29 July 2002 @ 03:00 am

DAY OF THE DOG :  

Sunday already. 

So damn hard keeping track on time. 

I think I drank too much again this weekend. 

But then again I think I think too much if you catch my drift. 

It is great to be back in England. There is only so much of the eastern Europeans I can take and after a long ass haul like that i am overjoyed to be
back home. 

I guess we landed around thirty six hours ago in London Heathrow. 

After departing through customs with nothing to declare and getting away with it once again i spent most of the night crashed out in the back of
a van going up north. 

As per usual i was the last man out and got ditched off at some wreck of a service station miles from home with all my kit. I had to call for a cab
around 5.00AM this morning which got me back home at around 6.45AM. 

The dogs had been dropped off the night before so after the usual meet and greet i hit the shower for the first time in a week or so .

Witness the magical healing properties of hot running water - just can’t beat it . I put the world news on TV and immediately crashed out
alongside the dogs until around 2.00PM.

Eyes wide open.

Still feeling pretty alert from the European jaunt I decided to go for a walk. I made some lunch even though I had no appetite at all - almost
forcing it down - then I locked up and headed towards the back streets and onto the park.

I think I had been out about fifteen minutes or so when I came across this dog just hanging about in the road watching as I approached. My
grandfather used to breed working dogs for the military and the police force so I have absolutely no fear of dogs at all having grown up amongst
packs of Alsatians - Doberman pinschers and boxers. 

As I neared this dog I could clearly tell it was a bitch - a young one too - pretty big in size and pure muscle - and unless i am proved wrong she
looks like a full blown pedigree boxer. I gave her my hand and she was fine. She had no ID collar. I put my hand in her mouth to check for teeth -
which had barely come through. I am guessing she is between six and nine months old.

The thing is a dog like this is worth around £600 / $1000 - you don’t just lose a dog like this. My guess is that the dog is micro chipped seeing as
how it had no form of collar ID - and i suppose i should at least get her scanned by the local veterinary surgeon . But for now she is in my room
for the night snoring away - i think she has some sunstroke going from her bloodshot eyes. Probably from being out in the heat for several days. 

I brought her back home with me and introduced her to my other two dogs earlier on. That went without any problems. So far so good . So for
what was going to be a regular short walk - not a bad welcome home present. A complimentary guard dog on the house.

And on TV the breaking news on BBC NEWS 24 is that some kind of returned space probe has crash landed in the United States within the past
hour. I swear I heard them say it has landed in Utah but I had my headphones on and missed all but the very end of the report but there are
several more due to follow soon with more details . 

But that would be some clean up job if it landed in a populated area. In someone’s home. I could do without any satellite crashing into my house
tonight or any other night.
 
29 July 2002 @ 03:13 am
  

More on the TV news stations. 

Nine American miners who have been trapped 240 feet underground in a flooded dig hole for the past three days just been rescued with literally
minutes to spare before the whole place filled with water and they drowned. I bet they are feeling damn lucky to be alive right now. 
And another plane crash landed in Europe. That is the second unexplained crash since I got home not even two days ago . I am glad it was not
the flight I was on. And what the hell is with these planes just falling out of the sky. 

And the latest news on the returned venues probe story is that one of the three capsules that malfunctioned immediately upon re entering
earth’s atmosphere had actually crashed straight through the roof of an old folks home killing nine elderly residents as they sat watching TV .

It is a true sign of being back home when you have a TV that speak the queens English.
 
30 July 2002 @ 06:26 pm
  

Strange weather of late. It has been over 30 degrees the last few days. Unusually hot for this time of year. 

Then twenty minutes ago the sky just opened up and all of a sudden it was heavy rain. 

Thunderstorms and lightning. 

I was just speaking on the phone to a friend of mine up in Glasgow: Scotland and he says it is crazy up there. His power went off and his
computer reset itself when lightning hit the PowerStation. He lost whatever it was he was working on and went on to tell me that the whole G66
grid went down for over an hour. 

Several sections of the local railway lines have collapsed - one section of which he can see from his back bedroom window. And almost every
residential area is flooded - including his front garden. 

Talk about the end of the world or what.

 
30 July 2002 @ 06:44 pm
  

Now wait a second. 

The TV news channel reports that a group of up to fifty whales have just beached themselves off the east coast of America for no apparent
reason.

Which made me think one thing. Something bad fell into the sea.
31 July 2002 @ 02:47 pm
  

More heavy rain. 

The dogs are desperate to go out for a run . They hate being locked up for any longer than twenty four hours or so . But it is coming down far too
heavy and shows no signs of relenting any time soon. 

Another late night last night. I think i had another bad dream. Feeling a little rough today. 

So I was originally going to try and make the store this afternoon - but after waking up late and taking one look out the window i figured that will
have to wait until tomorrow.

I got mail this morning despite the bad weather. I signed the only certificate that required a signature after first observing the envelope and the
drops of rain bouncing off the address and then matching the signature to the name written on the box itself. Something I later realized I had
done automatically. 

I had signed for an long box shaped object which turned out to be the custom build tanto knife made for me by fury hunting company . I had
ordered this custom model several months ago while out of the country through a friend of a friend and was relieved to see that it had finally
arrived safe and sound along with a couple of other items . I was beginning to think that it may have been either lost or intercepted by customs
when I got home and found that they had not arrived here before me.
Nothing special. No exotic components. Just a slight variant on the standard tanto hunting knife with a little extra weight added and the
identification brands removed. 

The knife itself is a great build and I cannot understand why they do not apply the common sense variations i had specified to the standard
model at the factory. I will give it a rock wipe tomorrow and it should prove to be my one stop shop for the next couple of years - or at least until
I have to dispose of it .

Earlier on today I was trying out a new replacement 240V mains power supply for my frequency scanner that had also arrived in this morning’s
mail when I picked up one of my neighbors. The guy a couple of doors down on the opposite side of the street speaking on the phone to his drug
dealer. Everyone knew he dialed but he never brought any trouble in and generally kept himself to himself. Even still I guess I should mention to
him next time I see him that he should be a little more careful with his choice of words when speaking on his house phone.

Even better was last night when I picked up the police helicopter and saved the frequency into a spare channel bank: 525.50. Nothing of much
interest. The pilot and his assistant were just guiding the ground force through some wooded terrain not far from here. Though I did find out
some really interesting information on how unreliable the thermal imaging camera can be even on a relatively clear night.

They obviously had major problems trying to find whoever it was that they had been looking for with the thermal imaging camera. I don’t think
they actually found him in the end but I am not too sure of the outcome as it was only one side of the conversation I was getting for the most
part - the chopper broadcast only. 

I know it is capable of locating a hidden suspect by identifying the person’s body heat. But for some reason they had no luck at all catching that
one guy last night.

I remember hearing them fly away and then I crashed out on top of the bed with the TV on for company.

Just waiting for the latest news and weather report.

 
01 August 2002 @ 10:54 pm
  

More heavy rain. I am expecting another thunder storm later on tonight. 

Still stuck inside the house . I never even made the store today for the second day in a row. I went into the city centre to draw some cash out
from the bank and came right back home soaked to the skin. Something unusual is going down in outland.

Most notable recent events: 

1. Police presence out on the street within the past twenty four hours has pretty much quadrupled. Patrol cars only. The cars seem to be working
in pairs or even in fours. All police personnel now wearing issue black Kevlar vests. 

2. I seen the Territorial Army today for the first time in about five years. Which in itself is odd considering the base is about a two minute run
from my house and we never see them.

I spoke online with some American guys I know today. Just catching up but we ended up chatting about pretty similar events going on over there
with the police and military out in force for some unknown reason. One guy I know called Burket - otherwise known as P2501 rents a house right
next door to an air force base and he claims that there is more military air traffic passing over within the last week than there was for the first
month of desert storm. He also goes on to say - and I quote :

P2501 : Something is up out here, I dun no what but I’ve noticed A LOT of increased police presence outside almost constantly since four nights
ago .

. . . One of my friends works at the county 911 center. She said all the police, fire and EMS dispatching personnel have been placed on 24 hour
rotating shifts. They haven't done this since Sept 11th.

. . . I figured this was all homeland security shit. But last night as I stopped into a convenience store to grab some coffee, I walked at a state police
cruiser, where they usually keep a pump twelve gauge there was a loaded AR 15. Like I said something is up. " 

Another guy I know came up with the most likely explanation . Preparations for another terrorist threat. And I quote the good man
Crappingbear:
CB: We are one month away from September...9/11. Terrorists are renowned for doing a big strike, then laying low and coming back on an
anniversary or other important date. So, I’m wondering if the bad guys are on the move on a big scale and things are getting hairy on tracking
them or their targets. This theory also makes sense with England being weird since the Isla maniacs said they were going to strike there next for
allying with America. 

At this moment in time I am not so sure what to make of any of this.

03 August 2002 @ 01:48 pm

  

Well they say you can never be paranoid enough - words I think about on a daily basis. But whatever the hell was going down recently . . . seems
to have ended abruptly. 

The sun is back out with a vengeance like it never went away. Whatever was going on with the police and military is over - only thing that i can
attribute the whole scenario to is that it could well have been some kind of secret rehearsal drill in the event of a possible future terrorist threat.
God knows. 

I found myself thinking back to the police helicopter broadcast i overheard the night before last. Wondering if they had found who it was they
had been looking for in the woods. And why the thermal imaging camera could not get a fix on him despite the pilot insisting it was working fine
and he could see the ground force. I wondered if the person they had been looking for had somehow cloaked his body heat. I wondered if an
emergency survival blanket would do it. The silver foil type they use to keep body heat in. But I figured he just got lucky and the heat seeking
camera was acting up.

And I really need to hit the stores again while I am out. I have to remember to get some cable so I can fix up a new pair of headlights on the front
of my car.
 

05 August 2002 @ 08:24 pm

  

Today I went back into the city centre again. And raided my bank account yet again. It is only money and god knows I have earn it four times
over during the past ten months. 

I bought a whole bunch of stuff. Clothes / Books / Movies / Software / Music. I also bought up the last lot of essential equipment i need for my
camping trip this year. And in addition to that I also managed to score a whole box of green Rizal rolling papers. 

So at least I am going to be good for rolling papers for the next . . . let’s say ten years or so.

Right now I have to go back down to the main superstore and stock up with some decent foodstuffs for the next couple of weeks. And then
tomorrow I will hit the Costco warehouse to fulfill all of my wholesale buying needs. 

Local news on TV: Several strange reports of people disappearing over the weekend - in some cases disappearing from within a group. Weird
goings on. Police suspect foul play and multiple suspects. Possibly gang related.

In a separate incident two local girls who both live in my area have also disappeared while on their way home from a friend’s house late last
night - but no news on that yet.
 
06 August 2002 @ 02:03 am
  

Tonight i picked up the armed response unit for the first time on the frequency scanner. They didn't give much away - maintaining radio silence
for most of the time or using another frequency which was either blocked or outside of my range. 

There was also a lot of additional ground force out tonight. The dog patrols once again working in conjunction with the police helicopter and
trying to flush people out of several densely wooded areas about a mile down past the train station. 
There must have been another incident within my immediate area. A definite and separate occurrence began to unfold as the helicopter headed
over this way from the train station and stayed almost directly above my house for at least ten minutes - briefly lighting up the rooftops of the
houses immediately opposite with the powerful mounted searchlight housed on the framework of the undercarriage and revealing a scene
stolen from Gotham city never present before. 

Several pursuit cars raced down my street and the street behind me. Stopping abruptly at the intersection before continuing on and being
drowned out by the noise of the helicopter circling above.

Also i just heard on CNN about the west Nile virus that is currently spreading like wildfire across the United States. And on the local news report
an apparently isolated case of legionnaire’s disease has been diagnosed in England. Barrow in Furness. Forty dead. 

The strange thing is that I would have expected the media to be all over that story but it got nothing other than a fleeting mention.
 
06 August 2002 @ 02:20 am
  

Man that is too bad.

The little deaf boy opposite me has died during the night. He had a bad heart. I am not sure exactly what happened. Complications I guess. The
ambulance has just left the street a few minutes ago. 

I expect I will be invited to attend some kind of funeral service early next week.

Seven years old. What a total nightmare.

 
06 August 2002 @ 07:38 pm
  

My sister and her boyfriend left for Greece this morning. Flying out from Manchester airport. I got a weird feeling about it due to several things I
have been hearing about from some people I know online. But I didn't voice any concern to either of them as they left. My sister hates flying as it
is. Most likely she will phone my mother as soon as she arrives in Greece just to put her mind at ease.

Today i had seen an RAF Chinook helicopter fly overhead. An impressive sight indeed. Most probably attached to the joint helicopter command
in Hampshire. I could not fail to miss it as it was flying low and seemed to be carrying an oversized payload of some kind though I am not sure
what exactly.

So yeah according to the people I know over in the United States it sounds like the situation in certain states is getting completely out of hand.
All kinds of conspiracy theories are being discussed - most of them are seriously flawed but they all seem more than convinced that the shit is
about to hit the fan. 

A whole lot of crazy talk which I am putting down to the upcoming date of 9/11 combined with a few other strange and oddly timed incidents.
The whole space probe thing for a start - that has to have been some kind of cover up. Then I heard some talk about some bizarre chemical spill
in the capitol city. And then there is the whole west Nile virus that is sweeping across America. 

That is my main fear. The knock on effect of a virus like that.

 
07 August 2002 @ 01:38 am
  

It is hot again. An almost intolerable heat. I swear it is never this hot over here. 

I went out for a late night drive just to cool down and ended up pulling into the petrol station on the other side of the park on the way back. I
figured I should fill up the gas tank and the spare tank while I was out. Not much going on over there. 

Looks like i am in for another late night.

Too hot to even think about sleeping.

07 August 2002 @ 11:58 pm
Update 13 :  

The red in the sky is ours.

I just ventured outside into the back yard as I let the dogs out and happened to glimpse up at the night sky just as I was turning around to head
back inside. It looks amazing. I have never seen a sky like that in my life. 

It is bright red as far as the eye can see almost as if the whole world has had a red filter placed over it. 

I am wondering if this is the same effect discussed by the American contingent early last week - but they never described it too much effect or in
any great detail . I suppose it is just one of those things you have to see for yourself. 

And the heat . . . the heat.

In other news seventeen more cases of legionnaires disease diagnosed in the same place as the original forty dead. I caught a brief glimpse of it
on the local news report before but only caught the basic details. I will try and catch it again later on tonight on CNN or BBC 24 along with as
many other conflicting storylines and media hype I can get my hands on.

09 August 2002 @ 01:02 am

Update 14 :  

Whoa! Seems like things over in America are getting very serious all of a sudden. Despite the minimal media coverage available i pulled this off
the net today >>>

On CNN this morning...

State and Federal spokesmen commented on the apparent rash of violent behavior sweeping up and down the east coast, this morning. 

Citizens are being advised to stay in their homes, unless work or emergency dictates otherwise. In such cases, special care should be taken to
avoid violent or unusual looking persons, based on personal judgment. They stress that NO ACTION should be taken against any suspicious
person, as feelings of paranoia can lead to rash and ill-advised action. Merely steer clear of anyone fitting these descriptions and report their
location to the proper authorities as soon as possible. It is also stressed that 911 should NOT be used to report these persons, as these lines are
reserved to help only those in IMMEDIATE DANGER. 

Federal authorities also made comments about a threat to the nation's economy, in the form of mass withdrawals from banks all over the east
coast. As with the Y2K scare of two years ago...many people are expected to panic and withdraw their savings for fear of losing assets. This is
highly ill-advised, at this time, and officials warn that if trends turn that direction, a freeze will be placed on all assets in banks' possession, to
prevent a crash of the entire US Economy.

Little was said about the cause of the recent activity...several possibilities have been put forth from the public, ranging from Al Qaida retaliation
to biblical Armageddon. Officials at the CDC refuse to comment on the current findings in their study at the epicenter of the attacks in
Pennsylvania; saying only that they have found several leads, but nothing is definite, yet.........

09 August 2002 @ 01:15 am

Update 15 :  

Anyways - I had been outside most of the night wiring up my car. Good job I checked coz I have a busted headlamp. I don’t know when it
happened - must have been recently as it was in the local garage for a service and full M.O.T. less than two weeks ago. I also fitted and wired up
a couple of bright red L.E.D. lights on the hood too. Looks cool in the dark! So tomorrow I go grab a new headlamp bulb from mop arts - I try and
buy a few spares too if they ain’t too expensive - then I can finalize and tidy up all the mess under the hood. Got to do some drilling and minor
adjustments then I’m all set. in light of recent events and also in hindsight of the petrol shortage of last year - I decided it a good idea to go buy a
larger 20Ltr jerry can and keep that filled and rotated at all times .

in local news - the two young girls are still missing . The parents have done a fresh TV appeal explaining how they along with friends spent last
night out in the dark fields looking for their dead daughters in a ditch. That’s a pretty brutal task when you think about it . but some good news -
the police have located some street camera footage of the girls from a few nights back and are now looking for a group of four men to come
forward for questioning so police can eliminate them from their official enquiries ........................
09 August 2002 @ 01:59 am
Update 16 :  
i spent a large part of today dwelling on something i heard last week in a passing conversation . i paid no attention to it at the time - i was sure
this guy was 100% bullshitting or totally over-reacting or whatever . but today it really stuck in my head for some reason . but it makes no sense
at all ...............

Update 17 :  
Heavy rain again. Didn’t make the shops again. Which means I’m still one headlamp short. Weird things on the news again. Apparently it was 111
people quarantined and critical at Burness hospital and not 17 as originally stated - two people officially dead so far. An OCC < outbreak control
centre > has been set up. Apparently everybody there knows someone who is infected. Heavy duty. 
In other news - the national papers are offering a one million pounds reward for the two young girls. And the group of four unknown males have
yet to come forward to the police. And stateside - seems like things have defiantly taken a turn for the worse. From the sounds of things certain
states there are already under martial law ... I pulled this from the net again........

"This announcement was on CNN this afternoon...

In leu of recent events across the eastern sea board, The CDC in conjunction with the federal government has imposed an unheard of quarantine
on the entire state of Pennsylvania. All flights in and out of Pennsylvania have been canceled by order of the Federal Government and the CDC.
The state's boarders are now being blocked on all sides by U.S. Army Reserve soldiers from all surrounding states, with orders to detain and
sequester anyone attempting to break the barricade, the entire state is under Martial Law, and the surrounding states of New York, New Jersey,
Ohio and the Virginias are all seeing a massive amount of military presence. No information has been given as to the reasons behind this, though
most assume that the CDC has declared PA as the source for the panic and chaos rising up all over the East Coast. 

Officials promise to have a briefing ready for the public by tomorrow morning, and the President is scheduled to hold a press conference
tomorrow evening, regarding his recent meetings with the CDC, NASA and members of the cabinet.

In other news, the military seems to be stepping up activity in all areas of the country, presumably also in response to the present Eastern Crisis.
Several sources have hinted that all air traffic may indeed be grounded, to prevent spread of any possible disease-related causes for the crisis to
other countries. Many overseas flights have already been canceled, with no alternate dates given for make-up flights...most of which resulted
from foreign airlines refusing service to U.S. locations. "