They were based at the famous Fighter Station at Biggin Hill.   There was great media interest and the BBC's Gilbert Harding went to Biggin to interview the men.  He had to refer to René only by his Christian name.  The Free French were under sentence of death from the Vichy Government who regarded them as traitors.  Had René been shot down or captured in France, he would have been executed and his family persecuted.  

It was because of hiding his identity that, when his body washed up on the shore at Westende in Belgium  on 27th August 1943, he was wrongly identified and laid to rest in Grave 87.  He was eventually correctly identified because of the efficiency of the Death certificate, recording the description of his body and noting that, despite his identitiy disc bearing the name René Martin,  an article of clothing bore the name René Mouchotte. When the body was exhumed six years later, it was this detail which gave René his correct identitiy.  Following on from this, his remains were repatriated to France in November 1946.  He was given a full Military Funeral and High Mass in the Chapel at Les Invalides and then laid to rest in the family tomb at Pére Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Here are two links - the BBC online trailer for the documentary I made which aired in January and a link to a short presentation compiled by Ian Reed, Director of the Yorkshire Air Museum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCGWzG5sRrM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21181121
  

If you would like the whole 15 minute documentary and have a good download speed, then contact me and I will send it to you.  The download takes about 20 minutes.

Au revoir,  Jan

I sometimes cannot believe what I read in the papers – total stupidity, ‘yuman rights’, political correctness but this one really takes the prize.  If it had been April 1st I would have assumed it to be an April Fool's joke but we are in mid-May.

Apparently an old lady wished to send an email Birthday greeting to a male friend through M & S. (Didn’t know they did them – I use Jacquie Lawson).

A message came back indicating that the message was unacceptable. She tried altering and resending with no luck. Finally it was explained that the name of her friend was the reason for the rejection. His name is Richard which in the old days was abbreviated to ‘Dick’.

My own father’s name is Ivan – which I understand is the Russian equivalent of Richard and his sister called him ‘Dick’. So, if she were still alive and wished to send him an email Birthday greeting, she would be censored.

WHAT A MAD MAD WORLD WE LIVE IN

My condolences to anyone called John Thomas.  I was actually introduced to a gentleman by that name many many years ago.  What idiocy will they think up next.  And so much of  supposed offence is actually in the minds of the 'correctness brigade'.  I would never in my wildest dreams have thought of the nickname 'Dick' as offensive.

Well well well – it doesn’t surprise me how well they’ve done in the Local Elections. I know that this rarely translates into votes at the General Election but I sincerely hope it serves as a wake-up call to David Cameron and even more so to Nick Clegg and alerts them to the ‘real’ worries confronting the electorate. Perhaps they will now stop wasting our money on minority issues such as Gay Marriage. I have many well loved Gay friends in very happy and long lived relationships and they themselves think that Gay Marriage was a step too far. And as for the millions wasted on AV – which Cameron promised Clegg!!!!! And yet did Clegg keep his word with regard to Boundary changes – No, he didn’t. I have read that, had the boundaries been changed and more fair, the Conservatives would have almost romped home at the last election instead of having to form a Coalition with a Party which has never held office within living memory.

The Local Elections vote has shown that the public at large are more concerned about unchecked immigration and our membership of the EU. I’ve written before and stated that I don’t think most of us are equipped with enough knowledge to say whether we should or should not be part of the European Union BUT what concerns the majority is the European Court of Human Rights and its implications for so many facets of our everyday life. A prime example, of course, is our inability to deport terrorists who wish us nothing but harm and yet are not only allowed to remain in this country (which often gives them the free speech they would not be allowed in their own), to draw benefits, to take advantage of a Legal Aid System, but to openly abuse us and call for the downfall of all those who do not subscribe to what they see as the only true religion. It is total madness.

I don’t have enough knowledge but I do know that the original Lisbon Treaty was drawn up after the war to ensure that never again would there ever be anything like the Holocaust. This was absolutely right and proper but it has been mangled and misinterpreted, very often by our Left leaning judiciary, so that terrorists can remain here in a safe haven because they might be tortured in their own countries most of which have the death penalty.

We really do live in a Mad Mad Mad World.

Apart from the lack of companionship, Singles are discriminated against in so many different ways.

If you are a single woman, you are not totally persona  grata at lunch and dinner parties or anywhere in a mixed gathering for that matter. But if you are a single man – short, bald, fat and with bad breath – you are welcomed with open arms. Mind you ‘twas ever thus. Historically a man will look for a much younger mate and that goes back to prehistoric man who needed to keep his genes alive to make a strong family. And so many women are scared of having their mate ‘stray’. It is so sad because if there is no Trust between a couple, what have they got. (I know I’ve been let down many times but it never crossed my mind not to trust my partner)  I have noticed it's the happiest couples who do invite a single woman to a meal.  

The above is said with slight tongue in cheek but on to more serious issues. In a recent survey the percentage of single households was 31% - many of these may have chosen singledom and many will have had it cast upon them by death and divorce.  And with regard to the latter, it is a common misconception that women come off better in divorce.  I can assure you that is not the case.  I know several women, myself included, who have been left worse off than when they started on a relationship.  We are invariably the women who have loved with our hearts and not our heads.

So where is the Singleton discrimination in everyday life? It is almost worst  in supermarkets where, in effect the single shopper is ‘subsidising’ the larger household. Let me give you an example. I live on my own and have a very small fridge and freezer so it is useless for me to take advantage of the 3 for 2 offers, or buy one pineapple and get one ‘free’!!!!! Frankly if the supermarket can offer a reduced price why is this not applied to the individual item. I eat very little bread and buy about one loaf a month which I keep in the freezer taking out the slices when I need them. The other day I needed my monthly loaf of Vogel Bread – yes there they were buy 2 for £2 but if you only wanted one you paid the full price of, I think, £1.35. I have nowhere to put a second loaf so reluctantly had to pay the higher price.  And this happens with monotonous regularity.

It is in hotels and other accommodation where one is charged a disproportionately large excess for a single room and invariably that is one of the worst in an establishment – usually in the well of the building overlooking the central heating or the boiler house!

As far as I know, there are no ‘single occupancy’ cabins on Cruise ships.

I recently decided that I was not going to be beaten by this ‘aloneness’ and having been invited down to my much loved Provence by friends of mine, I thought I’d make a real holiday of it, take a brave pill and drive down visiting many of the historical sites I would so love to see. I bought the latest Alasdair Sawday guide to B & B in France and started looking at a route. I always used  the guide when my ex and I went down to Provence regularly and have to say that it is an excellent book. Of course, I didn’t scan the whole book but of the 20 hostelries I looked at, only one offered a single room. This meant that, had I gone ahead with my plan, I would have had to pay for a double everywhere I stayed. I don’t blame the proprietors because providing single rooms is less economically viable for them. But it does make taking a break doubly expensive. And despite having hundreds of Air Miles (which I never seem to be able to use) I now loathe Airports.  So I'm taking the Eurostar and TGV down to Avignon - almost no luggage restrictions, good leg room, pleasant scenery and a wonderful opportunity to get stuck into a book with no interuptions.

Not that anything can be done about it but if you take your car abroad it is far less economical than having a car full. Heating one’s premises is costly as we all know but as a single you have to pay the same price as you would if your home were being lived in by 4, 6 or any number of people.  And why, as a single occupier, are you only allowed a third off the Council Tax?

So to sum up, there are many areas in which absolutely nothing can be done about singledom, but I cannot see why supermarkets don’t charge a lower price for their goods instead of making it look as though they are doing you a favour by offering you 'one for free'.  They've done their homework - they aren't giving anything away.  They are working on buying in bulk,  slightly smaller profit but a larger turnover, 

I can’t think of too many advantages of living on one’s own. Having said that, I am totally free to come and go as I wish, do not have to put three meals a day on the table, can read in bed at night to my heart's content,  and don’t have to iron shirts – a job I always loathed. In fact, I was once criticised for the way I’d ironed shirts, so I told him to iron them himself and I meant it!!!

Au revoir, Jan

BOMBER COMMAND – Tunisie and Guyenne Squadrons

Last week I attended a small ceremony at the Bomber Command Memorial in London.   It was to commemorate the two French Bomber Squadrons stationed at RAF Elvington during WW2.

Afterwards we crossed the road (with great difficulty – you have to make a route march to cross - either on the Underpass at Hyde Park Corner or walk towards Piccadilly Circus and cross at the traffice lights) and the Squadron Badges  were presented to the Club and will hang on the wall alongside hundreds of others.

There was a lunch and many interesting people with whom to converse. Then I found myself with André Hautot. His is a very interesting story. Andre was still with his mother in Algeria or Tunisia. The area was occupied by the Italians. One Italian soldier who was friendly with the family suggested that the Germans were taking over from the Italians (which they did) and if Andre did not escape he might be deported for labour in Germany - this did happen when Vichy France changed it's arrangements and sent all young French men to work camps in Germany. So, they obtained an Italian uniform and set him off to walk towards the British Lines. Andre was challenged by an India soldier of the Indian Army and arrested as a spy! Is was not until an English Officer realised what he was that he was repatriated and joined the French air force.
At 15, André was the youngest member of the force.

What was so interesting for me was that, on recounting my research and documentary about René Mouchotte, André said that he had met René in July 1943 at the Headquarters of Gen. de Gaulle.

Yet another little strand in the ongoing Mouchotte story.

This is the badge corridor where the Tunisie and Guyenne badges will hang

I know that many of you in South Africa tune in to my Blog so I must tell you that at long last the wretched business of my SABC TV Licence has been sorted.

Just a brief resumé – I had a flat in Capetown and went there for 3 months each year for seven years. I had a television and paid my licence every year when I returned in January. Circumstances forced me to sell it in 2010 and I wound up all my affairs. I was contacted in 2011 for non payment of TV licence. I rang various departments and spoke to several people and finally sent a copy of my passport proving I’d left the country when I said I had. In 2012 I was pestered again and assuming it was just a bureaucratic error, ignored it. This year I received another email demanding payment and then was put on a Debtor’s list.

Thanks entirely to the help received from a lovely man at the South African High Commission in London, I got the appropriate form stamped and witnessed at the Commission  proving that I do not live in SA and do not have a TV. But then to whom should I send the document? I was constantly ignored by Ms. Du Plessis from whom the demanding emails were coming. I begged for some way whereby I could be assured that if I sent the document it would be acknowledged. I also wrote to the Communications and Liaison Officer Christelle Keevy – all was met with a resounding silence.

I was loathe to send the document but the dear man at the High Commission scanned it and it was this I sent to Ms. Du Plessis and Ms. Keevy. I received no acknowledgement from either and then yesterday I received a document absolving me and acknowledging that I no longer need a TV licence and the matter has been drawn to a close. No apology, no good wishes, nothing – a complete lack of common courtesy.

It was worth the inconvenience of travelling to London to get the document officially witnessed. I feel that had I had it witnessed by a UK Commissioner for Oaths it could have disappeared into the ether.

All in all I have spent several days of my time attempting to sort out this matter, have been very concerned about it, had one sleepless night, and been involved in expense.

Had it not been for my saviour in the High Commission – who has to deal with several cases like mine every month (and I’m sure he has better things to do with his time) I’m not sure how the matter could have been resolved. I was up against a faceless bureaucracy – perhaps Ms. Du Plessis didn’t really exist!!

So to all of you out there, including the lady whose long deceased mother is still being bothered for payment of a licence fee, all I can say is ‘Heaps of Good Luck’ – you’ll need it!!
 

HOTEL de FRANCE – Montreuil sur Mer

Two of my Capetonian friends own an Hotel in the lovely town of Montreuil sur Mer – though the Mer retreated a very long time ago. Not only is the walled town lovely but it is full of history and the Hotel de France is no exception. It is described as the oldest Hotel in Montreuil with a history dating back to 1578. Situated on the original Paris/Calais to London coaching route the Hotel de France was frequented by the former Kings of France and England. Situated against Montreuil’s original fortified rampart walls it is a fairytale somewhat whacky, olde worlde Auberge. It is reputed to be the place where Victor Hugo got his inspiration for and wrote Les Miserables. Apparently a cart did break loose, careered down the cobbled street and into the courtyard of the Auberge. In his novel Montreuil is only identified as M __ sur ___M but it is known that Hugo spent many holidays in the town.

During the First World War, Montreuil was used as the GHQ of Field Marshal Haig and the ‘Ballroom’ of the Hotel served as his Map Room. Soldiers on a few days leave were often fed at the Hotel and after the hell of the trenches, it must have been like Paradise to be fed off china and to have linen tablecloths.

In the Courtyard there’s a huge mural of Laurence Stern. He visited the town in 1765. And recounted his visit through the eyes of the narrator of his novel A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768).

People, myself  included, often make a mad dash from Calais to Palais and onward down south but it is more than worth adding a few hours to your journey and going down the old Calais/Paris route to visit Montreuil. There’s so much to see that an overnight stay is almost a must.

Even if you are only en route, it's worth stopping for a drink at the totally individualistic bar at the Hotel.  There are photos on the wall of the many celebrities who've stayed at the Hotel over the years.

Unfortunately Patrick and Janie had only just got back from Capetown to open up the Auberge so we were unable to eat in the restaurant which looked lovely and very romantic.  So I can't comment on the food but I'm sure it would be delicious and with a slight touch of South African cuisine peut etrel All the rooms are decorated individually, the furniture is traditional French and the floors are uneven as they should be in a hostelry of this age. The building is Classé which means that the owners have to preserve the fabric of the hotel – not an inexpensive job, but, of course get no help from the State – same as here.

Lovely as is  the Hotel and Montreuil, the Harpurs want to spend more time back in Capetown and have put the place on the market.  I have to say IF I had pots of money and knew how to run an hotel, I can't think of a more charismatic place and lovely town in which to do business.

Difficult to decide which photo to post here (as you might know I can only post one photo per blog) but I’ll post more in the Gallery.

À Bientôt, Jan

This will teach me to read the Terms and Conditions.

On Google, there are often health tips – good recipes, products etc. I’m not usually so gullible but I fell for a specimen offer of Green Coffee tablets and Liposom for cleansing the system.

One was asked to pay the postage which I thought was rather high but assumed the package was coming from the USA as that’s where the company is based. To my surprise the two packages   arrived from the UK and I simply cannot believe the postage was as I was charged so I think they may be making a tidy profit on that too.

Usually if one has a trial product, that is what it is and if it agrees with you and what you require, you would then phone up and order more.  (I have to say that more and more companies are obtaining your card details and relying on you to 'forget' the cut off date so they just go on taking the money.)

The Green Coffee made me feel ill and as for the Liposom, I don’t seem to have benefited from any of its claims - in fact I've felt more tired and have put on a little weight.  As to whether it has cleansed my system - I rather doubt it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Having just received my monthly credit card statement I was horrified to find that on top of the postage – I have just been billed £69 and £77 for the two products.

On phoning the company which has an HQ here in this country at Herts, but it actually based in thae States, the operative continually repeated that I had not read the Terms and Conditions which states that, unless you cancel within 14 days, you will be charged the full amount for the product. (At those prices I wouldn’t have ordered anyway.)

I do not remember seeing the 14 day clause and if it is at all like the usual T’s and C’s the verbiage goes on for pages so I would have hastily read it.  Have you noticed how often when you order, you've gone through all the rigmarole and right at the end they ask you to tick that you've read the Terms and Conditions.  Frankly, I think the T's and C's should be at the beginning.

Apart from the 14 day clause, the package didn’t arrive for almost a week having been ordered over Easter and how can one assess the benefits after having taken the product for such a short space of time!

Finally the operative came back and said they would reduce the bill by half – I will believe that when I see the refund.

The friend who also ordered with me has now established that, despite the UK phone number, the Call Centre is in Florida and from the response he got, I would think they are dealing with our kind of complaint on an hourly basis or why have a Call Centre. Even if we do receive our refunds, we’ve still spent nearly £80 on a product which didn’t deliver – multiply that by the number of customers caught out like we have been and you’ve got a ‘nice little earner’.

I’ve just looked up Green Coffee Maxx and though I can see about a dozen different brands, I cannot find a label which totally approximates to  the one on the product I received.

Although the website calls itself The Institute for Health and Wellness - The International Headquarters of GTMC Ltd are situated in Belize – I think that would have put me on my guard straightaway had I been aware of it.  And I'm still not sure if this is the correct name of the company.  I repeatedly asked the operative for the Company Name and she either couldn't or wouldn't give it to me saying they dealt with many 'beauty' products although she denied being 'just a Call Centre'.  I'm totally confused, a trifle wiser and out of pocket.  On line I see that there are many scams - whether this is one or not I'm not sure but my friend is often in Tampa and he will look into whether their  website is misleading.  I suppose it isn't a 'scam' per se because we did receive the products but the 14 day trial period etc. was not very prominent.

So I repeat CAVEAT EMPTOR (let the buyer beware) and, all I can say is, more fool me and I won't get caught like that again.

I was just thinking about the outcry with reference to the expense of Baroness Thatcher’s funeral.

I wonder how much the bill amounts to with regard to all the Legal Aid given to the Qatada Deportation case, and to the benefits off which he lives. You don’t hear the lefties complaining about this matter. Mind you, I get the feeling that a very large number of the High Court Judges lean leftwards. It would be great if they actually lived in the real world and mixed with ordinary people to see how they feel about cases such as this.

People around the world must be totally mystified as to our impotency in this matter.  

The longer I live the more I think the world is going mad.

I love Orchids and some kind friends bought me one for my Birthday on January 5th.  And here it is over three months later still giving immense pleasure.  I know they bought it in a Florist shop and not from a supermarket.  I say that because often in a supermarket the poor orchid might have suffered a period of over or under watering and though you might purchase it looking quite healthy, you will be disappointed when the buds don't open or drop off.

I often buy myself an orchid in the supermarket and though I try to look at the roots to see if they are healthy it isn't always possible to ascertain.  I buy a plant rather than a bunch of flowers because a plant, particularly an orchid or an azalea is very good value for money giving weeks of endless pleasure.  

I love flowers and very much miss having a garden.  I do my best with a few pots at the front of the house but have to resist the temptation to buy the more expensive  plants because they simply get stolen.  Over the years I've lived here I've had a beautiful Cornish Staddle Stone stolen, miniature fir trees which I'd been nurturing for 15 years, a bay tree which I'd stupidly left in a small pot prior to planting it into a bigger one.  What a sad world we live in don't we.  Having said that though I was put in mind of great kindness shown me by the public when I was mugged in 1987.  I received so many gifts that the local florist suggested  I start a 'Tab' and when I wanted some flowers I could phone and have some from my 'credit' list.  I used to order an arrangement whenever I gave a dinner party and that went on for months.  The public were also very kind when I had Jonathan in 1981 - I was inundated with Matinée jackets, bootees, shawls etc.  There was no way the little chap could use them all before he got too big for them so I had to donate many of them to Charity shops.  People can be incredibly kind and thoughtful but, sadly, good news isn't news and doesn't sell Papers so we are fed an almost unending diet of the Bad.  What did Brutus say in Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' -  The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones ...

'Nuff said.  Au revoir,  Jan

ST. GEORGE’S DAY – Capel Farmers’ Market

I had a lovely day – not only did the sun shine but for the first time in months the bitter, biting wind had gone and one could actually feel some warmth permeating into our winter-frozen bones. Having said that as I passed Shakespeare’s Cliff it was shrouded in Mist – a Fret had come in from the sea and shrouded the high ground on the route. I mention Shakespeare because 23rd April is his birthday too.

The local people at Capel have given enormous help to the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust over the last 20 years since the inception of the memorial. They’ve manned the site, the coffee shop and helped get the planning permission for the Wing – a building which will house, aside from a café, an audio visual hands on effect in an attempt to bring to life and take a journey back in time to the summer and autumn of 1940. It’s aim is simple – to keep alive the memory of those who gave so much.

Today was the Farmers’ Market 10th Anniversary and I went along to officially open it and wish them well for the next 10 years. Other than in France, I’ve never seen such a great market with fabulous produce. Stall holders come from all over Kent to sell their produce every Tuesday from 10.00  – 12.30 and the public come to shop or simply to sit, chat and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea. Over the decade they’ve raised a staggering £70,000 for the Village Hall.

I often go up to the BOB Memorial and shall, in future, time my visits to be able to go to the Market and do some choice shopping.

A delightful little girl presented me with a lovely bouquet of flowers and then scampered off to her Gymnastics lesson. I helped Jenny Barraclough cut the cake and the Head of the Kent Farmers’ Markets presented Jenny with a well earned certificate celebrating their ten years in business.

I couldn’t be at Capel without going to the Memorial and paying my respects to René Mouchotte – more in the next blog.
 

SPITFIRE AND HURRICANE on the move

On my arrival at Capel, I was surprised to see two huge transporters. They were there to take the Spitfire and Hurricane back to Gt. Yarmouth to be spruced up in time for the Battle of Britain Memorial Day this year which marks the 20th Anniversary of the establishment of the Memorial.

I hadn’t realised how tatty the planes were looking but they stand out in all weathers and have withstood the elements relatively well. They had to go back to Gt. Yarmouth because that was where they were constructed (they are perfect models of the originals but to have the originals would be foolhardy because they are now worth so much and wouldn’t stand up to the deteriorating effects of the weather). Also, the paint with which they are decorated is highly toxic so the operation has to be carried out under special conditions. They will be away for about six weeks – so a bit sad for the visitors over the next few weeks but they can still enjoy the Memorial, the Sir Christopher Foxley Norris Memorial Wall, the Café and the stunning view of France if weather conditions are clement.

I very much wanted to see the Spitfire body being lifted into the air onto the transporter but I waited an hour just for them to disengage one wing and settle it in its cradle so I reckon I’d have been there for many more hours waiting for anything to happen. However I did take photos for you which you can view in The Gallery.  One of my chums at Capel did spend the day waiting for the planes to be dismantled and sent me the photos.  He also said that when he set off back to his home near Biggin Hill, it was the weirdest experience to overtake a Spitfire and a Hurricane travelling along the M.20

Spitfire in the Air - without wings.  Hurricane will be in the Gallery.
 

I’ve lived in this area now for 15 years and it was only last year that I set foot over the threshold of the Outlet Centre and was very pleasantly surprised at what was on offer for a fraction of the original cost.

I don’t have the kind of life style any more where I need dozens of outfits – unlike my newsreading days – but, being a woman, I love clothes. Now apart from a few bits and pieces, I ration myself to a lovely outfit for the Big Day of the Year for me which is the Battle of Britain Memorial Day – anyway it is an excuse to spoil myself.

So after leaving Capel I decided to pay the Centre a visit – it is large and airy, has a nice café, books at knockdown prices and all manner of clothing, millinery and footwear.

I was really spoiled for choice and eventually settled on a lovely Jacques Vert outfit. My pleasure was doubly enhanced when I went to pay for the dress, jacket and hat – having spent over a certain amount, the hat came free! I was helped by a delightful assistant called Sara and the whole shopping experience was a joy – loads of room, an assistant on call if you wanted something else and nothing too much trouble. It doesn’t bother me that the outfits are ‘last season’. I’ve never been a slavish follower of fashion preferring classic clothes and they hardly date. When I attended the Enthronement of the Archbishop of Canterbury I wore a Gina Fratini highly tailored Velvet suit which I bought about 30 years ago. I was stopped twice on my way from the Carpark to the Cathedral and complemented on my outfit first by a man (with no ulterior motive!) and then by a woman. Over the years I’ve made loads of mistakes, paid a small fortune for something, worn it once and then given it away. Other outfits in which I feel comfortable and good I simply hang on to.

I might also use another excuse to spoil myself again when later this year I am going to Gibraltar for a few days. I’ve been invited to the renaming of the RAF HQ – it’s going to be named after René Mouchotte for this is where he and some friends landed after they’d escaped from Oran in North Africa, in a partially decommissioned plane.

I really do hope that I didn’t hear what I think I might have heard on the Classic FM early news this morning. I was in another room so didn’t quite hear the whole item but it seemed to be about penalising pensioners who own their own homes – which apparently is ‘holding up the house market’. I think it inferred that because we are retired we are staying put.  (A bit like Bed Blocking of which the elderly are regularly accused)

You’ve got to be joking. In the late 1980’s and early ‘90’s I remember the interest rate on our mortgages rising to a phenomenal 15% and, if you did make a purchase you had to put down a fairly hefty deposit. When I moved to Kent, and not wishing to get caught like that again I opted for a fixed rate mortgage of 7% and then watched for five years as the interest rate plummeted to around 2% and you didn’t have to have a deposit.

We pensioners have been hit from every angle. Any savings we may have are attracting such derisory interest that, if someone would tell me how many years I’ve got left, I’d blue the lot on travelling the world to see all the places I’d love to visit.

My state pension rise this year would buy me a cup of coffee per month with a few pence change – it must cost more to administrate the insulting rise than it does to give it. My state pension is not massive because for a large proportion of my life I was, not through any desire of my own but by the nature of my business, a freelance. Unless you turned yourself into a Limited Liability Company where you could pay National Insurance as both a proprietor and an employee, you were assessed at the end of every year for NI on a rate known as S4. If you had a good year you paid a very high rate of NI – then came the bad years but you couldn’t claim anything back – in other words the good and bad years were not evened out.  You had to earn a great deal in order to make it worthwhile to become Limited Liability.

I’m a careful individual and didn’t earn a vast amount – things were very different in my ‘glory’ days in TV – but when I had a couple of good years I squirreled the money away into a Pension Fund – sadly the Equitable. Gordon Brown raided the pension funds for short term gain for his government and long term loss for those of us who had pensions with that and other companies. Apparently the Equitable was seen as the Pension Fund of the toffs who could afford to lose their money. I can assure you I’ve never been in that bracket.

When you reach 65 you are allowed to have just over £10,000 tax free as your personal allowance. Now the tax rate is going to be raised to £10,000 for everyone – in fact I don’t think it has gone far enough. I believe that anyone earning under £15,000 should not have to pay tax. I’d like to see our MP’s living on that amount.
So, as a pensioner, you are taxed on you pensions which offer anything over £10,000. The left is screaming about cutting the benefit ceiling at £26,000. Are they living on Planet Zog – many hard working people earn far far less than that – and the word I use is ‘earn’.

Public service employees are threatening strikes because of their derisory salary rises. They should spare a thought for those of us on fixed incomes where there is no ‘rise’ and all we can do is watch our money being eroded by ridiculously low interest rates and rising costs. And although it is a myth that two can live as cheaply as one, it is very expensive to live solo. You have to pay the same for heating as a family would have to – you don’t want 3 for 2 offers because you can’t eat the stuff and you’ve probably got nowhere to store the extra anyway. I have to say I cannot see the justification for these ‘offers’ in a supermarket. If they can afford to sell you 3 for the price of 2 why can’t they put the appropriate price on just one item. I regularly have to pay over the odds for vegetables and fruit because there is no point in my having, say, two bunches of bananas for the price of one, when the second bunch will only go off. It really irks me having to pay extra for one – in effect I’m subsidising the larger families who avail themselves of the offers because they consume more. Even Waitrose have now joined the bandwagon.

How come there are 8,000 Hospital Managers and consultants on £100,000 plus when at the sharp end the nurses are paid a relative pittance. By consultants I presume they mean Management Consultants and not the hard working Surgeon Consultants who earn their money from years of training and expertise and into whose hands our lives are placed as they are into the hands of nursing staff. I think they should bring back the traditional Matron whose word was law and where you could have eaten off the hospital floors they were so clean. She was feared, she was obeyed, and my goodness the wards were clean and everything was so much more efficient than today.  I believe there is far too much 'contracting out' leading to a lack of 'Accountability'.

We had a case down here in Kent a couple of years ago with a Hospital Trust Manager on a salary of something like £250,000. She resigned before the Tribunal into dereliction of duty could be held but still walked off with a phenomenal pension pot that many of us would be thrilled to receive – and she sued for wrongful dismissal.

(Mind you it does seem to be par for the course – you can be a lousy CEO and a few months later you surface in a high position in another industry – it must be a kind of Mafia Union of Jobs for the Boys/Girls.)

A young lady I know who works extremely hard and has a wonderful work ethic told me that in her sixth form half the girls declared that they’d no intention of working, they were just going to procreate! Great isn’t it when that can be a life-style choice. Why should people pay taxes to subsidise the families of the feckless. Having a child is a joy- not a right to be paid for by the State. And, unless a miracle prevails, most of the children will be trapped into a dependency culture with poverty of ambition and no desire to better themselves.

And I read that Left wingers have hi-jacked some of the money from one of the Diana Charities to use it to encourage immigration – this country is drastically overcrowded as it is, we don’t have the jobs and our infrastructure is creaking at the joints so what madness prevails to make them want to encourage more people to this sad little nation. When I was born the population count was around 58 million and there were jobs for all. It was a very different nation – recovering from a war with rebuilding, manufacturing etc. Today the head count is over 68 million and we don’t have those manufacturing jobs anymore, we have burgeoning families and an NHS which simply cannot cope with the demands put on it by the medical advances of the day.

I am very glad I am the age I am. I was born and brought up in a country which in those days could truly afford to call itself Great Britain. We had pride and shame, respect for authority, a work ethic and a desire to better ourselves and not expect the ‘State’ to do it for us.

I’d better stop or I shall burst a blood vessel and I don’t fancy the idea of going into hospital.

Oh, how I wish I could win on the Lottery – I’d see that my family were OK financially, donate a huge amount to Charity and then get out of here to go and live near my son in Australia - a country in which I lived in the 60’s and wish I’d never left.

Referring to my opening paragraph - Oh yes I did - http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/pensioners-should--share-the-pain-and-pay-more-tax--092232867.html

So when they've taken away what little we have, what are we to use to fund us in care homes if we have no property left to sell.  Hey ho - when you hear about families paying £40,000 a year from a loved one's property for care and the person in the room next door being provided for by the state, it does make you wonder why bother to be thrifty and proud enough to try and take care of yourself.

I already worry about my old age.  My son has no money, no home of his own and is paying extortionate rent in Australia and my flat if sold would keep me for 5 years at today's rates for care.  The worry is because of the longevity in my family - father is 98, frail and blind,  and mother 92 with senility,  but please God I won't live anywhere near that length of time.  

I watched a fascinating documentary on Channel 5 about Killer Elephants in an Indian Wildlife Sanctuary in 2009/10. Most of the dead elephants were female and had been attacked in a particularly nasty way. It was thought that one Young Rogue Bull was the culprit and then it was discovered he wasn’t the only one on the rampage. And what did it boil down to – most of the older Bulls with their valuable ivory had been killed by poachers. The young males had no one to ‘teach them’ or to act as Role models. So, basically the young ones were behaving like tearaway young thugs of today who will sometimes commit murder because they've not been given 'respect'.

I thought it unfortunate that there was no more recent follow up to see whether the problem got worse,  stopped or just petered out.  

There’s a moral there – we have so much violence in society these days and much of it is down to young men, with testosterone raging round their bodies, and no male model to either keep them in check or help them cope with life.

I find the schedules on Ch. 4 and Ch. 5 very difficult to understand. They show some truly high value superb documentaries sandwiched in between what, for me, are totally rubbishy and tasteless programmes where I find myself asking ‘What kind of people watch these sad programmes’.

Still I suppose it is a good thing that we are all different with our varying likes and dislikes
 

The whole coverage was extremely professional and what we have come to expect of the BBC.  It was also good and tasteful that though Mr. Dimbleby made reference to the disturbance of protesters at Ludgate Circus, this was not shown which I think would have been entirely inappropriate.  When I watched the News later that evening I noticed that many of the protesters were so young they wouldn't have been born when Mrs. Thatcher was in power.  It is sad the way that hate can be passed on like a disease  from one generation to another.  The same was true during 'the troubles' in Northern Ireland.  The original cause for dissent got lost in the mists of time but the anger and hate was continued. Much of the activity of the IRA was, I am told, a cover up for illegal activities like drug and gun running.

I must admit to a lump in my throat when they took her coffin from Westminster to St. Clement Dane's.

And, as for cost, what about the cost to the country every time some protest group or other decide to 'have a go' - how much does that cost in Police Protection and Police work.  How much does it cost the country - or to be more exact, we the taxpayers - every time there is benefit fraud.

I've never had much time for Alex Salmond but I greatly respected his dignity when asked about his feelings over her death.  He showed more honour than the Labour chaps who desperately wanted to destroy the House of Lords but couldn't wait to wear the ermine when it was offered - I don't think I have to spell out who, in particular, I mean.

I was really appalled at the use of a perfectly innocent song from a very old Film to denigrate Mrs. Thatcher and also horrified at the parties held to celebrate her death.  As I said in a previous blog. we were the 'Sick Man of Europe' when Mrs. T came to power.  The world was changing and we had to change with it.  Our manufacturing and coal industries couldn't compete with cheap imports from emerging nations.  Left wingers bang on and on about the Deregularisation of the Banks - and Yes there has been some awful fall out.  BUT did you see New Labour rushing to undo the move?

I actually wrote this some time ago but a friend counselled against it knowing that journalists trawl through the internet and could read it.  Well, we don't yet live in a police state so I will go ahead and enter this blog.

 I couldn’t think of a title which would encompass all I want to write down. A very new friend read my Blogs and commented that, despite having strong opinions, feelings etc about current issues, I never write them down.

I had to explain that, in my opinion, we no longer live in a democracy and that it is no longer a country of free speech – yes possibly if you are left of centre but certainly not if you vere to the right. I was brought up in a world where we were taught a work ethic (in the Convent to not be employed was tantamount to a mortal sin) it was seen as a failing to have to ‘Sign on’ – but I have to admit that there were many more jobs available – many in manufacturing etc. But the world has changed and become Hi-tech and so much of our manufacturing has gone, sacrificed to the desire for ‘cheapness’ and the ability of previously third world countries to provide goods regardless of the price in human ‘sacrifice’ and I’m talking about slave labour. But if you look at the labels on most of our goods, electrical, clothing, etc. and so forth you will see hidden in the bar codes that many many originate in China, India and the emerging nations. Isn’t it a joke that our Prime Minister has gone cap in hand to India to curry favour for indigenous industries and yet, thanks to him, we are still handing out to them AID – despite there being more millionaires and billionaires than we have and despite the fact that they do not spend their wealth in educating the populace. Of course not, if they did they wouldn’t have the cheap labour.
So what has this got to do with my day.
I started off in the Dentist’s chair – one half of a crown came off last week and I didn’t want to risk an incident – do you remember when the late Kenneth Kendal lost a crown whilst reading the news!
My original crowns put on in the 70’s were for cosmetic reasons so I had to pay. They’ve been replaced a couple of times since then and the price has increased accordingly. The only reason I mention this is I wonder if the people who have the advantage of a National Health dentist have any idea whatsoever of the true cost of a crown - £450. And while I’m on the subject. Sadly my sister was recently diagnosed with the beginnings of Osteoporosis. Being a person who believes in Prevention rather than cure I asked my Doctor if I could have a similar test - No, unless there is a familial history BUT you can pay for a scan and it will be around £50. So off I went to the hospital and had my scan. I’ve just got the bill - £125! And yet, foreigners come here, immigrants come here none of whom have paid a penny into our system and they can have their ills treated, deliver their babies and take advantage of a system which used to be the envy of the world now creaking under the strain of delivering so much more than it was set up to deliver decades ago. There are children having bust enhancements, folk having transgender operations, obese people having gastric bands, and maybe these are regarded as essential for the psychological well being of the person but the National Health System was only dealing with TB and broken limbs at its inception.
Don’t get me wrong – I’d be the first to pay a few extra pennies in Tax if I thought it was going to the right people – the genuinely disabled, the sick and the elderly. But I object most strongly to the way so much of our money is spent especially when it comes to teenage girls who look upon having babies on the state as a life-style choice. It isn’t just the something for nothing culture, but I feel so sorry for those children so many of whom are brought up without a family structure, without fathers, without a work ethic and very often end up in a cycle of dependence which does nothing to enhance their lives nor the country in which they live.
I do sometimes wonder if people think that the Government has an orchard of Money trees which they are too mean to shake. A tranche of the public appear to think that hand outs are their ‘right’ without ever having put anything into the Pot.
So on with my day.
The GOOD was having a coffee with Mark Chapman whom I met just under two years ago. Mark was doing research with regard to a book his father had written – not published but excellent – on the work of the Ground Crews with the RAF in WW2 and with particular emphasis on the French Squadrons. Although Mr. Chapman senior had not worked with René Mouchotte, he knew a lot about him and wrote glowingly about him in his book. He had correspondence with René’s sister and it was Mark who furnished me with her married name. This was like the Open Sesamé key and when I saw that her name was not on the wall of the Mouchotte Tomb in Pére Lachaise Cemetery but that of her husband was inscribed there, I knew she had to be alive. So that led me on to a meeting, the finding of the omission of the Battle of Britain Medals etc. and so forth.
I want to try and help Mark get his father’s book published. We’ve now honoured the Fighter Squadrons, the Bomber Squadrons but we haven’t paid due homage to the Ground Crews who were the ‘glue’ which kept the whole thing together.
Then we came onto the BAD and downright UGLY. My poor mother has been slowly sinking into Dementia for many years now. In fact, as our lovely, kind, vivacious mother, she left us several years ago. She has now reached the stage of having to be in full time care. If I had the funds she would be in the best Care home that money could buy. Sadly although I had a high profile, the equally high and eye-watering fees that you get today just were not around in my hey-day. In fact we women also suffered from sex discrimination in that our male colleagues were paid considerably more than we were – I think the powers that be assumed that most women were working for ‘pin money’ and actually had husbands to keep them. Allied to all that there were no occupational pensions and I, unfortunately, invested every spare penny I had into the Equitable Pension Fund and most of us know what happened to that – it went belly up and wasn’t helped by Gordon Brown’s raid on the favourable tax incentives offered to Pension funds at the time. ( I didn’t choose to be Freelance – that is what ITV and the BBC wished for – so that if they desired it the Baby could go out with the Bathwater and all they had to do was pay you up to the end of your contract. Wham, Bam and Thank you Mam – off you go with that month’s cheque and nothing more)
I still go to my dentist in Marlow having lived just up the road in Penn for 15 years. And oh how I wish I still lived there. But I made some wrong calls and ended up where I am now. The only elements I enjoy about living in Kent are the proximity to France, my association with the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust, my work in the Cathedral, my love of the Cathedral and Canterbury and that is about it. Although I would not give a thank you to live in London, at least in Penn I could get to London in just over a half hour – could enjoy the culture of the capital and then escape back to a semi rural environment.
So after my dental appointment I paid a visit to my mother. While I was there a couple arrived – both of foreign extraction. One has to say that because so many immigrants never speak English properly that they could have been here for 10 years or 10 months. One of them sat and started asking my stepfather about my Mother’s medication which I thought was rather odd. My stepfather is trying to find a home for Mummy and obviously price is an issue. He thought this person had come to talk about the ‘relative’ fees but she had taken it as a foregone conclusion that this visit was tantamount to an ‘admission to the home’.
I also took exception to the other person, whom she explained was the ‘handyman’ for the home, sitting in my mother’s living room and being privy to information to which he had no right. Apparently the woman – I’ve no idea what her role was as she didn’t explain – doesn’t drive so he acted as her chauffeur – and that sent warning signs – since when do you use the handyman to chauffeur you to official appointments. He was of foreign extraction too- possibly East European. This begs the question – with over 3 million unemployed why are so many foreign immigrants in jobs – is it because they are prepared to work for the absolute minimum wage, cash in hand, or some other fiddle which might be being worked by the Care Homes?
(I recently heard from a woman who does work in a care home owned by yet another foreigner – who owns a chain of them – that they have to buy teatowels which are dirt cheap and then cut them into four to act as flannels for the elderly residents. Isn’t that appalling! If you had the money to set up a chain of care homes or even had shares in them, it is a licence to print money.)
And now we come to the nub of my discontent. Despite all the Government blathering on about how much they are going to take care of the elderly, it’s a smoke screen. If you have worked all your life, paid your taxes and your N.I. and live in a home that you own, you will be ‘taken to the cleaners’. And yet if you have been profligate and spent all you ever had on anything, smoking, drinking gambling and have nothing, then the state has a duty to take care of you. In Heaven’s Name where is the justice in that.
Fortunately I don’t know the name of the care home, nor the woman and her chauffeur but I do know that the cost per week was £950 and she was proud to say that the state would reimburse £108!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Alleluhia. So, at a conservative estimate, and we are not talking about the Ritz, my stepfather is going to have to pay nearly £40,000 pa for my mother’s care. They aren’t rich. They bought their house in Windsor over 50 years ago for about £3,000. And of course the value has magnified beyond belief but it is their home – and just because it is worth nearly half a million does not mean they are millionaires. So what is the answer?
Cameron can generously give Aid to countries in many of which that Aid finds itself within a couple of years in Swiss Bank Accounts, we are made to take in millions of immigrants who can almost immediately sign on for all the benefits of our Welfare State and our own people who have worked and paid tax are treated appallingly.
One often reads about the dire state of affairs where it is the taxes of the young which are funding the care of the old BUT if successive Governments had husbanded all the money they’ve taken off us over the decades there would surely be a healthy financial balance but they haven’t – they’ve spent it on other things. When I was a little girl this country had a population of 58 million. That has now increased to 68 million but there are fewer jobs for the working population and facilities are being tested to the extreme. We are a small island and we simply cannot cope with this population explosion. (However our ruling classes who live in a bubble of wealth and private education, have no idea how the rest of us live. I bet they have never had to juggle the bills till the end of the month so they can blithely continue to welcome with open arms all who wish to come here and take advantage of a very generous welfare state and benefit system - that is unless you are OLD)
Feeling very upset, saddened and angry, I began my journey home thinking that at least I would enhance the day by a visit to the NHS Gardens at Wisley where they had a Butterfly Exhibition in the Glasshouse. I couldn’t believe my luck, I was waved into the first car park available. That is where the luck stopped. Not having grandchildren I was totally unaware that it was half term. On going to pay the entrance fee and just about to tap in my pin, the nice young man mentioned that there was a one and a half hour queue. I couldn’t stop for that would have put me back onto the M25 during rush hour. That is bad at the best of times but it is even worse now because of major roadworks around J 5 due to continue till Autumn 2014.
So no beautiful butterflies to calm my raddled nerves and then I spent the whole journey debating as to whether or not I would give vent to my spleen and share my thoughts with you. Well, at least they can’t lock me in the tower!
And to cap it all I returned to the BT Broadband not working – YET AGAIN – and nor did the oven work. The latter was due to, I think, a power cut and I did get that working. And after a long call to INDIA BT Broadband was re-installed. Oh how I wish I were rich – I’d buy an island in the Seychelles, take my watercolour paints, some books and go native. DREAM ON.
Off to London tomorrow to discuss staging an exhibition at the Institute Français – the subject – René of course.

?
 

I chose to travel  to London because I do not want any more repercussions next year when the licence would have become due and wanted the document witnessed,  signed and stamped at the highest level.  It's a very attractive article - shame I have to give it away.

Now I wait to hear back from the SABC as to whether I can scan and email the document or whether I have to entrust it to the post - not the most reliable service in South Africa unfortunately.  In fact the delightful man at the Embassy who has been helping me suggested that I send the document by DHL.  that  would cost £58 and I still would have no guarantee that the document would get to or even be acknowledged by the appropriate department.  He also told me that what I have encountered is not abnormal and he has to deal with several cases like mine every month.  When I took out my television licence, like a law-abiding citizen, I do not remember ever seeing anything anywhere which informed one that should you cease to own the TV/ give it away/scrap it, you had to have a document witnessed by a commissioner for Oaths.  

There is an online forum complaining about the persecution by the SABC of licence holders, some of whom have been dead for many years!!  So how are they going to fill in and have witnessed their sworn affidavits as to no longer owning the wretched thing.

It is interesting that though they have hounded me and sent emails to an old email address, any answers from them have  rarely been forthcoming.

So I wait to hear whether I can scan and  send the document or whether I have to involve myself in yet more expense.

Having got so worked up over Baroness Thatcher's death and being genuinely upset, I set to and started to try and clear the multitudinous boxes of photos and memorabilia that I have to take my mind off the nastiness from so many quarters.   Came across this one - I think I was about seven.

Anyway it's good for a laugh.

Bye for now,  Jan

It has just been announced that Baroness Thatcher died a short time ago.

I had a very high regard for her and met her on several occasions. After I’d been mugged within BBC Television Centre, she made a point of coming over to me at a Charity Event and asking how I was.

When Margaret Thatcher came to power this country was in a parlous state and we were held to ransom by the Unions – dinosaurs who couldn’t or wouldn’t see that the world was changing and one could not keep to the old ways of closed shops and ‘everybody out’. Mind you that slumbering dragon is rearing its head again and isn’t it interesting how their leaders are on massive salaries and also enjoy enormous perks. Are they so different from the Heads of Industry – I think not. They are full of belligerence and ‘hate’ and couldn’t give a damn for the rest of us who are not cosseted by being in a Union. The days of wicked Mill lords and sending little children down mines and up chimneys are long gone but to listen to the Union Barons, you’d think those days were waiting just around the corner.

Mrs. Thatcher was defeated over the Poll Tax which was badly explained to the public and which was vehemently opposed by those who had the most to lose. Quite frankly, as I said recently, if there has to be a local tax then those earning should pay it which is much more fair than lumping a rateable value on a house which might have only one inhabitant who might need to use/call on the social and public services. Whereas a house with five working adults still only pay the same rate and there are more of them to call on the services for which we all pay.

I attended the Conservative Wembley Rally in 1987 and was asked to read out a letter sent to the conference by Sir Yehudi Menuhin. I was proud to do so but totally taken aback by the vitriol heaped on me by the press and even by the Telegraph. It also cost me some Corporate work – one Council up North phoned my agent to cancel my services as a presenter at a conference. They were quite upfront that the job was cancelled because of my politics. I’m no rapant fascist but I was brought up to believe in hardwork, duty and personal responsibility.  Mrs. Thatcher sent me a delightful letter of thanks commencing with a hand written 'Dear Jan (If I may) and signing it with a little postscript.  She didn't have to spend the time - a round robin would have sufficed.  I think she was an intrinsically good person.

Mrs. Thatcher was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth.  She lived above her parents' grocery shop and attended a Grammar School.  Although she and Dennis did achieve wealth, they knew 'how the other half lived'.  The same cannot be said for our privileged hierarchy today.  Most of the high ranking people in Government have private means, were public school educated went to Oxbridge and are really out of touch with the rest of us.  You bet they didn't have to think about turning down their heating this last winter or looking to see what savings they could make in household expenses. I'm sure it is an apochryphal story by it is said that when Marie Antoinette was told the populace were starving and had no bread, she is purported to have said 'Let them eat cake'.

I've also met Carol Thatcher who was charming and in Cape Town met her brother for which the same cannot be said.  He treated my son with something akin to contempt for trying to make conversation with him.  We were in a group and introduced to him - he could barely bring himself to be civil.

Anyway, I’m very sorry to hear of her death and sad that her last years were blighted by senile dementia.  It is a great shame that there is absolutely no one in Government today who can even remotely fill her shoes.  And that is what we need - a Strong Leader who is not afraid to make difficult choices in the short term for the long term good.

This photo was taken at a Charity Event.  Esther Rantzen and I are standing on either side of Mrs. T - others in the photo - Bob Monkhouse, Duncan Goodhew, Mary Parkinson, Lord Feldman and Lord Lawson, Adam Faith, Lynsey de Paul - in no particular order and there are others whose names I cannot remember.  I've posted a couple of photos in the Gallery  of myself with 'Maggie'.

I'm so glad it has been decided to give her a proper 'State' funeral.  She deserved it.  In the 20th Century there were really only two great Statespeople, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher and both of them had their detractors.  No one in  a position of power can be 'all things to all people'. They have to make difficult and unpopular decisions for the greater good of the populace.  Winston Churchill was no saint and did some pretty despicable things during the war (his appalling treatment of the Poles) but he had to think of the bigger picture.  

Margaret Thatcher - RIP

ADDENDUM

Having watched the news last night, I was absolutely appalled and horrified at the attitudes of certain elements of the community with regard to the death of Margaret Thatcher - some were having parties to celebrate the event.  What ignorant souls they must be if they are unable to see that the world was  and still is changing beyond imagining.  Yes, the demise of the mines was very sad but the upsurge of Eastern nations like China and India and the advent of even cheaper coal would have spelled the end of the Coal industry in this country - the industry as we knew it.  To have continued to extract the coal would have cost more and more until our coal would have been priced out of the market.  And as for that murdering ....... Gerry Adams - how dare he hold forth about the blood on Mrs. T's hands when his own are covered. 

I repeat that I am appalled.  She is dead - show some respect even if you didn't agree with her policies.