{The Coming-of-Age of America [continued]}[6th January 1976]

[Redbook2:76A-J][19760106:0000b]{The Coming-of-Age of America [continued]}[6^th January 1976]

19760106

[continued]

Times change: other powers will arise to shape this culture, even after America. No-one can say for how long the Americans will remain its guardians, nor even what 'it' will eventually come to mean. The shape of the World is changing, and it is a mark of America's new maturity that it would now for the first time be possible to suggest to her that by the time of her quarter-millennium in the year two thousand and twenty six, A.D., by the consent of her people, the United States of America as a sole sovereign entity may no longer exist.

[continues]

[PostedBlogger31052014]

{The Coming-of-Age of America [continued]}[6th January 1976]

[Redbook2:76A-J][19760106:0000a]{The Coming-of-Age of America [continued]}[6^th January 1976]

19760106

[continued]

That, too, marks the eventual transfer of the centre of the English-speaking culture across the Atlantic: a transfer which, for all our stridency, we can do nothing about. Why should we be ashamed? The new hands are safer than ours; and ours (or our fathers') largely shaped what they receive. And there is no reason why we should not continue to contribute to that culture as much as we now do.

[continues]

[PostedBlogger30052014]

{The Coming-of-Age of America}[6th January 1976]

[Redbook2:76A-J][19760106:0000]{The Coming-of-Age of America}[6^th January 1976]

19760106

Not the Bi-centennial, but Watergate marks the coming-of-age of America: more particularly, the discovery of Watergate, and those dozens of contemporary symptoms – militant pacifism, the Senate hearings, the foreign policy of Congress – which have become the pinpricks of traditional American pride. For a strange self-awareness, almost humble, is the hallmark of the new American: that, and a restrained self-assurance which needs no boasting.

[continues]

[PostedBlogger29052014]

{WHY?}[12th November 1975]

[Redbook2:74A][19751112:0000 a]{WHY?}[12^th November 1975]

19751112

WHY? – why? why? Why?

[PostedBlogger28052014]

{Choices}[12th November 1975]

[Redbook2:74A][19751112:0000 ]{Choices}[12^th November 1975]

19751112

CHOICE   circs.: contrasting:

(1) Difficult to choose

(2) Difficult to see choice.

&

[PostedBlogger27052014]

{Telekinesis}[11th November 1975]

[Redbook2:75][19751111:2130]{Telekinesis}[11^th November 1975]

19761111.2130

?Is it possible that telekinesis, teleportation, etc. (even telepathy?) originate in some basic attractant and/or repellent (and/or communicative?) power which, in the absence of other means (e.g. mechanical, chemical), the ultimate (i.e. smallest) 'building blocks' of the Universe must of necessity possess in relation to each other for the Universe to exist as we know it.

(Similarly, such peculiar manifestations as men passing through solid objects (e.g. walls), feeling no pain, and (possibly) becoming invisible, etc., might then be explicable in terms of the control of such power(s) (and/or communication) in and between these 'building blocks', rather than in terms of (for example) hypnosis.

Would this control be restricted to the personal body of the controller?)

[PostedBlogger26052014]

{Psychical Research}[11th November 1975]

[Redbook2:73][19751111:2116 ]{Psychical Research}[11^th November 1975]

11^th November 1975

(L.19751016)

(Revise!)

(Partly revised.)

There seems to be a 'self-destruct' mechanism built into research on psychic phenomena. It runs something like this:

(1) Serious researchers claim positive results in relatively carefully-controlled psychic research;

(2) Credulous would-believers set up similar but relatively uncontrolled experiments in psychic research;

(3) Hoaxers and notoriety-seekers produce 'rigged' 'positive' results for (2);

(4) Credulous would-believers publicise claimed positive results in (3);

(5) Serious publications and authorities treat all claims with neutrally equal seriousness;

(6) Hoaxers and notoriety-seekers, and thus would-believers, are exposed by opponents of psychic concept[s] (and by 'neutrals');

(7) Original and positive results claimed by serious researchers suffer the odium of (6), and are 'forgotten', particularly by the embarrassed serious publications and authorities in (5).

[PostedBlogger25052014]

{Indivisibility of Government}[20th October 1975]

[Redbook2:72A][19751020:0000]{Indivisibility of Government}[20th October 1975]

[….]

20^th October 1975

[….]

[The Times] report[s] ([on] Monday October 20^th) Mr. Short, the Leader of the House of Commons, as saying in his message to his Constituency: “We are not impressed by demands for the resignation of Barbara Castle from people in the medical profession who are never likely to have voted for her – or the Labour Party – in the first place.”.

There was a time when Parliament (and therefore the Government) was believed to represent the interests of the whole people of the United Kingdom – and when a Member was generally thought to be elected to represent all the inhabitants of his constituency, not merely those who elected him. There was a time when a remark such as Mr. Short's would not have been allowed to pass without comment in [The Times] newspaper and elsewhere.

The good government of any Nation-State as a whole is indivisible. While allowance must be made for change, a government which by word or action refuses even to recognise the real interest of any person or group within the Nation-State looses its moral claim to govern the affairs of the Nation-State as a whole. It must be important, even if only for reasons of political security, to find some constitutional formula which reflects the (moral) indivisibility of good government ( – which is not to be confused with the political indivisibility or divisibility of the territory of the Nation-State).

Such incautious comments as Mr. Short's, like Mr. Healey's famous reported threat to squeeze the rich until the pips squeaked, show clearly who among our rulers feel a personal and ideological cynicism towards the people of the United Kingdom as a whole, a cynicism far more dangerous in its implications than the simple paternalism of the Conservative Party.

These and other examples of the “politics of hatred” in government are a warning to all individuals and all groups within the United Kingdom – not just to those against whom specifically they are aimed. Who shall be exempt? Or if the Governments lose their faith in the people – which is the whole people, or nothing – how shall people have faith in their Government?

[….]

[PostedBlogger24052014]

{The End of Days}[15th September 1975]

[Redbook2:71A][19750915:0000]{The End of Days}[15th September 1975]

19750915

'It follows, from the existence of the One and the purpose of Totality, that there may be perceived from Here two possible logical reasons for the complete ending of Here.

'The first would arise if existence Here reached a perceived state so close to that of the One that there was no point in continuing, since nothing of further value in the re-creation of the One resulted.

'The second would arise if existence Here reached such a perceived state that the nature of the One would become detrimentally affected: such a state, perhaps, of misery and suffering as contradicted the purpose of the One, and from being its justification became its negation, and therefore unable to be.'

[PostedBlogger23052014]

{Destruction}[13th September 1975]

[Redbook2:71C][19750913:0000]{Destruction}[13^th September 1975]

19750913

'Destruction is not merely the end of Creation, but its beginning. Neither can continue without the other.'

[PostedBlogger22052014]

{Space}[12th September 1975]

[Redbook2:70][19750912:1845]{Space}[12th September 1975]

19750912.1845

Similar basic considerations apply to the ‘present’ dimensions of Here – say, length breadth and height – which, if applied to the Totality, run up against the same equal inconceivability of, on the one hand, a finite Totality (what lies beyond?) and, on the other hand, an infinite Totality.

The only conceivable solution is to regard these dimensions as more of the Limits on us, so that whether Here is finite or infinite from our viewpoint becomes of little importance against the knowledge that for the Totality as a 'whole', there are no such dimensions: save within created limits such as ours; Space does not exist, and the concept of 'Space' does not occur.

[PostedBlogger22for21052014]

{Time [continued]}[8th September 1975]

[Redbook2:69-70][19750908:1443]{Time [continued]}[8th September 1975]

19750908.1443

[continued]

But the nature of causation itself in such a Totality without Time, although not inconceivable, is mind-boggling: perhaps ‘natural’ causation (within our Order) is wholly or partly ‘reversed’, so that what we would understand to be the cause of an event (or situation – I am not sure of the distinction, if any, in such a Totality) becomes its justification.

The necessity to avoid conflict (as we would see it), avoided in our Space by the limits and mechanism of causation, can only be resolved by the existence of the Totality as One.

Our existence – the existence of Here, i.e. our Space – may then be accounted for as a justification of some alteration (or situation) (other than our own existence) in the essential nature of Totality.

[PostedBlogger20052014]

{Time}[8th September 1975]

[Redbook2:69-70][19750908:1443]{Time}[8th September 1975]

19750908.1443

As we paused at Westminster station on the Underground train home the other day, was suddenly overcome ( --how contrived!-- ) by terror at the prospect of a Creation or Totality without Time – the only solution I can see to the equal inconceivability of a Totality with beginning and end and of a Totality without beginning and end (The possibility of having one but not the other is not worth separate concern). Time then is one of the Limits around us; and it is possible to conceive of our Universe (or Space) as being subject to its own inner causation (and hence unpredictability except in terms of that causation) as viewed from within; but the whole – extent and duration – perceived at once from Outside.

[continues]

[PostedBlogger19052014]

{Rules}[3rd September 1975]

[Redbook2:68F][19750903:0000b]{Rules}[3rd September 1975]

19750903

‘That having been said, certain rules of procedure here laid down are essential to the preservation of the purity of this core.’

[PostedBlogger18052014]

{Belief}[3rd September 1975]

[Redbook2:68E][19750903:0000a]{Belief}[3rd September 1975]

19750903

‘Awareness of the existence of the One, and belief in the purpose of Totality, is the whole and sole core; and it is for each Man, of his own mind and will, to decide for himself whether he take this core, or leave it.

‘All else is supposition, in which, so far as this core is concerned, no man need feel bound to the interpretation of any other person or organisation.’

[PostedBlogger16for17052014]

{All is One}[3rd September 1975]

[Redbook2:68E][19750903:0000]{All is One}[3rd September 1975]

19750903

            ‘Two views of Totality are inherent in its nature. 

‘Here, Totality must be seen as All: of which the One is the part, and of which Here is the rest.

            ‘But the One is All – All is One – Totality is One – a part of which – Here – is set apart, by limitations.’

[PostedBlogger16052014]

{Death}[2nd September 1975]

[Redbook2:68D][19750902:0000]{Death}[2^nd September 1975]

19750902

            ‘Death is the consummation of Life, the fusion of Awareness with and within the One.  Yet there is no general duty on any Man to seek Death: since only through the fulfilment of Life here is the Purpose achieved, and the Totality justified, in the Creation of the One.

            ‘Do not fear Death when it comes; look straight to any who are about you, and say to All:

            “We are One:

            “I am One.”’

[PostedBlogger15052014]

{Totality}[6th July 1975]

[Redbook2:68C][19750706:0000]{Totality}[6th July 1975]

19750706

           

‘Awareness of the One is compatible with the deific aspects of most religious systems of this World.  It is possible, at least as far as the tenet of the Totality – the core – is concerned, to be a member of an orthodox religious sect and yet to be aware of the One as the All, either as, or beyond, the Deity to whom one subscribes.

            ‘It should therefore be clearly stated that given the tenet of the Totality here set out and so far as interpretation of or derivation or development from that Tenet is concerned, each Person is equal within the All, being his own Master, 

and although any Person may feel free to advise, no one may presume to impose, and none should feel bound to accept as such, any particular interpretation of or derivation or development from the tenet of Totality, as against that tenet as it stands alone.’

[PostedBlogger14052014]

[Possibilities][6th July 1975]

[Redbook2:68B][19750706:0000][Possibilities][6th July 1975]

POSSIBILITIES

19750706

‘First of all, a visible framework,

geographical and institutional,

for living within, or from.

‘Second, a framework of ethics,

A guide to relationships and action,

For living by, or in relation to.

‘Third, mostly unspoken, but implied,

running through all and within all and including all,

a purpose, a belief, for living aware of, or for.’

-- from “Sleeping Car Express”.

[PostedBlogger13052014]

{Locality Plan}[1st July 1975]

[Redbook2:68A][19750701:0000]{Locality Plan}[1^st July 1975][Aged 24]

19750701

(1 square mile = 640 acres)

Each Parish Village

c.700 houses =            c.350 acres

+ common services      c.150 acres max.

                                    c.500 acres

Each Borough District

            = 50 Parish Villages = c.25,000 acres (i.e. c.39 square miles?)

                                                                        (= c. 6 miles by 6 miles)

Britain = c. 55m acres (c. 90,000 square miles)

(1) Present population of c. 50+m in c.25,000 Parishes [of c.2000 px] in c. 500 Hundred Districts

gives average area per District of

c.100,000 acres

(or c.180 square miles – i.e. c. 13 miles by 13 miles) (25,000 [acres] built on).

(c.1/4^th of land of GB is ‘built’ on) (now c. 1/10^th).

(2) Future possible population of c.100m in c.50,000 Parishes in c.1,000 Districts

(in even [= equal] urban-rural ratio)

gives 500 Boroughs of 25,000 acres (i.e. c.39 sq. miles [see above])

= c.12,500,000 acres (i.e. c.19,500 sq. miles)

and 500 Hundreds to fill 42,500,000 acres (c.70,500 sq. miles)

giving each Hundred c.85,000 acres (/c.141 sq. miles)(i.e. c.12 miles by 12 miles)

(of which c.25,000 acres built on)

i.e. (c.1/2 of land of GB is built on => this extra 50,000,000

(if at all) must be housed on land reclaimed from Sea, etc.

*

55,000,000   [GB]

12,500,000   [urban]

42,500,000   [rural][acres]

90,000   [GB]

19,500   [urban]

70,500   [rural][square miles]

*<inserted 951029>

[PostedBlogger12052014]

[Tena in Araby][27th March 1975]

[Redbook2:67A-B][19750327:1950][Tena in Araby][27^th March 1975]

(Copy)

19750327.1950

Tena in Araby

Glittering pinnacles

Staggering into the Sky:

Concrete rulers and

Sheer crenellations

Shimmer against the blue.

Deus, Machina,

Which of the forces am I?

Where in the World do I spring

Or within?

Sun-baked Arabia,

Renaissance under the Sand:

The richest beggars of Gaia

Die in your view.

In the cool of the courtyard

Water sprinkles the air:

In our silence the song of the fountain,

Our love, is our lives.

My love lying with me,

Fairest of all in her joy:

Child of Crusaders,

Love in her nakedness

Clutches my heartstrings,

Binding our hearts into one –

We are bound.

[PostedBlogger11052014]

[Laura][27th March 1975]

[Redbook2:67C-F][19750327:1805][Laura][27^th March 1975]

(Copy)

19750327.1805

Laura

‘You know I’d love to sleep with you –

Which needn’t mean within you, love,

But loving you, though not “in love”,

To share my secret nights with you:

To lie with you, love, sweetest girl,

And, loving you, to know your warmth –

We may or may not lie within –

It doesn’t matter: soon we may.

But as for now, there’s no more time.’

He stoops, and kisses her again.

‘Don’t twist yourself with loving, love:

This candle isn’t worth the game.

I love you dearly, never doubt,

Nor that I need your love; but don’t

Exclude the World; And nor shall I.’

He takes her hand, and holds it close.

‘I value no one more than you.’

The girl sits silent, watching him

With sad clear eyes, but quiet, calm.

Her pale hands on her faded jeans

Lie open now, as holding air

That pours between her fingers and

Her slender, girlish thighs, and goes.

‘If anyone should come’ he says

‘Tell them you don’t know who I am.

I picked you up, and now I’ve gone.’

‘Where are you going?’ Laura asks.

‘Out of the Country.’ Michael says.

‘I’ll show myself, to keep you clear,

Before I lose them somewhere else.’

‘Thank you for helping me.’ she says.

‘Hoots, it was nothing, and repaid.

Repay me more, love: be my friend,

Which I’ll repay by being yours.’

‘I wish I could love like you say.’

She says. ‘I really wish I could.

My love’s possessive: it excludes.

I’d gladly have you here and now

But only so’s I’d keep you close,

Excluding others, loving you.

It’s human nature to exclude.’

‘Then I’m not human.  But I am!

Don’t think I don’t know how you feel.

Perhaps it’s female nature more?

I don’t know. But I do know this:

Most people loving do exclude.

Most people marry to exclude.

At first, exclusion’s very nice.

But later on they tend to find

Exclusive marriage ain’t enough;

But they can’t see another way

So many marriages break down

Lacking a middle way between

Exclusion and unfaithfulness.

‘Each of us has a middle way

Which each must find before he weds.

Most couples need a middle way,

For love and happiness to live.

Having only those you’ll wed

Could get you very deeply hurt;

Having every one you meet

Could make you bored, and maybe cold.

One shouldn’t generalise: it might,

And then again it mightn’t. Well,

I’m sorry, going on like this!

I must go, or I may get caught.

Horrors! I’d have to…. Must be off!

I’ll get in touch within the month,

I hope, and tell you what to do –

If you still want to help.’

                                    ‘I do.’

‘Laura, before I go,

I’ll love you just as much as now

When you’ve got married to a bloke

Who cares for you as much as I.

That’s even if your middle way

Won’t let me sleep with you at all!

Goodbye, love.’ So he kisses her,

And takes his coat into the street.

19750327.1945

[Survival][14th March 1975]

[Redbook2:66B][19750314:2145][Survival][14^th March 1975]

(Copy)

19750314.2145

Survival

All the rhythm

Leaves my being

All experience

Leaves existence

All awareness

Leaves my Soul.

Creeping dullness

Covers living,

Blunts the edges,

Damps the Fire;

Salt and Sawdust

Fills the Well.

    --------

Let there be no

Further moaning:

I will fight to

Keep my balance;

Though I must ride

Several horses,

If I fall, I’ll

Fall the right side!      

(19750314.2200)

[PostedBlogger09052014]

[Chancery][14th March 1975]

[Redbook2:66A][19750314:0000][Chancery][14^th March 1975]

(Copy)

19750314

Chancery

Twisted men

With twisted, nervous mind:

Insensitive perception,

Insecure, self-sensitive

But not for others,

Blindly seeking weakness,

Tears defences,

Grinds resistance,

Loosens bonds, to bind;

Analysis, mishandled

In the cause of nothing,

By pointless intellect

Of empty brilliance

And bitter wit;

Amoral duty –

Or, morals less Compassion –

Defined; high-principled,

Low-dealing, middle-moving,

All noting, nothing seeing,

Hired bruisers of the Pit.

(19750314)

[PostedBlogger08052014]

{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]: Declaration of Dependence}[20th September 1974]

[Redbook2:64A-D][19741023:0000]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]: Declaration of Dependence}[23rd October 1974]

19741023

(1) Every Government, whether democracy or dictatorship, is utterly dependent on the acquiescence of the overwhelming majority of its people. That acquiescence is only obtained through a combination of persuasion and threats. Whether the threats be threats of the force of the Law, or of the torture chamber, or concerning the enemies of the Government, they must be accompanied by persuasion that the Government's interest is the interest of the people.

Once that acquiescence is lost, the Government is finished.

(2) Since the overwhelming majority of your [i.e. Rhodesia's] citizens are of a different racial group to that of the Government, it is only necessary for the relevant threats and persuasion to cease to have effect on that Sector (the majority) of your people for the Government to fall.

(i) So, for example, the fear that Sector has of the enemies of the Government may lead to those enemies posing a greater actual threat to that sector than does the Government's Law, with obvious consequences.

(ii) But equally, if that Sector's fear of the enemies of the Government becomes too little to give rise to a threat by those enemies to that Sector, then only the Government's Law will stand as a political threat to that Sector on the Government's behalf.

(iii) Where the only threat to that Sector comes from the Government, persuasion that the Government and that Sector share the same interests becomes, over a period, very difficult – especially in this case of a different racial group, since race is a strong factor in giving rise to identity of interest.

(iv) It is then only necessary to add persuasion on that Sector by the enemies of the Government, coupled with occasional discreet threats, to convince many members of that Sector that their interests are the interests of those enemies of the Government.

(v) This leads quickly to a complex organisation in an urban context, which is exceptionally difficult to root out (c.f. Ulster: 50 active IRA, 500 supporters, 5,000 Security Forces, ?1,000,000 potential IRA supporters, c.2,000,000+ population).

(vi) Thus the Government once again loses the initiative in persuasion, whereupon the same threat of the Government's Law becomes counter-productive, leading to greater identity of the enemies of that Government with the needs of that Sector.

(3) At this stage – in the urban context – an effective alternative government arises for that Sector. Where the Government does very little for the average citizen of that Sector from day to day (e.g. in welfare benefits), the average citizen has little to lose by co-operation with the 'alternative government' – especially if it provides a form of such benefits itself. Thus the legitimate Government is effectively excluded from that Sector.

(4) Once the urban Sector is so organised, the rural Sector is likely to fall in with the urban Sector's policies through threat (the urban sector and its citizens being by now a larger threat to the rural Sector than is the Government and its Sector) and through persuasion – of identity of interest, on a racial basis.

(5) Once this happens (and probably even before the rural Sector transfers its allegiance) the Government will utterly lose control.

(6) Once the Government loses control, in this manipulated racial context, it is finished.

(7) Once (or as) the Government is destroyed, the Government (or Governing) Sector of the population – the Europeans – having virtually complete identity (in the eyes of the majority Sector) with the Government itself, will also be destroyed.

There is one possible way out of this logical end. If a man of sufficient leadership – of almost messianic intensity – were already in a position of influence and power, he might succeed in uniting the two main sectors for a generation and in leaving behind him an ethos sufficient to create and preserve a stable constitutional development.

Such a man will not now appear [in Rhodesia] because

(1) the governing Sector are too frightened to allow such a man to arise, and to work freely

(2) the governed Sector and their leaders and supporters are too excited to allow such a man power and scope for reconciliation.

[PostedBlogger14072014 (by replacement at 07052014]

{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[20th September 1974]

[Redbook2:65][19740920:2351]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[20th September 1974]

.2351

            … interesting social life (-- I had meant to write, but I was interrupted – and am now too alcoholised and sleepy to think at all -- ) and perhaps [….]

Reading the start of some appalling American book on biblical prophecy – the Late Great Planet Earth – I became (under the affluence of incohol?!) once again subject to that intense, almost messianic sense.

[PostedBlogger06&07052014]

{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[20th September 1974]

[Redbook2:65][19740920:2145b]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[20th September 1974]

19740919.2145

Perhaps I am developing (or developing into?) a thematic existence:  sacrificing something of the widespread awareness of earlier years – to some extent at least, but not too much, I hope – for a greater concentration and drive in certain directions.  What are those themes or directions?  Clearly the Law is likely to take a great part in my life, although it must not dominate.  Work on Government, and politics generally, ought to play an increasing part, although who can say what will follow?  Writing in general must continue; and the counter-balance of poetry (and imagination) must not be stifled.

What of the rest?  Possibles include [QG], pursuit of happiness and an …

[PostedBlogger05052014]

{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[19th September 1974]

[Redbook2:63-64][19740919:2145c]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[19th September 1974]

19740919.2145

[continued]

            [….]

(Written in Viscount aeroplane)

[continues]

[PostedBlogger04052014]

{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[19th September 1974]

[Redbook2:63][19740919:2145b]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[19th September 1974]

19740919.2145

[continued]

            [….]

[continues]

[PostedBlogger03052014]

{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[19th September 1974]

[Redbook2:61-63][19740919:2145a]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[19th September 1974]

19740919.2145

[continued]

            [….]

[continues]      

[PostedBlogger02052014]

{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[19th September 1974]

[Redbook2:61][19740919:2145]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[19th September 1974]

19740919.2145

            [….]

[continues]

[PostedBlogger01052014]

{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[19th September 1974]

[Redbook2:61][19740919:2130]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[19th September 1974]

19740919.2130

            … never to be experienced again.

[continues]

[PostedBlogger30042014]

{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[19th September 1974]

[Redbook2:61][19740919:2030]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[19th September 1974]

Thursday 19740919.2030

            I write in the plane.  The overwhelming sense is sadness: every moment, of course, is a moment lost, but in a place and at a time such as this every instant of experience is, one feels, never to be repeated…

[continues]

[PostedBlogger28for29042014]

{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[18th September 1974]

[Redbook2:59][19740918:1134a]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[18th September 1974]

Wednesday 19740918.1134

[continued]

            Today I pack; tonight there is a farewell party.

[continues]

[PostedBlogger27for28042014]

{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[18th September 1974]

[Redbook2:59][19740918:1134]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[18th September 1974]

Wednesday 19740918.1134

            It has been a quiet week or so, for which I am grateful.  A week ago last Tuesday W[R] left for Malawi.  Last Saturday KT drove me to Marandellas to meet her parents and her little brother Z [...] and to see Peterhouse [School].

[continues]

[PostedBlogger27042014]

{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[9th September 1974]

[Redbook2:58][19740909:0725c]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[9th September 1974]

Monday 19740909.0725

[continued]

            On Sunday, A took [L(J-V)] (an S.A.S Captain), W[R] and myself gliding.  At about 8,000 feet, twisting violently to catch lift (on no lunch, at about 5.30 pm), I felt sick, but wasn’t; it passed.  But my hands lost all blood and became numb – symptoms of oxygen starvation.  W[R] went up to about 10,000 feet, did stall turns and a loop on the way down, and complained of a sore rear from the seat!

[PostedBlogger26042014]

{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[9th September 1974]

[Redbook2:57][19740909:0725b]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[9th September 1974]

Monday 19740909.0725

[continued]

            Very early on Saturday A and I took a Rhodesian Air Force Dakota from Sarum to Inyanga (sp[elt]?) Airstrip.  I saw the sun come up over this beautiful Martian landscape, from the Flight Deck.  To land we flew at c.50 feet over a range of hills, circled between two ranges to lose height, flew over the next range and half-circled again to land.  We were the first Dakota (or similarly large aircraft, I think) to land there.

            We picked up about 30 Africans and took them on to Centenary.  A had told me that I was her photographer; this was in fact for the Press’s benefit, but I had a bad conscience for most of the day, especially since we were accompanied by a Special Branch man!

            At Centenary the Africans were given talks by the local chiefs, and were shown the victims and the dead terrorists – by now (4 days) very dead.

            We returned in a Police Reserve truck, with armed and ready Reservists.

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{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[9th September 1974]

[Redbook2:57][19740909:0725a]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[9th September 1974]

Monday 19740909.0725

[continued]

            On Friday evening X and I went to supper with B and R and 2 guests, and afterwards to ‘The Three Musketeers’.

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{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[9th September 1974]

[Redbook2:57][19740909:0725]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[9th September 1974]

Monday 19740909.0725

            On Thursday evening I saw ‘A Doll’s House’ at the Reps.

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{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[5th September 1974]

[Redbook2:56][19740905:1250]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[5th September 1974]

.1250

            … The Parrot, when he knows (?) that I am in U’s study (next to the living-room in which his cage lives), has taken to calling “Boss [Hunter]!”*, whistling urgently (and piercingly), and making other vulgar noises.  He rarely talks much if he feels he is being watched; but I came in unobserved a few minutes ago and watched him talk for a few minutes before he saw me and became horribly embarrassed.

*but who taught him?  No one else calls me that.

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{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[5th September 1974]

[Redbook2:55-56][19740905:1206c]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[5th September 1974]

Sunday 19740905.1206

[continued]

            [….]

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{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[5th September 1974]

[Redbook2:55][19740905:1206b]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[5th September 1974]

Sunday 19740905.1206

[continued]

            On Wednesday W[R]  and I were taken by Mr Stead of the Ministry/Department of Internal Services (?) round to a Tribal Trust Land between Sinoya and Hartley.  What we saw was interesting, what he told us was invaluable. 

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A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[5th September 1974]

[Redbook2:55][19740905:1206a]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[5th September 1974]

Sunday 19740905.1206

[continued]

            On Tuesday we climbed to the Acropolis and looked out into a Scotch Mist – my kind of weather.  Lake (!) Kyle is beautiful in similar weather.  No pedestrians are allowed on the dam wall between Sunset and Sunrise; it carries the main road.

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{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[5th September 1974]

[Redbook2:55][19740905:1206]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[5th September 1974]

Sunday 19740905.1206

            On Monday U drove W[R] and me to Fort Victoria; we stayed at the Zimbabwe Ruins Hotel.  The Great Enclosure (?) – the main walled part – was impressive by moonlight, but not unfriendly.

[continues]

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{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[1st September 1974]

[Redbook2:54][19740901:1732]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[1^st September 1974]

Sunday 19740901.1732

            C has gone!  This morning A and I took her to the Airport; and already, after a trip to lake McIlwaine, its Game Park, and the Lion and Cheetah Park, I feel recreated.  Last night I reached a peak of shallow emptiness – (creative?) frustration – which has largely disappeared.  I could now write.

            During the week I ‘did’ Salisbury – the Kopje, the outside of the Art Gallery (closed until the end of September), and the outside of Parliament, in one morning; and yesterday the Victoria Museum.  I went to a Drive-in.  On Friday S and I flew to Victoria Falls and back, visiting a Crocodile Farm, and taking a boat trip and a light aircraft flight.  Presumably other things must have happened during the week; I recall only a fraught atmosphere.  C left rather ‘agin’ me because I wouldn’t clean her shoes while she made coffee.  [WR] (arrived Friday) did it instead. 

            A new life begins!?

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{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[27th August 1974]

[Redbook2:52-53][19740827:0915a]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[27th August 1974]

Friday 19740827.0915

[continued]

            After lunch in the Officer’s Mess at R(hodesian) A. F. Thornhill, we took the coach back – with C!  She has been here ever since, creating a wall of noise and driving everyone underground or away.  A is nearly desperate (C is in Rhodesia till Sept ?2^nd, and again later); X goes away with friends as much as possible, which is a shame; U is quiet and good but (I suspect) not happy; and I am frustrated by this woman who shuts off my Rhodesian family with a flick of her jaw.  Her voice is an electric buzz; she has told the same story about O swimming three times yesterday, and about N’s baths twice (once when he was there).  Yesterday wasn’t too bad, but Sunday afternoon was dreadful; and the evening meal was depressing beyond belief.

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{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[27th August 1974]

[Redbook2:52][19740827:0915]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[27th August 1974]

Friday 19740827.0915

            Thursday night’s beer left me (unusually) with a hangover.  By Saturday I had recovered sufficiently to cope with a four or five hour coach trip to […].  Everything was late including our arrival at the church, but we just got there for the vows.

            The party afterwards was tremendous fun—S and S2 enjoyed it particularly.   I sweated out my drink so fast that I never became drunk, despite relatively vast consumption. 

            About half an hour after we had all gone to bed we were woken up again for the next stage of the party, at ?[IR]’s house – not such fun, so left after about an hour, at only about one-thirty in the morning.

[continues]

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{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[23rd August 1974]

[Redbook2:51][19740823:1135a]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[23rd August 1974]

Friday 19740823.1135

[continued]

            Yesterday was O’s (second) bachelor party – poor O determined to get drunk (or at least pretend to).  I think in the end, he succeeded. I couldn’t get this beer down fast enough – between six and ten Cape Pints – to get drunk: the bubbles fill me up.

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{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[23rd August 1974]

Redbook2:51][19740823:1135]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[23rd August 1974]

Friday 19740823.1135

            On Wednesday we drove to Sinoia; A to speak to farmers, X and [M][a young soldier] to see *Lance Smith’s farm (where M’s father works), and myself to the caves – a most beautiful lake of blue water in a deep crater.  Trying to go down the Dark Cave, I came to a point where I could see neither forward nor back, and could hear only bats squeaking; and the handrail ended.  So I returned to the farmers, to [collect] A; there I met an Old [School]ian whose wife invited us to stay with them on the way to or from Kariba.  At Smith’s farm M’s Afrikaner father gave us a marvellous meal.  We returned late; X and I recovering from sore throats (probably from dust) ever since.

* [A government minister – sometime Minister for Internal Affairs]

[continues]

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{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[21st August 1974]

[Redbook2:49-50][19740821:1356a]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[21st August 1974]

Wednesday 19740821.1356

[continued]

[….]

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{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[21st August 1974]

[Redbook2:49][19740821:1356]{A Trip to the Colonies [continued]}[21st August 1974]

Wednesday 19740821.1356

Just before we left Nyanyadzi, we went to the local market.  A drunken African ran past us singing and laughing.  There was an uncertain moment before the crowd of Africans laughed with us; during that moment, some may have been laughing at us.  So what?  How can I convey the unease of the situation?  At Nyanyadzi I felt that we walked a tightrope – but we were the Police, of course, and paid to be suspicious.

A reckons that the same tension exists in Salisbury.  She is pessimistic about the situation.  She plans to stay here, above or under ground.

[continues]

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