This is one of the dark weeks of the year.
The mornings are as dark as they are going to get apart from the month either side of the winter equinox. This coming weekend the hour changes. We lose the evening sunlight for another four months but the mornings, briefly, are lighter again.
So, on the bus travelling home, I was revelling once more in the quality of the pre-sunset light and savouring its touch on my face, knowing that, next week, journeys home will be conducted in darkness. That was when I heard, from the bus driver's transistor radio, the announcement that the IRA had placed a quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives beyond use. Or, in other words, decommissioning had begun.
The de Chastelain commission made the following statement
On 6 August 2001 the Commission reported that agreement had been reached with the IRA on a method to put IRA arms completely and verifiably beyond use.
This would be done in such a way as to involve no risk to the public and avoid the possibility of misappropriation by others.
We have now witnessed an event which we regard as significant in which the IRA has put a quantity of arms completely beyond use. The material in question includes arms, ammunition and explosives.
We are satisfied that the arms in question have been dealt with in accordance with the scheme and regulations.
We are also satisfied that it would not further the process of putting all arms beyond use were we to provide further details of this event.
We will continue our contact with the IRA representative in pursuit of our mandate.
Something like the Berlin Wall coming down, this is an event which I hardly dared hope for in my lifetime. But it has happened. And, though it is by no means the end of the story, it is a very significant step forwards.
I do wonder how much of this is part of the fallout from the events of 11 September with the American administration putting the squeeze on to say "Finish this off. We need to concentrate our efforts on a different crisis." My guess is that the same message is being sent to the Israeli cabinet.
I said a little while ago that I felt that the coming opposition was between Christianity and Islam. I'd always felt that the fault line would be Turkey and the Balkans. In the event, Afghanistan has proven to be the initial tinderbox.
Meanwhile, I have quickly finished two novels. Michael Frayn's Headlong which proved to be less original, exciting, amusing and engaging that the first 50 pages had suggested.
And K-PAX by Gene Brewer. As you may recall, I bought this book on the recommendation of a youngman in my local bookshop. It's fabby. I recommend it as a fine read. It may not be the most original of tales (is the man in the mental institution really from another planet or is he suffering from a delusion which - incidentally - allows him to bring great good into the world?) but it is admirably well told.
A Hollywood film is bound to follow. I reckon on Jim Carey to play the anti-hero, prot (rhymes with goat), and someone like Kenneth Brannagh (except that he's too young) to play the psychiatrist. The only really disappointing thing is that there is a second novel in a projected three. I do feel that the work should stand alone. Any more words on the subject will simply spoil what is already perfect.
Still, I've bought the second novel and will read it with trepidation.