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 A continuing series of extracts from my commonplace book "Show me one scar character'd on thy skin; Men's flesh preserved so whole do seldom win." - Henry VI Part 2 *** Gotta have a good Shakespeare quote up in here every so often  |
THANK YOU to whichever kind person or group gifted me an Upgraded Membership   Delighted to be able to participate even more in this wonderful community... Like I see I can now use gifs!! |
| A continuing series of extracts from my commonplace book "It was not that I had any particular message for humanity. I am still plugging away and not the ghost of one so far, so it begins to look as though, unless I suddenly hit mid-season form in my eighties, humanity will remain a message short." - P.G. Wodehouse *** I find this very encouraging when I have little panics over the fact that I'm "just" writing light-hearted, silly little stories |
As part of going through all my old notebooks (phew, my recycling bin is full!), I found this old piece. Reviews welcome, if you've got the time and inclination.
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| A continuing series of extracts from my commonplace book The great hills of the South Coast They stand along the sea And it's there walking in the high woods That I could wish to be - Hillaire Belloc, The South Country *** |
| Ongoing extracts from my commonplace book "When she saw her parents, her father called her 'Ola M', my gold, and she wished he wouldn't because she felt tarnished." - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ***** I can't remember which book of Adiche's this is from now, but I love it as a turn of phrase. I've enjoyed all of her books! |
| A continuing series of extracts from my new commonplace book Life is like a moustache. It can be wonderful or terrible. But it always tickles. - Nora Roberts. ***** I'm reading another Poirot. I think he would be irritated by this quote |
| A continuing series of extracts from my commonplace book My whole life will be a love letter to you. ***** I thought this was a quote from something, but Google doesn't give me anything except an extract from a random blog from about fifteen years ago. I guess it must have come out of my brain at some point, then! |
| A continuing series of extracts from my commonplace book "This story is already over. In a few moments it will freeze into a marble past, like these statues in this garden of stone..." - Last Year at Marienbad (1961) ***** |
| A continuing series of extracts from my commonplace book INNOVATION DESTINATION RELENTLESS IMPROVEMENT ***** ...I think I've spent long enough deep-diving into corporate gobbledeegook at work - both those phrases were used in all seriousness but are, when you think about it, very silly. Time to slough it off and enjoy the weekend! |
A kiss stolen beneath a tree. Splash of crimson red, against the ancient green. ***** I've been going through an old box of writing notebooks - I thought it would be a quick job, but more fool me - I can't help at least skim-reading everything before I recycle it, and I'm extracting a few bits and pieces. The two short sentences above were written on slim pieces of paper tucked into one of the notebooks, and not in my handwriting. I have no idea what they mean (the notebook was from about fifteen years ago), but I like the imagery. |
"Stories are everywhere around you... The problem is not to find the stories, the problem is to be sure you want to be involved in that story... you must trust your unconscious and follow your instinct." -- François Ozon, director and screenwriter ***** I've started trying to become more observant of the world and the things people say around me, and in the media I consume and keep a more consistent 'commonplace book' where I scribble these things down. Yesterday's rather lovely quote courtesy of a film podcast I listen to! |
Spent a good 45 minutes this morning trying to figure out how a potential time-travel story would work, and I think I broke my brain  I can just make up my own rules, right?!?! |
| Down a rabbit hole of research into the trial of Charles I this morning on my way into work... I've got a few long documents to read at some point when I'm not on my phone! |
| I'm enjoying diving into the detail of my current research area, the trial of King Charles I in 1649. There are a lot of sources, including some which give (probably) verbatim quotes laden with drama - like charging the King with being "that man of blood... a traitor, tyrant and murderer", and one of the regicides who was basically forced to sign the death warrant changing his mind and speaking up in the court in defence of the King: "Have we hearts of stone? Are we men?" ... What I'm really fascinated by, though, is that apparently the Lord President, John Bradshaw, wore a bullet-proof hat throughout the trial because he was worried about assassination attempts, and everyone thought it looked ridiculous. What did the hat look like?! I need to know! |
| It's apparently in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Here's a link to a picture. https://www.myartprints.com/kunst/english_school/the_hat_of_judge_john_bradshaw.... And it is as absurd as you'd imagine. |
Dave Ryan  - That's amazing, thank you, I didn't even think that the actual hat might have survived... I'll have to take a trip to Oxford sometime  |
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{e:music2}a moustache a moustache now we both have said moustache