Submission services anyone?

At the risk of being accused of lifting snippets from other blogs I do think any wannabe novelist should read the post on the use of submission services at How Publishing Really Works.

Puss Pass

Don't you love those cutsie stories they use to finish off the news? Loved today's gem about a puss called Casper, who, for the past few months, has been catching the number 3 bus outside his home in Plymouth, Devon. He hops aboard, snuggles down on the back seat and enjoys the ride. The driver drops him off on the return journey.

Apparently his owner didn't know about his antics until the bus company, First, informed her. First has even put up a notice in the canteen alerting drivers to take good care of him. Ah, makes you go all warm inside, doesn't it? Wonder how long it'll be before Health & Safety get a whiff of it? One way or another his joyriding will be stopped, mark my words.

Photo and more details here.

Splish, splash, splosh!

Photo opposite is the view from the dining room where I'm typing this!






Isn't the weather depressing? What happened to summer? I can't recall a day since about May when it hasn't rained at some point during the day. This morning started well with a little sunshine, then around 9.30am the skies darkened and down it came. Hasn't stopped since.

Hmm, an ice-cream van just turned up outside my house - who in their right mind buys ice-cream on a day like today? Talk about optimism!

Where was I? Oh yes, I was moaning about the weather which brings me to point out that I live on a smallish 70's housing estate with poor Broadband reception and drains that flood every time there's sustained rainfall...no, the two things aren't connected but seeing as I've had intermittent Broadband all day, I'm feeling a tad wound up about it! What with that and the TV signal being interrupted...

Anyway, remember the floods a couple of years ago? You were unaffected? Well, parts of where I live were underwater for over a week...some even longer. If this keeps up, it's going to happen again. The main road between our house and our business premises is particularly fun to navigate today, with fountains of water gushing from displaced manhole covers. Note to parents of children happily splashing around in it...THIS IS SEWAGE WATER! This fact is evident when the rain stops and the water subsides. The road is littered with...you can guess!


The photo opposite is of Bridge Street in Worksop at the time of the last flood. Photo taken from Worksop Guardian.





Several houses on this estate were flooded back then (thankfully not ours)and those worst affected were the ones lying below the road level. Not sure who took the blame, the council, the house builders or Severn Trent, but anyway, defense gates were installed which in the main were pretty ineffective. So for the next 5 weeks the road is being dug up to sort out the drainage problem once and for all. This means 3-way traffic lights have been installed to aide the flow of vehicles coming off the main A57 into Worksop.

PLEASE, please can the authorities leave these lights in place when the work is completed because for the first time since I've lived here I can get in and out of the estate with ease. AND more importantly, it would prevent parents parking their cars on the double yellows outside the school gates which snarls up traffic at peak times. And before you inundate me with angry comments about how parents need to transport their offspring by car because of danger from paedophiles etc, I'm not interested in your whining. The road in question is narrow, extremely busy, has yellow hatching and double yellows and is the only exit off the estate PLUS there are 2 car parks within 20 yards so bl**dy well use them!

Whew, I feel better already ;o)