After talking to Josh almost exclusively last time I was here in The Hope, I thought I should try potluck and find out who was in on Tuesday. Josh himself was behind the counter, on his own and very busy although, while I was ordering a double espresso, I quickly said:
“You know I write a weekly blog, my postcard scribbles as I call them?”
“Er? I think so ……”
“Well, someone read the one where I reiterated what you had said about your time in Israel and they said: ‘Great reporter style, concise. Fun read with an undertone of serious analysis peppered with humour. So many more questions brought up and that could be further explored.’ ”
“Yes! Richard. So many questions and few with any meaningful answers that will bring about peace. Whilst I felt I had to go and ‘do my bit’, I get incensed that, for instance, some elements in Israel think building their own settlements in the Palestinian West Bank is OK, despite being illegal – and no one does anything to stop them. Sorry, I could go on and on but I need to attend to my customers. See you next time maybe?”
Lisa is sitting by herself and looks up as I pick up my cup, so I join her.
“You’re looking pleased with yourself. Why so?”
“Well, a month ago, I started my 16th year of trying to do OK practising the Classic 26/2 Hot Yoga sequence. What a journey! The names of the teachers are scattered across my memory like confetti; Paul, Jasmin, Simi, Olga, Richard, Raj, Sanjay, Ted, Sam amongst them …. and currently Simon and BA.”
“Amazing! And I remember you saying that you’d met Celina in the Balham studio! Wow! Incidentally we all know Sami wants to move on from how his life was turned upside down by what’s become known as the Post Office Scandal, but he was watching the TV news the other evening and an item brought it all back. Another local sub postmaster, Sami Sabet, was being interviewed, saying he was rejecting the offer of £600k. He was wrongly convicted of stealing £50,000 in 2009 and given a 12-month suspended sentence. He owned three POs in Portslade and Shoreham and reckons he paid the PO more than £100k. He’s had a heart attack, developed type two diabetes, and has PTSD. Feel so sorry for all of them.”
“I read there was some secret report indicating they knew that Horizon engineers could remotely change figures in a Post Office account without anyone knowing, but for two years continued to prosecute and deny it. The then CEO, Vennells, told MPs: “I need to say it’s not possible.”, knowing full well it was! More to come no doubt!”
“Richard, I need to have a chat with Robert, so if you don’t mind ……”
Robert’s a lonely figure at a counter, tapping away at his laptop. Apparently he’s split up with his partner and his life is not much fun. Pleased to see Lisa doing something to encourage him.
I see Mo at one of the bench seats; she beckons me over.
“You were in the army, Richard, weren’t you? And you spent some time in Northern Ireland?
“Yes! I was and I did. (See PCs 196, 197 & 198). When troops were committed to aid the police in 1969, I was on a yacht in The Baltic and about to go to university. I genuinely thought I might miss it. No one imagined then it would roll on for 30 years.”
“Did you see that Rose Dugdale had died?”
“Remind me who she was, Mo? The name is stirring the muddy memory.”
“Born into an extremely privileged life, she rebelled and, in distancing herself from her parents, particularly from her mother, at 31 she joined the provisional IRA. To raise funds, she and her boyfriend carried out the theft of some Old Masters from Russborough House in County Antrim in 1974, owned by friends of Dugdale’s parents. She was sentenced to nine years in prison.”
“Ah! Yes! That woman, another upper-class nationalist and republican like, for instance, Erskine Childers and Roger Casement. Wasn’t Dugdale responsible for making many IRA bombs, notably one for the Baltic Exchange attack in London in 1992; three people died and 91 were injured? There will always be those who feel so passionate about their cause that, right or wrong, they firmly believe the end justifies the means, but I wonder whether she could have looked in the eye those who had lost loved ones, had their lives torn apart by injury and trauma and say it was for a good cause?”
“Probably not! Now, what else is happening? I hear Kate has gone back to her bus driving; we’ll miss her!
“Indeed she has and, yes, we’ll miss her. Do you remember one of my PCs, No 371 ‘Driving Along’ from January 2024, about my daughter meeting me at the Cobham Service Station before Christmas? Well, in The Sunday Times on 4th February 2024 there was a fascinating article about some incompetent ‘detectorists’ who found gold jewellery and coins buried in a field since 878, thought to be worth some £10m. They didn’t follow any of the established procedures, didn’t report the find, and ended up with lengthy prison sentences. As part of their efforts to fence the coins, one of them met an antique coin collector and his wife in a secluded corner of the Costa coffee shop at the M25 Cobham service station. I read this and it reinforced the thought; we have no idea what is going on around us!”
“That’s funny! I was reading that higher wages and rising coffee bean prices are driving up the cost of a cup of coffee by 30%. I must have a word with Duncan to see how he’s coping. I expect he’ll put off developing the idea of a bookshop next door until after the General Election, don’t you think?”
……. to be continued.
Richard 12th April 2024
Hove
postcards 