Bogol 8

Keen onthebrynksters will be intrigued to learn that following the recent posting of the Prying Eye article about the sad death of Boryslav Golinski we have received a communication from his son, John. With his permission we are delighted to post it here in full:

Dear onthebrynk

I was somewhat taken aback to read the article from Prying Eye on the blogsite about my father’s funeral, but thank onthebrynk for drawing it to my attention. I had not noticed either the hack from The Eye or the shadowy figure in the bushes and, to be blunt, was angered by the tone of the piece

In contrast I wish to thank you for your kind words, my dad always held you in high regard and had been proud to contribute to the blogsite. Although he styled himself in later years as someone who wrote for a living, he never told me of any publications – apart from yours. Indeed his life seemed a mystery to me after he left the civil service, even though he was always supportive of me and we saw each other often. We enjoyed each other’s company.

He and my mum separated when I was 10 and I never could really understand why – they seemed to get on so well together. I once plucked up the courage to ask and was told that she loved him dearly .. but that he was just ‘impossible to live with’. Sadly my mum died a good number of years ago, I don’t know what she would have made of all this – I rather suspect she would have found it funny.

It is true that he was a member of the British Communist Party in his youth, but had swiftly moved to join the Labour Party and ended up in the Social Democrats before losing all interest in politics. He was a conscientious civil servant – and, seemingly, loyal. I knew he had been embroiled over the years in a couple of difficult situations at work, but he told me no details.

So that you know, he died peacefully in his sleep after a short decline.

In later years he lived in a remote wooden bungalow deep in the woods. He used to joke that his treasure was buried under the floor of an outhouse and that once he was gone I should retrieve it and follow instructions. I had never taken much notice of this, but a strange and rather unsettling thing happened as we were clearing the house after his death. In between visits there was a burglary – of the entire contents of his study; all his books, papers, files, documents, computer and furniture! – everything in the room. Nothing else was touched in the house. The Police showed a cursory interest but no successful investigation has been forthcoming.

Prompted by this I went in search of ‘the treasure’ and sure enough found a large metal box stuffed full of papers, letters, documents, lists of numbers (with the number 9981 underlined). On the top was a sealed envelope addressed to me. Inside was a short note:

—–x—–

Dear John,

This my story, although I’m afraid I’ve not quite got the papers in order and only parts are properly drafted. Please make it public if you feel it is the right thing to do.

Dad x

—–x—–

He appears to have been writing a sequel to the first Bogol serial, which does shed some light on the comments made by The Eye. As he indicated, it is a mixture of sporadic diaries, letters, reports, travel documents and a few small photos. He had drafted up sections of the narrative and I think it would be possible to piece most of it together into a semi-finished piece.

I wanted your advice on how to proceed and whether onthebrynk would be interested in posting the piece as a second serial?

John Smith

—–x—–

Interested!! onthebrynk is full of excitement at this development and has instructed John accordingly – expect Bogol – Series 2 soon!