Athelstone

  • Hi Janette – as discussed, it’s gone. Feel free to post again when ready.

    Ath.

  • Athelstone posted a new activity comment 2 years, 10 months ago

    Drama and complications, John? Nothing you won’t overcome, I’m sure. Great news about the books, and loving the website.

  • Athelstone posted a new activity comment 2 years, 10 months ago

    And great to see you here. Janette. Hope you are on the mend.

    • It’s a long, varied road, but I feel I’m going the right way along it, thanks Ath. I’m learning that I need to keep in touch with the outside world.

  • Car

    Look at that bloke. Arm out of the window, cigarette in hand. Marks and Sparks polo shirt that his wife bought him. Revving the engine every five seconds; counting down the time until death. And he got the silver car, the GT model. He chose that. He calls it “my car”. But if anybody asks, “We chose it. Me and my lady.”

    How old do you reckon?…[Read more]

  • Wow! They were all classy little pieces of writing. Seagreen, I really enjoyed that. Well done.

  • The Unmarked Letter

    It’s a circular, sitting there on the mat. Or is it? It doesn’t look like the sort of envelope they use. And they usually say To the Householder or something like that. When Arthur was alive, he’d say, ‘That’s me. The householder,’ as though I didn’t count. This one has nothing on it.

    Right, that’s Edith at the door. I’d b…[Read more]

  • Quite awful accident, Richard. I sought out some of the video and still-images after reading your blog, and I have to say that Hawthorn does look, physically, like the villain of the piece. Whether he was the actual villain or not, his face relaxes into a rather smug expression that does him no favours. I was reminded of the comedian Rob Beckett,…[Read more]

  • That Pixie gets everywhere. Well done Kate!

  • Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 years, 1 month ago

    Absolutely not a waste of time, Richard. The paper has controls that enable them to reject specific advertisers. Now you’ve brought it to their attention I would expect the least they can do is prevent it appearing again. It’s the Guardian’s choice to use this advertising system, and ultimately it’s their fault entirely.

    Having read a bit more…[Read more]

    • Re the appearance of ads of any kind, I don’t get any ads, not on the Guardian site or anywhere else. I have Microsoft Edge set to the highest privacy setting, I use DuckDuckGo for all searches unless the results aren’t extensive enough and only use Google for YouTube and maps. I clear cookies every few days and mostly disallow them where I…[Read more]

  • Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 years, 1 month ago

    Cookies are generally innocuous, but can be a royal PITA. Opt in on a site’s cookie policies and you can easily find yourself seeing advertising that you really don’t want to see, unless the site is particularly careful regarding what is set. I bought my daughter sports socks as a little Christmas extra. Since then I’ve been plagued with ads for…[Read more]

    • Ah, so the ad wasn’t actually down to the Guardian, then, and my writing to them was a waste of time. But I get so angry at these vanity publishers (though I gather that phrase is out of fashion now). The way they exploit and trample on the dreams of aspiring authors is downright cruelty, if you ask me.

  • Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 years, 1 month ago

    Just checked the article again, and I have to say that the ad-spot is a set of Google tags; Google is the Advertising Network managing this space, so it will be filled according to a set of priorities partly determined by your cookies. That’s why after checking Amazon for cat-toothpaste, every other page you visit wants to sell you the stuff. So…[Read more]

    • Cookies are generally innocuous, but can be a royal PITA. Opt in on a site’s cookie policies and you can easily find yourself seeing advertising that you really don’t want to see, unless the site is particularly careful regarding what is set. I bought my daughter sports socks as a little Christmas extra. Since then I’ve been plagued with ads for…[Read more]

      • Ah, so the ad wasn’t actually down to the Guardian, then, and my writing to them was a waste of time. But I get so angry at these vanity publishers (though I gather that phrase is out of fashion now). The way they exploit and trample on the dreams of aspiring authors is downright cruelty, if you ask me.

  • Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 years, 1 month ago

    I read the Guardian seeing as it’s the only mainstream media outlet that even remotely approaches my political leanings, but I have to say that the approach is indeed often remote, and I’m not surprised to see them accept that advertisement. That said, they do make quite a big deal about promoting aspiring authors, and organise several courses and…[Read more]

    • Libby, thanks for that link. It’s quite damning, and if I’d known about it I might have included it in my e-mail.

      Ath, it never occurred to me that the placement of the ad might be random. It’s too much to ask of coincidence. I do hope that the acceptance of it was indeed due to lack of scrutiny. If I were to learn that they were at all aware of…[Read more]

      • Just checked the article again, and I have to say that the ad-spot is a set of Google tags; Google is the Advertising Network managing this space, so it will be filled according to a set of priorities partly determined by your cookies. That’s why after checking Amazon for cat-toothpaste, every other page you visit wants to sell you the stuff. So…[Read more]

        • Cookies are generally innocuous, but can be a royal PITA. Opt in on a site’s cookie policies and you can easily find yourself seeing advertising that you really don’t want to see, unless the site is particularly careful regarding what is set. I bought my daughter sports socks as a little Christmas extra. Since then I’ve been plagued with ads for…[Read more]

          • Ah, so the ad wasn’t actually down to the Guardian, then, and my writing to them was a waste of time. But I get so angry at these vanity publishers (though I gather that phrase is out of fashion now). The way they exploit and trample on the dreams of aspiring authors is downright cruelty, if you ask me.

  • Dream of an electrician

    The day that Colin first fell asleep in his van was as cold and unfriendly as a garden privy in the small hours of a winter’s night. Two long shifts, back-to-back, rewiring the mayoral offices in the town centre, saw him close to exhaustion. He had taken his supermarket sandwich down to the seafront and, with the windows c…[Read more]

  • Well, my vote is another month. If you’re up for it that is. If you’re OK with that, I’ll post an entry in the next few days.

  • Athelstone replied to the topic Close to Home in the forum Blogs 3 years, 2 months ago

    What a fabulous place. The film suggests a strong sense of community. Do you feel part of it as an “incomer”?

  • Not sure I’m representative, even though I am also (considerably) beyond 45. I don’t read as much as I did when I was, say, in my late-teens or early twenties. Then I could easily clear 3 or 4 books a week, sometimes 1 a day. I read pretty much every day. At the moment I am reading a book by somebody I know to provide a review. I have a vast pile…[Read more]

  • Best part of 4 days to vote, but that’s it. Still nothing conclusive.

  • Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 years, 2 months ago

    On reflection…

    • Though in the light of certain recently proposed legislation the word ‘Führer’ might be more appropriate.

  • Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 years, 2 months ago

    A bit like UK politics

  • Just over a week to go. Votes are coming in. We have leaders, but everything could change.

  • Load More