Crossroads!

Have I ever mentioned that I have played guitar and sung lead vocals in many 'rock and blues' bands? Well, it's true, my friends! This story begins really with my interest in such music and continues with the barely believable tale of dark involvement with a video cassette recorder!

Do you know the film 'Crossroads'? It is a wonderful piece of light-hearted entertainment for those of us who enjoy the R & B genre, concerning as it does the curious events surrounding the rise to fame and mysterious death of the blues legend Robert Johnson. The film is named after what is generally considered his greatest composition, immortalised by Eric Clapton among others.

Johnson always promoted the belief that his amazing talents had been bestowed upon him in a deal with the Dark One at an isolated crossroads in the Southern USA. The film charts the journey of a young blues-man in a pilgrimage to the same crossroads, culminating in a guitar contest with the Devil's champion ( played by Steve Vai! )

I have always enjoyed this film ( not least the music of Vai and Ry Cooder! ) so that when it was shown on TV some time ago, I was very quick to procure a new high-quality tape and copy it as I watched.

Bob, a friend of mine and best man at my wedding who has sadly sinced passed away, was a far better guitarist than I and a great fan of the above mentioned instrumentalists. I was not surprised, therefore, when he asked to borrow the tape, having been playing a 'gig' on the night it was shown. Accordingly, I passed him the video one afternoon while we were birdwatching on the North Coast of Norfolk, abjuring him to phone in the evening with his opinions of the film.



This he accordingly did, but his response was not at all as expected!
" What," he began " have you done to the tape, and how did you do it?"
I responded that I had no idea what he was talking about.
"Well I won't tell you," he rejoined, " but just wait 'til you have a look at it!"
The following week I collected the video from Bob and, on arriving home, duly ran it through the VCR. The film started normally enough, but when the plot reached the point where the young guitarist first hears about Johnson's meeting with the Devil, the film seamlessly cut to the guitar duel which is its denouement! Following the triumphant ending of the final scene, the action switches to an earlier passage where the young blues-man first encounters the Devil at the crossroads.
The film continues normally once more, until the guitar duel, instead of which we see the final credits!

I have shown the video to a friend who is a BBC video editor….. his opinion? It is impossible that this could have occurred while I was watching….and taping...in real time! Yet it happened!

Healing captured on a photograph?
The photograph below was taken during my recovery from a minor heart operation...minor, except things went wrong and there was nearly no web-master to write these memoires!

You may have read elsewhere how an elderly clairvoyant / healer promised to look out for me at his healing circle. Some three days  after I  left hospital, the wound in my thigh began to haemorrhage: things looked decidedly 'pear-shaped' once more, and more than once I thought I might be about to discover what it feels like to become a paranormal phenomenon!

One  morning I decided to take some photographs in the garden…..I have no clear idea of my motivation, save that , for the first time in days, it was sunny and I hoped the  rays might prove beneficial.

As you can see, the wounded region of my upper thigh appears bathed in a white light: this is NO camera trick -  other pictures came out perfectly normally!


All I can say is that I was suddenly aware that my leg had begun to heal: the haemotoma and thrombosis began to dissipate and a day later the bruising had unexpectedly vanished!

Was this the power of prayer? Who can say: all I can report is that I was back to work some three weeks earlier than my surgeon had anticipated!
Sarah's clairvoyant pet!

I have a story for you, something that I, my Mother, and my Nan, all saw first hand….
It concerns my dog, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel  (Ben)
The day was 31st August 1997: as we all know that was the day Princess Diana died. All day long on satellite television, instead of showing adverts in the allotted slot, they showed a picture of the late Princess of Wales.
As we were about to go to bed (it was about 22.00--22.30hrs) a picture of the Princess of Wales came on the television.  Ben, our dog, sat up of the couch, looked at the television, and started barking at it. But the scary bit was when he stopped barking: he jumped from the couch, trotted straight straight to the television, and started licking the face of the late Princess: something he usually reserves only for me or for my mother !!!!!