in this strange (if not quite brave) new world of ours it's relatively easy for seemingly important stories, or news events, to be overlooked. we have a constant stream of information hitting us, all usually resplendent with variations of fact and fiction, look you see. today would appear to be as an appropriate day as any other (kind of) to have a look at one story which slipped through the net.
one of the more dominant matters to clog up the flow of information is, without question, the rather perplexing, contradictory actions of the incumbent rulers of america. at once their brilliant, curiously orange leader is embarking on both a path of isolationism with excellent tariffs placed on whatever item that comes to his fantastic mind and expansionism, going on the number of other nations he seems quite eager to make either further states of the union or just basic colonies. a third option for the latter is now on the table, however, with a provincial town in england (or "england-land" as it is usually called over in america) eager to sell their waterway to him.
spalding, a village like picturesque town in quasi central east england (land) celebrated for its tulips, has, apparently, put a "come and buy it" offer on the proverbial table of the americans. information has emerged that the river welland is "available" for the "right price". the decision to sell seems to have come from a wish to avoid any unnecessary, if not entirely needless, military incursion to claim it.
exactly who(m) has decided to make the welland river available to purchase is a little murky. so far as research, or a little digging, can find, it is not so that any elected representatives of spalding, nor the somewhat infamous parish council, has anything to do with the move. rather it is so that the whole idea has come from a clandestine organisation calling themselves the spalding revolutionary port authority.
being honest would be to say that it's seldom (if not rare) that i would take any sort of risks simply for something to write here. also it would be reasonably truthful to suggest that i don't really get all that much in the way of an "exclusive" to report on. yet here i have both, for after some careful (if not strategic) negotiations i managed to secure both a meeting and a kind of interview with this revolutionary port authority.
vital to achieving this was some secrecy. after some provisional (and quite delicate) contact being made with members of this port authority it was agreed that i could attend one of their meetings. some conditions were put in place but it was made clear that i would be granted an audience with the apparent leader of the revolutionary port authority, a gent who was keen to express his true vision and purpose so as to address an alleged "smear campaign" against him and his ambitions.
getting blindfolded and then bundled into the back of what appeared to be a serviceable van of french provenance is not something i do all that often. still, in this instance, it was made clear that this was the only way i could secure an audience with the spalding revolutionary port authority. at this stage they feel it imperative to remain as anonymous and hidden from view as possible, lest there be any unfair or unjust repercussions stemming from their plan to sell the river welland to america. they wished to make sure that i was kept in the dark as far as possible as to where they met so if i got waterboarded (or some like for like torture method) then i would suffer, yes, but not be able to reveal their base.
in accordance with their instructions i met representatives of the council at grantham north services. this was after the initial plan to meet at cromwell services fell apart when one member worked out it was a bit of hard work to exit them. on being blindfolded we drove for around an hour or so. the blindfold was taken off, and i found myself in the secret base of the spalding revolutionary port authority, which also doubles as the bin storage area for the cley hall hotel.
due to this being considered an important but still extraordinary congressional meeting of the spalding revolutionary port authority i was somewhat honoured to find that all four incumbent members had elected to attend the meeting. feeling overwhelmed by the audacity of it all, so as to break ice i congratulated them on their remarkable "hiding in plain sight" approach to a secretive base. i did, however, ask them if they were not concerned about being discovered whilst their negotiations to sell the river welland to the americans were still at a stage best defined as provisional and delicate. apparently all the staff leave the hotel grounds by around 8pm or so, earlier on weekends. surely, i enquired, there existed a risk of residents (or guests) of the hotel "rumbling" them and speaking somewhat out of turn? one of the port authority spoke up, saying that the guests of the hotel were known for appreciating secrecy. he followed this up by stating that the residents now knew only too well that they should "keep their mouths shut", tapping his nose and winking as he explained this.
the gentleman who said this turned out to be the current leader of the port authority. when i asked his name he replied that usually he preferred to be addressed as the admiral, for this he believed (based on a misunderstanding with the thames water port authority that he asked me not to be revealed due to pending legal action) was the correct title for his position. but, for the sake of making this meeting less stiff and more relaxed, he advised that i could call him Bertrand Fettlebottom.
as the admiral gazed at the steady, tranquil flow of the welland, he spoke of his dream of seeing it all lined with flags of the stars and stripes, with (in his words) them big massive container ships sailing on by, delivering load after economically rewarding load of things to various places. of these places it seems he was particularly keen on the idea of a significant amount of chlorinated chicken being delivered to ipswich, with the expressed hope (or wish) that the residents would "choke on it".
many questions came to mind about this. the most obvious were, of course, about the logistics of his vision, in particular if it was even feasible to get any sort of containership onto the welland. such questions were waved away as trivialities and logistics. on being asked why he wished to "sell" the welland to the americans the admiral said it would be "far more lucrative" than just sitting around doing nothing but waiting for them to come and invade, as appears to be what awaits panama and, in his words, "greenland or iceland or whatever the other one he wants is".
it would have been (somewhat) remiss of me not to point out to the admiral that as things stood there was no indication at all of anyone in america proposing to "invade" england (land), either to take control of the waterways or for other purposes. further i diplomatically suggested that the river welland, nice though it is, was not usually (or normally) considered as important for trade routes as, say, the mentioned panama canal is. to this his more or less simplistically shrugged, stating that "all them tree huggers, gay actors and what not" thought they were "saving the planet" by buying electric cars and not, as it according to him is, "funding right wing militia". part of me wished to take him to task on this interpretation, but i couldn't be bothered.
so as to conclude our meeting, i asked the admiral if he was by any chance related to the somewhat notorious Bertie Fettlebottom, a gentleman various authorities are eager if not keen to speak to with regards to matters such as fly tipping, instigating gang wars in america, claiming to be from silton and terrorist insurgence in portsmouth. whilst he remained silent in the face of these questions, his gesture of making a cutting motion to his neck with one hand whilst pointing overtly at me with the other hand presented a pretty conclusive answer.
how, exactly, all of this pans out of course remains to be seen. should any more details of this plan come to light, or if i hear any further activities by the admiral, i will be sure to post them here.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!