Slipping here. Maybe nothing much has happened to share, or maybe I'm just getting out of the habit.

The local literature festival in October was a welcome diversion. I attended a number of events where various folk were talking about their life and/or plugging their latest book. Highlights were former Irish President Mary Robinson, an ( Read more... )

The Beeb has been running some retrospectives on the Beatles recently, and yesterday I attended a panel discussion on Dr No - the first of the Bond franchise films. Both marking 50 year anniversaries.

The Beatles may be considered very passée in today's music circles, not helped by Macca continuing in his attempts to sing - some time after he lost ( Read more... )

The local literature festival came around again. This time bigger than ever, with over 500 events, a brave move in these recessionary times. I'm sure they only sold out a few events, but many of the ones I attended were still comfortably busy - hopefully enough to ensure that the festival comes around next year. It's sponsored by The Times, but I ( Read more... )

Must not complain about being busy, as the work is likely to tail off for the season soon ( Read more... )

I follow a list where authors discuss writing - garden writing ( Read more... )

Another educational week. In between work I succeeded in getting along to a few more events at the local literature festival.

(In case you wonder where 'local' is, here is a tourist flyer from the mid-1930's - I doubt they would have used quite the same description if worded today ( Read more... )

The local literature festival has come around again. An opportunity to listen to interesting folk in a live setting.

In this case Frank Skinner and Bruce "Tribe" Parry. Rather long so behind a cut
( Read more... )

Literary Stuff
I'd lined up three events at the local festival for the weekend.

Beaches and BeechesAt the first, Prof Steve Jones and Richard Mabey discussed their latest books on Coral Reefs and Beech Forests respectively, which was actually more interesting than expected. Both objects had roles to play in locking up excess carbon dioxide, and ( Read more... )

A couple of times a year I make myself a tape to play in the car, a tape full of all the new songs I've loved over the previous few months, and every time I finish one I can't believe that there'll be another. Yet there always is, and I can't wait for the next one; you need only a few hundred more things like that, and you've got a life worth ( Read more... )

"...the learning of something new requires a giving up of the old self and a death of outworn knowledge. To develop a broader vision we must be willing to forsake, to kill, our narrower vision. In the short run it is more comfortable not to do this - to stay where we are, to keep using the same microcosmic map, to avoid suffering the death of ( Read more... )