A few days ago I raced into our living-room to check on a wailing Sawyer. I found him sat on the floor, clearly upset…
‘Ice daddy.’
‘What?’
‘Ice in my nose daddy.’
‘What?’
‘Got ice in my nose.’
‘Ice? How did you get ice in your nose?’
‘I put it in there.’
‘Ice? But where did you get the ice from?’
‘There…’
And there scattered all over the floor was the remnants of a t-light candle. The wax, or ice in Sawyer’s case, was everywhere. He’d been picking away at the wax and a chunk of which he’d apparently rammed up his nose I’m pretty sure that whatever he’d put up there had melted by the time I’d finished poking around, but I’m also fairly sure he won’t be doing that particular stunt again!!! In much the same way as Sawyer’s much older & now rather more sensible brother learnt not to ram mint sprigs up his nose (to stop the dog getting them!!!) when he was younger!!! It doesn’t bode well really
Well that was a pretty hefty break. 6 weeks I’m guessing Lots of reasons why, some of which I’ll touch on later, but I thought it probably about time to hop back onto the blog bandwagon…
The main reason for my recent lack of bloggage has been work. And as a self employed artist, an insanely busy 2 months of work is a rather nice problem to have Teaching has been madly hectic, I’ve been given an empty shop in Derby to make art in during August, which I need to sort out and then on top of that, after 9 years I’m moving studios in a few weeks. It’s pretty scary the amount of ‘stuff’ you can amass in a large art studio over 9 years I’m currently ploughing my way through that ‘stuff’!!!
So 6 weeks… What have I missed?
Lost has gone I did enjoy the finale, although it took a couple of viewings to fully appreciate it. I’m now looking forward to a complete & utter Lost season 1 – 6 re-watch
Dr Who has also gone, but will at least return at Xmas. Must say I thoroughly enjoyed this series. The finale was excellent and Matt Smith throughout was brilliant.
England had yet another stunningly inept World Cup… When will we learn?
People queued for hours to get their sweaty hands on the new iphone 4… When will they learn?
Murray’s doing rather well at Wimbledon… Until tomorrow maybe?
We’ve had rather a lot of sunshine… Again, until tomorrow maybe?
Our lovely cosy new coalition government is finally revealing it’s true colours… Grim times await I’m afraid.
Our TVs are now filled with the final instalment of the truly dire Big Brother… Again, very grim times await I’m afraid.
At least I’ll probably be out of the country, somewhere in Italy when it finally finishes
Did I miss anything?
So, now I’ve managed to crawl back onto this blog bandwagon I’ll hopefully post something a tad more interesting next time…
After a valiant, but ultimately doomed attempt at writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days last November, I have now finally finished my book. I actually finished it some time ago, but due to the insanity of trying to write it so damn quickly (not to mention my appalling grammar) the thing was literally riddled with mistakes. And 60,000 words takes quite a time to edit. It’s also debatable whether a glorified holiday journal can be classed as a novel (I’m guessing not), but I really don’t care. I very much doubt that I’ll feature in this year’s Booker Prize shortlist, but it is a very entertaining holiday journal/novel and it’s well worth a read. With over 100 photographs the journal/novel should also be quite nice to look at as well…
It’s not the first time I’ve had a bash at the old writing and this is usually the point when I stock up on boxes of ink cartridges & paper for my poor overused printer. I then spend ages trying to find the correct layout options in Word before waiting hours while the disgruntled printer does it’s stuff. With my printer now trembling in the corner of the room, then comes the painstaking task of folding and binding a 158 page journal/novel. A front & back cover is then printed off and attached and the journal/novel is complete… Simple Then if someone else wants one the whole process is repeated And this is largely why my printer truly hates me!!!
Well this year I’ve decided to give my poor printer a break. Instead I’m going to let Lulu.com do all the work for me. So if anyone else fancies a copy of my oh so exciting journal/novel just use the links below. It’s available in paperback or download format… Just think of my poor exhausted printer.
A political blog post? Where the hell have the crappy film reviews gone and the twee little collage pictures? Fear not, normal service will be resumed soon. I just felt the need to vent a few thoughts on what’s been hogging the news in the UK recently.And don’t worry, I don’t really know too many of the facts to turn this into some kind of highbrow political essay…
Last Thursday the country went to the polls. For me this was the 6th time I’d been given the little pencil & ballot paper and right up until I actually put pencil to paper I was unsure where to put my cross. The five previous times I’d voted in an Election I’d proudly popped my cross next to the Labour candidate. I’m a working class guy, so it just seemed in my best interest to vote Labour. It was common sense. Why wouldn’t I? Well as I say, this time I had my doubts. Yellow or red? Some would argue that there actually isn’t a great deal of difference between the two parties, if you can be bothered to pick your way through their respective policies. I’ve not, but I do tend to side with the Lib Dems on a few issues… A fairer voting system, fairer taxes & free childcare. I’m also really not that concerned if the country ditches it’s nuclear weapons (I wish we all could) and I don’t really have a massive problem with the immigration issue… So maybe the yellow vote really is for me?
I guess the big difference with this particular Election was the fact that experts actually thought the Lib Dems stood a half decent chance of getting a few seats. They never have in all my years of voting, but this year could be differnet. So with this in mind my pencil briefly hovered over the Labour cadidate, before finally marking a cross next to the Lib Dems… And the rest is history as they say
Over the last few days I’ve actually lost count of the number of times the pendulum has swung one way and then the other. We briefly had the very real prospect of a Labour/Lib Dem coalition, which for this undecided voter would’ve been ideal. I know the numbers didn’t really add up for this, but for me it was by far the most favorable outcome. My yellow vote could so easily have been red. Some kind of orange I’d be perfectly happy with.
Today however we got blue and for this working class individual that is wrong on oh so many levels What makes today’s events even more sickening (if they actually can) is that our blue government will be mixed with yellow. It is the first time the Lib Dems have ever sided with the Tories and I’m still staggered that two parties that differ so much, can find a way to work together
I won’t spout on about how grim the Tories are ( I haven’t got enough time!!!) because history & their extreme policies speak for themselves. I do pity all of the young 1st time voters though, who naively placed their cross into the blue box. You really have no idea what lies ahead The 80′s were dark dark times and I really fear the worst.
Five days ago I optimistically placed my cross onto the ballot paper. Today it sickens me to think about which box I put it into. Mr Clegg, you may have just lost yourself quite a few voters… If you’re bothered?
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I’m pretty sure that whatever he’d put up there had melted by the time I’d finished poking around, but I’m also fairly sure he won’t be doing that particular stunt again!!! In much the same way as Sawyer’s much older & now rather more sensible brother learnt not to ram mint sprigs up his nose (to stop the dog getting them!!!) when he was younger!!! It doesn’t bode well really 
Teaching has been madly hectic, I’ve been given an empty shop in Derby to make art in during August, which I need to sort out and then on top of that, after 9 years I’m moving studios in a few weeks. It’s pretty scary the amount of ‘stuff’ you can amass in a large art studio over 9 years 
I did enjoy the finale, although it took a couple of viewings to fully appreciate it. I’m now looking forward to a complete & utter Lost season 1 – 6 re-watch 
What makes today’s events even more sickening (if they actually can) is that our blue government will be mixed with yellow. It is the first time the Lib Dems have ever sided with the Tories and I’m still staggered that two parties that differ so much, can find a way to work together 
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