I recently read an article which mentioned our predilection for reading about crime whether true crime or fiction or natty detectives. The writer seemed to suggest that we were a bloodthirsty lot. I'm not so sure that she was wrong.
From the earliest times, ordinary people liked to watched spectacles of some sort. Juvenal, a Roman poet from the late 1st/early 2nd century said people only want "bread and circuses" (panem et circenses is what he actually wrote, which roughly translated means bread and games or circuses). I don't think we have changed that much in the intervening centuries. Public executions were popular. Take for example Samuel Pepys diary entry for 16th October 1660 in which he says that he went to Charing Cross to see Major-General Harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered. When his head and heart were shown to the people there were "great shouts of joy". And have you noticed that whenever there is a major incident, terrorist or otherwise, people get their mobile phones out and start recording?
Nearly all of us have stopped at the scene of an accident or of a major fire to see what was going on. It's not that we revel in others' misfortune. I think it is the herd instinct, wanting to know what happened to our fellow human beings, and the feeling "that could have been me" which makes us do this. Of course, the nightly news broadcasts keep us up to date with all the major catastrophes around the world. Good news never does sell well except maybe at Christmas.
Be all that as it may, crime fiction and true crime, in both book form and on television, remains very popular with readers and viewers alike.What a pleasure it is to curl up in bed at night or stretch out in the most comfortable chair in front of the fire and read about the solving of a murder.
I enjoyed writing my Sergeant Alan Murray murder series. I am not a fan of blood-curdling descriptions of how victims met their end. I prefer the detective side of it and this is shown in my stories. Murray is head of a small police station at the foot of the Kerry Mountains in the heart of rural Ireland where crime of any sort is rare and therefore all the more shocking when three women are murdered within a short space of time.
Saturday, 19 January 2019
Tuesday, 8 January 2019
The Elusive Sleep
There is nothing I like better than curling up with the Sunday newspapers after lunch. Online editions can never (I hope!) replace the printed word. There is a world of news and gossip and frothy information contained in every Sunday edition. Politics, fashion, domestic and foreign news, and editorials and commentaries from people who know what they are writing about and a few who don't.
I love it!
Last Sunday, I was struck by the bias towards sleep in many of the articles I read. The recently published book Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker is providing food for thought, it appears. My guess is that a lot of people found it in their Christmas stocking. I must confess that I didn't read all of it, I mainly concentrated on the parts relating to seniors (being a senior myself, and a bad sleeper to boot). I'm afraid that I didn't really agree with his findings that we all need more sleep than we realize. Quite frankly, I find that if I have a really bad night, I usually catch up the next. As well as that, everyone has a sleep pattern of their own. And obsessing because you didn't get what you're told is the right amount of sleep, is more likely to be detrimental to your health than anything else. When my kids were small, I felt I never got enough sleep, later I slept less, waking up in the middle of the night. I used to get very frustrated but I don't any more. I found the best way of coping was to either relax and wait for sleep to come or if feeling restless, I made myself a hot drink and watched a bit of television until I felt tired enough to go back to bed and sleep.
I daresay that if any sleep scientists read this, they will wag their collective fingers at me, but all I can say is it works for me.
I love it!
Last Sunday, I was struck by the bias towards sleep in many of the articles I read. The recently published book Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker is providing food for thought, it appears. My guess is that a lot of people found it in their Christmas stocking. I must confess that I didn't read all of it, I mainly concentrated on the parts relating to seniors (being a senior myself, and a bad sleeper to boot). I'm afraid that I didn't really agree with his findings that we all need more sleep than we realize. Quite frankly, I find that if I have a really bad night, I usually catch up the next. As well as that, everyone has a sleep pattern of their own. And obsessing because you didn't get what you're told is the right amount of sleep, is more likely to be detrimental to your health than anything else. When my kids were small, I felt I never got enough sleep, later I slept less, waking up in the middle of the night. I used to get very frustrated but I don't any more. I found the best way of coping was to either relax and wait for sleep to come or if feeling restless, I made myself a hot drink and watched a bit of television until I felt tired enough to go back to bed and sleep.
I daresay that if any sleep scientists read this, they will wag their collective fingers at me, but all I can say is it works for me.
Friday, 4 January 2019
A couple of things to think about
I came home on the bus from shopping in town just as it was getting dusk. When I looked out of the window I could see all the houses lit up still with Christmas lights. Those dots of light on the country landscape are magical to me somehow. They signify home, warmth, being welcomed. No wonder we light everything up on these, the darkest days of the year. Soon we will tidy away the decorations - there is a tradition that this has to be done before January 6th although I know a lot of people who don't follow it to the letter. And before we know it, the evenings will stay bright for longer and we will start thinking about Spring and summer holidays and sunshine. Yes, I know we will most likely get some bad weather in the next two months. I think it was Tsar Nicholas I of Russia who said "I have two generals who never fail me: Generals January and February", referring to the brutal Russian winters which defeated Napoleon among others who tried to invade. Be that as it may, we have not seen winter until we do see what January and February dish out to us. I don't mind a bit of snow, I must confess!
For Christmas my nephew gave me A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles. I had not heard of this author before but am really enjoying reading this book. Towles' first novel RULES OF CIVILITY was a New York Times bestseller and I intend to get hold of it when I have finished this one. So now I have a nice stack of books waiting to be read. Wonderful. That is the nicest thing about getting books as presents. You end up discovering authors you never heard of. (In the old days, ending a sentence with a preposition would be frowned on - I have no idea if this is still the case, but I've done it anyway, so sorry to anyone who is a stickler for grammar and style).
Not too late to wish all my readers A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!
For Christmas my nephew gave me A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles. I had not heard of this author before but am really enjoying reading this book. Towles' first novel RULES OF CIVILITY was a New York Times bestseller and I intend to get hold of it when I have finished this one. So now I have a nice stack of books waiting to be read. Wonderful. That is the nicest thing about getting books as presents. You end up discovering authors you never heard of. (In the old days, ending a sentence with a preposition would be frowned on - I have no idea if this is still the case, but I've done it anyway, so sorry to anyone who is a stickler for grammar and style).
Not too late to wish all my readers A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Saturday, 15 December 2018
Christmas Cards
Since the beginning of December I have been getting a trickle of Christmas cards from friends and family. This is a lovely tradition, I always think, and it is such a pity that with the popularity of social media it is dying out.
As an ex-pat, living in Germany, I was often starved for news of friends who wrote once a year at Christmas and updated me on their lives. Even more valuable were those who gave me a thumbnail sketch of what was going on in the country they were living in. Of course, you had the one-liners who simply wrote on the expensive Christmas card "we are all well" and added a pious hope that my family were equally healthy and happy. But even these few lines meant that they had thought about me and my family for a couple of minutes at the very least: they had to pick a card to send from the pile they had bought and in order to write something, they had to call me to mind. I am a great believer in the power of thought or prayer if you want a better word. I remember when I was in hospital following surgery for breast cancer that I could almost feel the get-well wishes pouring out to me.
But I digress. So here I am thinking about the niceness of receiving Christmas cards and the fun of reading how those friends and family who only contact me once a year are doing. How was it all those years ago, when receiving a letter at any time was a big event? When the post coach with its four horses plied between the cities and towns and delivered news of loved ones far away?In those days, far away really meant just that. Many Irish people who emigrated to the USA never came home again. All they and their families had were these letters, cards and well wishes, all of which were read over again until the next time.
I sometimes think that we kept in touch to a much better extent before the advent of email, whatsapp, skype, etc. Letter-writing is an art, of course, and there were people who, because of the lack of education or abilities, simply could not write a very coherent account of themselves. Nowadays they'd simply send you an emoji - enough said!
I still write Christmas letters to friends or family members who I don't get to see very often. These are getting fewer, though, I have to admit. This is partly due to the fact that the cost of travelling has really come down over the years, and let's face it, it's much nicer to see people face to face than to write to them.
This year I have written all my Christmas letters and sent off all my cards except the very local ones. I hope I have made a few people as happy as I am to hear from them.
As an ex-pat, living in Germany, I was often starved for news of friends who wrote once a year at Christmas and updated me on their lives. Even more valuable were those who gave me a thumbnail sketch of what was going on in the country they were living in. Of course, you had the one-liners who simply wrote on the expensive Christmas card "we are all well" and added a pious hope that my family were equally healthy and happy. But even these few lines meant that they had thought about me and my family for a couple of minutes at the very least: they had to pick a card to send from the pile they had bought and in order to write something, they had to call me to mind. I am a great believer in the power of thought or prayer if you want a better word. I remember when I was in hospital following surgery for breast cancer that I could almost feel the get-well wishes pouring out to me.
But I digress. So here I am thinking about the niceness of receiving Christmas cards and the fun of reading how those friends and family who only contact me once a year are doing. How was it all those years ago, when receiving a letter at any time was a big event? When the post coach with its four horses plied between the cities and towns and delivered news of loved ones far away?In those days, far away really meant just that. Many Irish people who emigrated to the USA never came home again. All they and their families had were these letters, cards and well wishes, all of which were read over again until the next time.
I sometimes think that we kept in touch to a much better extent before the advent of email, whatsapp, skype, etc. Letter-writing is an art, of course, and there were people who, because of the lack of education or abilities, simply could not write a very coherent account of themselves. Nowadays they'd simply send you an emoji - enough said!
I still write Christmas letters to friends or family members who I don't get to see very often. These are getting fewer, though, I have to admit. This is partly due to the fact that the cost of travelling has really come down over the years, and let's face it, it's much nicer to see people face to face than to write to them.
This year I have written all my Christmas letters and sent off all my cards except the very local ones. I hope I have made a few people as happy as I am to hear from them.
Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Buddy Can You Spare Me A Smile?
I've been travelling. This is not a major thing in itself, I hasten to say, I often travel and this year has seen me make two non-scheduled trips. So, what was different about this time? I think that travelling in the summer months, when tourists are mixing happily with the locals, is different from travelling in November before the Christmas markets start.
What do I mean about travelling being different in November? I'll try and explain. I stayed at a hotel in the heart of Frankfurt. It is very convenient, being near the Zeil, the main shopping area, where you can buy anything you fancy and things you never knew you wanted. I travelled several times on the Underground and on the suburban trains. In summer with lots of excited tourists, it wasn't so obvious but this time with mainly locals coming and going, I noticed the difference. What struck me most was that people put on what I call their "travel face", that blank look, eyes glazed over, seeing nothing, hearing nothing. I noticed the same thing at the airports. Some people read books or Kindles, others flick through their phones in an attempt to distract themselves until they have to get off the train or their flight is called. Far too many plug in their music and can't hear a thing. All of which is understandable at least in part, but why that grim expression? No one cracks a smile not even if an acquaintance/work colleague sits down beside them - they simply nod acknowledgement and go back to their phone or book or whatever. We are all on the same planet but side by side and not together.
Whenever I visit Frankfurt I plan on making two people smile whether they like it or not. It was hard going this time around. In the end a young man (clearly a foreigner) smiled at me when he held the door of the Kaufhof department store for me. The cashiers resolutely refused to twitch so much as a lip muscle. I bought German bread Bauernbrot, a sort of sourdough loaf which I just love to eat when it is fresh. I asked the guy at the counter if he could slice it for me and he gruffly replied that that wouldn't work because it was too fresh and would crumble. End of conversation. Take it or leave it.
Happy Ending: when I showed up at Security at Frankfurt Airport I was literally the only one there - the flight was half empty, as it turned out, and people were either ahead of me or came later. So here was I with a team of grim-faced Security personnel. In fact, they were joshing each other and having a great time and so we got talking and laughing (who'd have thought it?) and they assured me - and I believe it - that a sense of humour is vital for doing their job. This encounter gave me a feel-good feeling for the rest of the day.
I think we should have a smile day at least once a week, let's say on Mondays when everyone is feeling a bit grumpy about having to go back to work after the weekend. Let's all try it and see what results we get.
What do I mean about travelling being different in November? I'll try and explain. I stayed at a hotel in the heart of Frankfurt. It is very convenient, being near the Zeil, the main shopping area, where you can buy anything you fancy and things you never knew you wanted. I travelled several times on the Underground and on the suburban trains. In summer with lots of excited tourists, it wasn't so obvious but this time with mainly locals coming and going, I noticed the difference. What struck me most was that people put on what I call their "travel face", that blank look, eyes glazed over, seeing nothing, hearing nothing. I noticed the same thing at the airports. Some people read books or Kindles, others flick through their phones in an attempt to distract themselves until they have to get off the train or their flight is called. Far too many plug in their music and can't hear a thing. All of which is understandable at least in part, but why that grim expression? No one cracks a smile not even if an acquaintance/work colleague sits down beside them - they simply nod acknowledgement and go back to their phone or book or whatever. We are all on the same planet but side by side and not together.
Whenever I visit Frankfurt I plan on making two people smile whether they like it or not. It was hard going this time around. In the end a young man (clearly a foreigner) smiled at me when he held the door of the Kaufhof department store for me. The cashiers resolutely refused to twitch so much as a lip muscle. I bought German bread Bauernbrot, a sort of sourdough loaf which I just love to eat when it is fresh. I asked the guy at the counter if he could slice it for me and he gruffly replied that that wouldn't work because it was too fresh and would crumble. End of conversation. Take it or leave it.
Happy Ending: when I showed up at Security at Frankfurt Airport I was literally the only one there - the flight was half empty, as it turned out, and people were either ahead of me or came later. So here was I with a team of grim-faced Security personnel. In fact, they were joshing each other and having a great time and so we got talking and laughing (who'd have thought it?) and they assured me - and I believe it - that a sense of humour is vital for doing their job. This encounter gave me a feel-good feeling for the rest of the day.
I think we should have a smile day at least once a week, let's say on Mondays when everyone is feeling a bit grumpy about having to go back to work after the weekend. Let's all try it and see what results we get.
Thursday, 8 November 2018
Finding the Right Words
I think nearly all writers share a love of words. We write a sentence and then listen to it in our minds, checking for rhythm and sense. If one word jars, then we search until we find a more suitable word or we rewrite the sentence. I have just rewritten the first sentence of this blog: originally I wrote All writers share a love of words and are grammar freaks. Then I re-read it and thought that not all writers do love words and quite a lot of writers that I know are not keen on the rules of grammar. And I wondered if I should put a hypen between re-written or just leave it as rewritten. So I've done the hyphen for re-read although I might still change that, too, when I read this blog again.
Does it matter? you might ask and rightly so. As long as the reader understands me, I'm not going to beat myself up over it. But, I have to admit, I do like to pay attention to grammar. I see red when I read something like The Grapes' of Wrath instead of The Grapes of Wrath, or Marys' dress when it should be Mary's dress. Or he was sat in the chair (and I've seen this in a best seller recently) instead of he was sitting in the chair. But maybe I'm old fashioned. Maybe I should get out more.
All of this went through my head yesterday when I saw, for the umpteenth time, an advertisement for something or other which had the words get your free gift. A gift is free, that is why it is a gift. So what is a free gift and should you trust a company who might not know exactly the meaning of the word gift? You could end up getting a bill for something you thought was free.
And another thing that caught my eye: exclusive offer. Exclusive to whom, exactly? If everyone on the internet reads the advertisement, then it is hardly exclusive, is it?
I am always hearing about jobs being up for grabs. Really? Isn't this just a position that is vacant and you can apply for it? It's time we changed that expression. Newspaper headlines tell us a politician or other public personality has been slammed for saying or doing something. Wouldn't the word criticized tell me the same thing and less violently at that?
Let's get more creative in our speech. A friend of mine was recently describing a very tidy, efficient acquaintance and she ended with the words : "she'd mind mice at the crossroads for you."
What a great expression! I just love it and I have been trying ever since to see where I could fit it into one of my stories.
Does it matter? you might ask and rightly so. As long as the reader understands me, I'm not going to beat myself up over it. But, I have to admit, I do like to pay attention to grammar. I see red when I read something like The Grapes' of Wrath instead of The Grapes of Wrath, or Marys' dress when it should be Mary's dress. Or he was sat in the chair (and I've seen this in a best seller recently) instead of he was sitting in the chair. But maybe I'm old fashioned. Maybe I should get out more.
All of this went through my head yesterday when I saw, for the umpteenth time, an advertisement for something or other which had the words get your free gift. A gift is free, that is why it is a gift. So what is a free gift and should you trust a company who might not know exactly the meaning of the word gift? You could end up getting a bill for something you thought was free.
And another thing that caught my eye: exclusive offer. Exclusive to whom, exactly? If everyone on the internet reads the advertisement, then it is hardly exclusive, is it?
I am always hearing about jobs being up for grabs. Really? Isn't this just a position that is vacant and you can apply for it? It's time we changed that expression. Newspaper headlines tell us a politician or other public personality has been slammed for saying or doing something. Wouldn't the word criticized tell me the same thing and less violently at that?
Let's get more creative in our speech. A friend of mine was recently describing a very tidy, efficient acquaintance and she ended with the words : "she'd mind mice at the crossroads for you."
What a great expression! I just love it and I have been trying ever since to see where I could fit it into one of my stories.
Sunday, 28 October 2018
Halloween and Childhood Memories
On Friday night I went to watch the fireworks which opened Youghal's Halloween festivities. There was a full moon and the tide was in, the water reflecting eerily in the moonlight. It was the perfect setting.
Looking back on my own childhood, Halloween was pretty low key. Fancy dress costumes were not on sale in every store as they are now and there was no such thing as trick or treat. It was mostly celebrated at home. We bobbed for apples and as far as I remember there might have been a ghost story or two broadcast on the radio and also published in the popular magazines (we didn't have a television until I was a teenager).
For me, at any rate, the biggest thing was the barm brack. This is a yeasted bread with added sultanas and raisins. Traditionally, each barmbrack contained a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence) and a ring. This was a form of fortune telling in which each item, when received in the slice, was supposed to foretell the fate of the person who received it: the pea, the person would not marry that year; the stick, would have an unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes; the cloth or rag, would have bad luck or be poor; the coin, would enjoy good fortune or be rich; and the ring, would be wed within the year. As children, we were very competitive. I remember once getting the stick and being highly upset about it and teased by my siblings. At school next day we always compared what we had found in the barm brack and word would quickly go round that so-and-so had found the coin. I was never lucky enough to find the silver coin. In those days sixpence would have seemed like a small fortune to me!
When I bought a barm brack the other day, I discovered it did have a toy wedding ring. I expect that the other items are no longer allowed for safety reasons. At any rate, the wrapper on this barm brack warned about swallowing the toy ring by mistake. But I am not going to start moaning about lost innocence or the necessity of food safety regulations. Halloween is still a lot of fun and it is refreshing to see that kids still like dressing up and painting their faces. Some things never change.
Looking back on my own childhood, Halloween was pretty low key. Fancy dress costumes were not on sale in every store as they are now and there was no such thing as trick or treat. It was mostly celebrated at home. We bobbed for apples and as far as I remember there might have been a ghost story or two broadcast on the radio and also published in the popular magazines (we didn't have a television until I was a teenager).
For me, at any rate, the biggest thing was the barm brack. This is a yeasted bread with added sultanas and raisins. Traditionally, each barmbrack contained a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence) and a ring. This was a form of fortune telling in which each item, when received in the slice, was supposed to foretell the fate of the person who received it: the pea, the person would not marry that year; the stick, would have an unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes; the cloth or rag, would have bad luck or be poor; the coin, would enjoy good fortune or be rich; and the ring, would be wed within the year. As children, we were very competitive. I remember once getting the stick and being highly upset about it and teased by my siblings. At school next day we always compared what we had found in the barm brack and word would quickly go round that so-and-so had found the coin. I was never lucky enough to find the silver coin. In those days sixpence would have seemed like a small fortune to me!
When I bought a barm brack the other day, I discovered it did have a toy wedding ring. I expect that the other items are no longer allowed for safety reasons. At any rate, the wrapper on this barm brack warned about swallowing the toy ring by mistake. But I am not going to start moaning about lost innocence or the necessity of food safety regulations. Halloween is still a lot of fun and it is refreshing to see that kids still like dressing up and painting their faces. Some things never change.
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