Assumption As a point of departure, let's just assume I am nuts on two counts: I have decided to participate seriously this year in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which promises, "thirty days and nights of literary abandon". The goal is to write a novel within the month of November of 50,000 words or longer.... Continue Reading →
Salad days
The salad accompanying the grilled piri-piri chicken and fries fairly stood up on the plate. Fresh crisp lettuce; tomatoes which smelled like tomatoes in the vegetable patch after the rain. The sweetness of the sliced onion compelled me to pop a piece in my mouth almost before the plate had settled on the table. Normally,... Continue Reading →
Living in the now
Yay! Today is Savage Chickens day - in my world, anyway. In tribute to this excellent cartoonist who manages to fit drawings and words onto a yellow Post-it®, I slavishly follow Doug Savage's copyright rules which state that as one of the other 7 billion-odd people in the world, I am permitted to copy one... Continue Reading →
Lest we seek, we may not find.
Had I paid more attention to the minute detail of a book by O F Emerson entitled The History of the English Language given to me by a quite famous Professor of English by the name of Guy Butler who was reputed have have known by heart no fewer than three of Shakepeare's plays, one... Continue Reading →
We have forgotten about swine ‘flu
We have forgotten about swine 'flu, But you can still ruin your lovely soft hands With those harsh products which were supposed To protect even the most lacksadaisical washers From the dreaded contagion of that piggy virus. This is why we all readily recognise this sign: If you are one of those people who suffers... Continue Reading →
All around my hat
My new hat was handmade for me from woven palm leaves, and fits me perfectly. This is a traditional craft in the Algarve, Portugal. I first saw "my hat" at a fashion show held in the village in which I live at the end of June. I wrote about the music at that Fashion Show... Continue Reading →
Two minutes late
I really do like train trips. I already had my ticket. I prepared well the night before, and rose very early on the appointed day according to plan. So what possessed me to do a whole series of unimportant things at home so that I would arrive at the station two minutes late for my... Continue Reading →
What’s a penguin?
I am aware of the irony of using electronic media to talk about aspects of the electronic media, in this case a recent development on that social media network, Facebook. The latter organisation has introduced a cool new thing: we can now pepper our comments with more emoticons than I ever knew existed. My question... Continue Reading →
Saturday morning introversion
Susan Cain: The power of introverts | Video on TED.com. I am so glad I have real friends on Facebook who post interesting things I wait two days to watch because I think it is going to take too much of my time. This video is only nineteen minutes long, and well worth every single... Continue Reading →
That elusive pair of jeans 