One thing to come out of the pandemic has been the cancellation of so many author events. The ones still running have had to go online but these have proved to be a lifeline for writers and readers alike.
Going online has also made certain things possible/more accessible, which is one positive thing I’d like to see continue long after the pandemic crisis is over (and hopefully it will be one day!).
[Read more…] about Brechin/Angus Book Festival – Local Author News – Allison Symes
On June 2nd 1975, a day when Gran paints Rhododendron, which, she notes, “… brought my total of flower paintings to six hundred and ninety”, she receives a disheartening letter from Marjorie Frewer, Gilbert Whitley’s sister:
A disappointment by post today. Gilbert is not well enough to continue his travels so will not be able to come to England. He and Marjorie are flying back to Australia today.
In the afternoon she visits family members in Bassett:
… sister-in-law Joan Birch, and spent a very enjoyable time with her. Nephew and niece, Brian and Angela, both married, called in so it was nice to see them also. I took Barry’s book, two albums of flower paintings and my scrap-book of Julian cuttings, which I thought might interest Joan and Ken, and they did indeed… Ken and Joan gave me some very nice stamps from Virgin and Cayman Islands.
On June 5th, following a day out with Norris on the 4th, Gran does not appear to follow her instincts:
Brother went back to Lyndhurst this morning after taking me to vote in the Common Market Referendum. I followed Julian’s advice and voted to stay in – he has studied Economics at Oxford and it will be the young people who will face the results of our decision.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 146)
One joy of going to a great writing event such as the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School is discovering so many wonderful writers and their amazing range of work.
It is my pleasure then to introduce Elizabeth Hurst, another Swanwick stalwart, who writes the Lost Souls series.
[Read more…] about Introducing Elizabeth Hurst – Historical Mysteries, Romances, and Ghosts!
On March 9th 1975, Gran is preparing flowers to take to Mary Harding for her birthday. Mary, knowing this, invites her to tea, and we hear a little more of Mary’s family:
Frank came for me at a quarter to three and I had the extra pleasure of seeing Tim, Daphne and their little girls Judith and Joanne. I had not seen Tim for years, and Joanne never. A nice little family. After tea I went to Church with Frank and Mary, at St Boniface and we were given little posies for Mothering Sunday. Mine had a Daffodil, a spray each of Rosemary and Viburnum, and pink and white Heather.
Gran is shopping next day:
I went by bus as far as the Station to get bird sand and Budgie seed from Dean’s as our local shop is going out of business, and also to buy a pair of shoes. Mine are getting beyond repair.
And a week later: [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 145)
Were you a fan of board games? Perhaps you still are.
I have fond memories of playing various board games with my family over the years. I was fortunate enough to live in a big old Victorian semi when I was growing up with a separate living room and dining room.
The dining room was really only used for that for Christmas and other special occasions as we often ate in the kitchen but we also used this room as a kind of games room. The big table we had in there was ideal for board games and the like. And we could leave a game set up in progress if we needed to do so.
Gran’s thoughts at this time are dominated by the state of Greaty’s present and future welfare. On October 30th 1974 she writes:
I rang the hospital at nine o’clock and was relieved to hear that Mother’s condition was satisfactory after an operation last night. Brother came as usual and was naturally very concerned.
She and Norris visit the hospital later that day having spent some time at Farley Mount where they see a Rough-legged Buzzard – part of a widespread influx of these birds from Scandinavia that autumn, and find Mother, as Gran says, somewhat drowsy, not very “with it” and expecting to be home in a day or two!
On November 1st she is uplifted by a chance meeting with strangers:
I went to see Mary [Harding] and spent a comforting hour with her. She has such a sympathetic and understanding heart. Near the Lake a very small and enchanting girl, whom I did not know, told me, with a bright smile, that her boots were new. They were red “puddle boots”. This led to further conversation with her and her mother, and a peep at baby sister, who was just as beautiful and endearing and their young mother was so obviously proud of them. A real tonic for me.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 144)
There is a story of a pompous man pushing into the front of and airport check-in queue. The check-in girl tells him to go to the back of the queue. ‘Do you know who I am?’ asks the man. The check-in girl asks the queue, ’can anyone help? This man does not know who he is.’
I sympathise with this man, not because of pushing into a queue, but because I am not known by my name any longer. The days when I heard people say, ‘Hello, Mike, nice to see you,’ have gone because, in COVID protection mode, no one sees me.
I am known to my computer but only as a string of digits. The screen wants to know my ID number, password, authentication code, admin password, username, wireless key, PIN, account number or registration key. Then there are numbers and codes sent to my phone which last only an hour or so. If I go to a bar or restaurant, my phone communicates with a QR code. I can text my order and someone brings drinks. [Read more…] about Life in a Pandemic: Who am I?
I love photos. Love looking at them and taking them and I’ve taken to digital photography well too. I recall taking film rolls to the chemists and waiting a week for them to come back. (I used to go to what is now Day Lewis Chemists for this if I wasn’t posting rolls of film off to people like Bonusprint. And there’s the old joke about Cinderella, . Why was Cinderella at the chemists? She was waiting for her prints! And yes I have cleaned that joke up a bit..!).
One of the joys of a site like CFT is of course seeing the photos people share here and that’s fabulous. I thought with this post though I’d share a few of my favourite pictures and then invite others to write a follow up post to this one with their favourites. Any takers? I do hope so.
It’s May 4th 1974 and sixty-nine year old Gran is still playing tennis. With a friend, Lesley, that evening, she enjoys “a good knockup and two sets”, which, she says, “I won 6-1 6-3. Shots were working well”. She does not enjoy all sport though. She writes later that night:
I stayed up late to see “The Pallisers” on Television which had, unfortunately, been postponed to the late hour because of the eternal time given to the Football Cup Final. Thank goodness we shall now be spared football for a spell – we get such an overdose of it during the Winter.
She is at tennis again, at the private court in Merdon Avenue, three evenings later and she recounts the following, saying:
During play some boys brought in a baby squirrel and asked if the garden went right down to the wood because the squirrel would follow them and they could not get rid of it. When they put it down it got through the netting onto the tennis court and I picked it up and carried it to the furthest corner of the garden. The boys went down the road but re-appeared with it later. It had evidently jumped over the fence and through the next garden to reach them again. The baker told me this morning that a baby squirrel had been following people about the car park and a lady took it to the pinewood where it refused to leave her, and some workmen relieved her of it. It is extraordinarily tame and, of course, is a pest but who, with any soul, could kill the little creature? Certainly none of those so far in contact with it.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford- a Journal (Part 143)
It’s a wrap! How often have you heard that? It usually means a film or a scene within it is “finished”. For writers, I guess our “wrap” is when we’ve written our draft, edited it and polished it, and then finally sent it off to a publisher for their consideration. At least you’ve got that stage done!
Do you recall the old cop show dramas and series where a suspect is allowed one call to their lawyer? I’m sure that is nothing more than a plot device but I thought I would take that idea for this post and run with it, so to speak.
If there was one phone call you could make to anyone, who would it be and why? What would you say? You can go backwards or forwards in time.
Gran enjoys Christmas Day, 1973; Barry and family join her and, to her great satisfaction, the day starts with Church at Compton:
Barry and I took the little boys and were joined by Julian at the Church gate just before we went in at eight o’clock. It was overcast and rather murky outside but the Church looked beautiful and the Service was taken by the Bishop of Southampton. The boys were very good and, as Mr Ovenden was seeing people away afterwards I introduced him to Barry, Julian, Geoffrey and Robin and felt very proud of them. I returned to the business and excitement of the Day with renewed heart and spirit.
Presents are opened, distant family members telephoned and, Gran writes, “… as we celebrated afterwards, Barry announced that Ricky and Beverly are soon to become engaged and everyone was delighted for them. The dinner was a great success”.
Among the events mentioned in Gran’s journal, summing-up her year on its last day – “… a trying one for our dear Country”, she says, referring to strikes and, oil shortages, she writes that:
The Grandchildren continue to be a great joy to me, and Julian has become a full International Athlete and an Oxford Blue. Now at the close of the year, Ricky is engaged to Beverly, whom we all like very much. I have only seen one new bird this year, the Pectoral Sandpiper, but Brother and I have had some very pleasurable outings together.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 142)
Just a quick post from me this week to flag up my cyberlaunch for my second book from Chapeltown Books, Tripping the Flash Fantastic, on Saturday, 10th October 2020.
I’m holding this event on Facebook from 7 pm to about 9.30 pm. Would love it if you could join me. (And if you can only pop by for just two minutes, you’ll still be most welcome!).
The lovely thing about online launches? No worries about social distancing etc! And they give an author a chance to celebrate the fact their “baby” is seeing the light of day!
See https://www.facebook.com/events/1246876649024453 for more details. Meanwhile I am delighted to share a link to my book trailer. I share one of my stories from the new book here – Time For Some Peace.
[Read more…] about LOCAL AUTHOR CYBERLAUNCH NEWS – ALLISON SYMES – TRIPPING THE FLASH FANTASTIC
The Summer of 1973 passes for Gran, sixty-nine years old on July 22nd, with little change from a routine that includes an outing with Norris every Wednesday; tennis, at least weekly, which sometime does and sometimes does not exacerbate pains in her various joints – especially one hip; gardening; knitting; letter-writing; delighting in the receipt of stamps and first day covers from overseas; monthly visits from the new Rector of Compton, Mr Ovenden, to administer Communion; preserve-making, including gooseberry, and blackberry and apple jam, and enjoying hearing about the activities of her family. Ricky, she says, leaves school, is awaiting A level results, hopes for a career flying helicopters and will spend some time birdwatching on Fair Isle in September. Julian, amongst many other athletics exploits, qualifies for the final of the 5000 metres in the World Student Games, held this year in Moscow. He finishes fourth and the winner sets a new Student Games World Record.
Jane and Stuart, the Brenans, visit The Ridge and they spend much time with their children, Katie and Andy, down at the Lake. Barry, Jane Elizabeth and their boys, Geoff and Rob, are in Orkney for the summer holidays, from where, Gran writes, “they sent me an Orkney silver brooch – a deer – made by Ola M Gorie, a real piece of native craft which is really delightful”, and they enthuse about finding quantities of Scottish Primrose “which I have never seen”, she adds ruefully.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 141)
It is always the season to be enjoying books of all kinds but from now to the 24th December is the “big push” for the Christmas market. What with delays in publishing due to You Know What, recent news has been of 600+ books published in one day.
According to a recent article I read, that figure is up by about one-third from what usually comes out in early September. Not a good situation but the publishers are contractually obliged to produce and the inevitable delays meant there would have to be a catch-up time at some point.
This time of year is the big money earner for the publishers. And it makes sense. What is nicer than being cosy at home with a lovely new book to read? (Answer: being tucked up at home reading an old favourite…! Yes I know!).
I am happily preparing for a party at the moment – an online one to celebrate the publication of my new book, Tripping The Flash Fantastic.
Date For Your Diary: Saturday, 10th October 2020
Time: 7.00 pm to 9.30 pm
Venue: Your computer, laptop, I-Pad etc at your home!
Link for Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1246876649024453
(Can’t beat the convenience here! No traffic hold-ups. Just a good internet connection needed which you hopefully should have anyway!).
On April 13th 1973 Gran needs an eye test and takes the bus into Southampton. She says, with relief:
The eye-test was very satisfactory, with no deterioration in my sight since 1970, and I called in hopefully to Martin’s to see if my binoculars were back yet, and they were! So I am fully equipped again now. My knee was extremely painful and I was glad to get into the ‘bus.
And on the following day:
I took my swollen knee to the Doctor this morning and he said it was synovitis which was causing trouble. I am to bandage it firmly and rest it as much as possible, but, as usual, I can do my household chores except for kneeling! Well, I am going out with Brother for the day tomorrow…
The outing is to Dibden Bay, where she and Norris meet up with a British Naturalists’ Association (although Gran continues to call it the British Empire Naturalists’ Association) group in the afternoon. The first Swallow of the year is noted in Baddesley Road, followed by a singing Blackcap, Crossbills and a drumming Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in the Forest. Car parking at Dibden proves difficult, “People with binoculars were everywhere”, Gran complains:
… but they were not birdwatching. The Queen Elizabeth II was sailing from Southampton for a cruise to Israel, and such is the present political situation between Jew and Arab that aeroplanes and helicopters were flying round and watching for anything unusual. But our eyes were for birds, and the disturbance around left us few to see.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 140)
Murphy’s Law has struck again for this writer! No news (publication or otherwise) for a while and then lots all at the same time!
[Read more…] about Local Author News – Allison Symes – New Book, New Anthology, New Zoom Event!
I talked about lessons from school, learning to drive etc., last week. This week I’m going to look at what I have learned from writing and how that has developed life skills too.
[Read more…] about Lessons – Part 2 – Lessons Learned from the Writing Life
It’s an afternoon in August and, after the morning’s continuous rain, my wife and I have been out for a brisk walk around the wooded roads of Brownhill, Merdon, Lake and Lakewood. It’s warm and the overpowering sweet smell of Scots pine and Douglas fir pervades the landscape. There are still large numbers of conifers among the mature oak trees where they were once a dominant species.
I first moved into Lakewood Road in 1955 when the woodlands prevailed; the area to the west of the Lake was a pine forest through which I regularly went horse-riding. It is now, tragically, an inaccessible tangle of overgrown species – but that’s another story!
At that time, in the rectangle of land formed by Hiltingbury, Hocombe, Lakewood and Hursley Roads, there was little development, the oldest house being our neighbours’ house,The White House, the land for which had been acquired in 1908. The area was woodland and heathland. I galloped across this land frequently and, like many other boys, rode my bike aerobatically over ‘the bumps’ behind the present Ashdown Road.
As a young boy, I had that wonderful sense of freedom, space and adventure. The land was ripe to be plundered and developed and, from the 1890s, the land from Ford to Brownhill, and Hiltingbury to Hocombe was destined to fall under the woodman’s axe to make way, initially, for exclusive houses.
