No sooner have the salutes fallen/faded/flags run down from Wooton Bassett than the Defence Ministry outlines Armed Service personnel cuts…. Nearly 2,000 Army and Navy lives less dramatically shifted to one side, ready for burial…. Internment….
Brize Norton takes on the baton of repatriation….
Friends of Libya meet in Paris to mull over their options…. 63 Nations…. Sarkozy and Cameron…. 42 years to the day that Gaddafi took control…. The Meaning of Life…. Powerful Symbolism…. Russian and Chinese delegates continue to question the role of NATO in the conflict…. As for the African Congress they are still quietly protective of their own despite it all….
1st September also brings the 72nd Anniversary of the outbreak of the 2nd World War…. a full 30 years before the ascent of the current Libyan power base….
The number of jobless households in the UK hits 4m…. many of them with sleepy pupils who are eking out the time till term begins…. Those long hot summers….
The ‘Independent’ highlights issues for the tobacco industry…. Constantly patching up the papers like all the dubious dealings and relationships we encounter…. the butt of a story and the noiseless ash from the spillage….
…. We catch the first of what will be numerous programmes about 9/11…. pulverised bones…. no survivors…. those bodies falling from the upper floors…. seemingly so serene in their ferocious acceptance…. The major players…. Mayor G and his deputies, Where is George/Wally….? Flight 93…. Let’s Roll….
The deadline for Sirte is extended by a week….
Troops to Teachers…. Within the Freeschools programme…. To improve literacy and numeracy…. Knowing that you mean it…. discipline….
Friends of Libya promote a new constitution and democratic elections….
Sex offences up 60%….? There are no male teachers in more than 4,000 Primary Schools….
While I wait in the car after my visit to the Warfarin clinic I catch a Radio 4 programme – ‘Spirit of the Beehive….’
Friday Night Club…. I really look forward to a weekend doing nothing…. Kev and Tracy bring lovely news of their nuptials…. another wedding is always more welcome than another funeral at my age…. you can only gush so much…. Amanda/Tracy B/Andy/Lana and Kian/Jordan/Gareth of course…. We talk some more about my plans for being an Apiarist…. Jan is quietly amused by it…. Joel and Gareth roll the dice….
I don’t manage to get out of bed until 1 o Clock after being disturbed by next doors builders at 8am…. I had got up for a coffee and headed upstairs, back for a re-sleep….
We arrange an early evening meal at Holt Lodge again, for a welcome celebratory carvery…. I bump into Nicky B at a wedding and he is catching up with himself on a weekend binge…. Yes, I will let Helen know that you need to see her…. Elika and the girls finally head for town about 10.30pm and at last we get a few hours to ourselves…. Lovely…. We eventually take Nick Drake to bed with us….
Hague refutes MI5 and CIA involvement in the Gaddafi government…. Common enemies…. Rendition…. nicely out of tune….
‘ Freedom, Democracy, Justice, Equality and Transparency…. ‘
Saline nurse…. Trial by media…. Speed testing for Airline Passengers…. Mathematical analysis…. Nolan allows the press and the police to bite chunks out of each other….
BBC i Player…. Mo Farah…. Janet in the garden…. Daz and Nia on their way with Conor after his visit to Sheffield…. Decathlete extraordinaire….
There is talk of televising court appearances in the wake of the riots…. The abortion debate wrangles on…. Independent Counselling…. James Murdoch is going to find himself back in court by the looks of things…. PJ Harvey wins the Mercury….
Bombardie and the story of the trains from Derby…. Germany awaits…. 50p Tax rate…. Russian Aircrash kills Hockey Team…. Irrational fears – Fruit Stickers…. Incumbent NI manager is criticised by Sanchez ????
The Con MP for Hexham described himself as ‘ ridiculously well ‘ following his recent tumour…. T/C from Shelley…. Holiday…. Bites to eat…. Card for Carmel…. Spent the night with Kate Bush aaarrgghhhh…. Iraqi deaths – Violent Procedures – OECD Growth 1%…. Red and Black…. the fascinating prospect of a show that ensures counsellors are available to tidy up the mess for the losing contestants…. Like all game shows…. Galliano secures himself a suspended sentence…. Like throwing rotten fruit and veg at someone in the stocks…. Christians and Lions…. The rollerball like wheel…. I console myself with ‘Take the Money and Run’…. loud on the headphones…. Mister Miller…. Elika and the headache…. ‘…music is my life…’ Gambling channels and betting online…. Red or Black….
Obama’s speech…. Theresa May and the Gang Show…. Assymetric Warfare…. threats of attacks on NY and DC….
BBC Reporter killed by US in a case of mistaken identity…. Liverpool Port and the Cruise capers…. Dockers
A quieter FNC tonight as there are some birthday celebrations for one of Clints’ friends in ‘The Hand’. He is 18 (well on Monday) and already a well known and respected, seasoned drinker in ‘town’…. Jan has popped up for one drink to send her regards…. Gareth is going to write a book he informs us and begins to morph into his megalomaniacal narcissistic self…. He regales me with the conversation he has had this morning with his JSA officer…. ‘ Is that all you have got going on in your life…. to be critical of me and others like me…. ‘ How insignificant are you….? A tiderade washing the clutchings of the moment away….
Vanity searches…. eyes mesmerised…. Thursday will be fine for the trip to Liverpool…. hoping to see Fred before then…. ‘Lodge Life’…. I’m on Misery Drive with a Motown Stranger, Ted’s in the shed with a chain-saw…. with a zero moment of non command, what’s the zero moment of truth…. for…. he didn’t get the job…. gutted….
Little epiphanies…. feeling and process…. Pay to Leave donations…. please….
I reminded myself to send him a copy of ‘Time Won’t Let Me’ by The Outsiders…. on his path to recovery…. TIDY…. A nightful of LKJ wrapped around a handful of classics from the stacked drawers…. I made it to bed for a triple Family Guy and drifted off to Death hath no Fear…. performed by the The Maelor Theatre Orchestra….
Egyptian protestors attack the Israeli Embassy in Cairo in retaliation for border guard deaths…. Britains rivers – RSPB…. Zanzibar Ferry deaths…. Gyratory…. David Walliams swimming the Thames….
The first tomato from the hanging baskets outside tastes sweet enough to be classed as an apple…. small and perfect…. Arrest over Welsh football murder…. all others released without charge…. The sky is a periwinkle blue…. faded likeness in memory of 9/11 perhaps…. when the madness began…. bringing joy to a lazy saturday….
The Nato strikes on …. Bani Walid…. Let the endgame commence…. starting stopping and stopping starting…. The girls are heading out, drinking their own weight in Vodka and WKD and finally allow us to relax in a noiseless night with The The…. A mulling Vince Cable helps narrate the story of the WMD speeches of Tony Blair…. TUC…. avoiding the conflict at his own door…. back to London for further news…. The Vickers report on banking is imminent and Ed Miliband calls for all unfit bankers to be struck off…. I was quietly pleased that it was a few days to pay day and the fact I had virtually nothing in my pockets eased my concerns over the local Halifax closing…. The Council would have to pay me in notes…. ha ha….
9/11 The story continues….
An extraordinary Sunday…. Most of the morning was allowed to designate the muted TV as a quiet, warm, cheery looking cornerpiece for the usual trill of the radio…. Peter Allen and Stephen Nolan relaying pre-recorded highlights, interspersed with the live commentaries for the day…. concerns about three missing fire trucks and three unknown new arrivals on the shores of Americay… The replayed original coverage, as delivered by Simon Mayo, was as riveting as it was at the time… I remember I was lying in bed, at 2.00ish in the afternoon and heading down to the kitchen for a cup or glass of something or other….
‘ God is our refuge and strength ‘ Jacob…. Obama…. The oak trees were regaled, one a survivor of the original day beneath the WTC’s…. I remembered a poem…. when they started the recalling of the names…. from Aamoth Jnr…. to…. Zukelman…. There were two Byrnes…. Paddy and Tim…. A pear tree….
The naming of parts…. Henry Reed….
‘…. And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this
Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers…. ‘
To be continued