REFLECTIONS by Ray Foster

This was the first time that I opened a package and held a book that had my name on it.

'Reflections' is what it says - reflecting on how life is and how it used to be. Interspersed, with those stories are others that are straight, pure fiction like the one about a killer stalking the streets preying on those who have a weakness or a hitman with an ulterior motive.

The short story - well, that begins in the fifties. Thirty kids sitting in a classroom all doing composition during English lessons; honing a skill with a forty minute deadline. (Homework - what homework? We left education in the school where it belonged and went home to play.) That is how we grew.

Third year - that was when I was introduced to Sherlock Holmes. Once a week the English master would read from Arthur Conan-Doyle's 'The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes'. Influenced? Very. What it did was to make me realise that there was a lot to the short story. It brought home to me that this was what composition/essays were.

Inspiration came in all shapes and forms - in my case, books and movies - and,in one instance, cost me a pass in the 11 plus because my fueled up imagination took me on a journey that was the wrong one. One that I would repeat when asked to write about, on the same subject, just after I joined the Felixstowe Scribblers. That is one story in 'Reflections' so I won't spoil the fun here.

Sadly, none of the short stories that I wrote back then seem to have survived.

Most of those in 'Reflections' date from about 2000 and something on - some written during the period I spent in Felixstowe while others reflect times past in North Finchley and Orpington. I have added a couple of pieces of flash fiction that I did in conjunction with Pattinase's blog.

In some respects I have needed to go back to where I started. I think I realised that when I wrote the Jack Giles short story 'A Time To Live' that appeared in 'Where Legends Ride'. Much easier than writing the full length novel 'Lawmen'.

Music, too, both inspires me and plays like a soundtrack. Listening to Duane Eddy reminded me of a concert that I went to - it was a memorable day in more ways than one. Well, that's another story.

I was once asked why I wrote.

My answer is simple: Because I can.

And because there will always be 'Reflections' to think about.

FELIXSTOWE: A Sign Of The Times

It has to be said that anyone who visits Felixstowe does so because they want to. It is where the A14 ends - there isn't anything else. Here the roads lead to either the port, Landguard Fort, Old Felixstowe or back the way the visitor came in.
It could be said that Felixstowe is an island that faces the North Sea and situated between the Rivers Orwell, Stour and Deben.

Now, the visitor is faced with this new sign. Really, most of the stuff is common sense. No climbing on the groynes; beware of currents and the like while on the reverse it tells people to keep their dogs on a lead; keep the dogs off the beach; clean up after the dog; take nothing from the beach (pocket a sea shell and what....? A fine). No bike riding. No launching boats.
Today the beach is....empty.
Actually, the sign is a waste of money - and it is quick to point out that there are no lifeguards on the beach. What it doesn't say is that for all the rules there is no one to back them up either.

Though this is just a minor irritant there are those who are a tad upset that Felixstowe has been named in a list of the 100 crappiest towns for 2013.
The spokesman has come out with a hopeful expression and fingers crossed behind his back with a list of things that may happen in the future. A new Pier, three new supermarkets....sorry. that is where I am going to stop.
Supermarkets - petitions flying around because no one wants them. Experience tells me that the protesters will be the first through the doors when they open.
Even the Pier has opposition and that from the people who look over the existing pier.

The funny thing is that Felixstowe has outlived the Romans, the Dutch, the Italians and the Germans.

Henry the 8th built a fort where Landguard Fort stands today guarding the estuary of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Just as well, because in 1667, the Dutch invaded England when they landed on the beach. 1,500 Dutch marines attacked the small force of The Duke Of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot under the command of Captain Nathaniel Darrell. Despite the odds Darrell's artillery fired into the pebbled beach creating instant shrapnel. Eventually, the Dutch called it quits and went home.
The fort remained in occupation through the Napoleonic wars; under the walls and guns 'The Mayflower' began the famous voyage to the New World; in 1913 it saw the port become the home of seaplanes. During the First World War Felixstowe was bombed by German Zeppelins and, in the second world war, by Italian aircrews.
Between the wars as before it was a holiday destination. In 1933 Billy Butlin opened up one of his fairground attractions on the sea front.
1953 saw Felixstowe hit by one of the most devastating floods.

Felixstowe has been home to the likes of John Mills; T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) was stationed at R.A.F. Languard under the name of John Ross; and Wallis Simpson stayed here while she waited for Edward the 8ths abdication to be completed.

On film the movie 'The Sea Shall Not Have Them' not only uses the port and seaplane hangers as a location - but the German battery that fires on the Air Sea Rescue boats are in fact the guns of Languard Fort.
The River Orwell doubled as the Yangtse River in the Richard Todd movie 'Yangtse Incident' the story of the escape of H.M.S. Amethyst.

This is a resort that, in it's time, has attracted the likes of Status Quo, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Slade. Yet those days are gone and with it the Spa Pavilion Theatre.

So, Felixstowe has a lot of history - centuries where the town has been shaped by the events that have gone on in and around it.

In modern times shops have closed - big names have gone. It is a sign of the times and I don't see that three new supermarkets will change that. Felixstowe needs - and this is just my opinion - to re-focus and re-brand itself.
Opening supermarkets will not bring in visitors. Nor will opening up new restaurants and coffee shops (cafes even). Not without a sea front to attract visitors. More is needed.
OK, so the gardens by Town Hall are being re-designed but then that wasn't an area in need of a fix.
South of the Pier needs to be re-vamped to be in keeping with the rest of the sea front. Put the term pleasure with the word beach.

In 1997 a town up in Scotland - Wigtown - re-invented itself. It had a couple of second-hand bookshops but it re-branded as a Book Town. Something like Hay-on - Wye. With many Book Festivals it has thrived and, still does, despite the coming of the e-readers. Adaptability is the key to survival.
Felixstowe did put on a book festival but there were mixed feelings.
At least each year Felixstowe can boast a Vintage Car show and Hot Rods on the Prom and a decent Motorcycle Show. Also, there is the Art On The Prom Festival that draws a crowd. This year there will be an air display (weather permitting) to celebrate 100 years of the seaplanes and RAF Landguard.

As for stores and shops. Why not something like Ikea instead of a supermarket? And one of my own bugs is where in Felixstowe can I buy the latest CDs without having to go to Ipswich? And a bigger bookshop.

Isn't it a shame when you hear about Detroit - Motorcity - home of Motown and Packard going to the wall. Some of those still living there say the signs were there for all to see - they did too little too late. Money wasted on the wrong projects.

Don't get me wrong I like Felixstowe - I am happy where I live - but it needs to change to survive.

FELIXSTOWE: THE 1953 FLOODS

Walking along the beach at Felixstowe today and despite the stiff breeze and the rushing waves it is difficult to believe that 60 years ago it was a completely different pictures.
On the 31st January 1953 the combination of hurricane force winds from the north and a high spring tide produced an 18 foot storm surge that swept down the east coast of England at a high cost to life.

Of course, I was an eight year old kid when this happened and I lived miles away in North London totaly unaware of this tragedy. That was until my dad took me to see 'The Snows Of Kilimanjaro' at the local Odeon.

Normally, there would have been a 'B' movie but, instead, was a black and white newsreel that showed the devastation that this storm had brought to places like Hunstanton, Felixstowe and Canvey Island. The opening words: "We are sorry that you were woken in the early hours of the morning...." somehow have stuck with me over the years.

In Felixstowe alone 41 people died and thirteen of those were children. Not all of them were drowned, some died in their parents' arms trapped in the freezing cold weather shivering inside their pyjamas as they huddled together on the roofs of their homes.

Most of the homes were of the pre-fab design that were destroyed by the floodwaters and when you walk along Langer Road today you can only imagine what happened there.

But it was the suddeness of the storm - a policeman knocked on one door and told the occupants that they should get out but within seconds of waking their daughter they were fighting the floodwaters to escape their home and climb to the roof.

I can only imagine that it was as sudden as the tsunami that hit Thailand - but even so after 60 years I can recall the images that I saw in the cinema.

Today a memorial (pictured above) stands at the junction of Langer Road and Beach Station Road - the blue line at the top of the wall shows the height of the floodwaters.

Although there are walls and new sea defences there now I doubt that they could halt another eighteen foot surge. On the other hand there appears to be an early warning system in place to evacuate the area if needs be.

The sea is a force that can never be underestimated.