tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58051442009-11-10T23:20:31.499ZWhere am I this weekend? Thoughts and memories related while traveling, or simply sitting at home. With a little bit of youth work thrown in for good measure.Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.comBlogger222125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-53896955555439076752009-06-05T15:50:00.004+01:002009-06-05T16:04:05.966+01:00

London only has one remaining rape crisis centre. During the run-up to his election Boris Johnson promised, with much PR fanfare, to pay for three new rape crisis centres and to fund the one existing centre for at least 4 years. There is now serious doubt that he will fulfill this promise.Please help us to keep this centre alive and make Boris keep his promise. There is currently a consultation

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-3687894268405057282009-05-01T16:25:00.003+01:002009-05-01T16:38:28.156+01:00

CONGRATULATIONS to Carol Ann Duffy who has just been made poet laureate. She held her first interview after the announcement on Woman's Hour this morning (go here to listen).She is one of my favourite poets (thank you to S for introducing me to her work) and based on the interview with her this morning she is also a thoroughly nice person who is giving back to the poetry community by

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-14975380608956287022009-01-28T17:32:00.001Z2009-01-28T17:33:22.322Z

On Sunday I did something I don’t do on a regular basis. I went and bought shoes. This odd situation was precipitated by the amount of rain we’ve had recently – my old shoes were leaking quite badly and I couldn’t put it off any more. I always buy walking shoes for everyday wear – they’re the most comfortable and, since I don’t drive I spend quite a lot of my time either a) on foot or b) on a

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-53926511913387622752009-01-19T17:46:00.004Z2009-01-19T18:31:28.321Z

In a bored moment when I couldn't focus on any of my work I went searching on the web and found these:Joined up writing: a writers thoughtsWrite to doneMy blogroll has significantly shrunk - I'm following quite a few blogs but many of the ones in the list weren't actually included. I've had a quick look and shrunk my blogroll to the select few I still follow. More will be added when I can be

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-19604961366317115012009-01-19T15:48:00.002Z2009-01-19T15:56:37.262Z

One of the things I struggle with the most is attempting to find a way of condensing my life into a few words without making the whole lot seem a little pointless... Having been required to do this fairly recently I went searching for some guidance.Having found the most useful information on One Night Stanzas last time I tried looking there again. They came up trumps with this informative

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-33511164320816504012009-01-02T18:19:00.002Z2009-01-02T18:39:46.743Z

The story of how coffee was discovered is rendered in a variety of ways about the only thing that is consistent is that it happened in Ethiopia, was the fault of the goats and that the goatherd was called Kaldi.One day Kaldi was minding his goats when he noticed that they were no longer quietly eating their way accross the mountainside and were instead dancing around. He watched the goats

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-14137978115904454912008-12-31T17:52:00.002Z2008-12-31T18:06:03.165Z

Just in case you have been living in a hole for the last 24 hours... Terry Pratchett has been knighted - what else could you do with a fantasy author? I heard him on the news this morning telling the world that he would be getting himself a horse and a sword (I don't think it was quite in those words - I was half asleep at the time).The BBC News story about the New Years Honours is here. There

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-87990897317056309372008-12-22T19:08:00.003Z2008-12-22T19:10:55.597Z

I don't know about you but I generally don't go around picking tube stations up - so which way round to put them down is generally a non issue - this was taken in Baker Street Station:

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-50389953917488868972008-12-22T18:20:00.003Z2008-12-22T18:27:27.511Z

Ok, so this is not so much daily as when I remember to do it...Today sit in front of a mirror and look closely at your own face. Start to describe it focusing on things such as hair and ears rather than just eyes. Remember we don't want to just hear a description of a face we want to be able to actually see it and the stories behind the face. Our faces are our public persona but there are

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-28571806517678690522008-12-19T19:09:00.001Z2008-12-22T18:20:15.791Z

Lets shake it up a bit, the Christian church does not only have a list of seven deadly sins it also has a list of seven virtues. These are less well known but are worth thinking about. Again respond to one or all of them in either a piece or a series of pieces:The seven virtues:PrudenceJusticeTemperanceFortitudeFaithHopeCharity(These are from this wikipedia article.)As usual if you want to post

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-54425620631397495352008-12-12T18:59:00.001Z2008-12-22T18:20:00.296Z

This is one I came up with a while ago:The Seven Deadly Sins are well known and have inspired some great works look at each of the sins and interpret them in your own way, focus on one or include all of them in a work or series of works. As ever if you want to put your response in a comment I'll upload it to the blog as soon as I'm back online.In case you don't remember the whole list (it

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-21398317052187326802008-12-11T18:57:00.001Z2008-12-11T18:58:18.775Z

It's been a while but here's the next one:Write about a breakdown in communication.

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-3217512098187136612008-12-11T18:42:00.002Z2008-12-11T18:54:16.862Z

I did a scary thing today - I wrote my first cover letter for a poetry submission (I'll let you know how it gets on). While I was searching for advise online I came across a lot of American sites before I found this article on the One Night Stanzas a site which describes itself as less than a blog more of a community. The article itself is probably the most helpful for a UK writer that I found

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-85361052767606685832008-11-28T22:14:00.008Z2008-11-28T22:54:48.432Z

The official ArtAngel site is hereI came upon this art exhibition by accident finding out about it only after it had been extended (it closes on 30th November) and just had to go and see it. I'm not sure personally whether I count this as art but it was something fantastic to go and see. Mr Hiorns filled two rooms of a due to be demolished flat in Elephant and Castle with copper sulphate

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-16429095885250966042008-11-28T20:50:00.001Z2008-11-28T20:52:04.081Z

Write about finding a golf-ball. If you feel like sharing the results post it as a reply.

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-85991826356835129652008-11-25T18:07:00.006Z2008-11-25T18:13:38.122Z

The other night I found myself remembering sweets that I had eaten as a child but had not bought for years. This made me wonder where you could go with the disappointment caused by finding a sweet that you loved as a child and discovering that they were nothing like you remembered them.So the exercise bit of this: pick something that you or your character remember from when they were a child and

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-33246439860235622182008-11-25T17:06:00.002Z2008-11-25T17:17:01.537Z

Some places I have found on my hunt for the year that they introduced the modern KX100 phone boxes into the UK (there's a reason for my search I promise I'm just not going to share):telephones uk: a pictorial history of telephones in the UK - I think they cover most phones not just the kiosk variety but I was only looking for the change over date so I didn't stay very long.redphonebox.info A

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-87095005577182460162008-11-21T18:10:00.003Z2008-11-21T18:50:38.843Z

When I first started drinking coffee in large quantities at around 14 the best you could hope for was filter coffee - if you were really lucky you might get a "cappuccino" from one of those automatic coffee machines which are now so ubiquitous. As a child, with little idea of what coffee should taste like this was heaven. I have stood in many a cold sports hall cradling a floppy plastic cup

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-43944544387893591082008-11-19T22:10:00.002Z2008-11-19T22:48:54.664Z

My online ramblings led me to this site which contains a beautiful description of one womans search for the perfect stitch marker. Sadly it doesn't actually appear to have been updated since 2005 but there are some wonderful things on there as well as the stitch markers.I may try the technique described for making the loops - she doesn't mention weither or not they actually passed the knitting

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-12705603565007122672008-11-19T20:54:00.004Z2008-11-19T21:24:05.127Z

Are you bored with the never ending stream of 'reality television' programs being pumped into your home? For a truly mesmerising experience why not spend a few minutes watching the Giant Panda Cam at The National Zoo Washington, USA or even this one at San Diego Zoo (which works really slowly through my mobile internet). If you don't fancy any of these try a quick search to find others

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-68168337682659223782008-11-19T20:52:00.001Z2008-11-19T20:54:54.061Z

For those of you who haven't seen Fight club it is a very good film about the seting up of a 'fight club' - I can't really tell you more than that without having to give a spoiler warning. In Fight Club, there are only two rules:Do not talk about fight clubDO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUBAt this point you know all you need to to enjoy the comedy linked to below:http://www.mustardweb.org/03/

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-21806562184139653762008-11-13T22:09:00.002Z2008-11-13T22:13:38.461Z

Mathematicians have solved the problem of whether the chicken or the egg came first... unfortunately their solution only works for spherical chickens in a vacuum.Heard on Channel 4's Big Bang Theory a while ago.

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-78326181805914001202008-11-13T19:45:00.003Z2008-11-13T22:09:47.334Z

According to Pete Lunn's article in New Scientist the basic assumption of neoclassical or orthodox economic theory is that people and companies are rational, selfish and independent economic agents. Er... What??? Why are they basing economic theory on something so obviously untrue? The answer probably is that it makes the maths easier, but that really isn't an excuse. Human beings are not

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-809982541219207292008-11-13T18:29:00.002Z2008-11-13T19:23:22.254Z

A quick search of Amazon reveals the variety of electronic readers on the market now. They cost in general around £200 pounds and come in a variety of subtly similar shapes, all are about the size of a narrow paperback and can hold a number of books. I have to admit I am torn. In one sense this is the ultimate in space saving technology (I live on a boat, anything which limits the amount of

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5805144.post-82450721861324416292008-11-11T16:49:00.002Z2008-11-11T17:06:35.905Z

Quite a while ago now I went to The Roundhouse in Camden to see something which can only really be described as cabaret (without resorting to words already used anyway). This one however was not what you would expect at all... there was naked pole dancing (by men!) courtesy of Spymonkey, some amazing areal work from a variety of artists, folk music from Lady Carol of the Moon, Lucifire played

Tamariskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02438994526126233873noreply@blogger.com0