Last Week I Slept with ...

... a note pad and pen next to my bed. Why? To record my dreams? No, but that sounds like a fascinating idea. To help realise my dream of finishing my book that I am hoping to publish some time? Yes!

Often when I wake up too early, especially when on holiday, my brain kicks into action, and I often find myself thinking about plot ideas, expressions and words. I might even be half asleep, but my brain seems to go into a creative mode automatically.

I have many times cursed myself in the past for not remembering those thoughts later in the day, just like with dreams. So this is where the note pad and pen come into the picture. I found it very useful last week, especially since our French country house has several Velux windows (roof windows), and the ones in our bedroom lack blinds. If it is a sunny morning the room gets very bright.

It's funny how it works. Sometimes when you sit down and try hard to think, to be imaginary, creative, nothing comes out. But when you're more relaxed and just let your mind float freely, you're rewarded with even the odd eureka moment.

Early one morning in that bright bedroom I had a particular idea, which I used in my writing. I noticed that the light that was shining through one of those roof windows created an image on the opposite wall, and this projected image then moved with the movement of the sun.

The sun was shining through a big birch outside and projected the movements of the foliage onto the wall, just like a fuzzy black-and-white film.

I really should carry pen and paper all the time, because you never know when the writing muse strikes next. Or maybe I simply should go on holiday more often?

I managed to take a few photos as well, and I leave you with a solitary poppy in a crop field.

I Have Nothing to Write About

Well, that's how it feels at least. I just can't get started. I find it difficult to focus on material for this blog. Self doubt has started to creep in.

I could write about the goings-on in the garden, the in-fighting greenfinches, the cheeky squirrels, the blackbird splashing in the bath, the new bird feeder stand in black metal and preying cats, but I don't.

I could write about the progress of the book I am trying to write (in Swedish), currently at around 100 A4 pages after a lot of editing (deleting mostly), how I struggle sometimes to write anything for long periods of time, the joy of actually achieving something, but I don't.

I could write about my part-time work at a boarding house where I sleep in an uncomfortable bed, supervise spotty teenagers and drink lots of tea, but I don't (partly because of confidentiality).

I could write about how I invigilate GCSE and A-level exams, but that would be plain boring, so I don't.

I could write about life as a civilian dependent in a NATO community in Germany, the imminent relocation of half of this community to the UK, the many second-hand cars in the main car park people are trying to sell before they leave, the anxiety of many colleagues because of an uncertain future, knowing the whole garrison will close in a few years' time, but I don't.

I could write about our own situation, where to move next, where to settle and eventually retire, Sweden (where only I have lived), France (where we only have a holiday home) or the UK (where both of us have lived), but I don't.

I could write about my health and the complication of doctors trying to establish which type of diabetes I have got, type 2 or 1.5 (LADA), but I don't.

I could write about the joy of still having my mother (87), my son and two grandchildren, other family and friends, but I don't.

Why don't I?

No Excuse, Just an Explanation

No, I have not disappeared, I'm still here, but work, other commitments and a holiday got in the way. It is my busiest period of the year at the moment, so I have had no time to spare. Blogging has sadly suffered.

I have used my new netbook, Samsung NC 10, for a lot of writing. My plan seems to be working. When we went to our house in France for half term holidays my new friend was by my side all the time. It began when we stayed overnight as usual in Albert. I intended to read some e-book on my netbook, turned it on and to my astonishment it told me it had detected a wireless connection. I clicked, as you do, to investigate, and found myself connected to the internet. I read some Swedish newspapers instead and even watched a music video before tucking in. Great, I thought, I did not expect this. I ended up later in the week walking the streets of various places with netbook in hand to search for internet connections. I must have looked a right fool!

It also struck me that, as late as in the sixties, people in the UK used the word wireless for a radio, which no young person of today would know, unless they watch black-and-white films.

As always when we return to our house and garden, the house needs airing and the garden needs, well, chopping down. The lawn was a meadow with half a metre of grass and flowers and had to be strimmed before it could be mowed. But we settled in straight away as usual and the week just flew by.

Now we are back, but the coming weekend we will go to my (kid) brother's 50th birthday party, so I will continue to be a bad blogger for some more time. I have however a collection of photos from our holiday in this post, and I will put up some more here and on my photo blog of interesting bird activity in our garden in other posts. See you soon bloglings!

Mural, Albert	Floral Decoration, Albert
Lawn before	Lawn after
Neighbours' Lovely Front	With a Sense of Humour
Can You See the Moon?	Not So Naked Trees

My New Little Blue One

I have found it increasingly difficult to focus on my "writing project", "literary ambitions", you know, the book that I am trying to write.

When I am at my PC with its wonderful big screen and many temptations, like blogging, online papers and much more, my self-discipline often lets me down. I feel I am getting nowhere with my writing, so I came up with a "cunning plan", just like Baldrick in Blackadder, but hopefully somewhat cleverer.

Sometimes when I have been away from my study and used good old pen and paper, or even better, my wife's work laptop when we've been on holiday, I have produced many more pages than I normally do at home. So here comes my cunning plan.

I have bought myself a netbook, a mini laptop, to use mainly for writing but also for storing photos that I can show to people when travelling to Sweden for instance.

My new little blue one is a Samsung NC10, a beautiful little thing. After some internet research I decided that the NC10 was the best option for me. It has a near-full-size keyboard with nice, big keys and a crispy clear screen. One negative aspect is that there is no CD/DVD drive, but I intend to use my external hard drive from the PC to copy and then transfer data to the netbook. For smaller amounts of data I will use my USB stick. The best feature of this wonderful little machine, which definitely clinched it, is the battery, which gives you up to 5-6 hours. That beats all competition easily; some other popular netbooks only give you 2-3 hours before the battery is flat and needs recharging.

As the icing on the cake, I also bought a blue-tooth mouse, which of course also is blue, my favourite colour.

Now it only remains to see if my cunning plan will bear fruit, as in Fruits of My Mind (!), or not. Time will tell. (And I apologise to my bloglings (blogger friends), whose blogs I have not visited often enough of late. I have been preoccupied with other stuff and feel very guilty, sorry!)