16 August
I’m stuffed! Last night we went out for a couple of hours down to the
Hinckley Knight, a pub on the A5 just before its M69 junction. From the first
time was stopped there Jan has wanted to go there for a meal, and that is what
last night was all about. Whatever, we both ordered too much and as nice as it
was, the amount really was a waste. Mind you, the key-lime pie was really,
really nice. Right now though, I couldn’t eat anything more, no matter what was
on offer. The other affect is that I didn’t have all that good a night either,
tossing and turning and finally coming to properly at 7.45. I gave up at 8.25
and got up, now I’m about ready to go back.
While I was in hospital I was advised to try to cut down on the amount of
Tramadol pills I’m on. I can understand why they said that seeing as I’m
prescribed up to eight a day, but I rarely use that many, with six being
normal. I don’t take them for the fun of it, only when I need them. In an
effort though I’ve cut them down to one instead of two when I do take them. I’ve
not noticed any difference yet, but if I need to go back to two, I will do so,
no matter the hospital says.
‘Back your data!’ How many times have you heard that one I wonder? Well,
I have done just that to a 500gig separate hard disc I have here. Since I’ve
had this lappy however, its finding it hard to see the disc. Yesterday I took
the chance while it could see it to copy over all the photos from there onto
the internal drive on the lappy; oh what fun that was. The individual subject folders
I file my photos in worked fine, no problems, but when I came to copy over my
Originals folder (the image files direct from the camera), there are so many of
them and most are large file size RAW files, then even this flyer of a lappy
claimed up to three days to finish the task. As it was, they were done in just
two hours. There’s still more to copy over but I’ll take my time with it for
now, and just hope the disc doesn’t die on me before I’m done. At least all my
writing files are backed-up on a USB stick and SD card, along with the hard
disc copy on the lappy.
Here’s a link … Nope, can’t find it now. Anyway, there was a piece on FaceBook
that caught my eye. Basically, it was about a man who gave a kidney to a young
boy who was desperate for one. That’s great and I heartily applaud him for
doing so. However, I don’t agree with him coming forward and publicly acknowledging
it. Such gifts should be private and not made public. Yes, it’s great news when
a wee lad gets the gift of life from a stranger, but the stranger’s name should
not be made public. Both Jan and I are on the donor registrar but neither of us
want a fuss made of it when the times comes.
Today’s photo …
A British classic on the A14.
Today's funny ...
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Lena.
Lena who?
Lena little closer and I'll tell you.
15 August
Mediocrity; now there’s a big word for first thing on a Monday, and no, I
didn’t look it up either. For years and year my spelling had been absolutely
terrible. Such a word as mediocrity was well outside my comfort zone. However,
when I typed it yesterday at the end of the blog, I was rather pleased with
myself, hence it’s appearance here. Most of my mistake now are typos really.
Every so often while I’m typing away here, I get an idea for tomorrow’s blog so
I type a one-word reminder of the idea about the date at the head. Yesterday I
typed of them, mediocrity being just one of them, the second one is biblical
truth.
That one came to mind as I wrote about the film Noah, and its vagueness about how the arc was built, and even more
so about Noah was to live for over 600 years. Having read the whole Bible at
least twice, there is a lot of vagueness within the whole book. Think about it
though: The Bible is the story of the rise of the Jewish nation over several
thousand years, even if it is a ‘potted’ history. A similar history of any
other nation on earth would also be very short and potted. Just as with most
history books for a long time, they deal with the leaders and prominent figures
with the story. The idea of social history, or the story of the everyday folk,
is a fairly new idea.
As with all thought systems, the problems start when some people begin to
take short passages from them and build a wholly new system that reflects their
own views. Take the Creation for example. There are those who believe that the
earth was made just over 6,000 years ago, creationists. In a way they may well
be correct, up to point. Counting back the generations mentioned in the Bible
and 21 years as an average generation, then 6,000 years sounds acceptable to
me. But hang on … if we accept that the Bible is a history of the rise of the
Jewish nation, then surely that means that they as a nation, are 6,000 years
old.
The other side of this coin is the scientific lobby who point out that
there is far too much evidence contrary to the Creationist idea for it to be
taken seriously. For myself, I have a foot in both camps, or at least in the
camp of the history of the Jews and the evolutionist view point. That is not a contradiction
my friends, it’s my view, my interpretation of the reading I have done over
years. You see, even I’m using words to stake my claim here. We all do it, no
matter how we feel about anything we wish to expound.
One of the more recent bombs to gone off along these lines, it Dan Brown
and he The da Vinci Code. Brown is an
art historian and knows about the various interpretations of the works of da
Vinci. He takes some of those thoughts, many of them hundreds of years old and
weaves them into a modern tale of murder and mayhem. However, there is nothing
new in what he wrote, what was new was the way he presented those views. By
including a strict RC cast of priests who fight to prevent certain secrets from
becoming common knowledge, he also throws doubts on the Catholic Church as a
whole. Or does he …
Brown can point to everything in the book being based on fact. All the
painting he writes of are there to seen and admired; the various buildings and artefacts
are there to be visited and seen. Even the church in Roslin village, with its
links to Knights of St John, is there. It is left to us to decide if we believe
his story of hidden secrets and shady figures. If his book was an attempt to
damage the Catholic Church, he failed, it’s still as strong as it was. What his
book did do though, was to make him loads of money. Which brings us back to root
of all evil.
Today’s photo …
Me, by Jan.
Today’s funny …
Manager: We want you to leave on
medical grounds.
Employee: But I'm fully fit.
Manager: I know, but we're sick of you.
14 August
Not so long ago I read and really loved The Book Thief. So last
night while we were searching the movie list and saw that the film when was on,
we decided that we would watch it. The film is as good as the book and we
totally loved it. A thought did come to me though, why does a film based in Germany but voiced in English, need to have
that English need to have a Germany accent? Why it happens doesn’t affect
the overall impression of the film though, it’s still a great film, and if you
get the chance, give it a go.
Making a movie from novels can be difficult, after all, generally it’s the
most popular novels are the ones that get chosen to film. Some decision has to
be made about how much of the story to include and how much to leave out. With
that in mind then, is it really any wonder that so many films fall short of
fans expectations? I think not, simply because our old friend subjectivity comes
into play again, as well as the old saying about pleasing everyone. We enjoyed The Book Thief and I enjoyed the book to
too; my review of it can be read here … http://forreadingaddicts.co.uk/book-reviews/markus-zusak-the-book-thief
Most complaints are about films are of the sort of ‘Not as good as the
book,’ sort. An example perhaps The Lord
of the Rings films. Again I love both film and book. The three films run-time
is not far off nine hours as it is, but how do you compress over 1,000 pages
into just three pages? The Hobbit is
another but making one book of 350 pages into three films running for over two
hours each. First rate books turned into good films, OK fine.
I am however disappointed in some of the Michel Creighton books, some of
which have very weak endings. Take Jurassic
Park for example. The first film was a great one, but the novel ended very
poorly, for me that is. Therefore, in that case I can say that the film was better
than the novel. The follow up films were OK I suppose, not really needed in my
view. Another one I can’t judge though is, The
Day After Tomorrow, and that is because I haven’t read the book it’s based
on, but I did enjoy the film. One of the major moans I remember about the film
is that it throws out all that science knew at that time. So what? The same can
be said of so many other films, including JP.
They are films of entertainment, not of learning.
A lot was made over the actress Emma Watson (she of the Potter films), in
the film Noah, with some calling it
career defining role. Actually, I didn’t think she did all that good in it, but
that is going off subject a bit here. The story of Noah and his ark laid out in
the Holy Bible, Genesis 6:9-7:27 (I had to look it up too seeing as I’d forgotten
the reference.) That story is around 1,000 0 1500 words only. There is no description
in the account of how the ark was built, how it was made sea worthy, how the animals
were housed or fed. So the producers of the film made some of the details in
the film. A lot of Christian became upset over it and called for a ban. Again,
the forgot that the film was entertainment, not a sermon. Oh yes, the film was
OK really.
We but fiction books and got to a cinema to be entertained, not to learn.
If we want to learn about something we buy factual or non-fiction books, or we
buy DVDs or watch TV documentary programmes. This perhaps a lesson here for us
to remember; when we look at or watch or read something, we need to think about
why it was made, who made it and who was made for, and when it was made. Of
course, thinking about these things while do the reading, watching or whatever,
might well get in the way of the enjoyment. But perhaps afterwards thinking
these things through might help us decided why we liked, or dislike the item.
In today’s world however, we also have the cult-celebrity thing going on
around us. Some fans will shout loudly if there is any criticism of their
god-like celeb, not matter how good or bad that person might be. Such loyalty
hides any faults while making excuses for mediocrity or poor performance.
Today’s photo then …
One of my not so tidy books cases.
Today’s funny …
What do you get if you cross a
freeway with a skateboard?
Run over.
13 August
Saturday morning and we have a nice, warm, sunny day. When I first got up
though it was raining petty hard. Ah well … My idea for today was to get into
town on my scooter. Jan mentioned the state of the dropped kerbs around here
and possibly jarring my wound. She was right of course, so I mentioned that we
could drive down and use our walkers instead, and she agreed to it. A little
later I did a bit of walking and standing in the kitchen and finally I got the
message that even using the walker is not a good idea. The pain in my back, not
the wound but the muscles to either side, really built up, and very quickly
too. So, we are staying in, apart from me going a walk around the back area of
our block of flats. Hopefully it won’t be long before I can get out properly on
my own. I’ll be glad when I can.
Something I am missing though, is writing. I haven’t done any for some
time now and I really do need to get on a do some. Part of the reason for not
doing so is the stress sitting here at the lappy causes on my wound. The clips
are out of course and it’s well dry and scabbed over. The stress come when the
surrounding skin pulls on the scabs and the fear is that they will break open
and perhaps even open the wound altogether. That won’t be fun at all. However,
we are catching up with a long list of recorded programmes off telly
Last time we saw the news, it looked that Team GB is doing very well out
in Rio; well done to the whole team we have out there. From what I can remember
though, Russia and before that, the USSR swept the medal boards. This year
however, last night table they didn’t show at all. Perhaps they are not using
drugs at all now and the results so far just shows how good or talented as they
look when drugged up. Perhaps all the fuss of state sponsored doping has done
some good at last.
During the week one man has cost a accompany £89 million and will get a
weekly pay-packet of over £200,000. That’s more than some people pay for their
houses, there’s no way that any one person, or man in case, is worth that much
money. How they can justify such costs is beyond me. But I wonder; that £89
million price attract VAT, if so, how much would that run at. And we’re told
money is hard to come by! Perhaps it wasn’t being wasted like this there would
be more for those who really do need more these days.
We had a bit of nervousness last night about 9.15. Jan caught sight of a
man walking about out the back. The problem is, it’s supposed to be a private
area. Hopefully it was someone living in our small area. If not, then we might
have a problem, again. There’s not been a problem for some time, but just after
we first moved in here, the guy upstairs seemed to be subletting his flat and
we had loads of people coming and going, and that doesn’t take into account the
amount of drug taken up there too. It made for a very nervous time indeed. We’re
hoping it’s not starting up again.
Today’s photo …
our lad with his camera.
Today’s funny …
Two men are talking. The first
one says, "The reason that I got married was because I was tired of having
to eat out, cleaning the house, doing the laundry and wearing worn-out
clothes."
"That's amazing," said the second, "I just got divorced for the
very same reasons."
12 August
Our borough council is working on surfacing one of the major routes in to
town; about time too really. I’m sure that we will all feel the benefit of it
when it’s finished, even if there will be moans about the delays it causes.
However, it doesn’t end there, oh no no no … Warwickshire County Council has
also decided to do resurfacing work on another major route, but at the same
time. The delays and chaos that will cause is beyond measure. Don’t forget my
friends, we already have the A444 and the A47, both major roads in their own
right, pass through the town centre. And then folks wonder why I call the place
Dorktown.
No matter how much I enjoy photography, in reality I’m only a so-so
snapper. This came to me some time ago really and I saw it clearly last night
while I was looking at photos on Facebook where there is a string of photos of
insects, shots I can only dream of getting. Why is that? If you were to look
through my photos after a day’s shoot, you will find that there is no real emphases
on any one subject area. You are likely to find candid street shots, real ale pump
clip shots, flowers and colourful displays in shop windows and market stalls,
maybe even the odd shot of a bird or two.
Can you see what I mean? It’s all a mishmash of images. OK, fine, among
them there will be some really nice shots among them, even the odd good one;
but no outstanding shots. I believe that is because of the general mishmash of
my normal work. Why is that I wonder; I have all the kit and it works fine,
including a tripod that rarely gets used. Part that it is down to having to use
a mobility scooter when out and about and carrying a tripod on there is even
more difficult. I know from experience that a tripod helps a lot when it comes
down to camera shake.
Using a tripod is one thing then; another is all the various controls on
a modern camera. Before I set out on a shoot I always set up my camera on what
I hope will be the right settings for the day. Invariable they will need to be
changed at some point. It’s at that point that things start to unravel for me.
Having changed to settings, I forget that I have done so and so the next shot
will be totally spoiled by the settings I’ve set. It’s not the camera’s fault
of course, it’s my fault. And that is why I am likely to remain just a so-so
snapper.
My regular readers will of course know I am a Harry Potter fan – the books
and films that is, not the actors as a group, or as individuals. Actually, not so
long along ago I saw a photo of Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny Weasley and she
looked as if she had been abusing some sort of stuff, she really did look
rough. Anyway …
The other night I started reading Goblet
of Fire for the third time, and it struck last night that in the next one
Harry sees the threstrals for the first time. Luna explains that he can see
them because he had seen death at first hand, so why hadn’t he seen them before
I wonder. Rowling will probably say it’s because he saw Cedric Diggery die
towards the end of Fire. But he Harry
saw his mum die didn’t he. OK, he was only one year old at the time, but surely
that would have had the sort of effect on him as seeing Cedric die. So why hadn’t
Harry seen the threstrals before. Oh, of course – artistic licence … … …
I’m sat here looking at lovely sunshine out the back, but as much as I’d
like to be out there, I’m not sure it can actually to do it. There’s danger
there though, in that I become far too timid to go outside. What I’m hoping to
do is to get out on me scooter tomorrow for the market and then take it from
there.
Today’s photo …
A wild primrose.
Today’s funny …
What do you call man with a
rucksack on his back and salt and pepper on his head?
A seasoned traveller.
11 August
After the messing about with my appointments clashing with Jan’s, we over
looked the fact that we had wrote them one down wrong. Jan’s dentist
appointment was for yesterday, and her scan is today. But because we both
thought that they were both for today (which we also thought was for
yesterday), we didn’t notice was that her dentist one was actually for yesterday.
How she managed to write them both down for the same day I don’t know.
Cops driving standard can be even worse than that of the man in the
street. Where do I get that from? Watching them on telly, that’s where. In one
of the documentaries that fill our screens these days there were a number of
cops were driving out on rural roads and even though they were not a shout,
they were cutting corners on bends and certainly seemed to be speeding to me.
If they followed us doing the same, it wouldn’t take long for us to be pulled
over. I remember a photo of one of their speed camera vans parked on the side
of the road, on the pavement blocking a good part of it and on double yellow
lines. Complaining doesn’t work simply because they know the law better than we
do and will always have a ready excuse.
At the same time though, it’s a job I wouldn’t want to do, oh no. I just
wouldn’t have the patience for it. How many time on those same telly programmes
do we see the baddies being taken to court only for the beaks to slap their
wrists; or the CPS refuse to charge them for lack of evidence after cops have
put in hours of time getting it all filed correctly. It’s no wonder the cops
don’t have a lot of respect from the public really, but our exasperation should
be aimed more at the beaks and mamby-pamby lawyers and judges. If I had spent
so much time and effort on a case and it was thrown out like, then I would lose
faith in the system and I would have left it.
I’ve been wondering about whether we can be too honest and nice for our
good. I was once told I’m too honest for my good, but what is ‘too honest’ I
wonder. I certainly know Jan and I have been overlooked at time because we don’t
push ourselves much at times. But you know what? I don’t care about what others
do or say, as long as I am at peace over what I do and how I do it, let the
others get on with it.
I finish vol. 3 of The Hunger Games
the other day, and for the first time I can remember I actually finished vol.2
and then went straight on to the last one. I normally like to read something
else in between two books by the same writer. What did I think of these books
then? I can understand some reviews I’ve where criticism of the ending has been
expressed. I bought this set from the Works, a wrapped set of three for £5, too
good a bargain to miss really seeing the individual price is £7.99 each. On
other occasions I have looked at them and thought about buying them, but what
put me off was just reading the shout on the back cover. To me it was clear how
the plot would progress, but without giving the details of it. Of course,
goodness and light conquers all again. So maybe can’t be too good for your
good, at least in fiction.
There’s another expression that is bugging the life out of me just
lately. It’s the word ‘like’ every other word. It seems that the kids of today
just don’t know how to string a series of words together without using it. Kile’s
mum comes out with one to; she tells us of things being said to her and she
says, ‘I was like that,’ then waits a second or two before telling how she was
or what she said. Dear of dear … … …
New writers are advised not to write about twins and lottery wins. Sounds
sensible does that when a writer uses them as way of solving a conflict within
their story. Even so, some top line writers do exactly that, Peter James comes
to mind here for doing so. In my won writing I have also used both twins and a
large lottery win in two separate novels. The difference is that I included the
twins right from off in House of Pain
and not quite the start of Finding Our
Way for a lottery win. In those two novels they work out rather well and I’m
pleased with the result. We are also advised that a story should have the usual
start, middle and end. So I wonder why Michael Crichton, who is for me the King
of weak endings. Do my novels have weak endings? I hope not, although I do
leave a few open ended ready for any follow up stories. I suppose at some time
I really do need to get them sorted out and back on sale.
So now it’s time for a photo …
House
of Pain front cover, front and rear cover of Web od Hate. The spider web photo is one of mine.
Today’s funny …
What do you call a man with a
duck on his head?
Donald.
We got ourselves in a bit of a tizwaz over when my clips come out. We
knew it was on the 11th, but we got it into our head that it was
today. Oh dear … Jan phoned the ward to get it changed cos she has two
appointments herself that straddle my appointment time, we couldn’t do all of
them. So She arranged it for yesterday instead. It wasn’t until we got home and
checked the diary that we had boobed … of dear … But now I can get a shower
today, not a stupid stripe wash which never really left me feeling properly clean.
Now the clips are out I can hopefully get on and get something done on me
lappy. Sitting with those in was more than a tad uncomfortable, not really
painful but enough to make sitting about difficult. I was advised to sit for
only around 30 minutes at a time, but come on, what could I do after that, and
for how long? I normally sit in a recliner and with that I can lay back and
take the pressure of the wound, OK, fine. But laid back like that I can’t do
much at all but watch telly or read. What I did find is the I started dropping
off to sleep; so when it comes on I’ve been getting mesen back to bed for a
couple of hours, and that has helped a lot. I just don’t want to make it a
regular item.
We have taken a liking for Escape
to the Country, where a couple appear on the BBC and are helped to look for
a property. One we watched a couple of days ago had a couple of people looking
for a property at the £1 million mark. It struck me at the time that burglars
might use the show for prospective targets. Can you see what I’m going with
this now? Yes, a house worth a million quid is worth a visit, there’s money in
that couple. I know I know, I’m looking at the dark side of it again, It’s
something I picked from my mother I think, she only saw the downside of things,
never the top side.
Midlands Today yesterday (?) had an item where an island is up for sale
at around £200K mark. The island is in the middle of the flow of the River Avon.
That river has a tendency to flood fairly frequently, so it’s one we like to
own. There’s no lecky, gas or mains water supply, so even at £200K your
expenses won’t end at the buying point. It’s an island and to get to it you
will need a boat along with car too. Everything you need must be ferried across
to the house. The carrying of so much stuff to and from a boat leaves me cold
and breathless. I hope the lass selling it can sell, but I’m not sure there
will be many takers for it.
Four years ago when we moved into our current home, we agreed there will
be no more moves. This is our 9th home in our 36 years of marriage.
There’s another show on telly that we have taken to watching too, Escape to the Country – Winter Sun, and
that idea does sound a good one. We can’t afford it though, so we can only
dream, but the thought of spending the cold British winters in a warmer place
and coming back here for our warmer summers does attract us.
A complete move abroad does sound good too. There are a lot of ex-pats
living around the Med but right now I should think many of them are now worried
about how the BREXIT will affect them, if it ever does. There’s a lot to think
about in such a move though and for us, medical care tops the list. Things like
broadband and so on come way down the list. A permanent moved abroad is a huge
commitment, and I’m sure we are ready or even need to make such a move. The second
home idea does sound good to us though.
Today’s photo …
Our Maxi, who I missed while I was in the croc-shop.
Today’s funny …
Attending
a wedding for the first time, a little girl whispered to her mother, "Why
is the bride dressed all in white?"
"Because white is the colour of happiness, and today is the happiest day
of her life."
The child thought about this for a moment then said, "So why is the groom
wearing a black suit?"
