Skint

I went back to London this weekend. My wife bought tickets to see 'Spamalot', Eric Idle's musical based on Monty Pythons Holy Grail movie. It was playing at the Palace Theater, Shaftsbury Avenue.

We stayed at a hotel in Shoreditch just north of Bishopsgate. I was instantly reminded of the reasons why I left the city, no where to park, extortionate prices and travelling anywhere meant crowds, queues and delays.

The show was very good, I laughed pretty much throughout and the audience was very appreciative. I saw Sara Cox (former 'wild child' and now a radio DJ) in the bar, I hope she liked the show too.

I spent Saturday afternoon looking up an old friend I hadn't seen for 7 or 8 years. We drank lots of tea and had a very convivial lunch on Northcote Road in Battersea. It was good to have some interesting conversation and catch up. We discussed work, or rather my lack of it, his job at Reuters (the news agency), life in London and jury service (amongst other things).

On returning to Wales I realised that Christmas, and our trip to London had left me totally skint. Only a smoker can appreciate the knowledge that you've run out of cigarettes, have no money to buy more, and worse no prospect of earning any money in the foreseeable future. Being self employed and having had no orders since November last year, I am now almost destitute. Applications for paid employment have been flying off the PC, but the time of year means that responses have been slow to non-existent. If it weren't for my wife's job I would be totally distraught.

I have never in my life been in the situation where there is no money coming in at all and it's a sad and sorry state to be in. So if anyone knows of any jobs going for a literate and hard working person let me know.......

Perhaps I should write a book.

Contemplating War?

Happy New Year to you all.Just a little food for thought .....In 2002 my job took me to various towns around Europe. One of those towns was Laon in north eastern France. To reach it, I was flown to Paris (CDG airport), then drove along the Paris to Soisson road, thence to Laon.

Laon is a medieval walled town boasting a fine cathedral atop an imposing hill in the middle of a flat plain. The journey is very pleasant, passing through rich agricultural land with gently rolling hills and small market towns.

For the busy 21st century traveller it is all too easy to miss the terrible history of the region.

Following a meeting of the European heads of department of the company, we hired a mini-bus to take us back to Paris airport. It was a fine summers day, and one of my colleagues, a young German, asked if he could visit the grave of his grandfather on the way back. So it was that three Welshmen, an Englishman, a Spaniard, a German and an Italian entered one of the German war cemeteries on the Paris to Soisson road.

I was astounded by the place. Immaculately kept, beautifully serene and totally melancholy. 12,000 men and boys buried in perfect rows of graves headed with simple black headstones. The whole party was stunned into silence.You could trace the passage of two world wars in the inscriptions, died 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917 and 1918. Then died 1939, 1940 and 1944. The youngest only 16 and the oldest 59. What a human tragedy.

I was struck by the multi-national nature of our party, and the fact that every single one of us was in awe of this place. The small museum at the entrance giving details of dates and places, each of us being touched by the lives and deaths of these men.

As we drove back towards Paris there was the growing realisation of the sheer scale of the casualties of war. Every 5 or 10 miles there would be the hitherto unnoticed entrance to yet another war cemetery. British, French, German, Canadian, thousands upon countless thousands of young men now laying in French soil.

I'm not saying that there is never any justification for war, just that if you get the opportunity to visit a war cemetery you should do so, preferably on a fine summers day. It certainly gives a new perspective on the human cost of armed conflict.

Saddam's Demise

So they finally executed Saddam ....
Just another barbaric act in a whole catalogue of human tragedy.
I doubt it is likely to resolve anything, in fact it will probably make things worse.

Personally I think it would have been better to impose a life sentence in exile, like Hess in Spandau prison. Eventually all the vim and vigour would have been drained from his existence, and he would have appeared as just anther old, bitter and broken man.

In the latter stages of the first decade of a new millennium I was hoping for better from the human race.

Civilised? Doesn't really seem like it to me.