The store that was not, perhaps, to be; plus a journey to Oz?

On the way back from Fareham, yesterday afternoon, I called in at Tesco, Havant, for a little shopping and to buy some coal.

When I was at the checkout, in the store, I asked the Checkout Assistant if she knew what was happening with the new store that had been proposed. She said that, as far as she knew it was not going to happen, not be built.

She said that Tesco had sold off land at each end of the site. That I, more or less, knew, as they had been denied planning permission to go beyond the present store site; hence the proposal to build a store “in the air”, in effect above the existing car park and existing store ground area.

The Assistant said that the Council had refused planning permission, due; it seemed to the large number of objections to the new store that it had received. I was surprised, taken aback; that meant that Havant Council had actually said no to Tesco.

On the basis of events over the last several years I had developed a general “rule of thumb” that Havant Council would cave in to anyone who had financial muscle of a few hundred thousand Pounds, to a million Pounds, or more, even when planning permissions were breached; anything less than that and you did not stand a chance with the Council.

The idea of Havant Council denying an organisation of Tesco proportions what it wanted was phenomenal. I began to wonder where the Council had gained its courage, short of a trip down the Yellow Brick Road to see the Wizard of Oz. So that is a fantasy, though no more than Havant Council standing up to someone bigger than itself seemed.

The Assistant said that Tesco could re-apply in March but seemed to think that it would not happen. Part of her reason for that was the new checkouts that were due. The staff had, apparently, been complaining about the old ones and asking for new ones for some time. They had new ones due to be installed in June or July, some six months, or so, hence. So, to the best of her knowledge, the new store was not going to be built.

Strange things happen in Havant, at times.

Education and Standards – Personal Experiences

The Saturday 10 February entry on the Blog of my hypnotist and muse friend Barbara Ford-Hammond (www.newsfromthemuse.blogspot.com) reminded me of my own experiences three years or so ago at educational establishments in southern England.

As well as lecturing in engineering materials and design at a further education college I was involved in providing support for students who were finding their studies difficult. That covered a range of students though included those studying engineering.

One such student, on an Engineering Diploma Course, had difficulties with a number of the problems he had been set.

Of the problems with which I helped him there was always one which particularly came to mind. It involved a weight suspended by two cords, each at a different angle to the horizontal; a simple statics problem. I showed him how to solve it by resolving forces horizontally and vertically; the sum of the horizontal forces in the cords being, of course, zero, and the vertical forces in the cords being equal to the weight supported. The horizontal forces were the tensions in the cords multiplied by the Cosine of the angle to the horizontal and the vertical forces were the tensions in the cords multiplied by the Sine of the angle and the weight.

The student looked at what I had drawn and written for a few seconds, then asked,

“What’s Sine?”

Bearing in mind that I was talking to a student who was eighteen or nineteen years old, well into his Engineering Diploma Course, and I had mastered such levels of trigonometry by the age of fourteen, I was somewhere between amused and bemused.

More was to follow. After setting out a problem in my usual way; read the question careful, draw, lay it out on paper, set up the basic equations and solve, the student again looked at what I had done, listened to my explanation, and asked a question; on that occasion it was,
”What’s Pythagoras?”

Another student was studying electrical engineering, something I had not been involved with in earnest since my first year at Brunel University (www.brunel.ac.uk) in 1967. He was stuck on some problems involving alternating current in electrical circuits with the usual resistance, capacitance and impedance elements. When such knowledge is long gone, or, at least, ahs not been used for some time, the obvious starting point is the College Library and appropriate library research skills; find an appropriate book, look up the basics, find similar problems in worked example form, follow them through and regain forgotten knowledge. A little over an hour later I had done electrical calculations of a type last worked through some thirty-five years previously and a student was a little happier and more confident with his work.

At a higher level, I lectured final year Engineering Degree Students on engineering materials at a University for a several weeks. Of the forty-plus students many (most?) were foreign. There were only about half a dozen of those who could have lived with my 1967-1971 Brunel University Engineering Degree Course.

Barbara’s 10^th February anecdote of a conversation that illustrated the woeful standards of knowledge was very much in line with my experiences in the education system. To say that education standards have been dumbed down would be a rather gentle way of putting it.

Back Online and Visible Again

For the last couple of years I have been concentrating on my Web Sites and have neglected blogging as such; though the Blog of a relatively recently acquired and very good friend, Barbara Ford-Hammond (www.newsfromthemuse.blogspot.com) has encouraged me to try to do more with this one. We have similar interests in the non-physical field and, it would seem, a not dissimilar sense of humour.

Besides, having been off the Internet for the best part of two months, thanks to some malware and not particularly brilliant computer repairers (eventually sorted out by someone else) it is good to be back on the Internet and visible again. This is as good a way to start as any, particularly while I play catch up with my Web Sites.

As you will gather from my Web Sites such as www.richardsjournal.co.uk, as well as the archives of this Blog, an Internet presence is about the only way of being heard in the town where I live, or the County for that matter; Havant, Hampshire, England.

However, despite all of that, there have been positive developments. My autobiographical book, “Remembering Lorelei” (www.rememberinglorelei.com) should, at long last, be out in the next few weeks, will be reviewed in national publications and I should be appearing in such publications before that.

Developments can be followed through the above Journal Web Site (www.richardsjournal.co.uk), at least when I finish catching up with the word processing.

Yesterday “The News” (Portsmouth) carried an article about Christmas lights being banned in Havant (Hampshire, UK), or, rather, it being decreed that the Christmas Lights will be known as Festival Lights to avoid upsetting no Christians.

Today the story is on page 31 of the “Daily Mail”. Presumably, Andy Dolan, the “Daily Mail” reporter, took the story from “The News”, local to national being a common route.

The culprits were, of course, the Council Officers who are the real power in Havant Council, though they ran for cover when “The News” tried to interview them.

They did not seem to have considered that they might offend Christians as well as non-Christians with their stupidity.

The Council Leader, David Gillett, is reported as begin vociferously against such lunacy, though, Councillors in general have let vastly more serious matters pass, including those beyond the civil context. I have one removed personal experience of Councillors being sent packing” by Council Officers and Agents of the Council.

The general level of incompetence, illustrated by the Christmas Lights fiasco, runs right through the Council, including, especially, relating to business: see my other Web Sites, especially the older ones --- the My Other Web Sites page on any of my Sites will guide you to the others (e.g. http://www.rlkassociates.co.uk/RLKA_mows.htm).

Contrary to the impression given by articles such as that in the “Daily Mail”, Havant and the surrounding area is a very pleasant place to live. Unfortunately it is ruled by a “we know best” Council which is beyond the control of and unresponsive to the Residents.

That apart, I would strongly recommend this part of the Country as a place to live, though not, at present, a place to which to bring a business or attempt to establish one, nor much of Hampshire or the local Business Link region for that matter. Sussex and east, Surrey and north, or west of Dorset is much safer.

This Web Log is long overdue for updating.

My thoughts were to a large extent elsewhere than Blogs for much of 2004 as my mother was terminally ill in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Buckinghamshire, from the end of June until 11th October. From then onwards, apart from sorting out the estate, mostly, almost entirely, done by my brother as he is retired, I have been more concerned with surviving and putting up a larger collection of interconnected Web Sites.

There was a development in June 2005 when I recorded a contribution for a Discovery Channel Programme on predicting the future, with Barbara Ford-Hammond of Alton, Hampshire. Filming was mostly in Blenheim Gardens, Denvilles, Havant with my house becoming a television studio for many hours. More details of that are on my Business Web Site (http://www.rlkassocites.co.uk/) under “Press Release” (http://www.rlkassociates.co.uk/RLKA_PresRel.htm).

Hopefully that will break the logjam I find myself in.

To be heard in Havant, Hampshire, UK, (as well as the County as a whole, to some extent) you have, it would seem, to resort to the Internet and have sufficiently unusual connections to be of interest to an International Television Company.

In order to develop business of immense value to Havant, Hampshire and the South of England generally I am not only having to go out of Hampshire but, in many ways, out of the Country.

Welcome to what passes for democracy and representation in Havant.

You can easily find me by entering “Richard King, Havant”, “Richard King, Engineer”, or “Richard King, Healer”, in an Internet search, especially non-Google for the greatest number of results; as long as you remember my name “Lorelei, Legend” or Loreleis Links” will also do. Thereafter, you can find all my Web Sites from any one of them.

One outcome of those months through the summer of 2004 was a series of pre-death experiences totaling thirty to fifty hours depending on definitions, how they are counted, etc. Some of those are recounted on my Richards Psychic Realm Web Site (http://www.richardspsychicrealm.com/), I know of no one who has had that much, though only some of the less demanding ones are recounted on the Web until my family becomes more acclimatized to such matters.

On Monday 9th August I called in at the regional Business Centre in Havant to ask about South East Hampshire Enterprise Agency (SEHEA) Personnel who worked at the Havant branch. In the process I met Jo Horan who made the appointments. She asked if I wanted to arrange to see anyone but I said I needed to write to Glen Atherfold and Eddie Tuttle at the Small Business Service, Guildford, first.

The rest of the week turned out to be quite hectic, plus the weekend traveling to see my wife’s father in Clacton and then traveling back to see my mother in Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Added to that was a message from my brother on my mobile ‘phone on the way to Stoke Mandeville, that made me wonder what was happening but which did not turn out to be quite what I expected. There were a few other complications on the way, plus a stopover at my brother’s house in Chinnor on the way home.

I had to go back to Chinnor on Monday and Stoke Mandeville the following morning, to see Dr Durkin at the Hospital, along with my brother and sister-in-law. For a number of reasons I asked Lorelei and Cathy (my discarnate Soulmate/fellow healer and Guardian Angel, respectively) to accompany me on the journey, which they did, Lorelei in the front of the car and Cathy in the back. (There are more details about Lorelei and Cathy on my Website: http://website.lineone.net/~richard.king.ceng. A non-Google search for “Richard King, Healer” or “Lorelei, Legend” will also find it.) I arrived back in Havant during Tuesday afternoon and was in plenty of time to attend the Healer’s Group at the Bear Hotel, Havant, in the evening.

On Thursday 12th August I wrote to Lucille Pendry (of Tailor made Services), the new President of Portsmouth and South east Hampshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry, offering to contribute more to the Chamber and, therefore, the region. At present, the Chamber is my only local route to making a contribution to the area which I live; not the most encouraging state of affairs for people contemplating developing their business in this part of the South of England.

On Friday 13th August I had experimented with Windseek, a new Search Engine I had heard about through one of the regular Internet related newsletters that brought up this Web Log with the relevant search terms. So, maybe, more people will read this, even in advance of my other Web Sites, with their links, going up.

The weekend of 21st/22nd August, involved me in another journey to Chinnor and Stoke Mandeville. As my brother and his wife were going out on the Saturday afternoon and evening, he was visiting my mother in the morning so I decided to go with him, breaking my journey at Chinnor, rather than a two hundred and fifty mile round trip to Stoke Mandeville on my own. That morning, apart from whatever else I picked up with my non-physical senses I was told something else at the Hospital that I partly understood but was not able to confirm it until back at my brother’s house and able to borrow a dictionary to look up, check, the meanings of essence and quintessence.

There were a few other things I was not sure fitted in terms of what I had sensed physically and non-physically over the previous days and, to some extent, weeks. However, a fairly detailed conversation with my healer colleagues on Tuesday 24th August resolved all of that with ease. In effect, that helped me to resolve the anomalies, which were only apparent anyway, and increased my understanding in the process.

There has been so much going on in the non-physical, as well as the physical, sense lately that it sometimes becomes confusing when I refer to “the Girls” in conversation with my wife, Jo. I often have to qualify whether I am referring to Judy, Lene, Doreen and Sheila (my physical Healer colleagues) or Lorelei and Cathy, who, are, of course, non-physical.

Unfortunately, it was several days before I managed to send an overdue E-mail to Glen Atherfold and Eddie Tuttle of the Small Business Service. I wished to follow up the suggestion of Mark Torokwa, of Hampshire County Council, and obtain assistance from South East Hampshire Enterprise Agency to write a business plan for my esoteric side. That I have now managed to do so, hopefully, there will be some progress on that front.

During the month of May I had conversations with Reverend David Gibbons and Sandra Haggan of St Faith’s Church, Havant. Over the years the Church has come to mean quite a lot to me. Quite apart from which, that is where I met Jeanne D’Arc. Towards the end of the one I had with Reverend Gibbons I found I was feeling quite emotional at times. I seemed to more that way recently but it was mostly the recollection of those marvelous experiences. After all, how often do you meet a discarnate Saint let alone, as happened a few weeks later, have her sitting next to you while your auras expand and blend together.

I was not sure if it was because I was becoming more connected with Real Reality, the non-physical, which I have noticed more and more in recent weeks, especially when we were on holiday at the end of may.

I had known for some time that the Church was in need of funds to restoration and, had circumstances be different; I would have been able to contribute fairly substantially to that.

The latter part of June brought the end of term at Chichester College, where I lecture on Engineering Materials for an “A” Level Course as well as contributing to the provision of additional support for students, especially in engineering and higher mathematics. Unfortunately, the month did not end in the best way with my Mother becoming critically ill and having to go into Stoke Mandeville Hospital. That necessitated Jo and I rushing to Chinnor, in Oxfordshire, she had been staying with my brother and sister-in-law in the early hours of a Tuesday morning and then on to the hospital, as well as visiting on weekends since then.

There were compensations, though minor in comparison, in that in among all of the emotion I had some pleasant, occasionally humorous experiences over the weeks. Those included a conversation with my (late) Father, Cathy (my Guardian Angel) assisting my Mother at one stage, a short spell in Stoke Mandeville Hospital Chapel with Lorelei and meeting the person in charge of the team looking after my mother on “the other side”, Upstairs. He was short and stocky with receding white hair and white mutton chop whiskers on the side of his face, white shirt, dark tie with a slight diagonal strip, dark waistcoat, trousers and shoes with an unbuttoned white coat over those. He had been a Doctor in his most recent lifetime and a priest in a life before that, though not immediately before as I understand it.

Lorelei had been visiting my Mother frequently over the weeks including going to Stoke Mandeville between us providing healing for a couple of people at the healers Group one week. Being discarnate does wonders for covering such distances very quickly, more or less instantaneously. On a recent Tuesday (20th July) she dropped into the car beside me while I was on my way to our regular Healers’ Group meeting at the Bear Hotel in Havant, to assure me that my Mother was not suffering, not in any distress. From my conversation with the Upstairs Doctor the following Saturday (24th July) that was also clearly the situation from his point of view as well.

There were some potentially interesting physical world developments on Friday 23rd July, when I attended a Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry Business Breakfast at the Lysses House Hotel in Fareham. The first person I spoke to, apart from Maureen Frost, the new Chief Executive of the Chamber, was Tracy Culross of The Holiday Inn, Portsmouth. I had first met Tracy at a previous Chamber Event, the Annual General Meeting, at the Kings Theatre in Southsea. We both remembered that meeting and I pointed out that, along with Lene Foot, one of my Healer colleagues, I would be involved in a presentation on coping with stress at The Holiday Inn Hotel later in the year.

The event began with a presentation by Simon Richards of Conference Hampshire, he being accompanied by Frances Stokes who used to be more involved with defence related business; both working for Hampshire County Council. The main purpose of the meeting was to say goodbye to Bob Gumbrill, the retiring Chief Executive of Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Chamber. Many people were sad to see him leaving as he had done an excellent job during his time in charge. I owed him a great deal as I would be effectively isolated in the region if it was not for Bob and the Chamber.

During his farewell address Bob mentioned Michael, sitting at his table. That turned out to be Michael Johnston, Chief Executive, Portsmouth Printing and Publishing Limited, publishers of The News (Portsmouth) among other things. After the main part of the event, I took the chance speak to him about my tourism related business interests and Lucille Pendry, the new President of Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also became involved for a while. The outcome was that Michael suggested I contact Daniel Bardsley, the Business Editor of “The News” he also mentioned the Havant Reporters Office, suggesting I might get in touch with them as well. In any event, he strongly recommended that I contact Daniel Bardsley. Because of other commitments that will take me a few days to get around to but, one way or another I will. After all, “The News” should support and encourage an influx of business to the region, especially when it is on the scale that this would be.

Lucille Pendry suggested I might write an article for the Journal by which she meant the Chamber Journal. I pointed out that I joined the Chamber under my engineering side and involvement in composite materials. Lucille said that, as a Member of the Chamber I could write for the Journal anyway. When I mentioned this to Maureen Frost, Chief Executive of Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry, just before I left, she seemed to be less sure, though that was mainly down to my interpretation of her resulting expression. The Chamber was doing its best to be helpful and friendly, as it usually was; how that turns out we will have to wait and see.

On Tuesday 27th July I had a meeting, in Winchester, with Mark Torokwa of the Economic Development Department of Hampshire County Council. We had spoken on the ‘phone three weeks or so previously and exchanged letters in the meantime.

Mark listened patiently as I told him about my engineering background and then the outline of my nonphysical side, particularly the story of Lorelei and I. he agreed on the commercial potential and advised me to write a business plan as Sussex Enterprise had advised me to do. The conversation helped my thinking in that I realised that what I needed to do was put the arguments I had gone over verbally and in e-mails and letters many time in a compact coherent form and call it a business plan, which, essentially, is what it would be.

Mark Torokwa, at the very least, agreed with Sussex Enterprise positive assessment and said he was sure I would get past the present situation or words to that effect. (In fact I had avoided going into any detail about the negative things that had happened, preferring to go around them or bypass them as far as possible.) He seemed certain that when our story got out there were people who would really “run with it”; no doubt that it was very commercial and very likely to be of considerable interest.

In any event the meeting with Mark Torokwa was very encouraging. As far as the business plan was concerned he said I could get free help from South east Hampshire Enterprise Agency (SEHEA). Several months previously, John Stainer of SEHEA had indicated that they could help. There was just the problem of Business Link Wessex, though John thought I was taking the correct course by writing to Martin Wynn Griffiths, the Chief Executive of the Small Business Service (SBS) for help. So, I would have to write to Glen Atherfold, of SBS Guildford, with a copy to Eddie Tuttle, the Regional Director, asking if they could help, encourage, SEHEA to assist me.

In the interim Jo and I had a break by way of our first visit to the Hampton Court Flower Show. Unfortunately it rained but was certainly worthwhile going. The show was two big to get around fully in one day and we would certainly go back another year, hopefully next year. We understood it was set up on a rather large area, in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace, than the Chelsea Flower Show, so, although there were plenty of people there it was not so crowded as to be oppressive.

I also had some interesting business related conversations with people on Hayling Island, which is suffering from a drop in tourism and I could contribute a great deal to reversing that, if I was allowed to do so. I will post more details of that on my journaling Web Site, which I hope to have set up in the not too distant future.