Saturday, September 13, 2003

France
David M. Barron
Assignment & Stock Photography
because the picture looks much better in context
- with a black background - 14 down on the right
the plastic tubes at De Gaulle

thanks Andrew - who found it for me at Oxygen Group Photography by David M. Baron
In German the spelling rule is simple -
say BEE write bie

say BY write bei

I just have to remember it
BLOGGER: "Welcome back, Hugh. Here are your blogs:"

Had to hurry back to the BLOGGERY to fix some spelling mistakes . . . now I know how to.

Google Search: biebrich: "biebrich" is correct embarrassing when Google Search: beibrich watkins: "beibrich watkins" brought me into the BIOG BLOG
Says Google:- Did you mean: biebrich watkins

AND Google Search: biebrich heckel goes to BASSOON heaven.

More another time
British Airways - home page
I was trying to book a ticket on line from Copenhagen for my daughter to visit me in week 42,
CPH to BHX as we say in airport abreviations, failed because me and my credit card are in England and you cannot book on line across international boundaries . . security of course so I telephoned and booked it "manually".

She will be 15 in November - so it is time for a new Walkman Sony.com only will do.
She is very design conscious, as her reaction to Charles de Gaulle airport airport showed, after a month in England, "thank goodness for some decent modern architecture" the perspex tubes containing passenger escalators are eye candy of course even if aging and dusty. Googled in vain for a picture.

We will be in for some state of the art shopping therapy 120 new shops to explore, I think I better book a shop mobility wheel chair, Welcome to BDRC
no good pictures yet Google Search: bullring site:uk

Here Photographs of Selfridges Birmingham Bullring

Famous Brummies and others that worked or lived in Birmingham.:
Now I was born in Sutton Coldfield which makes mé a Warwickshire Lad along with William Shakespeare, but Sutton Coldfield is now absorbed into BRUM so am I a Brummy ?

My mother talked "like a lady" so I was cut off from the dialect as a child.Brummie and Black Country dialect, slang words and phrases: "'ARBUN 'EDGE Refers to a bad cup of tea .as in ''tests loik 'Arbun Edge''. ' I.e Tastes like leaves from a Harborne hedge"

Why Brummies: "we are called Brummies after Brummagem."

"As stressed by Margaret Gelling, an authority on English place names, in Middle English many place names had two or more forms as the concept of a single correct name is peculiar to modern literate societies."

AND that there is a single correct spelling of PERSONAL NAMES TOO

Birmingham and West Midlands photographs by virtual-brum.: "Virtual Brum is an unofficial Birmingham UK website about the city which is also known as Brummagem or Brum."

which is why i answer ASL in chat rooms
68 M BRUM - and because I like to tease the Americans ;-)

in Uk chat OAP M B37 the first part of the post code says it all.

Friday, September 12, 2003

PowerSurge | Investor Relations


Well one of their customers successfully harvested my AOL password
which I changed at oncethe email was headed

AOL Account Billing Confirmation: #83753

Dear AOL member,

There has been a purchase added to your AOL billing method. This purchase took place at 1-800-flowers.com. If this order was unauthorized and you would like to cancel or review this order, please click here

Below is listed information about your order.
Produce - 32 dozen long stem roses

Price - $79.99
Shipment Type - 3-5 Day Ground
Shipping and handling - $13.65
Total Price - $93.64


now as a naive AOL user
I am really worried about the integrated shopping getting out of hand
so clicked through and logged on.

the email was a BCC - that is the clue its a fake

oh dear it seems with 25 million AOL users there is bound to be a criminal element in any community of that size.


link is to http://64.62.155.173/~acctulnc/flowers.html
SecuritySpace

is where I go to check out the link to IP 64.62.155.173


I telephoned 0800 AOL help (AOL is supreme with free help amongst UK ISP and their call centre is in Ireland so one gets to hear the southern Iirish accent ) - and got the advice run a virus check as well.
Well those spammers successfully pressed my buttons because it was NOT sex
-- that always gets the "report spam" button clicked to make the email disappear instantly.

so I learned a lesson about (virtual) life today

From:MSICEBLUE11
Msie Cache Explorer MSICE blue
and site:cz has about half the google hits so that means "Msice" is a a czech word too.

.

Thursday, September 11, 2003

1st Intern. Collection of Tongue Twisters - Finnish: "Finnish Tongue Twisters
Kielivoimistelua"

a lovely language but not a clue what they mean

BBC - h2g2 - How to count to 10 in different languages: "Finnish
Yksi
Kaksi
Kolme
Neljä
Viisi
Kuusi
Seitsemän
Kahdeksan
Yhdeksän
Kymmenen

Numerals
Latin << error ARABIC or Hindi
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10"
Arabic Numbers: "Although we use a system we call 'Arabic numerals,' the numbering system in Arabic is different. It is derived from Indian numerals."
Historia Matematica Mailing List Archive: Re: [HM] Indian numbers: ">During my recent visit to India, I learned that when writing about large
>numbers, say in newspaper reports on the budget, they don't use
>'million', but rather two other numbers: Lakh, which is a hundred
>thousand,
and Crore, which is a hundred lakhs. Does anybody know the
>history of these units?
>Avinoam Mann

As Heinz Lueneburg noted, 'lakh' is from Sanskrit 'laksha'.
Similarly, 'crore' is from Sanskrit 'koti'. These terms for
10E5 and 10E7 are attested in non-mathematical works in epic and
dharmasastra literature going back to the first few centuries of
this era; they seem to have got into Sanskrit scientific texts a few
centuries later. Cf. Takao Hayashi, _The Bakhshali Manuscript_,
Gronigen 1995, chapter 6."

I always wondered what a LAKH of RUPEES was.
: "Al-Khouarizmi was the first Arab to explain the Hindu system of numerals. He wrote an 'Algebra' and 'Arithmetic' around 820 AD. His Arithmetic book is the first Arab work that explains the decimal place value system. He was also aware of zero. "

unlike the Romans who used letters which could also be hand signals for numbers
: "The earliest number symbols were in India. In 3000 BC the Hindus culture was using large numbers. From the middle of 2000 BC these tribes spread towards India. They introduced Sanskrit which was the earliest knowledge of math at that time. In Sanskrit there are number words for 1-9, 10, 100 and higher powers of ten.
From about 3 BC Brahmi numbers and inscriptions have been found all over India. "
Radstats: Counting Backwards: the Roma 'numbers game' in Central and Eastern Europe:

"200 Refugees = an 'exodus'
300 Refugees = a 'flood'
400 Refugees= an 'invasion'
Such were the typical of the inflammatory terms and equations used in the media when in October 1997 groups of Roma from the Czech Republic and Slovakia attempted to enter Britain in order to claim political asylum and flee the racist persecution so rife in their homeland "

Sometimes I am ashamed of England
1st Intern. Collection of Tongue Twisters - English: "
"

I was born on a pirate ship

Hold your tounge while saying it.



I spend a lot of time every day reading, contributing to, and administering some of these:-


"RootsWeb message boards and mailing lists provide an excellent way for you to permanently record the information you have obtained.
It only takes a few moments to type out the information contained in a birth,
death, or marriage record, and not much longer to transcribe the genealogical data from a pension or military record onto a message board or into an e-mail message to a mailing list where others will find it and benefit from your efforts."

a LIST SERVER is a computer on the web which you can send a message to, and which resends it to all the subscribers of that list and archives a copy for later reference.

"You can find information about mailing lists here" RootsWeb: Genealogy Mailing Lists and you can subscribe to lists of interest directly from the list index pages.
Message boards are located here:RootsWeb Message Boards
Use the FIND A BOARD search box or navigate through the index pages to locate a board for which your data is relevant."


When you are considering what data you might transcribe for your
genealogical good deed,
remember that private family records to which the public does not have access, such as family Bible records, diaries, daybooks, photographs, and other "heirloom" type information handed down to you -- even the oral traditions and lore handed down from one generation to another -- can be of immense value to others who did not grow up hearing the stories and traditions or who do not have access to the family's private collection.

In addition to preserving data that might otherwise be lost to future generations and making it accessible to those who wouldn't otherwise find it, there is the additional benefit of making contact with others.
They, in turn, might have information for which you have been unsuccessfully searching -- thus putting you on the receiving end of the good deed and rewarding you for your efforts.

Often researchers who complain about not receiving answers to the queries they post on a mailing list or message board find that they do receive responses when they take the approach of offering data rather than asking questions.
It could be the approach that is needed to help you break down your brick wall."

from :-

"Giving: The Secret to Getting"
RootsWeb Review : RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine
Vol. 6, No. 37, 10 September 2003, Circulation: 947,592+(c) 1998-2003 RootsWeb.com, Inc. http://www.rootsweb.com/

Editor: Myra Vanderpool Gormley, Certified Genealogist


AND the above method certainly has worked for me as my cousins have found me by by googling WATKINS with a farm or village name years after the original post - TREBINSHUN or LLANFAIR KILGEDDIN - where I have rediscovered the family grave from a reference in an old will.

ARRIDGE and WRENFORD who were family friends, respectively of my mother and my paternal grandfather, have also cotacted me - my interest is family history as much as pedigree.

So get into those old address books and Birthday Books and transcribe them too.


And if you have not got time to transcribe and type it all up just scan it for example -Owners of Land in Monmouthshire

I see that Thomas Watkins, father and son, ae doing alright owning High Mead at Llanfair Kilgeddin, Little Trostrey - my great grandmother farmed there as a widow, and a couple of houses in USK
but Trellech ? and who was A E F Watkins in Abergavenny ? Where the first Thomas W was born

from OWNERS OF LAND RETURNS 1873
INDEX: Returns of Owners of Land 1873
I head about that site on the Monmouthshire list but a second look inspired by a link to CAERWENT in the latest RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine gives food for thought because I know more now.
My great great uncle Thomas Holmes on this page is a relative because his daughter Frances (Fanny) Maria Holmes married the third Thomas Watkins . . . . . . .

Wednesday, September 10, 2003

GLOSSARY OF TOPONYMIC TERMINOLOGY:

TOPONYMIC surnames like Sherwood, Sharwood, Shearwood Sheerwood

"Proper noun applied to a topographic feature. Comprehensive term for geographical names and extraterrestrial names."

Distribution in Britain
the soup was delicious, I used sage instead of basil, dried instead of fresh.

Tomorrow I have one cooked chicken with 4 legs to add,
2 of its own and 2 left over. and more onions and carrots.
Googled
PATRONYMICS

: "Firstname Patronym Placename...literally, what's your name, who's your daddy, and where are you from ?"


Saw the disaster of nine eleven on television as it happened
so now I am in mourning
Never forget, but we must forgive.



Got some cheap courgettes in the supermarket yesterday
But did not know what herbs got best with them.


Google Search: soup courgette herbs

VUPTI


Courgette Soup (4) / Sue's Recipe Server:


"1 oz fresh parsley, chopped
1 oz fresh basil, shredded
3 tbsps grated parmesan "
Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: User Home Pages: The John & Johns Family of Monmouthshire, Wales.:


"Michael David John
18 Fisher close
Newport, Gwent NP19 9GQ"


is one of the best professional genealogists for Monmouthshire and South Wales

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

A danish genealogist enquired within our group about the technical meaning of ENDOWMENT

Google Search: genealogi endowed: "Re: Kan nogen hjælpe med meningen...."

can sombody help with the meaning of . . .

Google Search: dk.videnskab.historie.genealogi

which led me to some fascinating historical documents about the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.


1879 LDS Temple (Endowment) Ceremony:


"Before I go further I must tell how they believe the entrance into heaven is to be gained on the morning of the resurrection.

Peter will call up the men and women, (for it is not possible for a woman to be resurrected or exalted, or to be made a queen in heaven, unless some man takes pity on her and raises her).
If the marks on the garments are found to correspond with those on the vail, (the dead are buried in the whole paraphernalia), if you can give the grips and tokens, and your new name, and you are dressed properly in your robes, why, then, one has a sure permit to heaven, and will pass by the angels, (who they suppose are to be only ministering servants,) to a more exalted glory; the more wives they have, they think, the higher their glory will be. "


The LDS Temple Endowment Page:

"I origionally posted them to a couple usenet newsgroups at the end of June 1993 while I was in college.

The reaction of Mormons who saw this post was rather unpleasant. Several of them wrote the president of the college I was attending, and outright lied about the copyright status of the endowment, misrepesented themselves as authorized to speak for the church, and tried to get me kicked out of school."



Google Search: soc.religion.mormon


Google Search: priest LDS temple:

"The point is that some things should not be printed (even though they
can be) out of discretion and respect for others.
If one truly be in Christ and loves others, showing respect and compassion for their
religious beliefs of supreme consideration. "



and I try to show respect for all other human beings of any persusasion.

but my position is as much poilitical as anything


Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

even when they are married :-)


Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person

and even criminals

Article 4.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

NO CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

and for the 25 more articles - try the URL above
.
Virtual Jamestown - Indentured Servants:

"Search the Registers of Servants Sent to Foreign Plantations, 1654 - 1686

This database of indenture contracts includes over 10,000 indentured servants contracts from four different registers.

The contracts indicate not only the servant's name and length of indenture,
but also the name of the servant's parents and owner, his home province and city, occupation, destination, and ship of embarkation.
These records provide a detailed composition of indentured servants in the 17th "

Bristol London Middlesex

Virtual Jamestown:

"Thousands of immigrants contracted themselves for labor to come to the new world, some to the Chesapeake region and others to the West Indies.

London and Bristol, England, contributed the largest numbers by far.

Bristol alone registered about 10,000 emigrants and this record has been used to create a database giving all the information available on each emigrant.

Other databases with smaller numbers have also been created for London and Middlesex. Every indentured servant in public records (ca. 15,000) is recorded in these databases.

In addition, a few labor contracts have been made available as they appeared in manuscript to provide an indication of the typical terms of the contract."

MORE STUFF

Jamestown Interactive

Maps and Images

Court Records

Labor Contracts

Public Records

Reference Center

First Hand Accounts and Letters

Newspapers

Site Index

ABOUT Virtual Jamestown:

"Virtual Jamestown is a product of collaboration between Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia, and the Virginia Center for Digital History at the University of Virginia. The project received a large grant in 1999 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. "


These dedicated US genealogists have my most sincere admiration and respect.
.


and I had the sun in my eyes so sorry about the typos

..
RootsWeb: Genealogy Mailing Lists: Wales : WLS-USK-WYE-VALLEY

Just been appointed ADMIN of this list

"Topic: A mailing list for anyone with a genealogical interest in the area between the river Usk and the river Wye in Monmouthshire, Wales, United Kingdom."

actually an the whole catchment area is enormous area covering several counties, but a very quiet list


RootsWeb: WLS-USK-WYE-VALLEY-L Archives



a busy list runs at about 10 posts a day or 2 or 300 a month

a very busy group at 2 to 300 A DAY

During the YUGOSLAVIAN war those usenet groups were running at 1500 posts a day

As an ante-war type, for obvious reasons I did a little but used a special email address just in case . . .


So I have neen copy pasting some stuff together RootsWeb: WLS-USK-WYE-VALLEY-L Archive (September 2003)

dropping a lot of names to make more hits likely in GOOGLE searches

like:-
USK / Afon Wysg
Trebinshun / Trebinshwn
English / Welsh


Streetmap.co.uk- Trebinshwn Farm


I think that map is beautifully drawn
but Multimap has more to offer Multimap.com - Online Maps to Everywhere
but to get there is tricky

A neigbour Regent Executive - Trebinshun

wow a nice picture and a 16 page brochure but NO post code part of the English as a foriegn language industry

Good old site search does it

Google Search: site:www.regent.org.uk trebinshun address

address: Trebinshun
House, near Brecon, Powys LD3 7PX Wales

Multimap.com - Map of LD37PX

LOL oh what a dull map

Zoom out to one in 25000 and the farm is in sight

click on that to centre

WUPTI

Multimap.com - UK Aerial Photo Coverage Trebishwn Farn


extracting x=313500&y=224000

written as 313500,224000 in coodinate search into Old Maps

County: BRECKNOCKSHIRE Date :1889-1891 Grid Ref: 313500,224000


Which is when when my great grand-uncle William Henry Watkins was there, or his widow and children at least as I do not have his date of death yet.

just click on enlarged viwe for a treat

Quite a big orchard where the cider apples grew, as well as eaters and cookers and pears and mistletoe and cherries and plums .. .

eaten fresh off the tree as a child - or windfalls.




All that from a post code

see the contours 600 700 800 900 feet getting closer as they get higher so a it is concave glacier formed valley - best for sheep farming to this day.

I was taught map reading as a military skill

Cathedine Comon and so shered grazing rights there.
The Word Spy - whitelist

ended up here looking at the phrase "white list"

alink from the adminpages here
RootsWeb HelpDesk - Contacting RootsWeb

Monday, September 08, 2003

WELCOME to GenealogyForum.org

the new in place frop AOL refugees

WELCOME to GenealogyForum.org Chat System..

and a lot of expertise
Jones History of the UK

a mad project will need many helpng hands

Welcome to all Watkins Researchers:

"Founded in 1995, this coalition of WATKINS researchers has been formed to collect and organize genealogical data on WATKINS families world-wide and along the way we try to have a little fun. "
but some cousins found me here

As an ex GoON I use

Taliesin Arlein - ONS Names List

to see how many of any name alive today

BIG NAMES

Surname Count Ranking
SMITH 652563 1

Surname Count Ranking
JONES 538874 2

Surname Count Ranking
WATKINS 32401 199

"SMALL NAMES" suitable for a One Name Study by one person

Surname Count Ranking
BARTLEY 3896 =2048

Surname Count Ranking
LAPHAM 548 =10573 <

A goon yes here -- Guild of One-Name Studies

.
languages vs dialects


: "P.S. With regard to teaching our schoolkids the grammar our grandparents
learned: even the rules for prescriptive grammar do change over time. I
bet your grandfather's English teacher would tell you one shouldn't use
contractions in business English. I bet your English teacher today
wouldn't. I bet your grandmother and your English teacher would have
different opinions on the use of 'one shouldn't' vs. 'you shouldn't'.

Hmm. You can already see new words forming out of acronyms on the Internet
- BTW, IMHO, YIS, and so on. Won't it be interesting to watch the
development of 'Electronic English'?"
languages vs dialects:


"Throw into that pidgens and creoles. A pidgen is basically a shorthand
communication used by (multiple) speakers of different languages for trade,
etc - pidgen English used by traders in the Pacific Islands.
It's not
really a language, because it doesn't have a full vocabulary, grammar*, etc.
No one speaks it as a first language. But let the two groups go on
interacting and having kids, and the pidgen turns into a creole, which
actually is a languange with a full set of grammar, etc.

(*Grammar, in this case, refers to descriptive grammar, or what people
actually do, rather than prescriptive grammar, which says what people 'ought
to' do. For instance, in descriptive grammar, you might be able to say, 'I
gone to the store' and have it be acceptable to speakers of your dialect.)"

And it's the kiods who do this at the language development ages
- children seem to have an instinct for grammar




Denmark today

double decker buses at last but the dreaded ARRIVA
ARRIVA ALO!

buses are really comfortable compared with BRUM
and LONDON
no old rubbish in Copenhagen.

the contractors MUST buy NEW buses
the double deckers are too hot on top in summer - - fixed windows

the flats are good - those balconies have plants and the Danes sit out to eat

Netto's homepage

MS IE 6 crashed but I saved the last blog.
Here in Denmark is where I got the webcam Netto's hjemmeside

Netto are in Germany too, and in Denmark you meet really rich people shopping in NETTO because they, being rich, are very careful with their money.
That's the only certain way to get rich.

"DENMARK
In April 1981 we opened our very first store in Copenhagen, Denmark. The chain has, since then, seen rapid growth and is today the leading Danish retail chain in its field. There are currently 339 stores located across Denmark."

And it was TONY BLAIR who crashed Internet Exporer !!
no this works 10 Downing Street website - Home wrong again Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has a bad URL . . . and EVEN THE GOOGLE CACHE IS BLANK


Search Results: "Guide to departments - Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

"The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) is responsible for policies which promote social inclusion, neighbourhood renewal and regional prosperity. The department is responsible for regional and local government policy, including the work of regional Government offices and Regional Development Agencies to promote"


Social Exclusion Unit - improving UK Government action to reduce social exclusion

About the other two blogs : -
Memories covers 1936 to about 1974
then my years in Denmark are here Viking
I ad just practicing writng and self publishing,
WAY TO GO
Marcel Proust: "And later, in my schooldays, whenever I ventured in class, when the
master's head was turned, to communicate with some new friend, I would
always begin by asking him whether he had begun yet to go to theatres, and
if he agreed that our greatest actor was undoubtedly . . . . "


AND




BBC NEWS | Programmes | Letter From America | A million Iraqis will get the message: "I myself have and have always had among my friends and acquaintances professional men - lawyers, doctors, the like - who sooner or later confess that they're 'not into politics'.
Which surely explains the enviable fact that mostly they're uniformly amiable, cheerful, good-natured souls. How I envy them.
But there are some of us, more of us I think, who make their living by being into politics and much else besides in a life of a nation.
And the pursuit of the social history of one nation has been a lifetime's trade. Most of the time absorbing and often great fun but often, too often in the past two years, it has been a very grim profession to follow. "
me this morning during my second cup of breakfast tea

I was going to have a bath in a minute
and I had just connected the webcam I got in a NETTO supermarket in Denmark.

I could not find out how to take a still with it yet,
so I did a screen shot and cut it and jpeged it in PhotoShop elements.
To upload images to BLOGGER you have to pay - so I am sorely tempted to upgrade

This is the webcam to the upper left
marketed in Germany by HAMA
Made in Taiwan by New-Afa Technology

So I have just got the latest driver - what I call good housekeeping on any computer.
But if it is not broken don't fix it another bit of wisdom I learnt from USA,
so I tend to freeze older machines as regards operating system, just getting security and bug fixes.
but drivers get better all the time oftenwit h backwards compatabilikty.

After all the makers know their products and want the minimum of hassle and 0800 calls.
Next I have to collect my pension at the post office in Chelmsley Wood
a corner of Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council Homepage

also my landlord Solihull Council - Housing Home Page

because my much beloved late mother made a wierd will from her hospital bed,
I lost our family home when she died, and legally became a squatter in the home I had enjoyed form 1938.
The bank as executors wrote me a letter telling me to get out so I became legally homeless,

Therefor the council was obliged to rehouse me Solihull Council - Draft Homelessness Strategy



W3C HTML Home Page

something everyone should know about
Google Search: html letters codes table site:dk

TRY AGAIN


Ældresagen


& A E lig ; must remember that once again
sorenpeo.homepage.dk: Special characters

time for hand coding

ÆLDRESAGEN ÆSAGEN

help the aged

in Denmark a friend asked how to translate �ldresagen


�ldre-sag-en ord-deling word-dividing Elders-case-the

in english Help the Aged

..
Knock Knock Jokes - Hundreds !:

"Knock Knock
Who's there !



Hugh !

Hugh who ?


Hugh could hear a pin drop !"



But my daughter won't play with msn chat :-((((

.
The Tocquevillian Magazine: "Stan Kid, Managing Editor of The Tocquevillian Magazine, and Wayne Lutz, Editor-In-Chief, strike fear into the little hearts of bottom-feeders everywhere"

Right Wing USA sortof blog magazine

Google Search: "Stan (the Man)"


.

Sunday, September 07, 2003

.
the other two :-
Viking
Memories
.

And that Heyer got into the wrong blog


- but as a Faeroese lady said, after asking in vain a young man for the names of his great grandparents:

"Are you no better than a sheep?

Our shepherds know the ancestry of their flocks for five generations"

Viking is where it belongs
Georgette Heyer

Now you well ask your self what on ever had this boddice ripper got to do with vikings ?


After she died in 1974 Pan books organised a competition for new historical novels in her name.

see Historical Novels

This was about the time I was engaged for three months to teach and conduct Klaksvikarhornorkestur and I stood on this narrow isthmus KLAKSVIK looking north and in my mind's eye saw a very tired crew of vikings rowing round the corner into the VIK or bay, on their way home from Norway, where they had probably been shopping, well market trading, rather than plundering.

Then the idea of retelling the Faeroe Islands Saga as a modern novel was born as my "viking project"

Faroe Islands


map

on the way from Scotland to Iceland

A stunning landscape comprising layers of volcanic balck basalt

1942 Casualties of H.M.S. SOMALI:

"WATKINS, Ordinary Seaman, ALFRED HENRY, P/JX 329792. H.M.S. Somali. Royal Navy. 24th September 1942. Panel66,Column1. "

It was his first and only voyage, he had been selected for officer training but needed to get some sea expereince first.

.
yeah whatever: "We all consume the power that is bought with blood. Our rich lives are built on the backs of the world's poor. "
BLOGGER


I am using this for practice writing
open public first drafts

when my skills are more honed I will try and go commercial again

one of my correspondants asked whom do you write for?

for myself,,

but you are welcome to look over my shoulder
TWO THOUSAND ONE, NINE ELEVEN: "America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea! "
Google Directory - Society > Issues > Terrorism > Incidents > September 11, 2001 > Exhibitions

Soemtimes being a fly on the wall is too much

but if you ever wonder how adults chat on the web, here is an example, bit like neighbours over the garden fence with overlapping topics - - -


hughw36 good morning
my transatlantic friend: good morning
hughw36 bloggin' at dawn

hughw36 the sun is still below the horizon but already painting the sky orange
hughw36 I got up cleaned my teeth and started wrting

my transatlantic friend: I was just beginning to doze so was thinking about maybe going to bed.... woke up this morning with a terrible cold
my transatlantic friend: had sore throat all day, been sneezing my head off.... nose running away.... is sore now from blowing it...
hughw36 nine eleven is very much in my thoughts, I am good at holding an act of remembrance since my father died in 1942 that has been part of my life every armistice day.

my transatlantic friend: oh my yes.... it is here too....
my transatlantic friend: that was such a sad day..

hughw36 Are you up´to date with every kind of flu injection ?

my transatlantic friend: am upto date.... will be getting another one next month
hughw36 the world health organisation is worried about SARs coming from coughing animals to people again
my transatlantic friend: SARs scares the heck out of me
hughw36 In a society which is vacinated it will be easier to spot when heroic treatment of a patient is necessary.

hughw36 On nine eleven I was here in this flat with the TV on for company

my transatlantic friend: my hubby started with the same thing yesterday, so I know I didn't catch it from him, we must have been exposed to the cold germs someplace we had been
hughw36 the old one I chose for my late mother
hughw36 Yes dear but it is a virus that causes the sniffles

my transatlantic friend: I was in the Genealogy chatroom and they started talking about it.... I turned the TV on and hubby saw the second plane hit

hughw36 which is why there is no cure for the common cold except healthy eating and living.

hughw36 I was on usenet news:misc.writng which runs at 200 to 300 messages a day

my transatlantic friend: well., we both have it.... whatever it is... sitting here right now just a sneezing

hughw36 I only started on chat since joining AOL
hughw36 before that it was brief exchanges with kids on a BBS

my transatlantic friend: oh.... I clicked on your link and it says I am not allowed in that area
hughw36 I was in the unmoderated chat last night

hughw36 yes if you have a child filter on
hughw36 usenet often has rude words
my transatlantic friend: I have no filters on any of my screen names...

hughw36 the moderation is peer to peer
my transatlantic friend: I see


hughw36 the link works for me
hughw36 so if you are off topic you get criticised or even flamed

my transatlantic friend: you probably had to register or something
hughw36 absolutely not
my transatlantic friend: oh hmmmmm
hughw36 it must be a local thing in your settings or AOL USA
my transatlantic friend: could be I guess.......
hughw36 AOL has a horrible interface when I scan 3 or 400 messages a day I have to navigate by key strioke
hughw36 A 1000 mouse clicks is too much
my transatlantic friend: I'll say.....

hughw36 I often get a cold after going to a public place like a bus or a humid museum
hughw36 or could it even be a dust allergy
hughw36 since I had the flu jabs they usually go awy in three days or even one
my transatlantic friend: I thought about that too..
my transatlantic friend: I usually only get one, maybe two colds a year.... one about now and one in the spring

hughw36 some of my stuffGoogle Search: "hugh watkins"


hughw36 and misc writing Google Search: misc.writing



hughw36 Google groups runs about 5 hours behind the flow
my transatlantic friend: I see.... I don't belong to any groups at all
hughw36 One does not really belong but visit
my transatlantic friend: ok... well, I don't visit them either ;)
hughw36 after being there 2 or 3 years one might be a regular
my transatlantic friend: I can see where that could happen
hughw36 and to qualify as a DENIZEN even longer
my transatlantic friend: oh!!!!
hughw36 which means you help set the tone of the group
my transatlantic friend: I see
hughw36 It all goes back to the academic start of the net long before world wide web

my transatlantic friend: my dear Hugh...... I really need to get to bed.. I'm sitting here sneezing my head off and my throat is sore..... need to find something for that...
hughw36 some of the genealogy groups are gated to mailing lists which causes confusion as one half is moderated

hughw36 so good night and sleep well
my transatlantic friend: I'll talk to you later

hughw36 on nine elevn we better meet in mugs and hugs
hughw36 on of the MW denizens is STAN
my transatlantic friend: yes.... good idea

hughw36 a NY cop
my transatlantic friend: oh.... :(
hughw36 he was off line for days and we were worried as hell
my transatlantic friend: I'll bet
hughw36 it turned out he was in the clean up from the first desperate hours
hughw36 so he described it at first hand
my transatlantic friend: that just had to be awful
my transatlantic friend: wow
my transatlantic friend: I was glued to the TV for days..
hughw36 other MWers witnessd it from a mile away from roof tops
my transatlantic friend: oh gosh.....
hughw36 and a genealogical friend was at work
my transatlantic friend: oh my.......

my transatlantic friend: you have a great morning... and I'll be talking to you later....

hughw36 I am for rembrancing but against revenge, and especially capital punishment.
hughw36 and we must remember what USA and UK did to Germany was far worse.
hughw36 byeee sleep well

my transatlantic friend: byeeeee ((((())))
hughw36 (((((()))))))

AS IT WAS only spelling corrected and one name changed