@athelstone
Active 25 minutes ago-
Athelstone replied to the topic The Future of the Den (again) in the forum Blogs 3 years, 10 months ago
I had a look at our profile options a while back but I couldn’t see how it’s supposed to work. You can add information about yourself, but it doesn’t show up when your profile is viewed (which is a bit pointless). I’ll take another look at it.
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Athelstone started the topic The Future of the Den (again) in the forum Blogs 3 years, 10 months ago
Well, here we are again.
Many, if not most of the suggestions from my last blog on the topic, have been implemented. We appear to have settled into a low to medium run of activity. For instance, over the last couple of months we have had around 100 posts of various sorts and 16 members have logged in.
Do we continue?
The short answer is ‘yes’,…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Comp – June 2022 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 years, 10 months ago
Darn it! Sorry Knicks. It’s a great theme and I meant to have a go, but things just got away from me this month 🙁
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 years, 11 months ago
Thanks, daeds. As with Bella, I wouldn’t want you to put yourself out for this. I can always “write around” the point.
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 years, 11 months ago
Thanks Richard. Yes, thinking back to my brief spell as a scout, a couple of years in the mid-60s, I vaguely recall differing amounts depending on what activities were planned. I did suspect that it might vary from troup to troup, particularly as some are linked to schools and other organisations.
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 years, 11 months ago
I wouldn’t want you to go to any trouble, but if it’s easy to ask then I’d be grateful. My MC is recounting a time when his foster-mother gave him subs to go to scout meetings, but he stole the money. This would be around 1991. I’d like to be able to say what he used it for.
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I did ask MrsB, who used to be a Beaver Scout Leader, and she said there was no set amount handed down from above (that is, the Scouting Association) but that each group decided how much to charge, so you’ve got some latitude. Unfortunately, she couldn’t remember how much her own group used to charge thirty years ago.
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Thanks Richard. Yes, thinking back to my brief spell as a scout, a couple of years in the mid-60s, I vaguely recall differing amounts depending on what activities were planned. I did suspect that it might vary from troup to troup, particularly as some are linked to schools and other organisations.
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My friend was a scout leader at the time but not involved with the finances. He reckons he knows someone who will know and is asking. Will pass on any further info I get.
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Thanks Bella
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Athelstone posted an update 3 years, 11 months ago
Den people, writers, denizens, does anybody know how much it cost in subs to be a scout (in the UK) in the early 1990s?
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I know somebody who might know if you are still trying to find an answer. Would you like me to ask?
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I wouldn’t want you to go to any trouble, but if it’s easy to ask then I’d be grateful. My MC is recounting a time when his foster-mother gave him subs to go to scout meetings, but he stole the money. This would be around 1991. I’d like to be able to say what he used it for.
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I did ask MrsB, who used to be a Beaver Scout Leader, and she said there was no set amount handed down from above (that is, the Scouting Association) but that each group decided how much to charge, so you’ve got some latitude. Unfortunately, she couldn’t remember how much her own group used to charge thirty years ago.
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Thanks Richard. Yes, thinking back to my brief spell as a scout, a couple of years in the mid-60s, I vaguely recall differing amounts depending on what activities were planned. I did suspect that it might vary from troup to troup, particularly as some are linked to schools and other organisations.
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My friend was a scout leader at the time but not involved with the finances. He reckons he knows someone who will know and is asking. Will pass on any further info I get.
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Thanks Bella
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Only just seen this. My family was involved in the scouts from the mid 80s to date, and my dad was group scout leader of the 4th Dovercourt during the 90s. I’ll ask him if you like, though I can’t say if he’ll remember or not
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Thanks, daeds. As with Bella, I wouldn’t want you to put yourself out for this. I can always “write around” the point.
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Fwiw I just spoke to my mum, who was also a leader, who thinks that by that time subs were collected annually rather than per meeting, and that it would have been about £50. I get the impression that before that it would be a case of a parent or guardian handing over 50p or a quid when they dropped off the child at the beginning of the meeting,…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition- May 2022 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 years, 11 months ago
Well done all of us, especially Knicky. A great read. And well, done Seagreen. Worth waiting for.
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I think I may have suggested it, some time ago. But still “Hurrah!!”
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I’d noticed it! A very good change.
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Athelstone replied to the topic New short story competition from former Cloudie in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 3 years, 11 months ago
Wow! Looks interesting. Thanks Daeds.
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 years, 12 months ago
Apparently, dormer windows only appeared throughout the UK in the C16th, which suggests that they may have been a way to make more use of storage space and mezzanines. They became a popular architectural feature in their own right soon after. We added a roof-length dormer to our chalet-style house a few years back. I would have liked an “eyebrow”…[Read more]
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Ah, I feel like an old man. Don’t have a smartphone, never used any messaging apps. Guess I’m stuck in a twenty-or-so-years- ago time-warp.
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 3 years, 12 months ago
Sounds wonderful!
Although, if I’m honest, no phone signal. Hmmm. I know myself. That said, if you’re posting this then there’s internet.
Sounds wonderful!-
Yes, it’s a bit odd. No phone signal, and even radio reception is dodgy, but the wi-fi is really good.
The cottage itself is a bit lovely too, though if you’re tall (I’m not) you have to watch your head in the bedrooms. The Scots are heavily addicted to low roofs with dormer windows.-
Apparently, dormer windows only appeared throughout the UK in the C16th, which suggests that they may have been a way to make more use of storage space and mezzanines. They became a popular architectural feature in their own right soon after. We added a roof-length dormer to our chalet-style house a few years back. I would have liked an “eyebrow”…[Read more]
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Ah, I feel like an old man. Don’t have a smartphone, never used any messaging apps. Guess I’m stuck in a twenty-or-so-years- ago time-warp.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition- May 2022 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 years, 12 months ago
Under the Yoke
The security guard didn’t notice the elderly woman by the checkout. She noticed him. She noticed as his arm shot out, shielding the aisle so that the distinguished visitor could walk by unimpeded. The distinguished visitor, his blond hair carefully disarranged, smirked as his eyes slid, unseeing, across her face. He had come for t…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Microfiction published in the forum Coffee Shop 4 years ago
Fine writing. Compact and perfect!
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Athelstone replied to the topic It sounds wrong. But is that enough? in the forum Blogs 4 years ago
The trouble is, it’s easy to get used to odd phrasing or vocabulary when I’ve produced it myself.
There’s definitely something in that. It’s a similar issue to writing something which doesn’t make sense on its own because you know all the back story that your audience is missing. You know what a turn of phrase means and it’s something of a sur…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic It sounds wrong. But is that enough? in the forum Blogs 4 years ago
Re the bee in your bonnet. My comments about commas were not directed at you. Commas are wonderfully useful and under-used.
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Athelstone replied to the topic It sounds wrong. But is that enough? in the forum Blogs 4 years ago
No, I don’t worry too much about rules. Most of the rules are inventions of over-educated elites designed to reinforce the idea that how the aristocracy spoke and wrote was the correct way*. That’s how we end up with such nonsense as split-infinitives and pointless debates about whether there should be a comma prior to and in a list. Seeing as…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic It sounds wrong. But is that enough? in the forum Blogs 4 years ago
Crossed with your reply Kate.
Yes! It is creepy. I have been discussing it offline with another member of the circle. We thought that ‘against her hair’ was perhaps one of the worst possible adjectival phrases.
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Athelstone replied to the topic It sounds wrong. But is that enough? in the forum Blogs 4 years ago
I did think of a comma and I agree that it helps. What still interests me is whether the construction actually breaches any commonly agreed grammatical rules.
I take your point about common speech tags being transitive, although several are actually ambitransitive e.g.
It was necessary to answer. John answered.
I agree that ‘against’ is a poor…[Read more]
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