Happy day in Thessaloniki

My entries are a bit higgledy piggledy.  I accidentally published one day from the trip, whereas I had meant to hold back for a bit after my return before putting them up. 

I got Thessaloniki a bit more today, having ummed and ahhed, and tried to second guess whether I was up to walking to the other bus station and then heading out to Pella, I suddenly itched to get up to an exhibition in Thessaloniki at the Contemporary Art Gallery.  About half an hour walk from my hotel, it seemed to be a small oasis of poshness in the midst of run down estates, which is ironic as the subject matter was all about smash the state etc and the short period when Soviet art, subsequently collected by the son of Greek man, who had settled in Russia,    celebrated revolutionary ideas.  George Costakis eventually returned to Greece when he realised that his interest in the Avant Garde put him at risk, he sold much of his collection to the wonderful Tratyakov Gallery in Moscow, but the rest are on show in Thessaloniki, alongside an exhibition of protest material from my youth, which I found quite moving.

There is always someone who speaks English and the staff told me which bus to catch back into town, where I spent more time at the port.  There are three museums here all of which would probably be nice, but I was drawn into a free exhibition about refugees in Thessaloniki. Back in St Paul's time, Thessaloniki was one of the most multiracial parts of Europe and then the Jews were wiped out and several other people pushed back to either Bulgaria or the Middle East or Turkey and so it became a largely Greek town, but not now.    Despite the poverty in Greece and I have seen plenty of evidence of it, from people sleeping rough, to people digging in bins, and the hardest of all the dogs roaming the streets, there is also a more hidden group of people trying to find a life here, refugees largely from Syria and Afghanistan are being housed and helped through projects like the one on show down at the port. 

It was lovely in the sun, and I was almost too late to get to the archaeological museum. Normally I should have been able to satisfy my desire to see something of the wonders of Vergina here, but that bit of the museum is currently closed and a longing to get to this now legendary site is nagging at me, but there is nowway that I seem to be able to get there.   Ironic dead at 33 Alexander the Great ruled over the whole of Macedonia and an area I guess the size of Iran and the rest of Greece, but me, at 63 cannot even find the tourist information service to work out how to get to the site of his dad's burial place! 

Heavy riot police presence and twinkling Christmas lights - it must be Athens again, but rather worryingly Thessaloniki also has had problems today and I am arriving late tomorrow, so not sure that Greece's second and apparently normally calmer city will feel as safe as expected.

Hostel playing down the issue, but rather than staying out I have come back in which is a shame as the Benaki Museum does not shut till midnight tonight and in truth in Plaka it is still just fun,but the sight of people with gas masks on has had a somewhat negative effect.

Delphi

Such a powerful energy here and the views are just spectacular.

part 2.

Day I I planned to check out the bus station and then head to the Acropolis.  I did the former, but only after being drenched in hot coffee whilst celebrating my luck at being in a charming coffee house in the flea district of Athens.   I am still jumpy three days later, but the burn mark on my shoulder has more or less gone but that the time of the incident I was scared that I would be permanently scarred.   I tried getting the cafe to note the accident in their record book, only to be asked why I was trying to get the waiter the sack!  So not the ideal start to the vacation,  I sort of wondered round Athens in a shocked state, even having lunch in the very nice cafe at the Acropolis museum with the coffee still in my hair! Heaven knows what they thought, but finding out more about the history of the Parthenon and especially the terrible deeds of the dastardly Lord Elgin,  I was very and truly distracted from the incident.

display about Lord Elgin's method of looting from the Parthenon. 

Day 2.   Based on information about the new cultural centre in Athens I had bought a ticket to a children's show, only problem it started at 11, could not find the free bus, the tram was not operating and because the timing clashed with the opening of parliament had to get there via an alternative route.  So knowing this I left in plenty of time, however, even once I had found the outside of the building and the park surrounding, how to get in. I decided the entrance was via the park and the security guard telling me to go on up reinforced that so I really did go on up - up through the grass roof, up and up till I finally found a door, but security said the event was private and the only way down to the entrance was via the glass elevator that I was too scared to ride alone.    Security was kind enough to come down with me!  I got there in time and loved the show, it was a mix of animation and opera and live action.    It was nice to do something completely different.   Then in the afternoon I got to go to the Acropolis for free!!!!! All the world seemed to be climbing over it, but I guess that is what it looked like when it was first built.   It is right at the top of the hill, and I wasn't sure I would make it up, but I did, and so on my return felt I had to treat myself to a meal sat in the lea of the rock and next to Agora where Socrates would debate things.!

snfcc near Piraeus. 

Day 3.  Nice quiet start having breakfast in the sun in the square, then reading in the sun, before heading up to the Archaeology Museum where there are beautiful artefacts that are around 3000 years old!

Day 4 Now in Delphi,  which is in some ways just a quiet town, yet walking by the Temple of Athena way up in the mountains it seems so much more than that.  There is definitely something powerful here. 

In the footsteps of the Gods, the philosophers and my teachers! part one.

Athens - the train coming in is packed, but I have a three day pass for the journey in and for travelling around the town.  Around me seem to be citizens of everywhere in the world.    But the minute I step out Syntagma Square I seem to have returned to my past as I realise I have seen the soldiers in their pom poms protecting the Parliament Building before.  I only really recall that I passed through Athens on the way back from Aegina, that my sister in law and I roared with laughter at the Son et Lumiere of the Acropolis and beyond that I did not realise I had seen much, but Syntagma Square seems familiar.   To the right is in theory the tram I need for Sunday, except that it does not seem to be operating, but in the afternoon sun, that seems less important than heading straight for a little green oasis, next to the parliament building.  It is a short walk through it to Plaka, my home for the next four nights.    Apart from a number of problems with doors, my hostel is better than expected,  and the location perfect. Plaka it turns out feels a bit like an island village with tons of small shops, enticing in the travellers.  In summer it is probably heaving, but in the twinkly dark, of late November is seems enchanting, and I find myself lured into a cafe for an impromptu supper of feta and aubergine.  Given that I have not found any local food shops it seems a good way to end a first day.

I have just accidentally wiped the bits about my first full day so time for bed instead.

Plaka

It has  been an odd time since the Brexit vote. Immediately after it I was plunged into bitter despair, my hope of escaping if I had to to somewhere cheaper and assuming I went south, warmer to live should my health make carrying on what impossible scuppered. And what of all my friends who live abroad or love travelling and what about the young people who had work opportunities on their doorsteps, etc, etc.  Once over the shock and listening to some Brexiteer friends I have had to try and understand some of their concerns and because the EU is so unwieldy it is hard to defend some aspects of it, so whilst always hopeful that somehow the ghastly situation would somehow be resolved I have just sort of hunkered down. I have not acted actively to change the situation, but in my own way I have been quietly mourning the situation.   I have done this by deliberately trying to see and understand the EU in a slightly new way.  I went for example to Luxembourg for a weekend, a place I had never thought of going to before, but which suddenly seemed more significant.  I wish I could have taken away some of the information on the EU found there as it looked very interesting,  and I stood outside the EU offices and just stood really.

Then I celebrated borders without borders, slipping across from Italy to France, without being stopped and again from Spain to Portugal, not a passport in sight.  For all we know it might be just as easy come April 2018, but again it might not be and so then I travelled from Cork to Dublin and on through to Northern Ireland and that really sharpened the senses - and concerns about how Brexit might play out.     Northern Ireland voted to stay in, as did Scotland, but Wales and of course England predominantly voted out, so this "loyal" ist area has to follow where England leads yet so many Northern Irish people also just seem to feel Irish as well and definitely want the peace to hold whatever their politics.

Virtually everywhere I have travelled a great European Empire was there before me, unifying Europe but one where all the power was in the hands of the Romans, Britons were enslaved/ colonised/ conquered and then they were gone.  Sounds strangely familiar and so I returned to Rome and now I am in the place that inspired the Romans, who the Romans, amongst others conquered, but was in many ways the birth place of Europe and European ideology - Greece.

Peace restored?

Plaka looked quiet and lovely again in the morning sun.  A visit to the Jewish Museum tucked away up the road, showed both light and dark, and an insight into two Jewish cultures that came together in Greece, one using the Greek language and one more which eventually dominated the incoming Sephardic Culture.    Under the Ottomans Judaism had more or less had equal status and some of the Patriachs tried to stand up to the Nazis when they overran the country.     But just as I was thinking peace had returned the shouts of dissent, from a small march.

In theory Thessaoniki was like a war zone according to one correspondent, but having walked around Thessaloniki today,  I suspect it always looks like a bit of a mess partly because quite a lot is run down, and quite a lot is being rebuilt and in some places there are anti establishment views expressed in the graffiti, so it is not the most beautiful of places in the first place,     One member of the riot police was seen, but just one, otherwise everyone seemed to be happy to be out and about and shopping despite the cold weather.    And most people seemed to be enjoying the town,  especially along the port area,  where people were packed into the cafes,  but having been to places where the port is so much more attractive e.g. Lisbon, Malaga, even Genoa,  I find Thessaloniki a bit plain really after Athens.   Frustratingly I could not find the information service as I was keen to see if I could book a trip outside of the town, and it turns out that even local buses to one of the places I wanted to visit (Pella) do not go from anywhere near to where I am staying despite there being a bus station at the train station.

However, on the plus side, I have a nice room, with central heating and I have found some places a bit like the Turkish restaurants in Wood Green that serve nice Greek stews to take home and as there is a kitchen here, that is what I have done, come in out of the cold and done some teaching.  Also done some further research, having planned to visit, Pella on Monday as most local museums are closed, guess what - yes Pella is closed too!   I just asked the member of staff at the hostel to recommend something, so she suggested a town on the railway, and it looked most promising, but apparently the train station is actually 6 km from the town!  so perhaps not. I feel I got very lucky with lots of things in Athens and had known Thessaloniki may not be so promising but to make it worse I now know that Vergina and Pella are amazing places to go to so if I had been more organised I would have tried to ensure that I was able to get to them and to make it worse the exhibition of material from the former site that should be on display at one of the local museums is also closed.       I shall just have to make the most of what is available.

Rather a lot of anxiety and a regular grrrrrr.

So much going on mentally I do not really even want to talk to people -

One the countdown to Brexit is getting more and more tense.
Two, and maybe it is connected to the above, for some reason I am very anxious about my forthcoming trip to Greece,
Three do I stop doing long hours and just sit back a bit and do the minimum or is that economic suicide, but have I got the energy to keep going. Just want to stop work, yet know in other ways work keeps me going.
Four - I have finally taken the plunge and put the house on th emarket, but like it more and more living here and it is useful and I like the way the flat functions and even if I move may still have to go on working - the reason for making the move is a potential offer of somewhere to live which has sort of gone around in circles and may land up with me having something I am no longer sure I want.

So as all that is too much to think about instead I will go back to my default gggrre  gree that having carefully ensured that I left an online organisation on exactly the day my contract with them ended I have had renewal money taken from my bank, from my point of view with out my permission. The people involved have elite in tehir name but are not elite in their manner. They say that I signed something several months ago that confirmed I would cancel 7 days ahead of the end date. Had I known let alone remembered then I would have made sure that was exactly what I did, but much to my annoyance and disappointment they have refused all requests for the money back, but they have not evidenced that I owe them anything at all.  I never spend money I do not have to spend, I am furious that despite me cancelling on what I understood to be the correct date they are not responding to my requests to get my money back. They have said that I can have the subscription forwarded to a friend, but I would no do that to any friend as they could find themselves in the same situation. So I let them know that all my readers would be informed about the situation. I will of course never recommend this elite organsation to a single person young or old - so for more information speak to me.  -   I was recommended by somone to ask for information held by the company about me, to evidence that what they were claiming was incorrect and got my money back suddenly. Yippee.
.

A bit mushy and gushy.

 Happiness gurus suggest community work as a way to happiness and it is certainly has been a great week cos of all the community involvement this week. 

M is back from the Caribbean, this woman introduced herself to me about 6 months ago at the Tuesday at 2.  We talked and she mentioned that her grandson had been at HRC., As the last stint of work there was so awful this was a bit concerning, but to my horror it turned out that her late grandson had been the only ray of hope in one of the groups, so we bonded over her sorrow then she had to hurtle off to the Caribbean to sort out family things.  So catching up with her again was great.  So that was Tuesday.   Then on Wednesday as per usual it was art group. This group has turned out to be not only a great source of inspiration artistically but it has turned out to be a source of help and humour.    Having had lots of problems with the plans and other legal things connected to the flat it has been incredibly helpful to have professional guidance from husband's of members and members.  But the laughs are just silly. Who knew us oldies could be so funny.

Then today with the Big Local community worker it was great to be in discussion with Broxbourne Borough Environmental Services to get a heads up on possible ways to set up a community garden in the area.  I felt like an intelligent human being again.    It was really useful to get their input into what works and what doesn't. Then from there it was onto further training for the project being held in local churches after Christmas to provide temporarily shelter for the growing number of people classes as homeless in the Borough.  4 years ago despite always being a deprived area there were virtually no homeless people in the area but now over 43,236 nights are paid for at £6000 a night to try and keep people off the streets.    Broxbourne Borough does try and get local landlords to rent out to people on the housing list but most rentals are done through agencies as you get more money.

I feel that this project has sort of brought things in the Borough together as one of the main coordinators is the father of the woman who ran the gospel choir I was a member of and several of the gospel choir are part of this project. I guess when one has lived in a place for over 20 years at some point things do come together.     So why have I just put my house up for sale when it is finally coming together.  Feel so torn. I had always meant to rent this place out via the Broxbourne scheme but of course from the minute I moved in things went wrong mainly because virtually everything that I was told about the place by WH Brown was incorrect and that is unfortunately still playing out in the problems that I still have with the place.   This flat has its moments I love that all my art work is about the place and the place actually works in many ways.

O2 and WW1

Sometimes London is so much fun and sometimes it can be moving.   The visit to see live tennis for the first time in forty years was the former, whilst the Shrouds of the Somme was definitely the latter and definitely worth seeing. All set against the weird backdrop of Teresa May fighting to see if she would still be PM by the end of the day.

Murray and Soares about to go into action. 

The O2 was not that welcoming when I went before to a concert - which was just okay - but it was much more alive for the  World tennis tour. .  My seat could not have been further up and I still do not know how most people just ran and up and downstairs that looked like they would fling one to the centre, but the view was brilliant.  Poised over the net, whilst most of the tennis was not of the greatest quality, (Thiem beat Nishikori, but after a poor performance Murray and Suarez surprisingly won), it was just wonderful to be able to focus on all the detail and just see everything.   It was also interesting to be able to look down and see Sue Barker a dot far below, spending quite a lot of time not watching the match as she sorted out her paperwork.    Food there is astronomically costly, but it goes with the territory.  Having just found a venue where I can see tennis it is disappointing to realise that the future of the event at the O2 is not guaranteed, so maybe this year's visit will turn out to be a one off.

The last four years have seen some astonishing reminders 100 years after WW1,  from the poppies at the Tower, to special films, special broadcasts and haunting figures appearing in unexpected places like Alnwick.   Shrouds of the Somme started out as a therapeutic act for the creator of the first 19000 or so action men laid to rest to represent the fallen on the first day of the battle but then Rob Heard found he just could not stop until he had honoured all those who died on the Somme.   Apparently he got no funding for his "art work" but now in one of London's most modern locations - the revamped Olympic Park a silence falls as people take in what his work signifies.   It is very powerful.  And the once white figures are turning greyer and muddier in the elements.    Each of the names are read out Gledhill (one of my friends relatives) Goodall Groombridge, Christmas,  and in a separate tent the day they died and their age is detailed.    WW1 ended just 20 years before Krystallnacht, a pause in the fighting, rather than the war to end all wars. There have been so many genocides in my life time - we did not learn from the carnage of WW1 yet somehow it speaks to people incredibly powerfully still.   

Well done to Greek railway, but Lego has just creeped me out a bit.

The Greek railways have been kind enough to more than sort out things. It seems that there no reply button got my reply! opps.


Meanwhile having checked a range of Lego sets I missed the range of characters that I was able to buy in Duplo many years ago, I especially wanted to find sets that might have more than one none white character. A friend suggested I write to Lego about it.  Their reply was not what I anticipated.

Dear Helen,

Thanks for getting in touch with us.

I’m sorry you’re not happy with the LEGO® minifigure. We know we’re lucky to have so many fans all over the world and we’re always happy to get feedback, especially when it’s about something you think we could do better.

We want to inspire the builders of tomorrow – that means kids from all around the world. Like you, we want every one of our fans, wherever they live and whatever their own skin colour, to imagine themselves as part of the action. When we invented minifigures almost 40 years ago, we chose yellow because it’s the most neutral “skin colour” – nobody in real life has bright yellow skin, so LEGO minifigures don’t represent a specific race or ethnic background and nobody is left out.

While we’ve made some minifigures that aren’t yellow, they’re usually based on characters we didn’t create. We try to make them look just like those characters so kids can play out the story at home.

Here at the LEGO Group, we’re some of the biggest LEGO fans you can find anywhere, and it’s great to hear how much you care about kids from all backgrounds having fun with LEGO bricks.  I’m happy to hear that you think of us as a company that listens carefully to what fans have to say. It’s what helps us get better and better all the time and I’ve passed your feedback on to our Design teams. They may not make any changes to the “classic” yellow minifigure any time soon, but it’s important to us that you know your opinion counts.

We want to make sure we're doing a good job for you, so you’ll always find the link to a four-question survey in our emails. Please tell us how we did today:

Lots of Grrrr moments and perceptions, but also something life affirming.

There have been so many grrrrrrr moments it has stopped me getting online,  tonight my grrrrrrrr is about not being able to book my train for a trip in Greece. I had to get a friend to help translate a lot but neither booking to travel by bus or train seems to be functioning at present. GRRRRRRRR or is that GRRRRREEECE!    Life is much easier with the net but sometimes getting nowhere takes hours.


Another GGGRRRR moment has been a totally failed attempt to provide solice to someone which resulted instead with me getting so mad with them I just wanted to scream and scream and scream. Sadly telling me something I do not think I am tends to really pXXX me off.   For instance it is the first time I have been told that I have an easy life.  I definitely do not have the worst life, but I had not realised being a lone parent fto a child who never met his dad was considered easy or that losing one's mum at age 21 was considered easy.   True the person telling me this is definitely in a position I would not want to be in, a position which currently seems absolutely impossible and so from that stance yes being alone maybe is much easier.

But I am not down and out, at least not quite yet.  And yet that is what happens when one becomes homeless, what the homeless folk of Broxbourne may not realise is that they have unexpectedly become the catalyst for something wonderful.    A project is underway in Broxbourne by a number of local churches to provide a night shelter and over winter and today in preparation some 60 odd people crammed into the Red Cross provisions in Hertford for a hilarious and brilliant introduction to First Aid, so I spent the morning lying around pretending to be concussed and learning things like arm, palm, leg and roll, and listening to the wonderfully funny yarns of the trainer!  Totally life affirming somehow.

The Schumacher Experience - a fun and moving experience.

Today it has poured with rain all day.  The internet went off mid class and took another hour to go back on and the radiator is pouring water.   I am trying to dig deep and retain some of the calm and charm that I returned home from Devon with. 

The Schumacher experience is something that I am still processing but for a few days I have lived in a lovely lovely location, I have eaten brilliant food and I have had the company of some wonderful spirits and in a addition at times my brain has been stretched to the moon and back and my heart filled with love for those around me.

A sort of spiritual place with educational facilities for long and short courses on holistic themes,  Schumacher college also has extensive gardens as part of the Dartington Estate and grows almost all its own food and is now offering education in that area too.  The college that was on this site previously has connections for my family for various reasons so it also has  a great emotional attachment for me, but given that I have not been there for years perhaps that overstates the case, but that was one thing calling me.  The idea of living in a community and seeing how that was also was calling me but the other thing was the idea of the garden which has been calling me for some time. I know I can green my car park, but in many ways it would be lovely to have my own garden again but one that needs virtually no looking after so all these things called me to Totnes and the course. I also hoped it would shift me in some ways so that I could decide what to do with my life. Some and of these things happened, but   so did lots of other things.  However, how to describe them that I do not know.

The first night was not a promising start, after having seen round the kitchens in which we would assist variously with cleaning, preparing and cooking,  we had a lecture on economics which left us all a bit puzzled.  Despite a few comments it was a rather desultory affair.      But the positives of the location and the food all made up for this but the biggest and best delight that carried us all through the first day was the wonderful mix of participants on the course. I had no idea that people from as far away as Brazil, Argentina, Europe and Japan would be sharing the experience with me.    So first day over we shared a bottle of wine (organic of course ) a conversation about education and then headed to bed. 

The next day could not have been more different, enter Stephan Harding an extraordinary and charismatic and funny lecturer.   Theme for the week, I did not totally agree with all he said, but the he was too inspiring to care.  His duty was to take us on a deep time walk ( or warp) for 4.5 kilometres around the Dartmouth coast and river.  Not only was it sublimely beautiful but every now and then we would stop for a mini lecture to learn this was when the moon emerged from the earth or the sea arrived or small creatures came out of the sea and onto land, and lets not forget oxygen and iron one love - rustafarai. .    By the time people had stopped to swim, or dawdled in the trees, we were very late for our bus back but we had to get to the point in history where humans had entered into the picture and then the last two hundred years where they had caused climate change before we could head back to the Totnes, shattered but well and truly bonded.

The next two days were based in the college and were a mix of self exploration and just being outdoors either walking or talking or both.   We had a talk by an eco activist with two Phd's! and more importantly had a talk by the spiritual inspiration for the college Satish Kumar.  I will admit I had not heard of him, but he was the reason some had attended the course  but he is a 28 year old in the body of an 82 year old, just lovely and despite the concerns for the environment full of hope. 

Then before we knew it the week was almost over, a sort of party followed, which included some stunning songs by one of the Japanese participants, some great stories by the facilitator and one of the English participants, a very poor rendition of a Joni Mitchell classic by me, as despite all my efforts I still get too many nerves to deliver, and lots of lovely songs by the Brazilians.

Stephan Harding proving lectures can be fun, interactive, yet led from the front. 

Our last day we used a nice way to decide what to do, small groups suggested things, out of which emerged a plan. The majority of us would head to the river, send a flower downstream with our blessings and then we would return to the fire to share our last thoughts and our farewells.   The walk through the red woods is stunning, We stayed in reverential silence until the river, where a number of us bathed in the cold cold invigorating water. 

We were only together for just over 4 days, but in four days people can share, get very close and be inspired.    WE were all emotional by the end. We had shared truly wonderful veggie food together, had communed with chickens, and trees and each other on a deep level. One of the participants had very little English but her summary and farewell was most effecting, what she had seen every day were the smiles of all around her and she was happy.

Some will return to the college for further studies, some will never get to England again, but for one short time, we were altogether for a lovely experience and we are all grateful for that.   A unique week, in glorious Devon.

Snippets from the classroom 1.

I get so much from my students that for some time I have been itching to share some of it, but how to respect their privacy and confidentiality?     Well hopefully using a sort of twitter technique and offering only snippets and keeping to generalities it will be okay.    I learn so much from meeting people from all over the world, so everynow and then I will share snippets from them.   Their comments are, I hope factual, but that is not guaranteed as I may have misunderstood them or they me or their answer is just to use the language for example.


PM2.5  ( a new expression for me)  and heat reflection from glass, but pollution is going down in Beijing.  In turn the student found out that China is not alone with pollution problems and that we have a lot of pollution in the UK

60 men 55 women - retirement age China.  Many younger people help their parents financially.

Big eyes and a round face are considered beautiful features in China.

Chile is linked to the world through its shipping.

In Pakistan one of my students, a woman, had a much better schooling than I did, a much more rounded affair.     Good to hear positives re education for girls in Pakistan.

Just taught a person going home from work using Uber and did the whole lesson whilst  on the way home!  The student posed a great question querying how do people in countries like the UK or US plan for things long term when governments and policies and plans keep changing.     The student is from China, but knows both the UK and US well.    At the end of the conversation we discovered we had both studied in Manchester!

A few pictures from a wet Saturday in Hyde Park.

People's Walk for Wildlife

C

Swim Serpentine!

Christo clear water survival. 

A few pictures to whet the appetite.

Marcellus Theatre remains that have been dug up from under medieval Rome. 

Look closely - I have seen these in Berlin, but these are in the Jewsish Ghetto in Rome. 

A lovely warm evening in from of St.Peters. 

Senegalese salespeople selling Kenyan trinkets to the crowds in Rome! 

Vatican coffee!  

Roman holidays.

When my son was about 8 or maybe a little older we went to Lido di Jesolo.  Two things I regret about that holiday, one that we initially said no to the kids when they wanted to go on a gondola ride (we changed our minds but they did not want to go then) and that having promised Nathan and his friend Joanna that they could chill by the pool all day on the last day,  suddenly the weather changed and it really was end of the season. That was the holiday Nathan ate tiramisu every day!  I still do not like it, it was a lovely holiday. There was a moment, when Linda and Joanna were joined by more friends camping nearby and we all headed off for a memorable meal by the beach, just enjoying the sun, the sea and the company - in true Italian fashion, it felt like we were in a movie.    And Venice of course was Venice extra-ordinary.         Little did I realise that I would pass through a couple more times as part of my work for EiA, or that I would have a week working nearby to Lido di Jesolo, it was the last tie I worked for the company, but I have happy memories of working there and in Udine and Pordenone, northern towns I would not know otherwise. 

But I started to know Italy in my 20's, part of my degree, heading to Naples, Capri, Rome and Florence was an obvious choice.   It was not love at first sight, though it felt amazing to see so many world famous sights and to eat proper pizza for the first time.      I also made a life long friend,  though Brexit has almost done for us, but passing through passport control, we realised we worked for the same organisation and I am pleased to say we have kept in touch every since.   

In the meantime, I have visited Parma and Bologna, with my part Italian ex,  Milan and its surrounds including Mantegna and Verona and the glorious Dolomites with my step dad, whilst he lived out in Italy.   Abruzzo was the site of a memorable holiday weekend with my brother and his children and his then partner in their gorgeous home in the mountains, (which was marred by a horrendous car accident witnessed by me, but was a stunning location and of course a great and rare chance to be with my niece and nephew) and last year I was wowed by Genoaese architecture, palaces, and bridges.  It was horrendous to realise that one of these sublime structures crashed to the ground killing many.   But I have always intended to return to Rome.  I do not know how long we spent in Rome on our whistle stop tour.  I recall the Roman highlights but also that our hotel was very fragrant  So almost forty years on, I am back and despite it being September it is hot, hot, hot, so just as well my hotel is out near the airport in Ciampino and I was able to head out to Lake Albano today and the papal museums at Castel Gandolfo   I had a lovely day, but seemed to have totally misunderstood my booking as I failed to see the gardens but I did see the museum.  So it looks like I will just have to come back again!  Hopefully I have booked the right tickets for tomorrow as it is a return to the Vatican and Michaelangelo.

I am not a Christian, let alone a Catholic, and since the last visit the horrors of the level of the abuse and the cover up of the abuse has thoroughly tarnished the credibility and reputation of the church and the faith in many ways.  Listening to the history of the many, many popes, though was interesting, to kind of have a view of how they have progressed through and been a key part of history.    The museum

Papal pretender

Papal Chair

Prewar Pope. 

Papal view.

perhaps not surprisingly put a better spin for example on how the church handled the Germans during WW2 and their stand against antisemitism.    So although it was not quite what I thought I was visiting, i am glad I have been there and the Lake is beautiful, the Pope just has the most wonderful view.   I want to picture him flying down the hill in his cloak and splashing into the lake as if it is Galilee and his Lord is there to great him.

Scream, scream, scream, scream, scream, scream, scream.

Having taken the time to send off the paperwork, I got back in touch with the Land Registry as I realised that I had given them the wrong form name when I phone.  They have now got back in touch with me to say I do need to fill in the form and have my identity checked. 

I think I am beginning to go mad.  Heaven knows what the people trying to sell will think,  I just want to scream and scream and scream and scream.   Bad headache, just got worse.

Things not going to plan!

2011 I move into my flat and immediately realise a lot of the information I have been given about it is incorrect e.g. electrics up the creek and gas illegal, whereas I had a certificate saying all was well!.  I had notified my solicitors prior to the purchase that the plans were incorrect and I thought corrected plans were arriving post purchase but they never did.   According to the plans to my home my internal staircase is communal and so is my individual door, whilst the promise that all the frontage was mine was evidenced in some documents but not in the details held by the Land Registry. In 2012 the solicitors registered my ownership and got this response.

Part of the land shown by red edging on the plan t the lease does not fall within the lessor;s title and is registered under another title.   .... The plan attached to the letter...... keep the letter and plan I have the letter but no plan, not one with any colour and the other land is not clear. Who or what does this refer to.    and what did it mean for the future sale of my flat. I have no idea, so it has always unsettled me, but getting the flat legal in other ways was my main focus till this year.

Nevertheless in 2013 I spoke to Land Registry, they agreed the plans were incorrect and they seemed to advise at that time getting a solicitor onto it and therefore I suggested to the person about to buy the flat downstairs and share the freehold that they get their solicitor to do it on all our behalf.  Their solicitor did not think incorrect plans were an issue.

This April I returned to the matter. I was advised to extend the lease using 1.1.1. - which made no sense as I wasn't extending the lease. I was told I could write in which I did,  but I did not get a response. I was again advised to write in and I sent in photos.  But still got no where. I was advised to use another form which again I did not understand so begged for someone in plain English to tell me what I needed to do. I spoke to someone who seemed to give me the correct information I was told I needed form TP1.  and to do an ID1. I set about arranging for bills and a new council tax to be sent to me. I got a surveyor to draw up the new plans to go with the TP1.  Today trying to fill in the TP1,  I could not make head or tail of it.  So I rang up Land REgistry and yes, they told me to write in.  They were also quite rude, assuming I had taken it upon myself to do things incorrectly all these years rather than trying to unsuccessfully follow their information.  So some 7 years since I bought the property I am back where I started and even though I have evidenced to them several times now that I do have a staircase and a door, here I go again!. 

I have always said I am happy to have a salary to get things wrong too,  I can spend years giving incorrect information if the Government wants!  However, it would just be nice to be given the correct information and in a simple straight forward form from the outset.

 Contested space, my vital pots.

Bags of room for confusion?

Earlier this year I struggled to find a small bag that I could use on Ryanair, and landed up with a very ordinary black bag, so I was pleased over the recent trip to the north to find a nice cloth bag,   I also bought a new cabin sized bag on wheels. so thought I was all set till I got a confusing message from Ryanair, which has revealed none of my bags seem to be correct!  I have had to pay for my bag for the first time on a Ryanair flight.   I am sure I am not alone.

Perhaps this means an end to the cut price easy visits to Europe and maybe with luck more extended trips either abroad further away or in the UK.  Being up north with the dogs and even in the bad weather has been lovely.  Apart from discovering and using the direct bus to Newcastle, I have been swimming, to lots of nice local cafes, and have walked and walked.    On the last day I got to go to the Wolsingham Show for the first time in years.  I loved it, lots of beautiful animals, dog shows, crafts, food, and more food, and even a stall promoting the growth of hemp in the UK.  Apparently a farm in Oxford even harvesting hemp as part of a volunteer project. Hemp could be a really useful crop for British farmers, so great that they this organisation was present. 

Lovely gardens and places to Potter about in, in Alnwick.

Alnwick Lion

Barter books.

Having a bit of Farne...

Some travel from near, Durham, some travel from far, (Spain) but somehow we are all in the same boat, travelling to Inner Farne, an island famous for its puffins.  Only now it is just out of the Puffin Season, but still we are happy to be swooshed wet with the waves over the bow, peer at the black shags against the black rocks festooned at their tips with bright white poo, sniff the pongy brine and scan the dark sea just in case tiny flapping wings signify one of the most characterful birds in Britain.    I feel very silly, when I realise that the Spanish woman - a vet in trainee at Cordoba Uni - has managed to travel here from Newcastle and will return in one day whereas I have had to get my act together, check out the route when staying in Berwick last year and until my bus arrived this morning, was still uncertain I would get here from Alnwick.   Yet in reality it is all fairly easy, once at Seahouses a boat is imminent.

I guess in season our small boat will be packed, but there are only about 20 of us today.  Our first sightings are of seal sleeping in the sea, noses up, bobbing.  While others flip their flipper in greeting from the seal coloured rocks. I could happily have spent the day watching them, but there are other islands to skirt, stories to hear of about brave Grace Darling, heroic rescuer at 22, but dead herself only 4 years later, and then our final destination the National Trust site, once home to St Cuthbert but now  home to thousands of birds.   NT staff spend a large chunk of time here, joined by keen volunteers.  We have an hour here, time to wonder the marked path, and watch the clumsy footed shags, wonder at the world they inhabit.  They are charming.  In season the noise and smell must be intense, today we can just relax and enjoy the sights, before a last potter on the beach and the boat thrashes back to the coastal town busy with tourists.  How Cuthbert survived all alone there is a mystery, how puffins spend their days at sea, astonishing,  and for all the intripid tourists another small adventure has just ended. 

Update, re Mr. B.. FOI

I have just found out that I can use a Freedom of Information request to try and find out the paper work initially submitted when Mr. B, set up the company I was involved with.   I have no way of knowing whether it will provide helpful information, but every now and then I chip away at things and try to see if that establishes information that confirms or denies criminal intent.   I have to be a bit elliptical, but have passed the information onto the police in the hope that they will follow up on it.   

I may not be able to get the company investigated, but just having a bit of helpful information and advice can make a big difference.     I know people have said walk away and of course most of the time I do not think about it, but at times now when my income is down, or if Jordan or Ashley appear is plays out, or when I think of my father's death and how supportive he was, how he ingrained himself into the fabric of life.   Worse things have happened to me, but this was really really really difficult, and therefore somehow just chipping away at it, seems to be important.    That is all I can do, unless another person comes forward and the police see a pattern and prosecute, 

Gutted

Cat gut your tongue
       Gut your eyes
               Gut your fleas.
Catastrophies
    Lion Hunter Down
I picked you up so tenderly
As if that would stop your
Head flopping, limp body
Implode the guilty silence.






The night we ran over the cat,  the car was not travelling fast,  we saw it clear by the side of the road, away from harm,  turn away from us, and then horrifyingly turn again and launch itself in front of our killing machine.    For over a year the poem has gestated waiting to come out.  Yet most of the time and especially when I am stressed I blunder in and blunder in. If I am very critical of other people's mistakes (which I am - when they have consequences) I absolutely hate my own, yet sadly make many. For example every year I do my taxes, every year I record the details and then every following year I can find all the paper work for years gone by but never the previous years information even though all this information is kept in one place.  The Bermuda  Triangle seems to exist in my living room, and in my brain, but this current error seems so gutting - I just do not know how one can be so incompetent.

I complained, queried, emailed back and forth to Companies House when I was first defrauded.  Each time I recorded that they did not handle fraud even though they have a fraud department.     Recently I was following up on my situation with them and registered that they had given me a place where I could ask for the case to be investigated so immediately asked why on earth they had not given me this information before.     Their records are good back they came with the emails in which they had sent me the information.  I still have all but one of those emails and I can confirm there it is in black and white and yet somehow I did not see or understand I only understood that Companies House has a fraud department that does not investigate fraud.    True I was very very very stressed at the time, true I found communicating with Companies House just the reams of information in their emails confusing,  true the one moment when I seemed to have clicked as to what they were saying I could not find the organisation or the address they had previously sent me.  There does seem to be one email missing and I noted that at the time,  but that does not explain how one can be given the information one is seeking and yet still not see it.    I know I blunder on and do things too quickly sometimes, and it is interesting how sometimes mid rant one can connect to a bit of information and then somehow lose it again, but why why do we or should that just be I make these really stupid errors, errors which stop me resolving the very things that I am in touch about.    Now the catchily named Insolvency Service who turn out to be the people I should have contacted about the potential fraud may not investigate the case as I have closed the company.   I may not be a dead cat, but I may be dead in the water.... totally gutted.

Wedded bliss?

Your marriage or civil partnership should be recognised in the UK if you follow the correct process according to local law - you won’t need to register it in the UK  is what it says on the UK Government website, so when my now ex husband came to the UK and said we should get married in the UK I refused as we were married, or were we?

I did consult briefly two lawyers re my marriage, one said they thought it legal the other said it was not, emotionally I worked on the basis that is was, but asked my then husband to the UK to meet friends and family before arranging for him to come over permanently to the UK.  He came we were a disaster together, and so parted, but one of the reasons we were a disaster together is things like him insisting we marry.  Now I realise I have discovered that he might have been right....

Listening to Sunday today there was an item about an Islamic marriage that was made void as it had never been followed by a UK civic marriage ceremony - it caught my attention and I have been doing some delving again and the picture still is not fully clear.  However, had I had a civil marriage it would have protected me legally - whether it would make a difference to my ex husband would be less clear, if we were already legally married, no if not yes. Is this why he wanted to get married? 

Luckily, he tells me we are now divorced and he is married again and settled. I do need at some point to probably follow up on this but this has really unsettled me.   I told him in good faith that we did not need another marriage for our marriage to be accepted in the UK, but I can see the situation was greyer than that and I should have been open to more discussion on the topic. I suppose I was suspicious as to why he wanted it because I could not understand it, and suspicion is not a good basis for a relationship!  

I am also suspicious that the only person who I am talking to about this is myself as I have just confirmed to myself my checking my blog is being recorded as a reader!!!! So all these years wondering who on earth is reading this, well now I know - me!!!! 

The year Bob lost his teeth!

Cambridge Folk Festival has woven its charms through my life in three phases.  I first went there with my future first husband when we first met, and had a wonderful time there.  One of his best friends took me there several years later, when he became my partner.  John Green sadly died some years ago but even though we split up before then, Cambridge became a favourite place to meet up when he ws down with his best friend Graham for the festival.    Now partly in his honour I try and return each year to spend time with Graham and just have a brilliant time hurtling between stages and laping up the music. This year was no exception, they are still there, but I am exhausted after one day and what a great day - from young musicians maintaining the folk tradition, to the legendary Peggy Seeger, who in her 90s was able to remind people of the link between folk and polictics with her ditty on Trump in the White House.    This was followed by Eliza Carthy, who is a great model for women, large, loud and wonderful and wonderfully talented, and had everyone up and dancing, then on Stage 2 the dancing continued with Arcadian band Vishten, but the best was Songhoy Blues from Mali. Driving blues guitar and complex rhythms they brought the house down.     There used to be an amazing festival in the desert in Mali, sadly I never got to it, but the presence of ISIS in Mali has had a devastating impact on the music scene there,  as they have tried to crush all music.  The band formed partly out of protest to use music to fight back.   It was almost warm enough to be in Mali, it is fantastic to be able to sit under the stars and end the evening with First Aid Kit, whose lyrics follow in Seeger's protest mould, and St Paul and the Broken Bones, who I couldn't quite get my head around, but who was a great way to end a memorable day.

Oh yes and Bob and his teeth.  Well the charm of Cambridge are the stories woven each year of the people we have met, and those attending.   For example  Paul, sadly died, almost whilst on route,  a weird complex angry artist,  and John, who was last seen at Addenbrookes,  unable to manage another year.   Bob,  another friend of John's, was always coming but some how never got there till 2017.  He still tries to cut a dash with the ladies and almost had some success last year, but the disappearance of his teeth this year seems to have discouraged him somewhat, however, it has been the source of great humour.     His teeth have had a night out on their own, getting lost in the bed clothes and tent flaps.  As the only woman in the group for several year's attendance, I also enjoy this insight into male bonding, and love having time with this special group     I might be into tea and cake they into guiness and wine; somehow the bonds of time grow stronger with each Cambridge.