edgbaston Birmingham. I am and then home for a few more days, the games against Surrey and then to Scarborough, Brighton, Derby, London and Worthing in almost quick succession. Phew. I need to add that while my side is better I am still having problems but will try and put off going to see the GP until the travels have ended.

2477 Renoir film visually intoxicates on visit to London August 2013, plus some TV.

I had intended only to write two pieces about my visit to London and to Northampton but given the impact of seeing the film Renoir and the nature of the Northampton experience it is best that I begin with the intention of restricting myself first to Renoir and the impact of that experience and to some TV..

I decided to stay in and watch the Third Test from Old Trafford on Sky via my lap top on Sunday morning August 4^th 2013 enjoying breakfast of two Danish pastries £1.20 and coffee before deciding how to spend the rest of my free time because Middlesex was in the process of defeating Durham during the third morning of the four day scheduled game at Lords. Had I listened more carefully to what fellow Durham supporters had said the previous day or checked fixtures on my computer I may well have gone to the Oval to watch Surrey play Scotland in the 40 40 over game.

The previous evening after returning from the cricket I watched Wallander in the Pyramid one of the, if not the most important of the dramatizations of the books. As with other Wallander dramatizations this season I may write at length when I have read the book although my determination to do some prolonged serious writing this autumn strengthens. In part this arose out fo the Wallander episode but more so because of film about the last years of the life of Pierre Auguste Renoir,

At one level the Wallander, as with Montalbano is a well written detective story which challenges to work out a solution and entertains through the characters involved. However I am drawn to Wallander and to Montalbano because I see so much of myself in them and their approach to life in general, to work and to relationships.

According to Internet research The Pyramid covers the whole career of Wallander in five short stories so that this dramatization only covers the first and the last. In an incident when as a young policeman he misses the opportunity to fire and stop a killer with the consequence that a young woman he admired is murdered. Although the circumstances were such the incident did not affect his subsequent career, he remained tortured by his failure to act and the loss of life involved.

Although 26 years has passed he is confident he has encountered the same villain when following up on what appears to have become a drug war and to pursue the suspect despite being ordered to concentrate on the local villain and leave the suspect to the separate police force involved. At the end of the episode when he is vindicated he resigns because he knows the investigation had become personal.

He has commenced a relationship with the friend of his God daughter who dies from an overdose, using heroin which has not been reduced to a level which removes the risk. The friend is a former addict who is working for the rehabilitation of others and she has is a degree of reality and directness coupled with passion which meets his every need and where for the first time he wants to enjoy life without always feeling guilty and allowing work to take precedence. I am looking forward to the book. He is able to put the past behind and move forward.

There was more striking chords when on return on Wednesday evening I caught up with the second part of the new series opener of New Tricks which coincidentally is set in Gibraltar just as issues about sovereignty begin to boil over fuelled by the attitude for the present Spanish Government and the Tory party led by Cameron. It was no coincidence, I suspect, just as the recent series TV on presented Gibraltar as a little Britain when the reality is the majority are mostly Spanish and speak the local dialect Spanish. I cannot now remember what aspect of the cold case led them to Gibraltar. The main story appeared to be death for young boy to a man who had been a seaman for many years but now worked on the docks where his daughter had some kind of administrative role. The man and the daughter refused to talk about the case and the local senior police officer assigned to manage the visit of the team also advises against giving this case attention, the only inherited cold case which the police officer had been unable to solve. The case is eventually worked put through drawing the boy made at first appearing to be soldiers temporarily resident returning from the Falklands war. However when it is realised the drawings of other children playing at being soldiers the team finds out that the present head of the continuing British military presence on the Rock was a boy at the time and that his father had returned from service in the Falklands. He had used his father’s weapon souvenir from the war as part of the game and not appreciated that it was loaded killing his friend. When confronted he is seen running through the Botanical gardens and taking the cable car to the top of the rock and then considering taking his life but he surrenders full of guilt and grief.

This is he first of three stories in the double episode about cover up with the second the one which brings the team to Gibraltar. This involves the head of an on line gambling company based in Gibraltar, one of his lieutenants who is killed with the police boasting they have one of the best detection rates in the world and murders are rare. The head of the unit is taken out for a meal on the yacht by the owner of the firm who is shown to have a ruthless side and who committed murder as well as attempting to blackmail the father of dead boy.

I record these two stories although from my perspective they are incidental to the main story of interest which concerns Bryan, former Inspector, played brilliantly by Alum Armstrong as a recovering alcoholic whose wife Ester, also played brilliantly by Susan Jameson, shows great understanding and loving support, especially towards his moods and obsessions. He has great capacity to sift through detail and see patterns and connections which others do not, an ability which has always been an asset to me as well as something fo a curse.

He attends the leaving party of Inspector who two decades before was left in charge of young prisoner( black) who died from lack of medical attention when Alan was responsible for had left because of drinking. He had never recovered from the incident believing there had been negligence and had pursued the officer without success as the man had progressed through to retirement. He strikes the man at he leaving party leading to suspension and a disciplinary haring and consequently is not allowed to participate on the trip to Gibraltar. But he goes to Gib despite the sanctions because he cannot function without the work and this leads to him and Jerry ( Denis Waterman) having an adventure which involves being shut in a container, reminding of Mad Dogs, and arriving at a farm in the middle of nowhere in Spain but also in seeing and overhearing an exchange which leads to solving the main story.

On return Bryan’s disciplinary hearing is stopped by the complainant who withdraws saying he felt sorry for Bryan and this angers Bryan unable to explain the issues involved and leads to a confrontation where the retiring Inspector admits that he regarded the prisoner as he did most those taken into custody with indifference regarding them as scum Bryan secretly records this admission which he gives to the boy’s mother saying sorry. The significant aspect is that eh recognises that the man was and remains worthless and that he is able to move forward. The episode also bring into relief the broken relationship with his own son which is to be the main subject of the next programme. Alun has indicated his attention not to participate in the planned 11^th series as has present Team Leader Amanda Redman who is being replaced by Tamzin Outhwaite. The main interest of the double episode has been Bryan coming to terms with his past and being able to move on without the work and reverting back to alcohol.

Before coming to the main experience of my last two days in Croydon the opportunity is taken to mention the excellent third episode of the new series of Who do you think you are? with Minnie Driver, now a 43 year single parent with a four year old boy and living in California. This proved an excellent episode as Minnie discovers about her father and his parents and other family members. She is the product of a relationship between her mother who we meet, a former couture model and designer and Ronnie Driver, born in Swansea but whose family originated from Yorkshire.

She discovers that at he age fo 18 her father participated in the first major bombing raid of World War II in which half the flying crews of 120 men did not return. He received the second Distinguished Flying Cross of the War for first putting out a fire with his gloved hands which could have engulfed the plane and during a time when the gun turret in which he sat had all its perspective destroyed leaving his feet dangling in the open air. His plane had to be ditched into the sea and he had been responsible for getting out the life dingy and getting the surviving wounded crew to safety all but his closest friend who died and was left on the plane. Minnie meets the last survivor of the raid, a ground mechanic and who knew her father.

She did not understand why her father never referred to to the award and in fact is said to have thrown the medal into the Thames because he felt he did not deserve it. With the help of military historians she learns that because the raid was something of a disaster his bravery had been put in the spotlight and was give national as well as local press attention including of him showing his medal to his mother, the first time Minnie had seen a photo of her grandmother She learns that the father had two periods in psychiatric units before returning to the airforce, gaining promotion and marrying the daughter of the then Managing Director(?) of Cable and Wireless. The wedding photo uniform makes no reference to the DFC.

She is also able to learn something of her grandfather and in fact although her father’s parents had married after they both became widowed/widower they were not when he was born. She learns that his father’s job had taken him around the country hence the birth in Wales. She is able to uncover a same generation cousin loving in Stockton or was it Darlington although he is twice her age and from her in addition to gaining a photo of the grandfather she learns that he had a half brother who was a repertory theatre actor who married musical actress and that they had a daughter who also performed on the stage. Respecting the woman’s wish not be filmed there is a telephone conversation although it is evident there was also subsequent direct contact.

Minnie has had a successful film and TV career nominated for an Oscar for her role in Good Will Hunting She is noted for having a high profile relationship with its other star Matt Damon afterwards. She subsequently disclosed that her child’s father is a writer from the TV Show The Riches in which she starred in its 20 episodes with Eddie Issard.

On Sunday after a quite morning watching the Test on lap top TV I decided to experience the last showing of a film about the painter Pierre Auguste Renoir which was being shown at the Odeon Panton Street. Before departing for the station I enjoyed the third king prawn sandwich meal deal from Sainsbury’s local.

I missed the train to London Bridge and St Pancras which was just as well because I was going to Victoria and had to stand in the train until Clapham Junction but got a seat for the rest of journey seeing what I assume now to have been one of the Peletons going on the London Surrey 5 hour contest going along the Thames embankment. At Leicester Square Underground station I correctly headed for the Odeon Cinema only to find it closed on arrival opening late afternoon because this was the Odeon Convent Garden and not Panton Street. Fortunately there was a programme notice outside which indicated Panton Street was somewhere between Leicester Square and Piccadilly and with this I remembered where it was, enjoying a slow walk as I had plenty of time with a packed crowd through the Square or dining out on a warm to hot day with the crowd appearing to be continuous all the way to the Circus,

I have not seen before as many visitors to London before with stations and trains full of people with luggage often struggle with the amount and the need to cope with traditional stairways and steps. On arrival I noted a huge party of Chinese looking adolescents on the main concourse at St Pancras and since then have noted two if not three further large parties of between 50 and 100 as well as similar parties of young people from Europe. The scale of the groups and the overall numbers is impressive, especially from China. However in a later conversation I was informed that the groups were more likely from South Korea which fitted into my experience in Croydon

I purchased a senior’s ticket at the cinema for £9 and then went back to the Square to sit on the new marble surround that has been added around the gardens. The work on the central statute continues. I had my headphones to listen to the Test Match.

There were only five people paying to see this French made film, me a young couple and two single women, one of whom I suspect was French or spoke French as she laughed several times before the subtitles appeared.

This is an extraordinary beautiful film where the sounds of south at Cagnes Sur Mer, wind in the trees, the tread of feet in low lying stream water, is left without the addition of music. The effect of the wind reduced the sense of intense heat which is also another feature of the South. As a young man I saw and experienced Renoir at the Tate and purchased a book which includes portraits of his last model, Andree Magdeleine Heuschling later known as Catherine Hessling, who had been sent by Matisse and who became the lover and first wife of Jean Renoir the filmmaker, the second son of Auguste.

The film covers the last two years of the life of Auguste during the First World War when the artist was wracked with arthritis and cared for by a group pf servants who had to carry him to the atelier where he worked from and to the house, and on picnics within the grounds and along a river bed we would describe as a stream on a sedan type chair. He was 78 when he died but looked much older because of the way his limbs had been affected by the arthritis.

He was an artist preoccupied with the flow rather than the line of human figures and still life forms together with a joyous use of colour. the film brings out his aversion to the horror and the trials of the human experience which makes the agony of his condition even more painful to experience. In the film the young woman is sent by Mrs Renoir for her to find that Mrs Renoir although 20 years younger than her husband had died. I am yet to establish if this was cinematic indulgence or Matisse did in fact arrange for someone to pose as Mrs Renoir to get the girl who he believed fitted the Renoir view of flesh and womanhood. Irrespective of the actual body size and shape Renoir tended to enlarge to create the sense of fleshiness which he adored. Renoir painted quickly produced more canvasses than most artists and the Renoir organisation has made available over 1750 of these in the form of a slide show Pierre-Auguste-Renoir organisation where one can order hand painted reproductions of all his works. Just spent an hour viewing the slides and wishing I could afford the property to house the pictures I would buy if i could. The real works cost as much as an International footballer today to buy.

The film uses the arrival of Andree to show us the life of Renoir at that time and through paintings kept at the home we learn aspects of his previous life but this is not a biographical film and unless someone, Jean, through his Life with my Father, book has, and which I thought I have although accept I may be confusing with a book by Jean Cocteau which I certainly do, then several aspect of the film script is speculation.

My understanding is that the mother of his three sons was an established model in Paris when she joined Renoir in Montmartre Aline Victorine Charigot. The eldest Pierre became an actor in film and theatre and plays a role in that extraordinary film Les Enfants du Paradis (1945) and died in 1952 aged 1967. The younger brother is portrayed as a disturbed adolescent because of the death of his mother in 1915 and the lack of a relationship with his father. He is shown as becoming preoccupied by the nakedness of the new model, jealous of her relationship with his father and with his brother Jean who returns home to convalesce after being seriously wounded in one thigh. The film does not record that his ailing mother went to nurse him and refused to allow his leg to be amputated choosing to treat the gangrene which had set in. Once she knew he was saved she had returned to Cagnes Sur Mare where she immediately died after a heart attack. As far as I am aware there is no work on her life published in English although her work as a model is documented through the paintings. Aline is reported in the film to have been responsible for sending away his father‘s model at the time because of the relationship being established with the father and also the son Jean who is upset to find she is not home when he returns home from the war.

The film suggests that Auguste encouraged a relationship between Jean and Andree to develop as a means of persuading him to leave the army and not return to the war. Just when this appears to have worked the son goes on a flight with former comrade and this tips him towards returning as an observer in the embryonic flying corps. At this period in his life Jean appears to be uncertain about his future and one suspects to have inherited his father’s senses and exploring the boundaries of experience. His father tells the tale of commencing work as a porcelain painter after his talent for decoration became evident. Described as a member of a working class family he is also reported to have been able to visit Paris and the Louvre and to have enrolled at an art college both surprising given his alleged antecedents.

When Jean survived the war he returned home and commenced to work as a porcelain painter like his father and he also re-established the relationship with Andree who he marries. In the film she goes away when discovering he has reenlisted and no one knows where she lived before coming to the family home. He traces her to what is presented a decadent club playing traditional jazz, attracting those with a range of sexual preferences and orientations but as with everything else in this film the heightened sexuality is presented in a most artistic and impressionistic manner. He persuades her to return to the household but still goes to the army and the film ends with the sorrow of the girl after a moving exchange between father and son as if they know they are unlikely to see each other again.

Although Jean expresses not vision of what he wants to be or do after the War he is interested in filmmaking and purchases an early projector and then a reel from a silent film, Nowadays four years old are able to work the DVD player and play video games on small hand held screens but then the most simplest of projected image would entertain. My mother acquired a magic lantern after The Second World War which she used to project photos on a sheet fixed to a wall and a first cousin sent to the UK to study electronics created the first black and white TV which enabled the family to watch the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth, I still have the screen and slide projector which I purchased in the 1960’s and which reminds that I still experience in my head things which to ones children’s let alone grand children are regarded as historical.

The credits to the film reveal that while Jean went onto justifiable fame because of several of the films he created and to live in the USA and become a citizen, after their separation and eventual divorce Andree is known to have lived in poverty. Images from the film continue to be with and were throughout the whole of Monday when I had planned to visit the Tate or the Whitechapel Gallery, or another film although a study of those at Cineworld failed to ignite interest.

Since returning home I have increased my visual reawakening by looking at fifty brilliantly reproduced prints of the work of Renoir in the Phaidon Art book series which I bought in 1963 for 27/6. There are also nine prints of his work at thee end fo another Phaidon book on Impressionism both at the same time for the same price. His life and work is also covered in the Heron History of Series on Impressionism. Given that eh continued to paint despite being in constant pain over his last years I have been imbued with a great determination to at achieve some literary work to my satisfaction even if at the moment the momentum of my 101 project is slow getting slower.