Village Life!

    “Which way do you think he’ll vote?”
    “Any which way I suppose. He’s what they call the silent majority!”
    “A majority of one?”
    “Is that what you think you are? A person being on the right side

of the question which counts for more than all the people who are on the wrong side of the question or issue.”
    “That’s the vicar of Bray isn’t it?”
    “He’ll vote for whichever side butters his bread best.”

    “Who, the Vicar of Bray?”
    “No, our diminutive friend there, he serves without question the next master who comes along. If you win the election you’ll soon get used to his little ways.”
    “Not much on conversation is he.”
    “No, but then he probably has nothing worth saying. He shows his rebellious side to his nature’”
    “How.”
    “By appearing to be different, he wears his cape inside out!”
    “And what about you, since when does Number Two wear a jacket like yours?”
    “We all like to be a bit different!”
    “Is he expecting rain?”
    “How do you mean?”
    “What’s he doing with my old umbrella?”
    “You’ve never used it, and besides he’d look damned silly with a parasol!”

Be seeing you

The Therapy Zone

    I suppose it makes for good therapy to write something down, to get something off one’s chest so to speak, or to publicly speak out and make a confession of it. I suppose that’s why Number 93 felt so much better for having confessed that he’s inadequate, and disharmonious. Confession is generally for the Catholics, or the police, the confession of one’s crime. Confession is good for the soul so they say, and for the conscience. One’s conscience rests more easily after confession. But there is not priest, vicar, padre, cleric, Buddhist monk, or representative of any religion in the village. There is no place of worship of any kind, because there is no religion whatsoever! The only people who anyone can confess to is ones fellow citizens, and this is done publicly, so that confession can be seen to be done, to be witnessed. And yet Number 93’s confession of inadequacy and disharmony was not a free confession, he was told what to say, and 93 repeated what he was told to say parrot fashion. So it is not a true confession by the penitent man!

Be seeing you

He’s An Old Old Friend…..

    On the day of his arrival he refused to give away the slightest piece of information. He did admit to the time of his birth, but he guessed they knew that anyway, so there was no harm in that. He attempted to escape by overpowering two guardians and stealing a Mini-Moke. That ended in failure and suffocation, but it could have been worse, although it was a nasty experience. The next day after his encounter with Cobb, No.6 is as mad as hell. And after having it out with No.2 he attends Cobb’s funeral from a distance, and No.9 attaches herself to him. There is another daring escape attempt, after he’s been given the Electro Pass. Escape by helicopter, I should think this has not been tried too many times in the past. After all how many people in the village can manage to fly a helicopter? No.6 obviously, then there’s the Butler, and of course No.2 in ‘Free For All.’ Oh and I expect Cobb might have been able to, as I suspect the plan was for he and No.9 to escape by helicopter. Except No.9 would have known it was impossible. No.6 is returned ignominiously to the village.
    Escape, and the desire to hear the chimes of Big Ben, only then will No.6 and Nadia know they are safe and sound in London. No.6 and Nadia would eventually arrive in an office he knew very well. In other word’s once he had escaped the village he went running back to a department in Military Intelligence, well, he thought so at the time. Either to make his report, seek their help, or both. But why he thought they would condescend to help him, after he had resigned his job is anyone’s guess. But it was all in vain, No.6 hadn’t escaped the village at all, and his ex-colleagues are in league with the village anyway. So a lesson learned!
    No.6 never gives anything up, he wasn’t selling out, that wasn’t why he resigned, whatever made No.2 think he was going to?
    Another escape attempt to end in failure, one cannot blame a man for trying. No.6 allowed himself to become embroiled in village politics, what did he think he was going to do, bring the system down from within? No, he thought he would organize a mass breakout, and escape in the confusion. But you must get up early to put one over on No.2!
    No.6 states that knows his own fingerprints, that’s the thing with No.6, he's never off duty, and he’s far too good to be true! Do you know your own fingerprints? Oh but No.6 is not as most men, he’s a secret agent. Not of the 00 class, his code name is ZM73 so not licensed to kill!
    And when No.6 isn’t initiating brave escapes he’s generally poking his nose into business which does not concern him, and countering the machinations of No.2. This time it’s Speed Learn, so having got the message that the General must be destroyed, well that’s like a red rag to a bull is that, No.6 must then carry out the Professor’s wishes. If it had not been him, it would have been No.12, yet one might suppose that he was not up to the challenge!
    The village was deserted, although that does seem rather doubtful wouldn’t you say? What did they do with all the people, evacuate them to somewhere while No.6 made good his escape, then shipped them all back in? I don’t think so. No.6 set out on a voyage of discovery, ultimately running back to his ex-colleagues for a second time. Now why did he do that, knowing full well that both the Colonel and Fotheringay were in the pay of those behind the village? How did he know he was not going to encounter that particular Colonel and Fotheringay again? There is no way in heaven and Earth that he could have known they had both been replaced. And whatever made No.6 think he could trust this new Colonel and a sceptical Thorpe any more than he could the other two? Desperation perhaps, they were the only ones who could possibly help him. But if they couldn’t, there might be an outside chance that the other side knew of the village. That other side presumably on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Now would they have liked that, an ex-British secret agent from Military Intelligence gone over, not only giving valuable information about this village, but a man with a mind of other information.
    Sabotage is the name of the game, man versus machine except the machine won! No.6 wants to spoil things, he’s not prepared to be a goldfish in a bowl! He’s a cruel man because he wants to spoil things for everyone else. The Prisoner is a prisoner put on trial for the procession of a transistor radio. He is eventually sentenced to death, the sentence to be carried out by the people in the name of justice. But of course it’s a sentence that we know will not be carried out, otherwise ‘the Prisoner’ would have come to a very abrupt end!
    Escape, but how to tell the difference between the prisoners and the warders? Simple, it’s the same as it is in life, you soon discover who’s for or against you. But this time No.6 needs help to escape, it’s a daring and elaborate plan. If it goes wrong this time, then there is no escape for No.6 or anyone! It went wrong, No.6 was hoisted on his own petard, the air of his authority was his own downfall. He took command of the little enterprise and did almost everything himself. The only thing No.6 couldn’t do was to construct a radio set from stolen components, that’s why he needed No.53. What, there’s something No.6 could not do, I don’t believe it! My God he’s human after all, I’d never have thought it!
    New King James Version Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Romans 12:17. But in this instance No.6 takes vengeance into his own hands for the death of No.73, leaving No.2 a broken man. Why was No.2 forced to report his own breakdown in control? Well No.6 could hardly have done it, although I’ve no doubt No.1 knew what had been going on, and was pleased to use No.6 as a sword of retribution.
    The next couple of episodes No.6 spends his time countering the further machinations of No.2, saving the citizens from a purge being carried out against them. But why No.2 should need a reason to carry out a purge, after all the village is hardly a pocket democracy! And as No.6 sees it in ‘A Change of Mind,’ and No.2 wants to steal everyone’s mind, in order to make the citizens docile enough so everyone lives in harmony! And when it comes to having had a change of mind and waking up back in London, he takes a third opportunity afforded to him to go running back to his ex-colleagues. But who is going to believe his story, that the Colonel is really ZM73? And wasn’t he supposed to be dead? If he thought he could rely on his ex-colleagues to help him then he was a fool. If No.6 is to survive as himself, then he has to do it all alone, find Professor Seltzman, and somehow discover a way back to the village himself!
    Living in Harmony, no fear! Faced with death, No.6 soon wakes up and spoils all game! A virtual reality game played out in the mind! No.6 never gives up playing, no matter what the environment. And he can spin a good yarn, just as No.2, although he didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as the three children did. They craved him to tell them another story, perhaps because the outcome of ‘The Girl Who Was Death’ wasn’t what they wanted hear, what No.2 wanted to hear! How many stories had No.6 told the children prior to the one about The Girl is impossible to tell, clearly not as many as Scheherazade, I’ll be bound, but he did promise to go back the next day.
    It’s the last throw of the dice, why did No.6 resign? Who cares, why should No.6 care? But with the last chance comes Degree Absolute, a recognized method of psychoanalysis used in extreme cases. And if No.6 is to survive the grave, then he must not only endure a number of psychological tests, but survive them!
   The finale, at long last our friend No.6, along with three confederates, manages not only to escape the village, but eventually return to his home in London. And yet he’s not one to let the grass grow under his feet, and it’s not long before he’s putting himself through the self-inflicted torture all over again!
    “He’s an old, old friend who never gives up!”

Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene In the Girl Who Was Death

    The Butchers, the Bakers, the Candlestick Makers, Number 6 is a born survivor. Either that or he’s in lucks way more often than not!

    You would have thought Number 2 would have been interested in learning about Number 6’s previous employment, no matter how ridiculous it sounded. It would have been nice for the television viewer to have seen No.6 actually telling part of his adventure to the three children. I think that would have been an interesting little scene.

Be seeing you

The Arrival!

    I don’t know why, but I work on the principle that each new arrival in the village experiences much the same thing. Confusion, disorientation, not knowing where they are, why, or how they came to be in the village. Every new arrival must at some point take their first tentative steps out of their cottage and into the village. No.6 did, but I think he experienced more than most. After all there was no need for that man to have been leaning out of the window halfway up the Bell Tower. No.6 did go to the café, and was asked if he wanted breakfast, just as well he didn’t because upon returning to his cottage there was a telephone call from No.2 inviting him to join him for breakfast. Nadia didn’t go to the café, because she had only just regained consciousness when the telephone began to bleep, and No2 invited her to join him for breakfast. But as No6 was escorting Nadia across the square, across the street, and up the steps to the Green Dome, she did ask him about a car and whether she could get one. No.6 of course enquired about hire cars, self drive at the General Store on the day of his arrival. And seeing as how both No.6 and Nadia were invited to breakfast with No.2, and not forgetting Curtis, then its feasible that every new arrival was asked to breakfast, and of course a first interview with No.2.
    Invited to breakfast with No.2, but each time No.6 has breakfast with No.2 its breakfast for one, usually No.6’s favourite breakfast, bacon and two eggs, toast, marmalade, and when it comes to tea, its either Indian or China. But then in ‘Free For All’ it’s French or International cuisine, a piece of quiche Lorraine with a poached egg on it. But only a piece of toast for No.2. As Curtis No.6 has a choice “a la Carte” meaning a wide varitey of courses, where as “table d’hote” meaning “table of the host” consisting of a fixed number of already prepared dishes. In this instance pancakes. But once again no breakfast for No.2. It strikes me the prisoners eat better than the warder of the prison!

Be seeing you

Who’s That On The Telephono?

    “I know your voice.”
    “I’ve been here before, I’m on grey.”
    “Grey what?”
    “A grey telephone.”
    “I’m on black.”
    “Yes I know I can see you.”
    “What through the television set?”
    “What?”
    “The Village video phone.”
    “No, I’m looking at you through a camera.”
    “I cannot see the camera, in fact I’ve never seen any such surveillance cameras in my cottage, they must be very well hidden!”
    “Its new technology, the new roach-cam, it’s so tiny you can hardly see it.”
    “Well it’s been nice chatting, but I must go, things to do and all that.”
    “You’re not thinking of trying to escape again?”
    “Oh I gave up trying to do that a long time ago. How is the Colonel by the way, and whatever happened to Fotheringay?”
    “Be seeing you Number Six.”
    “Not if I see you first you won’t!”
    “Don’t be like that, I thought we got on rather well the last time.”
    “You played me for a sucker!”
    “Not a fool?”
    “And I’m no rat!”
    “I thought we could meet, I could buy you an ice cream.”
    “Don’t be childish!”
    “Don’t you just wish you could be six again?”
    “You’re up to something!”
    “Me? I’m not up to anything, just tell us what we want to know.”
    “I said I’m not a rat. I’m going to hang up.”
    “Don’t you dare hang up on me!”
    “I shall.”
    “I’ll hang up on you first.”
    “No you won’t, I’m going to hang up on you......hello are you there? Oh he’s hung up…….I can still see you, you know……no obviously you don’t!”

 Be seeing you

The Village

    I asked “What are we doing here?”
    “Why, don’t you like it here?”
    It was okay I thought, quiet enough, secluded, a little out of season in late October. It had been raining, it had rained yesterday, and the day before that. It’ll probably rain tomorrow, when didn’t it rain in North Wales? It was the mountains I suppose.
    I sat at the window looking out. There was no-one much about, and yet there was this figure standing on top of the stone Bandstand, he was…..he was staring right back at me! The rain stopped, I said I was going out for a walk. The voice from the kitchen said lunch would be in half an hour. I replied that I wouldn’t be long.
    I walked down the wooden steps and stood gazing into the water of the pool and at the fish swimming about. Then there was a splash and I saw two men in the water, they were fighting. Two other men in greyish overalls got into the water and hauled the other two off and marched them away.
    “Disgraceful behaviour” said one woman.
    “Shouldn’t be allowed” said her companion.
    “It isn’t” said the other, and together they continued their walk.
    I noticed that there was something lying on the grass. I walked over and picked it up. It was a white disc, about two inches in circumference. On one side was a pin. On the other a Penny Farthing bicycle with a canopy and a red numeral in the penny wheel, 42.
    “What you got there?” a man asked.
    “I just found it” I said holding out the badge, and noticed that the man was wearing the same badge, but with a different number.
    “What’s your number?” the man asked me.
    “I haven’t got a number” I replied.
    “I can see that.”
    “What do you mean by that?”
    “You’re not wearing a badge. Dropped off did it? You had better pin that badge on. You don’t want to be going about here wearing no number.”
    I pinned the badge onto the lapel of my jacket.
    “That’s better lad. Now no-one would think you were not one of us.”
    “One of us? Where is this place?”
    “You know where you are, you’re in The Village.”
    “The Village? But that’s not possible!”

    Just at that moment two burly-set men in red jerseys came along and manhandled Forty-two into the back of a taxi, and was driven off. Eventually the taxi pulled up at the bottom of a set of steps. Forty-two was then manhandled out of the taxi and up the steps to the Green Dome. Through the opening front door, into and through the foyer where a diminutive man in black tails bowed. Then through a pair of open French doors, and a pair of opening steel doors, and into the domed chamber, and pushed roughly into a leather chair. A lean man wearing a plain double breasted blazer and grey flannel trousers sat in a black spherical chair behind a curved desk.
    “Look Forty-Two, we’ve had just about enough of you. I have had just about enough of you. If you’re not ready to talk we’ll make you, I shall see to it personally that you talk.”
    “Look I’m not Number Forty-Two. This badge, I found it lying in the grass, I picked it up and pinned it on.”
   “Why did you do that?”
   “There was this old man…….”
   “I’m not interested in the old man. I’m interested in you Forty-two.”
    “Look I don’t know what’s going on here, I came here for a holiday. Now something’s happened………….”
    “You came here for a holiday, that’s a good one!”
    “You can’t hold me here, I’ve done nothing wrong.”
    “Of course you have Forty-two, otherwise you wouldn’t be here, we’re all prisoners!”
    “I am not a prisoner, I am a free man!” 

    Suddenly he was no longer in the domed chamber. He stood in what had been the foyer. But which was now a plain room, with paintings set along the walls, and picture card filled racks.
    “Are you alright?” the sales assistant asked.
   He went running outside onto the balcony, then down the steps, across the street and into the cobbled square. Looking up at the Green Dome, he saw that it was brown!
    “There you are Timothy” said a woman’s voice “what have you been doing?”
    “Nothing, I was just…….”
    “Well never mind. Look what I’ve bought you, they sell them there in that shop over there. I know how much of a fan of the series you are.
    Timothy took the gift out of the brown paper bag, it was a ‘T’ shirt with the design of a Penny Farthing with a canopy. Two words blazoned across it ‘the Prisoner.’ He put the ‘T’ shirt back in the paper bag, and dropped it into a litter bin!
    “Let’s go and listen to the Brass Band concert dear.”
    At the concert a middle aged woman, wearing a red trilby hat, and colourful striped cape came and sat next to me.
    “I want to help.”
    “How?”
    “I know a way out” she said.
    I was taken aback, this couldn’t be right. I glanced around for the cameras. The woman opened the book she was holding.
    “In here you have only so much time to give them what they want before they…take it from you. Can you fly a helicopter?”
    “Do I look as though I can fly a helicopter?”
    “Pity” said Number 9 getting up out her deckchair and walking away, I must have the wrong man!” and hurried away.
   “Where are you going?” I shouted after her. I knew of course, but followed her anyway and watching from the top of the steps, as Number 9 made her way to the Green Dome. The dome was green again. Well I say green it was more of a turquoise colour.
    “Who was that you were talking to?”
    “No-one really dear. Who‘s anyone here?” I couldn’t believe I had just said that. All I could think about was Saturday, when we would be leaving this Italianate village called Portmeirion. Once I’d swept the dust from this place, wild horses wouldn’t drag me back!
   My wife passed me my jacket, and went back to the Brass Band concert. Later that day Sofia and I sat together by the pool and fountain in the Piazza, while a gentleman took our picture together.

Be seeing you