Libby

The basic premise is that two very young low ranking soldiers get sent off through miles of no mans land to prevent another section (sorry but I can never remember the correct names for sections of the army but it is around 1600 men) falling into a trap by attacking what they think are a few Germans. I struggled to believe that they would only…[Read more]

Hmmm Not sure about 1917. It was certainly visually stunning and showed a lot of the awfulness of life in the trenches but it was curiously unengaging – not sure why – Maybe it was just not my sort of film. Plus I thought the basic premise was unlikely which didn’t help.

I thought that about Little Women too. Yet another remake. But the structure is very clever, dotting between the past and present, and it is full of life and magic. It made me want to go back and reread the books for the millionth time. I’d strongly recommend it but take tissues!

I always worry if the story is strong enough but I don’t know how…[Read more]

I am currently trying to turn a sprawling first draft into something with a bit of shape and trying not to notice all the other things that need doing to it!

We actually had some sun yesterday – I’d forgotten what it looked like – but woke up this morning to wind and rain. It feels like this has been the gloomiest winter for a long time.

I went…[Read more]

Oh heavens it is good to see you 🙂

Hi Skylark. Lovely to see you here. How are writing things with you?

Still here. Still reading. Still writing.

Oh, go on Jane, have a peek.You know you want to.

Oooh! Two entries already! How exciting. I am longing to read them but I guess I should leave it until the end of the month. Thank you @sandradavies and @johnalty

The Future

“The future is the time we haven’t had yet,” he said, “simple as that.”
“That may be what the future is but not what it holds,” she responded, “not what’s in store, where it might take us.” Then she got up from the picnic table outside The Black Bull and walked off.

He thought about that last exchange…[Read more]

That used to be the way of it, doing all your own basic (and sometimes advanced) car maintenance. Sadly it was all mixed up with “manliness” which meant that if you didn’t know how to refit a complete gearbox you were somehow not quite fit for the gene pool. As I also lacked any interest in football, I was widely viewed as a bit of a no-hoper…[Read more]

Great blog, Richard. You captured both the disaster of the car journey and the pleasure of the holiday. Perfectly done.

With modern cars, it’s easy to take things for granted and forget that comparatively recently many things about cars were surprisingly simple, if not primitive. Heating is a classic case. Today many vehicles have in-car air…[Read more]