Hi all,
It's been a while since I've posted but have been busy getting to 64,000 words.
Below is a more recent extract I was quite pleased with:
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“I’ve been on the internet…” says Annie.
“You’m turnin’ into one o’ them greeks,” says Freddy.
“You mean geeks laughs Annie.”
“Whatever.”
We’re all crammed into Annie’s bedroom, now designated Campaign HQ, talking about how to organise the campaign, if we can organise the campaign – I still think Annie’s crazy, Charlie too.
“Anyway, I found this article and it says we need to start with the five ‘Ws’.”
“The five ‘Ws’?” asks Ern.
“Yes. Why? Who? What? Where? When?”
“Well, the why’s easy,” says Charlie.
“Yes. We’re trying to save Edna. But we need to make it bigger than that if we’re going to give it National Appeal. It’s about the dignity of the elderly, not separating any couple just because one of them’s sicker than the other. I’d like to try and get some organisations on board; Age Concern and Help the Aged.”
“Sounds sensible,” says Charlie.
“Yes. Now for the Who?”
“Well, there’s us,” says Ern.
“..and the boggers,” says Freddy.
“Who? You mean the b-Loggers. Yes. Freddy’s right. The blog will help. We’re getting quite a lot of traffic, visitors, but we’ll need as many people as possible. If we can get Age Concern and H.T.E to join us, that’s great, but we need to think about other ways of generating publicity before the event. I suggest that I act as campaign co-ordinator and press liaison. I was hoping your India might be able to help me out?” says Annie.
“I can ask her,” I says.
“I’m sure she will,” says Charlie.
“OK. Maybe we can call hr later and come up with some ideas for getting the march on the map, which brings us to the What? I say we stick with the original idea. Try and get as many people, nationally, to sign a petition and then take it to Mr Blair’s doorstep and drop it off.”
“What’ll it say?”
“What’ll what say?”
“The petition, what’ll it say?” I ask.
“Well, something about keeping elderly couples together in Retirement Homes, regardless of their level of care. We can iron out the details later. Charlie. I want you to handle the Where? I’ve been doing some research….”
“On the internet?” says Ern.
“Yes, on the internet. Anyway, the Where needs a lot of planning. First we need to decide where to meet, it’ll need to be somewhere that can handle a lot of people but not too far from Downing Street. A lot of the people marching may not be able to walk too far. The logistics of tat are actually quite complicated. You need to speak to the local councils, the Met, maybe even Downing Street….I thought with your legal background…”
“No problem,” says Charlie.
“Here. I’ve already printed off a list of numbers. You can use my mobile. We might need stewards and stuff along the way. Age Concern and H.T.E might be able to provide those, assuming they agree to help.”
“Erm. I don’t mean ta be a killjoy but how are we going to get to London in the first place?”
“Shit! I hadn’t thought about that. The train costs a fortune….besides we’d have to get to Taunton, first.”
“I might be able ta sort something out,” said Freddy.
We all stare at Freddy.
“How?” asks Annie.
“I used to do the gardens for that Mr Harding.”
“The Bus Company!”
“Yes,” smiles Freddy. “We got on OK. I could try and give ‘im a ring. I think I ‘ave ‘is phone number somewhere.”
Annie leans towards Freddy and kisses him on the cheek. He blushes bright red and wipes his cheek but he is grinning from ear-to-ear.
“What about me?” asks Ern.
“What d’you mean?”
“Well, you all have jobs to do. What about me?”
“Ah, yes. I want you to work with Emily. We’ll need publicity shots; something that’ll grab the public’s imagination; something that Tony Blair won’t be able to ignore. I thought maybe you two could come up with some ideas. We’ll also need banners, posters, anything else you can think of to grab people’s attention.”
“Right,” says Ern.
“What about me?” I ask
“Well. It’s up to you….I don’t know how you feel about it…”
“Spit it out,” I say, it isn’t like Annie to beat around the bush.
“Well. I want you to act as our spokesperson, assuming your up to it. Give interviews to the newspapers, radio, TV….”
“Sure. If I can.”
“That sort of brings us to the When….everything hinges on that. We need to decide a date to aim for, something to plan around,” says Annie.
“We don’t have much time,” I say. “The Management Committee still want us out. Bertha had a word with us after the Circle of Life. ‘Don’t think this makes a difference, Everard’,” I say doing my best impression of Bridget.
“You’re right, but if we can start to build the pressure now…keep the publicity going. I think we’ve bought ourselves some time.”
“Maybe. But, well. I might not be able to go marching in a few months’ time.”
“How long do you think we need/” asks Charlie.
“Well. This document I found. About how to plan a protest or march, says that you ought to start planning five or six months in advance. I want to do it in four.”
“Four months!” Charlie, Freddy, Ern and me all exclaim in unison.
“Yes. April 1st. There’s no fool like and old fool…” says Annie.
“Can we really do this?” I ask. “Of course we can,” says Annie. “Right. You lot bugger off. I’m going to write all this up. Who’s doing what and come up with a campaign strategy…I’ll see you at lunch.”
