Word of Mouth and Romance Fraud.

 I know I bang on about having been defrauded, by one Mr.Banjo, but tonight's Word of Mouth has brought it all back in technicolour and reinforced my sense of injustice at the hands of both the fraudster and the criminal injustice system  

The guest (Dr. Elizabeth Carter)  on the programme - which is about linguistics - has studied how fraudsters operate and almost everything she talked about applied to how I was defrauded, how I was groomed.   Yet at the end,  she said contact Action Fraud, the police will help,  it is a crime,  but as regular readers to this column will know, the CPS chucked out my case. I believe that the tactics used to groom me, baffled them too so much so that they could not see what I know to be true, that I was both the victim of grooming and of fraud, so I think us victims need her to talk to the police more about how these crimes take place, so that on the rare occasion that they are able to take a case to court, they go through with it.  

She also said talk to people, share with them let go of the shame, but I know that only made it worse as so many people were critical of me and of course sharing with the CPS was a nightmare.  However, I really recommend the programme as she gave all sorts of tips re identifying the language and techniques used by fraudsters.  

Full on week, that ends with a whimper.

 It has been a packed and at times surreal week. 

It started on Sunday as I whooped and hollered as people won BAFTAs, whilst us the invisible audience looked on.  I will admit I had dressed up for it a bit as I thought virtual audiences were visible, but it turned out on this occasion that we weren't.    Given that the BBC also used a clapping track,  and cut out most of what we added, I am not sure how useful we were, and the following day their own correspondent dished our soundtrack, but I did give it my best.    I was in my 20s, when I went to my first live BAFTAS, I went with LBC. The correspondent they had sent did not know much about who was current so I went with him to nudge him as to who anyone was.  I do remember Morecombe and Wise were the warm up men, far more famous than the person, who warmed us up for 20 minutes to be in the virtual audience.  I also went to the BAFTAS whilst I worked at the ROH, but looked remarkably invisible in my maroon uniform.    It was however, nice to spot everyone arriving and where they seated - something that indicated their status.   And now I am just a hollow hello on a soundtrack. The story of my life :)

More whooping and hollering as I went on the dinosaur train at Paradise Wildlife Park.  Dressed up in many layers, to ward out the uncharacteristic cold of April,  me and my neighbours reprieved last year's outing to the park, and we had a similarly wonderful time.  Lions are just wonderful, I think all of us adults showed some signs of poor behaviour as our caged brothers captured our hearts, but the thousands of children were just lapping up the play areas and behaving really well. 

Most of Tuesday I was in bed after the adventures of the day before so the only highlight was  Bob Gledhill,  Green Party representative for Bury Green and Goffs Oak, taking pictures of me, for my Green Party profile shot.  But by Wednesday I was so encouraged by the continuing sun, that I finally managed to walk down to Fishers' Green.  In my head this place is much further off than Broxbourne, so it is often an unreached annual target, but for some reason,  I was spurred onto stretching out and was rewarded with some wonderful sights and got there relatively quickly, though at just over two hours there and back was a longer walk than normal.   Apparently many of us have brain fog mushy brains cos we are not stimulating ourselves with new adventures, walking two miles in a different direction one day definitely made me feel more awake, even if the walk knocked me out again! 

Since then it has almost all been a story of things not happening, the yoga teacher's internet had gone down in Portugal, so my first attempt to join her on a Thursday failed,  and then today first session delivering Green Party leaflets was cancelled, and then the replacement event was also cancelled and just now post work on the allotment, I was even too shattered to have a long catch up chat which had been long planned.   However, I did managed to get out to the canal boat protest locally as narrow boat dwellers fight to be allowed to remain on the River Lea.  I love seeing them, I am a definite gongoozler so I hope that they win.  

Meanwhile the rest of the people in England seem to be out drinking and shopping for Britain.   Many also apparently objected to the extension coverage of the Prince Phillip, which must have been quite painful for the Queen, who cut a most sad figure, sat on her own at his funeral, which I also missed today, but saw now coming up in Facebook feeds.  

Will the message drive home? Or is that an ungreen expression!.

 

For the last year much of the whole world has been under lock down and hopefully many people will have understood the pandemic is a Green Issue.      The population is growing, more and more of us are eating meat or land rich food, as a result  animals and humans are in ever closer contact and for years scientists have been warning that the outcome of this will be a pandemic.  Well they warned us,  we took limited notice and now it is upon us,  and us humans have been dying as a consequence, but that is as nothing almost compared with how many species have died in the last 50 years.    Apparently when the WWF was set up by people like Prince Phillip (see previous input) _  over 60% of us lived in rural areas, now that is right down to about 40% and in that time humanity has wiped out 60% of animals species.   Our planet is dying and if our planet dies we die.   On top of that add climate change.  The picture at times looks very bleak, but at the same time there is much much more awareness that these issues are critical.  So, will that translate into more votes on May 6th - I hope so.   In deference to Prince Phillip electioneering has halted briefly, and many people may feel anxious about coming out to vote, but none of us want another year like this one,  so I hope every one will grab their pencils, walk to their local polling station and vote for a Green(er) World. 

Delighted to say that my friend Robert Gledhill is standing for the County on May 6th for the Green Party. 

Now the nation mourns, or will it?

 I am still  reeling from the death of my friend,  it has really knocked me out, and now the Nation might feel the same as the death of Prince Phillip has been announced. Whilst resting I am learning all sorts of things about him that I never knew in my lifetime.  I often feel this of friends and family but how curious after having lived a lifetime with him in such a key role that much about him I did not know including that he used to shoot tigers inspite of heading up the WWF!.  

The internet can be a source of distraction, but when it throws up death, it is so sudden, you do not know whether to believe it.    But then their death remains suspended.     Many friends who have died are not recorded this way,  they are just in my heart, but some like Abdou were famous enough to have their deaths announced on radio or on the net.    This week dealing with death has made me revisit their lives both in my memory and online: 

Chimi Dorji At least 30 people have been killed so far in cross-border raids, kidnappings and ... to assimilate ethnic Nepalese have promoted ethnic conflict (State Dept Human ... May 1992, A group of gunmen assassinated Chimi Dorji, the Deputy District 

Shem Chweya 

The recent death of Shem Chweya ? a middleweight bodybuilder who held the Mr Kenya title in 1993,1994, 1995 and 1997 ? at only 42 years has raised many eyebrows  

There should be more records of him than this, at the time of his death it was publicised quite a lot which is how I found out he had died,  but perhaps that was too long ago in terms of the internet,  instead all that remains is this slur on him.  

Virginia Harvie

Sometimes the memory of a friend lives on in the Just Giving Pages.  Virginia was a friend who I studied my degree with and then when I invited her to my 50 birthday party said she might not be there as she was not well.     Both her husband (former SNP MP) and daughter,  thrive so that is nice, but this page was set up as a fundraiser after Virginia's untimely death. 

Sadly whilst thinking who to invite to that party,  I discovered at least two people, I had lost contact with, had died already Phil Evans and Phil Sheldon,  two men more different it would be hard to find, but they had both been very good friends with me at one time. 

Here is how The Guardian started its recollection of the life of Phil Evans,  who I knew through my degree tutor.   A man with a passion for politics but with a lack of appetite for food, a complex man.  

The political cartoonist Phil Evans, who has died aged 68, was for a time one of the most prolific of his generation. His work was funny, concise and uncompromisingly on the side of the exploited and the oppressed. In the 1970s and 80s, he worked mostly for Socialist Worker and related publications of the Socialist Workers party, but his skill and excellence were soon recognised by the wider labour movement.

Phil Sheldon on the other hand had a passion for golf and photography and when I worked in Barnet, it was lovely to go around to his house and talk about sport. I lost touch with him when I moved, but was again shocked to learn of his early death.  

Phil was part of the Barnet gang, who I met through my then husband and sadly many of his friends have died,  who I wish were still here, people like Tony and Dave Burns. 

They were part of my youth,  more recently I came to meet Satya a follower of Mooji and a friend of my son's.  I stayed at her house a couple of times, and was in touch when she became ill but never got to keep in touch as much as I would have liked, but was aware of how her health was and the challenges she faced and the support she got.     It is touching to see the memorial they put online for her.   

Too many of the people I knew have died young,  famous and not famous, and in some way by trotting these few out I am signalling, like a virtue signaller, oh I had " famous" friends, but all the friends and family who pass, it is a bit like more and more of the tapestry of one's own life is fading, falling away.  It is real sorrow for them, but also for oneself.   One feels so powerless when someone is snatched away.  Heartbroken that another person has gone.    Thank goodness lots of good friends have remained and people who I once knew are still turning up online in surprising places (like Allan Doig - now a father! )  and some people I will be happy not to meet them again, so perhaps it is useful to realise that.   It is I suppose one of the privileges of growing older that more and more people are in some ways alive through our memories, until in the end it is our time to die. 

Sometimes the news is unbearable. Another friend's death leaping off the internet pages.

 Le Fouladou est en deuil. L’artiste musicien Abdou Diop est décédé ce 4 avril un peu avant 22h à Saré Bidji , a appris Koldanews .

Selon le maire Malang Mballo qui confirme ce malheur, Aynobé est décédé des suites d’un malaise à son domicile.

Au moment  où nous postons cet article une ambulance est allée chercher sa dépouille mortelle pour la déposer à la morgue du centre hospitalier régional de Kolda.

Koldanews par voix présente ses condoléance aux acteurs culturels et à la famille éplorée.