A Great Weekend Near Daventry And No Place For Old Men At Playgroup?

Today is Wednesday which means that we're back in Suffolk. We've had another busy few days in Rochester babysitting our lovely little two-year-old granddaughter. We took her to two groups this week. On Monday it was Little Stars playgroup. I was sitting on the floor there reading a book to Catherine who was alongside me when another two-year-old came along and promptly sat himself down on my lap to listen in. Years ago this would have been nothing to mention but in today's climate alarm bells rang in my head as I anxiously looked around to see that I had his mother's approval. It's not easy being a bloke in the company of children nowadays as that poor man who tried to visit a falconry centre in Somerset found out when he was refused entry on the ground of being a single male. 

There was no sign of his mum but as I as in full view of everyone I thought "what the heck" and continued to read. When I finished the book he ran off and chose another four and came back, snuggled onto my lap and listened intently as I read them all. It was perfectly natural to read to him and at the end of the playgroup his mum came over and thanked me for doing so. On the following day I was the only male again at the library's Toddler Boogie but as I was not the only grandparent I felt a little more settled. I really wish that men could be more accepted around children and feel more comfortable - perhaps so few go into primary school teaching for fear of the potential accusations.

Rochester was bright, warm and sunny again this week and I think this is the first year that I can remember seeing men out in the shops wearing shorts in November - but perhaps that's just a Rochester thing. 

The building in which the Gunpowder Plot was hatched

Before heading to Rochester we had a short break in Ashby St Ledgers in the midlands. No, I'd never head of it either but we were meeting up with old friends Dave and Jane Haworth from Lancashire and wanted a half way house. At just over two hours drive for both couples, this tiny village was just right and we discovered that it was the place where Guido Fawkes and his co-conspirators hatched their failed plot.

We stayed at the homely Olde Coach House which was pleasant, inexpensive and convenient for the motorway. The rooms were good and the staff were welcoming. Although the food was fine the fine dining menu which was promoted on their website was not available and we were left with homely but basic pub grub.

It would have been good if we could have stayed in the village's manor house but sadly Lord Wimborne owns this place. It was wonderful to catch up with Dave and Jane's news. It's been many months since we last met up and I hope we don't go that far in between meetings again.

November may not be the best time to promote what is essentially a summer read but I thought I would have a look at the results of the giveaway that I did on Goodreads.com last month. I sent out twenty copies of the novel with a personal letter with each. I heard nothing directly from any of the recipients but three rated it (one at 4 stars and two at 5 stars) and two of those also reviewed the book positively. As the exercise cost over £230 including the books and the postage it's a fairly disappointing return as Goodreads suggested that fifty percent might review it. Perhaps they are just slow readers but a quick email saying "thanks for the book" would not have gone amiss. It's early days to see the effects of the free download but as that cost far less, any result will be a good result. 

We've now got a few days in Framlingham before heading back to Rochester. We've got plenty going on - there's rarely a quiet moment. 

Cramming It All In

As we're spending two days a week at the moment helping out with the family's temporary childcare shortage in Rochester we're having to cram seven days worth of home life into five  at the moment and boy did we cram it in yesterday.

I started at seven in the morning with a trip to the college for a spinning class. After that it was a quick trip back home for a shower and a bowl of porridge before heading back with Marion to the college for a circuit training class. Duly exhausted it was back home at ten for another shower before heading to Southwold.

We were in Southwold for the excellent Ways With Words literary festival and were fortunate enough to have front row seats for talks by Shane Spall (accompanied by husband Tim), Rev Richard Coles and Melvyn Bragg.

What a great line up it was. Shane Spall was a quiet and fairly diffident presence who spoke enthusiastically about her books whilst her husband Tim exuded bonhomie and an infectious joie de vivre - the Southwold audience loved his reading of a passage about a meeting with a Sole Bay fisherman complete with unintelligible local dialect. 

By complete contrast to Shane, Richard Coles was as confident a speaker as you are likely to encounter which is not surprising given his regular TV and radio appearances and his other job as a vicar. He spoke about his childhood, his coming out and his epiphany in Edinburgh but missed out the "searingly honest" bits of his autobiography which could have shocked his mostly silver haired audience.

At the signing afterwards, Marion told Richard that if he were the vicar of Framlingham she would go to church. I simply raised my eyes and wondered how on earth we could fit that in.

The afternoon ended with a talk by Melvyn Bragg. I've always considered Melvyn to be a serious and confident interviewer but his talk showed a fragile side to him that is rarely seen. He was talking about his novel Grace And Mary which is written as an autobiographical fiction. By this Melvyn meant that he used real people, changed their identities and then wrote fiction about them. The people in this case were himself, his mother and his grandmother who was sent away from her community for bearing an illegitimate child (true, but as the author said, hard to believe today). A third of the book covers the period from when his ageing mother developed Alzheimer's to her eventual death from this ghastly disease and Melvyn was too emotional to complete the reading of each of his chosen passages. It showed a truly compassionate side to his nature and I have great admiration for his ability to share this sensitivity with a group of strangers. He was annoyed at letting his feelings get the better of him but, as the interviewer on stage with him said, if your writing doesn't move you, it won't move your readers.

Framlingham Town Council. Photo courtesy of www.nearthecoast.com/framlingham/

There was no time to dawdle after the event finished and it was back to the car and off to Framlingham in time to get to the Town Council meeting. I believe that there are usually no more than three members of the public in the audience at these meetings but, due to current development proposals which could increase the town's population by over 30% at a stroke, the hall was packed with standing room only. I felt sorry for the town councillors who explained that they were all volunteers and, effectively, asked the audience not to blame them for anything. The most important part of the meeting - the discussion of the proposed development on Fairfield Rd - drew a huge response from members of the audience who repeated the many arguments against the new houses. The outcome of the meeting was, for me, fairly unsatisfactory as, although the proposals were not approved, they were not rejected but simply pushed down the road for further consideration when more information is available.

After the meeting we were home in time to catch the final episode of The Detectorists which was filmed here. As a detector user living in Framlingham the show has been a firm favourite with me and I've really enjoyed it. It was a very gentle and fairly whimsical show which is right up my street and I'm delighted that, with 582,000 viewers last night (way above the slot average), another series has been commissioned.

I enjoyed spotting the town locations. Here's Toby Jones outside our bookshop - the only bookshop in the country stocking my novel at the moment. 

Here's a nice shot of Castle St.

And here's the excellent John Bradlaugh Electrical on Fore St where we bought our vacuum cleaner - I must pop in and try and get one of those toy detectors that MacKenzie Crook's character bought in last night's show.

So that was a pretty hectic day and a pretty lengthy blog too (sorry). This weekend we're off to a pub near Rugby to meet our friends Dave and Jane from our old life in Lancashire. 

A Thirty Year Old Toy And Some Eight Hundred Year Old Finds

We've had a busy but enjoyable five days in Framlingham. We got back late on Tuesday night and have packed loads into the time we've been home and are now getting ready to head back to Rochester for another few days of babysitting.

We've done a couple of spinning classes and a circuit training class at the college. We've been in the monthly quiz at The Railway too ; we won last month but this time we were half way down the rankings despite a very good score. I've also been writing letters to the district councillors about the reckless overdevelopment that's being planned for the town - that makes me sound like a NIMBY but I'm all for development if done sensibly and for the benefit of the residents and not just the developers. There are scores of arguments against the plans. Here's just one.

This was the scene in the Co-Op car park on Saturday morning with cars driving round and round before exiting without finding a space. Does this show that the town can cope with a 30% increase in residents (and their cars)?

Halloween was a non-event in our road. We stocked up with sweets but the bell didn't ring.

Meanwhile in Rochester, our two year old granddaughter was terrorising her neighbourhood as a bright red and very ferocious crocodile.

After another excellent Saturday cooked breakfast and a stab at the Times2 crossword at The Lemon Tree (finished all bar two this week), it was time for a look around the market and to pick up some food from Hall Farm Butchers and Leo's Deli. 

In the afternoon Marion carried on with her master plan for the garden and planted a superb specimen Mexican Orange Blossom from nearby Crown Nurseries of Ufford. Our neighbour David came and put up some wire trellis for me while I acted as his assistant. Thanks David! I'm a bit useless at DIY and don't possess much more than a screwdriver and hammer by way of tools and, having bought this custom made wirework to support a new rose, Marion didn't want it wrecked by my handiwork.

With the days getting shorter I didn't think I would have time to get out with the detector but David was so quick that I managed to walk down the road and have a quick try. It was a successful ninety five minutes and these were the better finds that I made. Apart from the small medieval buckle and the small pistol balls, there were two medieval to post medieval lace tags, a cut medieval silver halfpenny, a medieval harness pendant and a possible medieval to post medieval hawking bell. The "bell" might be simply a button with holes in it but the local FLO (finds liaison officer) will be able to tell me.

This harness pendant would once have been decorated with a coat of arms and been part of the decoration on a knight's horse.

This cut silver halfpenny dates from around the same period (13th century).

 One of the lace tags.

Our daughter Sarah phoned yesterday to ask if we could get to her old Sindy house easily. She got it as a present from her nana and granddad when she was three and was thinking of handing it down to her own daughters. Fortunately we spent four hours on Thursday afternoon tidying the garage so finding it wasn't too hard.

We fished it out of the garage and put it back together. It's in pretty good condition for thirty plus years old.

Here's Sarah with it on the day that she got it all those years ago.

Raving Loonies In Rochester (And On The Apprentice)

We're back in Framlingham after another stint of childcare in Rochester. We're getting into a routine now which will make it easier for us until the situation is resolved. We've got the suitcase ready and waiting early on Sunday evening and have most things packed in the car before we go to bed so as to ensure that the noise in the morning is minimal - I am sure that our neighbours won't appreciate too much door slamming at 5.30 a.m. 

This week the local Rochester playgroup was holding  a wellie walk so we had a very enjoyable trip to nearby Shorne Woods just outside Gravesend. Our granddaughter is always fascinated by throwing sticks into water and this activity kept her amused for ages. She had a good tramp through puddles and mud in her wellies before playing on the excellent playground. The weather was very kind and the whole group enjoyed two or three hours in pleasant autumn sunshine.

Back in Rochester things are hotting up for the by-election and there is a very strong UKIP presence with plenty of men who should know better wearing lurid purple fleeces and carrying placards. We even saw a dog dressed in a ridiculous UKIP coat. He and his owner looked as if they were canvassing for the Monster Raving Loonies and not a supposedly credible alternative to Labour or the Conservatives. And yet all the polls suggest that they will win. Let's hope it's just typical by-election madness.

My novel's five day free stint on Amazon certainly got it noticed and there were hundreds of downloads during the giveaway. As Lord Sugar rightly says on The Apprentice it's all about margins and any fool can be a successful salesman if he or she gives the goods away - so how can it be justified?

Well, as you can see from this screen shot, during the free period the book reached number six in the holidays category. By reaching this level it appeared on the front page of the listings in that genre and consequently was seen by far more people. Okay they were able to download it for nothing (and I know that may be galling to those who paid) but as a result of their downloads there is now a link beneath my book quoting "readers who bought this also bought ......" and a long list of books. Consequently, beneath those other books will be a link which reads "people who bought this also bought ...... " and, amongst the many titles will be Give Me Your Tomorrow . Since it returned to full price, sales have been encouraging. What really matters now is if those free downloaders now read the book and leave a positive review - we'll see how it looks in a couple of weeks.

The Goodreads giveaway of twenty paperbacks is also starting to bear fruit and I now have two five star and one four star review on that site. 

It's really time to get stuck into the new novel now and I'm doing my best to get it moving although time is in such short supply. It was never like this when we were working.

Having mentioned The Apprentice earlier I must say that last night's episode was an all time low for the show. Tasked with producing an amusing viral channel on YouTube the team's attempts were beyond derision. Lacking humour, skill, script and just about everything else I'm surprised that Lord Sugar didn't simply sack the lot and start all over again. If he does invest £250k in one of them at the end of the process, that's a quarter of a million quid he'll never see again.

Finally a word of praise for the wonderful Mary Beard. She's very active on Twitter and her tweets and blogs are always amusing and entertaining. What's more she's prepared to interact with her followers. I've commented on her tweets several times and she has always responded. Yesterday she was criticising some crassly sexist advertising in the Vauxhall Corsa brochure. She made a very good point that this sort of stuff (a leggy young woman draped across the car interior) is inappropriate in 2014 but in doing so, I felt she managed to give the manufacturers (and the page in question) more publicity than they would otherwise have had - so win win for Vauxhall. But don't stop doing it Mary, you're one of the characters who make Twitter worthwhile.

A Joyous And Joyful Trip To London

With all the driving we did last week, the last thing we needed was a trip to London on Saturday. But, having spent almost £200 on front stalls seats for Shakespeare In Love at the Noel Coward Theatre a few months ago, we weren't going to pour money down the drain and headed off to Ipswich to catch the 12.09 train. We were in good time until I foolishly followed a Satnav route that suggested we would arrive much earlier than expected instead of sticking to the planned journey. The Satnav woman was clearly unfamiliar with Ipswich Saturday traffic and we ended up collecting our tickets from the machine at the Station at 12.08 and walking straight through the barriers and onto the train. That might look like a case of perfect timing but it was, in fact, a pretty stressful arrival. 

As we can only manage a theatre trip once every month or two we have to be choosy and rely on the critics and pick only the shows that get four or five stars in the newspaper. Shakespeare In Love was universally acclaimed - and deservedly so. It's far lighter than The Crucible  which we saw at the Old Vic recently but it's still a wonderful couple of hours entertainment. We didn't see the Oscar winning movie so the story was fresh and great fun.We enjoyed spotting the Shakespeare references in the play (I'm sure that we missed plenty); my favourite was "out damned spot" directed at one of the play's star turns (I won't spoil it for you). 

Shakespeare's beautiful Sonnet 18 (Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day) figures largely in the play. It's my favourite Shakespeare sonnet and features in my own novel Give Me Your Tomorrow as well as inspiring the title The Darling Bids Of May and John Mortimer's book Summer's Lease. I think this use of Shakespeare's beautiful love poetry added a great deal to Shakespeare In Love and made it not just a great comedy but also a fabulous love story. The magnificent set was fabulous and the curtain call was one of the most joyful theatrical events I've seen in a long time - it brought tears of pleasure to my eyes. If you wan't something entertaining and light but a bit different than the average West End musical give this a try. You will definitely not be disappointed.

I was, however, disappointed by the behaviour of a group of teenagers on the train back to Ipswich. They were wearing badges which indicated involvement in a Youth Parliament event. God help us if any of that lot ever get elected. Loud, boisterous, inane and totally oblivious to the rest of the passengers these loud mouthed thirteen to seventeen year olds (plus a couple of adults - teachers?) were so childishly noisy they ruined the journey for everyone nearby. They weren't using bad language but were so loud and full of themselves that they seemed oblivious to the thought that maybe some in the carriage didn't want to listen to their views or find their practical jokes on their friends funny. As they departed at Ipswich their table was piled high with rubbish - politicians eh!

Rochester is big in the political news at the moment due to the defection of their MP to UKIP and we're off there again on babysitting duties tomorrow. and staying for a week this time. I'll be taking these 20 copies of my novel to post while we are there. Over eight hundred people entered the Goodreads competition to win a copy. I hope that the recipients in Canada, the USA and England enjoy the novel and leave some decent reviews to help me to promote sales.

What Do Horatio Nelson, Silvio Berlusconi, MacKenzie Crook And I All Have In Common?

If you're thinking Bunga Bunga you're on the wrong track although I know that Admiral Nelson and Lady Hamilton had more than a bit of a jiggy thing going on. And if it's rugged good looks then, of course, I will forgive you but you are wide of the mark. And I will forgive you too if you go for intelligence, creativity or writers of great novels but you would still be wrong. No, what each of these fine specimens has in common is today - 29th September - be it 1758, 1936, 1953 or 1971 as we all share the same birthday.

According to the internet we share a friendly fair temperament that aims to be respectful of the opinions of others. Our creative imagination and sharply observant and perceptive minds are likely to have a real appreciation for beauty and the wonders of nature. Cooperative and usually rather good at negotiating we make great and understanding listeners. Intelligent, idealistic and practical we like to stay busy and organised but emotionally we tend to be quite fragile and seem to constantly seek stability. Individuals with a September 29th birthday are just as charismatic and stylish as most of their zodiac group yet ordinarily not as confident.We possess an unselfish caring attitude but can sometimes be intolerant moody or pessimistic too. I think that the words highlighted in red sum up Horatio, Mackenzie and me but I am not too sure about Sylvio who perhaps falls into the blue category. 

But hang on a minute. Young Mackenzie and I share far more than our birth date. We've also got detecting. I go metal detecting and, at ten o'clock on Thursday night, MacKenzie's new comedy series The Detectorists airs on BBC4. It's not only about detecting and starring MacKenzie but it also stars the wonderful Toby Jones who had us spellbound earlier this week in the outstanding Marvellous which was just as good as its title suggests. And the comparisons with my soul brother MacKenzie don't end there or with our handsome looks. Where was The Detectorists shot?

Why, our home town of Framlingham no less. Here's the crew obscuring the Fram Bookshop window during filming (no doubt decimating my book sales for a day).

Happy Birthday MacKenzie. See you in The Crown later? And if you want to make an old man happy on his birthday please download my book or buy a paperback copy on Amazon by clicking here.
andonThurs
More: http://www.gotohoroscope.com/birthday-horoscopes/september-29th.html

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Give Me Your Tomorrow

by John Brassey

Giveaway ends October 10, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Football And Footlights In Framlingham

I had a great day yesterday. We got up a bit later than usual and headed down to The Lemon Tree for an excellent full English. You'll find me doing the crossword in The Crown or The Dancing Goat over a cup of coffee and a slice of cake most weekdays but on a Saturday it's the Times Jumbo2 crossword and that calls for a more substantial meal. I'm happy to say that we managed to complete it this week which was a good start to the morning.

We then headed to the bookshop to thank Victoria for giving my novel a prominent position in the window in support of my ad in this week's AboutFram email. I'm not sure if anybody has bought a signed copy from the bookshop yet but the ad did bring a good response to the Kindle sales.

After the shopping it was time to head back home to watch Liverpool v Everton on TV. I won't dwell on that but as soon as it finished I walked up the road and settled down to watch table topping Framlingham Town against Ipswich Exiles in the Touchline Suffolk & Ipswich League.

The excellent young Framlingham side were already 2-0 up when I got to my seat and it wasn't long before the score increased to 3-0 sparking a mini riot in front of the home team dug out.

Fortunately Timothy West, taking a day off from his theatrical duties, had a good game and managed the situation well and no doubt with a "methinks he doth protest too much" sent off the Ipswich offender.

Tim In A More Familiar Role

With the opposition down to ten men, the second half became a rout and Danny Smith (at seventeen an outstanding goalscoring prospect- Brendan Rogers take note ) completed a hat trick and could have had more if he hadn't put this one over. Framingham ended 7-1 winners with some attractive attacking football. I was impressed by Bret Bellamy who took his penalty well and subs Issac Robinson and Nathan Vincent both scored within minutes of getting onto the pitch. Olly Goddard attacked well and if he had chosen to pass instead of going for goal on a number of occasions the score could have reached double figures.

After the match we headed up to the college for an hour of outstanding sketch comedy from the Cambridge Footlights (who left the stage before I had time to take a photo so you'll have to make do with these cardboard cut outs). We saw a similar show when we saw Sheeps at the Edinburgh Fringe two years ago but this was even funnier. I particularly enjoyed sketches involving a French conversation using Google translate "Sacred blue!" and "Burnt cream" , a sausage factory demonstration infiltrated by a dog and an introduction to a randy chameleon. It was a non-stop hour of excellent comedy and I am sure that we will be seeing a lot of the five (very) young men in the future. 

We were home in time to watch X Factor on Sky Plus so, all in all, a pretty perfect day.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Give Me Your Tomorrow

by John Brassey

Giveaway ends October 10, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I Am Thrilled By The Result

I am delighted to have woken up this morning to find the United Kingdom intact and our Scottish family still part of Great Britain.

And, whilst it is a disappointment that 38% of those eligible to vote, voted for independence, that still leaves a fairly hefty 62% who chose not to do so.

Which means that, hopefully, for the remainder of my days, our beautiful little Scottish grandchildren Rose and Melody will share our nationality. I want them to feel totally Scottish and to be part of that wonderful country but also to feel part of a United Kingdom and be able to share the culture and heritage of each and every one of the individual nations that make it so unique.

I feel a bit sorry for Alec Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. In all honesty they ran their campaign brilliantly and quietly without shouting until suddenly they found themselves in the surprise position of a YES vote becoming a real possibility. It was an exemplary example of how to run a political campaign and they managed to keep their dogs of war on a very tight leash until the polls showed the narrowest of gaps between the parties.

And then somehow, suddenly and inexplicably Jim Sillars and Tommy Sheridan slipped that leash and were all over the press spouting their opinions in the way that Salmond and Sturgeon had studiously spent two years trying to avoid. I imagine that Sillars appearance on BBC's Today Programme last week gave the NO campaign its biggest single boost in the last six months and slammed the brakes onto what was looking like an unstoppable Independence Bandwagon. The BBC was accused of bias. Had they shown Sillars and Sheridan on a 24 hour loop they could not have done the independence campaign more harm.

Once the firebrand fringe had shown its true colours with this sort of thing, the bandwagon came off the rails and I honestly believe that without this sort of negativity from the YES side, the outcome would have been much closer - a spectacular, but for me welcome, own goal.

As for Andy Murray and his now infamous tweet? Let's give the lad a break. He shared the view of almost two fifths of his compatriots. What's wrong with that? He wasn't aggressive in his opinion and, like all those who campaigned in a civilised manner on both sides of the argument, he should be congratulated on getting involved. Now that it's all over I will certainly continue to back him whenever he is playing and I hope that the rest of the UK gets behind him too. Anyone booing him on court should be swiftly shown the exit.

Now that it's all over and my worries of the last few weeks have subsided I feel certain that the referendum will prove to have been a good thing and have real beneficial effects for both Scotland and the UK as a whole.