If you haven’t already, you might want to read part 1 before reading this.

Part 2

Somehow we managed to clean the flat up and make is habitable.  Once we got our furniture in, it looked OK, though not as nice as our first flat.  We had made all our furniture to fit our previous flat and these rooms were much larger.  Still it didn’t look bad.  It was modern funky sixties furnishings and it brightened the place up - at least for a while.

Friends of ours were looking for somewhere to live, and as we had a spare bedroom, Jim suggested they move in with us.  A few months after Jim and I had moved in, there were four of us.  I would later realise the mistake in this, but it was fun for a while.

It wasn’t long before we decided to investigate the bottom half of the house.  All four of us descended the stairs with a certain amount of childish excitement.

It was vary dark and dismal downstairs, and for some reason, and to our disappointment,  the doors to the rooms were all locked.  We did find one door that wasn’t locked so we all crowded round with anticipation.  It opened at the top of a flight of stairs going down into a dark, very large cellar.  We switched on the light and were totally amazed.  It was a massive games room.  Right in the centre was the weirdest, full sized Billiard (Pool) table.  It had been built from trees.  Four large tree trunks had been cut to size and laid on their side with the large twisting branches trimmed neatly to the same height.  Perched on top of what looked like a lot of arms, was the flat table top.  It looked quite grand, but a very creepy.   The cues and balls still lay on the smooth, green table.   There were boxes, stacked all around the walls.  While rummaging through one of them we pulled out a large bag, full of something soft.  On closer inspection, we discovered it was a bag of human hair!

As if this wasn’t unnerving enough, somebody said “Oh my word! Look at that!”  I was already feeling a little nervous by the hair, but I looked.  There was a dart-board on the wall.  The kind with doors that you open to keep scores on.  The darts were still in the dart-board, the doors were open and scrawled, in white chalk, on the left was the word ‘Me’ with the scores underneath, on the right was written ‘Them’ with the scores underneath!  A chill went down my spine, and I expect the others too.  I don’t know what was said but we promptly left the cellar, never to go back down there again!   I have no idea who won.  We didn’t stop to check!   There could have been all sorts of treasure to be found in an old cellar full of boxes, but we were not ever going down there to search for it!  There was a bad feeling on that whole lower floor.

We had to go down to the ground floor in order to get out to the beautiful garden, but I always made a sort of nervous dash to get outside, and the same nervous dash to get back upstairs.  Never lingering.  The garden was very large but terribly overgrown.  The grass was waist high and laid down flat.  Jim and I had cut it all back and mowed the grass, when we lived there alone.  When it was done it was unbelievable.  There was all sorts of plants hidden from view, including massive strawberries.  An old, hand made, child’s swing hung from a large tree. There was, what once had been, a large and beautiful Victorian style veranda.  Now old, rickety and peeling.  If you looked at it for any length of time, you could see, with your minds eye, a Victorian family sitting on it, drinking tea, children laughing and playing.  Then reality hit and all you saw was a broken down old thing with no life on it at all.  It was quite sad.  Who lived there?  What happened in that house?  If I ever caught a glimpse of the downstairs windows at the back of the house, I would look away quickly.  I never peered inside.  The windows looked like two large black eyes, watching me.  They unnerved me - a lot!

One night, on arriving home late, Jim and I were climbing the stairs in the dark when my foot hit something and I almost fell.  Jim quickly put the light on and there were three or four baby rats on the stairs.  Apparently the brown long fur denotes that they are baby rats.  I can’t believe it but we just stepped over them and continued on up the stairs!  We had no doubt that the cellar, and probably the bottom half of the house was running alive in them.

The mood of our home slowly changed.  It didn’t seem as happy and carefree.  Jim often took himself to bed early.  Something was changing, yet we didn’t seem to be aware of it.  Our friends were beginning to take our home over, as if it were theirs.  Jim didn’t seem to notice.  I just put up with them breaking and damaging everything they touched.  My home had lost it’s original meaning to me now.

What was the history of this house?

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Jim and I had managed to find a nice little unfurnished flat, in a very nice part of London.   We had by far, the best and most expensive flat in the large house.  We were both on good salaries so the cost was not a problem.   One problem we had was that we were continually being harassed by the landlord, to swap flats with a couple that lived right at the top of the house.   Their flat was much smaller and we were happy where we were, so we told him so, each time he asked.  Because of this, it was not a friendly house.  Still, we were out most evenings so that was no real problem to us.  The other, problem was that we had to share our bathroom and toilet with some other tenants.  This was NOT good!

After about a year of sharing a bathroom, and the harassment from the landlord, we had had enough.  With the help of my brother, we found another flat and moved out of our first home.   As this story unfolds you will see how, such a small decision, can change the rest of our lives quiet drastically.

The story begins…..

We arrived at what would be our second home.  It was a very large, rambling house in North London.  The front garden was overgrown and un-cared for.  It was obvious that nobody lived in this house!   We went up the steps and turned the key in the lock.  The door opened into a dim hallway with a flight of stairs on the left, leading to the first floor.

A business acquaintance of my brother owned the house.  He was a property developer and was happy to leave this house empty.  As a favour to my brother, he had let us rent it, as long as we didn’t pester him for things, and took it ‘as is’.  “The first floor flat”, we were told.  I have no idea why that was stipulated, as the whole house was empty, but we accepted the offer.

We made our way up the stairs to the first floor.  At the top was a very large landing area where a huge chest of drawers stood.  We opened the first door on the left.   It was a large kitchen.  In the centre of the room was a table and chairs.  We glanced around the kitchen, it was as if whoever lived here had just popped out for a few minutes and would be back.  They had left everything, including the washing up.  There were cups and plates still on the table, spilled sugar where they had made their tea.  Food scraps, packets, jars and tins of food.  Everywhere you looked there were signs of the people who lived there, but when?  Why did whoever they were, leave in such a strange hurry?  It looked as if they had been sitting down eating their breakfast or tea, and suddenly got up and left the house.

In each room we entered it was the same.  Clothing, belongings and furniture filled the rooms.   It was all very old.  The furnishings looked almost Victorian.  The kitchen was the most up to date and I would say it looked like early 1950’s furniture.

We went back to the large chest of drawers.  We opened the drawers one by one, and was surprised to find they were all full of belongings.   I opened one of the drawers and laying right on top was a beautiful pair of white, leather gloves.  As I picked one up to look closer I noticed the other glove was only half made and still had the needle and thread attached.  They were beautifully stitched.  Not something you would have seen worn since the 1930/40’s.  Who would have been making these and not have finished them?  Why would they be left behind?  Again it looked like somebody had just laid them in the drawer to finish later.  Why didn’t she?  So many questions.

There was a beautiful. large back garden to be seen through the back window, but for now we had looked at what we came to see.  The rest of this huge house we would investigate another time.  After we had moved in.

What other strange things awaited us?   What was in the downstairs part of the house, that appeared to be ‘out of bounds’?

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This is an update for those of you that live in the US and may be interested in alternative gifts.  Brad of ‘The Sound of a Soft Breath’ very kindly left a link to the same sort of ‘World Vision’ scheme that’s running in the US.

Thank you so much Brad

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With Christmas coming very soon, I thought that I would post about this great ‘World Vision Gifts’ idea.

Instead of receiving lots of gifts that you don’t really want or need.  Gifts that will probably end up in the back of a drawer or cupboard until next year, when you can pass them on to other people, so they can put them in the back of their drawer, why not suggest another option.

Tell people that, for your gift, you would like them to buy a World Vision gift that will help fight hunger and poverty.

Gifts start as low as £5.  For that you can supply a life saving mosquito net.  For £9 you can buy a water tap for clean running water or ten fruit trees.  For £18 you can buy a goat!  There are many gift ideas for a variety of costs, so there is plenty to choose from.

It is a very simple online process.  A card is sent to the recipient with a photograph and details of what has been sent, on their behalf.  You haven’t just given money to a charity, you have bought something very specific and had it sent to them. It feels really good when you open the card, knowing that you have contributed to such a great cause, and the person who buys the gift also has the knowledge that their gift won’t end up in the back of a drawer!

I don’t know if they do this outside the UK but it’s certainly worth looking into, if you are interested.

Images taken from the World Vision web site.

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Mo and I have been following the X Factor (UK) this year again, as there are a few brilliant singers in the ‘over twenties’.  This week was Mariah Carey week, and she was present, and worked with all the singers.

There is just no understanding the way the public vote.  There is a chap who, although a very nice man, is a bit like the old Tom Jones, if you know what I mean.  In no way is he, or could he be, a pop singer or a recording star.  He is getting a lot of sympathy votes, while good singers are getting knocked out.

We are now into the serious stuff, with the cream of the singers left to battle it out.  He should now be gone, and we were fairly confident he would go yesterday.   Did he?  Noooo!  Two really great female singers, Laura White and Ruth Lorenzo were in the sing off.  That in itself was a shock, but what followed has really infuriated me!

Mariah Carey said of Laura’s rehearsal “No notes”, which apparently is the best compliment she could give, and basically means ‘Perfect’.

You need to watch this video.  Listen to the remarks at the end.

This lady is world class, as the judges continually said.  Then why, tell me, did they vote her off?

I’ll tell you why.  Ruth Lorenzo is a good singer, but not to the standards of Laura.  She is Spanish, which Simon finds sexy.   She knows how to play her body while performing, and Simon Cowell makes no secret of the fact that he fancies her rotten.  He says it every week!  The deciding votes were with the two men.  Need I say more?

They spent weeks building this poor girl up and telling her she was “special” and “a world class singer”.  When it came time for them to ‘put their money where their mouth is’, as the saying goes, they totally crushed her, and voted from their trousers (Pants)!

If I sound a tad upset, it’s because I AM, and more than a tad!  What would have been nicer, is for them to have gone to a split vote, which would revert back to the public vote.  That would have been a more fair way to do it, and something they have done twice before.  But no, crush the girl, why don’t you?  It wields more power!

The decision, not surprisingly, brought a lot of booing from the audience.  No consolation for Laura though.

Oh, I expect she’ll get a recording contract, but this experience will have totally knocked her confidence.

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I am doing a ‘One post for all’ here, as I got several awards recently.

Thank you VANILLASEVEN

Thank you Crystal @ Smoothie Land

Thank you Shinade @ The Painted Veil

Thank you DrowseyMonkey

I got this for chatting a lot on her blog ;O)

I know you will forgive me if I don’t pass these on to individuals. It would blow my mind if I tried.  So, if you are on my ‘top commenters’ list please take whichever you would like.   I can do this, because all those in my top commenters list are blogs I read and love.  You are all deserving of an award anyway!

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Penalty charge update

Having received that stupid Penalty Charge the other day, I emailed the appropriate department, stating what idiots they were querying it. This was their reply.

*The Penalty Charge Notice was issued because the Civil Enforcement Officer was unable to read the details on your Disabled Persons Blue Badge because it was not correctly displayed in the vehicle so all the details could be seen.*

Nicely written, don’t you think?

Was the enforcement officer blind?  The details are written in huge letters!  Mo is always very careful to leave both parts in full view.  More importantly, if this was in any way true (which it isn’t) why didn’t the ticket state ‘Failure to display Blue Badge’?  Since when has ‘Not parked correctly within the markings of the bay or space’ meant I can’t see your blue badge details?

They cancelled the ticket.

I think I can safely say that this was a bit of ‘face saving’ on their part, because they knew how stupid the ticket was in the first place.

This is one time when I will not be pointing out the obvious errors in their reasoning.  We will just happily accept the decision and be £50 better off.

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In the words of a very old Tom Paxton song…..‘Peace, we need peace.  Let it begin with me’

I am posting three different versions of this song - one on each of my blogs.

Just click the orange triangle to listen.

Joan Baez - Imagine

The others are here, and here

For more peace globes go here

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Mo went out today to buy a few bits an pieces and it turned out to be an expensive few bits and pieces.

She went to park the car in the parking bay and, as usual, some of the cars were badly parked.  People never give a thought for others. They park just where they want, with far too much space between the cars.

Mo drove to the end of the bay and parked.  In order to give the other driver room to open his/her door she had to park over the bay markings.  Now you have to realize that Mo’s car was the last in the bay and it was a dead end.  This was off road parking, so nobody would need to, or in fact could, drive past.

Look what she found when she got back to the car!

We know that she was parked outside the markings, but for goodness sakes!  Do you think this was really petty?  Someone who wanted to notch up another penalty charge for the day?

I have written to them to see if they will cancel the ticket, but I don’t hold out too much hope.

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Part 3

Months went by.  I don’t remember how many but eventually I was to go to court as a witness for the prosecution.  I’m not just talking about any court here, this was The Old Bailey in the center of London. The main court for England and Wales, and where the more sensational cases were heard.  The trials of Oscar Wilde, Dr Crippin and the Yorkshire Ripper are just a few that were heard at the Old Bailey.  Our trial was somewhere between Dr Crippin and the Yorkshire Ripper!

This was the mid sixties and gun crime was very rare in the UK, which may be why it went to the Old bailey.

I was very glad that my younger sister came with me for moral support.  It was very daunting to see all the black robes and white wigs!

We sat outside the courtroom waiting for it to start.  A lift door opened, in the middle of the hallway.  I hadn’t noticed it was a lift.  We turned to look and, for the first time since I had been a guest in their home, I saw Shirley’s husband (Graham) being led out of the lift and into the courtroom.  His face was ashen and he looked tense and scared.

I had been warned that the defense barrister would try to discredit me, but I had no idea how horrible it would be.  He fired lots of sarcastic questions at me and tried to make me out to be a liar.  I stood my ground, even though I was very nervous.

Finally day one was over, and my sister and I travelled home to Kent.  It was all cut and dried.  He was guilty and justice would be served.

Day two was much the same as day one, and was quite uneventful.

On the third day we sat outside the courtroom, again the lift arrived and the doors opened but now we saw a different Graham exit the lift.  He was smiling, no longer pale and tense, but looking confident.  His whole manner was different.  We were confused.  What had happened to make this difference?

Once in the courtroom, the defense barrister stood and requested that the jury be excused at this point.  The judge agreed.  What followed was unbelievable.  We heard all the evidence, statements, admissions by Shirley.  A whole host of incriminating evidence, including forensics, the gun, along with Graham’s overalls, found in their home, which has fibers from my aunts bed on them, his own incriminating comments.  So much proof!

When this was all over, the Judge allowed the jury back into the courtroom.  Once they were seated, he said… and this is where it really gets weird…he said “Case dismissed.  Insufficient evidence”  and immediately thanked and dismissed the jury!  We sat stunned. Not knowing what had just happened or why.

Accepting that I was only nineteen, and uninformed about the finer points of law courts, it was understandable that I have no idea what happened or why.  The unfortunate thing was, that nobody felt the need to explain to us what happened either.  My sister, aunt and I travelled home in a daze.  Did any of this really happen?  Did several months of our lives, and three days in court really just end with a bang of a wooden hammer - Case dismissed?

They got away with everything.  It could have been on a genuine technicality or, as we were informed does happen, a pay-off from higher up the criminal chain!  All we knew was that my aunt had lost a great deal of money and had been through a terrifying ordeal. Graham left the court smiling, and had obviously known that he would, when he came out of the lift that morning.

I had learned two valuable lessons.  Friends are not always what they appear to be, and can’t always be trusted, and justice is often not served!

I suppose,  I started to grow up at 19.

**Note**  I did NOT change the names,  It made me feel good to use their actual names.

One more thing.  I lost my diamond some years later.  Actually it got thrown out in the rubbish, never having been mounted!

Photo credits: The Old Bailey - http://www.infobritain.co.uk/Old_Bailey.jpg    Courtroom - http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/in_pictures_the_old_bailey_at_100/img/2.jpg

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