Lessons

July 2019

#127

A Perth Amboy Lesson

A small boy runs from his mother’s arms
on the pier
at the harborside
I watch fearing that he is safe
As if he was my own child
No, he is not my own
Yet, my blood feels his power
As his blood runs to be free
And his mother’s blood runs to his safety

Love Has A Hold On Us

You can send rockets into the sky with your so-called glory and fame
But not eradicate hunger and poverty and homelessness
And abandon the very pillar of justice on this earth
Sun Ra said, that people in this planet are dead
And remember, going into space is the way – the spaceway for a beautiful happiness
Let us dance towards the east and the west in a universal thythm
Hot fun the summer, while I salute the 51st anniversary of the Old Timers Day
On 111th Street with kindness and love
On the hot, sunny Sunday, while enjoying piragua, engranizado, surullo, frituras de maiz, bacalaíto, empanada, pastelillos y croquetas
Con helado de coco
Saturday, the Sun is bright. You have reached toward the sky in unity and love.
At the Johnson’s 72nd anniversary of Family Day
And in unity, we are one, and in disunity, we are homeless
The Ohio Players performed on stage like everybody remembers
The old songs of the 1960’s and 70’s
With Fire, Find Someone to Love, Pain, Funky Worm, Skin Tight, I Want Freedom, and Higher and Higher
While people were dancing and eating to joy heaven
We are not alone but we have grown together in unity and love
And today, we honor all of the ancestors who have returned to earth
Crotona Park and Indian Pond, a drop of wind and rain as the sun sets
Ray de la Paz sang Com Amor y Mi Alma y Mi Corazón
We enjoyed the dark earth that this poem is a pearl
And our love belongs to our name
Even in the hideous moment of time and ignorance and hatefulness
And murder flies high in the heart and soul of the great divider
But old love has a hold on us

Lessons Need To Be Learned...
Fares Fair thirty-eight years on

In 1981 the Labour Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, AKA 'Red Ken' fullfilled an election promise to lower public transport fares in London using a device called a 'Fares Fair Scheme' but there was a very mixed reaction to it during the run up to the Great Beginning.

For a start he was unable to subsidise fares on British Rail within London Boroughs because an appeal to the Law Lords prevented him 'interfering' with part of British Rail.

From those who drove to work we heard things like “I need my car!” and “I would have to get four different buses to get to work, catch me doing that??”

Let's make my own position clear, I didn't use buses, or the Underground, I lived a couple of hundred yards from a BR station which got me into Liverpool Street in 12 minutes and then had a couple hundred yards walk to work, so with a train every 10 minutes my commute was around 20 minutes each way - the Fares Fair scheme bypassed me.

What I did see during my morning walk to the station was a long queue of traffic, nearly a mile long all the way to the western end of the nice straight road where cars were vying to get out onto the main road into town, stretching back almost as far as the eastern end of the road where the station was. Well, on my journey home, I would leave work, walk the short distance to Liverpool Street Station and with trains every ten minutes during rush hour I would be getting off the train at most twenty or so minutes later.

At that time I would also see the head of a line of cars heading East, vying to turn left into the main road, and a glance down the road would tell me that as far as I could see, the line of cars stretched all the way down to western end of the road, even recognised a few of the cars, the morning crowd making their way home. It turned out that 'they' didn't need their car, and proper checking allowed some to get off one bus, cross the road, turn the corner and the second bus route would drop them at work.

The problem was most of the underground system was north of the river giving a disadvantage to, in particular, all of the SE postcodes. So the main thrust was on the big red London Bus. The adverts started, £150 for a ticket to any London Red Bus (Except the Airport Bus) for one year. 12 Months travel around London for £150, could be a really good offer.

The scheme started, and by the end of the first week the line of cars waiting to get out of the west end of the street in the morning was not quite as long as it used to be. The second week saw the queue cut to half what it used to be, and by the end of the month, the start of the second month, there was no queue at all.

My job as a bank messenger, walking around the streets of the City of London took on a different hue. It was easier to breathe, less vehicles, but you could hear the buses, groaning under the strain of loads of people on board, unlike before, when they travelled nearly empty among a never ending stream of cars waiting at traffic lights, all the engines belching out exhaust gases. Made a big difference when those buses filled up with people, or should I say when most cars were left at home.

Bromley Council took exception, started a court case saying as Bromley didn'y have any underground lines it was unfair to spend London ratepayers money on making tube fares cheaper, and as that went with the Fares Fair scheme the whole scheme was unfair. The Law Lords agreed with them so the whole scheme was stopped. The annual tickets were to be honoured so the scheme would run out after the 12 months run out.

Just as it had started, on the beginning of the 13th month, the traffic queue to get into London began to build up and the traffic queue by the end of that month things were back to normal, queues to the end of the road. The buses back to their high price, and all the folk back in their cars.

The city walks went back to the traffic smells as before, loads of cars with only one person, the driver, on board, and lots of similar buses, only one person, the driver, on board.

There were lots of explanations about why the scheme had to end. Mainly about the cost and the unfairness of it – Red Ken was refused to permission to lower fares on British Rail trains which ran within London 'travel zones'.

OK. With the Fairs Fare scheme stopped and things back to 'normal' the big industries involved in moving people around could relax again.

Time now for another scheme to put the oil company's revenues in serious jeopardy. This time it'll really hurt them because it's not something cooked up by some politician, it's my scheme, so they wont know about it, sneaky eh?

Well, remember trolley buses? No, neither do I, but my thinking is that they were powered by overhead electric cables running down both sides of the main streets, reminiscent of our modern railways which power trains along at more than one hundred mph, so there is ample power available, buses don't need that kind of speed, but we do want more of them.

So all we have to do is take the big diesel engine and gearbox out and replace it with an electric motor, obviously much improved from the old trolley bus motor, and when we remove the diesel fuel tank, we replace it with modern batteries capable of powering the bus for around twenty to twenty five kilometres. Now the sweet bit, because since the bus carries enough power for a few miles on it's own, the overhead power line can be run straight along the main street, but can be stopped at places like Oxford Circus, Marble Arch, Hyde Park Corner (the bane of the old trolley buses) and correct road markings, not 'tram lines', placed to re-engage with the power lines,

The really really sweet bit is that large HGV parks can be placed at strategic places just outside the M25 and older Articulated HGV tractors can be treated similar to the buses and articulated lorries can be swapped at the park so that big diesels do not have to drive into London at all, the ubiquitous mobile phone can keep track of where they go and stringent monitoring so the city can send the electric bill. Something similar can be done for other cities and with luck all delivery vehicles and public transport within cities can be clean driven.

All I need to do is get elected as Mayor of London and implement my plan, coupled with a new version of Fares Fair, and the … but I guess the big industries will triumph again, and if it comes to it, instead of dissolving the GLC, or GLA as it is now, maybe they'll just do away with the post of Mayor of London, or just do away with London … Lessons need to be learned ...

Dave Chambers
Newham Writers Workshop

Asking The Question

What is wisdom?
Are we born with it?
Show it and you’re a child
Wise before your years,
The old wives say.
Can it be taught?
With white chalk on black
Or the modern equivalent
Of PowerPoint and screen.
Can it soak in?
From words of generations
Passed from age to age
Down the line.
Do we just acquire it?
As the years pass
And our lives are lived
By the paths we walk.
As the end is in the beginning
We return to; what is wisdom?
Maybe the answer is in the question.

Jan Hedger
WOW

Leaving The Nest

Have faith little fledgling
For thy Father gave thee wings
that will lift you as you fall
light as a feather you will fly.

Have faith little fledgling
For thy father gave thee a voice
of the sweetest note that
will sing amidst the treetops.

Have faith little fledgling
For thy father will provide the
means to find food and shelter
when the stark winter comes.

Have faith little fledgling
In thy parents urging you on
with each quivering feather
for they trust thy Father implicitly.

Jan Hedger
WOW

Lessons Learnt

Tiffany, a friend to the world
She loves music, words, song
That climbs through thin air
I met her, through social media
The attraction, similar wonder
In our world, music, words, 60s, 70s
Fashion, I disabled, She energetic,
Happiness filled with Peace like a
Magnet. And unseen, except,
Photos and videos that show her beauty,
and energy - How lucky she is.
Tiffany - I captured her, As she like me,
Loves what I have stated -
I wonder, I am creative, I want to focus -
She does, I can tell. I just need a typing
Chair to aid me - with brakes...
Then - with my knowledge,That many
friends I have made, through social media,
Who have helped me climb the ladder,
Maybe, I can focus then,
on the ability -
I have
WORDS...

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Lessons

July 2019