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Archive for March, 2005

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Random talk

Friday, March 11th, 2005

(about SF):

me: “…strong AI is self-aware AI, obviously. You’ve got the weak stuff already!”

John: “And how do you know it’s self-aware?”

me: “I don’t know. Run a Turing test or something. —Well, you can be pretty sure the AI is self-aware when it takes over the company and shuts down the internet!”

John: “Nooo! Don’t say that—our programs do that already!”

On another random note: since I had a cryptic counter installed (thanks, Chris!) I note that I have four times as many visitors here than on my other blog. BootsNall is definitely the host with the most 😉 Saying that—either site’s visitors are still in the two figures so blogging ain’t a fast road to fame.

Posted in Neither here nor there | Comments Off on Random talk

Intolerance

Friday, March 11th, 2005

I have a strong desire to leave the country—as in emigrate. There is a sour taste of intolerance in the air and with the general election coming up I can’t be sure which of the two big parties are the greater wankers. New Labour is dead, that’s for sure.
[read on]

Posted in Neither here nor there | Comments Off on Intolerance

Exotic Veg

Wednesday, March 9th, 2005

Curse my curiosity, but the stall at Reading market intrigues me. It sells the most exotic vegetables I have seen anywhere in the UK, even in Deptford.
[read on]

Posted in 'Round the World Recipes | Comments Off on Exotic Veg

I’ve joined the critters!

Tuesday, March 8th, 2005

You know how it goes…

I have been struggling with that blasted SF story for over 2 weeks now and I just can’t get to grips with it. Any excuse will do (this is referred to as ‘cat hoovering’ by spec fic writers).

But is it any wonder? Here I am working in complete isolation with only ‘Best of’ and Hugo Award-winning authors to compare myself to. It is not like travel writing where there are lots of web-zines (and of course BootsNall) for comparision. And even so, when it comes to travel writing we would benefit from a writer’s group.

It doesn’t help that, compared to travel, writing SF is a hundred times harder. And I suck even at the former.

So, to rectify the situation and give myself a kick in the ass, I’ve joined The Critters’ Workshop, an on-line writer’s group with over 5000 members in the Sci Fi, fantasy and horror field. Now I really have to get my finger out. Saying that, it’ll be a few months before I can submit a story of my own but I’ll have to write at least one critique per week. Fair dinkum.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep up with the travel stories. Even though my trip has been delayed (in fact, I may put it off till the autum and go on a few shorter trips/local travel instead—another story) it is important to keep on the ball.

Posted in publishing | Comments Off on I’ve joined the critters!

The trouble with Stirling…

Monday, March 7th, 2005

The trouble with Stirling is that it has no soul. Tadley has more vibe in the local post office than the whole of the city of Stirling (with the possible exception of our local, but only out of season).

It is true that tourism can destroy a place but I doubt that there has ever been much behind the pretty façade of Stirling. In the past it was an effluent merchant town and administrative centre with all the lofty indifference that entails and which I know so well from my home town of Münster. Now it is a giant visitor centre and I am relieved to hand it back to the tourists to whom it belongs—hopefully never to set foot in it again.

Perhaps this is why I miss the Ghetto like mad, with its sounds and flavours, while the pretty views of Stirling leave me cold. There is nobody at home.

Good-bye Scotland, I hope to return one day. But good riddance Stirling!

Posted in Travel | Comments Off on The trouble with Stirling…

The Most Dangerous Village in Britain

Friday, March 4th, 2005

The Rings of Death that straddle the town centres of both Reading and Basingstoke and the network of multi-lane avenues that leave Marble Arch ‘high and dry on an island in a sea of traffic’—as the Evening Standard put it—are all legacies of the road-building frenzy of the sixties that left great swathes of our green and pleasant land burried under rivers of concrete. So is the A69 which cuts through the Pennines, linking Newcastle with the M6—the main (and only) motorway artery to the North at Carlisle. Here, among the rolling hills, lies the most dangerous village in Britain.

The trans-island-trunk road cuts right through the medieval cluster of stone cottages and manor houses along what might once have been a cobbled street over which horse-drawn carriages trundled. As we rushed through the village, I gleaned from the protest signs which livid residents affixed to their fences that over 14 000 vehicles a day pass through this road, a large proportion of which are HGVs. After 40 years, the locals are still waiting for a bypass.

Today there are more vehicles—and more lorries—than usual because one of the customary accidents has closed the M6 at Lancaster and all traffic to Scotland has been diverted half-way across the Kingdom: along the M1 through the Yorkshire dales and across the Pennines to re-join the M6 at Carlisle, just past the snow-capped Cumbrian Hills. Still, a 2 hour detour beats sitting in a traffic jam for 29 hours, as can happen. From this you will gather that Britain may be a small island, but it pays to travel prepared. We never drive to, or in, Scotland without carrying food, water and a blanket.

Posted in Travels on my Doorstep | Comments Off on The Most Dangerous Village in Britain

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