So here goes:
Shortly after returning home we went to the annual Remembrance service in the local parish church. It is always a poignant day for me what with my book on Le Paradis and work I have done to research the names on the Hethersett War Memorial.
Wherever I go in our country, I always seek out a war memorial. There are so many stories to be had and I'm always looking for the names Steward, Payne, Dew and Sandall.
Here's one from the you must be mad category. In 2023 I am looking to have four books published. FOUR I hear you cry. Why so?
Well since getting back from holiday I have been hard at work on writing an autobiography. And I have to say that it's been flowing very nicely. I wasn't sure that it would but the memories have been flooding back and I'm almost half way through.
Two things prompted me to do this. The first was this blog and how I have been humbled by the response and the fact I have almost 700 subscribers. The second was being asked to talk to a local group next March. What do you want me to talk about I asked? They said that was entirely up to me. So I had a think and decided I will give them a verbal blog, including some of the more amusing incidents from my life.
So that made me think. Why not put my life down in a book. In many ways it's been a very ordinary life, full of ordinary things but people seem to like what I write so why not expand it into book form.
I like to think of my writing as mirroring life - some parts serious and some light hearted. I hope that will come over in my autobiography and that people will enjoy it. My idea is to self publish and that's another skill I need to learn. I have a friend who has self published and so will be asking for their expertise. If any of my bloggettes have self published I would love to hear from you.
My second book is the massacre at Le Paradis which I have mentioned on numerous occasions. We have been let down badly by a publisher who agreed to publish it, said how excited they were and then backed out after I had sent them the full script.
So I have got together with friend and fellow historian John Head and checked through the book, added a few bits and pieces and contacted local publisher's Poppyland. They seem to be a perfect fit for our project and so I'm hoping that the response from them will be positive, especially as we have a finished article ready to go.
Then there are two more books I'm looking to self publish. The first will be about interesting people from my family tree and will almost be a companion volume to my autobiography. It will feature research I have carried out on ancestors and I hope to write it in an entertaining way. There's the ancestor who was superintendent of the first non denominational cemetery in the country and his son who was a lowly servant in Norfolk but ended up as a rich London benefactor who was made a Freeman of London. Then there is the illegitimate son of the brother of the Duke of Wellington who started a hugely successful shipping line in Australia and who also makes me a relative of our King (yes seriously).
The fourth book will be a volume of my blogs written during lockdown. I need to revisit and edit these into a book. So lots of writing in 2023.
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Now back to my holiday blog which goes as follows:
As I sit and write this I have a pint of Adnams Broadside beer in front of me. I have to admit that I have scarcely touched it so far.
The reason is simple. Some days a pint of beer just slips down, so fast in fact that you soon want a second. On other days you just struggle to drink one. Cest la vie.
Something interesting has just struck me about Bali. It's something mentioned on our tour of the island.
Apparently there is one day in each year usually in March when everyone has to stay indoors. There will be nobody on the streets, no vehicles, nobody goes to work, nobody goes shopping. It is an entire day of nothingness.
And why is this I hear you cry? Well it's all to confuse evil spirits. I guess that local Bali people believe that there are indeed evil spirits around. By everyone staying in, the evil spirits get confused, think the island has been deserted and retreat. Of course you could argue the opposite that seeing nobody around, the evil spirits are free to go where they want and take over. Of course it's all bunkem anyway.
Today as we approach Australia we have had more form filling to complete. I think I will introduce forms to local village life. Three forms to fill in if you want to go to the Queen's Head, two to fill in to go for a walk and a passport for getting into the village.
In my idle moments I have at long last opened my digital version of the complete works of Arthur Conan Doyle which cost me the princely sum of 49p a couple of years ago on Amazon. I am currently re-reading the Sherlock Holmes books.
I wonder what Sir Arthur would have thought about his entire output being downloaded for 49p (or just under 10 shillings in his day). Mind you that was probably a reasonable amount of money in his time, so he might have been reasonably pleased.
Dorothy and Bill W have lots of friends it seems. When you go on a cruise you usually get a daily sheet informing you about what entertainment is available throughput each day.
On our cruise around the British Isles a few years ago every day had a meeting for Friends of Dorothy.
We wondered who Dorothy was and why she was so popular that her friends got together each day in one of the ship's lounges. We had to Google it. Just a quick aside here - whenever we don't know the answer to something our granddaughter Poppy says "just Google it grandma/granddad.."
So we did. Friends of Dorothy is named after the character in the film The Wizard of Oz and refers to the LGBT+ community. So who is Bill W. Well this is named after Bill Wilson who was the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Friends of Bill W gatherings on a cruise ship are an AA meeting for cruisers recovering from alcohol or other substance abuse and addictions. Now you know.
Last night we went to the daily theatre evening entertainment and then bailed out from the gala evening entertainment as we felt seriously tired. So I went to bed with Sherlock Holmes. In the past I have been to bed with A Trollope - Anthony Trollope of course and not a lady of ill repute.
It was an evening dressed up as a penguin. In other words dinner jackets and bow ties and cocktail dresses (and that's just the men). I dress up like this out of sufferance rather than choice. I am a firm believer that it is what kind of person you are and not how you dress that is important.
We have been away from home for approaching three weeks now and I'm very aware that when we get home we will be well into the swing of Christmas. Can't say I'm all that interested at the moment but I'm sure I'll soon get in the festive spirit.