We’re under Sixteen Inches of muddy brown water (by sarah)

This was writen off line on Saturday:

Ok well I think it was only about 6 inches but that doesn't fit with the Nick Cave lyrics ok.

We are a site of total devistation, having seen the pictures of yesturday when Al got back from dropping me and Jean off - it is a very good job I wasnt here as it would have been very very scary I think. Last night I ended up staying up until 3 am looking for our insurence stuff but have a horrible feeling it might be part of the BIG SOGGY and so I'll have to try and find out which policy wer're on the hard way.

The carpet is beyound salvage with grit and mud oozing from it with every squelching foot fall. The paint and plaster are bubbling off of the lower parts of the walls, I havent dared look in the brown seat were we keep such things as sacks of sugar, rice and cat biscuits.

Synthia the draft excluder is in a very sorry shape and has been taken away by a neighbour to try and salvage - I've had that snake since time in memorial and it is the brethren of the one that lived in the house of one of my nans neighbours - they bought Synthia for me as a sort of please leave our carpet snake alone, presant.

Sigh - I think the worse bit was fishing all the soaked Jean toys out of the mire - they should pretty much all wash out but there was something somehow devastatingly poignant about soggy floppy rabbits and teddies that have water running out of them when you pick them up.

There is still no power down stairs though we have light and thanks to a solid fuel fire - heat. We've spent most of the day trying to find homes for all the things off of the funiture so that we could move the funiture so that we could rip up the capet which is harder than you'd think especially when it turns out the radiators are on top of the carpet and we are struggling to see an easy way to dismount the heaters.

I was releived to see that our extensive book collection had all survived - well it had right up until one of the kittens knocked a stack of books waiting for transport up the stiars into the muddy squelch! I was not happy especially as it coped one Anne Rice, one C.J. Cherry and an Asimov 🙁 (since this was written I also found a Clive Baker and Nivan book awash :()

I think we're defenitly in for the long hull with this one 🙁

The Tale of Three Windows (by sarah)

Well as always with us things have been catastrophically failing one after the other! A while ago now we tried to open the bedroom window and the wood gave out and the pan of glass creaked - well the guy came to repair it and yes the whole frame was rotten and I think really the entire window should have been replaced as did he but Barbara thinks the rest is ok. So we had a borded up window for a while and he was going to touch up some paint that was peeling on a window in the office whilst he waited for our new window to be made.

He went to flake off the old pain and oh! The stupid window frame disintegrates and is pretty dangerous really - the reason? The last painters that were got in had just painted over the rot and probably have been doing so everytime they've come to paint - these are the same painters who painted the windows shut in the first place.

Anyway with alot of umming and ahhing we decided to panel off the bottom half of the office window as it used to be a door and went right down to the window - this has taken a while and has ment the place has been a bit of a building site. He basically finished that window yesturday - he still needs to put the gloss on the first window.

This morning however I am sitting downstairs with the rain sheeting down outside when what should I hear but thunk, thunk, ping, thunk... i tracked the source and too my dispair saw quiet alot of water dripping through the alcove ceiling right onto the cubs papier mache projects that hat been placed there to dry!

I think its cuaght severally damaged the wooden window seal which is like a foot and a half deep the kids projects should dry out again ok - I hope.

Sigh - the reason for this last window? Well the cutter has a little kink in it and can't cope with the amount of rain and so is just sort of pouring it down the side of the house where it is running in some dodgy 'pointing' i.e. were the cement/morta stuffs fallen out from betwwen the stones. Its also ruined the plaster on the inside.

Ho hum....

Ontop of that it is still raining and we are probably about to have the thrid flood of the year!

Crickly Country Park (by sarah)

Ages ago now - about six weeks or so my perants came up for the weekend and we went for a day outing at Crickly Country Park - there is geology, archeology and lots of wildlife there so it was lots of fun. I was also impressed with the visitors centre! though it needs a little cafe/shop thing really and the loos were a bit - hmmmm.

Jean loves collecting rocks!

Alaric decided he'd roll down the hill I can't remember why - this was on the back were the old Roman Hill Fort used to be.

Dad spent alot of time drawing cats and the like and reading all the notices - he was especially enamerred with the fossils and models at the visitors centre.

Jean became jellous of other children she found as they had hats and she didnt - this was how she ended up wearing Alarics fold-up hat!

I kept trying to photograph this poor creature but everytime it felt safe enough to venture out some one with a dog or small child would come walking through and scare it away again - hence no good pics!

The visitors centre had a giant snakes and ladders with velcro attatched to the wall and big cloth dice - Jean loved it though we did have a minor tiff about returning the dice to the little room were the game was!

Bus Fare Stupidness (by sarah)

I decided to go to Cheltenham on the bus becuase we thought it would be cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the van - it may be more environmentally friendly but it certianly is not budget friendly.

It is in fact twice as expensive for me to get the bus in than to travel in by the van - if Al is dropiing me off and going straight home then it costs the same.

THIS IS STUPID!!!!

So this places public transport into the catagory of the thing you only do if you can drive or get someone to drive you, rather than the more sensible - this is the cheaper slightly scuzier option.

To be fare they do have a weekly £9 ticket which I shall look into as there and back is over a fiver! It is ludicrous - and it appears to be in a viscous cycle - no one uses the buses so the costs have to be met by the few who have to use it but becuase it is so expensive fewer and fewer and fewer people will use it.

Grrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

STUPIDNESS - again.

Internet Fear (by sarah)

I keep finding myself in the strange position of having to explain internet publishing, blogs and author popularity.

This is what I get for trying to get the lituary world to get their heads out of Edwardian Britian and into the real world with real market pressures and heaven forbid real people and concepts (though weather a concept is real is something that I am not going to tackle).

Last night I found myself definding the exictance of blogs, some of the people hadn't even known there were such things as blogs before I started and then onto stupidly innane comments about - but people could just copy it!

Well yes and they could just copy things from books too! I explained I would make all the copy write stuff obvious on the site etc... and therefore it would exactly like if the people were copying it from a book - 'but we wouldn't know if they copied it would we if its on the internet?' I pointed out that you wouldn't know if they copied it from a book and that they would still be breaching it.

Then to the fact some don't want to have their work on the internet as their collegues and family could find it - in which case as someone else pointed out it should go under a psudonim (I personally think if thats the case it probably shouldn't be published in a book!).

The I find myself arguing about things I know very little about really - I suppose that becuase of my science back ground I'm used to the concept that you write a paper to get academic aclaim or for people to notice you, your project or the institution in the hope that a) what ever it is you are doing will be furthured by this, b) new collaborations will be formed and c) you will at some unspecified date (being hopeful here) get funding to continue.

For me writing is about sharing information so that ideas perculate and grow and form new ideas, or purelly as self expression and craftmanship which I want people to read - I want views and feed back - I need that to keep writing the creative stuff other wise it stagnates and without an audience I think whats the point - now obviouslly I mix all the things up but I'm trying to make things simple here - maybe so that I can understand what I've just been arguing about.

For people who want to get their writing careers off the ground I found these attitudes peculiar - why should I put something up for people to read without getting anything for it - erm.... to get yourself known and read and maybe just maybe then people will want to read more of your stuff?

Now I did a bit of research into this for myself - being as I am also trying to launch a writing career (hence I've ended up making websites and starting blogs for writers) and all the reports say that peoples sales went up when they put free stuff, sometime the entire book they were selling, on their website.

We ourselves have copies of such books becuase we like reading books (and I get headaches trying to read bulk txt on screen), we have Tom Reynolds book and look how well thats done and you can just down load for free!

If people know your name they are far more likely to actually buy a book by you. Even in the 'paper' publishing world you are advised to get your name out there even if some of the early stuff is for peanuts or for free (ok thats not entirely true as there appears to be two schools of thought on this but from my personal noising, getting yourself noticed seems far more important than being anal about pennies).

The poor lady who wanted the site - it was such a good idea - but the negativity about the internet in general from the group was horrendous. I live immersed in a world of information sharing and computers so it was a bit sobering to see what middle aged, middle class britian actually thinks!

Sigh - rocks were so much more straight forward :/