This is a review of Far North by Marcel Theroux, posted on Amazon.
___
The future as imagined by James Lovelock. The great heat has come and global civilisation has crashed. The utopian-religious back-to-nature settlements in the Siberian arctic, the setting of this novel, were over-run by refugees from the south, followed by arctic winter depopulation. The protagonist, Makepeace, guards a frozen, deserted town with guns at the ready.
This novel explores a journey across the continent which encompasses pitiless ethnic tribes, slavers, labour camps and a general assortment of intrinsically unpleasant characters and decent people gone bad. The character of Makepeace is the moral centre of this story, but morality has been reduced to the correct choice of tough, lethal decisions.
The book held my attention all the way through, while not being quite a page-turner. If the author’s targets were the general nastiness of the human condition without the framework of a functioning state, and the bankruptcy of pacifistic religions, then I think we can agree that the case here is closed. But these are not difficult targets.
My other quibble – it is no more than that – is that the plotting seems to depend on too many unlikely events: suspension of disbelief did waver a few times.
In summary, I think Far North is fine as a library book, but I’m not sure I’d recommend buying it.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Beware the fury of a patient man
The BBC-2 film "Margaret" yesterday evening was excellent.
At one point Margaret Thatcher (Lindsay Duncan) sees members of her cabinet in tight conversation across the room. Correctly suspecting them of plotting against her, she comes across to publically humilate each of them.
Finally, she turns to Geoffrey Howe and says "Geoffrey, could you bring me my shawl".
This is not a question.
He hesitates for a moment, blinks and then dutifully goes off on his errand.
"Beware the fury of a patient man" observes one of the onlookers.
If the leader of the party had been male, and had said to one of his subordinates "Bring me my coat" this would have plainly been a humiliating and demeaning request made by an alpha male to reinforce his superiority.
Said by a women not in a position of power, and in a non-dictatorial way, "Could you bring me my shawl?" could be considered flirtatious.
Said by Margaret Thatcher in the scene described, it was frankly terrifying.
Incidentally, the origins of the quote are apparently from here.
"Quotation from Publilius Syrus, a Latin writer of maxims in the 1st century BC.
In the 17th century, British poet and dramatist John Dryden used it in "Absalom and Achitophel", generally considered to be the greatest political poem in the English language:
Must I at length the Sword of Justice draw?
Oh curst Effects of necessary Law!
How ill my Fear they by my Mercy scan,
Beware the Fury of a Patient Man."
This was clearly a period when the scions of the Tory party still had a classical education.
At one point Margaret Thatcher (Lindsay Duncan) sees members of her cabinet in tight conversation across the room. Correctly suspecting them of plotting against her, she comes across to publically humilate each of them.
Finally, she turns to Geoffrey Howe and says "Geoffrey, could you bring me my shawl".
This is not a question.
He hesitates for a moment, blinks and then dutifully goes off on his errand.
"Beware the fury of a patient man" observes one of the onlookers.
If the leader of the party had been male, and had said to one of his subordinates "Bring me my coat" this would have plainly been a humiliating and demeaning request made by an alpha male to reinforce his superiority.
Said by a women not in a position of power, and in a non-dictatorial way, "Could you bring me my shawl?" could be considered flirtatious.
Said by Margaret Thatcher in the scene described, it was frankly terrifying.
Incidentally, the origins of the quote are apparently from here.
"Quotation from Publilius Syrus, a Latin writer of maxims in the 1st century BC.
In the 17th century, British poet and dramatist John Dryden used it in "Absalom and Achitophel", generally considered to be the greatest political poem in the English language:
Must I at length the Sword of Justice draw?
Oh curst Effects of necessary Law!
How ill my Fear they by my Mercy scan,
Beware the Fury of a Patient Man."
This was clearly a period when the scions of the Tory party still had a classical education.
Council threatens elderly widow with eviction!
My father passed away on January 18th 2009, and since then we have been managing the settling of his affairs with more or less success.
Recently my mother has been receiving increasingly unpleasant letters from Bristol City Council suggesting she is in rent arrears. Calls to the Housing Office Rent Management Department, although handled sympathetically, seemed to have proven powerless to halt a computerised juggernaut which seemed set on evicting her for alleged non-payment of rent.
Needless to say, not a single rent payment has been missed in 53 years.
It reminded me of an excellent short story called "Computers Don't Argue" by Gordon R. Dickson, reprinted here, which I first read as a child. Its relevance has never gone away.
By reverse engineering my mother's experience, it would appear that Bristol City Council are running at least four separate computer systems in this functional area.
1. A database system which associates council houses and their tenants.
2. A billing system which processes direct debits from named tenants.
3. An accounts-receivable system which sends threatening letters and orchestrates a debt-recovery process, culminating in eviction.
4. A system which sends rent payment information details to tenants, which continues to this day to send information to my deceased father.
Bristol City Council were somewhat aware of Mr F. S. Seel's death, but this information has not progressed to system (4) above, and did not stop system (2) from continuing to extract rent via direct debit.
The Council were also able to process a change in tenancy, to add my mother to the tenant database. However, system (1) was not aware that my mother and father both occupied their council house, so the council were not able to associate the existing direct debit with the change in tenancy, and so finally registered my mother as not paying any rent. Hence the threats from system (3).
The latest stage in the saga is that they have promised to refund the overpayment on my father's account, and to send a direct debit form for my mother to complete for the new tenancy arrangement. We shall see if they are competent enough to get this done.
I have been in communications and IT for more than 25 years and this is a classic example of stovepipe systems architecture. We usually advise Enterprise Applications Integration via messaging middleware, short of introducing a root-and-branch SOA.
I wonder how much continuing distress as well as wasted time is caused by Bristol City Council's IT department failing to get the basics right. We were that far from taking this story to the newspapers, and it still hasn't ended.
Recently my mother has been receiving increasingly unpleasant letters from Bristol City Council suggesting she is in rent arrears. Calls to the Housing Office Rent Management Department, although handled sympathetically, seemed to have proven powerless to halt a computerised juggernaut which seemed set on evicting her for alleged non-payment of rent.
Needless to say, not a single rent payment has been missed in 53 years.
It reminded me of an excellent short story called "Computers Don't Argue" by Gordon R. Dickson, reprinted here, which I first read as a child. Its relevance has never gone away.
By reverse engineering my mother's experience, it would appear that Bristol City Council are running at least four separate computer systems in this functional area.
1. A database system which associates council houses and their tenants.
2. A billing system which processes direct debits from named tenants.
3. An accounts-receivable system which sends threatening letters and orchestrates a debt-recovery process, culminating in eviction.
4. A system which sends rent payment information details to tenants, which continues to this day to send information to my deceased father.
Bristol City Council were somewhat aware of Mr F. S. Seel's death, but this information has not progressed to system (4) above, and did not stop system (2) from continuing to extract rent via direct debit.
The Council were also able to process a change in tenancy, to add my mother to the tenant database. However, system (1) was not aware that my mother and father both occupied their council house, so the council were not able to associate the existing direct debit with the change in tenancy, and so finally registered my mother as not paying any rent. Hence the threats from system (3).
The latest stage in the saga is that they have promised to refund the overpayment on my father's account, and to send a direct debit form for my mother to complete for the new tenancy arrangement. We shall see if they are competent enough to get this done.
I have been in communications and IT for more than 25 years and this is a classic example of stovepipe systems architecture. We usually advise Enterprise Applications Integration via messaging middleware, short of introducing a root-and-branch SOA.
I wonder how much continuing distress as well as wasted time is caused by Bristol City Council's IT department failing to get the basics right. We were that far from taking this story to the newspapers, and it still hasn't ended.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Don't Look Now
Clare and myself visited the Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke this afternoon to see a matinée performance of "Don't Look Now" -- (the link is to the film version).
We thought the acting was excellent, but the play is a slight thing, driven - if that is the word - by a tedious and insubstantial plot embodying elements of the occult and implausible coincidences for which disbelief cannot be suspended.
What could Daphne du Maurier have thought was the point of this piece of work?
Another review here.
We thought the acting was excellent, but the play is a slight thing, driven - if that is the word - by a tedious and insubstantial plot embodying elements of the occult and implausible coincidences for which disbelief cannot be suspended.
What could Daphne du Maurier have thought was the point of this piece of work?
Another review here.
The Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke
An emulation of twittering
I am not signed up with Twitter, but if I was, it would look something like this (today's Twitters).
Nigel is:
* Delighted that for the second day there are no voles in the house [8.30 a.m.]
* Sorting out more details from his father's Will [9 a.m.]
* Working out his latest VAT Returns [10.15 a.m.]
* Talking via Skype to his mother about disposing of used printer cartridges [10.35 a.m.]
* Discussing a camping holiday in the Pyrénées this summer with Clare [11.03 a.m.]
* Rewriting the conclusions of his Open University essay on Quantum Measurement [11.30 a.m.]
* Writing about Twitter in his diary [11.44 a.m.]
Nigel is:
* Delighted that for the second day there are no voles in the house [8.30 a.m.]
* Sorting out more details from his father's Will [9 a.m.]
* Working out his latest VAT Returns [10.15 a.m.]
* Talking via Skype to his mother about disposing of used printer cartridges [10.35 a.m.]
* Discussing a camping holiday in the Pyrénées this summer with Clare [11.03 a.m.]
* Rewriting the conclusions of his Open University essay on Quantum Measurement [11.30 a.m.]
* Writing about Twitter in his diary [11.44 a.m.]
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The Seels in Saddleworth (1834)
I had previously tracked the Seel line to John Seel, a hatter who was born in 1847 in Oldham and who later moved to Bristol where his male descendants lived through to my father.
Now, an accidental search on the Internet turned up the following (from Mossley Association Football Club here) showing a cluster of Seels in the area.
---
A) Info from Pigot's Directory of 1834.
This contains details of "Professions and Trades of Saddleworth" as follows.... (see map at the bottom of this post).
Thomas Seel: blacksmith, Mossley.
James Seel: cotton spinner (and doubler), Quick Mill, Mossley -- possibly the owner of the business.
Abraham Frost: butcher, Seel Fold, Mossley.
James Smith: butcher, Seel Fold, Mossley.
William Schofield: joiner, Seel Fold, Mossley.
William Schofield: machine maker, Seel Fold, Mossley.
Abraham Frost: taverns and public houses, Highland Laddie, Seel Fold, Mossley
-- assumption is that Abraham Frost had two occupations and possibly carried them both out at the same premises as did William Schofield.
B) On the Internet, some history is given about the Rising Sun Public House which refers to Samuel Seel being the tenant (publican) of the establishment from 1890 until 1911. He was the first tenant for Wilson's Brewery at that address.
(C) On the Mormon site (Family Search), there are various Seel families in Mossley/Ashton-under-Lyne in the 1881 Census.
There were 20 persons with the surname, and residing in Mossley were three separate households.
1) William T. Seel (aged 55), a widower born in Mossley, a bricklayer, was resident at Seel Fold, Mossley (no door numbers or specific addresses). Resident with him was his father, John Seel (78) a widower born in Mossley, a retired smith & c (cartwright?).
(2) Samuel Seel (58) born in Mossley, an ironmonger and resident with his family at Stamford Road.
(3) Thomas Seel (31) born in Saddleworth, a coal agent labourer and resident with his family at Back George Street, Mossley.
There were two Seel households in Ashton-under-Lyne. In the census, Seel Fold is adjacent to Market Street. There are 15 households recorded at Seel Fold plus one house is uninhabited.
Included in the Seel Fold households, one head of household is described as a grocer and one head of a household, Mary Buckley (61), is described as an innkeeper and resident at the Highland Laddie.
Next to Seel Fold is Fox Platt but with only one household and the head of the household was a farmer (Fox Platt was originally the name of a farm).
After Fox Platt comes West Cottages. There are several households here, including John Mayall (70) who is described as retired. After West Cottages comes Mayall Street. (could this John Mayall have been one half of John and George Mayall who, in 1834, had been cotton spinners of Bottoms Mill, Mossley?).
In the same 1881 Census, in Saddleworth there are two households with the surname Seel
(4) Jerry Seel (52) born in Mossley, a retired cotton minder and resident with his family at 24, Archer Street.
(5) Thomas Seel (62) born in Mossley, a blacksmith resident at Grasscroft.
(D) The football club had taken over a disused cricket ground at Seel Fold. On the website it states that this had also been the site of a former tip and that the football club moved there in about 1912/1913. The ground was renamed Seel Park in 1930.
(E) On the Ancestry website, at the 1891 Census, the distribution of Seel families is highly slanted towards Lancashire with 189 out of an England/Wales total of 372 (51%). The next highest counties are Yorkshire with 58 families (16%), Cheshire 54 (15%) and London 29 (8%).
My estimation is that, although the word "seel" may well have links with our ancient history/crafts/farming etc. as in rope and birds, I am inclined to say that in the case of Seel Park (or to give it its original name, Seel Fold) the name is derived from a Seel person or a Seel family.
There were plenty of them around in Mossley at the time of the 1834 Pigot's Directory and also the 1881 Census (and even Samuel Seel the landlord at the Rising Sun straddling the turn of that century) to convince me that the family name is its true origin.
I imagine that the houses at Seel Fold were built by a Seel person (James Seel owned (?) Quick Mill and certainly owned a business as a cotton spinner/doubler in 1834 so could well be the person who built the original houses at Seel Fold).
But what happened to those houses? There were 16 at the 1881 Census and the Highland Laddie pub was one of them. Where have all the Mossley Seels gone? Not one in Mossley now according to the telephone directory although a couple in Oldham.
Research by Trevor Rowley.
Now, an accidental search on the Internet turned up the following (from Mossley Association Football Club here) showing a cluster of Seels in the area.
---
A) Info from Pigot's Directory of 1834.
This contains details of "Professions and Trades of Saddleworth" as follows.... (see map at the bottom of this post).
Thomas Seel: blacksmith, Mossley.
James Seel: cotton spinner (and doubler), Quick Mill, Mossley -- possibly the owner of the business.
Abraham Frost: butcher, Seel Fold, Mossley.
James Smith: butcher, Seel Fold, Mossley.
William Schofield: joiner, Seel Fold, Mossley.
William Schofield: machine maker, Seel Fold, Mossley.
Abraham Frost: taverns and public houses, Highland Laddie, Seel Fold, Mossley
-- assumption is that Abraham Frost had two occupations and possibly carried them both out at the same premises as did William Schofield.
B) On the Internet, some history is given about the Rising Sun Public House which refers to Samuel Seel being the tenant (publican) of the establishment from 1890 until 1911. He was the first tenant for Wilson's Brewery at that address.
(C) On the Mormon site (Family Search), there are various Seel families in Mossley/Ashton-under-Lyne in the 1881 Census.
There were 20 persons with the surname, and residing in Mossley were three separate households.
1) William T. Seel (aged 55), a widower born in Mossley, a bricklayer, was resident at Seel Fold, Mossley (no door numbers or specific addresses). Resident with him was his father, John Seel (78) a widower born in Mossley, a retired smith & c (cartwright?).
(2) Samuel Seel (58) born in Mossley, an ironmonger and resident with his family at Stamford Road.
(3) Thomas Seel (31) born in Saddleworth, a coal agent labourer and resident with his family at Back George Street, Mossley.
There were two Seel households in Ashton-under-Lyne. In the census, Seel Fold is adjacent to Market Street. There are 15 households recorded at Seel Fold plus one house is uninhabited.
Included in the Seel Fold households, one head of household is described as a grocer and one head of a household, Mary Buckley (61), is described as an innkeeper and resident at the Highland Laddie.
Next to Seel Fold is Fox Platt but with only one household and the head of the household was a farmer (Fox Platt was originally the name of a farm).
After Fox Platt comes West Cottages. There are several households here, including John Mayall (70) who is described as retired. After West Cottages comes Mayall Street. (could this John Mayall have been one half of John and George Mayall who, in 1834, had been cotton spinners of Bottoms Mill, Mossley?).
In the same 1881 Census, in Saddleworth there are two households with the surname Seel
(4) Jerry Seel (52) born in Mossley, a retired cotton minder and resident with his family at 24, Archer Street.
(5) Thomas Seel (62) born in Mossley, a blacksmith resident at Grasscroft.
(D) The football club had taken over a disused cricket ground at Seel Fold. On the website it states that this had also been the site of a former tip and that the football club moved there in about 1912/1913. The ground was renamed Seel Park in 1930.
(E) On the Ancestry website, at the 1891 Census, the distribution of Seel families is highly slanted towards Lancashire with 189 out of an England/Wales total of 372 (51%). The next highest counties are Yorkshire with 58 families (16%), Cheshire 54 (15%) and London 29 (8%).
My estimation is that, although the word "seel" may well have links with our ancient history/crafts/farming etc. as in rope and birds, I am inclined to say that in the case of Seel Park (or to give it its original name, Seel Fold) the name is derived from a Seel person or a Seel family.
There were plenty of them around in Mossley at the time of the 1834 Pigot's Directory and also the 1881 Census (and even Samuel Seel the landlord at the Rising Sun straddling the turn of that century) to convince me that the family name is its true origin.
I imagine that the houses at Seel Fold were built by a Seel person (James Seel owned (?) Quick Mill and certainly owned a business as a cotton spinner/doubler in 1834 so could well be the person who built the original houses at Seel Fold).
But what happened to those houses? There were 16 at the 1881 Census and the Highland Laddie pub was one of them. Where have all the Mossley Seels gone? Not one in Mossley now according to the telephone directory although a couple in Oldham.
Research by Trevor Rowley.
Saddleworth in relation to Oldham and Manchester
Mossley can be seen in the map above between Oldham and Saddleworth, to the south.
A Cat-Flat
Last night as we were preparing to go to bed after BBC-2's Newsnight, I saw a flicker of motion in the hall. The cat had started his night's hunting early, and a young and highly active vole had been released to rush around the skirting board in a blur of motion. As I leaned forward to try to grab it, it slithered under the door into the room we use as a library-cum-'exercise' room.
Where it vanished.
With the cat safely locked down, we turned that room upside-down. Eventually the vole was tracked down by dint of the little scratching noises it was making behind the Scrabble box. After much chasing it around behind various pieces of furniture, I eventually captured it in a plastic cylinder normally used as part of a blank CD-ROM container. The creature was put outside at midnight, leaving the room a shambles as pictured below (the capture device is shown ringed).
This morning, when I got up, I checked the entrance hall and there was only one small, dead creature which I duly threw out (pictured below)
Clare, meanwhile, had developed a further inventive solution to the carnage-problem: a little vole-refuge.
Where it vanished.
With the cat safely locked down, we turned that room upside-down. Eventually the vole was tracked down by dint of the little scratching noises it was making behind the Scrabble box. After much chasing it around behind various pieces of furniture, I eventually captured it in a plastic cylinder normally used as part of a blank CD-ROM container. The creature was put outside at midnight, leaving the room a shambles as pictured below (the capture device is shown ringed).
Shambles
We then had a big discussion: Something Had To Be Done. We eventually decided to put the cat in the small vestibule behind the front door and close the interior door, so that it could only get out through the cat-flap. It would therefore be barred from the rest of the house all night, hopefully sparing us any more house-voles.This morning, when I got up, I checked the entrance hall and there was only one small, dead creature which I duly threw out (pictured below)
The haul from last night
There was also no cat. Omigod, I thought, the cat has taken offence and upped and left us. But it was not to be. As the kettle moved to the boil, I heard a sharp slap from the vestibule and the cat came through the cat-flap horizontally at approximately 40 miles per hour. I guess it was pleased to be allowed back into the house.Clare, meanwhile, had developed a further inventive solution to the carnage-problem: a little vole-refuge.
A Vole Refuge
The refuge is to be placed, as shown below, in the new cat-flat.
The New Cat Flat
Meanwhile, the protagonist of all these adventures calmed himself down, took a little light breakfast and then retired to lick his paws and doze.
R&R after a Hard Night
We hope we finally have a solution to our daily vole problem, although I believe Clare's secret project is to teach the cat to adopt a Buddhist attitude to voles altogether.
Monday, February 23, 2009
The Green Door
Encouraged by the balmy weather (for February) Clare has painted the front door green.
None this morning, BTW, although we had one dead and one scurrying in the hall yesterday morning.
The Proud Artist
I have a vision of waking up tomorrow to see voles stuck to the paint with epicentre the cat-flap.None this morning, BTW, although we had one dead and one scurrying in the hall yesterday morning.
Everyone knows and no-one says
This is a review of "The Earth Hums in B-Flat" by Mari Strachan, published on Amazon.
---
According to Wikipedia, an ingénue is “a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome”. She is generally accompanied, as foil, by a vamp and there is often a romantic subplot featuring a young man just as innocent as the ingénue.
On this template, Mari Strachan has constructed a beautiful story set in a small Welsh village within sight of Snowdon in the late 1950s.
The ingénue is Gwenni Morgan, poised at the very end of childhood, who is bright, imaginative and therefore considered “odd” by her stolid peers, mother and sister. Her Kindred Spirit and Best Friend, Alwenna, is the knowing vamp, who has just discovered boys. Gwenni’s ‘romantic interest’ comes towards the end and is hardly that, a merest precursor for what is to come.
It is a truth universally understood that remote rural villages are hotbeds of illicit relationships overlaid with secrets and lies. The death of one of the villagers leads to an investigation and Gwenni is determined to play detective. Her relentless, innocent “childish” questions directly challenge the protective hypocrisy all around. It’s scary stuff.
Ms Strachan has a wonderful feel for poverty in the 1950s. Her descriptions of the Morgans’ domestic life: bed-sharing, paper thin walls, freezing cold, disgusting food, baths in front of the fire, a relentless lack of privacy, draw one into a life before this one. I am old enough to remember this the first time round and it certainly felt horribly authentic.
The plot is carefully handled, and the book rapidly becomes a real page turner. The intelligence in this book is that even as the reader reaches the end, and has the momentary illusion that all loose ends have been definitively tied up, there comes a realisation that all of what we think we know is in fact ambiguous. We may hope that Gwenni has finally come to a complete understanding, but she does have a habit of putting the best complexion on things.
The first person narrative style and linear development make this a suitable book for the ‘young adult’ as well as adult market. It was also serialised on BBC Radio 4’s “A Book at Bedtime”. Highly recommended.
---
According to Wikipedia, an ingénue is “a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome”. She is generally accompanied, as foil, by a vamp and there is often a romantic subplot featuring a young man just as innocent as the ingénue.
On this template, Mari Strachan has constructed a beautiful story set in a small Welsh village within sight of Snowdon in the late 1950s.
The ingénue is Gwenni Morgan, poised at the very end of childhood, who is bright, imaginative and therefore considered “odd” by her stolid peers, mother and sister. Her Kindred Spirit and Best Friend, Alwenna, is the knowing vamp, who has just discovered boys. Gwenni’s ‘romantic interest’ comes towards the end and is hardly that, a merest precursor for what is to come.
It is a truth universally understood that remote rural villages are hotbeds of illicit relationships overlaid with secrets and lies. The death of one of the villagers leads to an investigation and Gwenni is determined to play detective. Her relentless, innocent “childish” questions directly challenge the protective hypocrisy all around. It’s scary stuff.
Ms Strachan has a wonderful feel for poverty in the 1950s. Her descriptions of the Morgans’ domestic life: bed-sharing, paper thin walls, freezing cold, disgusting food, baths in front of the fire, a relentless lack of privacy, draw one into a life before this one. I am old enough to remember this the first time round and it certainly felt horribly authentic.
The plot is carefully handled, and the book rapidly becomes a real page turner. The intelligence in this book is that even as the reader reaches the end, and has the momentary illusion that all loose ends have been definitively tied up, there comes a realisation that all of what we think we know is in fact ambiguous. We may hope that Gwenni has finally come to a complete understanding, but she does have a habit of putting the best complexion on things.
The first person narrative style and linear development make this a suitable book for the ‘young adult’ as well as adult market. It was also serialised on BBC Radio 4’s “A Book at Bedtime”. Highly recommended.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Donation of Oxford II Rowing Machine
I have finally come to the view that my days of virtual exercise are over. Stepping over this rowing machine as I retrieve a book is not sufficient exercise to justify the space it takes up.
Andover Leisure Centre will be the first organisation to be offered it, as a free donation. If they don't want it, I guess it's the small ads. Here is the accompanying text.
Being surplus to requirements, this machine, which was bought new in July 2007, is free to anyone who cares to bring a van round to collect it. Contact Nigel Seel on the email address below right.
Andover Leisure Centre will be the first organisation to be offered it, as a free donation. If they don't want it, I guess it's the small ads. Here is the accompanying text.
Being surplus to requirements, this machine, which was bought new in July 2007, is free to anyone who cares to bring a van round to collect it. Contact Nigel Seel on the email address below right.
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