To complete my week of one-word title blog posts, I came up with the original title, ‘Friday’ because that’s today, and I couldn’t think of anything else. I thought I’d have a quick glance through any photos I’d taken this week, have a ramble about whatever comes into my head while trying to remember what I’ve done in the last seven days, and see what comes out…
Day to Day
First, the mundane: Gone to bed early (9 pm), got up early (currently 3.00 is the get-up time), written a few chapters, edited a few more ahead of having a new book proofread next week, done some freelance writing work, and dealt with blogs and admin. Thank you for the kind messages in the comments on Facebook and via email. Sorry I can’t always reply to comments, but I usually manage to reply to emails, even if only briefly. I particularly liked the one that came in this morning. “I have missed your rants more than words can say.” Thank you, Marilyn – I’ll reply to the email shortly.
On Monday, our godson came around with his work shirt because it needed two buttons sewing back on. Half an hour later, he’d learnt how to do it himself. (Last week, it was ironing, and next week, we’ll be addressing how to starch a wing collar. Only joking.) You may know if you’ve seen my FB page that H and I had an adventure in Prague earlier this year, and the family had one in Athens at New Year, and these trips will, I am sure, be topics of future rambles. Meanwhile…
Also this week… Met friends at Scena for a chat and catch up, heard about the terrible fires in Rhodes and elsewhere, did some more research on hansom cabs and other matters, and went ‘Ooh’ at Neil’s photo of a fan tube, or a tube fan, or something I can’t remember the name of. He took it while snorkelling in Nimborio.
Also – huge excitement – we bought another scooper after eight years because the old one broke. Handy for sweeping up dead cockroaches after you’ve sprayed them or whacked them with a shoe, but here’s another tip: If you shoe-whack a roach that crawls out from under your bed late at night, and you can’t be arsed to get up to clean it up, leave it there beneath said shoe, and you may discover, as I did, that come the morning, the ants have removed half of it. Leave it another few hours, and all trace of it has gone, and so have the ants. How, why and where to, I care not, but they make very tidy housekeepers.
And to finish this incredibly exciting and very random post, how about a Monty Python favourite:
Spam
It continues to come in. Pointless, desperate but often amusing, because of what bots and real people think I will be hooked with or tricked by. Here’s a run-through of some of today’s attention-grabbing titles, requests, questions and adverts.
Do you miss New York bagels? Never had one, so, probably not. I used to like the ones from Dalston’s Ridley Road Market and the 24-hour bagel shop, but I’ve only been to Old York twice, never New York. Steel and Wire Rope from JFY? Why? Lisa sent me a new message from the YouPic team because I once visited a website to look at images for book covers, and since then, Lisa hasn’t been able to live without sending me a daily email from Gothenburg, Sweeden.
My opinion is important to Facebook, apparently, and it can stay that way and undiscussed. Apparently, I have a new girl waiting for me at ‘Cheaters’ and she’s a hottie – a rather subjective statement, I think. ShoutBooksy will advertise my novel to 20,000 readers for a fee, but anyone who *puts stars* around every *sentence* in an *email* deserves my non-attention, as does anyone who *starts* an email with *Hello Dear.*
One person noticed me on LinkedIn, so I am clearly not that linked (what is it, anyway?) Oh, a second new message from Lisa, the same as the first. I can get a *FREE* Costco gift, because, they say, I am a lucky user, except I am a LUCKY USER in bold all caps, and it sounds like they are shouting at me, someone who has never used Costco in their life. My opinion is again important to Facebook. My opinion? Stop sending me spam.
I have a chance to receive a free portable power station, but, sadly, I have nowhere to keep another Seabank 2 since I installed a free Dungeness B, so I’ll pass. Walmart has knives. Well, who’d a thought it?
Then, I have things to drink before breakfast, a new fat-burning diet (quite happy with my fat, thanks), Aegean have extended a holiday I didn’t know I was having, Netflix has an offer, except I suspect it’s not really Netflix, a super sexy Milf has her sights set on me, there’s something totally vital to see concerning CI valves, and several messages written in code.
Here’s a tip: I use a program called Mailwasher. I can see all this spam in the programme, delete the ones I don’t want before they get downloaded to my PC, and then wipe them off my servers, so no harm done. I can also report them as spam and/or bounce them back. Saves a lot of time, and makes for safer email checking.
That was my week that was, and from Monday, I’ll repeat the process. To finish:
