-
RichardB started the topic A Blast From the Past in the forum Blogs 6 years, 4 months ago
Well, it’s a couple of months since we had a blog, so I’m taking a leaf out of Athelstone’s book and digging up one of my old blogs from the Cloud. Apologies to any who remember it, but I think it’s one of the more entertaining of my efforts because (a) it recounts probably the nearest thing to an adventure in my generally staid life, and (b) I…[Read more]
-
-
RichardB posted an update 6 years, 4 months ago
I hope everybody had a good Christmas. Our Warner hotel Christmas break went off pretty well. For one thing, no cooking and no washing up – you can’t knock that. It makes a nice change to be among the youngest people present – and to see, all the time we were there, only one person using a smartphone. But…
I am by no means a religious per…[Read more]
-
Sounds very odd!
-
It was, believe me.
-
-
-
-
I’ll renown you any day @daedalus
-
Thanks both. Renowning accepted 🙂
-
-
-
RichardB posted an update 6 years, 5 months ago
Aha, @daedalus, so you’re now a ‘renowned naval aviation author,’ I see. Fair play to yer, mate.
-
I was surprised to see that too! I don’t know who’s been renowning me, I must say
-
Don’t knock it…
-
I’ll renown you any day @daedalus
-
Thanks both. Renowning accepted 🙂
-
-
-
-
-
RichardB posted a new activity comment 6 years, 5 months ago
I was going to post this anyway, Ath, but after following your link it has even more resonance: one of Sir Winston Churchill’s less popular pronouncements was that the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
-
RichardB posted a new activity comment 6 years, 5 months ago
I’m glad you’ve got some hope left. After long years of clinging on with my fingernails to some vestiges of hope that the slide away from the essentially decent, civilised nation I grew up in might be halted, I have now lost every last trace of it. Merry Christmas.
-
Commiserations, UK. It seems we’re all stuck with hideous right wing governments that our compatriots have chosen for us. In the case of the UK it really beggars belief that after 9 years of austerity – food banks, slashes to services, skyrocketing poverty – that the people who suffer the most under Tory rule have gone and done it again. I really…[Read more]
-
I came across this view from an ex-pat living in New Zealand. Some strong language for Denizens who prefer to steer clear. But I couldn’t find anything to disagree with.
Britain dutifully bows down to the ruling elite.-
I was going to post this anyway, Ath, but after following your link it has even more resonance: one of Sir Winston Churchill’s less popular pronouncements was that the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
-
I have read the article. This kind of sneering attitude is exactly why the Brexit leave vote came as a surprise to the great and the good. And it is also why the GE vote has come as a surprise. An 82 year old woman from Co Durham was reported in The Times today as saying (I can’t remember verbatim) “I can’t believe they’ve voted this way in an…[Read more]
-
We are a nation of bootlickers, aren’t we?
-
-
-
-
-
If I didn’t still hold out some hope for Scotland, I’d be seriously planning that. My parents might get kicked out anyway, so what’s to lose?
-
I’m glad you’ve got some hope left. After long years of clinging on with my fingernails to some vestiges of hope that the slide away from the essentially decent, civilised nation I grew up in might be halted, I have now lost every last trace of it. Merry Christmas.
-
Commiserations, UK. It seems we’re all stuck with hideous right wing governments that our compatriots have chosen for us. In the case of the UK it really beggars belief that after 9 years of austerity – food banks, slashes to services, skyrocketing poverty – that the people who suffer the most under Tory rule have gone and done it again. I really…[Read more]
-
I came across this view from an ex-pat living in New Zealand. Some strong language for Denizens who prefer to steer clear. But I couldn’t find anything to disagree with.
Britain dutifully bows down to the ruling elite.-
I was going to post this anyway, Ath, but after following your link it has even more resonance: one of Sir Winston Churchill’s less popular pronouncements was that the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
-
I have read the article. This kind of sneering attitude is exactly why the Brexit leave vote came as a surprise to the great and the good. And it is also why the GE vote has come as a surprise. An 82 year old woman from Co Durham was reported in The Times today as saying (I can’t remember verbatim) “I can’t believe they’ve voted this way in an…[Read more]
-
We are a nation of bootlickers, aren’t we?
-
-
-
-
-
“There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people…religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin” – Linus, Peanuts cartoon, 1966.
-
Very wise words
-
-
-
RichardB posted a new activity comment 6 years, 5 months ago
I’m just dreading hearing the results tomorrow morning…
-
RichardB posted a new activity comment 6 years, 5 months ago
I met Clive James once. I had long been a fan of the least known – but which he once said was ‘the closest to my heart’ – of his many endeavours, the songs he wrote with Pete Atkin and which Atkin performed. When I first got internet access I discovered and started participating in a mailing list of like-minded souls called Midnight Voices, and…[Read more]
-
RichardB posted a new activity comment 6 years, 6 months ago
Yes, our pussy is a gentle, affectionate creature with an almost total lack of the predatory instinct, which makes her a useless mouser but a lovely companion. Our friends who stayed with us weekend before last fell so in love with her they threatened to take her home with them.
-
One of our cats is a complete softie too. He recently spent a whole weekend lying with/on a very poorly wee girl who, whilst cuddling him, laughed for the first time in months.
-
Love my cat – until he decides he’s hungry at 4.30am. Or climbs into my lap while I’m knitting/writing/reading. Or brings in a bird. He’s very tolerant, too – Mr Squidge often plays Cataroo! (like Buckaroo but with a cat, not a donkey. And it’s me who gets the catty evils, as though it’s all my fault when cat moves and everything falls off.))
-
-
-
RichardB posted an update 6 years, 6 months ago
Some people will tell you that mice will never come into a house where there’s a cat. They obviously don’t know our cat. I have just seen her sitting and watching with mild interest while, less than a foot from her nose, a mouse nipped out of the woodwork and nicked a piece of food from her bowl. I ask you…
-
Cats are marvellous and varied. My son’s two cats will hunt down every fly and spider with a total absence of mercy. Others take a far more philosophical approach and yours sounds wonderful.
Many years ago I rented a house which came with a resident cat named Mittens. Mittens was mainly a lethargic house-cat, mooching around from sunny spot to…[Read more]
-
Yes, our pussy is a gentle, affectionate creature with an almost total lack of the predatory instinct, which makes her a useless mouser but a lovely companion. Our friends who stayed with us weekend before last fell so in love with her they threatened to take her home with them.
-
One of our cats is a complete softie too. He recently spent a whole weekend lying with/on a very poorly wee girl who, whilst cuddling him, laughed for the first time in months.
-
Love my cat – until he decides he’s hungry at 4.30am. Or climbs into my lap while I’m knitting/writing/reading. Or brings in a bird. He’s very tolerant, too – Mr Squidge often plays Cataroo! (like Buckaroo but with a cat, not a donkey. And it’s me who gets the catty evils, as though it’s all my fault when cat moves and everything falls off.))
-
-
-
-
-
RichardB replied to the topic Chaos and Catastrophe: Radstock, 1876 in the forum Blogs 6 years, 7 months ago
There was, of course, no such thing as corporate manslaughter back then. But I did hear that after one Victorian accident (not this one) where the driver was charged with manslaughter, Punch published a cartoon showing a policeman collaring the driver and a director walking away, with the caption ‘Yes, you’ve got one. But you ought to have got…[Read more]
-
RichardB started the topic Chaos and Catastrophe: Radstock, 1876 in the forum Blogs 6 years, 7 months ago
Railway accidents have many causes. Sometimes the fault is with the hardware: the signalling, the track, the trains themselves. More often one or more people make mistakes, through pressure of work, a moment’s lapse of concentration, or sheer negligence. But the Radstock collision of 1876 on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway was, fortunately,…[Read more]
-
RichardB replied to the topic The truth about – back then in the forum Blogs 6 years, 7 months ago
Thanks for this. I remember your ‘The Truth About…’ blogs on the Cloud, and used to enjoy them immensely: perceptive (Isn’t hindsight wonderful?), moving, and uncompromisingly honest. This one is no exception.
And yes, there has been a sad dearth of blogs lately. Maybe it’s time for another tale of the rails…
-
RichardB replied to the topic replying to agent rejections in the forum Coffee Shop 6 years, 7 months ago
It’s never even occurred to me to reply to form rejections. What’s the point? Who’d bother to read it? I can’t speak for any other circumstances, because I’ve never been there (sob).
-
RichardB joined the group
Songs of Innocence and Experience 6 years, 8 months ago -
RichardB posted a new activity comment 6 years, 9 months ago
Just the one now, but I’m not holding my breath.
-
Fingers crossed
-
-
RichardB posted an update 6 years, 9 months ago
Another rejection yesterday – to a submission I sent out on 8 May. Ah well, at least they took SOME notice of me.
-
That’s a pretty slow turnaround…at least they had the courtesy to let you know, albeit eventually. Any more still to get back to you?
-
Just the one now, but I’m not holding my breath.
-
Fingers crossed
-
-
-
-
RichardB replied to the topic Bi-Monthly Comp – May/June 2019 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 10 months ago
Great idea for the competition – specially as I had an entry all ready to go and didn’t need to do any actual work…
Congrats, Sandra. I’m only glad I didn’t have to do the judging.
- Load More
Skip to content
