My Winter Experiences

    This will, I promise, be the only post I make about snow! It's not that I don't care about it all, but it gets talked about so much that I think I can safely avoid talking about it too much!

    I didn't really grown up with snow; I live in the south-east of England, for heaven's sake. It snowed twice in my entire childhood - once when I was about three and then again when I was twelve or so, and that was it. The second bout of snow was when I was ill, so couldn't play out in it. We've now had three bouts of snow down here in my region in this year alone - and it's great, because I get to relive my childhood, as well as see kids enjoy themselves as I know I would have done!

    My friend Sam has harboured ambitions to build a snowman this year after her first one earlier in the year didn't last far beyond the end of her lunch hour. The last time I built one was about 25 years - although I suspect it's melted by now - so I was eager to get in on the action!

    Finally - today - we managed it. We had thought we might be able to build it yesterday, but we were caught in Canterbury for ... well, quite a few hours! It took us four hours to move about three-quarters of a mile and another two to make a trip that would usually take someone half an hour. That will teach us to go to Canterbury for lunch when the BBC forecasts snow, although the lunch with our other friend Chris made up for the journey (I can say that, I didn't do the driving!).

    Anyway, the snowman. We worked blooming hard on creating both a snowman and a snowcat - because, of course, we couldn't just have left the snowman by himself, could we? Obviously. It was an accomplishment for me - this was a quarter of a century in the making, so I feel quite proud of this snowman. Oh, and the snow cat, of course!

    Well, here are the pictures from our creative efforts - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=741245169&aid=317718 - and I hope you were just as successful building your own.

    Oh, and here's a picture of me that Sam took. I thought I would share it as it shows how much I got on with Mr Scrooge the snowman! http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150111913390170&set=a.486650385169.287964.741245169#!/photo.php?fbid=10150145079189619&set=t.741245169

Heroes, Anti-Heroes & Writers, A Category of Their Own

    I'm beginning to flesh out a short story (anywhere up to 15,000 words ... no pressure!) about monsters or evil beings as heroes. Here's the link to the competition if you're interested - http://www.pillhillpress.com/darkheroes.html

    I'm thinking about going down the route of having a vampire-werewolf hybrid teenager doing ... well, something; not sure where I'm going from there, but that's what the fleshing out is about! I've got about 100 words written down - a basic introduction, if nothing else.

    Having started to do some research on the subject, I've come across something very ... bizarre. A (mercifully tiny) group of people seemed convinced that both vampires and werewolves are real; to these people, some of them who seem old enough to vote and hold down jobs in mainstream society, the dark side is something to strive to. Many of them want to be vampires or werewolves and are desperate to find someone who will actually do the deed and bite them. I'd never realised these people actually existed, and I find it terrifying that they actually believe these beings exist.

    Equally as worrying, I came across people who declared they themselves were vampires or werewolves and would be willing to bite other people in exchange for their names and addresses - and people seemed to actually respond! I don't think I have to spell out what some of these people were actually after, although I suspect that there some people on these forums who were actually convinced they were creatures of the night.

    I did consider trying to fit this concept into my short story, but haven't been able to find a way to shoe-horn it in. Any suggestions welcome on that front!

    If you know of any good anti-heroes, or monstrous heroes, then let me know - I need to develop a plot and it's only partially formed in my mind at the moment! I know a lot of you have very fertile imaginations, so begin working those minds and let me know what you come up with!

Brad Pitt, Lewis Hamilton, Nicole Scherzinger, Viking Warriors, Roman Gladiator, Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys, Bananas & An English Cream Tea

    No, I haven't gone mad.

    I felt I should say that before going any further, because I suspect there will be a few people, having read the title of this blog post, that might be worrying for my mental health. I'm still sane, although I can understand if you thought something different, judging by what I've called this post!

    I think I should explain what the title is about. It's an experiment of sorts This site (good old Google) allows you to see your "stats" - how many people have viewed your posts, where they are in the world and - most importantly for the purposes of this post - how they came across my site.

    Most people come across my blog through ways I would expect - Facebook, Twitter, email, a Google or StumbleUpon search, something like that. However, the stats have thrown up three intriguing variables that I didn't expect - there were three Google searches for, respectively, "and give it a go for yourselves", "cuss word viking language" and "viking swear words".

    Now, I've copied those three sentences out purely as shown on my info page, which intrigues me quite a bit - it indicates that the writer of the second search was American, but I'm purely guessing, of course! It's the first one that intrigues me most of all - even I couldn't find my blog with that search too easily, and had to add the word "viking" to the end of the search in order to narrow it down!

    Which is where the experiment comes in. I've deliberately chosen very random words for the title in an attempt to see what the most random Google search is that leads to my blog. Hey, it passes the time in between pieces of work ... it's called distraction therapy, I think. I'll let you know the results - oh, and while we're at it, let me know what the most random website was you came across after a comparatively normal Google search. It might give me ideas for next time!