Oh my!

Hellojed has nominated me for a creative blogger award! How exciting is that?

So now it is my turn to award it to five people. After a really difficult decision-making process, because you, my favourite bloggers, are all so creative, I have come up with the following:

1. Anne Brooke, because Anne blogs with humour and brutal honesty about her life and the highs and lows of being a writer. It is a must-read for me every day and I think right now an award would cheer her up.

2.Three Beautiful Things. The concept of Clare's blog is so simple yet also profound. It has spawned many imitators (all welcomed) including my own three notable things. Now she has won a literary competition and the blog is going to become a loo book!

3.Nerd Bunny, who seems to be able to turn her hands to so many creative crafts and posts the results on her blog for us all to enjoy.

4.The fabulous Rilly Super at Strife in the North, whose blog never fails to make me laugh, simply because it is such a clever parody of the Wife in the North blog, which I also enjoy.

5.Last, but not least, I would like to nominate my wonderfully talented fellow OU A215 creative writing students of last year, many of whom also now blog. There are far too many to mention individually, so I shall give the award to WikidWords and hope that Jude will accept it on behalf of those writers represented there and those elsewhere.


Three notable things:

1. Winning a blog award. Thanks Hellojed!

2. Choosing five more creative blogs to receive the award.

3. Oh and did I already say winning a blog award?

The postman's knock

I needed a little treat today after son 2 decided to start my day at 5.30am. So I was pleased when my sari silk yarns from eBay arrived in the post. They are very pretty but unfortunately I think they are probably too thick for the purpose I had in mind. Still they will not go to waste. I will either think of somthing else to knit or crochet with them, something chunkier, or I will use them in my papercrafting.

Then mid-morning the doorbell rang and a parcel from The Book People was handed over. Some reference books and a pile of sale priced fiction. So if you'll excuse me I am off for a quick read...

Three notable things:

1. The beautiful weather over the weekend, though it was actually too hot whilst ironing yesterday.

2. A refreshing mango drink in Starbucks on Saturday afternoon.

3. Receiving our child tax credits notification and realising that they have got it wrong yet again, even though they have been informed of a change in circumstances twice already. Fortunately it is unlikely to make any difference to what we get paid, but the tax credits people must rival the Child Support Agency for incompetence!

What have I done now...?

Yesterday I got a sudden urge to knit or crochet something. I'm not sure why, I have never been a good knitter and I haven't crocheted for years.

I was stuck in all day, so whilst surfing around eBay I started to look at some hand dyed yarns. Very pretty. But what could I do with them?

Years ago, whilst spending the year abroad of my degree in Germany, where knitting was more fashionable than it was in the UK, I knitted a couple of sweaters. They were very basic, but the wool was fluffy and soft-coloured. They were wearable, at least for a student.

Pregnant with son 1, I knitted a few baby items. Even my mother, who is not known for her needle skills, picked up her pins and produced some much needed premature-sized cardigans. But it was my clever sister who came up trumps with the most beautiful and complex knitted heirloom baby shawl.

When son 1 was small I knitted a few trendy jackets for him in primary-coloured baby aran, but by the time son 2 came along I had no time. I knitted nothing further until two years ago, when I picked up a kit for a very simple fluffy scarf. I started it during our family holiday in Devon, but son 2 kept pulling it back faster than I could knit. It was never finished as the wool became rather mangled.

I was up until 1am last night looking for patterns on the web. This morning I succumbed and ordered some of the hand dyed wools. This evening I have ordered some yarn created from recycled sari silk which I hope will blend in. Not large quantities of either, but hopefully enough to create a scarf.

But don't hold your breath.This wool may just end up clogging up the spare bedroom with the rest of my craft stash...

Three notable things:

1. Ordering some colourful yarns to indulge my creative urges and experiment with.

2. Working out why I could not get the symbol writing computer program to do what I wanted (I use it to produce communication cards for Son 2.)

3. Reading a lovely description of the challenges and joys of living with an autistic child on Crystal Jigsaw's blog.

Summer fun?

It must be summer at last. The sun is shining and the blogs are quiet. Friends are away on their summer holidays. Our wi-fi has been playing up over the last few days as if to say you should be out enjoying yourself rather than stuck inside on the computer.

Son 1 and I have just been watching a piece on the BBC London news about why kids don't play outside in the park anymore.

'We would hang out in the parks if there weren't drug dealers in each one,' he said.

Three notable things:

1. Son 2 waking us up at 4.45 am yesterday! (Though he did go back to bed)

2. Son 1 and his mates having the sense to stay away from the drug pushers.

3. Not receiving any bills in the post for the last few days!

Psychic cats

A footnote to the story of Oscar the psychic cat which was one of my three notable things last Thursday. Nerd Bunny dropped in to tell me that there is a cat with a similar gift at the hospice where she works. There must be something in this. Does anyone else know a psychic animal? I wonder what these cats pick up on...smell or atmosphere, or are they really psychic?

I have decided to take a short Open University course in writing plays this autumn in preparation for the level three course due to launch next year, which will apparently feature scriptwriting as well as the more familiar fiction, poetry and life writing. The short courses are very enjoyable...I have already done the courses in fiction and poetry...and an excellent starting point for any aspect of writing.

Three notable things:

1. Contacting an old OU tutor via Facebook and getting a lovely note back.

2. Working on the blog which supports my fledgling work-in-progress novel.

3. Not losing my new titanium magnetic bracelet in a store on Saturday. I caught the catch and it fell off but I quickly realised it had gone and found it on the floor.

Silly season

It's school holidays again. I shall be largely confined to home for the next five weeks with just odd days off for good behaviour when son 2 is at playscheme.

This may be a Good Thing.

I may get lots written. On the other hand, the house will be noisy, very noisy, and the kids will demanding. So I may not.

So I started the holiday as I mean to go on, by wasting time creating a WeeMee which will become my new face on the web, as I hate having my photo taken. What do you think of it?

To make matters worse I have just opened an account on Facebook, which I fear could become another big distraction. Over the Christmas holidays I joined MySpace and have made lots of mainly writer friends there. Some of those are already on Facebook and I am sure that, with all the publicity it is currently getting, more and more people will be signing up. I used to think that these sites were just for kids but actually they are quite a good way to network, in a similar manner to the blogging world. So I can add social networking sites to various forums and blogs on which I seem to spend half my day. No wonder the housework doesn't seem to get done very often...

But...I need some more Facebook friends as Anne is feeling lonely. If any of you are on there, please come and say hello.

Three notable things:

1. Yet more book browsing and buying in town yesterday, followed by two free cups of Earl Grey tea in the Debenhams Goldcard lounge.

2. Son 2 bringing home an excellent end of term report. He is really making progress in most areas except reading and writing. So he doesn't take after his Mum then!

3. Son 2's video and dvd players both packing up at the start of the holiday. Hubby will have to go on a replacement mission to Currys tomorrow!

My day

I'm feeling rather tired this evening, so I think I will just sum up my day in three notable things:

1. Reading a couple of good short stories by Rose Tremain and James Lasdun whilst waiting at the clinic for son 1. Both stories were shortlisted for the National Short Story Prize 2006 and the Lasdun tale won.

2. Having a lunch of lovely home-cooked Indian vegetarian food with friends.

3. Watching a news report about Oscar the 'psychic' cat in Rhode Island.

WikidWords

WikidWords is a new blog of poems and flash fiction by a group of writers, both previously published and not yet published elsewhere, who were part of the first Open University A215 Creative Writing course last year.

Do go and take a look at just some of the talent of the class of 2006...and I'm not only saying that because Jude, the editor, has kindly published one of my own poems on it! I hope that in due course I will be able to produce more pieces of work good enough for this group. In fact I may even submit the poem I wrote yesterday when I have finished polishing it up.

Three notable things:

1. Realising that I had missed an appointment yesterday but being able to arrange another with no hassle.

2. Book browsing in charity shops this morning and buying Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes.

3. Having a poem published on Wikidwords!

Thoughts on the floods

So I was inconvenienced by the floods on Friday. But at least I got back and had a dry home to return to. Watching pictures on the BBC news of the floods this summer, first those up in the north and now those in the west and south of the country, really started me thinking about how we, as a family, would cope in such a situation.

How would an autistic child, or adult, even to begin to understand what was going on? Son 2 would have no concept of the dangers of the flood water or the need to conserve power and drinking water. Son 1, being agoraphobic, would find evacuating the house very hard, even in an emergency. They would both be devastated to loose possessions.

It is a scary thought.

Three notable things:

1. Writing a poem today. I don't often get the urge to write a poem, but I was inspired by something I heard yesterday.

2. Sorting out a set of symbols for son 2 to use as a communication aid this summer.

3. It was a warm, dry day and I didn't go out at all. Why not?

Shipwreck!

I don't think my parents could quite believe my fascination with the wrecked MSC Napoli. To the locals in East Devon it is a nuisance, a source of beach pollution and a hindrance to the vital tourist trade. It has to go, yet earlier attempts to refloat it had been unsuccessful due to damage sustained during the storm which resulted in it being beached. It has languished distantly on the horizon surrounded by tugs and other vessels belonging to the salvage company, whilst on the beaches locals and opportunists fought to salvage the contents of containers which washed ashore. The whole saga made the national news media which is unusual for the often sleepy and insular South West.

On the day I arrived in Devon the Napoli was to be blown into two parts which could be towed away separately for safety. That evening we piled into the car and drove up to a vantage point on the cliffs to observe the results of the operation. The ship was resolutely still in one piece.

The next day I, along with many others, watched it from the promenade and tried to take photos...sadly it was really too distant for the zoom lens on my old camera ( the above is from Wikipedia!) That afternoon more depth charges were used. Still the Napoli remained intact. It must have been better built than anyone had anticipated. About an hour after I left town two days later, a third attempt was successful. See the Napoli being dismantled here. I missed it all.

I think my interest arose from the fact that, back in the 1980's, I used to lead a team auditing a shipbroker. My client introduced me to the world of merchant shipping and took me to visit the old Baltic Exchange, where brokers still matched ships with cargo loads by bartering on an exchange floor. A piece of history which has disappeared since the Baltic Exchange was blown up by an IRA bomb and city trading became electronic. It is such a shame that the historic building was not restored.

Three notable things:

1. Visiting a friend I don't see often enough and catching up with lots of gossip.

2. Buying the new, and final, Harry Potter book.

3. Making the most of the fact that Son 2's school holiday starts a whole week later than most other children's!

Devon interlude

It was a quiet, relaxing time. My parents live in a wellknown retirement and tourist resort with a promenade and attractive little shops and, in the distance, the intiguing sight of the beached and wrecked MSC Napoli. More on that later, but if you look very carefully in this photo you might just spot its shape on the horizon.

The two whole days down there were largely spent pottering around the shops and being taken out for coffee by my mother. Going out for coffee is a big social event in that little town. On the second day we all went out for lunch in a nearby inland village and then on to walk for a while in another tiny resort.

My parents are not getting any younger, so evenings were spent quietly at home. I had taken several books to read, yet barely started them. Instead our time was spent looking at old photos and family trees, trying to piece together my heritage, and just chatting.

Three notable things:

1. Enjoying being beside the sea once again.

2. Exploring the local charity shops and buying books by Lorrie Moore and Mary Gordon. In fact I could have bought several more books if I had been able to carry them back to London, but I like to travel light!

3. A lovely lunch in a restaurant where, for most of the time, I was the youngest client by at least ten years!

I'm back...but only just

It was warm and sunny in Devon. Honestly. You would never believe how the weather could change so suddenly causing terrible floods. I spent a few days relaxing with my family and sleeping a lot. I hadn't realised how tired I was until I actually got away.

The journey down on a First Great Western train should have been fine, but halfway there it was announced that the train was to be diverted via Bath and Bristol, due to a vehicle having hit a railway bridge, thus preventing trains using the normal route. This was to add 45 minutes to the journey. Bath and Bristol having been passed through, the train slowed almost to a halt and crawled along for miles in the Bridgewater area. This, apparently, was due to reports of people walking alongside the line. We finally arrived in Exeter about 75 minutes late, my parents having been waiting for me at the station for all that time. I was just glad that son 1 had decided not to travel with me, as he would have been very stressed out.

When it was time to travel home yesterday, I was relieved to see the train arrive dead on time at Exeter. I was disappointed to find my carriage noisy and dirty, crowded with teenagers returning from surfing holidays in North Cornwall. But that was just the start. About half an hour into the journey an announcement came over the tannoy that the train was to be diverted to Bristol, where it would terminate, due to flooding on the lines in the Newbury and Didcot areas. The train manager didn't know how anyone would be able to travel on to London.

At Bristol we all piled out with our luggage and sought information. There was already another London-bound train stranded there and nobody seemed to know what was happening. Eventually a rumour went around that there was one train due to go to London via a southern route, but it would take about four hours. It was a small train and by the time I got there all the seats were taken and people were fighting to get on. I managed to secure myself a standing space in the region of the door, with a piece of wall to lean against and my luggage at my feet. It was like the London Underground in rush hour as we all crammed in together and in typical British fashion we even managed to have a bit of a laugh about it, despite some fraying tempers.

It was a long way to London. I was glad that I had a bottle of water, some painkillers and a flapjack with me. By the time we reached London Waterloo station over four hours later, having taken the long scenic route through via Salisbury and Basingstoke, I was exhausted and feeling quite wobbly. I still had to cross London on the Underground and even that had delays due to the floods. I finally got home at about 8.30pm instead of about 4.30pm, just glad that I had been able to get back to London at all in the flood crisis.

I have travelled between London, Reading and Exeter many, many times over the last thirty years and these were by far the worst journeys I have ever had. To be fair the problems were the fault of freak occurrences rather than the train companies, though the level of communication provided to travellers, especially at Bristol Temple Mead station, was very bad.

More about my very short holiday next time, when three notable things will return!

School's out for summer...

K272 is done and dusted. I think the exam paper took most people by surprise as the questions seemed quite vague. Still, one of my favourite subjects did come up and I managed to waffle on for the whole three hours, so I did what I could, though I suspect it was quantity rather than quality. Now I am going to put the books away and hopefully never look at them again!

Anyway, to celebrate I am off to the seaside for a few days break. Back on Friday, though I might not be back on the blog until the weekend. Enjoy the rest of the week, everyone!

Three notable things:

1. Going back to old haunts...taking my exam at the Bishopsgate Institute where I took accountancy exams over 20 years ago.

2. Seeing how Liverpool Street station has been redeveloped and remembering standing outside it in the old days to catch the bus home to Hackney.

3. Looking forward to seeing my parents tomorrow, for the first time in almost a year.

It's tomorrow...

The time has come. By 1pm tomorrow the exam will all be over.

I have been revising. I do broadly understand most of the themes of the course but I can't retain the names of any of the theorists. I know I haven't put enough work into this course but circumstances and, if I am to be honest, laziness have been against me.

Three questions in three hours. I will just have to hope that some of the topics that I have practical experience of come up so that I can waffle my way through.

Good luck to anyone else sitting the Open University K272 exam tomorrow!

Three notable things:

1. No more studying after tomorrow (at least until the next course!)

2. No exam nerves yet, because I don't give a damn. I've learnt what I needed to, the result is immaterial.

3. Planning a visit to my parents later in the week.

Bookarazzi

A fabulous new website called Bookarazzi has just been launched.

It is the public face of a group of nearly 50 bloggers belonging to the private BloggersWithBookDeals forum, all of whom have either published a book or currently have a book contract. The group includes a number of my own favourite bloggers, some of whom are also members of the Novel Racers group I recently joined, but for a full list and links to the individual blogs of the writers, see here.

The site contains articles, links and advice, a group blog and of course the opportunity for the members to promote their own work. I think it will be well worth keeping an eye on, so do go and take a look.

My new ambition is to be able to become a member of this elite group of bloggers, but I think I have some way to go yet!

Three notable things:

1. Looking forward to getting back to the writing next week.

2. Just avoiding most of the rain whilst doing a supermarket shop with son 1 this morning.

3. Son 2 coming home with two certificates from sports week, as he is the least sporty child you could imagine!

Writing dialogue

Today I was revising for most of the day. It actually went quite well, mainly because I was looking at topics I already know a bit about, namely mental health issues in childhood and old age and also in a dual diagnosis alongside disability.

So why was it that my mind kept straying to the totally unrelated topic of writing dialogue? I think it is because I spend quite a lot of time on various writers websites, where people post their work for criticism. Obviously some of this writing is very good, some less so. One of the things I have noticed recently from the work of others is how hard it is to write good dialogue and how hung up some people seem to get on supposed 'rules'.

Rules such as stick to 'say/said' as your speech tags rather than try to be clever, so as not to distract the reader. Don't use adverbs after your speech tags. Well to my mind there is nothing wrong with these suggestions, but they should not be prescriptive. I have seen passages of dialogue which were little more than short sentences with 'he said/she said' tagged on the end. Sometimes it just seems too choppy and infantile. Surely a little variation in structure and speech tags would be better? As for adverbs, yes in general it is not good to have too many -ly words. But I can't see anything wrong with writing '....he said quietly', for example.

Who has actually made these so-called rules and why do some novice writers feel they have to folllow them to the letter? Is this what agents/publishers are looking for in commercial fiction? I've done two university creative writing courses and the only 'dialogue rules' we were taught were in respect of the layout and punctuation of dialogue. It was recommended that remembering 'show not tell' will help avoidance of adverbs, but at no time was it said you should never ever use one in your writing.

Any writers out there got any views on this?

Three notable things:

1. Getting on well with the revision (as time is running out...)

2. Thinking about going away for a few days next week.

3. The sun has been shining!

How weird is this?

I confess that I am seemingly untidy and disorganised. But most of the time I do actually know where to find anything important.

Not this week though. I remembered receiving an examination allocation letter from the Open University several weeks ago. I knew I had put it on the coffee table and then into a cardboard box which currently stands beside the coffee table and contains an eclectic mix of books, magazines, correspondence, study materials and other things to be read or dealt with.

At the weekend I decided to dig out the letter in preparation for my exam next Monday. It wasn't there. I went through the box thoroughly, looked on the coffee table shelf and under the sofa, checked any other places I might put such things for safety. No letter.

I decided it wasn't worth stressing over. On Monday morning I phoned the Open University and told a little white lie about it probably having been lost in the post, because it was just too embarrassing to explain it had been lost in my lounge. A very nice lady said she would put a copy in the post immediately. It arrived this morning.

So why, when I came to sit down on the sofa just a few minutes ago, did I find the original letter, still in its plastic packaging, lying on the floor right beside my feet? Is it my mind playing tricks on me or do we have a poltergeist in the house?

Three notable things:

1. Coffee with supportive friends this morning.

2. Spotting a tiny wren sitting on our garden fence.

3. Finding the exam letter!

Wimbledon history

Wasn't the tennis great yesterday?

Apart from Tim Henman's matches in the opening week, yesterday was almost the first time I'd had time to watch much of the ball hitting. What a day to choose. A classic, nail-biting men's final between the record-equalling Federer and young Nadal, followed by a Brit actually winning something. How can that be?

Jamie Murray and his partner Jelena Jankovic did us proud in the mixed doubles final and looked as if they were enjoying it all. Almost too much. Which of course is how Wimbledon should be.

It reminded me of years ago when we had Centre Court tickets for Women's Final day and were privileged to watch Martina Navratilova win her final singles title. It was actually something of a one-sided match but we felt we were seeing history in the making. A wonderful experience, despite the painfully hard seats and the fact that I wasn't feeling too well, so couldn't indulge in any strawberries. It didn't even rain that day!

Three notable things:

1. Great tennis to watch on TV.

2. Managing to sort out what I am going to revise and actually do some revision today.

3. Receiving the correct payment for some teaching work done last month. It's not a lot but I do that particular work for experience rather than the money!

A reminder

As every Saturday, Oxford Street was crowded with people out spending. I had come down to London for my final Open University tutorial but now I was joining the throng of consumers.

But this was no casual, aimless shopping trip. I had two goals...a white T shirt for son 2 who has sports week coming up and a waterproof coat for myself for a planned getaway. I managed to get what I wanted, stopped for a panini at about 2.30pm and then headed back to Bond Street station. The lure of Oxford Street had worn off. I did not want to be tempted by the enticing goods in the department stores, to waste money I don't really have.

Back at the tube station I was met by a huge crowd of people exiting up the Jubilee line escalator. There was no obvious reason for their numbers, except trains arriving from both directions at the same time, but my heart was in my mouth. Was there a problem on the underground? I had heard no announcements but there was a significant police presence in the ticket office. Something perhaps to be expected in view of the events of a week ago.

After a couple of minutes wait my train arrived. I was disconcerted, yet at the same time relieved, to see police in both my carriage and the ones on either side of it, yet I had never seen so many on a train before. Again I wondered what was going on. It wasn't until the train started to head northwards that I realised. The train would be passing through Wembley Park station and Wembley Stadium nearby was hosting the huge Live Earth concert that afternoon. That is probably where the police were headed.

I changed trains and got home without incident.We can't let the threat of terrorism stop us living our lives, yet at the same time I think that it is in the back of our minds at all times. Yesterday was the second anniversary of the bombings of 7/7 as well as the occasion of the Live Earth concert and some big sporting events. It was good to see the level of security around our city and transport.

Three notable things:

1. Our local town centre has a Starbucks. At last.

2. Controlling my spending!

3. An encouraging tutorial and meeting with a study-buddy friend I have made through this course.

Shopaholic strikes again

I was only going to the bank, honestly. Not my usual bank, but the one used by the local charity group for which I am treasurer. I had cheques to pay in.

Next door to the bank is an Oxfam shop. Well I couldn't resist, could I? So I came away with Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris and The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter for my bookshelf. I have never read any Angela Carter and I think it is about time I did.

I also bought this book, which I had never heard of before - Let the Crazy Child Write! by Clive Matson. My library of 'how to write' books is growing rapidly. Now all I need to do is apply the knowledge I am collecting!

Today's three notable things:

1. Finding good books in a small charity shop.

2. Laughing at son 2 covered in my make-up, just before his school bus arrived.

3. Doing no paid work or study and not feeling at all guilty about that.

A brave man

I woke up very early this morning and switched on BBC News 24, to be greeted by the information that the Corporation's abducted Gaza reporter, Alan Johnston, had been freed after 114 days in captivity. He had apparently spent this time in solitary confinement, unsure if he was going to be harmed. His spirits were raised by the realisation, through hearing BBC World service radio broadcasts, that he had not been forgotten, that people all over the world were demonstrating, campaigning and working for his freedom.

What was absolutely amazing was the composure he showed on his release, making live phone calls back to the BBC studio and speaking at televised press conferences. He had been through a terrible ordeal, yet seemed to have kept himself together remarkably well. I have always thought that to be a journalist one needs to be both brave and thick-skinned. To be a journalist in a place of conflict requires both in abundance. Alan Johnston today showed remarkable courage both as a man and a consummate professional.

Three notable things:

1. A squirrel running along the garden fence.

2. The jewel coloured floral sari worn by a friend.

3. The welcome release of Alan Johnston.

Exam stress

Two weeks today I am supposed to be sitting an Open University exam. I haven't done enough work for it. I haven't even started to revise. It will be nothing short of a miracle if I pass. So shall I even bother to turn up?

I keep telling myself that it doesn't matter if I fail to complete the course, after all I was taking it simply to increase my knowledge of mental health issues in view of our family circumstances. What I have learned has already proved useful in real life. The exam doesn't matter.

Yet it is a matter of pride that I have never yet flunked out of taking an exam or test. I've failed a few...driving test and a few of my accountancy papers...but at least I persevered and passed them in the end. So I expect two weeks today I will turn up at the exam hall, praying that at least one of the few topics of which I have some practical knowledge turns up on the exam paper. Who knows, if that happens I might just be able to get by.

Three notable things:

1. A young robin, barely able to fly, hopping around outside our front door and taking shelter under the cars from the rain.

2. Watching Take That on the TV coverage of the Concert for Diana, during which the rain miraculously kept away for six hours. (The only other segment I saw was Elton closing the show, though I would loved to have seen Roger Hodgson.)

3. Knowing that terrible tragedies were narrowly averted both here in London and in Glasgow over the last few days and wondering whether guardian angels do exist.

Competition angst

There have been strange goings on over at Susan Hill's Long Barn Books competitions. If you haven't been following the saga of the First Novel Competition on the blogs of Scott Pack, Dovegreyreader and Susan herself, then perhaps this will bring you up to speed. Now it appears that the publisher's 'Loo Book' competition has also hit a snag. Oh dear. I was hoping to be able to enter the First Novel competition one day!

So here are today's three beautiful things, as Sue and Anne have encouraged me to go ahead with the idea. Except that I am going to call them notable rather than beautiful, as a reference to the title of my blog!

1. Sunlight glittering in the leaves right at the top of tall trees, as the sun sets during a brief break from the rain.

2. Strawberry tarts from the local baker.

3. Making pretty bead bracelets.

Three Beautiful Things

I'm probably years behind everyone else, but I have only just discovered Clare Grant's wonderful blog, Three Beautiful Things. I probably wouldn't have found it at all if it hadn't been for this post on Susan Hill's blog. So congratulations to Clare.

I really like the idea behind Clare's blog, to list three things which make you happy each day. Surely it can't be too hard, even on the dullest or most difficult day, to find three positives, however insignificant . In today's aspirational society it is so easy to forget to celebrate the small pleasures of life. Just thinking about them must be very good therapy for those of us with more negative outlooks on life.

Anne Brooke already does something similar at the end of each of her fabulously honest blog posts and I am seriously thinking of starting to post three beautiful things on each of my posts too. What do you think?

In the news this week

So what was I doing blogging yesterday about something as trivial as my personalised homepage, when there is so much going on in the country this week?

The floods, for example. I feel desperately sorry for everyone affected further up north. For anyone outside the UK who isn't aware of this news story, there are pictures here and here.

Some viewers of GMTV were upset earlier in the week when live news reports of the floods were broken into to go to Hollywood for live coverage of Paris Hilton being released from jail. So a so-called celebrity in America, (remind me, what is she famous for other than partying?), is considered more newsworthy than a natural disaster causing loss of life and massive disruption in our own country.

Then of course there is our new Prime Minister and all the resultant changes. Apparently in the 68 minutes between Tony Blair resigning and Gordon Brown emerging from Buckingham Palace as the new Prime Minister, a matter of national importance was announced. Preston and Chantelle, two British Z list celebrities, are ending their shortlived marriage. I wonder if Max Clifford had any hand in the timing of the announcement?

Little things...

I've been having fun playing around with the computer over the last couple of days. I have had Google as my homepage for ever, but now you can personalise your Google homepage and add all sorts of gadgets.

So far I have a lovely cityscape template which changes colour in time with the daylight here (you tell it where you live when setting up). I have a calendar, a sticky note space for my 'to do' list, and Google notes, which I use to record odds and ends which catch my eye on the internet. I have local weather forecasts and a couple of news feeds. A Wikipedia search button and several inspirational 'quote of the day' widgets also find a home.

The quotes come from...wait for it...Oprah and Dr Phil. Today's quote from Dr Phil is one I can really relate to:

Sometimes you just got to give yourself what you wish someone else would give you.

Enough said.

And no, I am not going to comment on today's political changes in the UK except to say that Cherie's comment to the media as they left Downing Street was classy. Not.

Read it and weep

Sometimes it almost feels that we are alone in dealing with severe adolescent mental health issues.

But in The Times today is an important investigation into children , unhappiness and depression in what they call Generation Anxiety.

This should be required reading for all parents and teachers.

Singing in the rain

I've been to Glastonbury itself, but I've never been to a music festival. Which probably makes me a boring old cow, but there you go.

Apart from the fact that I am now far too old (there's nothing worse for teenagers than parents trying to be cool), I don't do camping. I'm definitely a 4* hotel type of girl.

I did camp once, with the school when I was 11. We pitched up in a big field near the Cornwall/Devon border and it rained. Just like it has at the Glastonbury Festival this weekend. We all got soaked and covered in mud and to make things worse there were no proper toilets or washing facilities. Never again.

So I'll content myself with watching snatches of the festival music online or on TV. I have just been watching The Magic Numbers online because I think two of them may have been at a table next to me in a coffee bar in Islington recently. Or maybe it was just two lookalikes. I'll never know for sure, will I?

The Novel Race revisited

Regular visitors might remember that back at the start of the year I considered joining the novel race being set up on Kate Harrison's blog.

I didn't then, because the time was not right. But now my Open University course is drawing to a close and I want to get back to my novel. Soon. But I need motivation and moral support.

Things are also changing for the novel racers, who are in the process of moving to a brand new blog home here. So I thought now would be a good time to get on board. It has not been the highly competitive race I thought it might be, so I think I will feel comfortable there. If you are writing a novel, why don't you join in too?

A serious subject

Over the last year I have learnt far more about mental health issues than I could ever have anticipated. It has been a long haul to discover that many of son 1's problems have resulted from actual and perceived bullying at school. Initially by a teacher. The truth is still being coaxed out, a tiny bit at a time, by skilled professionals.

It was for this reason that when I first heard about Caroline Smailes' book, 'In Search of Adam', I wasn't sure if I could read it. At least, not now. Because her book is about child abuse, in its many forms, and the consequences.

I have been an occasional visitor to Caroline's lovely blog (where her publishers actually discovered her) and I was more than happy to add a publicity button for the book in my sidebar, which you may have noticed over the last few weeks. But still I was not sure about actually reading it. Yet.

But then I read Dovegreyreader's astute review, followed by other bloggers reviews (links are on Caroline's blog). I realised that this book is both unusual and important. I ordered it. I started to read it yesterday and already I have been drawn into the dysfunctional world of young Jude Williams, who I desperately want to protect better than I did my own child. I can hardly bear to read on or to put it down.

Don't be put off by the subject matter. Caroline has, through her use of language and the young voice of Jude as her narrator, avoided falling into unnecessary sentimentality. We understand far more than Jude does.

I'll come back to it later, as it a multi-layered book which will take time to read and digest. It might not be for everyone, but why not try it and judge for yourself?

Book blogs

I enjoy reading some of the book blogs. I use them in the same way as reviews in papers, magazines or even on TV, to guide me towards authors and books I might otherwise not have heard of. Yes, we have a local branch of Waterstones, but there are so many interesting books out there which don't get into their special promotions or even onto their shelves, especially those published by the small publishing houses.

Yet parts of the literary establishment seems to feel threatened by ordinary people who blog about books, as evidenced by this recent missive from Persephone books publisher Nicola Beauman (what you read there is apparently an edited version of the original). There are comments about this on several book blogs...take a look at this post on Eve's Alexandria for links to some other views. Whilst you are there, just read the intellectual quality of the book reviews on that particular blog.

Not everyone wants to just read dry, inaccessable reviews in a broadsheet newspaper, many of which are, in any event, often written by someone with a connection to the author or publishing house. Why can't 'ordinary' bloggers also have an outlet for their opinions? After all, most readers are discerning enough to just use reviews as a starting point in deciding whether to buy a book or not. Just as we do when looking at readers reviews on Amazon, or recommendations attached to the shelves in a book store.

I suspect that book blogs do generate quite a few sales and, in most cases, welcome publicity. I know that in the last year I have ordered a number of books, often directly from a small publisher, which I would never have heard of if it wasn't for book bloggers such as Dovegreyreader. Funnily enough, not one of those was published by Persephone books.

Writing courses

As you already know if you have been reading this blog recently, I would love to do an MA in Creative Writing. Soon. But right now it is becoming even more clear that it would be silly to try to commit to such a major undertaking until things are a little more settled at home.

The Open University has a level three course planned for the autumn of 2008 which I might do instead. As it is anticipated that the syllabus will contain playwriting as well as prose and poetry, I have been thinking of perhaps doing the short level one course on playwriting this autumn as an introduction.

But that won't help with my currently stalled novel. So I was delighted to read on Susan Hill's blog today that she is intending to run a free, online course through her blog. Sounds like a fantastic opportunity to learn from an expert and I have already sent in my name. Anyone else up for this?

Today...

...I sat in a clinic for three hours while a social worker and a doctor decided whether to send son 1 to hospital. I'm not sure if it is called sectioning where a child is involved, but that is what it amounts to.

They concluded he could stay at home.

Celebrity

I turned on GMTV this morning and caught part of a piece on celebrity. I wish I had seen it all as it appeared fascinating. As part of a degree project (art or media studies degree?...missed that bit) a young, slim, attractive girl had set out to see if she could make her face famous in the space of 12 weeks. She succeeded in getting onto London billboards and a mural on a department store wall, she had invites to celebrity parties, etc etc.

Which all goes to once again prove how shallow modern celebrity can be. I have absolutely no problem with people being famous because they have a special talent or have achieved something exceptional in life and I will admit to enjoying a quick flick through Heat magazine. But last week I was standing in a shop and it suddenly hit me how many (mostly ghastly) celebrity magazines there are.

Nowadays celebrity seems to have become a goal in itself rather than something to be earned. It is the only reason many people go on reality TV shows. What is your ambition? To be a celebrity or a footballer's wife. Great. Why are people like Paris Hilton and Chantelle set up as role models for our children? No wonder so many girls have body image problems and fall into debt trying to emulate them.

I have more time for celebrities who use their wealth and fame to benefit others. The Beckhams may have their faults, but not everyone knows that they also run a childrens charity which funds badly needed equipment for children with disabilities.

Celebrity can be a millstone as well as a bonus in life. But surely it should be something that is earned for success rather than just notoriety, and those who have it should attempt to use their high profile to benefit others. Hopefully the current obsession with celebrity, where ghostwritten autobiographies of mediocre people outsell great writing, will soon be over.

Disobedience

I've just finished reading 'Disobedience' by Naomi Alderman, helped by the fact that I had a very long wait while son 1 was in an appointment yesterday, so I could read without feeling guilty.

The reviews for this book seem to have been mixed, but it did win the Orange Award for New Writers in 2006. The story is set within the close knit Orthodox Jewish community in Hendon, North West London. Now I am not Jewish, but I have many (not so Orthodox) Jewish friends and I did spend a year living in Golders Green, just up the road from Hendon, before I was married. Golders Greeen is also a very strongly Jewish area and after a while I became used to the fact that many of the shops were closed on Saturday and that lots of the local residents were very Orthodox in their appearance and habits...Kosher shops and restaurants being the norm.

Through her bisexual heroine Ronit, who managed to escape, Naomi Alderman is critical of the insularity of Hendon's Jews. Yet at the same time she manages to show sympathy towards other main characters still caught up in the strict traditions of the community in which she herself grew up.

I loved this book.

Back to reality

Reality TV, that is.
Any Dream Will Do was won, rightly in my opinion, by the lovely Lee Mead. I loved his interpretation of Paint It, Black, but the duet where he more than held his own with the talented Josh Groban in an earlier programme also really shows his star potential.


Now for the final of The Apprentice tomorrow. Katie is still very much in the news after last week, but it appears that what goes around, comes around. She's been fired from her real job. Never mind, she's got the media interest she seemed to want, although it may prove to be shortlived. Just don't let her kid you that she stood down from the final to put her family first.

Foxes

We think the foxes may have gone. Fascinating as they were, they are a nuisance and couldn't stay. Since horses and hounds, or guns, are not a practical solution in a London suburban garden, I sent off for one of these humane and rather clever little ultrasonic gadgets.

Soon after Hubby set it up in the garden, we watched the boldest fox emerge from the bushes. He sauntered up the grass (I hesitate to call it a lawn), then suddenly jumped in fright and ran back to the undergrowth. That was three days ago and we have had no sightings since. Sadly we haven't seen the squirrels either, so we think they have been scared away or worse still, eaten by the foxes.

Son 1 took some pictures, just to prove the foxes really had been there. Sorry about the fuzzy quality after I had cropped and zoomed in to give a closer view, but at least you can see them.

Eight things about me

As promised, since I have been tagged by both Marianne and Betamum....

1. As part of my degree course, I spent a year living and studying in Germany in historic Goettingen, though I did far more travelling than studying. I even crossed the Iron Curtain into East Berlin on my own, which was pretty scary.

2. My lovely grandmother, who had lived through two world wars, was afraid I might end up marrying a German. But that was never in question because I was madly in love with my boyfriend back in England......who dumped me on the day I returned for good.

3. I am the black sheep of my family because I do not believe in organised religion, especially the joylessness of the Methodist Church.

4. I don't believe in happy endings because I have realised over the years that every time things seem to be really going well for me, life will throw a major spanner in the works. Perhaps this is divine retribution (see above).

5. I used to love travelling, especially in the Far East, and my favourite place in the world (so far) is Bali. I really want to visit Mauritius one day, as everyone I have ever met who comes from there has been such a lovely person.

6. I never stop wanting to learn new things, which leads me to spend far too much time on the internet and to sign up for OU courses that I don't really have time to do properly. My next ambition is to get a place on a Creative Writing MA course and write a book before I am 50 (which sadly isn't too many years away).

7. I've always enjoyed being creative, even if I am not very talented at it, and spend a lot of money on beautiful craft materials which currently just clog up the spare bedroom because I don't have time to use them. I do, however, try to make hand crafted cards for family and special friends.

8. I am a chocaholic and a shopaholic with a serious eBay habit, but thankfully not an alcoholic, though I do enjoy a glass of wine (or two).

Well, that wasn't so hard, was it?

I've lost track of who has already been tagged on this meme, so I'll just leave it open. If you'd like to have a go yourself, I'd love to read your answers.

Take a day off...

...and suddenly there is a lot to write about!

I had a pleasant day in central London yesterday, despite hassles on the tube journey getting in. The main purpose of my visit was to be a guest speaker at a university, something I have done for the last three years and very much enjoy. My work was finished by 3pm so I wandered off to Borders for a long browse and a coffee in the Starbucks concession before heading homewards.

Although I wouldn't want to have to commute into London every day (been there, done that), I find that to go in every now and then for work or meetings, as well as pleasure, can be very energising.

So home for an evening in front of The Apprentice, with Sir Alan playing Katie perfectly. I then watched the follow-on show on BBC2 and was amazed how much younger and prettier Katie looked, having lost the dated blue eyeshadow and bright lipstick and got herself a sharper new haircut. A real improvement, just a shame the same couldn't be said for her personality!

Then there was the announcement of the Orange Broadband Prize last night. The hot favourite, Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was the winner. It sounds like a challenging yet rewarding read, but I'm not sure if it is for me, or at least not at the moment. I have, however, been fascinated by the reviews, such as this one by the always reliable dovegreyreader and this one on Eve's Alexandria.

Finally, I have been tagged by Marianne, but that will have to wait for another day.

Artful illusion

It is still half term here. Can you tell?

Have wasted too much time on the internet but on Sarah Salway's always inspiring blog I found this gem. Sarah, in turn, had found it on the blog of the wonderful hagsharlotsheroines website, so apologies if you have already seen it.

(video link removed)

Clever, fascinating, beautiful and yet somehow a little unsettling too?

Watching the wildlife

For an ordinary suburban garden, we have always had a quite a few interesting visitors in addition to the predictable cats.

Years ago it was the occasional nocturnal hedgehog or frequent little frogs, who made their way under the fence from next door's pond and liked to hang out beneath our climbing frame.

For several years now we have regularly had a playing squirrel or two, which we believe live in one of the many trees at the bottom of the gardens, perhaps even in our own mutantly giant pear tree. One of them even knocked itself out on our patio once, probably by falling off the fence or house wall, but recovered and ran off before I could even get hold of the RSPCA.

Sometimes we have interesting birds...a colourful jay perhaps, or as today, a pair of woodpeckers tapping on one of the apple trees.

But last night was a first.I looked out of the kitchen window just before 9pm and saw three urban foxes at the end of the garden. It appeared to be a parent with two semi-grown cubs and eventually they all disappeared into the distant patch of garden which has recently become somewhat neglected and overgrown, being beyond easy reach of the strimmer. Maybe they had been disturbed by Hubby cutting the rest of the long grass earlier in the afternoon.

The garden is not picture perfect. It is low maintenance and intended to be an area where children can play comfortably with water or football, where wildlife can find shelter and where fruit grows on trees and bushes. Our next door neighbour takes great pride in his garden, he frequently hints that we should have the huge pear tree cut down. But the houses are about 80 years old and the trees possibly older, they are an integral part of the character of the area. A garden, like a house, needs to be adapted sympathetically. We are not living in the 1920's now, but it is good to retain some original features.

Tutorial

I went into central London yesterday to an Open University tutorial for my course on mental health.

The session wasn't well attended, though whether that was because of the heat and sunshine or because the students have dropped out, I don't know. Anyway we had a thought provoking discussion on the concept of 'recovery' in the mental health field.

I have to admit that I had never before really seriously considered the possibility that some mental health service users might not want to recover. That they might prefer to remain as they are because life is so much more comfortable when they are receiving professional support, services and financial benefits rather than having to look after themselves in the 'real world', where they will probably be marginalised anyway because of their history and diagnosis. That heroin users might go into rehab simply to get prescribed methadone whilst giving their collapsed veins some time to recover.

I'm sure, however, that this view does not apply to the majority of service users. I know son 1 really wants to get his life back and yet, in some ways, he too is using avoidance techniques for those aspects of life which will be the most difficult (in his case school and teachers). But judging how far he should be challenged against how much he should be allowed to control his own recovery, especially as he is still legally a minor, is a delicate balancing act and we have from the start received conflicting advice from different professionals.

I worry all the time that we are getting it wrong. Parenting is such a hard job.

Diamonds are forever?

The artist Damien Hirst is in the news once again, with a new exhibition about to open in London.

The centrepiece will be this.

I have just one question. Why?

Festival season

I've always wanted to go to the annual book festival at Hay-on-Wye. I'm pretty sure we did once manage a flying visit to the town whilst on holiday in that part of the world with a group of friends, but it wasn't quite the same as going at festival time.

Then I read this report on the Fictionbitch blog and now I am less sure about the festival. Like so many other events I fear it may be losing its character through diversification and commercialisation. But I still need to get there myself to find out!

Years ago, we did spend part of a day at the Edinburgh book festival, where we attended a debate on female crime fiction between Antonia Fraser and Sara Paretsky, an author whose books I really enjoyed. I haven't read any of Paretsky's books lately, but this week I spotted the news that she has a book of essays just out, which sounds as if it could be fascinating as she is definitely a writer with strong feminist and political convictions.

Cyberbullying

Bullying is everywhere. It is not just something encountered at school, but also in the home, in the workplace, in society and now in cyberspace. It can ruin lives.

Please don't get me wrong, I am a great fan of online communities, which generally are informative, supportive and empowering. However online, like anywhere else, there are people who get their kicks from stirring up trouble and insulting others. There is a big difference between lively debate and personal insults or threats.

Usually we can deal with these 'trolls' just by ignoring them. But what happens when that unwanted attention turns into cyberstalking? Anyone who has ever received abusive comments on their blog or aggressive emails from a stranger (as I did once from an eBay seller) will know how disturbing it can be and how frightening an escalation of such abuse must become.

You may have noticed a small new 'stalker alert' button in my sidebar, just below the picture of Madeleine. Please click on it to see what I am referring to in this post and how you can help, then go straight here for updates.

Update 8/6/07: The cyberstalker is in custody and Rachel has asked that we all remove our buttons.

Rain, rain....

What a washout of a holiday weekend. Just bad luck or yet another sign of global warming?

When I was a child we always had our family holiday at this time of year. My father was a teacher, so holidays had to be taken during school breaks. We lived by the sea anyway, so it was no hardship to be at home for the whole of the long summer holiday and a week at the end of May often provided ideal weather conditions for a break in the UK ( my parents have never been travellers). I don't remember it ever being wet like this.

Luckily we had no special plans for this weekend and we have all spent the last two days indoors, watching the relentless rain through the window and dreaming of sunny days by the sea.

Growing up fast

What is the clearest sign that your angelic little boy is turning into a typical man?

The fact that, for the first time in his life, he has gone out and bought himself a newspaper and it is The Sun?

Or the fact that the TV seems to be constantly tuned into Top Gear on a digital channel?

Help!!

Thinking about writing again

The novel has rather ground to a halt. Not because I have run out of inspiration, but because life has got seriously in the way, as it has a nasty tendency to do around here.

Knowing that the next two months are going to be a hectic mix of work (the sort that pays!), study for my OU course and of course my normal caring duties, which are increasingly complicated at present, I have decided to put the novel to one side until August. Or perhaps not completely to one side.

I still have confidence in my story idea and characters, but I think perhaps I need to do just a little more planning. In the light of that I may well go back and restructure the chapters I have already completed. I think now will be a good time to juggle a few more ideas around without actually having to commit them to paper.

In the meantime, I am doing some more reading on writing. I had heard so much about Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and even looked at it in Borders one day, yet chose to buy something else. Anyway, this week I got my hands on a cheap copy. So whilst waiting at son 1's clinic appointment yesterday I started to read it and it is so much better than I had expected. Slightly quirky, yes, but great fun.

Then today I received in the post a copy of 'Wannabe a Writer?' by Jane Wenham-Jones, Writing magazine's columnist , which promises to be just as good and is, of course, written from a British point of view. Full of not only Jane's own wisdom, but quotes from many other writers and publishing professionals.

I'm going to enjoy dipping into these books over the long bank holiday weekend.

The Apprentice

Watched The Apprentice last night. What irony that Sir Alan had chosen to give the candidates their task standing in front of the Cutty Sark. It also showed how long ago the programme was filmed as the masts were still in place prior to being removed for the planned restoration which has now become a desperate salvage exercise.

I was sorry to see Jadine go. She was a contestant for whom I had quite a lot of sympathy, for various reasons, and I think she had changed and calmed down a lot as the series progressed. Sir Alan also seemed to have a soft spot for her, he definitely likes candidates who have risen above previous adversity, which in turn gives me hope for son 1's future. ( Not that I'm suggesting he goes to work for Sir Alan, but the general principle that you can be a survivor and embrace future success.)

Apart from that the episode was fairly uneventful. Katie was smug and flirty, rather than bitchy, which reduced the entertainment value no end. I can't even tip an obvious winner. Surely not Tre?

Bl**dy computers

Son 1's new computer arrives today, after being on order for 10 days. No phone call in advance to say it was on its way, so it was lucky I was in, in fact had it arrived 10 or 15 minutes later I wouldn't have been.

He unpacks it carefully and a couple of pieces of plastic fall off the casing. I leave him fixing them back on and about to set it all up. When I get home a few hours later I find a note to say he couldn't get the computer to work, so has gone round to my friend's house. He is a teenage boy, so if he can't get it to work I know I won't be able to.

When he comes home, I take a closer look with him. The casing is clearly not right...it is slightly lopsided and not properly fixed on one side. The drawer of the dvd drive won't open, even though there is power into the system. The monitor has been sent with a two pin continental plug, rather than a three pin British one.

I phone the company, which we have bought from before. The earliest mutually convenient day they can send an engineer is a week hence. It is lucky that son 1's old computer, although on its last legs, is still working well enough for him to play Guild Wars.

This was supposed to be a boost for son 1 after his difficult end to last week. Instead it has just depressed him further. What is more, it has kept up our unfortunate record of almost every desktop we have ever bought arriving with a defect. The only one that didn't was our original Amstrad. Sir Alan must have got something right.

Tourist attractions

The devastating fire on the Cutty Sark, the clipper built in 1869 which has for so long been a leading London tourist attraction, caught my attention yesterday. I am lucky enough to have visited the ship, but it made me think about the fact that, although I have lived in Greater London for almost twenty five years, there are still many tourist attractions I have not visited. Perhaps now is the time to start doing so, because, to quote Joni Mitchell 'you don't know what you've got till its gone'.

I've always been a cultural tourist, the sort of traveller who makes for art galleries and museums, churches and craftsmen's workshops. Yet we are just too busy to appreciate what is on our doorstep, not helped by the fact that due to our circumstances, family excursions are out of the question.

I think a few awaydays on my own might be in order. Surely I must be due some time off for good behaviour?

Maybe...

I wonder if Gordon Brown reads my blog?

Less than two weeks ago I wrote this.

Today this announcement is made.

So Gordon Brown is not Prime Minister yet, but he does hold the purse strings and whilst this is just a drop in the ocean, it is a start. Now please look at also ending the postcode lottery for service provision, Gordon.

For anyone who is interested in the plight of families caring for disabled children, do take a look at the website of the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign.

Angels

This morning I was walking along the main road to collect tasty fresh bread for our lunch from the local baker, as I do almost every Saturday. The sun was shining, life seemed good.

A little ahead of me walked a older lady. In a split second she fell, face down onto the pavement. As I ran forwards to see if she was hurt, she was already picking herself up, yet was shaking and clearly in shock. Blood was smeared on her upper lip.

There was no low wall for her to sit down on, so I stood with my arm around her as she tried to recover herself.

'Shall I call an ambulance for you?'
'No, I don't need one.'
'Is there anyone else I can call?'
'No thanks.'

A kindly Asian man stopped and asked the same questions, but the lady, who was about 60 and not infirm, resolutely refused all help. She had broken her two front teeth landing on her face. I offered to help her get home but she decided she might go straight to her dentist, as she thought he worked on a Saturday morning. I asked which one it was...about 10 minutes walk away, in the direction I was going anyway, so I offered to walk along with her, as I was not convinced she was fit enough to go on her own. There was no obvious reason why she had fallen and I was concerned she might have blacked out briefly. It was one of those occasions when I really wished I had some first aid training.

We had just started to walk forward very cautiously, when I heard a call from the other side of the road. An ambulance was moving slowly along in the traffic.

'Is everything OK?'
'She's had a fall and broken her tooth.'
'Shall we take a look?'

With that they did a U-turn and pulled up right beside us. Jumping out they asked a few questions. The lady repeated that she wanted to see if her dentist was around.

'Let us give you a lift there.'
'Thats a good idea.'

I said it quickly, thinking that if the dentist was not there they might take her on to hospital for a check-up. I left her in their safe hands.

When I emerged from a long wait in the baker's shop, I could see the ambulance still standing outside the dentist's surgery just a little further up the road.

Sometimes I really believe in angels.

A sad goodbye

Son 1 got divorced today. Not literally, of course, because he is not even old enough to get married. But today he lost the relationship which has been probably the most important in his life for almost 12 months. His wonderful mental health keyworker has left for a new job, in a new area.

We have known for weeks that it was going to happen. Two days ago we met the person who will be his new keyworker. But however much he tried to prepare himself, it is like a bereavement. His keyworker has pulled him back from the brink of suicide, has been a support and confidant, has helped to start the rebuilding of self esteem. He has visited our house up to three times a week and got son 1 back out into the community, he has been like a gentle giant of a friend.

I, too, will miss his professionalism and shy smile, while the regular arrival of a tall, dark, handsome young(ish) man at our front door must have done wonders for my reputation on our street!

Literary lists

I don't ususually take much notice of lists of books in the papers, but there have been two interesting book lists in The Times over the last two days.

Today's list comprises 'The 25 writers tipped to be literary lions of the future'.

Well, a couple of these I have read and loved - Jon McGregor and, of course, one of my favourites, Maggie O'Farrell.

Two more I have in my 'to be read soon' pile - Marina Lewycka and Naomi Alderman.

A few others I am aware of and interested in finding out more about - Charlotte Mendelson, Susanna Clarke and Jane Harris.

The others, to be honest, I don't think I have ever heard of.

Yesterday's list was of the 'Top 160 books for teenage boys'. Sadly, reading is not considered cool and far too many boys (including my own) never read for pleasure. Anything that can possibly help parents to find books which have appeal to the Playstation generation, is to be welcomed.

Madeleine - a footnote

For anyone who may have been wondering whether it is right to blog about the abduction of little Madeleine McCann in Portugal on 3rd May, PLEASE read this post on Susan Hill's blog, which includes an email from Madeleine's family.

As a parent myself, I can only begin to understand the agony the family must be going through. The whole situation is unbearable but right now publicity is what the family wants and needs, to spread awareness around the world and keep the case in the public eye. Madeleine deserves any little help we can offer.

Madeleine's most recently released photo, together with the contact details for anyone who might have any information, however small, are below, here.

Too tired to work?

Still a lot going on here and I'm tired.

I've slept fitfully for the last two nights, compounded by son 2 having early morning starts. After a supermarket trip this morning and a visit from a TV engineer at lunchtime, I really did intend to work hard this afternoon. But I just looked at the bookkeeping, sighed, put it away again and answered emails instead.

Oh dear.

Please keep looking...

The abduction of four year old Madeleine McCann from Praia da Luz, Portugal, has dominated the news media for the last ten days.

This weekend her family have issued this new photo which clearly shows the unusual marking in her right eye. This may now be the only way to positively identify a child whose other outward appearances could easily have been changed. Whatever we might feel about the circumstances in which this happened, let's hope someone, somewhere, can help to put her parents out of their misery.

Anyone with any information can phone Crimestoppers internationally on +44 1883 731 336 or within the UK on 0800 555 111.

Bookaholic alert...

I went onto Amazon this morning to pre-order the latest Maggie O'Farrell book in paperback and guess what? They have a sale, some books are as little as £1.

Well you didn't think I could just ignore that, did you? Then, of course, I had to make the order up to £15 to get the free postage.

7 books now on their way...

A new era?

So Tony Blair has finally announced the date he will stand down as Prime Minister. In the likelihood of Gordon Brown becoming the next Prime Minister, I wonder if we might dare to hope for more investment in services for special needs?

Both Gordon Brown and David Cameron, the Leader of the Opposition, have children with special needs. The second son of the Browns has cystic fibrosis and of course they tragically lost their first born, a daughter, shortly after her premature birth. The first child of the Camerons is profoundly disabled.

Services for children - and adults - with chronic illness or disability have been cut drastically year on year. Access to therapy is limited by budgets, most families have little or no respite care and help from social services is generally only available in crisis situations. Special needs education is a mess.

Maybe, just maybe, these two politicians will be able to identify with, and do something to help, families who need a little extra support. But don't hold your breath.

Normal service....

...will be resumed shortly. Nothing traumatic happening, just a very busy week full of appointments and commitments. Lots to think about but I can't/won't bore you with all that!

Recharging the batteries

We have had a quiet weekend, with the last two days spent at home. I had good intentions of doing the ironing and some of my accountancy work, but in the end I decided to push those chores to one side in favour of a little down-time. Hopefully I will have prepared myself adequately for the rest of the week, which promises to be hectic (so what's new?)

Over the weekend I have been unable to get the news story about the abduction of little Madeleine McCann in Portugal out of my mind. All parents will, at some time, have experienced the heart-stopping panic when one of their children disappears, even for a few seconds. But something like this is a family's worst nightmare and I'm sure her parents, like most of us, never believed it could happen to them. I just hope she will soon be returned safely.

Faber's stories

My charity shop book buys yesterday included two by Michel Faber, an author who had somehow passed beneath my radar until recently.

I've subsequently seen interesting reviews of his 'Victorian' novel, The Crimson Petal and the White, so I am looking forward to reading it in the future. I also bought his first anthology of short stories, Some Rain Must Fall and made a start on some of the stories while Son 2 was in music therapy this morning. The tales seem to be very varied in subject and style and some, although beautifully written, are not perhaps what I would normally read, give that I am not a devotee of science fiction or fantasy. I thought, however, that the title story, which opens the collection, was devastatingly good. You can read it here.

Other stories by Michel Faber which can be found online include The Safehouse, shortlisted for the National Short Story Prize 2006 and Fish, which is also in the volume I am reading.

Overheard today...

So I was just standing in a charity shop, browsing through the shelves of books, when I couldn't help overhearing a conversation between the two assistants, both rather ordinary ladies of 'a certain age'.

Lady behind till:

'We were discussing in the pub the other night how men look much better half dressed than naked. Don't like to see it all.'

Embarrassed cough from lady tidying the clothes.

Lady behind till:

'Yes a man in tight jeans, that is what I find sexy. Top off is fine though. But then again I think women should keep some things secret too...'

'Yes, so do I dear.'

Exit one customer, trying hard to stifle laughter.

Time to read at last

After complaining about no time to read, I had an hour to myself in a waiting room this morning. I went back to 'What Was Lost' by Catherine O'Flynn, which I had previously only just started. So far it seems to be a wonderfully written first novel and I just wish I could write like that!

Son 1 has another appointment tomorrow and as I am on taxi duty I have should have time to read more. I can't wait.

Letter writing

You might have noticed that I have been rather quiet recently about what I have been reading and writing. That is because I haven't had time to do either.

I'm still struggling to get through the Sunday papers, which were kept back from recycling on Monday. I have an inviting pile of magazines I have yet to open. My books to be read are lined up neatly on the shelves.

As far as writing goes, this blog has become my only daily writing practice. Yet on Monday I encountered another writing challenge. I needed to write a formal letter to a difficult person and had to compose it in a way which would not be inflammatory, yet would hint at my true feelings. Icily polite is the phrase which comes to mind. It took quite a while and at times it challenged me as much as any piece of short fiction, but I was pleased with what I wrote.

Let's hope it has the desired result.

Nature v nurture

I'm rather interested in the nature versus nurture question. How much of our inherent personality is the result of our genes and how much depends upon our upbringing and environment?

Our children are of similar colouring, but quite different in physical shape and personality. Son 2 has inherited a faulty gene from me, along with my persistance and bloody mindedness, while son 1 is quieter and more easygoing. Son 1 has always been the spitting image of his father, so much so that I have often seriously wondered if he has any of my genes at all.

So why is it that when I look at his body language and facial expressions and listen to him talking, I now see his uncle (Hubby's brother) so clearly? He only sees his uncle about once a year. This can only be nature shaping him.