"longer off topic comments" - Episode 1
Life Outside of Ambridge
Life Outside of Ambridge
Life outside Ambridge
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Life in Ambridge
THIS POST IS CLOSED "longer off topic comments" - Episode 14 Life Outside Ambridge Have a seat and let's chat.
1. Good day! This new post for chatting away on anything other than The Archers. Feel free to comment away. I know I will enjoy everyone's insightful comments!
ReplyDeleteO.K. then, I'm kicking off with The Folkestone Play aka Homefront.
ReplyDeleteAs I listen to R4 most of the time when indoors, I have eavesdropped off and on over the last four years. Spured on by comments on here, I have gone right back to the beginning and am (very slowly) catching up. Now into Sept. 1914. This will keep me going for quite a while :)
I love your images Ruthy.
3. Mistral - I hope this post catches on and I just wish that I was sitting on one of those lawn chair now! Still feel like winter here - we are all very sick of it.
ReplyDeleteToday I should be cleaning up, (house and garden), and sorting out stuff for a camping trip to Devon next week. (Yes, really). However, I am really sitting on a sunchair in the messy garden, drinking coffee and reading, blog and book. Currently another 'Ladies detective agency' one by Alexander McCall Smith. I find the s-l-o-w pace perfect for these lovely lazy days....
ReplyDeleteOh Mistral, I have read several of those. Wonderful reading - I enjoyed them all very much!
Delete5. Hi Ruthie, yesterday here was the hottest April day since 1949, thank goodness, it's been a long time coming.
ReplyDeleteI have just posted a vcomment on a BBC blog.
ReplyDeleteIt is called The writers room .
It is set up just like our Archers blog was.
I am the first person to comment on the latest blog .
Would someone like to join me?
I am making a point.
Why close a blog site which had nearly 700 comments and keep one open which until O commented had none?
Come on all you writers.Please join me.
7 Ideal picture, Ruthy - thanks. Do like Mc Calls Ma Ramotswe, Mistral ! Perfect for an outdoor read on a fine day.(sorry you're still shivering, Ruthy; when is it likely to change ?) I've become addicted to Simon Brett's Fethering mysteries - delightful, witty, astute, great characters AND , though intricately plotted, outrageously implausible (the 2 amateur sleuths have to find a body every few months, to generate the next novel...)9
ReplyDelete7 Ideal picture, Ruthy - thanks. Do like Mc Calls Ma Ramotswe, Mistral ! Perfect for an outdoor read on a fine day.(sorry you're still shivering, Ruthy; when is it likely to change ?) I've become addicted to Simon Brett's Fethering mysteries - delightful, witty, astute, great characters AND , though intricately plotted, outrageously implausible (the 2 amateur sleuths have to find a body every few months, to generate the next novel...)9
ReplyDeleteI like MMA Ramotswe and co. too. A few years ago we went to South Africa and met the Zulus. One of them called me MMA and I thought he was referring to my age in relation to his! In fact this is the handle for females while males are Rra. McCall has taught me this! These books are very readable and full of down to earth common sense. MMA Ramotswe is wonderful!:)
ReplyDeleteAre you still there Carolyn and Ev?
ReplyDeletePatricia C has added a comment on the writersroom blog.
As I said on Ruthy's other blog,I am making a point by commenting on the writersroom blog but have no intention of deserting this one .
So far I have 5up arrows so some people are sympathetic about the way we have been treated.
(9) Carolyn, 7. I've never heard of the Feathering Mysteries, but will look out for them now. I love Simon Brett's 'Charles Paris' plays with Bill Nighy. Not sure if he wrote 'High Table Low Orders', another favourite?
ReplyDeleteLan Jan 1.43 p.m. I will have a look and comment to satisfy my rebellious nature, but I actually prefer this site now.
10, Lan Jan, just commented, (BBC blog), full of bile and venom, even gave myself an up-arrow!!! Oh dear, you are encouraging me to display the nastier side of my Scorpio nature.
ReplyDelete11
ReplyDeleteHello everyone! On the question of books one of my favourite ‘cosy crime’ authors is M C Beaton. Not her Agatha stories set in an English village but the Hamish Macbeth séries set up in the Highlands of Scotland. They are a very light read, full of descriptions of the beautiful Scottish landscape and have some great characters in them. I actually own every single one of the books (there are well over 20 now) and buy each new story as it is published.
My 3 favourite more ‘serious crime’ series are Ann Cleeves’s Shetland series, Stephen Booth’s series set in the Peak District and Peter Robinson’s DCI Banks series set in the Yorkshire Dales (though I have been less impressed with his last couple of books). The thing about each of these authors is that their stories are very much set in a particular area, they all write wonderful descriptions of that area, so much so that you are left feeling you know the countryside intimately and want to visit to see it in real life. All of them write cleverly constructed stories that draw you in but none are particularly grisly or bloodthirsty which suits me.
Both the Shetland series and DCI Banks have been adapted for TV. I could only watch one Banks programme, the actor and stories were nothing at all like the books and spoilt them for me, but I think the Shetland series has been more successful and I enjoyed them, once I got to understand the accents!
Gosh, I think that is the longest blog I have ever written - will try to be more succinct in future. 😉
12 Done it, Lan Jan, on writersblog, felt a bit naughty but they haven't pushed us out yet! Thanks for giving us the wink and the shove - do admire your doggedness.
ReplyDelete13 Archerphile(11), don't be sorry ! Indulge yourself! I discovered Ann Cleves only this year but like both the Shetland and Vera series; she's very good on creating the settings, isn't she? (clearly, I must now look into M C Beaton)
ReplyDeleteWe Scorpios must stick together.,Mistral.
ReplyDeleteI think we are doing them a favour.
Poor Mikey is getting encouragement and we have congratulated Ling .
These are two young people who are trying to succeed and without us there would be no one to support them.
In the future when Mikey has made it ,he will say it was all down to Ling and us and to Maryellen who will no doubt offer to be his Agent!
;) :)
DeleteLanJan - are you advocating we should continue to use the Writers blog (for as long as we can) as an alternative to the TA blog, ot having made our point,we leave it there? Sorry to be dim - I'm blaming it on the heatwave!
ReplyDeleteI just posted in the writers' room.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is post no 17, but I could be so wrong
ReplyDeleteI so congratulate Ruthy for setting up this very general chat site for all the very many regulars, who will be so very happy to just share their many and varied thoughts about books, radio/TV programmes etc. I personally listen to R4ex and I so enjoy the very many and varied broadcasts. Some of these are from by-gone eras, but others are being rebroadcast from a R4 broadcast a week ago. I have listened to so many wonderful plays, sitcoms, the "Home Front Omnibus", and so on.
Some time ago I heard a very long drama series set in English Civil War on Radio 4 Extra. Original broadcast may have been 20 years ago as several of the young(ish) male roles were played by "Robert Snell", "Bert Fry" and some other TA actors. I listened to "Wuthering Heights" + other dramas getting another airing on R4X. All the series of "Pilgrim" and the Plantagenets were repeated. Broadcasting the previous series of "Home Front" during the fortnight preceding start of each new series is a good idea.
DeleteI've not listened to R4X as much lately since I lost stations on my big digital radio. There's a small digi set in the kitchen, sound often drowned by other noise.
Like Archerphile, I love Anne Cleeves, with her very many varied books, which are so well written. I also like Val Mcdermit. Have read all the Peter Robinson, Elizabeth George, Peter James, MC Beaton (Agatha Raison), Stephen Booth, Ian Rankin, series of books. I am now reading Christobel Kent, Michael Dibdin, Michele Guittari, and David Hewson - all of which are set in Italy.
ReplyDelete19(?) I have just realised that I have not revealed who is my all time favourite writer. It is PD James with her wonderful Inspector Dalgliesh.
ReplyDeleteShe is great, isn't she? A bit in love with Dalkleish herself, I think, but fantastic style, so economical and restrained, yet telling. Liked Ruth Rendell as well. Both mourned.p
DeleteI have also just posted on the writers blog . I am very happy with Ruthy.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Ruthy.
Mistral,I have just checked back and realise that you asked about the book I mentioned which is hopefully going to be filmed this sunmmer.
ReplyDeleteIt is called "The personal History of Rachel Du Pre "by Ann Weisgarber .
I thought it was a very moving ,inspiring and well written book but in fairness it isn't a bundle of laughs .
My sister bought it and didn't enjoy it.
Anyway I have got my posh frock ready in case I get an invite to the Academy Award Ceremony.
As a good Queen's Guide,one must be prepared!.
My "posh frock" and its matching hat, I have certainly been worn in true style. I have had the wonderful and unique experience of being a participant at a Buckingham Palace "Garden Party" 4 years ago. It was such a memorable occasion, and to say to the taxi driver, to Buckingham Palace and inside, please. This was the first and last time, I could say this - but I felt very special at that moment in time.
DeleteWow, some memory, Miriam.
Delete23 Just got the 1st Hamish Macbeth, for only £2.99 on Kindle, Archerphile ! Any complaints, will get straight back to you.....
ReplyDelete(24) LanJan 7.55 p.m.
ReplyDeleteThank you for replying, your's isn't the book I thought it might be, I was talking about 'Americanah' by C. Ngozi Adichie. It is a thickish paperback, printed in very small typeface. I have been told that it's brilliant; it just looks like hard work to me, and will continue to sit on my shelf unread, for now. If anyone here can recommend it, I will give it a go.
I think we should invite Linda to comment here.
Please, Mistral, NO ! L. Is a literary snob, without any literary substance in her thinking.
DeleteBut Carolyn, that's why her contributions would be a good contrast to us highbrow types. I'm just going to throw the Mapp and Lucia books into the mix - E.F. Benson. Very funny, and Lucia IS Lynda.
DeleteIsn't it odd I love "Vera" on TV, but struggle with "Shetland" and "Vera" books I can't book down, but"Shetland" books take me ages to read. I can't remember the name now, but there's another author I have the same problem of loving one series of books, but not enjoying the other so much. Sometimes I absolutely love a book by an author, but another written by same person doesn't appeal much at all. I am on FB but only to keep up with my in-laws & my son in Germany & when my son was diagnosed with a specific cancer 18 months ago there is a very good support group I've found helpful, but TA groups I'm sorry to say I didn't enjoy, Ruthy has got it right for me.
ReplyDelete26 Couldn't resist googling 'Americanah', Mistral, and thought it sounded fascinating, exploring many themes. Am tempted....go on, take it off the shelf when you've finished whatever you've got on the go at the moment.
ReplyDelete26 Carolyn - Agghhh, you've challenged me, so I will. It will accompany me on my holiday next week. I will write a mini review on here. I am now reading The Catcher in the Rye for the umpteenth time, first read at 16. Some books I have re-visted over the years have not stood the test of time, as I have changed in myself and some books I used to love are now beyond me. (Le Grand Maunes is a good example, at 17 I was smitten, in my 60's it seems faintly daft).
DeleteLe Grand Maulnes - ugh!
DeleteI did it for French A level. Didn't particularly enjoy it then. Still didn't enjoy it when I re-read it a few years ago.
We also did Les Mains Sales which I loved (Jessica would be a wonderful part to act);
various Mérimée short stories, including the wonderful Carmen and the chilling Mateo Falcone; and Anouilh's Beckett. I'd re-read any of them (if my French is still up to it) but never again Le Grand Maulnes!
I loved Le Grand Meaulnes! I suspect I wouldn't have read it if I'd known too much about it beforehand – it sounds so implausibly romantic – but it's perfect in its own very particular way. But I didn't *have* to read it, which may make all the difference. Dare I read it again?
DeleteIs there anothe Kate Atkinson fan out there? I think she just gets better and better. Sebastian Faulks too. And Hilary Mantel, of course, who has really taken historical fiction to a new level (imo).
ReplyDeleteHow could I forget to include wonderful AnneTyler on my list - with her Digging to America my all time favourite!
DeleteYes, Maryellen, I absolutely love Kate Atkinson. Sadly not a big fan of Sebastian Faulkes though. Never read Anne Tyler but have enjoyed adaptations on the radio.
DeleteWhat about the sublime Helen Dunmore??
Hello Maryellen. Kate Atkinson? Yes, one of my all time favourites, and Margaret Atwood too. Now waiting for Hilary Mantel's third in the 'Cromwell' series - as I am (and I think it's going to be a very long wait!) for the final book of Game of Thrones from Mr. Mitchell. Won't watch it on TV as I don't like the way it has been adapted, and it has deviated far from the original in any case. And for crime thrillers, how about the C.J.Sansom, Shardlake series set in the time of Henry VIII?
DeleteAbsolutely!(re Mantel and c j) Also some years since the last Shardlake.
Delete27. I am really enjoy this non Archers blog! Love reading what everyone enjoys and kinda cool (do I sound American?) In the states on public tv, started Unforgotten. Love this show. Anyone seen it? We are only a couple of years later :(
ReplyDelete27 Ruthy. Yes, I enjoyed Unforgotten, I really like Nicola Walker. She was in a really funny radio series about 18 months ago, playing a hapless and hopeless Scandi detective. (Danish I think). I can't remember the title, but was written by another Walker. Possibly Mike.
DeleteMike Walker is one of my favourite radio dramatists. Plantagenet series and Tumanbay among his major works.
DeleteI listened to a comedy Scandi detective but I don't know if it was Nicola Walker.
Hedgehog - nice to meet a fellow fan of Tumanbay. I followed it avidly on Radio 4 (listened to the omnibus editions as I kept missing odd episodes). Never hear it mentioned - until your reference - but I thought it was an excellent production.
DeleteI discovered Tumanbay webpage during 2nd series . Seeing pictures of characters helped me recap & distinguish them. Had to concentrate on each episode. I appreciated the atmospheric recording. The prequel to "Hamlet", broadcast a few months ago was similar. I missed the end of that. I think writer is Sebastian Backiewitz (not sure of spelling). He wrote "Pilgrim" and has done some episodes for "Home Front". He has a blog.
DeletePilgrim made a brief visit to Folkstone in 1 HF episode. I thought Seb had put Jesus in a cemetery scene in another episode but I learned later that the character was an ordinary real man. The man turned up again in "The Lightning", the single play broadcast a year ago on the centenary of the air raid on Folkstone which killed over 100 people, many being women and children. It was especially poignant, broadcast a few days after the Manchester Arena bomb. One of the main parts in the play is a 15 year-old girl, a regular in HF from the beginning. A lot of the dialogue was in her head.
The "Hamlet" prequel is "Elsinore" by Sebastian Bacziewicz, broadcast in January. (Name pronounced something like Bankiovits.) Tumanbay was created by John Dryden & Mike Walker. I wonder if John Dryden is his real name.
DeleteHave finally found the writers blog and posted on it as well as giving you all an extra up arrow! In fairness will not do so again but hope it will strike some kind of note! Am loving Ruthy’s blog!
ReplyDeleteMaryellen I loved Kate Atkinson's first book and also some of her later ones but there were a couple of really odd ones I couldn't get into.
ReplyDeleteHilary Mantell-not for me.
I am starting to retread the books I enjoyed as a teenager.
"How Green was my Valley "" is on my list.
AJ Cronin books.
Howard Spring
I have most if not all of Neville Shute's books and how about Alastair McLean.?
I read "South by Java Head " by A Mc L on a long bus journey and sobbed my socks off
LanJan - but don't you risk disillusionment by rereading the books you loved as a teenager with adult eyes? I should never have attempted to reread The Scarlet Pimpernel 30 years later!
Deletemaryellen, I read my favourite books about once every 10 years - that staves off the disillusionment for the most part!
DeleteLan Jan, I love Neville Shute too.
I love Neville Shute. Even though I had forgotten he existed. That's why blogs are so much fun, it's the 'like-minded people' thing. I replied to Carolyn earlier about re-reading old favourites, I think I should stop replying to posts and answer with a new one for clarity.
DeleteI have read and enjoyed all books by Howard Spring
DeleteI'd like to add my love of Neville Shute too. I collected his complete works from a book 'club' when first married (bought one volume a month, all in matching leather bindings.) The first 'adult' book I was allowed to read from Mum's bookshelf was " A Town Like Alice" at the age of 11/12! Mum loved it and when she was on her own, after Dad died she told me one day when I was at hers doing gardening (one day a week!) that if she won the lottery she'd like to go to Alice Springs and she'd take me as I was the only one of her five children who knew what it meant to her. Sadly she died only eighteen months after Dad. However, when my eldest son finished University he went off back packing and as he was born during my brief stay (3 years) in Aus he has an Australian passport. He went to Alice and bought home a small plastic bag of reddish earth from there and buried in Mum's grave. He then 'pinched' that copy of the novel to remind him of Nan! Cheeky devil so I now have almost complete set of NS's novels. "On the Beach" gives me nightmares so have only read that a couple of times! :)
DeleteI have added my up arrows to the writers' blog. Funny feeling to be on a BBC blog again. But it felt a bit like gate crashing or intruding. Prefer to be back here.
ReplyDeleteNigella, I wouldn't worry too much about gate-crashing - there was only one blogger not Archers connected. There are 5 blogs open in the Writers Room - some since middle to late March. None of them have more than 30 posts, one only 8. What a waste. It makes you wonder if our blog was closed because we were too keen to post!
DeleteFair enough, HG. I did not really look that far.
Delete32 Maryellen(26a)
ReplyDeleteI 'met' Anne Tyler through A Patchwork Planet about 20 years ago. I've since read and enjoyed a handful of her other books. I think there's one lurking on my bookcase somewhere waiting to be ready. She's very good but emotionally draining - especially if you're the sort of reader who struggles to put a book down ('just one more chapter' ...). I tended to get to the end feeling I'd done ten rounds with Mike Tyson!
Carolyn (23) oh lord! I do hope to goodness you enjoy Hamish Macbeth now! I wonder if you managed to get the first story - think it was ‘Death of a Gossip’- it does help if you can read them in order as the characters progress and form different relationships throughout the series.
ReplyDeleteLAN Jan : I am a great Nevil Shute aficionado too - in fact my very first adult book was ‘The Far Country’ given to me by an Aint who thought it was time I progressed from school stories and Enid Blyton. My favourites were No Highway and No Requiem for a Wren. I think it is high time they are republished for today’s readership.
Sorry, that should have been “Requiem for a Wren” without the No in front.
Delete33 Currently one of my favourite authors is Jasper Fforde. 'The Eyre Affair' is set in an alternative 1985 where the Crimean War has reached a stalemate after 100 years, croquet is the national sport and draws huge crowds, dodos have been 'resequenced', literature is highly valued (hurrah!), time travel is possible, and Jane Eyre gets kidnapped from inside her book before being rescued by Thursday Next. It's very clever and full of literary allusions and jokes. If you crime fiction fans fancy a break from all those murders, you could give it a try. Waterstones stocks the series in their 'Crime' section - as I found out after fruitlessly looking for one of the books in 'Fantasy'.
ReplyDeleteHe also writes the Nursery Crimes series - The Big Over Easy (who killed Humpty Dumpty?) and The Fourth Bear (who killed Goldilocks?). It's set in the same 'reality' as the Thursday Next books and the Nursery Crimes Division deals with cases involving 'persons of dubious reality' - like Humpty and Mr Punch. It also deals with the thorny question of the right to arm bears ...
The latest of his books I've read is Shades of Grey (please note, number is unspecified, crtainly not 50!). Very different and set in the future, sometime after 'The Something that Happened', and where people are categorised into a rigid hierarchy based on which colour they can perceive. It's a brilliant book but the next two in the trilogy have not yet appeared over the horizon. So if you don't like being kept in suspense you might want to wait a while before trying this one.
(Interesting to see The Folkestone Play has only been mentionned once before on this blog. I've caught it from time to time whilst ironing . I recognised the name Peter and that there was some bother about him but never really got into it enough to find out who everyone was. Sorry.)
Seems to me like Jasper Fforde was prophetic. The Crimean War has reached a stalemate.
Delete34 maryellen(30)
ReplyDelete'but don't you risk disillusionment by rereading the books you loved as a teenager with adult eyes? '
I fell in love with Thomas Hardy as a teenager. (We had to read a book as a group in English and rejected Animal Farm because the introduction told us it was 'a fairy story'! So we read Far From the Madding Crowd instead.) I devoured several of his books, my favourites were Tess and Jude (morbid child that I was!) but got cross with him after A Pair of Blue Eyes which I felt was too much like Tess (girl meets unsuitable boy, girl meets suitable boy, suitable boy realises girl is unsuitable - because of relationship with unsuitable boy - girl dies).
I re-read Jude a couple of years ago. By golly, it's a lot easier as a matter-of-fact teenager than as a mother!
Hardy is probably also the reason why I missed out on Jane Austen for so long. I finally met her through an OU literature course and began to discover what a supremely clever writer she was, particularly for dialogue. The OU also introduced me to Wide Sargasso Sea - which meant I *then* read Jane Eyre and kept saying, 'no, that's wrong' before reminding myself that Charlotte wrote her book *before* Jean Rhys wrote hers!
And I could read Where the Wild Things Are as many times as you like without *ever* getting disillusioned : )
Other way round for me, OWIAS, Austen in childhood, very little Hardy until adult. Jude, harrowing, but perhaps his best? (as well as last, I think) Thanks for your reminder and neat summary of 'A Pair of....' ! Interesting to see if this comment is published/stays published - I've lost several on this blog...
Delete(34) Re: 27. The Nicola Walker radio series was called Annika Stranded, she played a Norweigan, not a Dane. I can't recommend it highly enough.
ReplyDelete34 a. Where can I listen to this?
DeleteNicola Walker was outstanding in Sally Wainwright's Last Tango in Halifax, as were the rest of the cast), including Sarah Lancashire who was also in Sally Wainwright's Happy Valley as a tough but emotionally sensitive policewoman. (Sally Wainwright having cut her crime writer's teeth with the raid on the Ambridge post office!). It's the only TV detective series I watch.
DeleteRuthy not sure how you listen to The Archers ie live on internet or on BBC I player. If BBC I player just type the title into the search bar and if it's still available it will come up. If you haven't found BBC I Player just Google it and it's the first thing that comes up. There is also a mobile (cell) phone app. I just tried "Annika" in a search on it and didn't come up so maybe that series is no longer available but try searching the Radio 4 Extra Channel of the BBC it replays many Radio 4 stuff.
DeleteRuthy, my friends, who live in upstate NewYork have become addicted to Last Tango in Paradise. I think it is on PBS. It was a wonderful series. Funny, dramatic, sad, it has it all, including brilliant actors.
DeleteI love Vera, even have a hat like hers, although not intentionally.
Jane Austen was my favourite as a child and as an adult.
Small correction stasia - Last Tango in Halifax, rather than Paradise. Unless the title has been altered for American viewers? Agree it was a very gentle and engaging series with some of my favourite actors, especially Derek Jacobi.
DeleteNot 100% gentle. Similar to how someone described the Queen Mother "candyfloss on the outside concealing a steel core".
Delete35
ReplyDeleteRuthy @ 27: Yes I loved Unforgotten too - a real who-dun-it and would they get found out! Even Mr A ( who ususally won’t watch serials as he can never remember what happened in the previous episode!) enjoyed it and stuck with it to the end. Another series to watch out for is “Line of Duty” which is about corrupt (UK) police officers. Apparently there have already been 4 series in recent years but I only saw the last one which starred Thandie Newton as a murdering senior police officer. It was really gripping with tremendous cliff-hangers at the end of each episode. Even Mr A was hooked and that is a huge recommendation! I urge you to watch out for it. ( I should warn that there are a few gruesome scenes, which I shut my eyes for)
Gosh, yes, and Thandie Newton was such a chilling beauty.
DeleteI'm a great fan of Line of Duty too, Ruthy, but if you can find them, do go back and watch the preceding series, as a lot of the action in the latest one refers back to them - especially series 3. Beautifully written, directed and acted without the need for a succession of short scenes as is so often the case in thrillers at the moment.
Delete35.
ReplyDelete'Re 33 OWIAS I've downloaded the Jasper Fforde on Kindle. Thanks for the tip. I tried reading Stephen Frys book in a similar vein clever but very repetitive and full of f that f this got very tedious. I didn't finish it. Ditto Wolf Hall!
I did exactly the same, Sleepylawyer, perhaps at exactly the same time ! Was intrigued by your description, OW - some recommendations are very persuasive...
Delete36
ReplyDeleteSorry to be hogging this blog at the moment - shall be busy for rest of day an unable to log in. I wanted to ask if any of my English friends here have difficulty reading books by North American authors where the spellings have not been adjusted to UK spelling?
(Sorry Ruthy, this is not meant to embarrass you or your compatriots!).
I find I get very irritated if I find colour spelt ‘color’ and other such differences, so much so that it puts me off reading further.
I recently ordered a set of 3 books about a (British) detective working in the Shropshire country side during the last war. The books were advertised as being ‘Foyle at War’ type stories. Just up my street, I thought, detective story, World War 2, plenty of historical references etc etc. Within the first few pages I had read about the body of a Land Girl being found in a “pass-by” (instead of lay-by), a man ordering fried eggs with broiled strips of bacon in the pub (instead of grilled rashers) and very many other North Americanisms which stuck out like sore thumbs. It jarred so much that I could not finish the book, or the next two, which I took to the Charity Shop. On researching the author I found that she was Canadian and had been using Canadian terms. What a pity the English publishers had not edited the editions to be sold in England to add veracity to the stories for English readers.
Lots of suggestions for books I haven't read yet. I've recently got back into reading more since my retirement and while I was recuperating from a hip replacement operation over the winter.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching a disappointing performance by Liverpool I have enjoyed reading about the books people enjoy.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it a good thing that we are all different?
Briefly-Mistral ,Helen Dunmore definitely.
Sadly I have sa feeling that she has died.
Archerphile-I can't read Requiem for a Wren again ,it was too sad.
Just like South by Java Head by Alastair McLean.
Old Woman-Not a fan of Jane Austin.
We did Northanger Abbey for "0" level.
Give me Wuthering Heights over Jane Eyre too .
As a teenager I read a lot of DH Lawrence and Thomas Hardy.
Loved The Woodlanders.
She did, Lan Jan, after her last novel, which was brilliant, tortured, England reacting to the French Revolution, varied views on it, and British economy threatened as a by product. I intend to read more of her, surprised I hadn't cottoned on before.
DeleteHave any of you read the early books by Robert Goddard?
ReplyDeleteI can recommend "Past Caring" and "In Pale Battalions " in Particular.
Archerphile and Mrs P they are right up your street ,trust me.
Maryellen I know what you mean about re reading books from one's youth and sometimes I am disappointed but in the main I am not fond of the way some modern books go back and forth in time with different characters in adjacent chapters.
Oh and I just hate too much dialogue.
You mention The Scarlet Pimpernel
When my father left school(he would have been 120 this year!) he worked at Hutchinson's publishers.
He said he met lots of famous authors including Baroness Orksey (sp ?) and Phillip Gibbs(I loved his books).
Then of course the First World War came along and he signed up aged 16 years of age.
What was Baroness Orczy like? Phillip Gibbs doesn't ring a bell.
DeleteThe daughter of Gollancz publishers, who took over the firm from her father died recently at an advanced age. Her obit was on "Last Word". Daphne Du Maurier, a favourite of my youth was one of "her" authors. I fell hopelessly in love with Jem Merlyn when I was 15. "Jamaica Inn" was Christmas "Book at Bedtime" a few years ago, read, if I recall correctly, by our own Tamsin Greig. Mumblin' Joss Merlyn in the last TV adaptation didn't detract from my enjoyment as I could remember most of the important dialogue. Fell in love (lust?) with Jem all over again. Couldn't have lived with him though.
I’m not a Thomas Hardy fan as I find him a bit depressing but we studied “The mayor of Casterbridge” for A level and Idid find it a good read and a salutary tale of how someone could get to the top of the tree before falling disastrously. Henchard’s fatal flaw was jealousy of another man, Farfrae which ultimately caused his downfall. Recently I’ve found Erica James books have been a good read maybe a bit lighter than Hardy & co but nice to relax and enjoy! I have recently read some Jane Austen books having been put off in my teenage years by “Northanger Abbey”. Must try that again now I’m nearly 70!
ReplyDeleteThe 'Mayor' is a great novel to teach, and I think I rate it as highly as 'Jude'.
DeleteLan Jan : yes I have read Pale Battalions by Robert Goddard. I was first attracted by the picture of the War Memorial at Thiepval on the cover as we had recently visited there and found it an incredibly moving experience. I loved the book and went on to devour several others written by him, all very intriguing stories and so well constructed.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Jane Austen: as many of you know, I live just outside the village where she was born and her father was the Rector. My children went to school in what had been a nearby large country house where Jane went to Assemblies and Balls. The 300th anniversary of her death was celebrated with much gusto and many local events last year. But having had to dissect her novel Emma for A Level put me off Jane for life I am afraid and though I have tried several times, including very recently, to get into her books I always fail . I feel quite guilty about disliking our famous local author, but there it is!
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I found 'Emma' boring to teach ( maybe because the heroine unfailingly misfires, until the very end, so it became repetitive) yet I loved the novel . 'Persuasion', a much quieter work, was a delight to put across - a masterly structure, I thought at the time.
DeleteInteresting, I found 'Emma' boring to teach ( maybe because the heroine unfailingly misfires, until the very end, so it became repetitive) yet I loved the novel . 'Persuasion', a much quieter work, was a delight to put across - a masterly structure, I thought at the time.
DeleteBaroness Orczy ,H aH was apparently a lovely lady who was very nice to the young man seated at an old fashioned desk ( like the one Bob Cratchett had ,so my dad said) .
ReplyDeleteJust before the 1st WW my father had his wages raised to £1 a week which I don't think was bad for a 16 year old.
Phillip Gibbs wrote books about the 2nd WW but he must have written them earlier than that if he was around in 1914.
"Thine Enemy" was a favourite of mine .(a novel about Germany after the 2nd WW if I remember correctly )
He also wrote one about Poland during or just after which was very good
I haven't read it recently
Pleased to know that Baroness O was gracious. I've "known" the Pimpernel most of my life. The later novels would have been new/ish when my mother read them. James Purefoy, another actor I like, was the hero of the latest radio adaptation at end of last year.
DeleteSome of D.K. Broster's historical novels were set at the same time. "Chantemerle" was one of my mother's favourite books and first one I read. I enjoyed the Jacobite Rising set trilogy too. "Flight of the Heron" was one - just remembered title. Honour, courage, loyalty and male friendship are themes I recall from Broster's novels.
I have just found the BBC Technology and Creativity blog and there are quite a few comments on it.
ReplyDeleteThey are not happy .
Something has changed.
Must check it out.
I will post a comment on it I think to tell them to count their lucky stars that they have a blog on which they can make a comment.
I won't tell them that I am not technical and do not do creative writing..
There are other BBC blog sites where one can still comment .
Most have no comments by anybody yet they are still open.
Well .... I decided to hunt down that blog . Now, I don't know what happened, whether I made an error while typing "Technology" but .....
Deletefirst message I got was cannot find this website ...... then up popped a little picture with word "blog" on it. Looking at it properly I was able to read the full title "google sex blog". I kid you not. Illustration resembled a Lara Croft Tomb Raider type girl. The only explanation is that I must have typed s instead of t.
I was more careful 2nd time and found BBC blogs. One of them was "Info" something about how we are being targeted online. There were 2 comments. I thought of adding a comment about having only just sidestepped being drawn into vice.
Lightbulb moment! This month I've been helping someone research prostitution in Victorian England. He lives in a town where many of my Victorian ancestors lived. 2 of them were police constables, so I'd amassed information about local crime, some committed by ladies of the night, and got to know which pubs were dens of iniquity.
Dear Mr google, the ladies I'm interested in have been dead over 100 years.
Just done what I said in my previous comment.
ReplyDeleteSome comments have been removed on that site so I expect mine to be.
It was neither technical nor creative.
LanJan I commented on the Writers blog and up arrowed every comment. I also read a little of the tech&creat blog. I just don’t understand why our blog was closed, when these blogs remain open - with many that are very old and still opened for comments. I am just glad we have our own blog now. I did find Annika Stranded on the web - not the BBC site. Will enjoy listening to those.
DeleteArcherfile how interesting that you and I were both put off Jane Austen by studying her novels at A level. It makes you wonder whether her work was intended to be looked at in depth! I came back to her after seeing the film versions and when I just read the novels in my adult life I found a new appreciation of her wit and of the fact that she was in fact a satirist of “society” as observed at the time.
ReplyDeleteEv, do you think you were badly taught? I did Persuasion for A-level and can't understand how anyone could fail to appreciate her, except perhaps by reading her too early. My other English teacher (i.e. the one who didn't teach us Persuasion) told us once that he'd only recently (aged about 30) learnt to like her. That chimes with your experience, but it sounds as though you had to get there on your own rather than by being intelligently taught.
Delete(! ? 50?) Ruthie
ReplyDeleteThere is a new series of Annika Stranded being made this year, I'll let you know when it's broadcast. What a treat.
52 Ev (50) and Archerphile 'how interesting that you and I were both put off Jane Austen by studying her novels at A level'
ReplyDeleteI'm the opposite - I love disecting books to find out how they 'work', it gives me a greater appreciation of the book as a whole and of the writer's craftsmanwork. Even better, give me a small section to analyse to pieces. But then I'm a pure mathematician with a fascination with English Language so perhaps I'm pretty atypical!
One series I really must read again is Patrick Ness' 'Chaos Walking' trilogy. Having submitted a 3000 word essay of 'Monsters of Men' fifteen minutes before the absolute and final deadline a few years back I still can't bear to look at it again! But they are good books and it would be good to read them again when I'm feeling rather more relaxed...
53. Mistral (! ? 50?) thanks for the tip. I am enjoying Annika! I will look forward to new season.
ReplyDelete(54)-You should be asleep now but thank you for this blog.
ReplyDeleteI am loving what I am calling our weekend blog -even though it doesn't have to be at the weekend- when we digress .
Although I am commenting on the other BBC blogs ,I love yourArchers blog ,believe me.
I am just so annoyed that we have been singled out without being given any explanation as to why that happened.
On the Technology blog the woman they were all complaining about posted two comments.
They are the ones with the most down arrows but at least she did reply to them
(I haven't a clue what they are complaining about.
It is all beyond me)
Has anyone else discovered Marks & Spencer's scrummy new version of lemon curd - rhubarb and custard curd? Also excellent as an alternative to jam in a sponge cake!
ReplyDeleteBootgums - When I did “ Northanger Abbey” I was about 13 and it seemed to me then to be all about young women looking for a rich man to marry and that was the end of their ambition. I was a child of the sixties and this perception generated great impatience in my immature mind! Maybe it was down to me and not to bad teaching. I think too that Austen is for more mature minds! Later dissecting novels and Shakespearean plays did become more acceptable and I did and always will appreciate the great writings I was introduced to at. A level. Nowadays I read to enjoy and to briefly go into the world of literary characters.
ReplyDeleteMaryellen,why would you eat a sponge cake anyway?
ReplyDeleteIt must be the most boring of all cakes .
The only use for it as far as I am concerned was to have been covered with sherry and used for a trifle.
Give me a buttered Chelsea bun any day.
Have those dreadful cup cakes died the death?
My local bakery sells iced buns for £1.60.
Daylight robbery.
More fool anyone who pays that for what is a bread roll with added sugar covered with sickly icing.
(Good idea we have no down arrows on this site)
Lanjan - I adore sponge cake in all it's forms and flavours (and I love it in trifle too of course). But I'm absolutely with you on the subject of the horrid cup cakes, smothered in far too much sickly butter icing - more icing than cake in fact. Before they were converted into the dreaded cup cakes, they were delicious little 'fairy cakes' - little sponge cakes with a drop of icing on the top, or 'butterfly cakes' - sponge cakes with the top sliced off, cut in half and popped back on with a dab of butter cream in the shape of wings. One of my special treats when I was a small child. With you on the Chelsea bun too, but without the butter for my taste.
DeleteAgree with Suz on the outsizing of cakes. Buttercream filling was beaten by hand so butterfly buns were a real treat. I don't like Chelsea Buns.
DeleteI was given my first Jane Austen book for Christmas aged 10yrs.
ReplyDeletePride and Prejudice, I loved the story and it became my favourite for many years.
I'm still an old romantic at heart and prefer happy, (fictional) endings,
Growing up in a large family reading became a means of escaping the noise of other children. I would find a place to hide and read, ignoring my mother's calls for me to assist her with a task.
Maryellen- well done for trying to get us all off books and onto another subject for a moment or two. No, I’ve not tried the new lemon/rhubarb curd but it sounds delicious! I love a really sharp lemon curd but unfortunately I have to be back on my very strictly no-carbohydrate diet at the moment- more’s the pity. I put on weight during our Arctic cruise and have to get rid of it (plus a bit more) before seeing my consultant again about my hip & knee ops. So nothing at all containing sugar, grains, root veg and most fruits for me for a while. Boring, but effective.
ReplyDeleteOne of the first spongy things I ever made at school was butterfly buns, along with rock cakes. My mother was impressed as she had never seen them before. We used to sit round the table when she made cakes just to lick the bowls. She also made wonderful doughnuts, and even filled them with jam. We never had desserts but the German ritual of afternoon coffee and cake.
ReplyDelete61, maybe. I like small cup cakes with generous icing, decorated with animal designs. Some may guess where I sit scoffing oneof those, together with a strong white coffee. Back to books - Archerphile calling ! Have just finished the 1st H.Macbeth, and did find it quite entertaining, mainly because of his eccentric character, matched with the sleuthing skills, and way of sorting out others whilst his own life, well, unsorted. So, fairly lukewarm, sorry, but may well be tempted to read another some time, because of Macbeth himself, and the well depicted highland setting. Odd thing, written in 1985, yet, apart from topical references, the dramatis personae came across as early '60s
ReplyDeleteCarolyn @ 61: goodness you read that Hamish Macbeth quickly! I think I enjoy them so much because I watched the TV series of the stories back in the 1990s(?) starring a very young Robert Carlyle (he later starred in ‘Trianspotting) and fell in love with the West Highland coast scenery as well as the characters. They were quite quirky programmes at the time but I loved them and they led me to the books. The entire group of
ReplyDeleteseries were repeated last year on ITV3 and I indulged in a real nostalgia-fest!
A lot of Westies were called after his dog. Shirley Henderson played the young woman in love with Hamish.
DeleteRecently I was recommended “Goodbye Christopher Robin” a film about A A Milne and of course his son. It was excellent and well worth watching!
ReplyDeleteI love home made cakes but my talent lies more with pastry and have even mastered gluten free pastry on behalf of my daughter. It needs lots of kneading! I can also make an excellent shortbread but alas my cakes were labelled as “Mum’s cowpats” by my beloved child! Agree about cupcakes which look lovely but far too much sweet goo on top!
We used to get 'Chicken Yucky' (chicken supreme), 'Mum's Muck' (soup) and 'Concrete' (homemade bread). The first two were actually quite nice, the bread was an acquired taste but not unpleasant.
DeleteThe shoedwellers get 'Ominous Juice' from time to time - made with whatever fruit and veg Old Man in a Shoe puts through the juicer.
When I made bread I reduced salt in recipe so it was an easy way to cut down salt intake.
Delete64. Lan Jan - commenting on the Technology Blog on which you posted. If you read the bla introduction by Holly Cook (Exec. Product Manager, BBC News, Design and Engineering) and more importantly the oldest posts, you will see that the BBC has also radically cut the services offered on the Business section and dumbed it down to more or less useless. It was a widely used extremely comprehensive section used by business/financial people and anyone interested in stocks and shares, currencies, etc. It was said to have been one of the best market data sites on the internet. What made it so good are precisely those services that have been axed. Now it is an 'improved user experience' which the users are leaving in flocks. All Cook's defenses and the 2 posts she wrote have been derided in a similar way that we expressed about the axing of the Archers Blog. There are almost 200 posts, the vast majority showing utter frustration and disgust at the BBC's action.
ReplyDeleteKnow the feeling?!
65
ReplyDeleteHG @ 65 - that is very interesting and another sign of how the BBC is cutting back on services the public find useful but are being sacrificed in the name of financial savings. Does anyone know if the excellent children’s websites are still available? When my grandchildren were small they loved the games and educational content on the CBBies and CBBC sites and they helped keep them occupied on rainy days. There was a lot of material you could download and print off for them too, which I found really useful. I very much disagree with the BBC policy of reducing all these online services to save money so that dozens (or probably hundreds) of BBC personnel can be sent around the world to cover sporting events. I think they have some of their priorities wrong. Now I shall descend from my soapbox!!
(66) HG (64)- I realise that the situation for those who contribute to the Technology blog is not the same as ours.
ReplyDeleteAt the moment they still have their (now apparently useless) site.
I don't know whether the 7 up arrows I received from my comments were from Archers / Ruthy's bloggers or from sympathetic Technology ones.
I have written another post because they are talking about making complaints and I mentioned the way we were treated when we asked questions.
Re the Writersroom site.
Mikey ( the one genuine poster) is looking for an Agent ,Maryellen!
I will step onto your soap box Archerphile because I completely agree with what you have said.
If they are going to close our blog then why not close all of them especially as there are some which are rarely used?
The BBC does not realise that we have climbed aboard Ruthy's lifeboat and they don't care two hoots about us as long as they can continue to inflate the pay of the already overpaid Celebrities by flouting the salary cap rules.
(67))- I have just checked the BBC Technology and Creativity blog and one of our former bloggers called Alex has poated a comment.
ReplyDeleteWho is Alex?
Lanjan. 22. 2.02 pm.
ReplyDeleteHave just visited the Tec/ creativity blog. Once I got to the graphs I had already switched off and dropped out. With the Archers I'm always switched on, Turned on, tuned in, but on this site it is never dropped out. Apologies to T. Leary.
I checked it too, but I'm not Alex.
DeleteI just love cooking and baking. It is so nice to produce a wonderful meal, cooked from scratch using fresh ingredients sourced from local farm markets, so are fresh and cheap! I pay 49p for a red or green cabbage, 3kg of potatoes for £1. The meals that I cook are healthy and nutricious, with no additives nor preservaties. As to cakes - my favourite is a fruit tea loaf, so moist and tasty ( the dried fruit is soaked in Earl Grey tea for 12 hours), but a Victoria Sponge with home-made lemon curd, is always a "hit".
ReplyDeleteI have to add that my home made marmalade and jams are very well liked, won't even start on my fruit pies, with pastry made by hand. I was so well taught by my Grandma and Mum, whose recipe books/journals I still have and treasure.
DeleteI have just sent the following email to this site asking for ideas for a blog - you have to scroll down a bit to find it!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/59c8fa85-d090-42b0-ae59-d88496afaafc
Dear Alistair Smith,
I have just come across this invitation to get in touch with an idea for a blog.
I find this highly ironic after the BBC has just axed the enormously popular and well used Archers Blog causing immense distress, anger and frustration to hundreds of fans of Radio 4’s iconic programme. This was a blog that attracted several hundred comments per week, a community of like-minded people built up over several years – and for many socially disadvantaged through disability, sickness or plain loneliness a lifeline that enabled them to communicate with fellow The Archers lovers. We had bloggers from all walks of life, and when issues such as coercive control, child welfare, bereavement were taken up in The Archers, their expertise was often found to be more acceptable and easily accessible than any expensive Helpline provided by the BBC.
It was blogging at its best and a service that was greatly appreciated by listeners of The Archers.
As an Expat, it was for me personally an invaluable link to home.
I have spent a few hours surfing through other BBC blogs. It is dismaying to see how many blogs are either ignored or only contain a very small number of posts. We were never given a plausible reason for cutting off one of the most valued and highly used blogs. Several bloggers were even interviewed by Feedback and promised an airing. That also never happened.
If you are looking for ideas for a blog, I have one – along with hundreds of other listeners:
Give us our Archers blog back, please.
Sincerely,
hamburg gardener
Well Done! I think that what you have written, is very eloquent and that you have certainly covered all the very many valient points which were raised, but to no avail.😀👍👏👏
DeleteAbsolutely brilliant HG 8.05pm 22 nd April.
DeleteI do hope that Alastair Smith has more manners than the other people we contacted.
I thought his name came up when we were first concerned but I don't know if anybody actually contacted him.
I have responded on the other blog HG
DeleteThat is brilliant HG - beautifully written and covering all the important points. If that letter /email doesn’t get our blog back then nothing will! 🏅from me.
DeleteStasia ,I ignored the graphs on the Technology site .
ReplyDeleteAll I saw was a group of people who like us had been let down by the BBC .
They intend getting in touch to ask them to change their minds .
I told them what had happened to us and that we are still waiting for a proper reply.
Miriam ,are you looking for a job?
ReplyDeleteI do not enjoy cooking or baking.
I used to make crab apple jelly in little jars with cotton print covers (Laura Ashley) on the top and petit fours in posh little boxes which were actually sold in a little shop near to where I lived but as for cooking or baking ,no thank you.
Fortunately Mr LJ likes plain food.
He tells me what he wants for his evening meal.
I cook it.
(I prefer vegetarian food or salads which he calls rabbit food )
I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times he has not eaten every bit of the meal I have cooked so I must be doing something right.
After the meal I wash up whilst listening to The Archers.
If I haven't finished washing up by the time the programme finishes then he takes over.
Works well.
Crab apple jelly : ) We always called it 'jelly jam'. My granny used to make it with the apples from the orchard behind her house. (The orchard was owned by someone who was trying, without success, to get planning permission for an underground house. He wasn't interested in the apples so Granny was allowed to collect as many as she liked.)
DeleteLater, my aunt had a crab apple tree in her garden. She used the apples to make mint jelly to go with lamb.
My husband's mother used to make the most amazing jam - so full of fruit you had to cut it with a knife! And all made with the fruit his dad grew in the garden.
One day I shall give jam making a go myself. But I doubt it will taste as good!
We don't seem to know who Alex is .
ReplyDeleteDoes he or she not know about Ruthy's site do you think?
I've posted 2 comments on Ling's blog in the BBC writersroom. I noticed another blog there headed "Story v Character v Dialogue". That has 28 comments which seem to be from people who have submitted scripts.
ReplyDeleteOld woman,I mentioned some time ago that I don't know when one would eat jam nowadays like we used to..
ReplyDeleteThe only use for it as far as I can see is on scones or in a sponge cake.
Crab apple jelly is a lovely pinky colour as is apple jelly which I also made years ago.
Message for MrsP. There are two rag doll indoor cats looking for a new home on the FB group Animals Lost and Found In Gloucestershire Uk, so main road would be no problem. They are 10 years old, owner has recently died, and they need to stay together - not sure if you would consider taking two, but if you are interested, do have a look on the ALFIG site - it's a public group so easy to see. https://www.facebook.com/groups/864469296984255/permalink/1563753193722525/ .
ReplyDeleteSuz.23-834pm.
ReplyDeleteRag dolls are wonderful cats, so gentle. I already have two rescue cats, otherwise I would be fighting MrsP for them.
On the subject of jam , I make dozens of jars every year, mostly blackcurrent, plum, raspberry and gooseberry. (After having filled the freezer with as much fruit as I can) Last year I mistakenly bought jam sugar ( which contains added pectin) instead of ordinary preserving sugar. The blackcurrent and gooseberry jams set so firmly that you can cut it in slices! Since I have been forced to follow a carbohydrate free diet I can no longer enjoy my own jam but what Mr A doesn’t spread on toast, scones or have in tarts and steamed jam puddings I give away to family and friends and to the local village sales.
ReplyDeletePerhaps all us Austen fans should arrange a visit to her house. We'll take in the wonderful Winchester Cathedral too as it has a memorial to Jane. Then finish up at Archerphile's for scones and tea. For variety, I'll bring apricot flapjack (non-ballistic variety) and lemon drizzle cake. Maryellen, do you have any Scruff Gin left? Or has Toby given you his phone number so you can order more?
DeleteWould people prefer a coach or to make their own way there?
To Suz 8.34 this morning.
ReplyDeleteThank you Suz, I have looked at this site but do not see the cats you mention.
It is FB and I don't do FB ( and will not) . Looking for the second attempt, the site requires me to sign up.
So have abandoned this search, but am very grateful for your post Suz.
I can contact them for you if you are interested, Mrs. P. Still looking for a home.
DeleteLan Jan et al: I looked up those other BBC blogs you have been mentioning and congratulate you all on having the enterprise to contribute to them, and put the case for the Archers blog. I up arrowed all of your comments but did not post myself - there did not seem much else I could add. But it makes me furious that other blogs are still open when we have been closed down! I wonder what will happen in the Autumn when Strictly Come Dancing returns ? Will they not be allowed to have a dedicated blog as they have always had previously. Perhaps the fans will just be directed to FB and Twitter, as we have. 😡
ReplyDeleteI think the SCD site will suffer the same fate as to the TA one. It appears to me that the more popular, well used and interesting, a BBC blog is, then it has to be shut down, due to "costs".
DeleteI think that the comments section of the Strictly blog has been closed like The Archers one.
ReplyDeleteI looked at the "Strictly " blog. I didn't read any comments because all those on 1st page I saw had been removed.
DeleteThey were due to a very nasty "troll" who should have been banned and their account suspended, but it did not happen.
DeleteJust now a reporter on BBC TV News as said "To you and I"
ReplyDeleteOh I know I am a pedant but I really hate to hear these grammatical errors from overpaid BBC staff.
Lanjan - that's one of my biggest hates too, and one of the most common mistakes it seems. I've noticed it being used by "overpaid BBC staff' rather a lot I'm afraid. I used to be married to a journalist who had learned his trade through an apprenticeship, and he never made that mistake. Nowadays, journalistic apprenticeships are a thing of the past, and they all have degrees, which doesn't necessarily mean that they have been trained in correct English usage - especially in the spoken word.
DeleteSo many people use I instead of me these days, it's becoming common parlance and drives me mad too!
Delete.....and now the News presenter has split an infinitive!
ReplyDeleteWhat is the world coming to?
Do you mean, 'To what is the world coming?' 😉
Delete:) :)
DeleteLanJan.... the answer to your rhetorical question is........
ReplyDeletea more casual approach to the use of language.
Or put another way......
Dumbing down !
Message direct to Suz .......please
ReplyDeleteI have found them Suz, thank you.
It does not say they are rag dolls. They look like a form of Siamese to me.
They are very pretty.
However they are indoor cats and females.
I like big boys.
Having thought about it long and hard, I cannot be comfortable with indoor cats, combined with my main room in the house having two doors to the outside.
Life would be full of stress and concern that I would have to physically remove cats to the upstairs and shut them in a bedroom before opening a door to the outside world.
So thank you again for bothering to look them up and directing me to them.
Your kindness is appreciated.
MrsP
Oh, well done for getting there MrsP. I think I picked up the rag doll reference from some of the comments on FB. Don't worry if they aren't suitable for you, it's very necessary to find just the right cat for you and your home, but I'll keep my eyes open for any more that might be suitable, just in case. Hope you find a furry friend soon. My Fergus has been with me nearly a year now. He came from 5 Valleys at Stroud, and was also nearly 10. Owner had had him from 6 weeks, and had recently died, so it took a lot of patience and gentle encouragement to get him settled in to a home with two large bouncy dogs and a large garden outside too (don't think he'd ever experienced either of those problems!), but he's very happy now. Spends most of his time outside in the garden when it's warm and sunny, and has both me and both of the dogs well and truly under his control. It's amazing just what they can adapt to given a little time and space.
DeleteI have a lovely, young female, tabby cat who wants to "adopt" me. I do not know if she is a stray, but I think that she is just shut out overnight and possibly during the day. She is always hungry but looks healthy. She comes into the kitchen, and eats my cat's food and she is now becoming bolder, in that she is now coming in during the day as well. Sadly my own cat, will not tolerate her!
ReplyDeleteJust to add, the "newbie" cat, sits outside the french doors, looking in with such pleading eyes but I have to try and ignore. It is so hard.
DeleteBeware, Miriam! That's exactly how my dear cat Pyewhackitt came to live with me. He first turned up in the chicken house (where I think he had been eating the chicken scraps). Then he gradually appeared further and further up towards the house. Then he sat on my lap when I was sitting on the garden seat by the door. From there, it was into the kitchen and eventually upstairs where he finished up any left over cat food from my elderly cat - who hated him. I discovered that he belonged to a large, noisy family living just below me, and he obviously decided that my house was where he wanted to be. When contacted, his owner said that I should have him, so he moved in, but never really became friends with my other cat, and they just ignored each other in the end. He died last year, and I still miss him very much.
DeleteSo similar.
DeleteAs to the use of home-made jams, going back many posts, it makes such a difference to, a Victoria sandwich cake, Queen of Puddings, a Steamed Jam Sponge, the base of a Bakewell Tart, a topping for a drop scone, a welsh cake, or just a basic scone. So delicious and makes something special.
ReplyDeleteThose of us who have hijacked the writers blog site have been chastised.
ReplyDeleteSeveral of us have responded.
I have asked a few questions of the chastiser .
I hope Mr or Ms Anonymous responds..
Can any cat lovers explain this?
ReplyDeletePercy annoys Poppy by tapping her .
She just ignores him
She never attacks him.
Poppy can't abide Sasha (beautiful tabby who lives a few doors away ) and chases her away .
Sasha (called Slasha by Mr LJ ) goes for Percy who dashes back into the house and hides under my desk and waits for Poppy to chase Sasha away.
Percy and Sasha look very similar but Poppy can tell which is which even when one of them is at the very bottom of the garden.
Easy, Lanjan. Your house and garden are Poppy's territory, and Percy (male) is allowed to inhabit with her as he is a male. Sasha is a rival female, so is immediately chased away when she strays into Poppy's territory. Percy is happy to leave it to Poppy to defend both the territory and him too. They're all small leopards at heart.
DeleteLanJan there is a lot of information out there about cat behaviour.
ReplyDeleteIf you were to google a question..... why does my cat....... ?
Then you could take your pick of cat behaviour sites.
Suz .... Pyewhackitt ?
Do we share a love of a particular 50s film with a young Jack Lemon ?
I had a friend of many years who's mother only ever had cats that had adopted her.
About four through my friends life.
Each cat started at the end of the garden, graduated to the back door and stayed there for a very long time, but each eventually gaining entry to the house.
And then staying put till the end of life.
Cats are clever !
Yes we do MrsP - Kim Novak too. When he chose to live with us he was called 'Smudge'. Black & white, half Persian (beautiful thick fur), so, as I couldn't live with 'Smudge', he had to have a name with 'pie' in it, and I thought of the film straight away.
DeleteThanks again Suz - 6.38 pm - yes I'll keep looking.
ReplyDeleteSuz. I've been watching you tube clips of it for ages this evening. And falling in love with K N all over again as I did when in my teens.
DeleteI took to calling myself ' Gillian ' and wore a black cat on a silver chain round my neck for years.
Oh memories !
It was the film chosen for our school end of term treat one year. Unusual choice for a church school?
DeleteLast week of current season of "Home Front" began with a shock.
ReplyDeleteI googled 2 young actors, Billy Kennedy and Lucy Hutchinson (Adam & Jessie).
Billy was lead in TV dramatization of David Walliam's book "The Boy Who Liked to Wear Dresses".
Lucy is 14/15 and has been acting since she was 5. She's done radio and TV. American and Cornwall are on her list of accents.
Oh dear! I didn’t realise that this is the last week of this series. I listen to the omnibus of the previous week on a Sunday or Monday, rather than catching it every day, so I am a day behind. So please don’t reveal what the shock is just yet. I’ll try and catch up today!
DeleteSuz
ReplyDeleteYour advice please😁
You have experience of introducing nervous cats to bouncy dogs. We have recently (January) taken on an unwanted male cat from a breeder. She doesn't vaccinate😞😠so the little chap had Feline Herpes as a kitten. He is very small for 2 years old. We have neutered him and kept him indoors to get him used to us and living in a house. He was very nervous living under the settee for the first two days. But he is really friendly now and goes all over the house. We have 3 dogs bouncy who live in our kitchen. Individually dogs have met cat in the hall. But I would like to get the cat into the kitchen meet the dogs and have access to outside as that is where the cat flap is.
Any suggestions tips on how to achieve this gratefully received.
Apologies to other bloggers before I start, because this is going to be rather a long post.
DeleteOooh, golly, Sleepylawyer, that's quite a problem for you. I'd never had a problem introducing cats to dogs before, because previous dogs weren't too bouncy and the cats had mostly met dogs before. However, if I tell you what I did with Fergus, perhaps that might give you a few ideas that you can adapt to suit yourself.
The first thing I did when I brought Fergie home was to take him upstairs to an unoccupied bedroom that was to be 'his' room where he was fed and had a bed. He was very nervous indeed, having never lived anywhere but with his previous 'mum'. Like your cat, he vanished behind a fold up bed and refused to come out for a few hours, so I left him to his own devices, but with food, water, litter tray and bed. I had already installed metal dog gates on the stairs and on Fergus's room to give my previous cat a dog-free zone - the gates have cat flaps built into them so that he was free to come and go if he wanted to. He finally came out from behind the bed and gradually explored the bedrooms, ending up sleeping on my bed from choice, but was able to glare and spat at the dogs from above. He was very frightened of them. After that had gone on for a day or so, I installed both feline and canine pheromone diffusers in the hallway at the foot of the stairs and started shutting the dogs into a room from time to time and bringing Fergie down so that he could explore the downstairs part of the house - he was very jumpy and nervous, but I just sat and observed quietly. Then he would shoot back upstairs again. I took a cloth from dogs' beds and put it upstairs for F. to smell, and vice versa from F's bed to downstairs, and I started to feed the dogs in the hallway, and Fergie on the stairs - with the stairgate shut - so that they could see each other eating, but not meet. I sat on the stairs with him sometimes too, and soothed him while we watched the dogs downstairs - and they watched us, and then progressed to feeding both treats at the same time, while still safely on either side of the gate. Finally, I tied the catflap in the up-position on the stairgate, and left it, so that Fergus could come down if he wanted to, but shoot back through it again if he was frightened.
This went on for weeks, but I didn't force the issue with either Fergie or the dogs, and he did, gradually come down - often when dogs and I were in the sitting room watching TV. He would stick his nose in, see a dog, and zip back up to his safe zone. I won't go into the details of introducing him to the garden which was the next thing I had to do, because you obviously have no problems with that, but, having done that (without the dogs present), the next crunch time came when he met both dogs outside, and they tried to chase him, but, by now, he was so confident in his own ability, having met them indoors several times and hissed and growled at them so fiercely that they beat hasty retreats, that he was able to stop both dogs (large dogs by the way) in their tracks. He has them completely under control now, and whilst never likely to cosy up to them, he has adopted the tactic of ignoring them if he possibly can, and controlling them with an iron will if he can't. Should say, however, that I have had cats and dogs that have got on really well together in the past, so your little chap might bond really well once he gets the knack of becoming higher in the pecking order than the dogs! PS: Fergie is a small cat too, but it doesn't seem to matter very much, although being ginger might help!
Thank you Suz so much. It's the escape route thing I think is so important! I shall start applying..
ReplyDeleteActually if you have tips on introducing to the outside as well gratefully received. Gunther was kept all his life in an outdoor run with cabin. No toys no stimulation no human inter action just one other reject cat. He's never been outside except last week where he got out and disappeared for 18 hours! But he was trying to get back in through a closed window so I take that as a good sign. My dogs do know about cats as our old cat passed away in December. But old cat was there before dogs. This time it's dogs before cat!
Thank you once again😺😸😹😻😽🙀😿😾
Yes, cats before dogs is much easier! Re the "great outdoors", I think Fergie had been outside before, but when I googled his old home, I could see that it was in a built-up area and a very small garden, whereas, I live on the edge of a small town in a forest and have a large garden. At first, I only let him look out of the bedroom window, and filled the gap when the window was open with wire netting to stop him jumping out. Then, when he was OK with the dogs, I attached a retractable lead to his collar (he already had that, but I've ditched it since because I don't like them), and took him for a walk around the garden so that he could explore safely. That failed completely, because when we were nearly back to the house, he slid under the gate to the alleyway leading to the road and snapped the safety link on his collar. Thankfully, he didn't like the look of the road - or Mr. Darcey, the neighbour's cat that sits up there most days, and came tearing back down to safety. After that, I just have him recreation periods in the garden off lead - and that's when he met the dogs and proved that he can handle them. Since then, everything's been fine, although I have to say that he's very good about not straying and will let me bring him in before dark as I don't let my cats out at night. I did keep him in for at least a week before I introduced the garden a) so that he would associate the house with his home, and b) so that he could be confident with the dogs first as I knew that they would frighten him if he hadn't finished the indoor training, and if he ran off, I might lose him altogether.
DeleteGreat that your little Gunther came back in the end. At least he will have sussed out all the surrounding district now, and that he will know where his home is in the event of an emergency. Sounds like he's doing really well - just needs a confidence boost I expect :)
Ruthy, I think this is working really well with the two blogs - congratulations and thank you!
ReplyDelete👍
DeleteReally enjoying catching up with these blogs after a week at the seaside celebrating Mum’s 90 something birthday. Old Woman I think we took the same French A level with Mealnes, Becket and Les Mains Sales on my syllabus plus Les Enfants Terribles and Les Mouches which latter I didn’t understand at the time. I loved Jane Austen and a friend once invited me to the JA Society meeting at Chawton but couldn’t go. Degree was Eng lit and linguistics so very interested in the language stuff as well - tutors were keen on the view that language is a living thing and therefore changes over time but I can’t help correcting folk on the tv when something grates, such as this new habit of starting a sentence with “so” - grrr. OK off to knead my bread ( made with local mill flour).
ReplyDeleteI've not read Les Enfants. It looks quite interesting t(hanks Wiki) if less than cheerful - it's amazing what they got us to read at school! I had plans once to read Les Miserables but my French is so rusty now it would have to be in translation. But I can still manage the wonderful Petit Prince (with only a few appeals to the English translation for back-up!).
DeleteI did English Literature and Language with the OU. So I have them to thank for getting me to read Austen. Also for the collection of picture books I found I 'needed' to buy. I loved Fathers and Sons (in English) and Coram Boy (despite its grim subject matter). I am still scarred by writing a last minute assignment on Monsters of Men.
The language side was largely descriptive grammar and Michael Halliday which appealed to the analyst in me. It has also equipped me to spout at length on the value of dialects and why it's not a hanging offence to boldly split infinitives. But I too get annoyed by the misuse of 'I' or 'me'.
LanJan, don't worry, I'm still a mathematician at heart : )
Really interesting - I haven’t read Cotán Boy but did attend a poetry writing workshop at the Foundling Museum (assuming I am not barking up the wrong tree with Coram). Accents fascinated me from a young age hearing a great aunt reciting dialect poetry (we are from yon side o t’ Pennines from Lan Jan).
DeleteOh predictive text Coram Boy of course and Meaulnes not Mealnes...
DeleteYes, you're right about Coram Hospital. The book's by Jamila Gavin and centres around the activities of Otis Gardiner who claims to be a Coram Man, taking children to the Foundling Hospital. Not easy reading (Otis is not half as nice as he'd like the babies' mothers to believe) but it's beautifully written.
DeleteAll these blog-minders happily twiddling their thumbs. Then the Ambridge Hundreds find them and they suddenly have a year's worth of posts in a week! They must think it's Christmas. And *most* of the posts are on topic - well, no less on topic than we were on the Archers' blog before we were evicted.
ReplyDeleteSleepy layer and Suz
ReplyDeleteCan I add my contribution to the subject of introduction ?
Long before we had the pheromone sprays and I believe infusers I brought my dog back from Battersea to a home with two cats, though one of them had by this time decamped to the local allotments for most of the time by this point.
The senior cat had lived for a number of years with a small and passive dog, well used to cats. She had once even suckled kittens and had produced milk to do so.
Now having lived without a dog for a year or so, I returned to the house on a lovely warm summers day.
Before I entered the house I tethered the dog to the inside of the gate, went into the house to get my lunch and brought it to the front door.
I sat in the sunshine and ate my lunch with the dog watching me.
Slowly I allowed the dog to approach and she politely shared bits of fruit.
She settled beside me and I stroked and handled her gently.
After some time I tethered her again to the inside of the gate and returned inside.
I found the cat and gently started to stroke him with the hands, unwashed, still smelling of the dog.
I returned to the dog and encouraged her to smell and explore my hands by licking.
I then returned to the cat again and repeated the same process.
After a couple of hours of this activity I opened the front door but left the dog outside. In due course I fed the cat in the hallway and the dog outside the house, tethered again to the inside of the gate, but with the front door open so that they could see each other eating.
Eventually I brought the dog into the house and made sure that she was respectful of the cat.
The introduction seemed to have worked.
However the personality change in the cat was noticeable. Having always been respectful of the previous dog, and invariably keeping his distance, now when the new dog passed the cats chair he would give the dog a quick swipe.
I don't think the dog ever noticed !
Comments published as reply above to Old Woman - still confused about where to type - easily blinded by science/technology.
ReplyDeleteand replied to above.
DeleteIn theory, I'd recommend putting a reply at the bottom of the blog with the date and time you're referring to. A brief quote helps too.
In practice, it's sometimes easier to reply under the original post.
I'd tend to replying at the bottom, unless the original post is pretty close to the end anyway. Further up and it might get missed.
Stasia, Suz, Sarnia - discovered this week that my neighbour also rehomed her cat from New Start at Newent, so have contacted them today, had a very positive conversation and will visit and register with them when I am able to drive again in a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for support given over recent weeks.
Oh, that does sound hopeful MrsP. I do hope it works out well and that you soon have a small furry lodger to boss you around 🙂
DeleteMrs P and all. I googled rag doll cats as ai had never heard of them till now - and they are not proper cats! A proper cat has green eyes. A proper cat is black, white, tabby (silver grey and tawny) or any combination of these, including tortoiseshell. A proper cat does not follow you around unless you've forgotten its supper. A proper cat has a rich external life and only comes indoors for food and comfort. It only jumps on your lap or bed because it's more comfortable than anywhere else and has no hesitation in sticking its claws in your handmade patchwork quilt or best trousers if you move a hairsbreath. Affection doesn't come into it. If a guest inadvertently sits in its favourite chair, it has variously histrionic ways of making its displeasure known. A proper cat never says sorry!
ReplyDeleteMaryellen - I'm with you all the way. Well almost !
DeleteI once handled a pair of white rag dolls. I think it was at Battersea at Windsor. They did not appear to have any bones.
I found them to be very creepy.
And they did not look like the two that Suz had directed me to, either.
The best cat that I've ever had was my Bobby Brewster tabby
Main Coon. An amazing character
HG you are welcome and Suz 👍to you. I watched episode 3 of unforgotten last night and it had an unexpected twist (the father was gay and the mother did it). I do enjoy a good English mystery show.
ReplyDeleteMrsP I do hope you will find a suitable cat. My two are great compansions, though they are both indoor boys.
ReplyDeleteSeasider - home baked bread made with locally milled flour - can you send me a few slices with homemade jam?
ReplyDeleteMrsP, 24. 4.27pm I do hope New Start are able to help. My neighbour has been involved with New Start for a number of years. Last year she agreed to care for a pregnant rescue cat ( found in Birmingham) but only until the kittens had been weaned. However, after they were all given back for rehousing she decided to adopt the mother.
ReplyDeleteLove is a many splendid thing, as the song goes, and our little furry creatures are very loving. Even Hilda Ogden loves Peggy. P4HO.
It's the other way round. Peggy loves Hilda.
DeleteRuthy, I have been watching a program about British entertainers in Las Vegas. They are all veteran performers who are going to do a show there. They are staying in a mansion and were bewailing the fact that there is no electric kettle to make a cup of tea! My husband and I stayed with friends in New Orleans and they didn’t have a kettle either and certainly not a teapot. These are almost obligatory items in a British home and I wondered whether you had them! We had to boil ,the water in the microwave!
ReplyDeleteThe kettle is last item thing to pack when moving house and 1st to unpack at new house. I have a spare kettle, bought when I suspected current one was about to give up. The older one is still going strong. I'm particular about my kettles; they must have an easy to read liquid gauge and be comfortable to lift.
DeleteRuthy
ReplyDeleteSadly I have not yet tried jam making - I could offer heather honey from the local moors or locally bought lemon curd, quince jelly...I do tend to collect such produce on holiday or at farmers’ markets. The bread went down nicely with a bowl of chicken soup tonight. Needed some comfort food after all that Archers angst.
Re 24.4 329pm Mrs P.
ReplyDeleteThank you for all your tips 're new cats and old dogs. Thanks to everyone who chipped in.
In reference to old films and cat names I went on Netflix today and there are two films newly advertised. Piewackett (a horror film) and Killing Gunther (Arnold Schwarznegger spelling?). How weird a coincidence is that as two names which came up in the blog as cat names recently , my own cat and someone else's? Neither very jolly films but the coincidence made me laugh.
Seaside - now I am even more jealous - heathy honey, lemon curd, quince jelly - yes, please.
ReplyDeleteEv - that show sounds great - what is the name of it? And Yes, I do have Tea kettle - electric! We drink tea everyday! 🍵
ReplyDelete