Journal Entries
MVP's NaJoPoMo 15
Posted Nov 15, 2014
Today is O for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, where I used to work.
The ODPM was created to give John Prescott a big department: it included environment, planning, housing and local government. We were based in Eland House near Victoria Station. It is a modern block, built of glass and steel, giving the impression that it has no walls, only windows. The title confused people. Some asked 'what's he like to work for,' assuming we were his private staff, and we had to explain it was a big government department.
I remember seeing Prescott in the staff canteen: a big, jowly man with a plate overflowing with chips. He'd come to prominence through the Trade Union movement and was said to be a tough negotiator. He wasn't a good speaker. The civil servants would write him a speech but he'd add anecdotes and get things muddled. I believe that, after his retirement, he admitted to being dyslexic.
I worked on something called best value, which was intended to help local councils improve their services. We needed to get a piece of secondary legislation passed to enable us to give grants to a group of parish councils. As I worked on this, I got the chance to sit in the officials' box in the House of Lords. This is a strange place, with all sorts of rules about where you can tread and where you can't. There was an electronic notice outside, but inside everything was Victorian splendour: red leather benches, lots of gilding and the throne on its dais.
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Latest reply: Nov 15, 2014
MVP's NaJoPoMo 14th
Posted Nov 14, 2014
Today is n for nature.
I suppose my interest in natural history and conservation goes back to the time I moved to outer London. That may sound strange but we lived in a leafy suburb and had a big oak tree at the end of the garden. So I started taking an interest in birds. Blue tits 
, blackbirds and robins were among the first, but we had more unusual birds too, like great spotted woodpeckers. I also remember going to Elmley on the Isle of Sheppey, where my father kept his boat. There were clouds of lapwings on the marshy fields and even marsh harriers. I think this area subsequently became an RSPB reserve.
Since we moved to Sussex, we've got involved with the friends of the local nature reserve. Sometimes we did conservation tasks, which involved a range of activities, from hauling rubbish out of a local pond to hedgelaying and coppicing. We also did a butterfly survey, which was a good stress-busting task, involveing walking around the reserve shouting 'comma' 
or 'common blue' 
.
There have been some gains for wildlife in the intervening period. Some birds of prey, like the red kite, have bounced back from the edge of extinction, and we've acquired a few newcomers, like the little egret. There seem to be more cowslips around than there used to be, perhaps because they cope with growing on roadside verges. But the general trend seems to be down. 
I haven't seen a missel thrush in ages and the lapwings I remember in flocks now seem to number twos or threes.
We need to look after our green places and, if possible, join them up.
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Latest reply: Nov 14, 2014
MVP's NaJoPoMo 13th
Posted Nov 13, 2014
Today is M for Midlands
I was born in Leicester, which apparently makes me a woollyback (from the sheeprearing and woolmaking traditions of the area). But I don't remember Leicester, because we moved to Birmingham when I was one. The story goes that my parents went looking at the house on a Sunday and, only when they moved in, did they realise it was close to the Longbridge car plant! I don't remember Birmingham either, because we moved to Rugby when I was four.
I remember arriving at our house in Rugby. It was raining, the house was new and undecorated, and our belongings were late arriving. So we sat in our plastic macs drinking tea from a thermos while we waited for the removal van. While we were in Rugby, my father built a boat in the garage, which was a bit too short, so he added a small extension.
I used to walk across a field to the primary school nearby. It was a recent school, but the attitudes of the staff were very strict. They valued neat handwriting highly, and made us do dictation exercises which were judged not just on spelling but also on handwriting. I once got a minus mark! They also compelled us to eat our school dinners. One girl failed to eat hers and was made to stand at the back of the class looking at her plate for the rest of the afternoon. Her parents complained, because she wasn't well.
Do I count myself a Midlander? Not really, because we moved again - to South London this time and I spent the rest of my youth there. I don't count mself a Londoner either, but I have to admit to being thoroughly English!
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Latest reply: Nov 13, 2014
MVP's NaJoPoMo 12th
Posted Nov 12, 2014
Today is L for Lewes.
The East Sussex town of Lewes is situated in the gap between the South Downs through which the River Ouse flows to the sea. That gave it strategic importance, and a castle was built there soon after the Norman conquest. There was also a battle there in 1265, which has some significance in the history of the British constitution.
In the 16th century, a number of Protestant martyrs were burned in the town. This persecution is commemorated annually in a big fireword display that takes over the town centre on 5th November.
Although the River Ouse is small, it is big enough to allow some boats to sail up to the town. Thomas Paine, who wrote 'The Rights of Man' was a custom officer there. More recently, Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell lived close to Lewes. These connections give the town a literary feel.
Modern Lewes is an attractive place to visit, with its historic buildings, a good number of pubs and restaurants (and an independent brewery). The streets rise steeply from the river to the edges of the Downs, but there is also a nature reserve to explore where an old railway line was abandoned, and you can follow a footpath along the river towards the port of Newhaven.
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Latest reply: Nov 12, 2014
MVP's NaJoPoMo 11th
Posted Nov 11, 2014
As the 11th of November is Armistice Day, 'k' has to stand for killed in action.
I thought of my father's father, who was a Sergeant in the Royal Engineers and died in 1918. And I came up with a poem.
REMEMBRANCE
In the solemn silence of November
we plant our poppies and remember.
You who drowned in shell-holes full of mud,
or gasped as every breath corrupted lungs
with poison gas, never lived to know
the payment of your youth and blood
bought little more than twenty years of peace.
In the solemn silence of November
we plant our poppies and remember
you who sweltered in the desert heat
in trucks that trundled over hidden bombs.
While you who lived with shattered limbs
now hear that planes with loads of men and tanks
may soon be landing on the soil you left.
In the solemn silence of November
we plant our poppies and remember
and beseech whatever gods we care to name
to spare the generations still unthought
from the legacy of grief and pain
of wars begun in error but bravely fought.
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Latest reply: Nov 11, 2014
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