Lethargy holds sway. People mop their brows, move reluctantly onwards trying in vain to escape the deadening blanket of heat. Like a giant hand held too close to the face the heat stops our breath, we gasp longing for the blessed rain.
The over heated brain yearns for quiet, a shady nook in which to find relief from the myriad thoughts and fears that pervade it, but the rain when it comes is warm and heavy providing little restbite from the giant’s all encompassing hand.
I came across this story, Amnesia which is rather thought provoking http://markovicharts.com/2013/07/20/amnesia/. There exist philosophers who argue in favour of the procedure outlined in the forgoing fictional account. See, for example the following link to the philosopher David Pearce’s website http://www.hedweb.co.uk/.
I will soon be famous. Let me rephrase that. I will soon be famous in my own locality for at least 15 minutes. It will be as a consequence of my writing. The reason I hear you ask? Have I written a short story which will wow the inhabitants of Crystal Palace and it’s environs when it appears in the local newspaper? No not quite. I am however fed up to the back teeth with my laptop which is not behaving as it should. To take just one example when I visit websites the machine frequently freezes and the only way in which I can close the internet is by resorting to the use of task manager! I have on several occasions been on the point of hurling the hapless computer out of the window. What a satisfying crash that dratted machine would make as it hit the ground. I can see the headlines now
“Mad writer flips his lid and throws laptop out of window accidentally braining neighbour”!
Well on the basis that all publicity is good publicity can someone open the window please, there is a mad writer on the loose.
One of the contenders for the Man Booker Prize, The Kills, started life on Facebook and Twitter where the first section was given away free. I must admit to having been surprised on first reading the article in the Telegraph that a 900 word story is classified as a novel, however on re-reading the piece I see that it runs to 900 pages so can legitimately be so classified. That will teach me to speed read articles! For the Telegraph’s article please visit http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booker-prize/10198682/A-Twitter-e-book-voted-on-to-the-Booker-Prize-longlist-How-very-novel.html
As a small child I was fascinated by the behaviour of others. This interest has remained with me and perhaps helps to explain at least partially why I write
Yesterday morning I popped into my local Wetherspoon pub for a healthy breakfast consisting of bacon (somewhat burned as it happens), sausages, hash browns, eggs, beans and toast (the diet which I began two weeks ago is going well I am pleased to report)! There I was wondering what I should order once I’d finished my starter when the comparative peace was disturbed by two gentlemen. They took a seat at a table behind me and proceeded to entertain the boring customers who had just popped in for a breakfast or a quiet pint.
The two men where obviously engaged in trying to crack a puzzle as one of them remarked to his companion that they had 15 minutes to find the solution. The same man then proceeded to extol the virtues of Paul Weller’s Peacock Soup. Well I thought he said Peacock Soup but as he began to tunefully regail (tunefully being a matter of opinion) us pub goers it became apparent that the song was in fact called Peacock Suit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOYrioF-hB8). The trio sang with such gusto that I felt the necessity of eating more quickly in order that I might escape into the open air and enjoy the singing of my feathered friends.
“Fuck”, “Fuck” the ring leader exclaimed on several occasions. The language was so far as I was able to ascertain a result of his inability to solve that troublesome puzzle while Weller’s song failed to provide the clue enabling him to crack the code. Would that I had known the answer, I would have happily confided it in the 2 gentlemen (anything for a bit of peace and quiet)!
What struck me about the whole episode was the complete lack of awareness of the presence and/or the wishes of the trio’s fellow pub goers. I don’t think that their behaviour was deliberately rude (they thanked the bar staff for bringing their food), however there was a complete mental blank so far as the needs of others where concerned.
Of course pubs can be (and frequently are) noisy places but I have rarely, if ever seen two men dominate a public house in that manner before. Had I been tempted to stay on after my breakfast and tea to indulge in something a little stronger the presence of those two songsters would have deterred me from doing so. Oh well perhaps I can incorporate the incident into a future story.
I am giving away free copies of my ebook, The First Time. The main story in my collection of short stories explores why Becky, a young graduate with a first class degree in English literature enters the world’s oldest profession as an escort and the effects of her decision on both Becky and her fellow escort and friend Julie. Other stories look at what happens when machines attain human level intelligence. If you would like a free copy of The First Time please send an e-mail to drewdog2060 at Tiscali dot co.uk (the address is rendered in this manner to try and defeat spammers)! For further information on The First Time and my other books please visit my Amazon author page at http://www.amazon.co.uk/K.-Morris/e/B00CEECWHY/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
The Daily Mail reports that the crime novel, A Cuckoo’s Calling, by the first time author Robert Galbraith wasn’t selling well until it was discovered that it had, in fact been written by one JK Rowling of Harry Potter fame! The book is now selling like hot cakes. I must be one of the few people who has never read any of the Harry Potter novels, however being a lover of crime fiction I’m tempted to head over to Amazon and purchase Robert’s (sorry Rowling’s) latest offering! For the article please visit http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2362812/Harry-Potter-author-JK-Rowlings-crime-thriller-A-Cuckoos-Calling-rejected-publisher-sales-soared-revealed-writer.html
Can people live together in a state of equality by which I mean a society in which resources are shared equally and each individual contributes to the good of the whole community? The collapse of the former Soviet Union together with it’s former satelites in Eastern Europe has lead many to contend that such a state of afairs is pie in the sky. States which aim at equality inevitably degenerate into dictatorships which are neither equal or free the argument goes. But what about small communities or communes? Can groups of like minded individuals come together and live in a state of equality in which each person contributes to the common good? In any case how should we define the common good? Does it exist?
I have an idea for a story in which the above themes will be explored. I envisage a group of idealistic people joining together to farm the land in common and escape from what they perceive to be the materialism and corruption of capitalist society. Will their little community work or is it doomed to failure? Watch this space.
Mobile telephones are a mixed blessing. Being in my mid fourties I am old enough to remember the days prior to the invention of the mobile. I vividly recollect feeding ten pence coins into bulky metal phones in bright red telephone boxes and, as technology advanced inserting pre-paid phone cards. It is perhaps a human trait to look at the past through rose tinted spectacles, to become all dewy eyed about the red telephone boxes which for decades where a familiar sight on practically every street of significance in the UK. It is doubtless easy to forget entering a phone box only to find that the receiver had been wrenched off by vandals, the glass had been smashed or both events had coincided to make the phone box unusable.
All of the above is true. I’ve been in phone boxes in which the receiver had parted company with the wire securing it to the handset and I’ve shivered in those tiny cabins due to the glass having been smashed. Consequently I am well aware of the benefits of mobile telephones not least as a means of contacting family or friends when one is running unexpectedly late or in case of emergencies, however the mobile is surely one of the most overused inventions (do I mean abused)?
A couple of weeks ago the British media was full of how a check-out lady in Sainsburys (a leading UK supermarket) had refused to serve a customer due to the lady holding a conversation on her mobile while, at the same time interacting with the shop assistant. The customer subsequently complained to Sainsburys, received an apology and was compensated with Sainsbury’s shopping vouchers.
I don’t condone the actions of the check-out lady. I can however understand her intense annoyance at the rudeness (doubtless unintended) of the customer who instead of interacting with her chose instead to split her attention between the person on the other end of the line and the shop assistant.
When I’m out with friends I often turn my mobile off so I can concentrate on interacting with them which is after all the whole purpose of socialising with friends.
At home I’ll frequently allow the voicemail on my landline to take calls when I’m writing or sometimes simply relaxing. Occasionaly I’ll interrupt voicemail and speak with the caller but by no means always. Technology should be our servant but we are in danger of allowing it to become our master.
I’ll finish with an incident from my own life. Yesterday I was meeting a friend for a meal in a restaurant some 15 minutes walk from my home. My friend kept texting me to say that she had arrived, did I mind if we ate in another restaurant, actually the other place was closed so should we go to an Italian restaurant etc, etc! I suspect that had I not stopped to answer all of my friend’s texts I would have reached the restaurant at least 10 minutes earlier than I in fact did! In the days before mobiles we would likely as not have met without mishap and much quicker as we wouldn’t have been messing around texting one another.
For the article regarding the incident in the supermarket please see http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2353581/Sainsburys-customer-shocked-checkout-assistant-refuses-serve-mobile.html
Yesterday’s (12 July) Daily Mail contains an article regarding the books which people most frequently fail to finish. The survey was carried out by the Goodreads website and shows E L Jame’s Fifty Shades of Grey and J K Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy as being the books which readers most often fail to finish. I must confess to having read neither book so I am not in a position to impart words of wisdom on either work. I have, however read War and Peace in the original Russian and I must admit to having derived great pleasure from the experience. It was hard going in places but I felt a real sense of achievement once I read those final words, “the end”. OK I’d better come clean. I have indeed read War and Peace from cover to cover but it was in translation rather than the original Russian! I did, however plough through 20 odd braille volumes which took up some considerable space on my book shelves!
For the article please visit http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2361598/JK-Rowling-EL-James-bestsellers-list-books-readers-finish.html
K Morris - Poet 