Symptoms

This is beginning to sound like the stuff blue comics used to dish up in the clubs in the 60s & 70s ... I think it might be appropriate to leave it there.

Protest action often ends in a series of unforetold consequences and perhaps those taking part don't always consider extreme outcomes, or maybe they do. However, that cannot ever be allowed to lessen the impact of the cause ... history is crammed with episodes where folks have dared ruling elites only to be met with death or incarceration. Should Martin Niemöller have kept his trap shut knowing he (and his family) would be lifted by the SS; he spoke out and became another hero (with flaws) to millions of us. What about the guys way back who knew they'd get roasted, not by Premiership footballers, but by the agents various churches ... they were prepared to call for change - were they wrong? What about the mucky-faced serfs and peasants in Ye Olde Bedlingtonshire who agitated against their masters for a bit of freedom knowing full well they risked being beheaded (or worse ... having their new brides lifted by the local Lord on the wedding night). And you know what? It's still going on all over the World. The sight of 'freedom' is such a powerful motivator that folks will go to any length to reach out for it and I for one will always applaud.

Come on Mal, life's too short to blindly click on all these links that get posted ... a friendly suggestion - how about adding up to five or six word summary or preview about what we are likely to find if we go there. Something like, "Top doc botch ops" for that last one, or "NHS Trust dosh con" for the first one. This is not meant as a criticism Mal.

Keith, I agree that "(There is no evidence that says Em planned on suicide is there?)" hence my comment "The action was clearly a protest that went wrong for her ..." . I think her action was designed to stop, or at least hinder, the King's nag ... oh what a sensation that would have been on it's own with the fantastic publicity that would have followed. It would have had the added bonus that she would have lived to see it. You're not being flippant with your achievement list as I think all can be ticked-off as done bar the hurt/croaking one; that one, in my book, gets her placed firmly in the glorious martyrdom group. I did see a film years ago about this story but Meryl wasn't in it.

Come on Keith, "I would have been more inspired if she had become the first female jockey and rode Anmer to victory. Now that would have been one in the cap for the sufragettes!" ... she would never have been allowed to by the old buffers in charge. The action was clearly a protest that went wrong for her but became iconic for her cause. Protest movements around the world are littered with martyrs to the cause: just a few local ones ... the Tolpuddle guys, and in recent times - Blair Peach, Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Raymond McCreesh, Patsy O'Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Thomas McElwee, Michael Devine. The lists are endless ....

Does Alan Routledge have a brother Michael? I went to school with a Micky Routledge ... he'd be 61ish now.

Maggie wrote: "Maybe we need to have a topic how to disappear. And never be found." That's what the Metcops did after creating false IDs to squirm their way into various protest groups, having long-term relationships with a number of women, then vanishing. Bastards!!! Read about Jack Reacher's technique for not being tracked down.

Name and location hint is all that is needed to find out tons of stuff about a person. Maggie, within 1 hour the following could be obtained: Address & phone number D.O.B Mother's maiden name National Insurance Number ALL banking, store card and credit card accounts held Mortgage details Property info Company returns and Directors information + lots of other stuff and all that done from a chair ... no scratching about in bins. Care to challenge me anyone?

Like Vic I also miss Joe Rooney's posts and was, quite irrationally, upset at his passing. I didn't know him, hadn't met him 'in the flesh' but was affected when he died. Nobody is 'safe' or secure when online. I posted recently that if your PC is connected by copper or fibre you can be 'found', You can be 'sniffed out' if connected wirelessly ... beware a nosey neighbour with Wi-Fi finding software 'cos if your router lacks security then they're in. The only 'safe' computer is one that's physically not connected to the outside world. If you know where to look most things can be found out about most people. On the previous incarnation of this Forum I posted using my real name with the benefit that a number of old school friends were able get in touch, but, when this new place emerged I'd lost my nerve so settled for Symptoms .... cowardy, cowardy custard!

Spot on GGG ... trashed boundary deal so maybe the Camerooon fix went in to stuff smarmy Hoooney. It amazes me how many so called bright folks get nabbed because of email/text/phone stuff. That Metcop last week using her own phone to leak to the NofW ... she was a top anti-terror Peeler yet didn't use an untraceable 'drop phone' or even a public phonebox - our safety in their hands!!!

My Grandparents lived in the Prospect Hill station* house (West Allotment) in the early-mid 1950s. Over the rear lane there was a shared outside netty for the use of 3 families ... I can recall a wooden bench with a bum-hole, the proverbial nail/string/torn News of The World combo, wooden plank door with heart-shaped vent hole in it. The Council's night soil men would come once a week and use a big long rake to drag the stuff away to the end of the building and out through a steel door. My Grandad continued to use a potty even after moving to a new house in the mid 50s but his plan was to use the contents for his leeks ... I've posted here before about this in a Leek Show thread. *Prospect Hill station was where the winching engine was for the inclined waggonway used to hump the coal trucks up from Backworth; they'd then release them down the otherside of the hill where gravity would sent them to the Tyne. The incline was still there in the 50s but obviously the tracks had long gone and even now you can see it on Google Earth.

the lone ranger wrote: "i remember the coal fire we used to toast a slice of bread on it". Of course, this classic technique wasn't restricted to folks like us here ... remember the ruling elite always got their fags to toast their crumpets by holding the toasting forks in their clenched, naked buttocks. Ah, happy days at Eton, Harrow, Winchester, et al.

Yep, there were 2, just checked here: http://www.dmm.org.uk/colleng/5709-01.htm click on the various Figs for photos & site plan.

The more I think of it I'm sure there were 2 drag lines operating. It was amazing to see them 'walk' ... I'm sure there must be film of that action somewhere.

Yep, he was at Bedders ... I was in his bucket down the hole. Below are a couple of my earlier posts about Costains. A 2007 post: "Is this the golf club built on the the old Costains opencast site (been away since the 60's)? Any prospective buyer/developer would be amazed at what was dumped in the hole before being cover over - this was in the days before the concept of environmental impact studies. Has anybody ever seen anything seeping out the ground at the river level below the site? I saw lorry loads of steel drums (contents unknown!), rubble, industrial waste, etc. being tipped. The most memorable was a huge quantity of cosmetic products, especially stuff like shampoo being left - somebody brought a load of it to Westridge School for use in the showers after PE lessons ... foam everywhere!! Probably infected loads of lads with skin infections." A 2009 post: Brilliant! Just to get some sense of scale of the drag-line buckets the Dad of a pal of mine (he was the top spark at the site in the mid to late 60s)took a few of us 'down the hole' in a Land Rover which he parked in the bucket ... there was still plenty of room at each side even after we opened all the car doors wide to get out. The Euclids in the film (tractor/trailer jobbies) I seem to remember were superceded by the mid to late 60s by those yellow American brutes ... but maybe others here have clearer memories. There was a rather interesting 'grave yard' dump for all the old & knackered tackle (including some of the types shown in the film) ... yep, it all went in the hole at the end. The explosives shed (a big red steel box) was never locked! - oh, what fun us lads had on the site. Wasn't the coal screening site at Bebside ... I seem to remember another Bailey bridge going over the road next to Jacky Reed's garage?

I sometimes get the smoke billowing in but apparently here it's due to weather occlusions ... high pressure 'holding the smoke down'. I got my chimneys swept when I moved in here and the sweep left the bagged-up soot on the hearths for me to get rid of - cheeky sod. I get them done annually but I bin the soot - couldn't put it on my garden 'cos the dog would roll in it. It bad enough that the woof rolls in steaming horse apples and seagull squits (they REALLY do honk) but I couldn't cope with soot.

I can't remember ... but at least it was one less aristo. I'm with old Mohamed Al Fayed on this one ... I reckon it was Phil The Greek who ordered the hit.

During nearly 40 years living in London I wasn't allowed to burn real coal fires due to the London Clean Air Act even though some of the houses I lived in retained the fireplaces. The place I now live in allows coal burning and as a result I light one every evening - it's all very satisfying and brings back those memories of being a kid. I've got a coal man who delivers bags of Black Diamond coal in big sacks humped on his back from the lorry just lke the old days ... sadly not the hessian jobbies of old but polypropylene ones. Crumpled newspaper, sticks, coal and a paper bleezer, but you're right about the size issue ... only Mrs Symptom's Sunday Times is the correct 'old' size; I've been meaning to get a lump of steel sheet to make a bleezer since I moved here but haven't got around to it yet so the flaming bleezer usually goes up the chimney.

Keith wrote: "...committed suicide after suffering nightmares." He'd be arrested for that these days Seriously though, perhaps the reason why Emily is such an inspirational figure to many of us is because her action was caught on film. We can access the event and bear witness unlike many other important historical figures and events.

I feel that everybody in England should have the chance to vote on the Jocko question ... I'd wager a majority would vote to chuck 'em out of the Union.

A few years ago Kathryn did a BBC2 show with The Cramlington Buggie Strangler (Sting) ... she was brilliant, he wasn't!

Palace in Bedlington Station 1963 watching It's a Mad, Mad World. The projectionist put-up one of those slides telling us that JFK had been shot ... so the phrase "you'll always remember where you were when he was topped" is true.

It probably the pointy heads doing some Seismology. They'll be using explosive charges to create seismic waves which travel through the earth which are then bounced back toward the source by the different underground layers ... sort of mapping what's below. Yep, they could be looking for gas, oil or other minerals .... Bedders the new Klondike! Or, it could have something to do with looking for somewhere to put all that nuclear waste now that Cumberland County Council have told Windscale they don't want it ... Bedders seen from deep space glowing at night.

" ... Hampstead-dwelling elites .... cosy intellectual pursuits" Just imagine 3G - all that could be ours here in Bedders. The joy which is to be had frequenting Hampstead High Street could be experienced on Front Street - folks would come from miles around.

A worky ticket? Moi? "... but if I could vote this posting down I would. " Gagging 'little old' Symptoms - poo. You know a lovely Waitrose would look great there!