Lockerbie

July 1981. On my way north with family for the annual holiday. After a late afternoon break in the long journey in Swaledale, we crossed the Scottish border at 6pm. As we headed north up the A74, an all enveloping horror made me lie down on the back seat. I cannot explain what it was about, or why. But after I had given in to my emotion, I looked up again and asked where we were. "Lockerbie", came the answer, and I saw the sign for the A709 turn-off to Lockerbie and Lochmaben flash by.

The same sign that can be seen in the footage from December 1988. The location where parts of the plane came down. Don't ask me to explain the coincidence. I can't. In 1988, I was a student in Holland, and given to watch rubbish on the television. That evening, the Lockerbie images flashed by - and that road sign. A74 Glasgow, the North - A709 Lockerbie, Lochmaben. The documentaries that were shown these past few days were traumatic to watch. The eye witnesses that spoke were moved to tears, even after all those years. I'm no better. May the innocent victims of Lockerbie, from the plane, or on the ground, all rest in peace.

Losses

It has been a hard six weeks for me. Since the start of November, I have learned of the loss of five people. Four of these were purely on-line contacts, but that does not make their death any easier to bear.

Donna Diggins of Buffalo, NY (USA)
Donna was one of my oldest on-line contacts, and like the two to follow, was part of the J-land blogging community. She was one of its pillars, and keenly missed.


Merry Kenyon of Mason City, IA (USA)

Jimmy Sullivan of Miami Lakes, FL (USA)

Jo Forstrom of Claremont, NH (USA)

Jo was a fellow poet, and always encouraged me, if only through a few words, to carry on writing. 

Sophia Dale of Berneray, originally from Australia

I have posted extensively following Sophia's passing, and am only just about beginning to come to terms with her loss. I did meet her in person. 

Gilets jaunes

Following a discussion with one of my local FB contacts, I have an idea. Why don't we start a yellow-vest movement in the UK (along the lines of France, minus the violence) to protest against a political system that is no longer fit for purpose.

Conservatives: the clue is in the first three letters of their name. Brexit is a con, a ruse to plaster over the festering sore that's existed within the Tory party for 45 years.

Labour is labouring under its own principles, under a leader to whom Constructive Ambivalence is attributed - who has not got the strength of purpose to speak out for what he really stands for. Anti-semitism, anti-EU, anti-everything, he's only interested in a campaign, not in the end result. And neither does the party have the strength to take him to task over it.

Finally, the Scottish National Party strives for independence; I think it's time Scotland was independent of the SNP. They stand for nothing else.