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AGM XLVI

Our 46th AGM took place last Thursday as planned - which is quite an achievement in itself, considering there'd been no General Secretary Hildie ecouraging a healthy turnout.  But her influence, as well as her memory, ensured that what could have been a painful and uneasy get-together turned out to be an AGM of the usual high standard.

Brenda, Keith and Vivienne were all there to keep things in some sort of order but I'm sure they won't mind my saying that the nicest surprise of all was the presence of Ada - our wonderful Honorary President.  She hadn't been able to attend an AGM for a very long time and it was a fitting tribute to Hildie that she attended this one.  She and Hildie had been close friends and Ada had been in touch with me constantly during Hildie's final illness.

It made us all sooooooooooo happy to see her there.

And, as you can see from a couple of the photos above, Hildie was there, too - and was given pride of place at the table.  A very big Thankyou to Vivienne for having that picture of her enlarged and laminated.  What a star!

So - a sombre wake it most certainly wasn't.

A heartfelt hug to Vivienne, Brenda, Keith and Ada...

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There'll be another AGM in April.

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CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or email me:  truckshunters@googlemail.com

 AGM XLVI
...will take place tomorrow, 

Thursday 26 February, at 1100
at Oliver’s in Grainger Market, Newcastle.

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CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or email me:  truckshunters@googlemail.com

GOODBYE, BABYCAKES...

 Pearlysteps - a 12-year-old gelding

Brenda has sent me this offbeat and lightly relevant story…

'Every Saturday I make use of the free Chisholm’s bet voucher in The Journal.

They designate a race meeting and you pick four horses from four different races.  If one of your horses comes in, you get triple odds on the bet; I’m not sure how it works but it’s quite good fun.

I know nothing about horses or racing and I spend none of my own money but it makes Channel 4 Racing interesting!

So every Saturday morning I’m sat there with The Punter, tea and toast, glasses on, lucky pencil in hand and I ask all my departed friends and family to give me a clue.

Then I choose the horses that remind me of one of them or strike a bell for some other reason.

Last Saturday, Haydock, 5.05  - I spotted ‘Pearlysteps’.

So I thought to myself ‘Well that’s where Hildie must be - going up the Pearlysteps to the Pearly Gates’.

I didn’t get to watch the race because it wasn’t covered and I’ve only just looked it up ...

She came in at 4/1.

I won £2.20 and proceeded to the St Oswald’s Hospice shop at Four Lane Ends where I bought a new blouse and had 21p change.'

£1.99 for St Oswald’s Hospice, a new blouse for Brenda - AND 21p loose change. 

Thanks, Hildie.

HILDIE'S FUNERAL

I’m sure many of you will be anxious to know what the arrangements are for Hildie’s funeral.

This is part of a text I received today from Kel, her daughter.

'Please meet for a celebration of Hildie's life at Mountsett Crematorium 
 on Monday 23 February at 0930 [and later for the] burial at Harelaw.

Family flowers only please.  Donations in lieu, if desired, to Macmillan.  
All welcome afterwards at The Plough Inn, Mountsett, NE16 6BA'.

Although there will be a collection box for Macmillan at the service, Kel is also setting up a Macmillan memorial page for people to donate through, and for people who can’t get to the funeral.

Mountsett Crematorium is on the A692 road, which goes west from the A1 Western Bypass
at Lobley Hill.  Follow it through Streetgate, Sunniside, Marley Hill, Byermoor and Hobson.
The Crematorium is signposted on the right.

The Plough Inn is close by.

 Hildie died in the early hours of this morning, February 13

Hildie is quite poorly this evening.  She's been admitted to the University Hospital in Durham City and her family are with her day and night.

It's up to the rest of us to do whatever we can in these distressing and very upsetting times.

Now you may think that you can't do very much; that you're almost impotent and helpless in the face of the difficulties that Hildie and her family are confronting as I type this.

But you're not impotent and helpless.

This is what you can do.

You can concentrate very, very hard on all the wonderful and amazing things that Hildie is.  

A gentle and loving woman.  A thoughtful and loyal friend.  Someone without whom our company of truckshunters - and, indeed, this blog - would never have existed.  

A lady who takes the most enormous pleasure in the simple fact that a disparate group of people - against all the odds, and largely due to her enthusiasm and persuasiveness - manage to come together and enjoy each other's wayward company.

Think hard about how much zest Hildie has for life and for the world; about how much love and consideration she has for those around her.  Including you. 

And think hard about how important you are to her.  After all, she's shown you often enough.

If we do this - if we all concentrate our thoughts and hopes and dreams together - their power will almost make them audible.  And I can assure you that Hildie will hear them and she will smile because of them.

And we will be helping her to climb her mountain.

 551

Ernest Hemingway is said to have invented the concept of the ‘six-word story’ as the result of a bet and, although the tale’s almost certainly apocryphal, the idea’s a challenging one.  A truckshunter called Lorna emailed me about it a couple of weeks ago and sent me some she found on the internet and elsewhere.

Hemingway’s bet-winning story is first...

For Sale.  Baby shoes.  Never worn.
* * *
Painfully, he changed ‘is’ to ‘was’.
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‘Wrong number’ says a familiar voice.
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The smallest coffins are the heaviest.
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Brought roses home.  Keys didn’t fit.
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First sentient robot:  ‘Turn me off’.
* * *
We stared straight ahead, crying silently.
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Introduced myself to mother again today.
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‘I’m faking Alzheimer’s’ said grandad.  Again.
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Birth certificate.  Death certificate.  One pen.
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‘Just Married’ read the shattered windscreen.
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Finally spoke to her.  Left flowers.
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Met my soulmate.  At her wedding.
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She made no sound.  She jumped.
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Sometimes it was sometimes.  Now, never.
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Bedroom door opened.  Diary lock broken.
* * *
‘Joining the President is his husband...’
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Strangers.  Friends.  Best friends.  Lovers.  Strangers.
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Final Facebook entry:  ‘Does anybody care?’
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‘You’re not a good artist, Adolf’.
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Torched the haystack.  Found the needle.
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Ambulanceman finished her text.  ‘...love you.’
* * *
‘This is our secret’ whispered daddy.

Some industrial-strength imagination's been at work here.  If you don't believe me, try writing a six-word story yourself...

I hope you found at least some of them as thought-provoking as I did.

And Lorna....who are you?

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AGM XLVI

For heaven's sake don't forget that our next AGM will take place at 1100 on Thursday 26 February in Newcastle.

Ive booked the stripper.

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CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or email me:  truckshunters@googlemail.com

 550

Marianne

I suppose I'm still agitated and upset about last month's events in Paris because I've just returned from France and know first-hand what an unsettled and angry country it still is.

With this posting, though, I'll lay my indignation to rest for a while.  But not before one, final tribute to the people who were slaughtered on 7 January for the crime of being rude.

Here, then, are some highly disrespectful cartoons which have been sent, or suggested, to me over the past three weeks or so.  Some - but by no means all - of them originated at Charlie Hebdo itself...

I love this one.

(Pour les lecteurs francaises, elle montre une photo de l'école et dit 'C'est moi, la!'

 The clever red Charia Hebdo banner also says that this edition's guest editor is Muhammad.  He himself is saying '100 lashes, if you don't die laughing'.

 This touching tribute was drawn courtesy of the creator of Peanuts

It says 'Love is stronger then hatred'

Christianity is not immune.

The headline is 'The last reality tv show on TF1' and Jesus is screaming 

'I'm A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here'

 And this was the cover of the first issue published after the murders.

The headline says 'All is forgiven'...

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I subscribe to a lovely magazine called Hidden Europe, from which I received this email letter the other day.  I think it does a good job of gently steering us away from the horrors of last month to what could be an interesting and eventful year in Italy.

'The attacks in Paris which started on 7 January were assaults on an entire nation.  For in
France, more than elsewhere in Europe, the principles of liberty are more closely etched on the national consciousness.  Notions of liberty are part of French cultural currency and have been one of France's principal exports.  In film, drama and literature, France has excelled in promoting the virtues of liberty.  La liberté éclairant le monde was the motto as France donated the Statue of Liberty to the United States of America.

Major exhibitions, such as the regular World Expositions, have played a significant role in the development of international culture.  France used the 1889 Expo in Paris to promote the political and cultural values of the Third Republic.  The Eiffel Tower was constructed for the occasion.  The tower evoked many negative reactions and it was initially intended to be merely a temporary addition to the Paris skyline.  In the end, it stayed.

Yet the star of the 1889 Expo was not the Eiffel Tower.  It was Marianne.  French President Marie Carnot stood next to a statue of Marianne to open the 1889 Expo which was held on the Champ de Mars.  It coincided with celebrations marking the centenary of the French Revolution.  Marianne, the Goddess of Liberty, dominated the 1889 Expo - even though the event took place in the shadow of the new Eiffel Tower, which certainly added a little theatre to the proceedings.  Sadly, Marianne offered no protection to President Carnot; he was assassinated in Lyon five years later.

While many overseas visitors to Paris tend to see the Eiffel Tower as a symbol of the French capital, in France itself Marianne has a more enduring appeal, her influence reaching way beyond the capital to the remotest corners of provincial France.  Bust and bas-relief representations of Marianne can be found in town halls and court buildings, even in schools and post offices, across France. Marianne features on French euro coins.  But you'll search in vain for the Eiffel Tower on those coins.

Successive Expos have implanted innovations in the wider public consciousness.  The telephone made its debut at the 1876 Expo in Philadelphia - as did tomato ketchup.  But the 1889 Expo demonstrated the French capacity for more abstract values.  Liberty lies closer to French hearts than most of us will ever understand.

As it happens, 2015 is also an Expo year.  Milan will host Expo 2015 from 1 May to 31 October this year...'

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AGM XLVI

...will take place at 1100 on Thursday 26 February in Grainger Market, Newcastle.

You know you want to be there...

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CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or email me:  truckshunters@googlemail.com