Like

Tags

English language, like, slang

There’s a common little word that’s been in use in the English language for centuries, but nowadays it seems to have wormed its way into every single sentence.  Old and young use the same word ad nauseam.  My granddaughters do it too, and I find it extremely irritating.  The word that’s doing my head in is…

Like.

It’s, like, spoken in the middle of sentences, like, because probably air-headed ‘celebrities’ began the trend when they couldn’t, like, think of a suitable word, like.

Just imagine if the great Winston Churchill had been influenced by the aforementioned air-headed ‘celebrities’:

“We shall fight them on the beaches, like, and on the landing grounds. We shall, like, never surrender.”

“If you’re, like, going through hell, like, keep going.”

“The nose of the bulldog has been, like, slanted backwards, so that he can breathe without, like, letting go.”

“Harsh laws are at times better than, like, no laws at all.”

“War is very, like, cruel.  It, like, goes on for so long.”

Catch my drift, like?  

There’s no, like, Click & Run tomorrow, like, ‘cos Stevie’s off to the van, like.

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Doing Our Bit

Tags

environment, greenhouse gases

Professor Sir Ian Boyd, the Government’s Chief Environmental Scientist, has stated that to virtually halt greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the UK will have to use less transport, eat less red meat, and buy less clothes.  He adds that when we consume things, we use up the resources of the planet.

This is true, but will the nation be compliant?  The only way to stop people eating red meat is to ban dairy/sheep farming, but then the farmers and even butchers and abattoir workers will be up in arms because their livelihoods have been taken away.  However, I suspect that nobody will want to change their lifestyles until red meat is forcibly taken away from them.

The same with transport.  Who wants to go back to Victorian times when it took hours by horse and cart to travel a few miles?  The horse itself will need feeding anyway, and will emit its own greenhouse gases as a result of  all those oats.  The only way to stop people travelling by car is maybe to make it uneconomical by increasing road tax substantially, but then at the same time to make public transport more available and frequent.  In our village there are 3 buses every day and that’s all.  We country dwellers will need a bit more persuading to leave the comfort of our cars methinks.  It would take me 2 and a half hours to get to work by bus, but it only takes 25 minutes to drive.

The main trouble is that we have advanced somewhat from Victorian times, and we expect to be able to travel from A to B fairly quickly, and that also means air and sea travel.  How can the Government stop people travelling?  Ban cars, trains, planes and boats?  It’s just not feasible these days, is it?  Our work, friends and family are not all within a mile or two as they were back in the 1800s, and public transport is just not reliable enough.

And what about clothes?  Buying less clothes would suit Sam, as he’d happily live in the same pair of jeans forever, but I don’t quite share his enthusiasm.

It’s a conundrum for sure.  I would love to see fewer cars on the roads, but living in the arse end of nowhere with only 3 buses per day it’s just not a viable option to be without a car.  We eat red meat about once a fortnight, and so the next step would be to cut it out altogether.  I’m happy to do this, but is everybody else?  As for clothes, yes I’m happy to buy less of them as I don’t really buy that many anymore.  However, the car is another issue…

 

Yet Another Scam

Tags

money, Scam!

A new type of scam was mentioned on the BBC News recently.  If anybody has managed to gain access to your bank account, they order something expensive and have it delivered to you.  A courier then arrives and tells you that he has delivered it to the wrong person.  You of course have no idea your bank account has been hacked and you know you didn’t order whatever was delivered, and so you hand it over quite happily.  The thief has then managed to buy something using your account, and then makes off with his  ill-gotten gains.

Bank staff are struggling to know what signs to look for.

Wasn’t it all much simpler when we just had a cheque book?  We went to the bank to pay in or draw out money.  We sent a cheque off to pay for services rendered, and our money stayed where it was supposed to until somebody cashed one of the cheques we had posted.  Now hardly anybody will take a cheque and they are being phased out I think.  We give our bank details to companies online, not really knowing if anybody else will have access to them.  Hidden cameras can be installed by thieves at cash machines to clone our bank accounts, and these scams are becoming ever more sophisticated.

My grandmother kept all her money in a box up her chimney.  If she wanted to light a fire she took it out, and then put it back in when the grate had cooled down. My other grandmother ran a family savings club, and collected cash from family members, hid it under her floorboards along with her own money, and then paid us all out with interest at Christmas.  Neither of my grandmothers ever had money stolen from them or were victims of scams.

Hmm… perhaps there’s a moral there somewhere?

Polishing a Turd…

My blogging friend Phil Huston, in his own inimitable style, gave me the inspiration for a blog today when he left the comment below on my Open Book Blog Hop earlier this week:

Man I could polish a turd until you could shave in it.  I see something and I go, “Oh, shit.  That could be so much better.”  

I mentioned in this week’s Open Book that unless I can think of a great subject for a book, then I won’t write a thing.  What’s the point?  Readers will know if I’ve written something just for the sake of it.  I tend to sit back until inspiration strikes, and that could be many weeks or months before the right topic comes along.

So… here’s the question:

Do you feel that you need to keep writing even when you know what you’re writing is shite?  We tell ourselves we’re writers and therefore we should be writing, but are you writing a story just because you feel guilty that you’re not writing?  Do you go back and polish that story many times even though you know it’ll never be good enough to publish, but you tell yourself that hey, at least you’re writing?

I do find it rather pleasant when I’m in-between books and don’t need to do anything other than check social media sites.  I can read, go outside for long walks, or just sit in the garden and do nothing.  I know that sooner or later the right subject will come along, and until then I don’t want to publish anything sub-standard that I might have written just for the sake of writing.

The same could be said of blogging.  Do you feel that you have to blog about something every day, even when you’re struggling to think of anything to blog about?  I used to feel that way, but now I don’t.  The reason for this became perfectly clear to me after about 5 years of blogging:

Nobody cares whether or not you blog every day, once a week, or once a year!

Nobody cares because the majority are too busy worrying about what they can blog about next, and whether the blogging world will forget them if they have a few days off.  What a game it all is.  I say –  blog when you can think of a good subject to blog about.  Until then… kick back and take time to smell the roses.  It’s a lot less stressful!

 

 

An Uninvited Guest

Tomorrow will be the penultimate day of our time here at the van with the grandchildren.  It’s the first time I’ve been able to sit down and write, as Marc and Lisa have now gone home with their children, and Sam has taken the other two down to the park to let off steam before bedtime.

It’s been quite hectic here, what with barbeques to cook, kids to entertain, and childish disputes to sort out.  Nevertheless, I think we’ve given them all some great memories to look back on, but there’s one memory I have of the holiday which I haven’t shared with any of the others…

Yesterday the whole family were at the van for a barbeque.  Sam was outside  on the decking cooking all the meat, Marc and Lisa were also sitting outside, and the kids were running in and out.  I popped into the bedroom to get a jumper, as the wind was blowing a little bit cold.  On the way back outside I had to pass our en-suite bathroom, and there was a boy standing at the sink with his back to me.

At first I thought it was one of the grandchildren, but our grandsons are much smaller than this boy was.  Our other two are girls, and this boy at the sink was a sturdy 10 or 11 year old.

I blinked and took a second look, but he had vanished.  I definitely saw him, and I’m not going mad.

Who was he?  Hmm… is our van haunted?  It’s only about 12 years old.  It’s a mystery!

A Tour Around the Houses of Parliament

Tags

Abbey Road., Houses of Parliament, London

We had tickets for a tour of the Houses of Parliament last Saturday,  but we heard just in time that many roads in central London had been closed off for an event.  Undeterred, Sam drove to St. John’s Wood and parked the car near the Underground station; we decided to take the tube to Westminster from there as it is only 4 stops on the Jubilee Line.

I mentioned to Sam that before we got on the tube we might as well go and find the famous zebra crossing depicted on the Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover, as it was only a short walk away.  Sam wondered why he had to go and look at a zebra crossing, but went along with the flow of many tourists also heading to the same spot.  Drivers trying to navigate the B507 were forced to stop for the hordes of people taking selfies as they walked, some barefoot, to and fro across the now somewhat worn crossing.  It would have been rude not to walk in the footsteps of the Fab Four, but I don’t do selfies and I kept my shoes on.  When it was time to go Sam decided he wanted to cross over the road too…

Then it was time to disappear into the bowels of the earth and catch the next tube.  I don’t remember tube trains ever going so fast or being so noisy.  I started to catastrophise that it might come off the rails.  Thank goodness I don’t have to travel this way very often.

Westminster station was heaving, and so was the surrounding area.  We passed by Mr Churchill’s statue (he would have sorted Brexit out), and then went and sat in the park next to the Houses of Parliament and ate our lunch.  Nice views of the river!

We weren’t allowed to queue until after 2.30 and so took some photos outside while we were waiting, as photography was only allowed in Westminster Hall and St. Stephen’s Hall inside the building.  Security was very tight, and an airport-like search took place before we were given access to Westminster Hall (the 600 year old roof there is totally self-supporting) to meet our tour guide.  Here’s a few photos that we were allowed to take.

The green sculpture third down on the left mimics the Thames’ tides.  When it’s low tide, only one light glows in the middle.  As you can see, it was high tide when we were there.

The tour guide was a veritable fountain of knowledge. The tour of this beautiful building took about one and a half hours.  Amongst other places we were allowed into the Queen’s robing room (and shown the cleverly hidden WC) and of course we were allowed into the House of Lords and the House of Commons, but we were told not to sit on the seats!  Apart from a potted history lesson, an interesting fact I found out from our guide was that every Bonfire Night the Beefeaters from the Tower of London make a ceremonial search of Parliament’s cellars looking for gunpowder, and are given a glass of port for their trouble…

Tour over, we disappeared back to a pub in St. John’s Wood for dinner.  A great day out.  We learned that apparently if we ask our MP, he will give us free tickets to sit in the public gallery and listen to a debate when all the MPs return from their summer break.  I’ll listen, just as long as it doesn’t involve BREXIT!

 

 

 

Friday Click & Run – 2nd August

Tags

bloggers, Friday blog share

Hi all, this one will run for a fortnight, as Sam and I are off to the van with our grandchildren on Thursday next week, and there won’t be much time for sitting at the computer!

Sometimes when we’re busy it’s nice to simply leave a link to our blog or blog post and run, and so Friday Click and Run is just for that purpose. However, of course you can check out others’ links and share away if you want to. So… every Friday do add some info of what your blog is about and also a link to your blog or blog post in the comments if you’ve got a minute. You don’t have to do anything else such as sharing or commenting unless you really want to. Isn’t that cool? People may decide to check your link out, or they may not. They might decide to leave their own link and run as well, so you may meet each other heading out the door. If I see a post that’s a bit risqué, then I shall be running too – straight to the ‘delete’ button!

Fire away then… let’s see what we end up with.  Thanks to the 5 bloggers who left links last week.

Scams Targeting Authors – Are You Prepared for the Risks?

Thanks to Debra L. Hartmann for pointing out pitfalls which Indie authors may come across. I receive many phishing emails and calls for submissions to writing contests. These days I always email Victoria Strauss (beware@sfwa.org) before taking part in a writing competition that requires payment. Some of these competitions look genuine, but sadly they have no recognition as regards bona fide competitions, and are usually just wanting to profit from self-published authors. Victoria always responds with the real deal.

When the writing is done and it’s time to prepare your passion project for commercial distribution, it’s also time to fully enter the digital age. Becoming a published author means putting your brand name and contact information out on the world wide web for all to see. Obviously authors wish to attract buyers for their books, but that kind of exposure also comes with a very dangerous issue for neophytes to wade through—how not to fall victim to scam/phishing emails that all your new online activity will surely generate. You’ll be getting in front of new potential readers but also potential scammers. While creating ways for your fans to find and learn more about you, the scammers will be able to contact you just as easily as your fans. Public is public, good and bad. Be aware and prepared while establishing accounts and design your brand’s online presence safely and securely.

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Selling Your Book

It’s always good to find another outlet to sell my books on.  I was kindly invited by Stephen Bentley to take part in his BookFunnel promotion in December.  Although I’m not eligible to take part, I signed up for BookFunnel and so far have added 4 of my ebooks that are not part of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited.

I found the easiest way of readers to purchase my books was via Shopify, as purchasing via Paypal was rather difficult for me to get my head around as I’m not very technically minded.  It took me an afternoon to understand how to add the books to BookFunnel and Shopify, but I’m glad I persisted.

BookFunnel isn’t just for selling.  If you sign up for the correct package you can gather email addresses for your mailing list, run promotions with other authors and create landing pages or send out ARC copies.  You add your manuscript and cover to Shopify first, then add them to BookFunnel and also the purchase buttons for Shopify or Paypal etc.  Shopify notifies you when a reader has bought your book.  It collects customers’ details and lets you track the order, sends out the book, and can even keep an inventory of products in the stocktaking section.

Why should Amazon have the monopoly on books?  I’m always on the lookout for other sites to add my books to, and so far I’ve added ebooks to Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, Google Play and Ingram Spark.

Which other sites do you use to sell your books apart from Amazon?

We’re Having a Heatwave…

Over here in the East of England we’ve been having a heatwave.  The temperature hit 38.7 degrees Centigrade in  Cambridge on Thursday, the hottest day on record, and Wednesday and Friday were not much cooler.  What with the humidity I’ve felt like I’ve been walking through hot, wet cotton wool.  There has been chaos at airports and at railway stations, with cancelled journeys due to the heat and many disgruntled passengers.

This kind of heat in the UK is unusual, as we’re used to maybe 24 – 28 degrees in the summer.  The majority of houses, shops and factories here do not have air conditioning.  Our village has been like a ghost village during the day, with people walking about with their dogs early morning or early evening like in Mediterranean countries and avoiding the heat of the day.  I did try to walk about on Thursday, but had to give up.

As for work, it’s just too hot.  I feel sorry for the patients, as colleagues tell me the clinic area is like a furnace.  All the windows open just a crack (for our safety).  I went to work Monday and Tuesday, but previous experience told me to stay at home, and I’m glad I did.  I’m lucky in that I only work when I want to, and don’t have a permanent contract.

At night it’s hard to get to sleep.  I don’t know how people manage who live in hot countries, but then again I suppose they’re more geared up for the weather.  Our son installed an air-con unit in our front room about 10 years’ ago, and at the moment it’s working overtime!  Sam’s been away in the US this last week and has missed all the fun; he sent a message today to say it was raining in Minneapolis.

As a kid I don’t remember scorching hot summers like the one we had last year, although there was the famous ‘Summer of 76’ when I was 18.  I assume it must be climate change that’s making the mercury rise, but until the whole world works together to combat it, then temperatures are going to increase year on year I expect.  My daughter-in-law doesn’t eat anything containing palm oil and I don’t cut down trees at Christmas (or at any other time come to think of it) or spray my armpits, but hey, it’s not going to make much difference unless we all do something to help.

Are you worried about climate change?  Is this hot weather a consequence of decades of disregard for the environment?  Is there a general laissez-faire attitude because of the possible unwelcome change to lifestyle and also maybe due to the enormity of the task?  What do you think?