Sunday 30 November 2014

On Killer Beasts And Other Framlingham Musings

It's been over a week since my last blog. That's something of a record as I've done my best to try and post at least three every week to keep up my writing practice. 


It's not that I haven't done any writing though as I am also lending a hand to Fram Residents Association. They are currently fighting a battle to ensure that Framlingham isn't ruined by over development. I've written a number of posts for that blog befairtofram.blogspot.co.uk. I haven't written all of those posts, only those with my name at the bottom. Look out for one next week on the statistics of the development (I love statistics). I've not turned political it's just that, whilst I am happy to see progress, it's not progress to destroy green fields while derelict old factory sites remain undeveloped.




Whilst on the writing theme, I was delighted to get this tweet from a reader on Friday. Give Me Your Tomorrow is still selling copies every week although the volumes are not as high as I would have liked. Tweets like this really encourage me to persevere in trying to get it noticed. I am working on some more promotion for the book and I am also trying to make progress with the next novel which I aim to publish in 2015.

So what else has been going on? Last weekend we visited the Taste Of London winter event at Tobacco Dock in Limehouse. We went with the Rochester branch of the family and enjoyed sampling the amazingly diverse range of food and drink on display. Sadly we were driving so the drink sampling was kept to a minimum. 

After that we had our last two days of baby-sitting in Kent for the immediate future. It was sad to say goodbye to the family on Tuesday evening as, whilst childcare at 100 miles distance is hardly ideal, it's been a wonderful opportunity for us to bond with our little granddaughter. Being the only granddad at Toddler Boogie was certainly an uplifting experience and one that far more men should try. (If any grandfathers out there need the words to The Wheels On The Bus or any other children's songs, look no further).



Wednesday saw us in Ipswich where the Christmas decorations were making very good progress. I was there for the fitting of a new hearing aid whilst Marion did the last of our Christmas shopping.



You may think that's premature but, when you have a schedule like ours, you have to make use of every spare moment so Marion has spent this weekend getting the decorations in place before we head off to St Andrews to see the Fife branch of the family.

In between a great workout with Becky at Fram Leisure and a disastrous performance at The Railway quiz (next to bottom this time), we spent Thursday preparing for a Friday evening dinner for some friends. Thanks to Hall Farm butchers and Leo's Deli, the food was fabulous and a great evening was had by all. We got everyone to provide their Desert Island discs and made a playlist of them all. It always provides plenty of conversation so it was 2.30 a.m when we finally got to bed. Last night I did another trip to the bottle bank under cover of darkness to spare our blushes. We made enough to cater for our widowed neighbour who was very pleased when we turned up with beef Wellington, fruit cream ice, cheese and biscuits and a glass of Chateauneuf Du Pape for his Saturday tea.



Yesterday was time for a relax in Fram. After breakfast at The Lemon Tree (finished the crossword this week), we had a look around the market and the shops and Marion bought this lovely necklace from our local hero's mum.




We had an unwelcome visitor to the garden in this giant killer slug. I've read all about them but this is the first encounter with one at home. In other wildlife news we sadly had a fatality as a blackbird managed to fly headfirst into the patio doors. We are constantly hearing bangs as birds fly into the windows here but most are only stunned and live to see another day. Sadly two or three a year don't make it. I wish there was a solution to prevent it.



But when you live so close to nature things like this are going to happen.











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