Tag Archives: blogging

by | April 24, 2011 · 2:17 pm

if Swindon vanishes in a fireball….

It will be nothing to do with my lack of religious belief, nor my anti AV status, but rather a spontaneous combustion of barbeque lighting fluid in the atmosphere.

Despite being 75 to 100 feet from the nearest meat cremation ceremony, the stench of accelerant is so bad that I’ve given up on gardening and come indoors feeling somewhat ill. Goodness knows what their food will taste like with all those fumes around.

So, if you live locally and see the flash, or you hear of our fireball on the news later, you’ll know why.

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by | April 8, 2011 · 9:04 am

friday fun in the sun

Well it is a beautiful morning (no I’m not about to burst into a selection from Oklahoma!) and I am having a few moments in front of the laptop checking emails, blogging and passing the time until I have to capture a pair of moggies and take them off to the vets for the annual jabs.

All of a sudden here in Jottings I have got all political again. After GE2010 I promised myself that I would leave the soap box in the shed for a while, but the Yes2av campaign crept up on me and had got the juices flowing in opposition, so apologies to my regular readers who prefer my more whimsical offerings, but there will be a steady stream of no2av campagning for the next few weeks.

I will try to add more of my usual scibblings to water things down though, so please bear with me if you find the politics boring.

So, time to drink my tea and turn into Hunter John and track down the cats. This posting will be filed amongst Wildlife Encounters; they may me domestic animals, but somehow they know that a trip in the cage is coming and are already plotting against me. I shall return later to dress my own wounds and with a lighter wallet.

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by | March 28, 2011 · 6:35 am

tough times

Over the last couple of weeks two people we know very well have both been diagnosed with cancer and neither is likely to be around this time next year. Of course such predictions are not always true, but they both have to think about how they deal with what may well be a shortish time left and, sorry if this sounds selfish under the circumstances, those around them, including us, have to consider the impact their last months and passing will have.

As I’ve written in another blog recently we don’t get to choose when our time is up, but when mine comes I would rather it was quick. A lingering demise, as both of my parents had, is hard on those around you. I don’t want to inflict that on anyone.

 

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by | March 27, 2011 · 9:19 pm

a bit of a day!

Finally wrapping up the day. At one stage we thought that we had a Coach Parties Welcome sign at the end of the drive as we’ve had more visitors today than we’d normally get in a month.

I’ve finally finished the VAT return that I started over 12 hours ago, tomorrow’s Monday Musing is loaded ready to appear at 0600, next week is planned and a very welcome bed is calling.

The Berkshire Belle and I lead such tranquil lives normally, so a house guest and a horde of unexpected callers is somewhat disruptive, even if we are pleased to see people.

Normality should return sometime on Tuesday when we’ll be back to just us and the cat.

 

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by | March 8, 2011 · 7:07 am

letters to the editor – mobile phone technology

Sir

I try not to use my mobile, or cell as my US friends call it, phone too much. After all, I am not a servant to be summoned by the ringing of a bell, and my mobile phone appears to be fitted with some sort of proximity detector that always ensures that it will ring when I am about to do something important.

For example it will often ring just as I get to the till to pay for something, or at another extremely inconvenient (or in convenience) moment when I have my hands otherwise occupied.

Surely if they can fit phones with such a device to make them ring at these times, then the same device could be made to stop them ringing until such moments have passed?

Until then I will have to carry on turning it off and back on again myself.

I think that we should be told.

Yours faithfully

Harassed of Hamilton

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by | March 6, 2011 · 3:40 pm

a trouble shared is a trouble halved – not in my book

It is an old saying that a trouble shared is a trouble halved, and I understand the sentiment. Sure, if the person that you share your trouble with can help, then maybe it does make things much better.

But, even as the optimist that I am, for most of my life I’ve found that telling a trouble will double it to start with because someone else knows. And if you can’t rely on them to keep it to themselves then your trouble will multiply at an horrific rate.

I’m a great believer in the self help route because it has always worked better for me over my, nearly 60, years on this planet (and several hundred on a different planet if you believe some people!). It has worked much better for me that on the times that I have shared a problem.

So what prompted this thread? I’m keeping that to myself.

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by | February 20, 2011 · 3:13 pm

last night I met my older brother

So what you might ask? Nothing much special about meeting a close relative is there? Well there is in thise case, because he is 62, I’m 58 and this was our first meeting. We didn’t even know each other existed until New Year’s Eve last.

He’s actually my half brother and we share the same father. The story is complicated, and is personal in any case, but my son and I had been researching our family for about 5 years and had put some of that information out onto the web when my brother decided to dig into what had happened to his dad, and came across us straight off. Within a couple of hours we were in touch and had verified beyond doubt that we were related by blood, and last night we met.

There are the usual things that you would expect to be the same or similar in siblings, physical features, mannerisms and characteristics, but we have also followed a parallel work line for the last few years and might easily have met through both being in the same industry; certainly we know, and have worked, with some of the same people.

And there are other coincidences; within our respective families, the choices of names for children and their children have also followed a remarkable parallel.

I have been writing elsewhere today about the power of technology these days. I have researched an incident from 1970 that I saw live because someone has put the TV recording of it on You Tube. It took me less that 30 seconds to type in four words and the top response was the film clip I was seeking to confirm my memory and I could write the piece that I wanted to in the safe knowledge that I had my facts right. The internet, together with various software products, enable me to find data and anaylse it in a couple of hours where, when I started work, it have taken so long to get even half way there as to render the exercise a waste of time.

There may be some evil stuff on the web, and it may enable some with evil intent to further their aims, but here the internet allowed someone to not just find that they had a whole new branch of their family, but also to find out about their father, and to come to know him a little more. Isn’t that just something?

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by | December 31, 2010 · 7:00 pm

My most viewed post of 2010 on John’s Jottings?

As 2010 draws to a close I have been looking back at my Jottings over the last 12 months to see what was popular and what wasn’t so much.

The two clear winners for John’s Jottings are the one on Natural Disasters (Acts of God) and Am I a LibDem, both of which have also had a bit of a resurgence in interest lately, albeit that they were both a bit more topical with regard to the general election. If you missed them first time round please click on the links to have a look.

Anyway, thanks for reading these, and other posts around my blogs. I hope that you all have a peaceful and prosperous 2011.

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by | November 27, 2010 · 3:55 pm

Over a year of weekly column writing

It is more than a year since I started writing my weekly column on the Monday Musings blog, and almost a year since I started to make it a 600 word column to try and get some further discipline into my writing.

Others have to be the judge of success, but Monday Musings has been picked up by a professional journal and gets a mention on their web site and in the magazine, so I have acheived something in the way of producing a worthwhile output every week.

When I first blogged about 18 months or so ago I had no concept of finding myself with half a dozen blogs, nor of them generating any revenue, let alone to have written over 275 blog entries. All I wanted was to practice my writing and see where it all led.

Monday Musing number 54 gets published at 0600 UK time next Monday. I hope that I can be celebrating the 100th musing somtime next Autumn.

Thanks for following my words. I hope that they have helped, amused or inspired.

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by | September 5, 2010 · 6:48 pm

what am I doing?

It has been a busy few days, and I’ve not blogged much. My main targets are to ensure that I have a 600 work Monday Musing done and posted around 0600 on that alloted day, and to complete the weekend round up on Motorpsort Mania. Those are the disciplined elements, and the other posts tend to take a back seat.

With a new contract having started up I have been putting that at the top of my list, and I also have a backlog of DIY to get on with, so those two have been my priorities lately.

Having said that, I’ve done a couple more posts on For Food Fans and want to get that ticking along more regularly. I also want to write more retro pieces for Motorsport Mania as my blog on the Sid Collins eulogy for Eddie Sachs has been attracting visits and feedback. I have a fund of stories, but actually telling them well is an art I need to practice. The next Monday Musing comes at this from a different angle for me and I want to try and do some more of these different posts. Maybe the upcoming trip to the USA will give me some time to try out some ideas; the transatlantic flight and various other periods in transit might be eased by writing, even if a lot of it ends up on my personal spike.

On the reading front I’ve got a couple of old books lined up to read when I can get round to them. Currently I’m reading Leo McKinstry’s Lancaster. Covers a lot of ground I already know well, but it’s keeping me quiet first and last thing. For the trip I have a few options, but not sure what I’ll take yet. I always buy books over there; Barnes & Noble is irresistable as is Borders.

Anyway, that is it from me for this post. Thanks for reading, and see you next time.

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