London to Brighton during a lifetime

While the journey from Croydon to the Sussex coast was filled with memories the decision to travel back in one day when an overnight stop for £9 had been arranged, appeared an error of judgement until now.

The centre of the Sussex coast is Brighton with a road from west and central London which passes through Wallington High Street, to Coulsdon and then joins into the major road from central London the A23, through Waddon passing the former Croydon Airport to Purley and Coulsdon. There is also the third way from the City and East London, through to central Croydon and it is on this road between South Croydon and Coulsdon that the Innkeepers motel is located. The convergence of these three routes has always created a traffic bottle neck since the day when the everyone from London headed for the coast during Summer Sundays, and even more so when the M25 was created and then the M23 to what has become London’s second airport Gatwick with both motorways accessible a couple of miles from Coulsdon via Hooley and where conveniently in recent times there were petrol stations on either side of the road and a few yards further a Little Chef restaurant where after collecting my birth and care mothers from Sunday mass and stopping at their flat for a toilet break we would go for Sunday lunch and then a little motoring during the afternoon before turning home for tea.

The Innkeepers Lodge is situated close to Purley Oaks station midway between South Croydon and Coulsdon and as I drove towards the motorway junctions on my way for Sunday lunch on the South coast I encountered the first surprise. Instead of going through Coulsdon High Street from where the road to Wallington via Smithin Bottom Lane branches off, there is now a bypass which goes under the new railway station bridge and rejoins the road before Hooley. This reduces the extent of the stationery traffic from the motorway to the Hooley Traffic Lights and then to the two sets at Coulsdon. The petrol station on this side the road has been demolished and the Little Chef has become Starbucks. I hate such changes the older I get, but the bypass is brilliant. On my way to the coast I had to remember to take the far right set of lanes as the middle two are for the M25 to the junctions with the M3. M4 and M40 before the M1 and then the A 1M. At the junction between the M25 and the A1M is a large service area with an extended seat area the other side of which are shops, meal outlets, toilets electronic games and slot machines.
Yesterday as I reached the outskirts of Wetherby in Yorkshire I discovered the new Wetherby Service area which has been built on similar lines except that the whole site is several times that of the London end with a vast parking area for Goods vehicles after a large petrol garage and multifunction store, a large area for car parking with a new Days Inn Hotel being built at the far end and the super food and shop outlet to one side, with outdoor seating for the smokers and picnic area.

For the greater part of two decades I would leave the A1M just before Wetherby village and where on the right hand side before doing so there was a pleasant pub restaurant with gardens ideal for a lunch stop. This then closed and remained bordered up be for close on two decades. Wetherby itself is a very attractive prosperous town with several pub restaurants in the town centre which is also a good meal time stop, or alternatively there are also three places on the road from Wetherby into Leeds town centre and then out of Leeds for the start of the M1. The alternative was to continue on the A1 where there was a motorway service area at the junction with the M62 from Hull to Liverpool. Then about a decade ago, perhaps less, an extension was made to the M1 which takes it around Leeds to join A1M. There had been an earlier improvements which first took the AIM onward without the former Wetherby roundabout, and more recently an improvement which meant that one did not have leave the A1M at the service area roundabout to join either the M62 which crossed above so now one has the choice of directly continuing south on filtering in to the M62 East or West.

All this means that one can travel from Scotland and Newcastle to London via the M1 without entering or stopping around Leeds, or via the A1M, or go on to Hull, Manchester or Liverpool again without stopping or needing to confront roundabouts and bottle necks in the Leeds area. There is a good service area and Motel at Scotch Corner some 30 miles North of Leeds, The Wakefield service area motel is some ten miles South of Leeds on the M1 and the Pontefract service area and Motel some ten miles to the south east of Leeds on the A1M. Therefore the new Wetherby service stop ten miles north of Leeds fills a major gap and no doubt the agricultural land owners made a good profit.

There are so many changes coming in the next twenty five to fifty years and beyond that I will not live to see, so developments such thus one, however minor in the great scheme of things is of interest although the prices are such that I shall continue to make do buying beforehand. One interesting find is that yesterday I bought two packs of two salmon fish cakes for £3 usually £3.28 where at Azda a quality pack of two haddock fish cakes costs just under £2


I missed a call on my mobile, and decided to ring back. Usually it is the wrong number but this time it was important, to say that the TV was fixed and would be returned tomorrow between 10 and 1. Some years ago I had a video recorder which went wrong and was taken away and it was after several months and constant telephoning that eventually I was given a replacement as a stand by and then a cheque the cost of the original which could not be repaired. Having heard many stories and knowing that these day the cost of repairing in such that frequently products are written off with a voucher alternative offered I wondered if I would be without my wondrous set over Christmas, Now I have the rest of the day to catch up work, do some shopping and get the room ready. I shall buy the Christmas and New Year Edition of the Radio Times. The Gods of the many faiths of the world are being kind towards me.

On Sunday as I drove in the sun burning fog my mind was full of past experience, conjured by the places played along the route. I have used Gatwick as an airport a few times. To Corfu, to Italy and to Gibraltar and I have stayed overnight in the area at least once, possibly twice. The car parking is usually at some distance with special buses taking to the Airport and there is now a fast service from London Victoria and with connections at East Croydon. After the war the major train route stop on the way to the coast by train was Three Bridges where if memory serves me well there were connections to trains going to other destinations along the South Coast. Hasting which as a family we did not like, St Leonards and Bexhill where we had family holidays. There is also Camber sands at the far end of East Sussex and Pevensey Bay, and then the major resort of Eastbourne before the famous Beachy head where I once listened to a live Dire Straits concert on the radio sitting in the car. Then there is the Newhaven Dieppe ferry port before Peacehaven, Saltdean, Rottingdean and Kemp town before Brighton and Hove. My first experience of the seaside was to Brighton just after the end of World War II when the beach was still covered with fortifications and I went with my birth mother, the only time that she went out with a male friend, in his lorry.

Next to Brighton is Hove and the football team is known as Brighton and Hove Albion and as a young man I went to watch Crystal Palace play Brighton in the decider which settled whether Brighton or Palace would become part of the new 4th division when the two third divisions were amalgamated. I have been to Hove twice to watch Durham play Sussex, during visit stays with my birth and care mother’s at Wallington. This reminded me to check if the Durham 2009 fixtures are as yet announced, they are not but I do want a copy of the special edition of Wisden if they are still available. I will check this out and renew my membership day as well as booking the annual service of the central heating system and the cooker.

Returning to the London to Brighton route my childhood recollection was also of the Vintage car race which is run in November of each year since 1896 which was the date when legislation was passed which enabled motorised vehicles to travel up to 14 miles an hour from the previous 4 and which required a man to walk ahead carrying a red flag, Since 1971 the Queen has entered a Daimler car which is driven by members of the Royal Household. Prince Michael of Kent who is President of the Royal Automobile Club has regularly participated in the race. This year 483 vehicles out of the original entry of 550 managed to get away from Hyde Park and 420 reached their destination. For the past 100 years the Moulin Rouge Paris has had entries and this year a chorus line of Can Can girls from the celebrated night club did a pre London visit in September and formed a guard of honour at the start. The race was the subject of a comedy film called Genevieve. with Kenneth Moore, John Griegson and Kay Kendall.

There is also a famous film called London to Brighton in Four minutes of the railway journey from London to Brighton Station which was shown sometimes on TV as an Interlude. The original 1951 version was six minutes at 500 mph and the later is over 700 mph and then to mark 50 years of the electrification of the line a colour version was produced and than new version was available on the BBC I player but no longer, However several version are still available on You Tube including the original versions.

The present M23 motorway ends at Pease Pottage which as a child caused much merriment (Pease Pudding) and still does although not I presume to local residents along with those at Cuckfield, Hurstpierpoint, Pyecomb and Moulsecombe, Uckfield and Buxted., Now at Patcham there is a dual carriageway which continues on to Lewes and Newhaven to the East or to Shoreham and Worthing. I have stayed at Lewes, a small old town full of antique shops, for short period of three or four days on a visit by the Local Government Association’s Drug Advisory Committee, to facilities in the Brighton and Sussex areas.

Unless you have cause to drive along the coast most people are now aware of the extent of the port at Shoreham by Sea, but Arundel Castle a little way inland from Littlehampton another day trip venue along with Bognor Regis because unlike Brighton with its Pebble Beach there is sand as these two resorts. I believe that as a child we had a holiday at Bognor Regis. It was only in recent times that I visited the great Cathedral at Chichester and I am not sure if I have been to Selsey and the Selsey Bill as the headland is called. Travelling north from Chichester is Midhurst and then just over the border into Surrey there is Haselemere where the youngest of seven sisters in the family of my mother, Ethel, died at the convalescent hospital from tuberculosis run by a Catholic order of nuns and where I made one visit going by bus to Guildford and then by another to the outside the town where the hospital was located on the side of hill and the beds were taken outside into the open air.

Yesterday the journey from Purley Oaks home was of a different order with constant warnings on the M25 that there were long delays between junctions 15 to 18 which covered the stretch passed London’s main airport Heathrow and where planes arrive to land every minutes or so. In fact although we did slow down to 10 MPH I cannot recall an actual stopping and for the most part we went along at a comfortable 30 to 40 MPH. I could not wait to stop for some prepared coffee, which was luke warm, at Toddington, and to buy a pack of rolls to enjoy nearly all the second pack of smoked salmon, except or a few slices used with to two further rolls with sliced olives and anchovy immediately on arrival home around 5pm. It continues to feel strange continuing to South Shields and not going through Sunderland as I had for some thirty years

Having bought a week’s use of Travel Lodge internet, I parked outside the Travel Lodge and was able to connect with my 5 year old Sony V10 but then found I only had a few minutes left with the battery, which was surprise, I then checked that I had two hours with the new free Acer via AOl, but I could not get out of Yahoo and this needs to be sorted for future reference over the next couple of days.

I did stop again at Nottingham, this time for a cup of hot coffee £2.09 and a toilet break and then it was the boring struggle to keep going for the rest of the way, hence stopping to explore the new service area at Wetherby.

Back home I had intentionally left two lights on while away, and by mistake had left a third, I also put the heating system on a timer and the timer heating had worked and was on at arrival. I hate to thin what has been the cost, there was a little post including the replacement debit card which I must find out if the code number still works. It also reminds that on the way I heard a song with the lyrics along the lines of I saw the crescent you saw the moon. I meant to make a note of the title when I stopped but can I remember and can I find it?. The search led to finding the sound track CD of the film called Benjamin Button where the first number is a traditional jazz marching band version of the When the Saints, called, Shall we walk through the streets of our City by Dr Paulin. the second number Ostrich Walk Frank Trumbauer featured Bix Beiderbeck. These are no 30 second snippets but full length versions lasting three to five minutes. Amazing. That’s how Rhythm was born Boswell sisters; Freight Train Blues- Billy and de de Pierce; Basin Street Blues by the Preservation Hall jazz band; If I could be with you tonight- Louis Armstrong and the new Cotton Club orchestra; Chanson sur Stalin; Out of nowhere Sidney Bechet; Dear Old Southland Louis Armstrong; Skokiaan-Perez Prado;. My Prayer The Platters. Bethana a concert waltz. Very enjoyable

I was desperate food and a warm drink on arrival yesterday which became priority over unpacking. Then there were plants to be watered, post to be opened. I wanted to watch part of Wallander that I had dozed through and then end Little Dorrit and listen to the X factor final. There was also the episode of Merlin Later I enjoyed a cuppa soup and four salmon fishcakes bought for £3 at Marks and Spencer’s, the last lemon Turkish delight and a few Whitakers Mint Creams. There was quite a lot of printing, the Blogs both in draft and the published version for myself and several new Friends as the mission to reach the same number as Blogs continues.
It was not a day to be remembered but it meant that I had gained a day. As my days run out I resent time spent in travelling.

A visit to the new Saatchi Gallery

The frost turned to driving rain in the early hours and continued all day. I did not buy time on Cloud, as spectrum Travel Lodge was not available, until waking in the early hours and deciding I was not going to sleep. I wrote the user name and password code carefully and this was a good decision as I was to find some twelve hours later. I could hear the wind and the rain, although it was otherwise quiet. I was hungry and tried to ignore the call but failed and consumed two cheese topped bread roles without a spread or filling. They were delicious.

I got myself ready for breakfast around 7 although had to wait until 8am. I was hungry and enjoyed two pan au chocolate which I have just discovered can be bought in the USA $3 for one. It is croissant form of baked dough with a layer of chocolate in its base, I also had one plain croissant and saved a Danish Pastry for later, I commenced with a good size plate of grapefruit segments and then had a small bunch of grapes, finishing the meal with strong coffee. Back in the room after collecting supplies from the car I used one pack of Scottish smoked salmon with the remaining two cheese rolls, packed the MS carton of grapes and one Danish but decided against making a flask of coffee. I set off in the rain and the walked up the hill to the station was not enjoyable.

I have taken trains from here on at least half a dozen previous visits but this was the first time I was directed to the open waiting room which quickly filled with everyone arriving for the Victoria or London Bridge trains. I got off at East Croydon for a fast train and then the one stop from Victoria to Sloane Square and the famous Kings Road in Chelsea. I was in the greater neighbourhood in the summer for the Promenade concert at the Royal Albert Hall and three year before I was further along both the Kings Road and the adjacent Fulham Road for the Cineworld cinemas.

The new Saatchi gallery has been created in the former Duke of York HQ building which is right angles to the Kings Road In the Spring of 2003 I visited the former Gallery in the former offices of the Greater London Council on the South bank and that visit together with the visit to the Tate Modern changed my life. Today there was nothing that moved me, nothing that engaged with one exception and I was greatly disappointed, The cloak room was on the lower ground floor and here there was also the only installation which engaged my attention. There were thirteen electric wheel chairs with thirteen life like very old men, including a Greek Orthodox Priest, an Arab Sheik, and Naval Commander and an army general. The exhibit is called Old People’s Home. It captures the sense of waiting for death, of limited or lacking of connection with anyone, of being locked into their past lives and alienated from the present. I asked the attendant if there was any reason why the number thirteen had been chosen and not ten or twelve. We had a little chat. Her interest was architecture, rather than contemporary art. She was very interested in my experience in relation to the care of the elderly and my mother. I also had a chat with a Chinese couple who were visiting because the Gallery had been given over to ten contemporary Chinese artists.

I registered as a member on line and looked at the two areas where work was exhibited from the schools project competition and the on line artists competition. Outside it was raining just as hard and I was in no mood to tramp the streets in these conditions so I decided to go to the cinema again but first it was time for some food. There are only eight seats in the Victoria station area before platforms 9 to 17 but one was free between two people but then the person on the end seat left so I moved over and enjoyed the smoked salmon rolls and a Danish pastry, I fancied coffee but there was time to catch a 12,35 train to Clapham Junction station where I cross over the road for a bus to Wandsworth High Street, It is a matter of debate whether to get off at the Town Hall stop or the one after. I chose the latter but will try the first on another occasion. It is a long walk from the street entrance to the escalator up to the Cinema ticket office and then a further escalator to the individual theatres, some 13. Mine was immediately at the entrance number 8.

The Day the Earth Stood Still is a remake of the 1951 science fiction film in which Michael Rennie comes to earth in a flying saucer with a present for President to study life on other planets but is shot by trigger happy soldier until all the weapons are disabled by a large robot who takes Rennie back in the saucer to be revived. He has come to bring the message that the world will not survive if they use atomic power as weapons unless they learn to live together, Rennie takes refuge in a boarding house run by World War II widow with a young son who befriends the visitor and takes him to Arlington cemetery where his father is buried and to a local internationally recognised scientist, completing some work with a solution which amazes the scientist. Rennie explains that he is representing a number of interests across the immediate universe that unless human beings quickly overcome the problem the people of earth will be eliminated, To give a demonstration of power all electricity is turned off for half an hour with the exception of hospitals and planes in flight. As Rennie sets off in the saucer he delivers a warning to the world. The film has a traditional Christianity aspect with a resurrection and statement to humanity before disappearing off into the heavens. I seem to recall something in the New Testament

The 2008 version has Keanu Reeves in the role played by Rennie and John Cleese as the international scientist. The issue of concern to other space races is the failure of the earth to protect the planet from environmental destruction and only at the last moment does the alien prevent the destruction of human kind and all human made constructions returning the planet to its original state. After the film I was asked by a nearby young couple what I thought so I told them about the original and the similarities of the themes. I added that I did think we could expect outside intervention to save us and we had to decide to take action ourselves, although the young couple expressed the hope that there would another remake in 50 years with different concerns. I was entertained and it is a worthwhile remake. I stopped for a coffee and coffee and muffins where the Ice cream was a New Zealand brand. I must confess ice cream is cream and I do not understand why some costs a fortune.

Back at the motel there was some difficulty in getting online before another al fresco meal bought at MS Clapham Junction station together with olives and feta cheese bought on Friday afternoon and then the evening double bill of Strictly Come dancing semi final in which all three couples were taken through to the grand final next week followed by the X factor final. The first surprise of the night was the performance of JLS who have become more professional every week and their performances this evening were entertaining and merited their place in the last two. I have written before that one of my favourite songs of all time is the Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah and the second surprise is that this is selected Christmas release single for the winner. I was impressed with the JLS version but the performance of Alexandra Burke was outstanding and was winning if that was not already determined by the public voting. To cap it all, Managerless Sunderland won 4.0 having lost four times at home in succession. It had become a much better day. Hallelujah.

A visit to London 2008

I have travelled South with an overnight stop midway in A1, unfortunately on the wrong side of the dual carriageway, so I stopped at the Travel Lodge on my side of the Road and enquired. I have stayed that the lodge Grantham South Witham several times on my way home when visiting my mother and aunt, and then my mother, so when told to look out of the Red Fox Inn I knew the place well, with an American neon lit diner set back from the road together with a gas station, I was to take the road going left immediately on passing these establishments, even though there was no bridge over the roadway,

I followed the instructions and then took a left turn at the junction which took me under the A1M, something not visible in daylight let alone the pitch black unlit countryside. The next task was to move onto the traffic fast flowing motorway for just 100 metres before turning into the slip road for the Little Chef Restaurant behind which was the Travel Lodge.

I had an uncomfortable evening and night because the small heating radiator had not been turned on beforehand and it was an exceptionally cold night, no doubt because I had booked the room at the give away price of £9 and would eat into that with the lap top electricity, the lighting and heating, including bath, added to which was the cleaning of room, change of bed linen, the free coffee, tea, milk and sugar. I did sleep from about 10.30 to 4am but it was too cold to have a third sleep session so I got up did some writing and then returned to bed for a warm, almost fully clothed,

I was up clearing the windows and windscreen of the car of thick frost just after seven and then had an assortment of breakfast, a puff pastry mince pie and a pot noodle with coffee! I was away as the sun tried to rise before 8am. I continued travelling for an hour before taking the new motorway section of the link road to M1. It is 16 miles due East to reach the M1 at this point and until this trip, the first made on this route since 2004 it was necessary to travel single file through villages split into two by the constant traffic in both directions. Now for the first or nine miles there was a dual carriageway and which only came to an end because of the continuing need for a single each way passage over the railway line and where there were small lake from some previous workings on one side and a substantial industrial commercial estate on the other.

Instead of taking the M25 to near Purley and from there to Croydon my destination for the evening, I continued the length of the motorway which is been widened into 4 lanes each way before and after the M25 junction and at the end took the ring road past the new Wembley stadium and onto Hanger Lane, a notorious link road between the North and South circular routes which passes through Ealing Common, Brentford and Kew, a journey I made for three year each way from my home in Teddington to the Children’s Department in central Ealing. Kew Bridge is a wonderful Bridge over the Thames with a village type Green on the other side and some restaurants. Instead of taking the road to Twickenham or Richmond before Teddington, I turned westward towards Clapham and before then Wandsworth which was to be my lunchtime destination, Before then close the internationally famous Kew Gardens and I took a side road heading towards the National Archive and Family History centre, and before then a small area of out of town centre shops which included a large Marks and Spencer’s.

I enjoyed two salami baked cheese topped rolls and the last puff pastry mince pie, before heading for the store and its hoped for toilets. I was not disappointed and afterwards took the opportunity to visit the food hall where I bought another pack of rolls, two Danish pastries, a small carton of olives and two small packs of the finest Scottish smoked salmon which would serve me over the weekend supplemented by cooked meals eaten out.

Arriving at the one way system at Wandsworth I made an inspired guess took the first right turn, crossing over Wandsworth High Street, close to the Town Hall where I once played a chess match on behalf of Croydon’s County Borough’s chess club and earned a worthy draw, and into the road towards Tooting and Mitcham, a short distance along opposite Sainsbury there was the side road leading to the Southlands shopping Mall and recreation centre, my destination being the Cineworld multiplex. I was able to find a parking space on second level and made my way across to the marked doors leading to the stairs with the cinema third floor level, missing the adjacent lifts. The stairs came out next to the multiplex entrance where the choice was between the remake of The Day the Earth Stood still and the Changeling. I was more in the mood for the former but left the decision till later as there was nearly an hour before the choice had to be made, I adjourned to the nearby fast food outlet where I had a comfortable chair and an inexpensive but enjoyable cup of coffee for 95 pence while I read part of the first chapter of President Elect Barack‘s Obama The Audacity of Hope. He speaks as well as he writes, direct, honest, the ability to select the right word or phase to communicate his feelings or ideas. His speaking and leadership skills have become internationally known but what the first chapter reveals is a mind that understands what is wrong and what is right with bipartisan politics in a democracy and has developed an approach which is a genuine third way. What interests me is that he has the vision which is not dissimilar to that of New Labour in the UK although the starting positions are very different and the composition of the two nations of people was very different although with the growth of those from the West Indies and the Indian Sub Continent and then the dramatic combination of opening up our borders to students from around the world and to the whole of central Europe as the Community was quadrupled from its original 6 to 27 states all with the right to settle and work in the UK, our position has significantly changed, especially in London and the major cities and towns. The main reason for the one way influx is that recent British White generations prefer to remain on state benefits rather than take poorly paid work with unsocial hours and because the older generation of Brits tend to have one language English and therefore is not able to work in the rest of Europe and living outside the UK is problematic

The common feature of both approaches is the move away from polarization politics and to identify centre ground issues which can unite and where political progress is possible, However this can lead to a level of compromising to an extent where fundamental change does not take place and where progress becomes dependent upon sustained economic growth, However just from the first chapter, I also learnt that the President elect is a completer finisher in that having devised a plan he sets out to complete as originally devised. This does not mean rigid implementation regardless of change circumstances or that if experience demonstrates the need for changes, sometimes that substantial changes are necessary, these are not implemented, but it does mean not losing sight of what was intended and ensuring that the focus is kept and only changed with good reason. So I know from my own external assessment and my direct experience, the value of combining leadership and vision with being a completer finisher. However the third component of what can be an unstoppable and powerful mix is creativity. He has certainly been creative in his approach to fund raising, but was this his personal idea or was it an idea provided by a creative/creatives on the team? This I hope to find out because only through creative solutions can the natural impediments to making fundamental change be overcome. It is the role of Peter Mandelson within the Labour Party and of George Osborne and the Conservatives.

It was reading part of the first chapter with my coffee that decided me to go and see the series truth based film the Changeling rather than the science fiction entertainment of the Day the Earth stood still.

The Changeling is an important film and along with The Boy in stripped pyjamas the only two new films of great substance this Oscar year. First the film then the reality. In 1928 on March 10th, the son of single mother Christine Collins disappeared and after considerable national publicity over a period of three years the boy is found and reunited with his mother only for her to say it is not her son. At the time (only at the time?) The Los Angeles Police department was a very corrupt, with gun squads encouraged to kill criminals on sight but where the policy led to the police disposing of anyone who got in their way of own criminal enterprises and finding disappeared boys was not high on their priorities. A Presbyterian Minister Dr Gustav Breigleb led a general campaign against the immorality of Hollywood and the corruption of LAPD and commanded large audience for his Sunday evening sermon lectures which were widely reported in the media of the day. He takes up the case of Christine’s missing son warning that she risks trouble if she takes on the LAPD, but she goes ahead and provides dental records and a teacher who both are prepared to make affidavits saying that the child is not the real son. Christine is then committed to the County Psychiatric Hospital by the police on what is called Code 12, which enables them to imprison anyone who crosses their pathway and keep them treated unless they admitted the error of their ways and absolved police and the Hospital from civil claims.

Through the Minister and his friends she is rescued from hospital coinciding with the discovery of the systematic murder of kidnapped boys from the county. In the film a boy is fund who has run off from Canada and before being returned he confesses to his part in the killing the boys and identifies one of the victims as the missing kidnapped child Walter Collins, thus confirming mother’s story that the returned child was not her son. The man responsible for the killings tries to escape to relatives in Canada but is apprehended brought back, is tried and executed after two years of due process. During this same time Mrs Collins with the help of the Minister leads a campaign which successfully stops the use of police Code 12 and a number of other women are released for the county institution where electric shock therapy and sedation are standard punishments for those who continue to resist the system. The combined efforts with the help a leading pro bono lawyer results in an enquiry which leads to loss of office of the Mayor, and the departures of the City LAPD police chief and the head of the Juvenile Bureau. The fake boy admits the story was made up by the police and that he went along with the deception because he wanted to go to Hollywood and meet Tom Mix , the cowboy film star Several years after the execution one of the boys believed to have died at the farm is recovered having been too frightened to return home and he explains that he only managed to escape because Walter returned to help him and that while he then got away he was not sure if Walter has also escaped or had been recaptured, Mrs Collins continued to search for boy as the films ends

The film is a powerful heart rendering story in which the love and determination of one woman triumphs, with help, over a corrupt police department and brings about major changes. However we know that life is not like that.

It is true that in Wineville, Riverside county a man and his grandmother was convicted of what was known as the Chicken Coop Murders and he was executed with his Grandmother sentenced to 12 years. The man believed that the grandmother was his mother but in fact he was the product of an incestuous relationship between the grandfather and his daughter. They had escaped to Canada where they were apprehended and returned to the USA and after the trial the town changed its name. While some remains were found of the boys and identified, the number of victims and the location of their remains was not. The film hints at but does not elaborate that there was a sexual aspect of the abductions and it emerged that the murderer had been sexually abused by every member of his family during his childhood,

It is also true that there was a campaigning Presbyterian Minister and that one of his targets was the LAP and that he did speak of the missing Collins boy, the claims that the returned child was different and about the Chicken Coop murders. However I can find no information that he contacted Mrs Collins and that they campaigned together.

It is also true that someone other than her son was returned to Mrs Collins and that she was confined in the County Psychiatric hospital because she insisted the boy was not on her own and that she survived and her stay was limited because the murders were then uncovered, It is also true that the child in question did actively pretend he was her son because he wanted a better life and hoped to meet Tom Mix and that he had come forward after meeting up with a drifter and deciding on the deception. He grew up to live as he had started, marrying with a daughter and is one of the characters where we know something more about.

Like others I was not sure about the character of Mrs Collins played by Angelina Jolie. She is just too one sided heroic for my liking. It is true that she did successfully sue the LAPD juvenile Bureau chief although he never paid her and Mrs Collins disappeared into obscurity. Until then it is known that she did not give up, especially when one of the boys who had escaped did turn up and confirm that Walter had escaped with him but was likely to have been recaptured.

There is therefore sufficient truth not to discredit the main film story and it is likely that the film will be among the Oscar nominations and winners, John Malkovich gives a convincing restrained performance as the Minister and I though the performance of the murderer Gordon Northcott was also exceptional.

Leaving the film theatre although I reached the right car floor I could not find my vehicle so tried the first level without success and around the right level several times before I realised I had parked the car in the one place I had not looked, that is close to the stairway.

From leaving the M1 I had been on the lookout for a garage as I was getting low on petrol, There was no one garage on my side of the road, although I did pass two on the other side. I made my way from Tooting through to Mitcham and on to Wallington my former home town, although it was six miles longer from Croydon only to find the garage by the railway station closed and the other garage close two of my former homes, site demolished, There used to be at least four petrol stations around the town and now there are none. On the way into Croydon I did find a garage at Purley Way but this involved crossing to the other side and upon exiting I had to make my way across three busy lanes to ensure I was able to take the right turn along Duppas Hill and onto South Croydon,

I am staying at an Innkeepers Lodge which has the advantage of being a few yards from a railway station. The rooms are of a better standard than Travel Lodge reflected in the price although it is possible to reduce the cost at weekends and special times such as Christmas and New year with a three for two night offer. However it has introduced a key card system for added security but this leads to problems even when the cards have been charged up. In order to get into the room from the car park there is an entrance door, then a door into the accommodation corridor and then into the room. Flat screen TV’s have also been added since my last visit but the quality of the picture for terrestrial stations is appalling although there is a brilliant picture for Sky on and BBC sport channel 2. I divided the unpacking into three journeys with the final one after a meal in the Toby Carvery restaurant.. Here I made my mistake of the day. Before seven every day except Sunday there is a two course meal for £7 but I thought this included a choice of a starter or pudding so I ordered a starter of two fish cakes and salad, then had a reading break and then a large plate of beef topped with a variety of vegetables- broccoli, cauliflower cheese, roast potatoes, sage stuffing, parsnip slices and Yorkshire batter pudding. Having paid full price for the starter I was entitled to an ice cream or coffee but was too full for either! After the meal and unpacking I enjoyed extended highlights of the second day’s test in India where England took there overnight score to over 300 and then took five India wickets for half the score. I started to white but was too tired and went to bed and sleep.

Newark on Trent

I received the Lakeland Christmas Catalogue last week and this year I have decided to restrict purchases for me to six items as I commence a serious effort to lose fat in the run up to a time of excessive good eating and drinking. Some choices were easy. I have always adored Nougat from childhood but had to wait until adulthood to savour the cubes filled with candid fruit, cherry juice, honey and pieces of nuts, Almonds and Pistachio in one selection and Hazelnuts, Macadamia and Almond in the other. Then there is hard Turron, a Spanish sweet made up of crushed almonds and egg whites baked hard and covered in rice paper. Last year a local store had a supply at half the price and I bought what proved to be six month's supply. I also like the soft Turron a form of almond paste with a similar appearance and texture to soft fudge.

More difficult is the choice of a chocolate small cups filled with praline. Champagne, mocha and such like, the various truffles, and some boxes with unusual fillings such as lemon meringue pie, rhubarb or Gooseberries fruits. I choose a box of 45 coins size chocolates with superior cocoa from Venezuela to Ghana but later changed myind. Then there are the liquor chocolates with spirit cups or perhaps 20 bottle shaped chocolates in a crate. This meant leaving the fudge and the Turkish delight, the biscuits, the puddings and the cakes. I left the liquor chocolates this year for chocolate covered Brazils. My final choice is a box of mini Florentines. I only discovered the Florentine when attending performances of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at the Newcastle Playhouse Theatre and going for a meal beforehand and unable to resists their large Florentines with a cup of coffee after the main course. Writing this is my first great test, rather like an alcoholic confronted by a selection of single malts.

This talk of food also reminds of the excellent meal eaten in a public house restaurant in Newark on Tuesday, a chicken and bacon salad with a mustard and something dressing. You can have a two course meal for £10 and if there are two of you get a free bottle of wine in addition. I had hoped to explore Newark on the day in the so called summer when watching Durham cricket at Nottingham had to be called off because of constant torrential rain. I had spent part of the day waiting for the rain to stop in three car parks. One by the river under the imposing remains of the Castle, said to have been founded by Egbert, the King of West Saxons, and then rebuilt by Bishop Alexander in the twelfth century. It is a long tall building designed for siege and prolonged battle and was once known as being the Key to the North, and the infamous King John died at the castle which was also a stronghold for Charles 1st in the civil war enduring three sieges and then dismantled in 1646 with the surrender of the King. I stopped by the Morrison's' Car park and then a giant, on the way out of town superstore, amazingly a Woolworths, amazing because so many of the town centre stores have closed.

Newark on Trent, to give is full name, is a small town of some 25000 people, smaller than Beverley although larger when combined with the continuous built up area of the next parish. While Newark does not have a Minister dominating skyline for miles around the city or a vast open space to walk, or the race course, it has the Castle, the striking parish church of St Mary and the River Trent. It is also one of the few towns these days with two railway stations with the East Coast Main Line and a route across England from Nottingham to Lincoln. The town used to be on the main road between London, Newcastle and Edinburgh but in 1964 the then Minister arranged for the by pass and therefore over thirty fives years of using the A1 as an alternative to M1, often stopping overnight around Grantham, I never took the short journey into the town centre.
On Tuesday I left my vehicle in the large long stay car park near the river and walked to the bridges which divided the two locks which are feature overlooked by places to sit and to take tea in warmer weather. It was sunny today but not warm. Walking about the street full of good architecture I was struck by the similarity with Beverley in that the planners have successfully ensured that new developments fit into the atmosphere of the ancient town. Its history as a market town is maintained with a large market square which became a centre of the wool and cloth trade before Victorian times when industrialization brought ironworks, engineering, brewing and sugar refining to its outskirts,

It is thought that the town first developed as part of the Roman Fosse Way and at one point it is believed that in time of King Edward the Confessor the town was owned by Godiva whose claim to fame where her horseback ride in the central Midland town of Coventry. Around 1400 records showed that the adult population aged over 14 years was 1178 excluding clergy and the beggars which made it one of the largest towns in the UK. After the town recovered from its role as a Royalist centre in the civil war it became the property of the Duke of Newcastle as Lord of the Manor and he was responsible for the raised bridge over the river and for the Town Hall which remains as a listed I building. The town doubled in size as a consequence of the developments during the industrial revolution and buildings from this period such as the Free Library, the hospital and the School of Science and Art remain to this day. Sugar beet refining has continued along with some engineering, especially of Farm Machinery. There is now one of the major manufacturers of cakes to a supermarket chain and the distribution centre for the Dixon/Curry's electrical goods and camera store chain. Later while researching for this piece I came across a site for the Newark jazz Festival which commenced in 2006 and is held over a weekend in May.

Yesterday was the day of recovery with an enjoyable evening as England for the first time ever won the fourth successive game in competition to reach the finals of the World Football Cup. As with the previous three games it was not always pretty to watch and there were times when the performance was ordinary, yet the final score could have been more than the three goals to a good goal scored by the other side, Belarus. The notable aspect is the approach of the Italian born manager who takes nothing for granted, is building up a sense of team rather than individual super stars, has established good discipline and is prepared to change tactics if the first plan does not work

I then enjoyed a film which was generally criticised when it was first shown, and which much justification. Eragon asserts that it is the same rank same rank as Lord of the Rings and with Brideshead revisited Jeremy Irons, Robert Carlisle and John Malkovitch in the cast expectations were high. In fairness there was similarity in breathtaking scenes of countryside beauty, filmed in Hungry and the High Tatras of Slovakia and there is one scene where the army of the baddies prepared to attack the goodies which has something of the scale of Lord Of the Rings but overall it fails badly sticking too closely to the first episode of Star Wars although a film about the last Dragon and its Rider. As with Lord of the Rings there are three books and two further films were promised. In order for such a film to work the audience has to quickly believe the fantasy and I cannot see too many adolescents agreeing that it passes their test. However it passed the time while I waited for the third Presidential debate to begin.