Bills Posts

I get an idea for something, go at it and then realise that it is all too complex and so it slowly fades away, but never completely. Some things get incorporated into my “interest list”, which means that I am likely to return to it, say a couple of times a year. For a few weeks then, that thing becomes a focus and I find it difficult to concentrate on anything else.

Now I’m sure if writing a book is in that category because it is pretty much always there either at the forefront or remaining in the background, never really completely going away. The question though, is always what am I going to write about? Non-fiction? I thought that would be easier than fiction. Well, not really, because obviously, you have to know your topic. Whilst I might know a bit about something, that by no means makes me an expert, so if I am going to write about something it has to be that which makes me really interested.

The question is, have I found it? I keep a handwritten journal mainly because I enjoy a bit of handwriting, even though my handwriting is not at all good. Anyhow, I started writing down an idea that I had for a book, and actually, this one is growing a few legs.

It combines areas of interest and will require a lot of research, but it all maps into plans that I have for our future in Dorset.

I really want to tell you about it, but I can’t here. Somebody might take the idea and do a better job of it. Also, is it really a good idea. The only thing I will tell you is that it is a work of fiction.

We decided to go for a walk along the waterfront at Stokes Bay. Ever since the COVID lockdowns, I have carried very little cash. That can be a bit of a nightmare when it comes to paying for car parking. The council have tried several things and luckily just about every car park in and around the town have a number of options for paying; cash, of course, by using contactless – I’ve found that this has worked quite well, but then a change was made to use a phone app. I think people found this somewhat concerting. I’m not sure why, perhaps it was a concern about signal strength, but I’ve never found a problem pretty much anywhere in the town.

Car parking sorted via the app, Elayne and I set off. Elayne’s exercise regime requires a thirty minute walk, a slow and steady pace saw us reach Pebbles cafe at the turnaround point, reaching the car just as the thirty minute timer sounded.

I left Elayne with the heating on, she was fine and I went off for another quick twenty minute stroll, just to get a few more steps in.

One of the things I always look out for is what ships we can see out in the Solent. There were several moving around and one in particular caught my attention as it followed the channel and came closer to the mainland, I did wonder if it was one of the bunkering ships judging from its deck infrastructure, and indeed it turned out to be the Whitchampion. It’s been a while since I last saw her, so that was very nice.

By the time we left the car park to drive home for a nice cup of tea, we had just four minutes left on the parking app, so we definitely got our money’s worth.

I really feel quite bad. The last two nights have been pretty pathetic in terms of post quality. I apologise for that.

What makes it even worse, is that tonight I have again left it too late to do a reasonable post. I can assure you that this is equally frustrating for me.

It’s 2345, and I nearly forgot the post, and as I don’t really have anything to write about, I’m afraid it’s another short one.

I’m sorry, it’s a very short post tonight. Just a placeholder. My brain has gone to sleep, and. I can’t think of anything to write

I would have gone for a walk this morning, but was raining so I didn’t bother.

I had a couple of things I needed to do in town at lunchtime, and my plan had been to take an extended lunch break, and walk into town. But it was raining, so that didn’t happen, but I still had to go so the car got a run out.

The picture is of the flowerbeds at the Falklands Gardens taken yesterday morning’s walk. The plan is, if it. Isn’t raining in the morning, to,have another attempt at getting out.

I went for a quick morning walk down to the waterfront. I wanted to see what was happening with the roadworks at Crossways. From the picture you can see that things are progressing. There’s a sign that was put up around June time, which said the roadworks would take 50 weeks. I haven’t really worked it out, but I think they are halfway through the work. I don’t think the work in north cross road has more than a few weeks before it’s finished.

There’s still a lot of work to do in South Cross Street. They have started, but it has quite a way to go. I shall continue to take the occasional notice of it. I carried on walking to do the waterfront.

There is a lot of work being done in the old taxi rank and dropoff area. They no longer exist. I think they are going to build space for two or three buses to pull nose in. I think a taxi rank is in place, but it’s in a less convenient place. Obviously, the bus station, which is a bit run down will continue in use until the new halt is operational.

One of my readers, Clive, commented on yesterday’s post in response to my question regarding using real places in fictional writing. It was a good question. His response was a slight departure, suggesting writing fiction using models of real people. I have to say that I would stay well away from that. He was correct that would cause problems.

I’m not so sure about place names though, there is a very well known local crime writer who bases her books in and around the Portsmouth area. I read a comment of hers that she will only name a specific shop if she has their permission, and that can totally depend on the context, for example a waterfront shop or pub. May not wish to be associated with nefarious fictional activities.

Whilst I think there is less of a problem using town or street names, the closer you get to people the more difficult it gets.

Which leads me on to another question, what if I were to use, for example, the place names of Hardy’s Wessex, for example Casterbridge instead of Dorchester would that be plagiarism or something else?

Food for thought.

This is one grumpy cat, but only she knows why.

Just to finish off the box set thing. We ordered, for a quite reasonable price the DVD’S for seasons one to five from the great provider. They arrived today, and we’ve started watching – excellent.

I’ve set Elayne a mission; when she goes into a charity shop, she is to look for seasons 6, 7 & 8 – whilst we are watching 1 – 5, it doesn’t matter what order we buy them in just as long as we have them.

The question; if you are writing a book, let’s say a work of fiction, how does it work if you want to use real locations? Is the context important and should you seek the ok before using, say, a shop name? Just wondering.

Last night I told you about a boxset we had only just started watching (8 seasons, 96 episodes), we had got to around the 7th episode of 13 in season one when the streaming service flashed up a message saying that the whole series was coming to the end of its run and would be withdrawn. We worked out that would happen whilst were watching Episode 11.

Low and behold, when we had stayed up quite a bit later, and had reached the end of episode 11, and there it was – the whole series gone, withdrawn. The climax of the season was building, and things were getting really tense and there it was gone! We went to bed.

Luckily, if a tad expensive, I don’t subscribe to just one streaming service. I immediately jumped on the the other service, and the series was there, but we had to pay for it. Luckily we could pay per episode, now it was only two episodes to the end of the season so we decided to bite the bullet and bought the last two episodes! We breathed a sigh of relief as the hero saved the day.

Almost.

What about Seasons two to eight?

Can I spin this cliffhanger out to a third night?

Also, I am running out of time and need to post this before midnight, and it is now 23:57.