We're totally restructuring the site.  But at the same time we're updating with the odd post.  We plan to have the whole thing together the last week of June or the first week of July.  Thanks for your patience. Continue Reading

Born in Shanghai in 1930 James Graham Ballard lived the life of a rich expat's son until the Japanese invaded 1941. He lived in an internment camp for three years. He told fellow writer, Ian Sinclair, that he spent the first twenty years trying to forget the experience and the next twenty years trying to remember. His recollections resulted in Continue Reading

The Wire has started me talking differerently. 'Yo honkey' to white friends. Matercopulater means person - can be acknowledgement or hostile. me motor - father's car G&T - mind altering drugs me posse - the boys down at the cricket club. cool - mother has switched on the air conditioning No Street cred but Culde cred (as in cul de Continue Reading

Two of the four cows outside the Hampton Hill Farmer's Market. Had a cup of tea and a lovely cake at the excellent cafe they have there. The market has a really good variety of foods, including a baker, fish monger, butcher, wine seller and a cheese bar. They have of course a great variety of organic fruit and vegetables. Continue Reading

I've probably been watching too much TV, but when I saw this van and noted that it worked for Rentokil, the UK's biggest disposer of mice, rats, cockroaches and other nasties, then my first thought was that they must be rented out to kill, well the wives and girlfriends of men with a problem. I assume that this is not the case. Continue Reading

Damian McBride, media controller, for Gordon Brown has had to resign as he wrote a number of emails, suggesting slurs on prominent Tories, for a proposed political blog called Red Rag. This was to counter the right wing blog, Guido Fawkes, which consistently attacked Gordon Brown and the govenment. Unfortunately, copies of the emails ended up at Continue Reading

The government is doing all it can to destroy life long learning in Britain. They are now taking mega-millions from universities from students who want to retrain or change career and older people wanting to broaden their mind. The government has made as a priority the education of all young people. In theory this looks goods. However, bear in Continue Reading

I visited the Nation Trust property Claremont. Just west of London. The black swans were swimming quite close to the side of the lake. Also spring is definitely in the air. The smell of the foliage after a couple of days of rain was really strong. It felt great to be alive. The whole place is becoming green. Even the hedge, that looked as Continue Reading

You can freely download books from Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, Kafka, Tolstoy, Jane Austin, Oscar Wilde, Victor Hugo and thousands more from Project Gutenberg. In addition you can also download a wide variety of non-fiction including seminal books on History, Mathematics, Architecture, Sex, Business as well as Continue Reading

What's my name going to be? The Seventh Sanctum is a brilliant site. OK I'll say it again the Seventh Sanctum is a brilliant site: for writers wanting to generate a new character name, generate a new character with distinctive traits or generate a new setting. Ah I see your getting the message. Yes all this site does is generate. But when this Continue Reading