MA Student

Green Metropolis

2007-07-17T03:51:00.000-07:00

Further to yesterday's 'not buying it' blog, I have to say that one commodity I have continued to buy throughout my period of cutting back is books. Judith Levine managed to limit herself to libraries, but I have simply found ways of buying them cheaper.

And by the way, the irony of writers not buying books when they depend on book sales for a living is not lost on me. Perhaps when I am a published author I shall behave differently, but for now I'm sticking to secondhand. As well as saving money, it means more efficient use of resources, and I'm becoming increasingly conscious that this is something we've all got to face.

For ages I have been selling paperbacks to the stall in the Guildhall market in Bath, where I used to live. Check out my website http://www.city-of-bath-england.com/ for more information. And recently a classmate introduced me to http://www.greenmetropolis.co.uk/ where you can buy books for £3.75 and sell them (if anyone's interested) for £3. Not only that, the business makes a donation to the Woodland Trust for every transaction.

Oxfam bookshops are good too, although the chances of finding a particular title may be slim unless it's a recent bestseller. I think prices may vary according to location - in St Austell lots of books are priced under £2 and occasionally I find a good one.

'Not Buying It - My Year Without Shopping' by Judith Levine

2007-07-16T05:09:00.000-07:00

Not Buying It is a fascinating book which throws up many ideas about consuming I am still mulling over. It appealed to me as I'm in my own period of not buying it, being back at college again. What I've realised from my retail abstinence is not only how much of what we buy is actually unnecessary, but that we probably already have plenty of stuff which will do the job just as well.

I'm thinking here about all those packets and jars of food pushed to the back of the kitchen cupboards, the soap and shampoo stuffed on bathroom shelves. I started to use up this kind of stuff a year ago, before I was even aware I was going to become a student again, when we thought we were moving and I wanted to lighten the load. And some of it I'm still using.

We tend to justify our purchases by telling ourselves the things we want are necessities. Levine quotes an American survey in which 78% of respondents stated that most Americans are 'very materialistic', but only 8% considered themselves very materialistic! I think that would be the case in the UK too.

In the West we have got ourselves into a real mess with money and 'things' and I say this from bitter experience. When I was running my own business I had plenty of money but I was bored, so I used the money to buy treats which would free me from the boredom. And it wasn't long before I couldn't imagine life without the treats and so I was stuck with the business long after I should have moved on. Since then I have had much less money but now I'm doing something I love, it usually doesn't matter. I say 'usually' as, despite my new habits, there are times I'd like something I can't afford.

Of course I'd like to make lots of money doing what I love, and I intend to do just that, but I also don't want to fall back into the spending trap when I do.

But I've only had one glass of wine

2007-07-13T05:06:00.000-07:00

Last night just as we were about to tuck into our eagerly-anticipated spaghetti, A broke a wine glass in quite spectacular style. We're not quite sure how it happened, something to do with putting the stopper back into the bottle, which tipped up, spilling red wine onto the tablecloth, and knocking over my glass, half of which bounced onto the floor and smashed again.

Anyway, there was lots of clearing up to do, lots of swearing and lots of peering into my food to pick out glass shards (sorry, Bill, but I think you'll agree it's justified here), as I was too hungry and too greedy to abandon my plateful. Having finally eaten our glass-free meal (and the suspicion of lurking fragments does wonders for upping one's chew count, I can tell you. Break a glass over every meal and I'd soon be size zero) I did a stocktake of the glass cupboard.

Which revealed 3 odd champagne, 3 tall wine glasses only used by A because I've broken so many, 6 of a size and shape I don't like which were sent as a freebie by Laithwaites, and 2 odd ones, relics of times past.

It's quite alarming to see how much bigger wine glasses have become over the last 12 years or so. The oldest glass was a perfectly normal size when I bought it, possibly from Habitat, some time in the mid 90s. It now looks more like an oversized sherry glass. The other one is probably about 8 years old and a bit bigger, but still modest compared to the goldfish bowls on stems we are accustomed to today.

So the phrase "I've only had one glass of wine" starts to look a little suspect confronted with this startling visual evidence, and the growth of binge drinking begins to make sense. I wonder if manufacturers would ever start to make glasses smaller and if the public would ever buy them? I've often seen diet advice telling us to eat from a smaller plate, but nobody ever seems to think about glass sizes.

Je suis une flaneuse

2007-07-02T04:07:00.000-07:00

While A was busy with the exhausting Tony Robbins, I was out and about indulging in my favourite city activity - walking around checking out the people, the buildings and the shops, and stopping off for an occasional reviving coffee. I wish I'd had a pedometer. I must have walked miles every day without even realising it, I was so engrossed in the passing show. Until it got to late afternoon, that is, when I was so tired I had to head back to the flat we were staying in for a restorative nap.

One evening there was a programme on television about Paris, which I watched, being in a capital city kind of mood. And handily discovered there is a French word for precisely what I was doing, a word I managed to miss out on during French 'A' Level. It's 'flaneur' and there's no English equivalent, unfortunately. Roughly translated it means 'gentleman stroller of city streets'. How satisfying.

Revisiting a previous life

2007-07-01T04:29:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe now, but I spent the industrial placement year of my sandwich course working in London, at Barkers of Kensington, the once-famous department store.

Last weekend, after a stroll down Portobello Road, checking out the market stalls, I retraced my steps of 27 years ago. I lived in a student hostel, a white wedding cake house in Pembridge Gardens, and every day I walked to work through Notting Hill Gate and down Kensington Church Street. I was 19 years old, and a 19 year-old less prepared for city life would be hard to imagine.

I can hardly believe I am old enough to say this, but this was before the gentrification of Notting Hill, and Kensington Church Street was lined with dusty-looking antique shops and very little else. It's much trendier now, with Kensington Place restaurant at the Notting Hill end and expensive fashion shops as you get towards High St Ken.

Barkers closed down years ago and the building was divided into lots of smaller shops. Now it houses the first Whole Foods Market in the UK, an American chain with big expansion plans. The shop is an amazing experience, offering a huge choice of gleaming fruit and veg, bread and cheese of all kinds and just about everything else you can think of to feed and nurture the human body.

I am, however, a little doubtful about its much- hyped green credentials, and I certainly don't believe the UK can support 40 of these emporia, as the company purports. In these days of rising interest rates there are so many people who can't afford to be precious about the origins of organic muesli.

Watch out for the teeth

2007-06-30T02:45:00.000-07:00

We were in London for A to attend an Anthony Robbins seminar. A seminar for 12,000 people. Over 4 days, starting early in the morning and finishing at about 11 at night. With hardly any breaks. And lots of shouting and dancing around. And hugging of total strangers. You can probably tell it's not exactly my type of thing. More like a definition of my own private hell, in fact. Just thinking about it is enough to bring on a migraine.

A reported back to me each night, in the brief interval before grabbing a few hours sleep before the Tony thing began again. I have to say what he told me makes a lot of sense and I'm quite sure that if you apply this advice systematically to your life, you'll see big changes.

But as a full paid-up introvert greedy for peace and my own space, I do object to the relentless American worship of the extrovert. It seems you are only a valuable human being if you can be constantly 'out there', doing , achieving and talking, always talking. What about time to assimilate, to reflect and let the unconscious bubble through with new thoughts and ideas?

I can't help feeling an instinctive distrust of American self-development gurus and their perfect teeth.

Squeezed into the Tube

2007-06-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we came back from a week in London. Here's the blog I drafted in my notebook last weekend:

"I find I don't enjoy travelling in the Tube as much as I used to. Maybe it's the undreamt-of horror of the bombings, maybe it's getting older, maybe it's living in Cornwall, but these days when the doors slide closed on all those packed bodies, I need to let my mind shift sideways to a place which does not acknowledge where I am and what would happen if ...

I wonder how much this is behind the famous refusal of Londoners to ackonwledge each other, catch each others' eye while travelling at such close quarters. Maybe, like me, they are counting off the stops - only 3 to go before I can squeeze out back to the relative freedom of the platforms and corridors. Out there it may be like a sauna but at least it doesn't smell of stale bodies and at least there is somewhere to run."

This morning we heard that 2 bombs had been found in central London.

That's what I call a chocolate biscuit

2007-06-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

I've just read a piece on the Telegraph website by AS Byatt about how miserable it is when one's favourite products are discontinued. How I sympathise.

For a brief and heady, not to mention calorific, period, M&S used to sell ginger biscuits stuffed with stem ginger and covered with thick chocolate. And I mean thick. So thick you only got six in a packet. I'm sure there were shameful and secret occasions when I ate the whole packet instead of a meal. When they were discontinued I was so grief-stricken and disbelieving, I would still go and stand in front of the biscuit display, as if I could bring them back by willpower alone.

And then there was Waitrose sparkling apple juice with ginger, which was lush, but also unaccountably disappeared from the shelves.

My current loudest lament - Gap cotton and Lycra capri pants. It must be about seven years ago now that these beauties appeared. Cropped summer trousers with a tummy-flattening side zip and an elegant tapering leg, split at the bottom. I had three pairs but I'd have bought ten if I'd realised I wouldn't be able to get them again. I look for them in vain every spring and every year I've been disappointed. This is a puzzle to me - surely this is precisely what Gap is for? This year they have come up with 'boycut' cropped trousers which just about cover your bottom cleavage and have pockets sticking out in all the places you want to look slim. Uh? I just don't get it.

I'm sure there's masses more, but just to end on a positive note, I remember Clinique Almost lipstick - a cross between lipstick and gloss which was discontinued but then hastily brought back following a howl of customer protest. Power to the shopper.

A May surprise

2007-05-31T06:46:00.000-07:00

I've recently discovered James May's motoring column in the Telegraph on Saturdays, and I'm rather surprised to find myself a fan.

Surprised because I have no interest whatsoever in cars as long as they get me where I want to go and are well-designed. I spend as little on motoring expenses as I can get away with, and dread those times of the year when the MOT looms (soon) and the road tax and insurance have to be renewed.

So I am surprised to find myself reading May's column with enjoyment each week. The thing is that he writes very well and with a big dollop of humour, bringing in all sorts of other concerns, such as his new stair carpet and his wandering cat, who inspired the column on the wonders of cat-nav!

Another Saturday newspaper pleasure is the Writers' Rooms slot in the Guardian Review, which I devour greedily, while noting with satisfaction that successful writers all appear to have heaps of paper stacked around their rooms on the floor and on desks. If that is a qualification for publication, then at least I am a contender.

Back to the keyboard

2007-05-31T05:25:00.000-07:00

So where has May gone? Swept by in a daze of word counts and presentations, that's where. To the extent that my brain helped itself to a total shut-down and all writing activity was suspended. But time now to get back on track and plunge into the book. I need to warm up, so back to regular blogging for me.

The emperor's new face

2007-05-06T03:16:00.000-07:00

I'm back at last - blogger.com unilaterally decided my password was defunct and has locked me out for the last week or so. It only relented when I called in Technical Support, who stands no nonsense of this sort. Computers are like horses; they know when you're not entirely in control and take advantage of it. As soon as someone with a firm hand gets on board, they are meekly biddable.

So finally I'm back in the blogging seat, but there's not much to report, as once again deadlines have taken over my life. I did watch a film last night, though - 'The Road to Perdition' with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. Turns out the 'Perdition' of the title is a town where the hero and his son head after his wife and other son are killed. Can you believe anyone would name a town the equivalent of 'Hell'? There are plenty of places that deserve the title, no doubt, but to actually call it that ...

I wasn't expecting to like it much. I thought it would be dark, brooding and violent with that unintelligible gangster dialogue I can't follow. But in fact it was extremely well-acted and a gripping story. Quite an unlikely mix of British and American actors, playing Irish American gangsters. Daniel Craig was the boss's out of control son, and Jude Law an assassin/photographer of dead bodies. Nice bloke. I have to say I have initial doubts about any film Jude Law is in. It amazes me he actually gets cast. As far as I am concerned he is the emperor's new face. Pretty, for sure, but so lightweight I am always surprised he doesn't need to be tethered. He never actually seems to act either, just be Jude Law in different clothes. This was the least irritating I have ever seen him.

I did find the story quite predictable, but I think that's beacuse I'm so familiar with the 12 step story. I could give you a good example of this but it would ruin the film for you, so I'll keep quiet. Watch it for yourself.

'How to be Lost' by Amanda Eyre Ward

2007-04-25T03:39:00.000-07:00

I finished a novel last night, first one I've read since the New Year. In fact I was re-reading this, which I found in the Oxfam bookshop in St Austell in the winter. I couldn't put it down the first time. This time I was more interested in the writing and the way the story lines are put together.

I can't recommend it highly enough. The story, about a little girl going missing and what subsequently happens to her family, is absorbing, with great touches of humour. Her sister Caroline decides to try and find her after their mother spots a magazine picture she thinks is the girl grown-up.

The stories of the family and the missing daughter come together beautifully and in a very satisfying way. I'm going to lend it to Liam - for some reason I've had him in mind both times I've read it, presumably beacuse he too writes about relationships and he's very observant about the odd little things that people do.

I'm now going to get her first novel 'Sleep Toward Heaven' from an Amazon bookseller. It too is apparently unputdownable.

On the rebound

2007-04-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

We've just bought a rebounder, one of those mini trampoline things. It was Andy's idea, he'd heard they are really good for keeping fit and staying generally healthy.

It's great. After a long time sitting at the computer only exercising my brain, it feels good to go downstairs and bounce for ten minutes! That's all I can do at the moment - it's surprising how tiring it is. It somehow helps to redistribute my energy back into my body from my head, without even needing to put on shoes or go outside.

If only half of the claims are true, I should be wobble-free within weeks.

Rouge Noir

2007-04-22T02:37:00.000-07:00

At last I've done it. The weather's been warm and sunny for days now and I've started wearing sandals, but what with deadlines and lack of energy due to the ferocious stomach bug, I've only just got round to applying the obligatory coat of Rouge Noir.

I've been addicted to the stuff for years and nothing else will do. I've tried buying other shades of nail polish but always end up giving them away to friends. And there are absolutely no substitutes. You've just got to buy the real stuff. It might seem expensive but it lasts for years. (Someone told me once to keep it in the fridge, and certainly it's still useable several years later. Even better possibly, as it's now a bit gloopy so you only need one coat).

So now at long last my feet are respectable. I defuzzed my toes, of coures, before baring them - it was that or be mistaken for the missing link. But bare toe nails just look wrong. They remind me of a friend of my mother's who wore flat leather sandals when I was growing up in the 60's. In those days before Birkenstocks became fashionable, only children and 'weird' people wore flat sandals. I realise now that the woman in question had bigger problems than her choice of footwear. Then I just knew there was something strange about her and that I didn't want to be like that. So now that I spend all summer in Birkenstocks, I make sure I have Morello cherry toes, so looking at my feet doesn't remind me of that disturbing presence. Odd how such trivial things can have such a profound effect.

The latest diet?

2007-04-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

The tummy bug(ger) has been a tenacious little beast, hanging on in there for dear life and raging back whenever I thought I'd got it beaten. I've lost weight of course, having eaten so little over the last week, which is not a bad thing with the weather warm and sunny and clothing having fewer and fewer blubber-covering capacities. It may have been a beast but at least it's been a timely beast.

Knitter of Nightmares, more like

2007-04-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

OK, so who was the joker who christened it Dreamweaver? Some dysfunctional computer geek with an unhealthy penchant for machines over people, I'll bet. I've just discovered that I can't make a lot of the changes I thought I could make with Contribute because they are 'part of the design'. It makes me want to spit. Dreamweaver indeed, Knitter of Nightmares, more like.

Actually I was physically sick. I thought at first it was the crushing IT disappointment, but it became rapidly apparent that the symptoms were alarmingly real. A touch of the stomach bug currently doing the rounds, presumably. Anyway, it sent me crawling to bed clutching a bucket and pinned me there for the rest of the day.

Until Life on Mars. How fantastic has that series been? I loved it. I even wrote it in my diary the last two Tuesdays so there was no danger of doublebooking and missing it. I dragged myself and the bucket downstairs for the final installment. And was so engrossed I forgot to feel sick. Marvellous - Gene Hunt heals. Or as he would say 'Oh shut up, Dorothy.'

Keep your mouth shut and save the world

2007-03-30T05:58:00.000-07:00

So,yes. I'm doing a lot of writing. I've done a press release about Andy's hypnotherapy which has got the go-ahead from Nick and Toni -it's about dealing with Toni's public speaking nerves and Nick has been very helpful in advising me how to write it.

Not long, for a start, two hundred words is ample, he says. So I had to halve it. Not that that was difficult - I like cutting things out, a most liberating experience, I always find it. And chastening too, to realise just how few words are needed to communicate. And we all use so many. I wonder if all those useless, superficial words are contributing to global warming? How fantastic to be able to ask people to shut up to save the icefloes.

I've also been revising a couple of features about Cornish businesses. So with all that and the other deadlines floating around in my head, from time to time my brain just seems to switch off. I hope that accounts for the memory lapses anyway. It's either that or my fortysomething hormones getting the better of me.

Sidetracked from the seminar

2007-03-29T05:08:00.000-07:00

I am a bad, bad blogger. I have quite got out of the habit recently. My excuse, reason, I mean, is that I am writing all the time anyway and so by the time I've finished, there is no brain matter left with which to blog. So what have I been so busy writing?

Well, last week I attended a Chamber of Commerce seminar on trading with India. It was held at Fistral Blu, the trendy restaurant in the new complex on Fistral Beach in Newquay, with a stunning view of the surf and headland. There were about thirty delegates from various Cornish businesses plus the speakers and the usual hangers-on from publically-funded organisations. I've been on that side of the fence too, so I know what it's like to get a pleasantly regular salary and attend functions for PR reasons. And to have to bargain yearly to justify your funding and jump through hoops to achieve 'targets' and 'outcomes.' So I know now which side I'm on, despite the uncertainty of the patchy local economy.

Still at least now I understand why the ridiculous targets and outcomes exist in the first place, having watched the BBC2 programme about freedom (sic) over the last few Sundays. Turns out it all comes down to Game Theory, dreamt up during the Cold War by a very clever but at that stage undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic who now says he got it wrong.

His theory was that human beings are entirely motivated by selfish gain and are always plotting against their fellow humans to achieve maximum payoff. The neat thing about this is that you can conveniently reduce all human activity to numbers and measure how well they are doing in all kinds of ways.

Despite the fact any reasonably experienced adult will tell you this is nonsense, it has been taken on by successive generations of politicians until we find ourselves in 21st century Britain, where all public servants, police, teachers, medical staff etc etc, are bound hand and foot by targets and red tape. So what do we all do, bearing in mind we have to meet the targets if we want to keep our jobs? We make damn sure we achieve them, of course, even if it means neglecting our real duties to do so. Congratulations, Blair, Brown et al.

Sorry, where was I? Ah, yes, back at Fistral Blu. So anyway, I was there on behalf of Business Cornwall magazine, so I could write up the event for the next issue of the mag. I think that had better wait till next time.

Poor blog

2007-03-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

I've been catching up with other people's blogs over the weekend. I missed the IT session to set up blogs, not having even joined the course at that point, and so I was completely unaware of the fashion to give one's blog an ironic or punning name, Ms Ann Thrope and Miss-cellany being two examples. By contrast, mine sounds pathetically old-fashioned - the blog at the party without the trendy clothes.

I've become aware recently that I do tend to always go for the nearest-the-bone, most minimal solution in all things. My wardrobe rarely gets beyond what most people would consider 'basics', and the house probably looks barely lived-in to those who love their 'stuff'. I can't help preferring the minimal option. It's not even a conscious choice, just a need to cut out anything extraneous, but I'm beginning to think it comes across in some ways as horribly literal and utilitarian.

I may prefer the asceticism of white paint and plenty of bare space, but I need a few flourishes as well!

Slash and burn

2007-03-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

I'm ranting again and this time I mean it. I got home on Friday afternoon to find a note through the door from the local Sustrans person, informing us that on Sunday a group of volunteers would be meeting across the road to do 'maintenance work' on the cycle trail. The last time this bunch of slash-and-burners turned up, the area looked devastated for months and it still hasn't grown back properly.

We knew when we bought the house that the cycle trail was going to be built over the road in what was then a lush, green tangle of trees and bushes. It seemed a positive factor - naively I assumed that Sustrans would be in favour of countryside, and greenery generally. After all, the whole point of the organisation is to build off-road trails for the public to enjoy when they want to get out of the town and away from traffic. It never occurred to me they would be obsessed with turning the stretch of pleasantly overgrown land opposite our house into some kind of sanitised suburban park, completely stripped of any vegetation between the trees.

Conveniently no phone number was provided so I hit the internet and the phone book - both people concerned were, equally conveniently, out of the office, but I did manage to leave a message for one of them with her colleague. In an attempt not to sound completely unhinged I asked for some new planting, but goodness knows what got passed on - ' a nasty piece of work in Ruddlemoor objects to your nice volunteers clearing the path' probably.

We decided to go out for the day today, as the last thing I wanted was to go over and 'discuss' it in front of an interested crowd, all believing they are doing good for the community by spending their Sunday defacing an inoffensive stretch of path.

Sure enough, we arrived back to find everything levelled once again and the path completely open to the road. I find this utterly bizarre, both as a user of the trail and as a resident. Which is more pleasant - to walk between banks of green, leafy vegetation which blocks out sight and some sound of passing traffic, or in full view and earshot of it?

I realise this may sound pretty minor stuff, so why does it get my back up so much? Firstly because we, whose environment is adversely affected, are the last to know - I have discovered that for the last few weeks Sustrans have been putting invitations in the local press for people to come and help. Then to have absolutely no control over what happens just outside my property. And finally to think that all those people are now congratulating themselves on being so public-spirited. If they are really so concerned about the environment, they could go and pick up all the rubbish flung out of souped-up old Peugeots the moment the local petrolheads finish their drive-thru McDonalds. Or campaign to reduce the speed limit on this road, where yet another driver was killed last week, his car on the wrong side of the road,and which is now referred to in the local press as an 'accident blackspot'. How would they feel, these marvellous volunteers who no doubt live in wonderfully leafy surroundings, if I turned up outside their garden fence and started hacking down all the vegetation they can see from their windows?

So you could say I am not happy. At the moment I intend to get back on the phone tomorrow and put my case. Sometimes I simmer down and decide to let it pass. This time I think not.

Pasties in Tavistock

2007-03-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

The rain has been lashing down most of the day, so it's been no hardship to sit at the computer and get my hypnotherapy feature done. Absolutely no temptation to go out and do other things.

And anyway, we did that yesterday to take advantage of the sunshine we knew would be a temporary phenomenon - we escaped Cornwall and took a trip to Tavistock! Which turned out to live up to its reputation for being an attractive town. It reminded me slightly of Totnes; it has a similar 'green' feel to it! The pannier market was full of stalls and thronging with shoppers and the cafes were all full on our first wander round, so we had to wait to get a coffee. So nice to experience a bustling town centre and so different to St Austell, which always has such a dead feel to it, so that I avoid going as much as possible.

We sat on a bench outside the market and ate a pasty out of a bag, and the sun was really warm. Quite a novel experience, despite this having been a mild winter. The drive there is all green fields, woods and the moors in the background, and only just over an hour away. It's comforting to know the border is not too far away.

Blah blah blog

2007-03-02T14:31:00.000-08:00

I read Liam's blog today. He has written it as a letter to his blog, apologising for not writing much these days. Very funny, and I'm glad I'm not the only one. Doing all the other stuff seems to take up so much time and somehow the blog has got pushed way down the list of priorities.

Today I spent the morning on business stuff - getting the financial records up to date and talking to Andy about how things are going. I feel better when I'm on top of all that, but guilty that I'm not spending the time on my college work instead. I've decided that I haven't got the time to read novels any more. I borrowed 'Gilead' from the library several weeks ago and was really enjoying it, but it's been languishing at the top of the stairs for nearly a fortnight now and I have to take it back on Tuesday. Can't say I've been missing it much, what with keeping up with the papers, researching for my book and everything else.

I'm glad I've got my presentations out of the way for both units. I hope it will now feel as though I've got loads of time once I get my feature done. What a depressing blog. Time to sign off, I reckon.

One funeral and a supermarket

2007-02-26T08:58:00.000-08:00

More than a week and no blog. The time is flying by. Last Monday was a complete blur. We gave ourselves loads of time to get to Dorset and were doing so well that we stopped for a coffee at Exeter services. The coffee was very hot, so we waited for it to cool a little ... and suddenly realised we might be late if we didn't get a move on. A funeral is probably the worst thing to be late to, don't you think? Odd really, as it actually is too late, full stop, but there you are.

We roared past all obstructing vehicles including the obligatory tractor and trailer and arrived in Shipton Gorge with about five minutes to spare. Ended up parking opposite the house George and Daphne used to live in, which was a bit bizarre, and sprinting up the path to the church on top of the hill. Very Hugh Grant when you think about it.

Opened the church door with a feeling of triumph - made it! - to be faced with rows of people sitting quietly and wearing black. Almost a physical shock and an abrupt change of mood. I suddenly wanted to cry, well, howl actually and you don't do that at an English funeral, do you? It was a moving service; I don't think it could have been better in any way. Well, actually the vicar could have been a bit more subtle in his delivery, but that would have made it unbearable. Perhaps he's used to a large church.

And then on to the 'thing'. Why is there no name for the event which happens after the funeral? It's not a wake, 'reception' seems too much associated with weddings, and nobody would call it a party. So what is it? Whatever it's called, it was good and strange to see my cousins again, not to mention exhausting. It had started to rain by the time we hit the road and so poor Andy had a foul drive back, apart from the break for Waitrose at Okehampton, of course. I don't think either of us was particularly in the mood for superior food browsing though, and we were glad to get home and stick a pierce-and-bake in the oven.

Needless to say, Tuesday morning and the alarm clock came round far too quickly.

The end of the world as we know it?

2007-02-18T05:39:00.000-08:00

I've been working hard this weekend because we are driving up to Dorset for Uncle George's funeral tomorrow and that pretty much wipes out the whole day work-wise. It will be strange to see my cousins again after 25 years. When you think about it, it's downright weird to go so long and not see each other. OK, so they live in Sussex, but that's hardly the other end of the world, is it? These people are my family and yet we tell ourselves we don't have time because of work etc etc. It is beginning to dawn on me just what a sick society we are, and if I'm living in it, then that includes me too.

I keep running across mentions of Tom Hodgkinson's book How to be Free - yesterday there were copies in Fopp in Truro. Then I found a book called Living the Good Life on the website of Snowbooks while doing some industry research. Finding a new way of living which doesn't involve working for wages and paying it all out on bills and taxes is very appealing. I am convinced the money system in the West is going to come crashing down at some point, and that when it does, we will all be much better off, but I'm not at all sure when it will happen. I do think it will be in my lifetime.

In the meantime, who can imagine a different way of doing things? Exchanging money for time, labour, goods and services has been the way for so long that who can even think of a world without it? Well, I'm beginning to think about it and I'm sure far greater brains than mine have been for a long time.

Duh

2007-02-15T12:50:00.000-08:00

I'm braindead - had a long day at college today, starting with Non-Fiction, followed by a couple of hours in an overheated IT centre putting together the UK and US competition for my book, and then finally a talk by Peter Hobbs, novelist and short story writer. After which I got into the car and headed home in a daze. On days like this, I am so much on autopilot that I feel more like a passenger than a driver. I keep well back from the car in front and hope for the best. Usually I can't remember whole stretches of the journey. But according to Andy my subconscious is far more efficient than my conscious mind - so that's all right.

'Second Honeymoon' by Joanna Trollope

2007-02-14T04:23:00.000-08:00

Derrek gave us some advice on writing a book review. He said to remember the rule of thirds - in the first third describe the book, in the second say what's bad about it, and in the third (third!) say what's good. So I am going to use that formula about Second Honeymoon by Joanna Trollope:

Unfortunately I read this book weeks ago, just before the big build-up to Jan 19, so I didn't get round to writing about it then and now it's not very fresh in my mind. Anyway, I'll do my best.

Second Honeymoon is about a couple whose three children have all finally left home. Russell, the husband, is glad to see the back of them and looking forward to having his wife to himself at long last. Edie, however, is suffering from empty nest syndrome and desperately wants to return to the days when the house was full. Meanwhile her sister Vivi, with whom she has an awkward relationship, is living alone, her husband having left her and her son having gone to Australia. The novel recounts the events which lead to the return of the children and the husband, and the consequences of them coming back.

Goodness, is there anything at all I could put in the 'bad' section? For me, reading Joanna trollope is pure pleasure and I can't remember one single thing in the whole book which struck me as false or clumsy.

So I'll move onto the good! Trollope obviously observes people minutely and understands them profoundly. She is excellent at conveying the intricacies of relationships through snippets of dialogue. (Sorry - no time to rummage through for quotes). She has also written here the best portrayal of a cat I have ever come across! Arsie (finally a quibble - cats deserve elegant names!) becomes almost another character, not just a dumb animal providing a bit of descriptive colour. There are many examples scattered (ho ho) throughout the book, but have a look at pages 369 to 370. Cat-deprived as I presently am, it gave me a huge pang.

For me, Joanna Trollope is like a box of really good chocolates - I know I should ration them for maximum pleasure, but actually I want to gorge the lot. And invariably do.

'Rough Music' by Patrick Gale

2007-02-13T03:14:00.000-08:00

I am reading much more this term but not recording it anywhere, as Bill's space seems to have lapsed into disuse. So in future I will write it here instead.

Yesterday I finished Rough Music by Patrick Gale at a gallop, partly because it was due back today and I didn't want to renew it, and partly because he belatedly gets into his stride and I just wanted to read on. It didn't grab me as quickly as some of his novels (A Sweet Obscurity and The Facts of Life, for example) but is just as acutely observed.

There are two storylines, one with the hero as a child and the other as an adult. The chapters alternate between the two and are headed with the name of the house the action takes place in. More confusingly, the hero also has different names, but I won't reveal more! Part of the action takes place in a village called Polcamel, which I am guessing is probably Polzeath.

Gale is really good at portraying relationships between family and friends, especially the little niggles that dog all relationships. He conveys this in excellent dialogue. He's also very good at writing believably about sexual attraction.

I see that he has another novel coming out this summer. It is set partly in Penzance, about the life of a female artist - definitely one to look out for in paperback.

The final journey

2007-02-13T03:07:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about death lately, for obvious reasons, particularly the tradition of the family gathering round the bedside of the dying person. Why do we do that? Is it to provide comfort to the one about to die, or to each other? Does it date back to times when people wanted to be completely sure the person was dead before the spoils were divided up? Or even more cynically, did each family member want to be there in case a last-minute bequest was made to another? I wonder because it seems to me that it must only emphasise to the dying person that this is a journey they must take alone. Which seems kind of cruel. Maybe one day I will experience it and find out.

Thoughts of mortality

2007-02-12T06:59:00.000-08:00

It has been a sobering weekend. Ages ago some friends in Lyme Regis mentioned they would be inviting us for the weekend at some point in the future. Ah great, I thought, I can combine that with a trip to see Uncle George near Bridport. He was living in a residential home after becoming ill last year and I was aware it would probably be the last time I saw him.

Unfortunately my timing was out and on Saturday afternoon, when I should have been visiting, he was reaching the end of his life, his children around him. And it turns out it is only a 2 hour drive away. I wish I had gone before. Living in Cornwall can make you insular; I've noticed it time and again but I never thought I might suffer from the same curse. It takes about as long as it used to take us from Bath and we'd go down from there without a second thought.

Apart from that, it isn't really an occasion to grieve. He was always an active man in brain and body, a farmer, and leading a full life until last year when his heart started to pack up. I'd rather anyone shuffle off this mortal coil than be reduced to a shadow of who they used to be.

Birthday blog

2007-02-07T06:17:00.000-08:00

Yes, today is my birthday, not a fact I wish to publicise widely amongst my fellow students. Oh no, have I already reached the age when birthdays are glossed over? I prefer to think it's just that so many of my classmates are mere babes in their twenties and I don't want to draw attention to the age disparity. I remember what I thought about anyone over 30 when I was that age - dessicated graveyard material with very little relevance to me. I never actually think about age when I'm at college, we're all just students together, but bearing in mind I'm probably about the same age as many of their mothers, they may not feel the same way.

The weird fact is that I am now nearer 50 than 40 - how did that happen? One minute you're in your mid-twenties and there's all the time in the world, the next you're a fortysomething and there isn't. Not that I'm unhappy to be the age I am, far from it, it just seems to have arrived quicker than anticipated. I always used to say my ambition was to be an eccentric old lady, but I notice I have stopped saying and thinking that, I guess because it's no longer just an interesting theory, but a distinct possibility, the old bit, I mean. I still rather like the idea of eccentric.

I hate techies

2007-02-04T13:29:00.000-08:00

At last I'm back! For the last few days I have been thwarted by Blogger, which insisted I start to use New Blogger and set up a Google account to do so. Having no idea what they were on about, I had to wait until my personal technical support desk was available to assist. And then of course it turned out to be perfectly simple. But I'm on now, until the techies in their wisdom decide to do some clever upgrade yet again. It seems I can now create Blogger widgets. Uh? What on earth are they and why would I want to?

Anyway, enough moaning. Last week there was cause for celebration in the form of a cheque for £520 from the CEC scheme. Very nice too and thank you for my own slice of European funding. It added an extra dimension to a pleasant day spent at Wood Lane discussing photography with Tom Ingate and a very select group of fellow students. We all produced some interesting photos, some of them rather 'arty' if I say so myself. Maybe now I will produce a higher standard of shot for my Bath website.

Power failure of another kind

2007-01-31T04:20:00.000-08:00

I shall be glad when these two weeks of working from home are finished and I can get back to a regular routine at college again. Contrary to expectations, the time has really dragged and I feel disconnected from the course and everything I was hoping to achieve.

I have been reading Brendan Hennessey's book on writing feature articles, thinking I was being conscientious and preparing for the next unit, but now I'm beginning to wish I hadn't bothered.I think it's more of a book to refer to when you're actually working on things. It's a tough read and made tougher by his references to things I don't understand, never having worked on or for a publication. He needs to decide who his reader is - the book seems intended for the complete novice but he uses jargon they wouldn't understand. The references to appendices are wrong too and it took me a while to figure out that figure numbers refer to the chapter they are in and are not just numerically numbered from the start of the book. All of these small difficulties have made me feel like an outsider and I have lost some of my enthusiasm, which is a shame.

I've also been looking at newspapers and magazines, as per Christina's instructions, and here too I've started to flounder. Suddenly it all seems very hard for a newcomer to penetrate and my inspiration has dried up. The sooner we get started with our new units, the better, as far as I am concerned.

Global warning

2007-01-29T09:17:00.000-08:00

We went to see Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth when we were in London last year and I was really shocked by its predictions, especially as I had considered myself well-informed on the issues. Ever since then I have been seeing things which seem to confirm he is absolutely right.

For example, I can't remember ever hearing birds singing in January before - isn't it normally the end of February or March before you hear them again? The olive trees in our yard already have new green leaves complete with beastly caterpillars munching on them. And all the rain and wind we have had this month - repeated gales which have only happened maybe once a winter, if that.

I know some people claim that global warming has been blown out of proportion and that the weather has always been erratic, but I really do wonder. Some friends of ours bought a house with a stream running through the grounds. They knew it sometimes flooded in winter but now the Environment Agency have told them that due to rising water levels, they will soon have part of that field permanently underwater.

I can't help wondering whether people deny what may be happening because they simply can't believe things can change so much and so quickly. We have the privilege of living somewhere that has been temperate and stable for so long. Maybe we just lack the imagination to see it may not always be that way. It always happens to someone else, doesn't it?

A weekend off

2007-01-28T12:53:00.000-08:00

We've both been feeling a bit off-colour recently. On Friday at the photography workshop I was the one taking the paracetamol and feeling sorry for myself - the one who hadn't been living it up at the previous night's Burns Night meal. We had three late arrivals in the class, all wearing kilts and coming straight from haggis-chomping!

I've got out of the habit of blogging, it seems, and the inspiration is lacking. I gave myself the wekend off to get over whatever it was and to build up some fresh enthusiasm for next week. Today we went to Truro for a small touch of retail therapy and found some good books and CDs in FOPP. Some shops weren't open but it was nice to wander around such a quiet city centre.

Disconnected

2007-01-24T02:23:00.000-08:00

So I arrived home last Thursday, lightheaded with the relief of handing in my work, to discover that we had no phone line. The quality of the line had been getting worse lately and the storm must have been the last straw. They said it could take a week to fix, but I wasn't particularly bothered, as we were going to be away for 3 days. It was a bit shocking, though, to realise the next morning that we had no electricity either! Is this a taste of things to come? we thought. Anyway we set off for Bath a little late, assuming power would be restored shortly.

The end is nigh

2007-01-17T14:05:00.000-08:00

Here I am, trying to find constructive things to do as the printer churns out my assessment work. I had no idea it would take so long and I hope the poor machine can cope. I can hardly believe that tomorrow evening I won't have to do any more on all these pieces I've been slaving over for so long.

Sara and I have had a hotline going these last few days - lucky I get free calls. Do you know, I can't think of a single thing to write about, work has become so all-consuming. I promise I will do a lot more as I go on the next study block (crosses fingers).

Well, that's it for tonight, must resume my collating activities. I'm looking forward to that bottle of wine tomorrow night!

Lemon meringue in Padstein

2007-01-14T14:13:00.000-08:00

I've just realised I haven't updated this since Thursday! I've been so set on getting my assessment work done and so eager to leave the computer when I've had enough, that I've wandered off and forgotten the poor old blog!

I've had enough of work tonight as well, so I'd rather concentrate on what's been happening away from the keyboard. Last night some friends took us along to their gym for a workout. I haven't been in a gym for ages and wasn't really looking forward to it, but it was surprisingly enjoyable. Just about the only downside of this course is that I spend so much time sitting on my backside. I need to get moving again.

Which I did today by going up to Padstow and walking out towards Wadebridge on the Camel Trail. I did spoil things rather though by sharing a pasty and lemon meringue pie from Rick Stein's patisserie with Andy. Great pasty and excellent lemon meringue. And very cost-effective, the only cheap way of eating anything by Mr Stein. And the sun shone! Which was wonderful after all the rain - it felt like a special treat.

Full speed ahead

2007-01-11T14:14:00.000-08:00

A long day today - out for nearly 24 hours, dark when I set off and dark when I returned. A good day, though, as days with Bill always are. And I think being in a different room , especially for the course meeting, really helped. The one we usually have is far too hot and everyone starts nodding off which is disastrous if a guest speaker follows.

So now I have 4 days at home and I want to get my assessment work out of the way as soon as I can. It's been hanging over me too long already. There's my MA project to crack on with now, as Tom approved it yesterday. I could make a start on case studies and getting together some material for the text and the information boxes I want to put in to liven up the pages. No time to waste - any more!

Sweet and sour birthday

2007-01-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

It was good to be back at college today, see people again and get the brain cells working. A slightly odd day too, starting with Derrek talking about his play and promoting books in a rather surprising way for a Tuesday morning. And the room was laid out differently and we didn't split into two groups as usual.

And then Matt forgot to come to the IT session, so I got home early after all. A good thing is that I discovered that almost everyone is as clueless as me about getting their website completed and nobody could do anything without Matt. In my usual IT inferiority complex way I had assumed I was way behind everyone else, but apparently not. Which is a relief, but I'd still like to get the wretched thing out of the way.

We managed a perfunctory celebration of Andy's birthday with a Chinese takeaway from the new place in Bugle. Early January birthdays are miserable - no one's that interested after Christmas and New Year and it always seems to be raining. I've suggested an official birthday might solve the problem, but he doesn't seem that keen.

Back to school

2007-01-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

My clothes are laid out ready to grope for in the dark, the sandwich box has been unearthed from the cupboard, and my bag packed with books and papers, not forgetting the all-important assignments - yes, it's the start of term tomorrow!

I don't know where all that time has gone. It's amazing how quickly you forget about routines that seem all-consuming when you're in the midst of them. The traffic queues in Truro, for example. Didn't miss those.

It's a bit weird to go back for just two weeks of the old timetable, then have a break, then start a new timetable. Never done that before. I'm looking forward to starting my options, they are what I joined the course for. Also to hearing what Christina and Tom make of my MA proposal. I don't really have a clue at the moment, I'm working in the dark.

Blog on

2007-01-07T13:35:00.000-08:00

I've forgotten to write my blog a few times lately because I've been so engrossed in my MA proposal and the assessment work. Particularly the 12 page story for Derrek, which sounds, oh so simple, but in fact has been a killer. I haven't kept count of how many hours I've spent on it, which is probably a good thing. I've now decided that enough is enough and to stop aiming for perfection. If I could produce the perfect story, I'd be in Hollywood, right? So I've done my best and will just have to await the verdict.

I've also been reading the readable bits of the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook - in other words the pieces by successful authors, not the listings. There's a huge amount of information in there, a lot of it new to me, some encouraging and some despair-inducing. 20 years of poverty, anyone? That is the writer's lot according to some. I tell myself that only refers to novelists singlemindedly committed to their art and plod doggedly on. No, I am really not a novelist. Death struggles with story structure and the prospect of 20 years of poverty confirm it.

Victor's at it again

2007-01-05T14:59:00.000-08:00

A friend dropped in this morning to show us the new DAB radio he'd bought in the sale at Homebase, and to test it here to see if we can get digital radio. Silly idea, of course we can't, it's like the Lost World down this valley. When we moved in, we couldn't get a TV picture until someone came to put a powerful aerial in the loft. We can just about get a radio signal if we put the radio in the bedroom window and point the aerial in exactly the right direction.

We toyed with the idea of going to Homebase ourselves, as there's an extra 10% off today and tomorrow and we need some garden tools. In the end we just couldn't find the courage. We both hate DIY, and DIY shops particularly. They are so depressing; the heart sinks on going throught the door. Nothing these days seems to be made of a proper material - have you noticed? It's all wood-effect and stone-effect and marble-effect. Which means that it looks just like what it is - plastic. The people who did this house up were very into -effect, but there's not much point in doing anything about that unless and until we decide we're staying.

So we spent the afternoon getting photos for Andy's passport application, queuing in the Post Office and being told the photos weren't acceptable because there was a tiny bit of glare off his glasses.

This blog is becoming more and more like One Foot in the Grave. It's a good thing I'm going back to college next week. I obviously need to get out more.

Jukebox Judy

2007-01-03T09:51:00.000-08:00

I feel shattered this evening. I think it's the yoyoing of my emotions over the last few days. One minute I feel panicky about the amount of work that has to be done,and then I do some and feel quite confident about it, then I do something about my MA proposal and start to get excited about pulling together the material for a book - a book! Then I get panicky again and off it goes again. Exhausting. I'm glad I'm not in college this week and surrounded by people all going through their own versions of the same thing.

Anyway, putting work to one side for a moment, I have been to see a friend today for a pre-birthday visit, and I have been playing his jukebox, which is great fun. The buttons are all big and chunky and make a very satisfying click as you push them down, not like buttons these days. Then a pink mechanism rolls across and picks up the single to play. I can just about remember them, but I don't think I've ever played one before. The songs all sound so innocent and hopeful, even the ones about lost love. Life now seems so grubby by comparison. Oh dear, I think these dark, wet days are having an effect on my mood. Roll on, spring.

Blog off!

2007-01-02T12:42:00.000-08:00

I keep getting this New Blogger thingy brandished in my face every time I come to the site - and I don't want it! I just get used to the system and they want me to change again. Why can't it stay the same? Seems perfectly fine to me. That's the trouble with these IT people, they have to keep fiddling about with things, just because they can, no thought for us poor users who like our little routines. There is one thing though - why is the time haywire so that when I do a blog in the evening, it tells me it's 4pm? Most disconcerting.

Well, that's my grumpy old woman moment over with - for the next half hour or so, anyway. What shall I write about today? I know, I saw a quote the other day I really liked. It was by Elvis. He apparently said something like 'Talent is being able to sell what you are feeling.' I really like that, it's absolutely right, and very appropriate for us writer types. It was in a tiny book of quotes by and about Elvis and was the only reading material I was able to get my hands on in Pinky Murphy's, the cafe in Fowey we like. Their coffee cake is amazing, it actually tastes of coffee, which is very unusual, and I've tried plenty. A bit on the pricey side at £2.95 a slice, but we shared, being fat after Christmas anyway. I wonder if the MA powers-that-be would let me do a book about coffee shops for my MA?

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T10:51:00.000-08:00

Well, surprise, surprise, I didn't get round to doing my blog on New Year's Eve! Actually, I've never been a huge fan of New Year. Although of course it is the start of another year (I'm quick on the uptake, me) it has never really felt like that to me. Being in full-time education from the age of four till twenty-one meant that my new year always started in the autumn, with the new academic year, and January was just the theoretical new start.

I've never been keen on New Year's resolutions either. I can't remember actually making any, apart from a few years ago when we lived in Newlyn and my resolution was to become a member of the Garrack Hotel leisure club so I could use their pool. And I really kept to that - I used to swim a couple of times a week until we moved.

I heard about Lakeside Country Club when we moved here, but never got round to going to see their pool because a friend put me off. He takes wedding photos and had been there to do some. He said it was a collection of garden sheds occupied by oiks in football shirts and white trainers. So I never bothered. But now some other friends have joined the gym there and they say it's great. So soon I'll go along as a guest and try the pool. When I've bought a new cossie - the old one has been stretched beyond endurance and appears to be disintegrating. I'd like to blame the chlorine but I know it's my bulges that have done for it really. Happy New Year!

'Someone's tired!'

2006-12-30T16:38:00.000-08:00

I've just re-read yesterday's post, and I can't believe how quickly things can change! I was obviously feeling upbeat and optimistic when I wrote it in the morning, but by the end of the evening I felt total crap.

Andy had a band practice in Newlyn to prepare for a New Year's Eve gig, so I called a couple of friends to see if they were available for me to visit. They were, so I went along, just for a nice social evening. And it was just that, and good to see them and catch up with the news but I came home feeling very unsettled and grumpy and not really understanding why.

It may be partly due to rioting hormones but also perhaps to do with being in Newlyn and remembering what it was like to live there for those three years. We moved there from Bath, where I had run my own business for twelve years, and to say it was a culture shock is a total understatement. I did not know what had hit me and wanted to 'go home' just about immediately - this after entertaining ambitions of moving to Cornwall for several years.

So not an easy time in many ways and I suppose it is good that I have moved on enough to be able to see it as it was and not try to disguise it. But not a pleasant experience last night and I woke up today feeling very off-colour, physically as well as mentally. This afternoon we had to go and buy some bits and pieces as we were entertaining friends tonight, and I was standing yawning at the end of the checkout in Tesco while Andy paid. An old lady said 'Someone's tired' and gave me a big smile like I was a toddler lolling in a pushchair, so I must have looked bad!

After a cup of tea and some chocolate biscuits, Andy gave me a reiki session and I finally began to feel like a human being again. In fact, strong enough to switch on the news to hear about Saddam Hussein's execution. I felt oddly unmoved by it, especially thinking about that Christmas when the rulers of Romania were overthrown and shot. At this time of night I can't remember their names, but there was a real feeling then of relief and a bright new future. Nobody sees a bright new future for Iraq at present.

I don't really want to end this and go to bed on such a depressing note, so I'll just finish by saying that we had a good, relaxed evening, lots of delicious food and wine and a good laugh. A great way to spend a winter's evening.

Wet day - time to tidy

2006-12-29T04:30:00.000-08:00

It's a wet day out there today so I'm being virtuous and sorting out my office - lots of bits to finish and things to tidy up. I like to have a clean office for the New Year. I always hope that getting rid of old stuff will open up space for new and wonderful things to come in.

I've been reading The Freelance Writer's Handbook by Andrew Crofts, which I borrowed from the library to inspire me over the holiday. It's lifted my spirits and made everything seem possible again. I can't wait to get started on features and non-fiction and start submitting work. That's what it's all about, after all.

I have been thinking about ideas for a non-fiction book and all sorts of things are coming to mind. I don't understand why we're expected to submit our first proposal before we've even started the units, and particularly straight after the holiday, when we've had no contact with the tutors for weeks. I need to discuss this with Susannah, or I'm wasting everyone's time.

Anyway, don't want to dwell on that. I think I need food, so I'm off to make some lunch.

End of the year - almost

2006-12-28T14:32:00.000-08:00

Today I couldn't believe it's only 28 December - Christmas seems ages ago already! I wanted to get rid of all the cards and push on into the New Year. 2006 has been such a difficult year in many ways that I'm anxious to start 2007. It's also been a good year for me, and quite a surprising one. I certainly never expected to end it as an MA Prof Writing student! So I feel that I am now on the right track and I hope that this year Andy will get some acknowledgement for all his talents too.

For most of the year I would have been devastated if you'd told me I would still be in Cornwall at this point. Our house was on the market for six months and four times we had an asking price offer, only for the sale to fall through. It got so bad that deciding to take it off the market came as a huge relief. And spooky how that decision was closely followed by finding the course, as though it was meant to happen all along. It makes me wonder what unexpected opportunities and developments will crop up this year. Best not to know in advance, I always think, just deal with it as it comes along.

Not Imelda Marcos

2006-12-27T14:20:00.000-08:00

We slept late again this morning. Maybe it's something to do with the short, dark days at this time of year. I always think it would be much better if we could hibernate till spring. Anyway, it's difficult to climb out of the warm, cosy bed into a cold and dreary morning.

Once we'd managed it, we went to Truro to have a look at the sales. This was motivated by me having a rant yesterday about not having any shoes, which was prompted by Andy telling me we are likely to be invited for drinks by one of his clients - who apparently is glamorous. How helpful, it makes me feel like Felicity Kendall and her posh frock in The Good Life.

This kind of invitation does not crop up very often, and when it does, I always feel I don't have the right clothes - or shoes. Being a student suits me just fine sartorially as I much prefer casual clothes. I can also do business dress, although it's boring. But being smart for an occasion I find much more difficult and prefer to ignore the prospect most of the time. Until the next time, when it makes me cross again.

Anyway, between the temper yesterday and our trip to the sales today, I had already decided I can wear my old standbys, the black trousers, with boots and a top which was expensive, which I hope shows! Which was just as well, because there was absolutely nothing I liked at all. Truro is depressing for shopping. I have vowed to make shoes a priority on our next trip to Bath. I can do boots and sandals - why can't I do shoes?

Christmas Eve blog

2006-12-24T09:39:00.000-08:00

I must be a very sad blogger - surely I must have something better to do on Christmas Eve? Well, actually I am just doing a bit of surfing after typing up the end of my 12 page story for Derrek which I scrawled down by hand while Andy was in the sea at Polzeath this morning doing some proper surfing. What a long sentence and no punctuation! Well, it is Christmas! So I now feel I can take a couple of days off with a clear conscience. The time is racing by and I know it will be New Year before I know it, and I just do not want that horrible panicky 'My God, I've still got so much to do' feeling. So, yes, I am a sad blogger.

I will go now and get ready to go and see some friends for the evening. But I'm driving so it will be a very sober time till I get home!

Happy Christmas!

Cold at the computer

2006-12-21T08:40:00.000-08:00

Cold again today, especially sitting at the computer all day. My hands and feet get so cold, I have to have a hot bath to get warm again. In the meantime, some supper will help.

I got an email today from my contact at CADI regarding some figures I had used in the article. Good job I checked, as it turns out - it seems they bear no resemblance to what I had written down! Fortunately I was able to alter the article without too much hassle, but it's taught me a valuable lesson about getting facts checked, even when you think you're OK.

Have also written a first draft of the genre piece for Bill this afternoon, which I'm pleased about. I was starting to feel rather disconnected from college and I hope this will start me off on the assignments. I need to get to grips with the form essay for Derrek next. Where has the time gone?

'Have you seen enough, you nosey cow?'

2006-12-20T12:09:00.000-08:00

We returned yesterday evening from our pre-Christmas parental trip. As usual it was great to be in Bath, and as usual I got my hair cut by the fabulous Lyn at Luna, who as usual supplied gossip and white wine. I also managed to fit in a visit to my friend Ursula, aged 93 and now living in a care home. Her spirit never fails to amaze me. This time she told me how she had discovered how to unlock the door onto the roof garden, which residents are forbidden to go into at night. She went out to look at the stars, but someone locked the door on the inside and she had to knock on the window to get back in. Luckily another resident heard her and let her in! If I live to be 93, I really hope I will still want to look at the night sky - and be prepared to flout authority to do it!

Even the shops in Bath failed to inspire me with Christmas shopping fever. I saw some lovely things, but it all seemed superfluous. Or way too expensive for an MA student. But on the plus side, I walked back from town to Andy's parents' house on my own after seeing Ursula and was able to look into lighted windows, which I realised I haven't done for ages. OK, it's probably nosey, but there are some beautiful houses and people don't have to leave the curtains open ...

Years ago when I lived in Leicester, I was walking down a terraced street and I looked in one window, which had no blinds or curtains, and there was a man sitting in the front room. As I walked on, I could hear him shout 'Have you seen enough, you nosey cow?' And do you know, I wasn't embarrassed at all, in fact my first instinct was to walk back and shout at him to get net curtains if he didn't want people to look into his house, but fortunately a shred of dignity, or something, saved me.

So today was the first time since last week I could tackle The Article. I was encouraged by an email sent by Nick, saying that with a bit of work on the second half and a suitable ending, it would be very good. I sat down to start it at about 11 and amazingly, it flowed really well, and with a bit of cutting and pasting and a few additions from the CADI literature, it came to 1000 words. I sent it off again and Nick is happy with it!!! Result! He is going to edit it now, of course, but I'm pretty pleased with myself.

Andy went off early this morning to meet a coaching friend for a walk over Dartmoor. He came back saying the friend wants to update his website and would like me to write it! Plus he has a friend who wants a website who would probably be interested too! Oh, and money was mentioned. Well,well, a pretty good day, I'd say.

My brain hurts

2006-12-14T11:56:00.000-08:00

Today I have been writing up yesterday's CADI launch for the magazine. It has been hard work trying to extract information, from all the material given out and the notes I made, and turn it into something readable and informative. Because it is so much not my thing, I feel constricted in what I can say and how I say it, in case I make crass mistakes.

I have produced almost 900 words so far and have sent it to Nick for his comments. I'm happy with the first page but need to do some more work on the second and add some 'lighter' material too. And think of a way to round it all off ... Good practice, no doubt.

I won't have time to blog again until next week as we're off to Bath tomorrow to see Andy's parents and then up to Bourne to see mine, and won't have internet access.

CADI

2006-12-13T13:18:00.000-08:00

I have just got back from the launch of the Cornwall Aerospace and Defence Initiative - try saying it quickly - at the Maritime Museum. (Yes, I am back in Falmouth already!) This is a group of engineering companies supplying the aerospace and defence industries who are banding together to bid for contracts and apply for funding. I was there representing Business Cornwall and now I have to write it up in an article for the magazine. Not much idea about the angle to take yet, but maybe a good night's sleep and a talk with Nick in the morning will help there. I've also got a few phone numbers of people to ring if I need opinions or confirmation of facts. I also want to check how many words are required. Quite a tough first assignment, it seems to me!

Business non-event

2006-12-12T15:02:00.000-08:00

Today I went with Toni of Business Cornwall mag to an event put on by Truro Business School to launch a new advice service for small businesses. Not very well supported by businesses as it turned out - I think there were about as many business advisors there as businesspeople. But there was the woman who runs Dodopad, which seems to be hitting the market in a big way now, stocked by retailers like WH Smith and Waterstones. In the end, Toni decided I shouldn't write it up for the magazine as it would just be free advertising! There has to be a proper news angle for business if it's to make the mag. She always says she has to attend the opening of an envelope and I'm beginning to understand what she means.

That chick in the office ...

2006-12-11T10:25:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day of my work placement with Business Cornwall magazine. (See those italics - I am following the in-house style guide. Impressive, huh?) Toni and Nick run it from their home office in an old farmhouse miles down a no-through road near Camborne.

Nick has worked as a journalist for about 20 years, on various local and national papers and industry publications. We talked about how he pulls together the editorial for each issue, which is then sent to the designer on a flatplan. The magazine is printed and bagged just up the road from here at Roche.

He showed me how he adds news items to the website, and I condensed a press release about a new media course at Cornwall College into three short paragraphs, which we then added to the news page. I also used some information sent in by a business owner to write just under 300 words for a feature on businesses new to Cornwall. I hope it will be used in the next issue with a couple more featured businesses.

I had a look at a long press release from Business Link about one of the businesses they assist, but there was nothing newsworthy about it! Quite shocking considering it came from a marketing and PR company which is presumably employed by Business Link to do their PR in a professional way.

And that chick in the office? Ah, that was the feathery kind, rejected by its mother and reared inside, pecking and cheeping as we worked!

Christmas is coming

2006-12-10T05:01:00.000-08:00

Term is over and suddenly there are Christmas tasks to be done, like shopping for presents and writing cards. I am determined this year to be as non-Christmas as possible, but I can't abandon it entirely without causing huge offence to certain parties - unfortunately. I'm sure I can't be the only person who can quite happily do without a tree, decorations, cards, mounds of food and hopelessly inappropriate presents.

We have decided to send an e-card to business associates, and donate the money we save on cards and postage to a charity. Due to the hullabaloo recently about the send-a-goat schemes, we are sticking to a local charity, Chicks, which provides seaside holidays for kids, often carers for parents, who otherwise would never get a break. I have now decided to go a step further and send an e-card to friends and family who have an email address, thus with any luck doing good for the environment as well as the charity!

In fact I must start writing some cards now, so that I feel justified in going out at 2 pm as planned! We are going to sign up for a year's membership of the Eden Project for a fiver, an irresistible offer. It's the usual story - just up the road there is a world-famous attraction that pulls in visitors from far and wide, and we haven't been for ages. It will be an excellent refuge on miserable winter afternoons like this one when a walk is not appealing.

Made it!

2006-12-08T05:27:00.000-08:00

No blog entry for yesterday, the last day of term. I left home soon after 7.30 am and got back at about 10.45 pm, fit for very little. It was a very enjoyable last day. We had all written a short story on the theme of 'Metamorphosis'. Bill printed them all out and we took turns at reading and commenting on them.

I was nervous about mine for two reasons. Firstly, in my panicky state at the beginning of the week, I had overlooked Bill's request for a story and done a non-fiction piece, which I sent to him about 9 pm on Monday, before our usual midnight deadline. I was just checking through my notes in preparation for Tuesday morning when I stumbled on the instructions I had written down - a story, eeek! I seemed to remember Bill saying Tuesday was OK for this piece, but by then I didn't trust my memory, so I sat down again at the computer and hastily scrambled the piece into a 'story'.

Secondly, I hadn't realised the pieces would be read out and didn't like the idea of such a personal piece being heard by the whole class and then criticised. It was about the death of my much-loved cat, Cleo. However, it turned out OK. Nick was the first person to comment, and in the past he has been quite critical of my work and I thought he might find it sloppy. He did start by asking if we should have a minute's silence, but then went on to say it was well-written, so huge relief!

Having got mine out of the way, I was able to enjoy all the rest and was surprised how few authors I guessed correctly. After a short silly film about Kafka's difficulties in writing his famous story, we drove into Falmouth for the end-of-term meal.

Which was surprisingly enjoyable! I say surprising because for an introvert like me, the idea of a large gathering of people I don't know that well is always daunting, so I wasn't really looking forward to it. As usual, of course, my fears were not realised and it was really good to spend some time out of college chatting to people. It is great to be able to car-share with Sara, but it does mean we are slightly detached from the majority of our classmates who live in and around Falmouth. A shame that we are all going our separate ways now for a few weeks, but I do need a break, if you can call a work placement a break!

Almost there

2006-12-06T12:46:00.000-08:00

Only one day to go before the end of term! The editing tests are out of the way, thank goodness, and I have at least an inkling of an idea for my MA proposal, confirmed by my tutorial with Tom this afternoon.

It would have been nice to have had a session focussed entirely on the work we have to hand in early next year, as everyone seems to be wandering around asking each other to confirm they have the right idea and still feeling doubtful. I think we are all also wondering how well we are doing. The only direct feedback we have had is from Derrek and it was good to discover he thinks I am on the right track!

Today Sara said she thinks that being back at college makes her regress to her student days, and I think she is absolutely right. I think I have reverted to my 19 year-old unresourceful state under end-of-term pressure. It will be good to be away from all that for a while and get centred again.

Some good news - the man in External Funding, he say yes! Kamran has talked to his colleague about the insurance issue and it's OK for me to do the placement under the scheme. Phew.

Still no 'f'

2006-12-05T15:37:00.000-08:00

My delight at sorting out my work placement may be premature - I went to see Kamran in the External Funding office today to sign a disclaimer and it seems he still has to get the go-ahead from someone else. He was going to leave me a message, but nothing so far, so I don't know.

Similar lack of progress with my replacement student card, which was ordered last week because the original won't let me into the car park. It still hadn't arrived today and Lorette on reception discovered it was at Woodlane. Which was fine as I was going there to see Kamran, so I picked it up . . . and it won't let me in the car park!

And another frustrating session working on my CV page and website this afternoon. I can't remember much of the programme from week to week so sit there waiting for help from Adrian or Matt. I would like to just get it finished but don't know enough to start meddling on my own. Patience has never been my strong point. They seem to think I'm making progress, so perhaps it's not so bad.

I shall be glad when this term is over. I've only done 7 weeks whereas everyone else has done 10, but I'm tired and feeling freaked out about the work to be done over Christmas and to hand in in January. I don't know why I'm feeling that way as I'm good at organising my time and am not really worried about the assignments. Maybe I'm picking it up from other people, and not just at college. Andy was in Truro yesterday and he said the atmosphere in M&S was palpable - people getting stressed about Christmas.

There's no 'f' in funding!

2006-12-04T08:10:00.000-08:00

I managed to forget about my blog yesterday - until I was curled up in bed, just dropping off, when it wasn't too difficult a decision to put it off till today!

Some good news from the External Funding office today. It appears that I can do my work placement under the Creative Enterprise Cornwall scheme - and get back 1/6 of my fees! - even though Business Cornwall magazine don't have public liability insurance. Apparently I can sign a disclaimer.

Nick and Toni, who started the mag this year, have moved down from London and are presently working from home, just as so many creative 'incomers' do. They don't need public liability insurance yet because they can do everything electronically. There is a barn on their property which they intend to use as an office one day, and they will probably employ people too, but it's early days for the mag yet.

It would be so stupid if I wasn't allowed a placement there due to such a bureaucratic detail and yet I know from my dealings with the dreaded funding, in my previous incarnation as a business advisor, that there is little common sense in it. I heard of projects funded for several years where the staff had just begun to understand their market and their potential and to make a real difference, only to have the funding stopped and a similar project start up with other funding, staffed by completely different people who were starting again at the beginning. Not to mention all the competetion between different funded organisations for the same market - business start-up advice being a prime example. It really is a very demoralising subject for any down-to-earth person, so I'd better shut up before I get on my high horse. I am just deeply grateful there seems to be a way forward and I'm looking forward to seeing behind the scenes at a local mag.

The coast path

2006-12-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

I started working on keywords and descriptions for the bloc site this morning, until Andy returned from the gig in Penzance and we decided to go for a walk and make the most of the sunshine. Gales and heavy rain are forecast for tonight and tomorrow, so we may not get another chance.

We were intending to park at Vault Beach and walk around Dodman Point but as we were leaving, heavy rain clouds were looming into view over the south coast. So we headed north instead and ended up at Harlyn where there were big waves crashing in and lots of surfers - about fifty. At Harlyn you can walk out along the coast path until you are level with the surfers down in the sea, quite an unusual viewpoint and one which makes you appreciate the reality of being pounded by the waves. We walked along to Trevone and back, which certainly blew away the cobwebs.

Rise and shine - not

2006-12-01T12:17:00.000-08:00

We got up really late this morning - I switched off the alarm and the next thing I knew it was gone 10 o'clock! We had no appointments and have both had a busy week, so went to Fowey for a coffee and cake at Pinky Murphy's, which was almost deserted, unlike our last visit when we couldn't get in. I like Fowey. I like the combination of interesting shops and busy river life, the pastel cottages and view over to Polruan. It provides a good combination of browsing, strolling and cafe opportunities.

There is a literary festival every year in honour of its famous resident, Daphne du Maurier. I got tickets for the first time this year and went to see Bella Pollen and Justine Picardie. The rain was heaving down and the audience for Bella Pollen was a small group of elderly middle-class ladies in neat, quilted jackets, a token male, and me. I liked her much more than I expected, even when she revealed that her husband is a Macmillan of publishing fame - that's one way to get your first break, I suppose. She spoke very highly of du Maurier's novels which I dismissed years ago as adequate reading for fourteen year-olds. Perhaps I should give one a try.

I have often read Justine Picardie in Vogue and the papers and was surprised the turn-out for her talk was so low. She read from her book about clothes and I was tempted to buy it until I saw how big the print was! I could probably read it in a couple of hours and prefer more pages for my money! She said that she had never expected to write a book, she didn't think she had a book in her, which was interesting in terms of how a writer develops.

Sara and I were talking about this on the drive to college this week, how at first you write about your own direct experience, but that it is probably only after all that has come out that the valuable stuff emerges. But you have to do it before the rest is accessible. In this writing is like life - there are no short cuts to quality results.

Thursday thoughts

2006-11-30T11:52:00.000-08:00

So the dialogue piece wasn't very good, but at least nobody else's was either! I should have written a longer dialogue and not opted for the bits of overheard conversation. Next task is an essay called 'Metamorphosis' which we are going to read next week with no names attached, to see if we can guess the author!

Tomorrow is December 1 - how did that happen? I suppose I'd better accept Christmas is approaching and start thinking about present-buying and the rest of it. Not a happy thought. I'm really tired with the normal Christmas stuff. Just a break from work, with lovely food and a few small presents, to be spent with my most-loved is my ideal. Which of course is exactly what we will do, but the retail razzmatazz is so depressing. Those specially packaged 'gifts' are just offensive - completely useless items you don't want and which your friends and family don't want either, but which are designed to be bought because you feel you should give them something. Yuck.

I was considering the send-a-goat thing this year instead of sending business Christmas cards, but now the charities are falling out over whether it's a good idea or not. How I am supposed to know if they don't? I just like the idea of someone with nothing benefitting from the out-of-control consumerism of this time of year. Maybe I should stick with a British charity. It gets harder and harder to make decisions these days, so many environmental considerations. This is getting negative so I'm going to stop now and do some ironing!

What is bloggable?

2006-11-29T12:28:00.000-08:00

I have been wondering about the content of my blog. It makes pretty tedious reading because I am loath to put in anything at all personal. I only confide in my very best friends offline, so there is no way I would bare my soul all over the web!

This is limiting, though, and I am not sure what to do. I have discovered that other people on the course, who are obviously savvier than I am, have not put their names on their blogs. I have just tried to remove my surname but although it has gone from the profile, it is stubbornly staying on the blog. Time to call on my IT support when he returns from Ki Aikido class.

I have been reading a few other blogs and they seem to be as heavily censored as mine, apart from Ryan's, and he seems to be regretting his openness now! I will continue to ponder.

Not a good one

2006-11-28T14:11:00.000-08:00

Today has been an irritating day. I thought I had got my story for Derrek nailed down, but it seems I have a woolly premise and a protagonist who is too passive! The IT session was frustrating and then as we left I casually asked Matt if we would be putting on the content next week and he said 'put it on beforehand if you can.' Uh? If I could do that, I'd have done it already! Matt and Adrian are very nice and helpful but I 'm not sure these sessions are working too well, and I know I'm not the only one. I ended up feeling sulky and resentful and about 15 - so much for going back to college! I've now had a lovely quiet evening on my own as Andy's out practising with the band for a gig on Friday, and I'm feeling human again. I even have 3 ideas for the script-writing tomorrow!

Just another manic Monday

2006-11-27T12:36:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy day today, but I've achieved a lot, probably all I wanted to. I've finished the story for Derrek, which is my own version of Bobby and Janey in Bruce Springsteen's 'Spare Parts'. I wonder if anyone will notice? In my version, Janey has a termination so there's no dodgy business down at the riverside. Wouldn't be such a good song though!

I've also finished the piece of dialogue for Bill. As usual I am wondering how bad it is. Oblique and indirect dialogue is much harder to write than a keen reader would ever imagine. In fact, there's so much more to this novel business altogether. Maybe I am destined to always stay on the reading side of the fence.

I have written some stuff for my website and sent it to my college e-mail account, ready to move to My Docs before our session tomorrow afternoon. I'm not really very happy with it, but no doubt things will become clearer with time. I like the Simon Crompton website Christina showed us last week and it is very basic, straightforward and professional. I need to get some more photos as the only one I have is a bit too holiday snap-ish.

As well as all this I have been down to Lloyds to pay in an essential cheque and pay off my credit card balance, which was my deposit for the course. The payment was well-timed and I've had a month's credit. Also been to wonderful Asda to stock up on food for the week. The air machine there is still out of order almost 2 weeks after my last skirmish, when it took the air out of my tyres! So called in at Tesco to check the pressure.

Andy and I have discussed his new cards and advertising prior to him seeing the designer tomorrow, so now just a pile of ironing remains - but maybe it can wait till tomorrow!

Time to catch up

2006-11-26T08:12:00.000-08:00

Andy wanted to go surfing today as it's good for the first time in ages, so I have stayed at home and done some college work, some business admin and some personal finance stuff.

I think I may have cracked Derrek's piece for this week, after much racking of brains - it seems so simple until you actually try and fit a story into the structure! I just hope he doesn't ask for another next week. I don't think I'm cut out for this fiction stuff! I always thought I had a vivid imagination but now I'm not so sure.

The next task is to write some dialogue for Bill, dialogue which is oblique and indirect and moves the narrative along. Seems pretty straightforward when we're watching 'Steptoe and Son' but at present my brain is a void.

I'm starting to get a bit restless. I checked my diary and discovered it's a month since we were up in Bath, so the timing is spot-on as usual. That is partly why I suggested a visit to Plymouth yesterday, but let's face it, Plymouth isn't anyone's first choice for a shot of urban buzz.

I feel much less isolated living here than I did in Newlyn, and of course the course helps in that I am mixing with intelligent people and stretching my grey matter. I was curious when I started the course as to whether the intellectual stimulation would be the answer and stop my craving for a bit more life, but it appears not. I do think it helps though. I wonder whether the tutors who have moved to Cornwall from London feel like this at all, or whether they had had enough of it and were just glad to escape. I haven't really found anyone else with my escapist tendencies. I must ask around.

Plymouth

2006-11-25T15:22:00.000-08:00

I felt like a change of scene today, so we decided to go to Plymouth, check out the new shopping centre and keep out of the rain. Our visit did not start well when we discovered the Park & Ride does not operate on Saturdays. We found a car park but had no money for the pay & display machine so drove out again. We finally found a newsagent where I bought a paper and got enough change for a parking meter.

I hardly know Plymouth at all, apart from passing through on the train and driving past en route to the rest of Devon. My last visit to the centre was about 20 years ago. So I think it's fortunate that the new shopping centre has been built as the rest of the city (apart from the Hoe) still has a rather depressing feel. It is a city on the up, I'm told, and it certainly seems that is the only way to go. We will probably return on a warmer day when we're less likely to get drenched, and explore the Hoe and Barbican.

Non-fiction and business writing

2006-11-24T10:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a 12 hour day at college, so by the time I got in I was only fit for a meal, a glass of wine and some easy viewing before bed. The day was longer than usual because after the course meeting we listened to the two radio plays made last week and then Susannah came in to talk to us about the creative non-fiction unit.

And now I think I am going to revert to my original idea and choose non-fiction and features! So much information, so much confusion! We were asked to work on a book idea but at the moment I have no firm ideas, so worked on Jenny's pitch for a climbing book. I have considered lots of possibilities - running your own business, working from home, downshifting to the country, a joint self-help book with Andy - and now need to think about them all more seriously. I have been told I have a knack of putting complex ideas across in a very straightforward and understandable way so I think this unit will be a good match for my natural abilities.

Today I have changed my persona and my clothes and become Ms Business again. Another networking event, this time in Bodmin. Maybe not the most dynamic place to do business but you just never know. I went along with a couple of women I know through work and enjoyed the different environment. I never thought I would be relaxed about going to these occasions but I am!

More business writing to do over the weekend. I have a profile of Andy to finish for one of the companies he is an associate of and this month's newsletter, on the subject of networking in fact! Everybody seems to have the same fears about it and the newsletter is intended to offer some practical help. It's great when readers take the trouble to respond, particularly if we don't know them personally. The internet is such a mindblowing tool.

Business writing at home and college

2006-11-22T12:56:00.000-08:00

When I started this course, Business Writing was probably the option I liked the look of least. I've done it for ages for our business so I wanted to try something new and more exciting.

However, today Tom did a session with us and now I'm not so sure! I am actually interested in business and I know I have a business head, so why not put those to use? Apparently it also combines well with feature writing, which is something I have always wanted to do.

Will business vanquish non-fiction? Tomorrow we have a session with Susannah, so perhaps by tomorrow evening I will have more idea.

I have enjoyed Bill and Derrek's classes (Bill's in particular, I could listen to him all day quite happily!) but I simply don't have an idea for a novel and my pieces are always about people I know or experiences I have had. Not really good enough to fuel a whole novel, I don't think. But Tom did point out that many successful novelists have started out writing for business in one way or another. I knew all about Fay Weldon, of course, but didn't know that Salman Rushdie came up with the 'naughty but nice' fresh cream slogan. Will Self used to write for the Safeway in-house mag! Quite encouraging, isn't it?

After Tom's session I showed David and Fi how to use the reading blog. Nice to be able to help out and also very comforting to know I am not the only one who struggles!

I am feeling very pleased with the way I am coping with the different commitments in my life these days. I almost didn't join the course this year because I thought it might be too much. It was really down to Andy that I did - he always has more faith in me than I do and I've never known him to be wrong yet.

The housekeeping side of things has been no trouble at all and if anything, is probably better organised than before because I know there is less time to do it in. I have been keeping up with assignments and not getting panicked about them, although the work for our assessments in January is starting to loom in the distance. Doing my bits and pieces in the business has been fine so far - I actually had some writing to do this evening and there's another networking event on Friday. Andy and I must schedule some time together now that he's got his hypnotherapy qualification and we can get started on some marketing.

The only thing that's being neglected is my website www.city-of-bath-england.com which I haven't updated for weeks now. Because of that, my search engine rankings are slowly slipping, but oddly, the hits are staying up. Maybe I can do a bit of tweaking in the Christmas 'holidays'. I am starting to miss it - I have been amazed by how enjoyable it is, nerdy though it sounds!

Pride comes before a fall

2006-11-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

So little time in which to gloat - I have just checked my new entry and it appears that last night's was not added for some reason. And I can't even remember what it was about either!

IT support

2006-11-21T12:51:00.000-08:00

I am feeling pleased with myself this evening - today we had our IT session with Matt and started building our websites using Dreamweaver. And I kept up and didn't make a single cock-up!

This is very pleasing as I seem to have a bit of a block in my brain where computers are concerned, just like I used to have for maths and science subjects at school. When I have to do anything IT-ish, it feels like part of my brain jumps up and runs round the room screaming 'Aaaaaaagghh'. This part drowns out the rational part and stops it thinking through the task, so that I end up making a hideous mistake or just paralysed, thinking 'I can't do this. I can't do IT.' Very annoying, but very difficult to stop.

I have just looked at the discussion boards and seen that David has asked for help in putting a reading blog on Moodle, so I have offered - me, offering IT assistance! Is this a first?

Stephen King is haunting me!

2006-11-19T06:02:00.000-08:00

Since reading 'On Writing' by Stephen King, he has been cropping up everywhere! His latest visitation was on Desert Island Discs this morning, which someone kindly tipped us off about on the discussion boards. Having read the book, I didn't get a lot more from the programme and thought that Kirsty Young dwelt rather heavily on his former drink and drug habits. Read a review of his latest novel 'Lisey's Story' yesterday and it was pronounced his best yet. I've never actually read any of his stuff and I'm not tempted yet. There's plenty else to get on with that does appeal!

Strike it out

2006-11-18T09:51:00.000-08:00

Quote from Ernest Hemingway - 'If there is anything in your own work you think particularly fine, strike it out!'

From my own blunders and those of my classmates, I am beginning to appreciate the truth of this. The phrase that gives you a gratifying glow as you write and re-read it is always the one which grates on others and hopefully on you when you read it later. Strike it out!

I am realising that I write in my head before, and more than, I do on the page or the screen. I need a good idea of what I am going to write before I sit down to start. I find the mental process is fermented well whilst carrying out mindless tasks like housework. Hence I have a clean house and lots of newly-ironed clothes. But no written assignments yet. What else needs cleaning?

Corporate me

2006-11-17T09:50:00.000-08:00

Today I have morphed from student me to corporate me and put my suit on to attend a networking meeting in Truro. Andy is completing his NLP Masters training in Cheltenham and I'm probably better at networking than him anyway. So many people try to sell themselves and their products at networking events and it's better just to talk to people and show interest in what they're doing.

For example, today I met a website designer who has written a book about web design for Barnes & Noble in the US. It will be published by a different publisher over here. He apparently pitched an idea to them and they came back and suggested something a bit different. He studied Journalism at City in London and worked at The Times for 6 weeks as his tutor was married to the deputy editor! Not a bad work placement!

Nobody else there was particularly interesting or interested in me - or maybe I just failed to hit their interesting button! You can never tell anyway. You might think you have made absolutely no impact at all and wonder why you bother going, and then months later you get an enquiry because someone has mentioned you to someone else. Best to go to these things with no expectations, if you can manage that.

Favourite blog

2006-11-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

I have a favourite blog I look at most days - www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com. Scott Schuman has worked in men's fashion in New York for years and last year started his blog, in which he roams the streets of NY, taking pictures of the stylish people he sees. He has been snapped up by the fashion mags who send him to cover the seasonal fashion shows. I still prefer the NY photos - ordinary people who have a quirky dress sense and some amazing stories. Compulsive viewing if you enjoy looking at fashion and/or people.

Fortysomething rant

2006-11-14T14:26:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I worked in a library and obviously a lot has changed. As well as being a place to work and read, it is now apparently somewhere to giggle and chat with your friends, slightly less loudly than usual.
Yes, I have seen the room you can work in if you need to be quiet, but why is that necessary? It seems the same as having a special room in a pub where you can go if you want to drink - isn't that what the pub is for anyway?
It's not just the college library either. A few weeks ago I was working in the public library in Bath and someone a couple of tables away took a call on his mobile phone! Answered it and chatted away quite unconcernedly. Does getting indignant about this mean I am officially middle-aged? I hope not.
While I'm on a roll, another gripe concerning the library. The signs on the loo doors say 'Female Toilet' and 'Male Toilet'. Does this mean that toilets now have a gender? How long before we are buying female shoes and male shoes?

Next week already

2006-11-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

Sunday night and once again I haven't done all the things I meant to do over the weekend. Although usually I have Monday at home as well, so it's not so bad. This week I'll be here on Wednesday instead and can catch up then.
I'm still learning to juggle college work ie reading and writing, with business commitments - admin, writing and networking meetings - plus the inevitable housework. Which is best, feeling panicky I'm not doing enough for college, feeling guilty I'm not doing enough for the business or feeling irritable because the house needs cleaning? So far, whichever I choose, the rest always seems more pressing if it doesn't get done!

Saturday blog

2006-11-11T12:08:00.000-08:00

I've just watched 'The Culture Show'. Mark Kermode was talking about a film with a lot of narration which has been adapted from a novel. He felt this shows that the makers hadn't quite got to grips with the adaptation. Interesting point after our session with Bill on Thursday about the problems of filming 'Wuthering Heights'.
More synchronicity - the show is currently asking viewers to vote for their greatest 'living icon', and Kate Bush, she of wailing 'Wuthering Heights' fame, is one of the top ten. I can't stand these 'greatest' and 'best of' type contests - how can you possibly compare someone like Vivienne Westwood with Alan Bennett, for example? It's a totally meaningless waste of time and I would have thought better of 'The Culture Show'.
Enough ranting. Roast chicken awaits, one of the British top ten dinners?

It worked!

2006-11-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

Yes, I definitely have a blog! With my techno-wrecking capabilities, I can never be sure anything will work, but it's there all right.
A place to write daily, I am told, to help mould me into a real, proper writer. I'm all for that.
The week goes by quickly, I find, when three days are spent at college. Somehow the four days at home go by even quicker, leaving lots of things I'd meant to do, undone. Like tackling the last third of Mr Campbell and his hero. I sense a lot of antipathy towards Joseph Campbell amongst my classmates. He is certainly the champion of the convoluted sentence and the multi-syllabic word.
Unfortunately the book doesn't convey what an amazing man he was. I remember stumbling across him on television years ago, being interviewed by a fellow American, and although I didn't understand what he was talking about, I simply couldn't turn it off. It was utterly compelling. I am hoping that the book is penetrating at some level too, far beneath the day-to-day conscious level.

Here goes

2006-11-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

I seem to have created a blog! Having joined the MA Professional Writing course in week 4, I missed all the induction sessions, including the one in which Matt, the IT guy, set up blogs for everyone. So I'm coming to this a bit belatedly.
I have now completed three weeks at UCF and they've flown by. I just hope I have picked up all the information I need in the course of my bumbling about between lectures.