Yesterday there were three that I particularly appreciated. Judith said "I love your daily blogs" and Pat replied "fascinating aren't they." I mean how good is it that readers are talking to each other about what I refer to as "my twitterings"?
It's difficult to see what I write from the viewpoint of a reader but that's exactly what I try to do. Often after I have written a blog and before I publish it, I have a break and then look at it as if I am one of my own readers. I try to divorce myself from the fact that I am the writer and think "is there really anyone who wants to read this load of drivel?"
Sometimes my other self says "no, people aren't going to be interested in that" but sometimes my other self says "do you know what, that isn't bad at all."
Sometimes I entertain myself, sometimes I even amuse myself. Sometimes I bore myself to pieces with the irrelevancy of it all. But people keep making nice comments and for that I am eternally grateful.
I do try to make them entertaining and, as I've said, just love reading the comments particularly the occasional one which says something along the lines of "the prat doesn't know what he's talking about" (thankfully there haven't been too many of them, although they probably hit the nail on the proverbial head).
I'm currently trying to structure my writing a bit as I have a tendency to start at around 8 a.m and not finish until its dark. My aim is to free up days and keep the writing to the evenings and early mornings. Only time will tell whether this is achievable.
On the same theme as compliments, I was almost reduced to tears by the post from Biddy which said: "Duncan Pigg must have been pleased that you were taking on the position of village Chronicler Peter. Your many many involvements and interests in all things Hethersett seem to me to be a fitting tribute to Duncan’s life and commitment."
This means a lot to me to think that somebody sees me in the same light as Duncan. It's very heart-warming and much appreciated. I hope that in some way I can continue his legacy.
Sadly I have to report that we have lost another stalwart. Just three days after Duncan died we have lost Harold Kerslake, another gem of the local community. Harold lived at nearby Little Melton, but over the years has been greatly involved in Hethersett life.
My stories of Harold are legion. Nobody who ever saw his performance as King Richard in the village pantomime will ever forget it. He bounded onto the stage from the audience waving a wooden sword above his head and endangering the entire audience. On the stage he endangered the lives of all those around him with his enthusiastic sword wielding.
Harold used the word "wonderful" a lot. He used it on stage when he couldn't remember his lines (and to be fair he didn't have very many). But he didn't stick with one wonderful but came out with a whole string of them "wonderful, wonderful, wonderful" he cried which was the cue for the prompt to jump in to help him.
Many years earlier Harold coached one of our village's junior cricket teams and on presentation evening used the word wonderful many many times. It became a standing joke with my youngest son. So picture the scene when the two of us were sitting on the end of a row for the panto as Harold made his way down the aisles (pretending that he was back from the Crusades whereas he was really only back from the village hall's kitchen).
When he did his wonderful, wonderful, wonderful on stage myself and my son couldn't contain it anymore. Tears were streaming down our cheeks and I must admit I lost the ability to keep one part of my body from issuing forth. A lady sitting next to us said something along the lines of "it's not that funny." We knew different in a kind of wonderful way. You had to know Harold and his eccentricities to fully appreciate what was going on.
I remember Harold when he was dressed up as an elf outside Santa's grotto one Christmas. Every time a youngsters passed him he would blow noisily on a trumpet. You see Harold played the trumpet. Harold played the trumpet extremely badly. But that was Harold. A kind man who was technically an academic but got on with everyone and wasn't adverse to making a fool of himself.
And one of Harold's great successes was in marrying the wonderful wonderful wonderful Mary who was simply one of the nicest, kindest people I have ever come across. The Rev Mary Kerslake was a teacher before she became ordained into the church. Sadly she died in 2015 and Harold never really got over losing her.
Mary was very supportive of our family when we lost our first grandson and I will always be grateful to both her and Harold for their compassion. Harold was one of those people who never talked about themselves and always took a huge interest in others.
Over the past seven years, Mary has been really missed and now so will Harold.
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In an article on the massacre at Le Paradis which should appear in the EDP ahead of a memorial service in April in Norwich Cathedral, I have been described as an historian, researcher and journalist.
Quite a number of years ago we went to a talk given by Paddy Ashdown who will primarily be remembered as a politician. He had just brought out a book on an operation during the Second World War. He said he hoped that posterity would look upon him as an historian and a writer rather than a politician. I would love the same. I take it as a great compliment when somebody refers to me as either an historian or a writer or sometimes both.
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Every month Hethersett Village Screen shows a film on the first Sunday from September through to May. This month's offering was "Supernova" - a film about a road trip featuring two devoted male lovers, one of whom is living with the early stages of dementia. It was a film with two powerful performances by Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth. But it was a hugely depressing film. It would be in my top five most depressing films of all time. You should have seen the faces of the audience at the end. It was poignant but it certainly wasn't entertaining.