Peter Steward

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October 2nd-October 8th

I know I keep going on about politics and politicians and I know I promise to leave off, but here goes again. On Tuesday evening I watched a rather silly drama entitled "The Amazing Mrs Pritchard. Not to dwell on it too long, it was about a supermarket manager (Mrs Pritchard ) who became disillusioned with politicians after two of them had a fight outside her store. She became a founder member of the independent Purple Alliance without a single policy other than fighting the stupidity of politicians. She was joined by hundreds of like-minded women and found herself thrust into the public limelight with the result that she was elected Prime Minister.

That's where the first programme ended. I really doubt that I will watch programme two because it's just too simplistic and silly. But once again it does make the suggestion that all politicians are over-indulged, self obsessed men and women with little true thought who talk in riddles and avoid answering any questions. I leave you to make up your own mind on that one.

I am a firm believer in local communities which is why I have constructed a web site for Hethersett completely free of charge. I see the site as a village amenity and information source and neither want nor expect any payment for it. I also see it as an area for expressing views on what is happening in the village. On Wednesday I posted a comment about threats to rural post offices. Over the past 10 years we have seen marginalisation of local services which is extremely sad.

Many local people rely on Hethersett's post office for pensions, banking facilities and a variety of other services. In March 2008 the Government grant that keeps local post offices afloat will be withdrawn and of course the money-men will take the opportunity to point out that these rural businesses make a loss and cannot therefore be sustained. The ethic of serving the community seems to be forgotten in all this. Not everything should make a profit if it is fulfilling a need - after all isn't that what we pay our taxes for? Local people need to fight hard to keep our post office open.

One of the most annoying facets of modern life, particularly for those of us who spend most of our time working in cyber-space is the number of spam e-mails. Something needs to be done to stop this continuous annoyance. Preference Services have helped cut down the amount of cold calling on the telephone and the amount of junk mail we are subjected to, but little seems to be done to cut down on spam. I am sick of being told I need Viagra or penis enlargement (whether I do or not).

Sad news this week was the death of Keith Peel who was a colleague for a number of years when we both worked for Eastern Counties Newspapers. Keith was sports editor of the main daily newspaper in Norwich when I was editor of the weekly papers. My thoughts are with his family as I always got on well with him.

As for the week, well it was an average one really. I felt towards the end that I was fighting off some bug which seemed to sap my energy somewhat. The precursor to that was feeling rather hyper at the beginning of the week and not being able to settle to any one task (I call that my butterfly brain - always flitting from one thing to another with my mind working overtime). Still Monday brought the monthly music club at John Freeman's where we played some weird and wonderful stuff.

Tuesday saw the latest walking club stroll - this one around the Shotesham area followed by lunch at Caistor Hall which rather left me bloated for the rest of the day. On Wednesday I went to the dentist for a check up and thankfully nothing needed doing and then I hit upon the idea of trying to combine all the village web sites into a Network. Thought for some time about what to call it before coming up with HEN (Hethersett Electronic Network). There are a relatively small number of web sites in the village and it would be nice to improve the links between them. So in the near future I will be contacting them all with a view to bringing them closer together. To this end I wrote to a friend who is on the parish council to see if I can obtain a little more recognition for my existing site.

On Wednesday I had coffee and a good old chat about football with former colleague George Hayes and in the evening drove over to Newton Flotman to play our second table tennis league match of the season. We lost 6-4 but should have drawn at least. I won one singles, lost the other and myself and Matt Molloy lost our doubles. Again the other team had one good player and that made the difference.

On Thursday I spent the morning at school. Had a meeting with Head Andy Whittle and clerk Mel Perkins. These weekly meetings help us to focus on the current issues affecting the school particularly in the light that we will be moving over to junior status next September and that means a lot of changes - some cosmetic and some very real. I had a good look at the web site and made a mental note to put a week aside to update it. At present it is very out of date and tired. Problem is I cannot access it at the moment and so will be meeting with the Deputy Head in the near future to sort this problem out. Also fitted in a lunch with the clerk at the Queen's Head.

During the week I did a little genealogy work, checking through the family area of my web site and correcting a few inaccuracies. This is something I will be doing more of as the days deteriorate weather-wise.

On Friday I travelled with friend Ray Hannent to Ipswich to see the Moody Blues. We set off very early, had a drive round the Suffolk countryside and a leisurely Chinese meal in Ipswich. The concert was one of the best I have been to for a long time. Justin Hayward's voice is spot on and the three Moodies were augmented with some very good musicians. I wondered just how old Graeme Edge, John Lodge and Justin Hayward are. Hayward and Lodge still have long blond hair and from a distance at least look very youthful. I checked on the Internet and Lodge is 61, Edge 65 and Hayward turns 60 next Saturday. It seems hard to believe that they have been together for 40 years, although there are now just three left as the other band members have retired.

There still seems to be a youthful exuberance about their music and it was good to see consummate musicians rattling through all the great numbers like Isn't Life Strange? Question and Nights in White Satin. I can't help thinking when I see these "70s prog rock bands" how good they were and how much today's youthful bang and twang groups could learn from their professionalism. In a few weeks time I'm going to see John Lees' Barclay James Harvest and I'm sure that will give me the same kind of kick. And these comments really aren't just because I'm getting older. Back in the 70s you had to have genuine musical talent to be in a "recording band" now everyone with a guitar seems to commit to CD. The market gets flooded with tosh.

And will today's bands be going in 30 years time. Will Coldplay, Keane et al still be together. I think not. Actually I like Coldplay and Keane but in our current throw away society nothing seems to have a very long shelf life. Meanwhile the Moody Blues keep touring, keep enjoying what they are doing and keep getting standing ovations. Long may it be so.

Saturday was such a busy day of rushing here and there, but I did get to the gym. Also watched Matt play for Wymondham Town in the Norfolk Senior Cup. They lost 4-1 to a very strong Sheringham team who are a division above. Wymondham were without five or six key players through injury and unavailability and quite honestly it showed. Sheringham were stronger and more skilful and deserved the win despite the fact that their second goal was badly offside. Matt scored to bring the game back to 1-1 but Sheringham were much better in the second half.

Over 30 years ago I used to report on both Cromer and Sheringham when I was living and working on the North Norfolk coast. I seem to remember in those days the Shannocks were rather shambolic. That certainly isn't the case today.

On Sunday we travelled to Yarmouth for Hethersett's second round of the Norfolk Sunday Cup match against Bohemians. We expected another tough tie after the first round match against AFC Gorleston. And once again we did things the hard way by allowing the opposition to build up a 2-0 half-time lead. I think the appropriate phrase is "we weren't at the races in the first half." Things just had to improve after the break and they certainly did thanks to a superb hat-trick from John Curtis, the third of which was a stunning drive from 25 yards. Two goals in the last eight minutes won it for us but it had been a struggle. In the end our superior fitness told, but the feeling is we cannot keep riding our luck like this.

It was a lovely warm day and it would have been nice to stay in Yarmouth and have lunch and a walk along the beach. Couldn't do that, however, as I had booked a meal quite a few miles away, not knowing that it was going to be such a nice day. I definitely have this thing about Yarmouth. My family research has established that my ancestors on my mother's side came from a long line of Yarmouthians and I always feel that I am going home when I approach the town. It must be something in my genes, as it's not something I can really explain but more of a gut instinct.

We drove along the Waveney Valley to Bungay where myself, Anne and Matt had lunch at the Earsham Street cafe which is one of our favourites, although I felt the roast dinner was rather average and quite expensive.

On the way home we had a look at some of the houses in a new development in the village off Myrtle Road. I was impressed by the modern feel of them, but I don't think we will be moving. Actually we were there to see if there was anything suitable for Matt. There are some two bedroom apartments but we couldn't see them because of health and safety!!!!! So it would be buying blind and I don't really like the idea of that.

October 9th - 15th

Each year I try to note the first real reference to Christmas. The way things are going it could be sometime in the summer. Here we are basking in an Indian summer warmth and there's adverts on TV offering additional free days if you sign up for Christmas at Disneyland in Paris. Of course its all a matter of commerciality. Marketing men and women will be asking themselves the question "How soon can we get away with promoting our products for Christmas without turning the public against us." And the answer seems to be somewhere around the middle of October.

It's ridiculous really that we have something like a 10 week lead up to something that really lasts for 48 hours. And I'm not going to get into the debate about whether we are losing the real meaning of Christmas except to say I think we are losing the real meaning of Christmas!

Once we get into October there seems to be a procession of things leading up to Christmas. Firstly there's Anne's birthday which is rapidly followed by my own. Then its Halloween, followed by Bonfire Night and then the lead in to December 25th. And admittedly once it gets going it really goes very rapidly.

There was an amusing story about Christmas on the local news this week. In Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk they were trying out the Christmas lights. The locals thought it was just too early to see them all up. So they complained to their county councillor who had to go and see the town's mayor who had given the go-ahead for them to be turned on. The mayor just happened to be his wife! Apparently they said they weren't going to fall out over it, but I can't remember how it ended. I should imagine the mayor got her way (sexist comment).

It was my birthday on Monday. Being a Monday it was a pretty unremarkable day, although myself, Matt and Anne did have a nice meal out at Wymondham Railway early evening. On Wednesday I got four gifts through the post from Chris.

I have always thought that I brought the boys up pretty well. They haven't done too badly either. Matt is a police officer and Chris is Head of PE at a large secondary school in Bexhill. So what did my eldest "solid citizen" son send me for my birthday - a fart finger pen and a Little Britain Talking Key Ring. Slightly less ridiculous was the DVD of the first series of Extras and the new CD by Norwich band Cord, which I played through about three times. It's not a bad first effort but I think they have produced much better material in the past and feel they have more to give than this.

Anyway as an upstanding citizen of the community I have to say that I loved the silly gifts and they brought a smile to my face and infuriated people for the rest of the day as I played "Computer Says No" at every opportunity.

Went to a serious governors' meeting at school on Wednesday and annoyed fellow governors with my fart pen enough to have a Park Farm pen thrown at me by their general manager!!!! "It's a birthday present," he said (last of the big spenders).

I am reading a book at the moment by modernist writer Mike Gayle. It's entitled Dinner for Two and it's in the genre of the likes of Tony Parsons - a modern day story about relationships for modern people. It is, however, very readable. I noticed that the book advertised a web site for Mike, so I logged on and sent him an e-mail as we seem to share musical tastes even down to his dislike of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks. Can anyone explain to me how this mush is looked upon as one of the classical albums of all time? So I wrote to Mike and he promises on his web site that he will reply to all messages - so we will see.

I have always had a passion for writing as is evident by this spurious nonsense that I write every week. I have always wanted to write a novel, but always get disillusioned by what I come out with. Fragments of most of them are on my site but they don't amount to much. Perhaps now I have more time I might get down to some serious writing. The problem is I have "great ideas" and am immediately filled with enthusiasm only to get disillusioned by them a few days later and usually scrap the whole thing. Perhaps an angst ridden middle aged middle class novel is called for.

On Thursday I went to the Theatre Royal in Norwich for the first visit for a very long time. I used to be a regularly reviewer there many years ago when the great Dick Condon was manager. They have changed and redecorated the place since those days but Dick's presence is still there.

Dick was a typical gift of the gab Irish showman - rather in the mould of Terry Wogan. For many years Dick was the Theatre Royal - spending something like 17 hours a day there. It was virtually his entire life. He would be in the foyer at the start and at the end of shows, at the interval and at the end he would entertain the Media at the bar. Free drinks would flow and late evenings could become early mornings in the best showbusiness traditions.

I only had one gripe with Dick and it's the same moan I have with the Theatre today. Much of what they put on there is old and tired and scarcely cutting edge entertainment. It is and for many years has been one of the best provincial theatres in the country, but has never really kept up with the times.

Back in Dick Condon's days, he tended to play things safe with the view of "if it sells out, re-book it and it will sell out again." And to be fair that worked for the theatre which was rarely less than 75% full and very often sold out.

So we had the same artists returning time after time after time. And that still happens today. I noted on Thursday that we have Jack Jones, David Essex and tribute bands to Abba and Queen coming up. And I find that very sad - a series of old time has beens and tribute bands. As I have said scarcely cutting edge theatre.

I can remember the days in the dim and distant past where they had top rock artists. I seem to remember seeing Deep Purple, David Bowie and Monty Python in one glorious week. And it was when these artists were at their height.

Sadly looking through the brochure for the coming programme usually leads to comments like "not them again and who really wants to see that?" It's sad that often to see top artists in a theatre environment you have to travel to Ipswich, Cambridge or even King's Lynn.

Dick was always very open minded but admitted that he "knew very little of the modern artists." He asked me once to name people I was thinking about. I found myself naming many mainstream artists as well as little known American artists who were particular favourites of mine. I remember two in particular were Janis Ian and Dan Fogelberg. "I've never heard of them," Dick said in his thick Irish accent.

"They are relatively minority artists with strong cult followings in this country and I'm pretty sure they would sell the theatre out," I replied. Never saw them, however.

In the past I got so used to reviewing things - theatre, rock, LPs (in the days before CDs), books, television, that I find it difficult nowadays just to be "one of the audience" without thinking in terms of critical appraisal. For years I had to listen to so many albums that I just got tired of having to put evenings aside to listen to bands I had no interest in. I craved for the days of buying just the albums I wanted and enjoying them. That may seem a strange comment from somebody who over the years has got into theatre, rock gigs absolutely free.

I still have a tendency, even now I'm paying again, to go to too many gigs just because there is an artist on I think I should see and then find that I don't enjoy them at all (Spiritualised and World Party for example). I am learning to target things, however, and that's how I got to see Madame Butterfly.

I love Puccini. I am not a great opera fan at all but I love Puccini and La Boheme reduces me to tears. It reduced me to tears of laughter in Prague this year when I went to see the wrong opera. I was with a group of friends on a weekend break. Included in our package was a night at either the national theatre or the opera. We were told that the opera was La Boheme. I told the others who were not great opera fans that La Boheme had some quite sublime music and was capable of reducing me to a quivering wreck. So we went along to the opera house and I knew something was wrong when there was no overture. It went straight into the opera/drama. And I didn't recognise the music at all. The characters were the same, but the plot was different although it did end up with the heroine's death (doesn't it always?)

This is not Puccini's La Boheme I told the others who obviously didn't believe me and probably thought I was making up the fact that I knew the work very well. Soon we found out, however, that it was La Boheme by Leoncavello - another Italian composer best known for "Pagliacci."

On returning home I checked on the Internet and apparently Leoncavello and Puccini were initially mates who got together to write an opera based on the book La Boheme (Bohemians). The idea was for Puccini to write the music and Leoncavello the lyrics. But Puccini went away and did his own thing, much to the annoyance of his now ex-friend. So Leoncavello responded by writing his own La Boheme which he toured in the same cities where Puccini's opera was performed. Thus the two went on side by side in New York just a few blocks from each other.

Time and history has become very kind (quite rightly) to Puccini's opera whilst Leoncavello's has more or less sunk without trace. We should have known something was wrong when Prague only put the work on for one night and the theatre was anything but full.

So whilst feeling sorry for Leoncavello being rather sold down the river, I have to say his opera is pretty much tosh when compared with Puccini's.

To me Puccini was the precursor to the modern day musicals like Les Miserable and virtually anything of Andrew Lloyd Webber and in particular Phantom of the Opera. Of course Miss Saigon (which incidentally I am listening to again whilst I write this piece) is taken directly from Madame Butterfly.

So what of the traditional Madama Butterfly on Thursday night performed by the Chisinau National Opera from Moldova. Well the settings were very good but there seemed to be a slight lethargy about the action and it was stretching the imagination somewhat that the part of a three year old boy was obviously played by a girl who looked more like eight or nine. And Madama Butterfly was supposed to be 15 at the start of the action but looked more like 30. Of course a 15 year old would not have had the maturity to take on the role, but these things have to be pointed out.

To the uninitiated the story is quite simple - Japanese girl falls in love with American. They marry. Her family disinherit her. American leaves. Japanese girl has a baby. American returns with new American wife to claim the child. Japanese woman gives up child and kills herself. And really that's about it and spread over well over two hours, the action and plot can be rather ponderous. The music never reaches the intensity of say La Boheme or Aida. Sometimes Puccini can just miss the mark with his music. Perhaps the most famous piece from Butterfly is the humming chorus which to me never fully develops but which did, I am sure, form the basis for the beautiful "Bring Him Home" in Les Miserables. If you don't believe me just listen to the two to find the similarities.

Overall it was a good evening although getting in and out of Norwich is a nightmare. Why oh why does our fair city insist on having traffic lights on roundabouts in the evenings? The result is you can sit for minutes waiting for the lights to change when there is absolutely nothing on the roundabout. It is so frustrating.

Then there is car parking which is a bone of contention. Admittedly the park and ride system is very good but it doesn't operate late at night. So it is necessary to take a car in. There are multi-storey car parks but they are extremely tight for space and getting in and out of them is unpleasant. If you have a sizeable car it is difficult (I currently have a Mondeo but am thinking of getting a rather smaller car in the near future as we no longer have to transport teenage boys around).

Norwich is a great city but the planners seem to want to get rid of vehicles as much as possible without really providing any real alternative in the evenings. I hate the English attitude that provides entertainment but takes no responsibility for the peripherals. Many of our football stadiums are smack bang in the middle of cities. Many of our cinemas and theatres are likewise, but these places take no responsibility for car parking etc. In other words they do not provide the facilities necessary. It's really a case of we want your custom but we aren't going to provide the necessary facilities for you.

Entertainment complexes outside cities is the best idea. Being able to park the car comfortably takes away much of the unnecessary hassle in an evening out. It all makes you think twice about whether to go into the city centre in the evenings.

I didn't know what to wear for the evening so decided on a suit without the tie. Since I stopped working I have worn a tie only once - at our friends wedding recently and that was only for one hour. Me and clothes are not a good fit. I have the wrong shaped body - relatively short and fat. In my mind, however, I have always felt tall and thin!

I would love to be one of these immaculately dressed people. There was a gentleman we got to know on our recent cruise. He always looked smart. Now I sweat a lot (there's no polite way to say that). So clothes can get very messy in the summer and I certainly don't look cool and collected as I would wish to do. So I'm not known for my sartorial elegance. Which brings me back to the author Mike Gayle. On his web site he talks about how he writes in the mornings when he wears scruffy clothes.

I feel the same. In the mornings when I like to write I prefer to be in an old T-shirt and trousers. Then there's something liberating about having a midday bath/shower, shave and groom and putting on better clothes for the afternoon and evening. Am I getting too sad to say it gives me something to look forward to. Unfortunately by the time the evening comes and possibly it's time to go out I often feel I can't be bothered to dress up and want to return to my morning wear.

Earlier this week I was having a few problems thinking about things to write. But then it just flows. I don't think I have ever had writer's block in my life and I doubt that I will ever get it. I did have a good idea for a novel, however. A story about a middle aged short fat balding bloke who at times doesn't like himself much and who spends his life writing rubbish and crap poetry. Problem is I really don't know who to base that on!

Saturday brought the much more acceptable side of Norwich. Norwich on a warm Saturday is a delight. I have always advocated that it could be a European coffee style culture, but it's never quite made it. Now we have this wonderful building called the Forum which seems to be the hub of activity with outside tables, eating places, coffee shops, the major central library and a foyer bursting with life.

Norwich is celebrating 10 days or so of a food festival and there were cheeses, meat, beer stalls and others dispensing chutney and many other bits and pieces. There were plenty of samples on display and just round the corner they had a competition to find the best sausage. The idea was to sample from about 12 stalls and vote for your favourite. Many were spicy and unusual but I voted for a more traditional pork sausage. None came anywhere near the taste of the famous Craske's sausages.

I remember these from the 1960s. They came from a very popular Butchers in the city centre and every Christmas the queues went right out of the shop. The meat was so popular and the sausages were just something else. They actually made you feel hungry just by eating them if that doesn't sound ridiculous. I suppose what I'm trying to say is they made your mouth water and "tickled the taste buds."

It was so warm that I walked round all day in just a shirt (and trousers of course). Even then I got very hot. The city was alive and the soup at the Forum was excellent. Many years ago the Norwich central library virtually burned down. It seemed to be a disaster but from the ashes came this very modern award winning building which house one of the largest libraries in the country and so much more as well.

On Saturday we also went to see Matt play for Wymondham Town in a cup match against a team from the division above and they were desperately unlucky to lose, particularly when they were leading 2-1 with just five minutes to go. In the end they drew 2-2 and lost 4-2 on penalties.

The previous evening we had a good time at Bawburgh Golf Club where they had a French theme to the food. We are part of a quiz team that takes part in competitions there during the winter months. So the team got together for a pre-season meal. It was a warm evening after a very warm day where I was able to sit in the garden of the Queen's Head for my now customary Friday lunch.

October 16th-22nd

At last Norwich City have had the start of a revival of fortunes. Nutty Nigel has moved on and Peter Grant took over for his first match this week and we beat Birmingham away from home. Now an away win was something Nutty Nigel couldn't buy - even with all the riches he will be inheriting through his pay off. So maybe the corner has been turned.

Don't you just love the ploys of the marketing people, particularly when they go totally over the top? Completely unannounced this week a leaflet came through the door offering a limited edition luxury table lamp including line drawing of scenes of Hethersett. It was from Canterbury in Kent and signed by somebody whose signature was unreadable. It was the introduction blurb that had me laughing. It said the lamp was "full of refinement, classic meticulous craftsmanship and quiet luxury." I wonder what loud luxury would be like?

We are then told that the lamp radiates conviviality and substance. It is finished in great detail "simply because Hethersett is worth it" Does this mean other places aren't worth it.

I notice that one of the images depicted is the Middle School, so I will be checking whether we were asked for our permission to appear and whether as a result we will be given a donation from the lamp price which is (wait for it) £99.50 with postage and package extra. Oh one passing shot we are told this fine piece "exudes peace and joviality." Would somebody like to tell me how a lamp can be jovial? I think somebody has swallowed the dictionary.

Presumably if I bought one it would lighten my load for the coming year. Every time I felt down or things weren't going my way I could just look at the lamp with its stylish conviviality and joviality and feel at peace and re-assured! I think the phrase "get a life" springs to mind.

Doesn't memory play strange tricks. They say as you get older you remember everything from the dim and distant past but very little from the present. I watch very little television and when I do its a mixture of high and low art. I love programmes on history and art, but I am guilty of also watching tripe - like re-runs of Bullseye on Satellite TV. I must have watched these programmes the first time around in about 1989. Of course now they are as new as they were then as I can't remember any of the contestants or what happened. The same can be said of football matches. i have watched literally thousands over the years but if I watch a re-run of say a 1980s match I haven't a clue what the final score will be. Similarly there is a habit at the moment of keeping The Weakest Link going at teatime by filling in up to date show with repeats from just over a year ago. I can always recognised the contestants but have no idea who actually won the show despite probably having seen it less than a year ago.

Two bits of news made me think this week. The first is the story of the Muslim teaching assistant who refused to remove her veil during lessons. A tribunal has thankfully rejected her claims of discrimination and harassment. There has been a lot or talk about integration and you could argue that by wearing the veils these Muslims are not trying to integrate into our society.

I wouldn't want to be caught up in the national debate but have a more localised view on this subject. Every school is different and has a unique character. Schools have different sets of rules and conditions. A school in rural Norfolk is run very differently to one in inner London. Over the past few years schools have been given a fair amount of autonomy to run their budget and a whole host of other areas.

Surely under these rules it is up to the governing body of each school to take each case on merit. Wearing a veil in some schools may be acceptable whilst in others it is not. That is down to the Head Teacher and the Board of Governors. Some schools have strict dress codes for pupils and staff, others do not. So my comments are not motivated by racism or religion. I am chair of governors of a Church of England School and faced with the same situation that has just taken place in West Yorkshire, I would hope that my fellow governors would discuss the situation in an open and democratic way and vote on whether the wearing of a veil was or was not acceptable. I am happy to say that I haven't a clue which way the discussion or vote would go. All I know is that it would be a majority decision one way or the other and a decision I feel we would have every right to make.

The school in Dewsbury decided the style of dress was inappropriate for them and that was their right to do so. Another school could well have been comfortable with the veil. Taking action against the wearer is probably no different to being concerned about a staff member who wears plunging necklines and short skirts if this is deemed to be inappropriate. I know the other side of that is to say that plunging necklines and short skirts is nothing to do with that person's religious beliefs and I accept that, but I still believe it is down to individual schools to make the decision without the threat of industrial action if they are deemed to have made the incorrect decision by a specific individual.

The other piece of news is that former Norwich City footballer Peter Mendham has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following an incident in which his girl friend was stabbed.

It's not for me to discuss the ins and outs of this, except to say that I have known Peter for a number of years both in his capacity as a footballer and as a fund-raiser for the East Anglian Air Ambulance Trust - an excellent charity that I have supported for a number of years. Peter has been a big supporter of our village football club, attending open days as well as matches and presentation evenings. His enthusiasm and commitment has always been superb and I just feel sorry at the situation that is now unfolding.

One memory was aroused from a few years ago when my eldest son Chris phoned up this week to ask whether I wanted to see Ray Davies of the Kinks at Brighton sometime next year. I said yes and he's going to order tickets. A few years ago I bought tickets for Davies' one man show in Norwich and almost insisted Chris came along. I guess he was in his teens at the time and it probably wasn't very cool to be seen out with Dad and particularly to go and see one of his old fogey rock acts from the 70s.

At the end of the concert Chris was on his feet clapping loudly. "I think you enjoyed that," I ventured. "It was okay," he said. Funny that he went out to a second hand CD shop the next day and bought a number of Kinks CDs. Obviously now he remembers that concert with affection!

It was a good weekend on the national football scene and a bad one on the local. Norwich made it two wins in the week by beating top of the table side Cardiff at Carrow Road 1-0. They made hard work of it and, in the second half, were in desperate need of a target man to hold the ball up as clearances continually came back. The local weekly football paper had one columnist refering to Everton teenager Patrick Boyle as the worst loan signing we have ever had. I think this is very unfair. Nutty Nigel brought Boyle in at a very low point for the club. Boyle did his best but nobody seemed as if they wanted to pass to him or even give him the time of day. I'm sure the lad has returned to Merseyside with anything but rosy feelings for his stay in Norfolk.

On Tuesday night we went to watch Mickey play for the Reserves and he scored in a good 4-0 win over Luton Reserves. Mickey was in the squad of 18 for the match against Cardiff but didn't make either the team or the substitutes' bench.

One of the things I hate in life are cliches. Politics and sport seem to be full of them. I truly hated the words road map which came to the fore a few years ago to describe any planning and were particularly used in war situations. Now we have a new sporting one "early doors" which seems to be used. This is one that should be "firmly shut."

Monday evening brought a meeting of Hethersett Athletic Football Club and it was one of the quickest ever, which I guess is a measure on how well things are going at the present time. Both cars went in for services and MOTs which is always a stressful not to say costly time of year.

October 23rd-29th

Don't the school holidays annoy you? Not because it means there are thousands of youngsters around, but because of the profiteering that goes on.

Being married to a teacher means we have to take holidays and make trips during the school holidays. That means everything is more expensive and we have to pay through the nose. Prices get hiked beyond the reasonable and all because there is a captive market and demand outstrips supply. I know that is one of the elements of economics, but wouldn't it be nice to see a sign somewhere stating "there are no price rises due to it being school holidays."

From Tuesday to Thursday this week we visited eldest son Chris and his partner Lynne in Eastbourne. On Tuesday we went for a game of Ten Pin Bowling at Eastbourne. The venue doesn't really matter, it is the pricing that was important. They were charging twice what they normally would for a game. It didn't mean they got more money from us as we restricted ourselves to one game rather than two - so they got exactly the same. Of course they will argue that there were plenty of people behind us waiting to play so it didn't matter from their point of view. But it left a nasty taste.

Of course the place was just making the most of the obvious business opportunity, but there really is too much of this "making a fast buck" in our country. Price rises at holiday time is just one way of putting up two fingers at the public and I don't mean in a Churchillian victory salute. It doesn't give us the consumer value for money.

Value for money is something I greatly believe in. I think our modern society is too wrapped up in making excessive profit to the detriment of service.

This was again illustrated by a walk along the sea front at Eastbourne which brought another example of profiteering, albeit a very unsuccessful one. The car parks along the front charge a ludicrous £1.60 an hour. Now who in their right mind is going to pay that? Needless to say both parks we passed were empty apart from one camper van. It is out of season and the need to charge for car parks is unnecessary as there is plenty of on street free parking if you look for it and are prepared to walk a bit. I am sure that during the season people also avoid using the car parks and clutter up every available street parking place. Surely it's better to have eight cars parked at say 30p each rather than one at £1.60 and 20-40p an hour is a reasonable charge.

To get to Eastbourne we had to negotiate the nightmare that is the M25 motorway. The journey of 180 miles from our home to our sons took five minutes short of five hours. That's an average of around 35 miles every hour which considering we did 90 miles in the first one and a half hours makes a mockery of our road system.

Words have not yet been invented to describe the shambles that is the M25. It is a disgrace and completely incapable of carrying the sheer volume of traffic. As soon as we got onto it we were met with signs warning us of serious delays.

This country's transport policy, like its education and health policies, is fast becoming a sick joke. There are very few alternatives to getting in your car and toughing it out in ridiculous queues. A few years ago we were told to "let the train take the strain." Who were they kidding? The British rail network is often late, often crowded and thoroughly uncomfortable despite what the marketing men and women tell us. Just travel on railways in other parts of Europe such as Switzerland and you will see what I mean. Until we have money spent on the transport infra-structure of this country, people will continue using their cars. The problems will not be alleviated by threats of road tolls etc.

The government needs to realise we are a claustrophobic little island with too many vehicles jamming up our road network. No doubt over the next few years the strategy writers and policy men and women will come up with new fangled ideas that continue to fail to get to the heart of the matter. What we need is common sense and investment.

The frightening thing is there appeared to be no real reason for the go slow over a distance of seven miles leading up to the Dartford Bridge and for the three mile car park after it. One lane was closed for road works but other than that it seemed to be just sheer volume of traffic.

I read an interesting article in a newspaper recently about the romance of driving in North America. Songs extolling the virtue of this abound - perhaps Route 66 is one of the best. You know the one "I get my kicks on route 66." Perhaps we could get one with the words "I scarcely survive on the M25" or "I feel blue on the M62" - the possibilities are limitless. Neil Young also wrote about the wonderful Trans Canadian Highway - one of the great roads of that continent. We travelled a fair distance on the TCH this year and it was a delight - straight and virtually empty. But there's no way of making a traffic jam sound sexy. The only person that springs to mind for writing a song about a British motorway is Chris Rea and he referred to the M25 as "The Road to Hell."

The divorce saga of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills rumbles on as we all begin to lose interest in it. It comes as no surprise that the relationship has broken down or that Mills is now suing national newspapers about her portrayal in them.

The situation seems to be simple. On one hand we have a living legend, a man knighted for his services to music, a national icon, one half of arguably the greatest pop writing partnership in the history of popular music and one quarter of arguably the most influential pop band the world has ever known and a band that defined the word pop culture and on the other hand we have Heather Mills!!!

I seem obsessed this week with comments on motorway driving. The powers that be (whoever they are) continually pump into us the need to cut speed and keep our distance. Why is it then that if you drive at 70 mph on a British motorway you feel that you are dawdling as cars zip past as if you are at a standstill? And why is it that if your keep a reasonable distance with the vehicle in front the lane-hoppers use it as an excuse to continually switch.

Lane-hoppers are a nightmare. I saw a video not so long ago which urged people to only use the outside two lanes when overtaking and to return to the inside lane as soon as possible. So what happens if you follow this? Yes you get stuck in lane one behind all the heavy goods vehicles whilst the other cars swap lanes at will. And they wonder why cars stay in the middle lane of a three lane motorway.

Eastbourne is a strange sort of place - full of elderly people and students. The hotels dotted along the Marine Parade are a lurchback to more sedate eras, but I wouldn't say the town has totally an air of the elderly and mothballs. On Wednesday evening we went to a Chinese restaurant and when we came out at around 11 p.m there were all kinds of strange people roaming around. Apparently it was black and white night and everyone was dressed in one or both of those colours. The great thing was it was a fun atmosphere. At no time did we feel threatened. Middle aged yes, but threatened no. It was just young people in high spirits out to have a good time rather than the much more aggressive nightclub scene that we experience in Norwich on both a Friday and Saturday night.

Friday night brought the first quiz of the season at Bawburgh Golf Club, which is a 15 minute drive from our village. These really are enjoyable evenings. We pretty much have the same team every time, although this time Matt took the place of one of the members who was feeling under the weather.

We are usually in contention as we have a decent range of knowledge. We won this quiz by two marks, after just managing to hold on. I love collecting trivia and either taking part in or setting quizzes. We enter numerous each year but Bawburgh is still our favourite.

Saturday brought an abortive trip to Norwich. I find shopping quite depressing nowadays as there is nothing I really need to buy. The reason for going is that one of my boyhood heroes was signing his newly written biography. Ove Fundin is not a name that will register with most people. Ove was world speedway champion five times and for 10 years rode for the Norwich Stars. Their ground was just five minutes walk from where I lived as a boy and I went to almost all the matches with my cousin's boyfriend of the time.

Ove was quite rightly a speedway legend. He was so good they devised a handicap system to try and prevent him from winning. He still won. I know it is impossible to compare sports people of yesteryear with those of today. Today's sportsmen are by and large fitter and have better equipment but, as with so much of life, all the charisma has been drained out. So many are little more than machines. Ove Fundin for me is the greatest speedway rider ever.

He was signing copies of his book at the Jarrolds store. I got there to find a queue right through the store and snaking outside onto the street. I just couldn't be bothered to join it. It would have been nice to have met the man and got a book signed, but I will buy a copy nearer Christmas. You know the old sport chant "There's only one Ove Fundin," well on Saturday there needed to be about five to meet the demand. Ove was also quite rightly being honoured with the freedom of Norwich.

Whilst we are on the subject of biographies and books, the whole consumerism thing has got out of hand. Sportsmen, pop artists, actors, you name them and there is a biography about them. Years ago you had to earn the right to have a book written about you. Now you only have to breathe and exist to have one written. The life of a 22 year old footballer or so called pop artist doesn't warrant a 300 page book. I'm thinking of writing a biography of the three year old girl that lives next door. I'm sure she's done enough at nursery to merit 100,000 words!

Then there are books that simply have no merit. The dross of what I call the lowest common denominator. Books on trivia and drivel. Why do people buy them? That seems to be a problem with modern life. We are swamped with talentless authors, talentless rock bands etc etc. There is just so much choice that the whole thing has been devalued and this will increase in the run up to Christmas.

Once we got Sunday morning football out of the way (a solid 1-0 win for Hethersett against Quebec), the Sabbath was a day of nostalgia. In the afternoon we went to the former Wymondham Regal Cinema that is now part of the Ex-Servicemen's Club. It was a three pronged afternoon. Firstly John Miles (son of Lord Miles) talked about his father and his role in the British film and theatre industry. John was Formula One driver for Lotus many years ago and took part in 15 grand prixs.

We then had a short comedy film starring Bernard Miles entitled "The Specialist." A piece of sixties nonsense about a loo builder. Then we had the full version of Hitchcock's 1956 version of "The Man Who Knew Too Much." It was very interesting as were the adverts offering Ki-Ora drinks for 1/3d (about 6p in today's prices). Actually the interval ice creams were almost as cheap at 20 p each.

I found the film confusing to say the least. I love James Stewart both as a person and as an actor. But I found the film posed as many questions as it gave answers. Why was there a plot to kill a head of state, who exactly was the Head of State (obviously the British Prime Minister but this was never really explained), who was the group trying to kill him and why? You get the idea. If you are reading this give the film a watch and see what you think. These nostalgia kicks are very good, however, in preserving the history of our culture.

John Miles was asked what his father would have thought of the films being released today and his reply was to the point: "I think he would have hated them. There is so much rubbish about." And that takes me back to the way the market has been swamped with second rate goods. Whether it is books, CDs, films or any other commodity, we have produced a throw away society where second rate trash is the order of the day.

Everybody is still trying to get their Andy Warhol 10 minutes of fame. The problem is that today there is more and more opportunity for them to achieve this. This country has a youth culture that is so different to that experienced in the fifties, sixties and seventies. Today's youth culture is based on the throwaway, disposable society where many things are cheap and nasty. In the fifties and sixties young people were trying to change the whole shape of society. They succeeded and probably spawned the consumerism culture of today. It is frightful to see just where this is going if it continues at the same speed.

A good example of this will be your average teenagers DVD collection. It will be full of here today and gone tomorrow films (most of which will be American). I deliberately have a very small DVD film collection. I am trying to build it up with films that have either meant something personally to me or that have a historical relevance in the history of film. Landmark films or those with special memories. I can't think that more than 50 come into those categories.

It was rather sad to be back in the Wymondham Regal. Sad because I hate to see the old small town picture houses closed. Wymondham Regal shut many years ago. It was run for many years by Les King. To talk about Les would take a book on its own and I will refer to him in a later blog. We used to go regularly to the Regal, particularly when the boys were little and I was very sad when economics overtook it - but I really am not going to get into the plastic world of conglomerate take-overs of small and personal businesses (well not at this point anyway). Thankfully small English towns such as Wymondham still have their share of old-style businesses. You know the kind where everything is jammed together, but whatever you want or need can be found by the owner in a matter of seconds!

October went out with more un-seasonal warm weather. It will certainly be a shock when the cold sets in. On Sunday I even cut the lawns yet again. It should be the last time this season but I wouldn't bet on it. The clocks went back and that really does herald the onset of Autumn!

On to November 2006 blog