Category Archives: memes

amusements, memes

Characters Wot I Invented

1 Comment

We probably all do it. I certainly do. Invent fictional (and often humorous) characters that is. Characters we’d like to have inhabit our stories. So here’s a challenge … Tell us five of your fictional and humorous characters (and if possible a little about them). Here are some of mine.

Ii Ng. He’s a young Japanese fashion designer.

Armin Plaastar. Young Dutch Ski Instructor. He was never quite good enough to compete in the top downhill races as he specialises in skiing on shallow slopes.

Berrick Salome. Top drawer antiques dealer somewhere in the Home Counties, probably Berkshire or Buckinghamshire.

Sir Chiltern Waternut. Retired diplomat. Specialist in Arab affairs. Always wears a tweed jacket and pince-nez.

Gaysha Bottle. 6-year-old, East End, trainee tart. Sister of Chardonnay-Madonna Bottle (age 10).

Of course there are lots more possibilities and even categories: companies, places, popular music combos, products and even books.

So, without giving away the plot of your next novel, how about you tell us a few of yours? In fact let’s make this a meme so I can tag: Katy, Noreen, Jilly, Antonia, Tim.

memes, quotes, thoughts

Word of the Week

Exoteric.
Comprehensible to or suited to the public.
Current among the outside public; popular, ordinary.
Pertaining to the outside.

Compare with Esoteric.
Designed for, or appropriate to, an inner circle of advanced or privileged disciples.
Communicated to, or intelligible by, the initiated exclusively.
Pertaining to a select circle; private, confidential.

memes, personal, photography, topographical

[37/52] Richard Meades

Week 37 entry for 52 weeks challenge.

As Noreen has reported on her weblog, yesterday we went to Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire in search of some of her ancestors — and just to walk the streets they walked. The Meades line was an unexpected find for Noreen, both in that they come from somewhere way away from Lowestoft but also because they are a family of stonemasons.

Richard Meades

This is the gravestone of Noreen’s great-great-great-great-grandfather, Richard Meades, in the churchyard at Chipping Norton. He was the stonemason responsible for the work to rebuild the church tower in the 1820s. It is Richard’s stone, William MeEades who eventualy moved to Lowestoft.

Chipping Norton (or “Chippy” as the locals know it) itself is a delightful small Cotswold town built out of the local golden stone and on the side of quite a wicked hill — hardly surprising as it is supposedly the highest town on Oxfordshire. And the fact that it is on the side of hill has resulted in something quite unusual: the parish church (St Mary’s) is in fact lower down the hill than most of the rest of the old town — the main street is at about the same level as the top of the church tower.

More photos of Chipping Norton over on my Flickr photostream.

memes, words

Word of the Week

Circumbendibus.

(noun) A roundabout process or method; a twist, turn; circumlocution.

[A humorous formation from circum- + bend, with the ending of a Latin ablative plural. The first quoted use given by the OED is by Dryden is 1681.]

books, food+drink, memes, photography

Listography – Things I did this Summer

I’ve been somewhat lacking in the last few weeks in keeping up with Kate’s Listography. The spirit has been willing but there just haven’t been enough hours in the day. Why? Well see my previous post, and consider that I’ve been working a minimum of 6 hours a day, 7 days a week, for at least 6 weeks on Society/conference business.

But better late than never here’s my response to Kate’s Listography from last week. These are some of the things I did this summer …

Organised and ran an international literary conference. I think I hardly need say more.

Completed and released my photo book – a month earlier than planned. I don’t expect it to make me tons of money. I did it because I wanted to; it was fun; it was for me.

Wrote an academic paper and submitted it for publication. Not because I had to for work or anything, but just for the sheer hell of it!

Drank afternoon tea with an Earl. Yes, a real Earl. No names, no telling. Just a pleasant cup of tea and a chat, tête-a-tete, while he signed some books.

Ate too much fish and chips – several times. Well who wouldn’t?

Glamorous? No. Mostly damned hard work!

food+drink, memes, personal, quotes

Ten Things – September

Number 9 in my monthly series of “Ten Things” for 2011. Each month I list one thing from each of ten categories which will remain the same for each month of 2011. So at the end of the year you have ten lists of twelve things about me.

  1. Something I Like: Photography
  2. Something I Won’t Do: Take any more exams
  3. Something I Want To Do: Get Rid of my Depression
  4. A Blog I Like: The Loom
  5. A Book I Like: Florence Greenberg, Jewish Cookery
  6. Some Music I Like: Pink Floyd, Learning to Fly
  7. A Food I Like: Chips
  8. A Food or Drink I Dislike: Marron Glacé
  9. A Word I Like: Verisimilitude
  10. A Quote I Like: Pro bono publico, nil bloody panico. [Rear-Admiral Sir Morgan Morgan-Giles]
memes, words

Word of the Week

Zariba or Zareba.

In the Sudan and adjacent parts of Africa, a fence or enclosure, usually constructed of thorn-bushes, for defence against the attacks of enemies or wild beasts.
A fenced or fortified camp.
A formation of troops for defence against attack.

memes, personal, photography

[35/52] Rainbow

[35/52] Rainbow by kcm76
[35/52] Rainbow, a photo by kcm76 on Flickr.

Week 35 entry for 52 weeks challenge.

Rainbow seen from our study window. Should I be measuring the quality of the summer by the number of rainbows we’ve had this year: rainbows are probably inversely proportional to the goodness of the summer. If so then this has been an awful summer. But there have been lots of good rainbows.