Sunny and Warm

Well, summer has well and truly arrived. I just hope that we can make the most of it. We're almost into July, so there's no need to complain as regards it being sunny and warm. Last year it was certainly a different matter as we are supposed to have had the wettest summer in decades and last winter the coldest for 50 years. It seems that the British are always complaining about the weather, which is to be expected, but on a positive note, if it wasn't for the amount of rain, the countryside would never be so lush and green.

Changeable Weather

We are experiencing some really changeable weather at the moment. Nothing unusual, as we have summers in England which range from scorchingly hot to pouring rain, to decidedly chilly. As I write this it is windy and not exactly warm, and not exactly what one would call 'Flaming June' by any stretch of the imagination. Let's hope that it's not as wet a summer as we had last year, a real washout.  We're hoping for warm, or at least dry, weather, when we go down to Devon for my daughter Chloe's wedding at the beginning of August. It's at a village called Ipplepen. Then we are going to Infracombe for a holiday, which I think we've more than deserved. I will no doubt be posting more on the subject nearer the time, and maybe during our time down there, if we can find a wifi connection nearby.

Creative Writing

As you will have realised if you follow me here regularly, I haven't posted anything here for a week or two, so I'm making up for this by posting this today.  One of the reasons is that I'm currently writing what I'd call a 'multi-strand' novel. It has inter-linked elements, using some of the same characters, and it's set in and around the same locations. I am uploading some of it to two online sites, Booksie and Wattpad, which I have discovered having read an article about them in a magazine I subscribe to, Writing Magazine. I know, not a particularly imaginative title, but full of amazing information which I don't think I would have found anywhere else. As a result, I can highly recommend it to aspiring writers, whatever area of writing it happens to be. I write using paper and pencil. I just prefer this method. I don't like pen and ink. Perhaps it's because you can erase pencil so easily. I've been through several drafts, saving all that  I've written in a ring binder ( I write on A4 punched paper.) and keep all my notes and revisions in this binder. Once I have got what I've written up to a standard I'm happy with, I then put it on word processing and it is this which is then cut and pasted into the online writing sites.

The good thing about these sites, Booksie and Wattpad, is that you can read other people's work and then comment. Like Facebook and elsewhere you can 'like' authors and their writing and you can make comments. Constructive criticism is always better than negative. Some people can be quite nasty, which it is best to avoid. If you make comments then you are more likely to build up a following for your work. 

Tailgating To Be Made Illegal

I see from the BBC television news that the Government is to make tailgating an offence. I have mention in earlier posts how I constantly get drivers coming up very close to me as I drive around Milton Keynes (although  this has happened on roads elsewhere.) and try to push you out of the way just because you're driving a small car and they think you are driving too slowly (usually well within the speed limit.) Also, you will be fined if you are caught hogging the central lane on a Motorway. This does happen frequently when we drive anywhere on Britain's Motorway system. I believe this central lane is for overtaking and not a lane for drivers to take over almost for their exclusive use. It really is quite difficult to keep within the legal speed limit as it is without being forced to go faster just because someone else insists you go faster. I had several occasions when I was driving around Milton Keynes as  a home carer where drivers were using really dangerous methods of driving to get you out of the way. On one occasion I was driving to one of my evening calls in Bletchley, minding my own business, and driving well within the speed limit, when this Transit van came up behind me extremely closely, with three large workmen in it. They wanted to get me to get out of the way, which I wasn't going to do, but then began weaving about all over the road in a quite aggressive and intimidating manner, to such a degree that I had to pull over in a layby and let them go past. On three occasions I was run into by cars as I approached roundabouts (as you may, or, indeed, may not be aware, Milton Keynes is renowned for it's roundabouts.) merely because these cars are driven by people who imagine they don't have to stop at a roundabout and anyone who gets in the way will just get hit. I have since learned from watching television that there is a scam going whereby drivers deliberatly run into other cars so as to claim compensation for these false accidents.
I understand that they have also increased the fine for driving whilst using a mobile phone. A good thing, but I often wonder how on earth you police this, as I see so many people flouting the law and brazenly driving with a mobile stuck to their ear and with no thought given to the safety aspect. How many actually get caught, as there are never any police around at the time I see this. And similarly with tailgating.

Bright, Sunny and Warm

Last week Carol was on Half Term. It was a Bank Holiday last Monday (called Spring Bank Holiday.) So, what does the weather do? It rains, and rains and rains. Now she has gone back to work, what happens? The sun comes out, and it's really warm. Well, we are in June now. Let's hope the weather stays like this. Just a pity we had to stay at home as it wasn't worth going out to get rained on. Just typical. We did manage to do some work in the garden. We managed to cut the grass and we got a couple of planters and have got some plants in both Asda and Morrisons. The idea is to attempt to hide the horrible garden shed which you see permanently when you look out of the sitting room window. It's ugly and totally horrible. It contains all sorts of rubbish left by former tenants. There is a second shed, which is where we store the lawn mower, but it isn't so visable and therefore doesn't take up so much of the view. We got some climbing plants and hopefully they will climb up the canes we stuck in the soil in the planters. Also, we have sunflowers growing and have them planted out in two more flower pots. They are growing extremely fast. I shall put photos of all these gardening goings-on on this blog in future posts so keep an eye out for them.