My neighbours in Handsworth

I was having a chat with the neighbours on Thursday evening. It had been a wakeful night with amplified sound from a celebration in St.Peter's Road, nearly half-a-mile away, of Haile Selassie's birthday which went on from midday on Wednesday - the actual birthday - and into the early hours of Thursday morning. Lots of people, including me, grumbled about this Rastafarian do, and R's boss, who's Afro-Caribbean, said he'd seen me wandering round at midnight to discover the miscreant source of the music:

Simon. Thank you for the contact you made via the Lozells Team for the problem on St Peters Road. I hear from my colleagues that it was a busy night down there. I am aware of this problem for a few years now. It seems that this year things were taken a little too far. My colleagues on night duty visited throughout the night requesting the party close. I understand this went on to the early hours. I am determined that this type of thing should not go on and I am currently gathering as much information as I can to pursue a course of action. I have spoken with the Birmingham Social Behaviour Unit (303 3191) and Pete Sandilands from Midland Heart (I have left messages for). Pete is the housing manager. I am hoping that we can identify the flat owner who organised the event and I am looking at this in preparation for next year. Regards Shelly PC 0733 Darragh, Birchfield Neighbourhood Team Dear Shelley. Your swift reply and the police response to initial complaints about this problem are appreciated, though one is not necessarily feeling that way when being kept awake in the middle of the night prior to rising early the next morning! I speak on behalf of many residents who hesitant to phone 999 or the WMP call number who were angry about this anti-social behaviour. We all have cherished events - whether family ones like weddings or special birthdays, or ones that involve families as well as the wider community like Divali, Christmas, Vaisaki, Eid. These mesh well in our neighbourhood, indeed enriching it and often bringing pleasure across boundaries. It should therefore be entirely possible for one section of our diverse community to celebrate the anniversary of the birthday of Emperor Haile Selassie with the same respect for neighbours as in the case of these other events. Instead the event was divisive, contributing to resentment. Although letting off fireworks late at night around November remains a continued nuisance, that behaviour is widely recognised as anti-social. Even if it is impossible to prohibit all episodes of over-amplified sound in the area, 'busy nights' like that over Wednesday/Thursday must be recognised as equally unacceptable, with no excuses because of the sacred significance, for some, of a particular anniversary. I have placed the relevant date in my diary for 2009. In the meantime I very much appreciate your endeavours to pursue those responsible for this event and the measures you are putting in place to prevent a re-occurrence. My understanding is that this event would have gone on until dawn but for the intervention of your colleagues, who put an end to the noise around 0200. Thanks at least for that from my family and other residents of this road. Yours sincerely, Simon Baddeley, Chair, Beaudesert Road Residents' Association

We shared a grumble on the street and Sunita's Mum was being a conscientious street champion tidying the verge opposite her home. We gossiped. I'm so fortunate to live in Handsworth in the company of so many good neighbours. I get to meet many as friends. Some come to Lin and me to see if we can sort out the occasional problem. * * * It's been a busy week with lots of travel by train and cycle. Brighton was lovely. I always enjoy working my way over to Wood Green, Haringey. Omens and portents fill the newstands; survivalists having the last laugh... Private Eye, for decades now, the establishment magazine, replacing the Spectator and New Stateman, once the entertainment and education of my youth - is always good for a public school chuckle. * * * On Wednesday I worked on my in-tray aware of the growing boom-rumble across the house tops, and then on Thursday and Friday I was in Telford thoroughly suffused by the tearing roar of motorway traffic until in a classroom to teach the mysteries of political-management to young officers from a selection of Midlands councils. I really do think that just as I'm starting to go a bit deaf I'm better than ever I was at listening to and learning from those I teach. At a crossroads on the M54 - a reply to Danica R who shared the idea of being 'tourists in our own land':

Somewhere beneath the motorway below me runs a Celtic then a Roman route called Iter lll - part of the Watling Street which we learned about at school before I was ten. For those who walked and marched this route it connected places and ran between them. They marked their distances on foot and hoof or with the turning of wagon wheels, making arrivals and departures into the events that create a sense of place. In 1976, the Tourism Society of England defined tourism as 'the temporary, short-term movement of people to destination outside the places where they normally live and work and their activities during the stay at each destination. It includes movements for all purposes.' You encourage me to reflect more on why I said this, Dana. It is because I don't separate work and leisure but also because of the inadequacy of this definition with its implication of a place where I 'normally' live. I am a 'place orphan' in a world destructive of place - substituting routes between locations. I have a birthplace in England - certified - that was fleetingly where I lived but was only briefly my home (Mill End Dairy Farm, Clavering, Essex).

Mill End

I've had many addresses in 66 years. I've made a home in several houses - but I don't come from the places where they're located. I have just been asked, after knowing them for two years, to give a friend a postal address so they can 'snail-mail' me something. Before that all our exchanges were by skype, in hotels and conference centres, on campus, and via e-mail. He's never needed my 'place' address nor I his - even tho' I've enjoyed his hospitality. The reason I embrace cycling and walking is not to make a hair-shirted sacrifice on behalf of the planet (much as we in the rich world need to set an example of greater ascetisism if our species is to stay around here much longer) but because it helps recover an intimacy with the ground I miss when travelling faster. On a bicycle or walking, I get a sense of place rather than location - the sounds, smells and touch of the ground, or if at sea, by sailing and using the traditional methods of navigation, rather than my modern location gadget - useful though that is! By travelling slower I gain time to gaze at my surroundings, gape at them even, stroll around taking lots of photos and collecting souvenirs - just like a tourist (:)) and yet who'd put a bridge over a freeway in a brochure for this part of Shropshire? Exceptional people can make a place of a prison cell. I'm lucky enough to be free to study how they do that. 'Placelessness' (not the dispersion of those forced to flee into a diaspora) is the blight of our time - what we 'lost in translation'; the disadvantage we bought into with the conveniences and pleasures of speeds that - until the train, the car and later the plane -had never, in our existence as a species, been greater than that of galloping horses.

* * * We'll be off to the Highlands for a week soon, while also planning a second visit to Australia in the spring and trying, from my ant-like position, to make sense of what's happening with local government. Our leaders ride the storms we stir. There's nothing so coherent as a conspiracy but there are trends as significant as tides and weather. I strive to understand them. Why did so many Irish citizens, who've benefited so much from the EU, vote against the Lisbon Treaty? I've studied the post-referendum poll results. They were nothing if not confused. Although 50% plus voted against, more than 40% voted for. We like Europe but at the moment we don't. Hm? People wish the EU was less bureaucratic but they vote against measures to ratify a treaty that might reduce the number of Commissioners, increase the opportunity to influence policy, create greater transparency and ease decision-making. Had Darius and Xerxes had referenda before invading Greece we might never have had Marathon, Thermopylae or Salamis. Letter to my Greek half-brother:

Dear G. Recall our confusion, at the supper above Athens, about Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis. All are quite close in time and place, part of campaigns against Persian invasions. Marathon - on the north coast of Attica some 50 miles from Athens - was a land battle in 490BC led for the Greeks by Miltiades - the first time the Greeks had bested the Persians (under Darius). It was Pheidippides who ran from Athens to Sparta to ask for assistance before the battle and after the victory, he who ran from Marathon to Athens with news of Greek victory "Nenikēkamen!" (We were victorious!) then died. Thermopylae was fought 10 years later at the pass of Thermopylae near the northern head of the gulf that lies between Evia and the mainland. Outnumbered many times by Xerxes' forces, an alliance led by Leonidas of Sparta held back the Persians for three days. A local shepherd named Ephialtes led the Persians through a mountain path behind the Greek lines. Seeing his men encircled Leonidas ordered his allies home and stayed behind with 300 Spartans. They fought to the death. The plaque in the battle site today displays the words of the poet Simonides 'Go tell the Spartans, oh stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws we lie.' [Ὦ ξεῖν’, ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε/κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι] The sea battle of Salamis was fought a few months later in September 480 BC in the strait between Piraeus and Salamis Island in the Saronic Gulf west of Athens. Athens under Themistocles defeated a much larger Persian fleet forcing Xerxes to retreat - a turning point of the campaign. Love S (ref: Book 7 of Herodotus 201-234) S. Now it all fits together in a logical sequence. I knew about Salamis reasonably clearly but I think I merged the other two battles into one! So the Thermopylae battle was presumably near modern day Volos or at least on that peninsular? The main point is that we sent those Persians packing in the end....and talking of packing, I am just off to France/Trambly for the next week with family in tow. So cheerio. G

* * * I did a cycle circuit of the Birmingham Canals today with dog Oscar, riding to the towpath in a box on my handlebars. Standing by the edge of the water below a railway bridge on the Grand Union, I got two shadows and a reflection of myself. Riding by an almost continuous frieze of graffiti - pointing nowhere, I encountered a lone angler with a roach pole tickling a patch of water beneath an overhang on the opposite bank, the hammer thud of trucks passing overhead in the shade of Spagetti Junction, a drowned rat drifting slowly north, a Muslim man in a high neck gown strolling towards me called ahead for me to pick up Oscar as the dog "frightened" him (I did. He passed and thanked me), a small group of cyclists, a few people standing alone gazing at the limpid water of the canal, walkers, a family enjoying a picnic by their parasol while one fished, mother ducks and ducklings, Canada geese, pigeons, but no butterflies, despite an abundance of violet buddleia rhizomes. Meanwhile in beloved Greece - fire:

Fire causes mass evacuations from Greek resorts by Anthee Carassava, ATHENS (CNN) Greek police on Friday evacuated more than 2,000 European vacationers from a strip of holiday resorts on Rhodes as fierce forest fires swept through the Greek island and thick plumes of smoke choked its most popular hotels. Authorities said the evacuation was a precaution as fires raged for a fourth day, scorching at least 7,400 acres (2990 hectares) of lush pine forest on one of the country's most idyllic islands. Police said the evacuation affected hotels in the Asklipios area, near the southeast coastline of Rhodes, a popular holiday destination for British tourists. "Three hotels were evacuated as a precaution, mainly because smoke from the fire had created an unpleasant atmosphere," said Charlambos Kokkinos, regional governor for the southern Aegean. The officials declared southern Rhodes in a state of emergency earlier this week when the fires broke out and quickly swept through the island because of gale force winds. Dozens of homes were destroyed in Laerma, the worst hit region, state media reported. No injuries or fatalities were reported. France and Italy have sent five water-bombers to assist hundreds of Greek firefighters and volunteers trying to extinguish the blazes. Earlier in the day, a brush fire in southern Greece forced authorities to evacuate two camping sites near the town of Aegion and close a main highway linking Athens to the port city of Patras. Rail services in the area were also suspended, resuming three hours later when firefighters got the blaze under control. Closer to the capital of Athens, five water-dropping planes quickly tackled another fire in Mandra, west of Athens. More than 100 fires have burned in Greece since the start of the summer, and the latest infernos sparked as an ombudsman's report criticized the government for not doing enough to prevent such outbreaks."The main measures for fire protection are not being properly implemented," the report said. More than 65 people were killed in devastating fires last year and 444,790 acres (180,000 hectares) of the Greek countryside was charred. "The lesson of last year's tragic experience does not seem to have been fully learned," the ombudsman report said.[Greek Ombudsman website - Giorgos Kaminis, the Ombudsman.

* * * Susan E Rice - a Democrat Rice - on leave from Brookings - with Obama - describes a conflict fueled and complicated by many competing interests fighting for control of the desert nation. "We need to recognize that the fundamental aspect has been missing from our debate and our dialogue. I think we're, frankly, missing the forest for the trees. And I'd like to suggest that we step back and consider what's at stake here. Not only is the surge not working, as Phil said, to achieve its intended and stated objective of giving the Iraqi political factions the space that is necessary to resolve their political differences, we have a fundamental disconnect between our military strategy on the one hand and the realities on the ground in Iraq on the other. There is more than one war happening simultaneously in Iraq." (see and hear her speak). This Tuesday my friend Dhiaa speaks to my students. I shall be intrigued to hear him discuss 'Shiism, politics and development: the impact of Sadrists in post Saddam Iraq, the southern region as an example'.

A richer dust concealed

22 Oct 1946. Photo: T A Russell D/KX100469

I received this e-mail yesterday from Frank Carrick, a veteran of the Royal Navy living in Ayrshire:

The British Cemetery and The Corfu Channel Incident*

As a regular visitor to Corfu I thought I had seen most of the island and places of interest. However about three years ago one of my Greek friends asked if I had ever paid a visit to the British Cemetery in Corfu Town. To my shame I had never even heard of it! The very next morning I set off for the Town and the Cemetery thinking it would be difficult to find as I had never seen it in all my visits to Corfu, but my fears were unfounded; just crossed San Rocco Square to the Airport Road, walked about a hundred yards and there it was, the gate to the British Cemetery. As I opened the gate it was like entering another world, it was so quiet, tranquil, and after the traffic noise and the hustle and bustle of the dusty town centre it was like heaven, unbelievably peaceful and quiet. A little bell disturbs the peace for a second as the gate is opened, and almost instantly the figure of the caretaker appears before you. He enquires as to your preferred language, introduces himself and then proceeds to give the visitor the history of the cemetery, locations of certain memorials and a bit of his own life story, and offers a guided tour. The caretaker is called George Psaila and he was born in 1927 in the Cemetery. He was married in the Cemetery and he will show you where he will be buried when his time comes. George took over the duties of caretaker in 1944 on the death of his father, who had looked after the Cemetery since 1924. The British Cemetery in Corfu town is also famous worldwide for the orchids that grow in the gardens. Some, so I've been told, grow nowhere else. Visitors from all around the world come to see them bloom in I believe March/April/May. In addition to the supervision of the cemetery, George is also responsible for the orchids and is a bit of an expert. On my first visit George accompanied me around the cemetery gardens pointing out interesting monuments and telling me of some of the people buried there. In the main the cemetery is the last resting place for British soldiers, sailors and members of their families since 1814 when Corfu was under British Protection (1814-1864). However there is a section dedicated to Germans killed during their occupation of the island (1943-44) and even some from the Kaiser's time (his personal boat crew). Most of the German remains have been returned to Germany although the monuments remain. One interesting German grave is of Erich Kerizen (09.10.1944), murdered by his own men after he prevented the destruction of the harbour in Corfu by cutting connections to the explosives as the Germans were leaving at the end of the occupation. The cemetery also contains the remains and memorial to British VC holder John Conners (1830-1857). He was about 24 years old, and a private in the 3rd Regiment, (later The East Kent Regiment - The Buffs), in the British Army during the Crimean War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 8 September 1855 at Sebastopol in the Crimea, Private Connors showed conspicuous gallantry at the assault on the Redan in personal conflict with the enemy. He rescued an officer of the 30th Regiment who was surrounded by Russians, by shooting one and bayoneting another and then for some time carried on a hand-to-hand encounter against great odds until support arrived.

He survived the war and died in Corfu 29th Jan 1857. There are a few more interesting monuments all around these quiet gardens, with their own captivating tales, but the area I personally found to be most intriguing was the memorial and graves of British sailors killed during what became known as 'The Corfu Incident'. In the far left hand side of the cemetery, deep in the shade stands a large white stone, with the names of 32 Royal Navy personnel from the ships HMS Volage and HMS Saumarez, killed by Albanian mines in 1946, and whose bodies were never recovered. In a neat line leading away from the main memorial lie another 13 smaller white stones. These mark the remains of those 12 sailors recovered from the ships, plus the remains of a young midshipman (18 years old) from HMS Forth who died in Gibraltar in 1951 and was transferred to Corfu. Being ex-RN I became intrigued by these graves and the story surrounding them. I had never heard of the 'Corfu Incident', and yet here lay the remains of 44 British Seaman killed by mines one year after the war had ended. Why and how? I decided to find out not only for myself, but to keep the story alive in the hope that these sailors would not be forgotten. Here is what I've found out so far. In May of 1946 Albanian shore batteries fired upon two British cruisers, HMS Orion and HMS Superb. As Britain had just won the war and supposedly ruled the seas, they could not ignore this episode had to make the point that the straits between Corfu and Albania could and should be used freely by ships going about their lawful and peaceful business. In a show of force designed to demonstrate who was boss (my opinion), in October 1946, four British ships led by the cruiser HMS Mauritius sailed through the narrow channel, which were at the time recognised International Waters. HMS Saumarez, a destroyer, was in second in line, with the cruiser HMS Leander and destroyer, HMS Volage, following behind. Just off Saranda, HMS Saumarez struck a mine. It was a massive explosion just below her bridge on the starboard side. HMS Volage was ordered to aid the crippled ship and if possible take her under tow. The Volage managed to secure a tow rope, (despite the surrounding sea burning with oil) and start the tow. Tragically as she moved off, she herself hit a mine which blew off her bow, the tow and instantly killed eight men. Despite the damage and loss of life to HMS Volage her crew courageously manoeuvred her back to a position where she could recover the tow. She accomplished this but had to tow the Saumarez astern; that is both ships sailing stern first. What a feat of seamanship and real bravery. It took thirteen hours to travel the sixteen miles to Corfu, it must have been a terrifying experience for all the surviving seamen, living through the horror of the explosion and the loss of their shipmates and friends and for every minute that passed of those long hours at sea, the thought in the back of their own minds must have been are there any more mines? Thirteen hours of expecting another explosion, of 'is this my last moment?' The channel had been swept clear of mines after the war. The straits had also been used recently without incident. so there was no way of knowing if the rest of the passage through the straits would be safe. Terrifying indeed. They must also have been very brave. A total of 44 men were killed. There were also another 50 men who suffered serious injuries. Albania denied laying the mines and any knowledge of them. However the Royal Navy swept the Straits and found that, in all, there had been a total of 25 brand new mines in the channel. This proved they were not rogue mines left over from the war. The League of Nations proved that the mines could not have been put in position without the knowledge of Albania, who had manned look-out points and shore batteries all along the coast. Albania counter-charged Britain for trespassing in Albanian waters without permission and sweeping for mines. Britain was found guilty of this charge! Albania was found guilty of laying the mines or having knowledge of them and fined about £830,000. The fine was never paid nor an apology ever received for the murder of those sailors, for that was what it was. Murder!! In June of this year 2007, I returned to Corfu with a wreath from the RBLS Irvine Branch and placed it at the memorial to the men killed in the Corfu Incident. I was accompanied by a friend Dave Hughes (ex-Para). It was his first visit and he was quite moved by, not only the incident, but the British Cemetery and the dedication of George Psailas to his task of looking after the gardens. I say 'gardens', for that is what they are. Every grave has wild flowers growing on them, and although it is a cemetery it is still a delightful place to have a stroll or even spend some time watching the resident tortoises wander around (George also puts out fresh fruit and veg for them) in the shade. It must be really beautiful when the orchids are in bloom. On leaving the cemetery there is a visitors' book and many messages in many languages appear here. You can also leave a small donation to help with the upkeep. You don't have to and no offence taken if you refrain. The wreath laid this year was dedicated not only to those men lost during 'The Incident' but to the Late Peter Smith who served on HMS Saumarez and survived the mine. He died on the 28th April this year. Peter's best friend or 'Oppoe' was AB Vernon Francis who was killed by the mine and his body never recovered. Peter named his son after his pal, and that son, Vernon Smith, asked me to say a few words on his behalf at the memorial. Vernon also told me his father was always troubled by the fact that he never knew if his friend Vernon's body was ever recovered. It is to my regret that I could not give a definite answer to him before he passed away. I have included some pictures with these notes, most are my own. Two B/W of the funeral in the British Cemetery are by kind permission of George Psaila the caretaker of the British Cemetery Corfu and are featured in a little booklet he wrote 'The Orchid House' in 1984 Martin Richards for the B&W pictures of HMS Saumarez and HMS Volage. I don't know him personally, but the pictures came to me via a very long route.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.

The words written in the previous pages are my own, as are the opinions. The whole incident has been covered by better and more informed people than me. There has been a book written on the subject, which I have been unable to acquire at this time. The title is 'The Corfu Incident" by Eric Leggett. New English Library: 1976 ISBN-13: 9780450024740 ISBN: 0450024741 George Psailas attended the funerals of the sailors killed by the mines in his second year as Supervisor. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission awarded him a prize of honour in 1977. It reads:

Certificate Presented by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to George Psailas In Recognition of Long and Devoted Service

[Directions: From Corfu seafront to south of the old town and turn inland onto Alexandras Avenue, which is a big tree lined avenue. At the top of this is Place George Theotoki which contains a roundabout. From this roundabout follow the signs for the hospital and the British Cemetery down Polichronis Konstanta. The cemetery is to the left and very close to the prison.] Further accounts by Thomas Arthur Russell gathered on the BBC People's War site (he is the source of the photo at the top of this entry. It cannot he by him as he was on HMS Saumarez.

* * * * *An earlier 'Corfu Incident' occurred after four Italians, including General Enrico Tellini, were stopped on 23 Aug 1927 on a road between Greece and Albania by a fallen tree. They were shot and killed on the Greek side of the border. Mussolini sent an ultimatum demanding 50 million lire reparation and the execution of those involved. [see Corfiot Italians used as a pretext by Mussolini for Italian expansionism] Greece was unable to identify them. Italy bombarded and occupied Corfu on 31 August, killing at least fifteen civilians. Greece appealed to the League of Nations, which handed the issue to the Conference of Ambassadors - set up by the allies to deal with problems arising out of treaties following WW1. Italy and Greece agreed to be bound by its decision. The Conference ordered Greece to apologise and pay reparations. Italy left Corfu on 27 September 1923 after Greece accepted the Ambassadors' decision. This incident enabled Mussolini to use Tellini's murder as a pretext for seizing a strategic foothold on Corfu and, even more important in terms of his reputation, to show that he could use force majeure to achieve his ambitions. The 'Corfu Incident' of 1927 comes up on Google before the one in 1946. It is far better known among Greeks. It was the first and highly public failure by the fledgling League of Nations' to resolve an international dispute. The incident of 1946 is a vicious footnote to history. The incident of 1927, or how it was handled by the democracies of Europe, helped to make history by sending a message to the world that might makes right. A picture I requested from Frank Carrick, which captures the serenity of the British Cemetery in Corfu. Thanks to George Psailas for his stewardship of 'our people' in this green plot under a Greek sun:

If I should die, think only this of me; That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England's breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. And think, this heart, all evil shed away, A pulse in the eternal mind, no less Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

[My Iraqi friend said: 'A smile starts on the lips, A grin spreads to the eyes. A chuckle comes from the belly. But a good laugh bursts forth from the soul, overflows, and bubbles all around' Rupert Brooke, poet and officer of the Royal Navy who died on a transporter off Lemnos departing for the fighting at Gallipoli, is buried on Skyros in the Northern Sporades. I've added for pleasure and joy another English thing (er - actually - a German born composer sung by a New Zealander), Teddy Tahu Rhodes, on the edge of triumphant laughter, singing Handel's 'The Trumpet Shall Sound' to a fine trumpeter. Were I to name a British Zorba , T T Rhodes would be he. Note to perceptive Greeks: I use 'English' in its archaic sense to mean 'British'. Now we are becoming four nations again, I refer to those from England, Wales, Scotland and N.Ireland as 'British' but I'm 80% Scots. Linda is all English, Frank Carrick is surely Scottish, and no doubt all these, and probably more, are to be found among the men of Saumarez and Volage who lie in the cemetery near San Rocco Square.]

The Corfu Channel. Saranda in the distance - September 2006

[Back to the future: My visit with Frank Carrick, writer of most above's post, to the British Cemetery this September 2009]

[Back to the future 3 Nov 2009: I've just seen a story by Malcolm Brabant reporting the discovery of remains on a stern portion of HMS Volage. ... 12/11/16 The link to this story no longer exists. Try HMS Volage - see final paragraphs]