The Phone tap
Having your phone tapped is an interesting experience.
Firstly there were friends telling me that their calls had been intercepted. They had been asked who they were calling and what the nature of their call was. Then I noticed that there was a click on the line when I picked the phone up.
I put in a complaint. I began talking to the silent people at the end of the phone. BT provided me with a lame excuse.
After a while it stopped.
I had many interesting discussions regarding the reasons for my phone becoming tapped. At that point in time I was the NUT rep in school organising strike action. But that could not have been it. That was nowhere near sufficient to warrant a phone tap. I had been on a march protesting about a nuclear dump that was proposed near to Hull. That was a possibility. It had certainly been filmed by the police. But in the end we decided that it was the meeting in the library.
I was very concerned about the proposed nuclear dump. I did not believe the proposed encapsulating of nuclear waste in concrete blocks were sufficiently safe. The concrete would decay and radioactive isotopes leach into the aquifers polluting ground water and drinking water. I wanted nuclear waste properly disposed of in deep mines and a process of vitrification. This was more expensive but a lot safer. The nuclear industry did not have a very good record in this area.
A leaflet concerning a public meeting in the city library had come through the postbox and I had stuck it in the window.
On the day of the meeting I went along to the library and, much to my surprise, found a parking space directly outside. As I was expecting a big turn-out this surprised me.
I went in and the place seemed deserted. I was beginning to think I had the wrong day.
I asked the receptionist who directed me to a room in the basement.
I walked in to find six people there. They were delighted to see me and made me very welcome.
It turned out that they were an ultra-left wing group. Everyone knew that except me. The name on the leaflet might have been a clue.
We had a very interesting chat. They were very enthusiastic, dedicated individuals who were extremely idealistic.
I ended up with my phone being tapped.