News:

Got a few minutes to kill? Try the Doom Flash Challenge :afro: - http://www.cafedoom.com/forum/index.php/board,36.0.html

Main Menu

The good morning, good night thread

Started by Ed, October 22, 2007, 03:49:05 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 9 Guests are viewing this topic.

delboy

"If you want to write, write it. That's the first rule. And send it in, and send it in to someone who can publish it or get it published. Don't send it to me. Don't show it to your spouse, or your significant other, or your parents, or somebody. They're not going to publish it."

Robert B. Parker

Pharosian

*puts fingertips to forehead* I'm seeing... yes, it's getting stronger... I'm seeing more babysitting in your future!   :cool:

Congratulations!   :dance:

Ed

#1517
Congrats, Geoff - that potential fan base of yours is getting bigger by the day, without a doubt :afro:
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

Ed

#1518
Had a night off from the kids tonight. Missus bought the Valentines meal deal from Marks and Sparks, which we ate and then went to the cinema. Watched Sherlock Holmes, which I found pretty dull, despite the many action sequences. It was about an hour too long, IMO. Bit of a steampunk at the end, which I didn't think suited the subject. Likewise, I didn't think Robert Downy Junior was any good in the role of Holmes, and neither was Jude Law a good Watson. Dunno if that's just because I was brought up on Basil Rathbone's Sherlock and Nigel Bruce's Doctor Watson. The modern version I thought was trying too hard to turn Holmes into a comic book superhero. I think they gaged it wrong.
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]


Rev. Austin

#1520
Well, a busy weekend for me - girlfriend came to visit (I only get to see her once a month) and I'm now a godparent!  Watched Avatar (I think it's peculiar that in 150 years we'll have mech suits yet not have the common sense to build guns into the suit haha) and enjoyed it (though the 3-D  made me feel a little queasy for the first ten minutes).  Also somehow found time to rework my crit story (which I've posted in week 3) and later today I'm off to chat to my friend's boss about the possibilty of doing some youth work.  Phew!
facebook.com/waynegoodchildishaunted
Stay in touch! I don't mean that in a pervy way.

Rev. Austin

Woo!  There's a very strong possibility I'll be working with kids in care to teach them how to make films, and there's a very good chance I've just bagged a 'serialization' gig!  Finally!  Everything's coming up Goodchild! 
facebook.com/waynegoodchildishaunted
Stay in touch! I don't mean that in a pervy way.

JonP

Great stuff, Rev! Hope it all works out for you.

delboy

Had another puncture yesterday. I reckon the last six times I've cycled to work I've had three punctures. These are always the same, too, a tiny sliver of glass or metal or a thorn that isn't noticable at the time, but means the tyre goes down during the course of the day. I think it's time to invest in some top quality puncture proof tyres and new tubes.

Anyway, I had to walk home - it's a pleasant enough stroll, about four miles along the canal towpath, although it was getting dark. The canal used to be flanked by Victorian warehouses, long disused railway tracks, old wharves, forests and fields. Bit by bit it's all turning into shops, cinemas, and housing estates, but there are still long sections of woodland and wilderness. The walk gave me plenty of thinking time about the novel. I had a couple of good insights. Perhaps I should do it more often!

Derek
"If you want to write, write it. That's the first rule. And send it in, and send it in to someone who can publish it or get it published. Don't send it to me. Don't show it to your spouse, or your significant other, or your parents, or somebody. They're not going to publish it."

Robert B. Parker

delboy

Excellent news, Rev! Hope the trajectory stays upwards!

Derek
"If you want to write, write it. That's the first rule. And send it in, and send it in to someone who can publish it or get it published. Don't send it to me. Don't show it to your spouse, or your significant other, or your parents, or somebody. They're not going to publish it."

Robert B. Parker

Rev. Austin

#1525
Cheers!  About time I had some good news, least of all because my last few posts on here have bordered on the 'woe is me' mentality commonplace in so many drongo blogs hahaha

Sounds really nice near where you live Del.  I used to live near this abandoned warehouse in Derby, and right next to it was the (overgrown and sunken) remains of an old railway line.  That whole area was my muse during my time at university.  It's still wasteland though, unlike the area right behind my house here in Scunny.  Used to be fields for miles but now it's all new housing estates...
facebook.com/waynegoodchildishaunted
Stay in touch! I don't mean that in a pervy way.

delboy

QuoteSounds really nice near where you live Del.

I guess I could just have easily have written 'I had another puncture and had to walk home. It's a pain in the ass walk. Four miles along a canal that used to be nice but is now like one long construction site..."  :'(

But, it is actually a nice area. It's all a matter of perspective and focus. I always think Gloucester could have been like the York of the West Country. We have a cathedral, the equal of York Minster. We have the river winding around the edge of town and linking up with the old Victorian docks. We have the wide and deep canal cutting through the grounds of ancient buildings and wharves and real nice old warehouses. We have a massive Roman heritage, a civil war heritage, a Korean war heritage. We have (had! Not that many remain) masses of beautiful medieval buildings with secret rooms and passageways and mysterious cellars. We had a huge cattle market that was the centre of the farming community for miles around, but was amazing to go and see. We have the finest rugby team in all the kingdom. Hollywood used to come here a lot (well, the BBC came a lot, Hollywood once in a while) to film Sherlcok Holmes, The Onedin Line, Harry Potter, Jack The Ripper.

That's just the city. On our doorstep we have the mysterious and dark and ancient Forest of Dean. We have Castles galore - including Berkely, where Edward the Second was murdered (he's buried in the Cathedral - the only English king buried outside London, I believe). We have the Cotswolds with scores of chocolate box villages and beautiful lakes and rivers and hills and glades. There are loads of abandoned canals, too, just tucked away seemingly in the middle of nowwhere. We have the famous birds of prey centre (the demonstration area - where yours truly once did a falconry demo to the paying public - is known as the Wimbldeon Centre Court of falconry) Lots of famous people too. We have riverside towns and world famous horse-racing events and loads of prehistoric monuments and burial chambers and priest holes and old houses where Royalty stayed and/or hid away their mistresses.. etc etc

Much of the opportunity presented by all of this was missed by subsequent generations of town planners (and, of course, the need for housing, housing, more housing, and business parks...) but it still remains a great area.

Then there's the darker side:

We've had our own recent and very infamous serial killer. For a while we were the cheapest place to buy heroin. Maybe still are. I'm not up with the scene. Also for a while, when Freddie was at his peak, our murder rate per capita was the highest in the land. We've recent jailed outlaw motorcycle gang gun runners and many members of a notorius organised crime family that rivalled all the well known clans. We have a Victorian prison, and often as I cycle home (or push the bike!) I come across young women having shouted conversations with their fellows on the other side of the wall.

And in the miscellaneous category, we have sheep and wild boar running free in the Dean. Big cats, reportedly, too. We have a great cycle network, often running through miles of countryside on abandoned branch line routes. We have old mines and cave networks (again, Hollywood - or especially Doctor Who and Primevil - are regulars). We have the almost unique Severn Bore. We have lots of different accents, some that only the local villagers can understand. We have dead war poets and famous musicians (not me, alas) and composers. We have a massive multi-cultural society. Have had, as long as I've been alive. We have airports small enough to be just grass strips from which biplanes take-off and large enough to accomodate US bombers. We have abandoned airfields where drug deals have gone down. We have GCHQ. We have a world famous bluegrass festival. We have a world famous gypsy jazz festival. We have world famous gypsy horse-trading festivals. Literary festivals, choir festivals, science festivals. We have the wetlands of Slimbridge, we have deadly quick-sand along the river's edge, we have loads of quarries - many disused. Roman roads as straight as arrows, gun-emplacement bunkers, stone circles, and rare breeds of pigs.

We even have a set of villages known as The Slaughters.

I like it here  ;) And all of this is why I like to write about it and set many of my stories and novels here.

Derek
"If you want to write, write it. That's the first rule. And send it in, and send it in to someone who can publish it or get it published. Don't send it to me. Don't show it to your spouse, or your significant other, or your parents, or somebody. They're not going to publish it."

Robert B. Parker

Rev. Austin

Sounds amazing!  My girlfriend and I are always looking for interesting places in the UK to visit and you've just sold your town to me haha  ;) 

Have you lived in Gloucester all your life, Del?  I've found that people tend to hate the place they're from - familiarity breeds contempt and all that - but everywhere has its own secret history and Gloucester sounds like it has tons.

Scunthorpe (literally) stinks, for instance, but round the corner from my house there's a massive allotment that used to be a POW camp and opposite my Uncle's house there's a tree with that wire rope stuff embedded in the trunk from when a tank was pulled out of the local beck.  At some point I'd quite like to make a documentary about Scunny, to capture/record a lot of the history that only exists in anecdotes, before it disappears forever...
facebook.com/waynegoodchildishaunted
Stay in touch! I don't mean that in a pervy way.

delph_ambi

Sounds brilliant, Del. My father's family all came from the Forest of Dean, but despite that it's not an area I've visited often. I do, however, know Upper and Lower Slaughter. Great names that one wouldn't dare put in a horror story for fear of being accused of being corny and obvious.

delboy

QuoteHave you lived in Gloucester all your life, Del?

I've lived in the area all my life. Firstly in a village, then in the town itself, now on the outskirts. There are loads of places in the world I could quite happily live. Scotland, Cornwall, Paris, Italy, Ireland... and I suspect one day we'll finally put on some wandering shoes. But I do love this area.

QuoteScunthorpe (literally) stinks, for instance, but round the corner from my house there's a massive allotment that used to be a POW camp and opposite my Uncle's house there's a tree with that wire rope stuff embedded in the trunk from when a tank was pulled out of the local beck.  At some point I'd quite like to make a documentary about Scunny, to capture/record a lot of the history that only exists in anecdotes, before it disappears forever...

If one looks hard enough and retains a positive perspective, some imagination and curiosity I'm sure any place could be equally as fascinating as (hopefully) I've made Gloucester sound.

It's interesting how little things trigger memories. Until you wrote 'Scunthorpe (literally) stinks' I hadn't thought about the famous "Westgate smell" in years. Westgate is one of the four Roman streets that made up the ancient city, and each one was gated to keep the natives out. When I was a kid there was glue factory somewhere down the bottom of Westgate and when the wind was in the appropriate direction the smell would float up into town and it was horrible. I don't know what they were cooking or what they were using but it was one of those chemical smells that just get in your throat and cause a gag reflex. For years people campaigned to get that factory closed, and I guess one day it was, because the smell went. But I hated going into town when I was a kid because of that smell.

My POW story is that , again when I was a kid, my barber was an Italian POW who was held somewhere round these parts and after the war, when he was released, decided to stay. I used to get a crew cut. I don't think he knew any other styles.

Derek
"If you want to write, write it. That's the first rule. And send it in, and send it in to someone who can publish it or get it published. Don't send it to me. Don't show it to your spouse, or your significant other, or your parents, or somebody. They're not going to publish it."

Robert B. Parker