All Saints Eve

The doorbell rings.

Is it a trick, or is it a treat?

Open the door.

A cloud of flour I might meet.

Costumes worn, lanterns lit.

There's no need to be frightened,

 no need to be scared.

Because it's time to remember our dead.

On this Eve of All Saints Day.

Fateful Meetings

     I don't particularly like travelling alone and if the flight is delayed, hanging around in the departure lounge on your own can be a real pain in the butt.

    So last week with Hurricane Gonzalez approaching the UK, it was inevitable that my flight to Tenerife would be just that.

    Fortunately it was only for a couple of hours, but nevertheless my plans on arrival in the Canaries had been disrupted. I was no longer going to be picked up at the airport and I was now unable to meet up with friends as anticipated, I was feeling slightly disgruntled to say the least.

    When I finally boarded flight I decided to get into a more positive frame of mind, after all I was now at least on the plane. I had been allocated an aisle seat and it wasn't too long before my two travel companions, for the next five hours anyway,  arrived to take their seats beside me.

    Once up in the air it wasn't long before we got chatting and for one reason, or another we were all three females travelling on our own. As we chatted we found we had many things in common and the hours just disappearedand in fact I was kind of sorry to say goodbye.

    I very much believe that chance meetings like this are fate and although I'm not sure why we were meant to meet, I'm very glad we did.

   

Truly, Madly, Deeply

 

    Everyone I know has married for love, even if it turned out to be a temporary state.   Therefore it's very difficult for me to comprehend that there still are women today being married to men only because of a generous dowry that her family are promising the grooms.

    The word, dowry, makes me think of the film, Quiet Man, starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, where the refusal of the bride's brother to give a dowry causes an angry reaction from the bride, because she believes it's her entitlement. The film itself is what I would call today, a Romcom, the plot is light-hearted and demonstrates why the custom belongs in the past.

    However, this antiquated practise does still exist in the UK amongst certain communities, as I know it does in other parts of the world and it has been highlighted recently that women are being subjected to violence and even death at the hand of their, husbands and in-laws, because the money promise has not come to fruition.

    Is that all  life is worth? A bag full of money and a couple of silver candlesticks. What about just being truly, madly, deeply In love?

 

 

   

Crossing My Fingers

 

    I'm off to the Canary Islands again in the next couple of days and tomorrow I've got a packed schedule. Therefore, I thought I would publish my blog a day early, otherwise I probably wouldn't have updated until Saturday. I'm hoping that makes sense.

    Since coming back to Scotland, I've managed to get my land line and broadband in Tenerife all fixed out. So I'm crossing my fingers, toes and anything else I can cross, in the hope that the problems I've had in the past, either publishing my blog or, accessing Twitter will remain there.
    I'm off to pack now and I'll see you Monday. XXXX 

 

 

 

The Blogosphere

 

   
    It's now over two years since I started blogging and it's very much a part of my writing life. Not only do I enjoy composing my own posts, I love reading blogs written by my fellow writers.

   Whether we want to promote our business's, share our innermost secrets, muses, opinions, or give advice on a specialist subject, we know the blog is a valuable tool.

   Without reading the advice of other writers, editors, publishers and readers, I'm not sure if I would have ever plucked up the courage to blog, tweet, or have submitted my novel for publication. I can't remember the first one I read, however I do know that a whole new world opened up to me; as I'm sure has to many.

   The blog itself celebrated its twentieth birthday last week, the first ever which was called, Davenet, was written by the developer of blogging software, David Winer and he still blogs to this day. I'm not sure if I'll still be blogging in twenty years time, but I will continue to read the wonderful assortment that's out there in the blogosphere.

 
 



   

From Little Acorns a Mighty Oak Grows

 

   I can remember when I was at school there were several subjects that I used to question the relevance of being taught in class. Not being a particularly outspoken kid, I never did let my views be known, therefore my disinterest caused me to switch off.

    One such subject was music and being tone deaf never endeared me to the singing side of things, or encouraged me to learn how to play a musical instrument. However, it was only once I had left school that the penny dropped that I finally realised music wasn't only about singing and playing in the school orchestra.

    There's much more to it, the thing that caught my attention was realising opera, classical and contemporary pieces, as well as pop all have a story to tell. The composer/song writer is using their creativity to tell that story, or maybe get a message across, in the same way an author does.

    BBC learning and BBC Performing Groups has launched a programme called '10 Pieces' which they hope will help primary school children appreciate what classical music has to offer them, encouraging them to express themselves creatively, through music, dance and digital art.

   I think this initiative is a great idea and anything that cultivates creativity amongst children can only benefit us all as a society.

Time Travels

   

    Skyscanner  has consulted with a team of experts to look at the future of travel in 10 years time; the results of which you can read for yourself skyscanner2024.com .

    On first reading the report I found some of the predictions rather far fetched, however with technology changing at a fast pace, maybe they're not.

    For example, using interactive software, an expert believes that we'll be able to summons a 'digital travel buddy' to help us choose our vacation, book the tickets etc, basically all the stuff we hate doing. Our virtual 'buddy' will take away all the hassles that we face when trying to book the perfect getaway. He will even arrange for us to try before we buy, with the help of 3D sensors.

    As someone who can be fairly anxious when I arrive at an airport, I would most certainly welcome a member of the airport staff helping me through the whole airport experience. Even the predicted  hologram making sure that I board the aircraft with relative ease, most certainly would suffice.

    Once we reach our destination there will be no more problems communicating with the locals, implants similar to contact lenses will resolve our verbal translations. Something I definitely can relate to, over the last few weeks.

    Yes, there are parts that read like the plot of an H.G. Wells novel, but 120 years ago we could never have envisaged travelling to the moon, computers, skype, or mobile phones.

   
    There was something though, that I was disappointed not to be covered in the report and that was that there was no mention of my new found friend packing my suitcase for me before I go. Do you think he's going to shirk out of doing the dirty laundry on my return too?