Sunday 17 February 2019

People and their what?

 I’ve done it again.

I’ve put this forward as a title suggestion and now I have absolutely no idea what I was going to write about.

People and their foibles?

People and their dogs?

People and their opinions?

I could write pages and pages about people and their opinions. You only have to read a few blogs and you will very soon find out about people and their opinions. Most people have an opinion about most things.  It’s not only on blogs; try listening to that old fashioned medium known as radio.

People and their dogs. There’s a whole field open for discussion as well.

Search as I might through documents and folders, I can find no trace of the original idea.

It’s time to move on.



Bougainvillea  circa 2011 


 

On the topic of rubbish

Occasionally I read a blog post, think about the content and find my response would read like a post in the comment box.

And, so it was today in a UK post about plastic and rubbish generally and how it threatens wildlife.

In the UK, as well as many other countries, it’s mainly birdlife and sea creatures that are affected by plastic which is washed into the sea via storm water drains. All those plastic bags which blow around often finish up in storm water drains, rivers or the sea.

It’s not just the common or garden variety plastic bags; it’s fragments of plastic, bits of packaging, plastic bottles which have broken down. These are swallowed by seabirds and other sea creatures; this rubbish harms any creature unlucky enough to ingest it.

And what to do about it?

The answer is plain to me.

We are all responsible for this problem.  It’s up to you and me to do something about the situation. Be careful of how you dispose of plastic, whether it’s bags, bottles and packaging. It’s not a waste of time; don’t point over there and say look at those people, they’re not doing anything, so why should I be bothered?

I know. I keep saying the same old thing.

Be part of the solution, not part of the problem. 



Keep our rivers clean


Friday 15 February 2019

Novels of great length

 Somewhere online recently, I read about the ten longest novels ever.

I was curious to see whether I had read any of them so I followed the link and this is what I found.

The Quick 10: The 10 Longest Novels Ever

By Stacey Conradi

May 16, 2008

 

1.       The Blah Story – Nigel Tomm

2.       Marienbad My Love – Mark Leach

3.       Artamene – Madeleine de Scudary

4.       A la recherche du temps perdu – Marcel Proust

5.       Mission Earth – L. Ron Hubbard

6.       Gordana – Marija Juri Zagorka

7.       Sironia, Texas – Madison Cooper

8.       Clarissa – Samuel Richardson

9.       A Dance to the Music of Time – Anthony Powell

10.   Poor Fellow My Country – Xavier Herbert

 

The Blah Story seems to be aptly titled, it has over three million words and runs to 7,312 pages.  If I found a book now that had 700 pages, I would be a very reluctant reader.

Many years ago, when I had time to read a long book, I read Poor Fellow My Country.

As for the rest, there is absolutely no chance they will make my reading list nowadays.