"I suppose that will get in the blog" and similar are now regular comments made to me.
But secretly I know that many people want to appear in this blog. I know I would. Many years ago I regularly appeared in a column in the local newspaper entitled Fortress H. It was a lot of fun. The column was written by Neil Haverson who, at the time, lived two doors from us in Hethersett. Neil was employed by Eastern Counties Newspapers (now Archant) on the advertising side but was a keen writer with an ability to make people laugh. This was deliberate unlike my columns which make people cringe.
Neil started off writing amusing pieces about his sporting life for the weekly newspapers when I was sports editor. So I take credit for sending him on his way. He was very gracious in acknowledging this in a book which collected together a number of his newspaper columns.
He branched out to write columns about his family which he referred to as Mrs H, Brat Major and Brat Minor. I asked (nay demanded at times) that I should be featured in these columns and I became radiator man for a while due to the fact that I once wrecked a radiator whilst trying to repair it. Then we moved to the other end of the village and I became Posh End. Can't think why.
Neil's column saw his children grow up. In fact his son narrated the digital version of the book. He was particularly hard on Mrs H whom he mentioned in virtually every column but whom he never divulged the identity of. At times it seemed he was exaggerating but then we found out he wasn't. He once said Mrs H had the ability to talk to four different people on four different subjects at the same time and we actually saw this in action.
Eventually I had withdrawal symptoms if I wasn't mentioned regularly in the columns.
Now I actually get requests to appear in my blog. Had one a couple of days ago and I'm more than happy to mention our local village cafe. I probably don't go as much as I would like but if you want a damn good feed, Janey's is really the place to go.
There that's done that. Do let me know if you want to be mentioned or insulted in my blog. I know some authors use names of real people who make a payment to a charity in their novels. This is a very good idea. My offer is a free one though. I expect no payment!
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I mentioned a couple of days ago that I was confused as to why pubs are called Three Horseshoes and not Four. Don Williamson came up with the reason which is as follows:
The name "Three Horseshoes" is the heraldic symbol of the Worshipful Company of Farriers a Fellowship since 1356, chartered in 1674. The assumption is that the design employed only three shoes as the other one was being worked on or replaced by the farrier.
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I see the wonderful Andy Murray is giving all the prize money he wins this year to Ukraine. It's a fantastic gesture and a very generous one.
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For some reason yesterday a song lyric from Harry Chapin kept coming into my head. So here it is and make of it what you will.
Well just today I had my birthday -- I made it thirty-four
Mere mortal, not immortal, not star-crossed anymore
I've got this problem with my aging I no longer can ignore
A tame and toothless tabby can't produce a lion's roar.