Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[Laxie]

Was that determined about the time you discovered just how much donkey work you had lined up for today?

I'm taking the 5th. (Yank talk)

Thought ya might. 

Mrs. Red will suss it ya know.  No point trying to pull a sicky.

[RED-DOG]

I think pulling a sticky is what caused the problem in the first place.

[The_nun]

I have recently developed a gammy arm. I have dognosed myself. It's tennis elbow.

Have you been knocking some balls around?

[RED-DOG]

Well they are a set to love.

[david3103]

If you ever find yourself becoming a little blasé about life, or lose your sense of wonder, try spending the wee small hours sitting in your car with the window rolled down, a few cheese sandwiches and a huge flask of tea by your side, waiting for a mare to foal.

Somehow, she will delay the birth until that last hour before dawn, when the the night is at it's darkest. When the cold, and the drama are at their most intense.

As the first rays of light and warmth spill over the horizon, watch in amazement as a gangly bundle of new life somehow manages to gather an unruly collection of bar-stool legs beneath him and stand for the very first time.

Notice how well the still air carries the sound of the mare's contented whicker as she shifts her weight from one back foot to the other, letting her milk flow down into the udder that her foal has found in spite if the fact that he is barely able to control his limbs. 

Watch spellbound as the sun rises in the sky, quickly drying the dew from the grass, and the last of the birth fluids from the foals coat, leaving him fluffy and adorable like a child's toy.

Climb out of your car to ease your cramped bones, and spend a moment in awe of what is probably the greatest miracle in the universe.

The miracle of new life.

sigh... you ask me to paint a word picture of my cigarette receptacle bird box and then craft this.

I am not worthy.

I think pulling a sticky is what caused the problem in the first place.

I can match this sort of stuff though 

[RED-DOG]

Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don't start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a
great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
De-accession euphemisms.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

[smashedagain]

Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don't start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a
great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
De-accession euphemisms.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

now you bloody tell me. 

[TightEnd]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011bz2h

Radio 4, yesterday

very moving

[RED-DOG]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011bz2h

Radio 4, yesterday

very moving

Yes I heard it Rich. Actually, Dewi alerted me to it.

I thought Michael Burke's questions were designed to re enforce, or at best did nothing to dispel the negative stereotypes, but "Mikey" dealt with them very well.

[smashedagain]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011bz2h

Radio 4, yesterday

very moving

Yes I heard it Rich. Actually, Dewi alerted me to it.

I thought Michael Burke's questions were designed to re enforce, or at best did nothing to dispel the negative stereotypes, but "Mikey" dealt with them very well.

unbelievable. just clicked on this and the wife shouts quick turn that off turn that off before its been going ten seconds... she explains she has just bought the book and does not want it ruining. mrs h reads a couple of books a week and this makes a change from the dean koontz she usually has next to the bed. i will probably read the book and it was her mother that mentioned this to her a couple of days ago but she already had the book last thursday

[tikay]

Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don't start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a
great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
De-accession euphemisms.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

That was penned by this wonderful man.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Safire

I discovered him back in the early 80's, & it was him that led me to take daily, for many a long year, the New York Times, which was a rather odd thing for a geezer living in little town Ilkeston, Derbyshire, to do, where the Derbyshire Times was the staple diet.

I so wish I could follow his "great Rules of Writing". I have a book by him on the subject somewhere, in fact.

So glad you reminded me of him, I'm going to try & re-read up on him now.

[RED-DOG]

Was it he who said  "A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people"?

[tikay]

Was it he who said  "A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people"?

No - that was another man, or indeed Mann.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann

Obviously, I had to google that, as I've never heard of him. A very true saying, though!

[Claw75]

I have recently developed a gammy arm. I have dognosed myself. It's tennis elbow.

excellent word - I'm adding it to my blonde vocabulary!

[RED-DOG]

Playing Poker For Heroes today. Gonna have a shave (First since Friday morning) and polish my medals in preparation.