11 August 2001
My older Nikon Coolpix 5100 has just about given up the ghost. We'll keep it in case we can do some digi-scoping with it. Anyway, I ordered a new compact camera because I like to have one slipped into my pocket when I'm out and about ... not that it will get used today seeing as it is raining quite hard here in Dorktown right now and I'm not going out in it.
My new toy is another Nikon, this time a Coolpix S3100 and really is 'compact' camera. It's about 30% smaller than 5100 and so far from what we have done with it here so far. Hopefully I can get out tomorrow and try it properly. I'm looking forward to learning how to using the video mode and to edit the results properly. I shall need that because I will doing some videos to promote my books when they go on sale.
Asda in the town centre have a free 2 hour parking limit with no return visit in the car park. About 18 months ago the realized that a lot of people were parking in there all day for free. Some are parking and getting the train or bus to work; others are parking there and going off around town or to work in town. The result is that on occasion Asda customers can't find a parking. I suspect that this has been going on ever since the store opened, however long ago that was. Well, they've installed cameras and have started charging people who park for longer the allowed 2 hours £30. There's uproar over it. The system needs to be adjusted somewhat though. This morning the local paper ran the story giving one instance of a shopper who shopped in Asda one day leaving before the 2 hour limit. BUT ... he went back less than 24 hours later and he got a £30 bill for doing so. I agree with what Asda are doing but it needs to sorted so that the only ones who get the bill are those who are abusing the system.
My first book is nearly ready for publication. As a taster here's the prologue ...
Prologue
16 July 2003
Everything I say is a lie, but what I am about to tell you is the truth.
Well now ... who am I? My name is Thomas Brian Parker. I’m 51 years old and have been married for 30 years and we have one son Matthew who is 28 and in a stable relationship with 2 children of his own. My wife Pauline is disabled. I’m her carer and over the last 20 plus years we have managed to live within her limitations. What that means is that we have been able to develop our own lives to some extent but still keep our shared interests too. With that in mind then I am able to go off by myself every so often and have a few days off exploring. In addition I usually manage to go off on Sundays while Pauline goes to church. That’s when I spend a lot of time taking photos. In fact, I’ve always got a camera with me wherever I go but Sundays and my odd few days off are the main times I’m taking photos.
So what do I do apart from taking photos while I’m out and about all on my lonesome? We both enjoy bird watching so that’s always on the cards whenever and wherever I end up because my birding gear is always in the car along with a field guide, a note book, pen and pencil. We both enjoy photography and as I said, I do a lot of that. I do tend to shoot a lot of pub signs as well as old churches and other old buildings but to be honest, if it’s there and it takes my interest I’ll shoot it. Landscapes I find difficult to do well though. Now then, what else is there? Art galleries, museums of all kinds especially air museums, as well as ship and transport museums are all favourites. Pubs, the older the better, which serve real ale are always worth a visit and a pint or two but of course I can’t have too much because of the drink driving laws. And one thing I don’t want to do right now is to attract police interest.
When I’m at home I like to watch the Crime and Investigation channel on Virgin cable TV. There are some amazing stories on there. I’ve watched stories about Fred and Rosemary West, Brady and Hindley, Harold Shipman, the Yorkshire Ripper, Suffolk Strangler, the Railway Murderers and countless other such serial killers. The one constant in all of them is that they have eventually been caught, tried and sentenced and are now serving very long prison terms or have taken the cowards way out and killed themselves.
But before their trial they have to be caught and the police use all sorts of tools to help them. One of them is the psychological profiler. This worthy is invited in to look at the evidence if there is any, the victims and crime scenes and so on to see if anything strikes them as being obvious. The profiler then comes out with a theory of what and who the police should be looking for. There’s no clear details of course, ‘a man aged 25-40, living locally, unemployed or in low grade menial employment below his intelligence level, minimum education being an underachiever, living alone or possible married with kids ... ... ...’ It’s all a bit wishy-washy and vague. From that the police could be looking at thousands of men. But what if the killer is a woman? Did the profiler think of that? And what if the killer had decided that he wasn’t going to play their silly games and make it easy for them?
Eventually another so-called ‘expert’ (for the meaning of which you have to break the word down ... ‘ex, is past or has been and spurt is a drip under pressure). These ‘has been drips under pressure’ come out of the woodwork spouting their theories as to why these crimes happen. ‘He was abused by his mother so he now hates all women’ or, ‘he was ignored by his mother and now hates all women’ or, ‘he was ignored by his mother and is now looking for someone to give him the love and attention he missed ... ... ...’ Again, it’s all wishy-washy.
To some extent the police also seem to have a fixed mind as well. Their first thoughts are to look at the local violent offenders and see what they’ve been up to. They look back at their records to see if there have been any similar crimes in the past that might give them a lead. Another comment heard time and again is that serial killers don’t just start up, they develop over the years starting with things like cruelty to animals and then moving on to violence to other people that escalates to the first murder. The thrill of that first killing lasts for some time but once the thrill starts to decline and the need comes again, off he goes to do another one, and so on until the need is so great that the killings are happening very regularly and quickly after each other. Once caught the police find that they did know about the murderer in some way but then find it very hard to accept that they didn’t connect him to the case before.
Well now, I don’t have a criminal record, in fact I’ve only ever had two speeding tickets and one endorsement for a defective tyre in all of 40 years of driving. I’ve never been investigated for a criminal offence. As you can gather I don’t have a lot of respect for either the police or the so-called criminal justice system but that is not because of how it has treated me but because of the gross inequalities and differences we see in sentencing when cases are brought to court and guilty verdicts given. As for my mother, she never neglected me or my brother or show that she didn’t care or love either of us. She was never violent towards us or abused us in any way. Neither did my Father. So where does that leave us then? Read on and make up your own mind, but remember this ...
Everything I say is a lie, but what I am about to tell you is the truth. I am me, but who am I?
[This line is from a scfi story I read years ago but I can't remember the writer of the story title, sorry]
It’s up to you to decide if you believe me or not.
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