Sweet Cigarettes and Breakfast under the Balloons

Posted on December 18, 2012 by ASWilliams

A child's christmas in wales

A Child’s Christmas in Wales is a prose work by the Welsh writer Dylan Thomas. Originally emerging from a piece written for radio, the poem was recorded by Thomas in 1952. The story is an anecdotal retelling of a Christmas from the view of a young child and is a romanticised version of Christmases past, portraying a nostalgic and simpler time. It is one of Thomas’ most popular works.

I’d like to share with you one of my favourite passages from the book:

“Go on the Useless Presents.”
“Bags of moist and many-colored jelly babies
and a folded flag and a false nose and a tram-
conductor’s cap and a machine that punched tickets
and rang a bell; never a catapult; once, by mistake
that no one could explain, a little hatchet;
and a celluloid duck that made, when you pressed it,
a most unducklike sound, a mewing moo that an
ambitious cat might make who wished to be a cow;
and a painting book in which I could make the grass,
the trees, the sea and the animals any colour
I pleased, and still the dazzling sky-blue sheep
are grazing in the red field under the
rainbow-billed and pea-green birds.
Hardboileds, toffee, fudge and allsorts, crunches,
cracknels, humbugs, glaciers, marzipan, and
butterwelsh for the Welsh. And troops of
bright tin soldiers who, if they could not fight,
could always run. And Snakes-and-Families
and Happy Ladders. And Easy Hobbi-Games
for Little Engineers, complete with instructions.
Oh, easy for Leonardo! And a whistle to make
the dogs bark to wake up the old man next door
to make him beat on the wall with his stick
to shake our picture off the wall.
And a packet of cigarettes: you put one
in your mouth and you stood at the corner
of the street and you waited for hours, in vain,
for an old lady to scold you for smoking
a cigarette, and then with a smirk you ate it.
And then it was breakfast under the balloons.”

sweet cigarettes

And for those of you who have always lived in a politically correct era, here’s a picture of a 1950s sweet cigarette packet…

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Make up the Fires, Bob Cratchit!

Posted on December 11, 2012 by ASWilliams

‘A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob! Make up the fires, and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit.’

In one of the final paragraphs of ‘A Christmas Carol,’ Scrooge’s character is totally transformed. And what has changed, after his intercourse with three spirits? (Dickens’ words not mine!) Nothing has changed externally. He hasn’t suddenly become richer or acquired a lot of good friends. No, what he needed for a happier life was there all along. He just hadn’t realised it. His sense of lack; his meanness, permeated his life and made it a miserable one. Scrooge awakens with a new sense of generosity, abundance and perhaps above all, a sense of gratitude. As he opens his window on Christmas morning he rejoices, ‘Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious. Glorious!’

scroogemorning

Recently, I reblogged a post written by American writer, Dianne Mackinnon. It was about how instilling a sense of gratitude can turn you into a happier person. Something we Brits find hard. We feel more comfortable grumbling and groaning like Scrooge. Being happy goes against the grain and smacks of blowing one’s own trumpet.

Focusing on gratitude can actually improve your day and your mood. Studies have shown that making a gratitude list, even in your head, before going to bed, gives people more and better sleep. Dianne also provided a gratitude exercise, especially for writers. I recommend you either print this out and fill in the blanks, as quickly as you can, or just write the answers in your journal as you read through the exercise. Blow your own trumpet and revel in it! Here are my answers:

Writer’s List of Gratitude

Three books I’m grateful were written, so that I could read them

  1. The Silver Brumby, by Elyne Mitchell
  2. Far From the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy
  3. Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks

Your turn:

  1. ___________________________________________________________
  2. ___________________________________________________________
  3. ___________________________________________________________

Three People Who Support Me As A Writer

  1. My husband
  2. Writers Abroad and Amsterdam writing group (that’s a whole lot of people, I know)
  3. My coach at Grow with the Flow

Your turn:

  1. ____________________________________________________________
  2. ____________________________________________________________
  3. ____________________________________________________________

Three Pieces I’m Glad I Wrote:

  1. My first published story inspired by the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle. It was fun to write and it got recognised!
  2. The story about the District Nurse who cared for my mother when she was very ill. It never got published but it was cathartic and healing to write.
  3. Homecoming, which was recorded for Short Story Radio and meant I was invited to the launch party in one of Dickens’ London homes!

Your turn:

  1. _________________________________________________________
  2. _________________________________________________________
  3. _________________________________________________________

Three Places or Things That Support You As a Writer

  1. A good cup of Nespresso coffee.
  2. My word processing program.
  3. The internet connection that enables me to link up with other writers and research stuff I know nothing about.

Your Turn:

  1. __________________________________________________________
  2. __________________________________________________________
  3. __________________________________________________________

Three Qualities You Love About Yourself As a Writer 

  1. My imagination.
  2. My skill in creating a sense of place.
  3. My ability to be inspired by events and people.

Your Turn:

  1. ___________________________________________________________
  2. ___________________________________________________________
  3. ___________________________________________________________

Okay, that’s it. Fill this out as fast as you can and bask in your attitude of gratitude. Doesn’t it feel good? I’d love to hear a few of your answers. Oh, and maybe a little early, but have A Merrier Christmas!

scroogewithtinytim

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Posted on November 24, 2012 by ASWilliams

As a Brit I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving but I liked the message of this blog!

dianemackinnon's avatarLive to Write - Write to Live

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gratitude is one of the best feelings we human beings can feel. When you are in a state of appreciation, you cannot at the same time be in a state of fear or lack. So focusing on gratitude can actually improve your day, your mood, and even your sleep. Studies have shown that making a gratitude list, even in your head, before sleep, gives people more and better sleep (this works for children, too.) For more fascinating information about the benefits of gratitude, read Thanks! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier, by Robert Emmons.

In honor of the Day of Gratitude, I thought I’d offer a little gratitude exercise, especially for writers. I recommend you either print this out and fill in the blanks, as quick as you can, or just jot the answers in your journal as you read through the exercise.

Writer’s List of…

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Bringing Home the Beef

Posted on November 13, 2012 by ASWilliams

I spent last Saturday afternoon in Naardermeer, an unspoilt rural area about 35 kilometres south east of Amsterdam. If you have read previous blogs, you will know my husband is a nature lover and champion of all eco- friendly initiatives. Thus we went to pick up some ‘wild’ meat from an area of grassland owned by Natuurmonumenten and grazed by Galloway cattle.

Natuurmonumenten owns and maintains 355 nature reserves in the Netherlands. It promotes natural maintenance of grassland through grazing. In 1989 they imported 12 Galloway cattle from Scotland and since then the herd has expanded to 165, currently owned by Free Nature. Free Nature is a foundation that aims to restore European ecosystems. Every autumn there is a cull and slaughter of some of the animals grazing in Nardermeer and the meat is sold locally, or on the premises. Fortunately, we didn’t have to go out into the field armed with spear and knives but the meat could be ordered and vacuum-packaged in advance.

While we were there we enjoyed some slow food in restaurant, Stadzigt. There’s also a shop selling organic products. It was a drizzly day otherwise we would have ventured a walk into the surrounding wooded area. In the summer it’s possible to hire a boat and go out onto the meer (lake), so a return visit is definitely on our to-do list.

Our mixed package included; sausages, hamburgers, mince and stewing meat and will probably last us till Christmas as we only eat modest quantities per meal and my other half is a dab hand at making huge pans of spaghetti sauce and a Dutch favourite of mine: draadjesvlees. I’ve no idea how to translate it, but it’s stewing meat cooked extremely slowly (or in a pressure cooker) until it falls into draadjes (threads) when you bite into it. Mmm, I’m starting to salivate already! If you would like to sample some of the ‘wild’ meat, the next collection day is 15 Dec. Visit this link to put in your order.

Here are a few photos of the afternoon and some lucky cattle that got away…

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Meet Merrily Watkins, Herefordian ghost-buster

Posted on October 31, 2012 by ASWilliams

Merrily Watkins is a favourite fictional character of mine. She lives in rural Herefordshire, the county where I was born and grew up. She is a parish priest and deliverance minister or ghost-buster, in the vernacular. Merrily is in her late thirties, a widow and has a teenage daughter, Jane. Jane believes in all things pagan, probably just to spite her mum who is the vicar of fictional village, Ledwardine. When Merrily has time, she seeks out ghosts and ghoulies in the county as well. She’s a charmingly flawed character; she smokes, skips meals and has a ‘secret,’ younger lover. If you have ever lived in the country of course you know, nothing is ever truly secret…

Whenever I’m yearning for cider in a country pub, the sight of a magnificent oak, the smell of a country church, or more simply, just the exhilaration of going up a hill, I pick up a Merrily Watkins mystery and travel to Hereford for the price of a book! Author, Phil Rickman is from ‘Off,’ meaning he wasn’t born in Herefordshire. He understands and can recreate a Herefordshire dialect perfectly though. Brilliant little touches like the way archetypal local, Gomer Parry always refers to machinery as ‘im or ‘er reminds me of my stepfather when he was trying to start his British Leyland Princess on a cold morning: ‘er’s a moody ole cow,’ he’d always cuss. In the hands of a less skilful author this might be clunky but Rickman’s ear is so well attuned, and Gomer is such a likeable character that you can only feel warmth and respect for his earthy wisdom.

Hunter Hill and Hergest Ridge by Paul Wood

There’s something numinous about border country, the line dividing England and Wales. The Black Mountains lowering to the West and ley lines threaded throughout the county hint at something darker beneath bucolic rural life. And it’s these darker aspects that Merrily, in her role as deliverance minister, seeks out and makes peace with. The one I’m reading right now, ‘The Secrets of Pain’ involves the SAS. Herefordshire has been the base for the Special Air Service for many years and Rickman has woven their presence and influence in the county into his newest spooky tale. I dearly hope that some TV producer somewhere is going to pick up on the Merrily Watkins’ mysteries. In my opinion they would make a highly watchable TV mini-series.

Quick update
Someone must have read this because casting and filming is already underway and ‘Midwinter of the Spirit’ will be broadcast on ITV Encore in the autumn of 2015! See which actors have been cast here.

So that’s my reading sorted for Halloween, once I’ve finished Rickman, Susan Hill’s, The Dolly is next in the queue on my Kindle. What’s your favourite spooky read for this time of year?

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Foreign Encounters: A New Anthology from Writers Abroad

Posted on October 24, 2012 by ASWilliams

Cover designed by yours truly with the help of Wordle and fellow writer Doreen Porter.

Online writing group Writers Abroad are proud to announce the publication on Wednesday 24th October of their new anthology, entitled Foreign Encounters.

An encounter can be a chance meeting, a planned get-together or even a confrontation. This collection of stories, non-fiction articles and poems features a variety of foreign encounters: with family, friends, lovers, animals, cultures, or just with one’s own prejudices and preconceptions.

Foreign Encounters is the third anthology published by Writers Abroad, an online group of ex-pat writers.  All the contributors are, or have been, ex-pats living in places around the globe. Author Julia Gregson, a former ex-pat whose bestselling novel East of the Sun won the Prince Maurice Prize for romantic fiction, has written the foreword.

Following a call for submissions, Writers Abroad received 231 contributions of which they selected 95 for the anthology. They include 16 poems, 38 short stories and 41 non-fiction articles. Since Writers Abroad is a virtual writers’ group, all the work to produce Foreign Encounters has been done online.

All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to Books Abroad, a charity which coordinates the donation of free books for schools throughout the world, believing that education is a crucial aspect of human progress. The charity celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and has supplied over 1,600 schools with desperately-needed books.

Foreign Encounters is available from Lulu, price €9.99 (approximately £8.00), from Wednesday 24th October, when this link will become live: Lulu

To find out more and for a complete list of contributions and authors, please go to the Writers Abroad website.

Notes for editors

Writers Abroad was founded in 2009. It provides an online forum for ex-pat writers to exchange ideas, views and news on writing and to offer support and constructive feedback on each other’s work. Membership numbers are limited but ex-pat writers may apply to join if they are able to support the group’s initiatives and aims.

  • For more about author Julia Gregson, visit her website.
  • For more about Books Abroad, visit their website.
  • Contributors live in, and have written about, more than 50 countries across every continent.

Press release by dear virtual friend and fellow writer, Vanessa Couchman

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Flash Fiction – The Kill

Posted on October 16, 2012 by ASWilliams

The Kill

I’d been building to this moment for months. Ever since Ben came up with the idea of going on safari to celebrate his 35th. I’d been working as a barrister for ten years and had just got silk. Now, I was required to kill an animal in the wild.

Been foxhunting as a boy of course. I defy anyone not to feel the hairs rise and the blood quicken when the hounds are running through a wood, baying in full cry. Did the hunt ball circuit and all that. Didn’t have much choice really, and of course there was always plenty of taffeta-wrapped tottie for the taking.

Always a bit squeamish when it came to the actual kill though. Enjoyed the chase but couldn’t quite nail it at the end. That bitch Melissa took great delight in letting everyone know about my failure to, as you say, deliver the goods. Even now the scent of Coty lipstick sends a shudder of repulsion through me.

Despite that I’d always believed the hunter’s DNA ran right though me, like letters in a stick of seaside rock. Ready to put into action if needed. Now, crouched behind a bush on the African plain, crunch time had come. I rammed the rifle hard into the crook of my shoulder and set the Thomson’s Gazelle in my sights. The herd grazed contentedly on the lush open field. The one I’d chosen stood alone, separate from the rest.

She raised her head and flicked her ears. Sweat trickled down the well of my back. The power was Godlike. I could decide whether she should live or die. Ben breathed steadily beside me.

‘Go on Tris, you can do it.’ He whispered.

I gripped the rifle tighter to stop me shaking. I’d laughed at the tales of buck fever I’d heard around the campfire. Hunters so overexcited they shook like Bushwillow trees.

The gazelle lowered her head and grazed again. I aimed at her heart. I wanted a quick kill. She fell to the ground. A spasm racked through her body and her legs quivered in a final death throe. Ben slapped me on the back.

‘Knew you had it in you, Trissers!’ A whoop went up behind me.

The bile rose in my throat as I walked over to inspect my kill. The Dragoman bound the beast’s fore and hind legs and looped her over a pole to carry back to the truck.

On the potholed road back to camp, my nausea grew. The still-warm bodies piled on top of each other, blurred into one golden mass of fur. I recognised mine though. She had a distinctive eye marking. A black line tracing her eyelids as if she’d painted them with kohl. I imagined her perhaps that very morning, gazing across the savannah like an Egyptian queen, her profile framed by the African sun.

This piece was originally published on 12 October 2012 as part of a pop-up Flashflood journal. Many thanks to the organizers,  editors and writers who contributed their time, expertise and creative energy!

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Amsterdam Gables Galore!

Posted on October 9, 2012 by ASWilliams

Once again my favourite Saturday market, the Lindenmarkt has provided me with the subject of my blog post; flat-pack, miniature gable houses. Eat your heart out, IKEA! Since, realistically, these are the only canal houses I’ll ever be able to afford I couldn’t resist snapping them up. They would make perfect Sinterklaas/Christmas gifts if you fill them with pepernootjes, or other spicy Dutch biscuits. They are too small for a bottle of wine but large enough for a bottle of Jenever (Dutch gin). Not only attractive presents, they are also educational. Each design features a different gable, representing some of the designs found along Amsterdam’s Ring of Canals.

 The Bell Gable 1660-1790

Dating from the 17th century and popular over a long period of time, the Bell gable, appropriately enough mimics the shape of a church bell. The widest Bell gable ever built can be seen at number 359 along the Prinsengracht.

 The Tuit Gable 1620-1720

This was the gable design used by merchants to denote warehousing and trade, rather than residential property. Resembling an inverted funnel, the Tuit gable became common along the Brouwersgracht in 17th and 18th century. After the decline of Dutch supremacy in international trade, many owners replaced their elaborately decorated gables with the plainer, Tuit gables. Today, however, far from reflecting austerity, they are only affordable to the happy few.

 The Neck Gable 1640-1775

 

From the 18th century on, the Neck gable became very popular and provided Amsterdam with a unique variation on gable trends. The ‘klauwstukken’ or ornamental hoods, elaborated upon a very basic façade and shape. The Neck gable embraced the architectural style of Louis XIV. The first Neck gable ever constructed was built along the Herengracht at number 168. Built in 1638, it still stands today.

 The Step Gable (Trapgevel)1620-1790

 

In the 17th century, the Step gable was very common in the Old Centre of Amsterdam where vast numbers of this beautiful gable lined the canals and streets of a vibrant, bustling merchant city. These days only around a hundred are left; due to the fact that many rich Dutch entrepreneurs adapted their homes to a more fashionable architectural style in the 18th century.

Next time I cycle along the canals I will be gable-spotting much more intently! These miniature houses are for sale at a stall on the Saturday Lindenmarkt, company contact details here. I believe these ‘All In The House’ gable miniatures are also on sale at the Amsterdam Cheese Museum. Enjoy!

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Serendipity Leads to Discovery of Forgotten Artist

Posted on October 2, 2012 by ASWilliams

On a secondhand book stall at the Lindenmarkt last Saturday I happened across a children’s book, called Suriname, jang tak terkenal, written in Indonesian Bahasa (Indonesian Malay) aimed at educating Indonesian children about the former Dutch colony of Suriname. The words were all gobbledygook but the colourful illustrations spoke to me immediately so I snapped up this 1950s book at a bargain price of a six euros!

When I got home I did an internet search about the artist who created the illustrations, Nola Hatterman (1899-1984) and discovered she was a prolific and gifted but largely unrecognised Dutch artist. Growing up in Watergrafsmeer (Amsterdam Oost) she lived in a well-off neighbourhood with large houses that were sometimes used by soldiers’ families home on leave from Dutch East Indies. Very often the soldiers brought their mixed race wives and children home with them. Most of the locals were patronising and rude to the dark-skinned children but Hatterman appreciated their kindness and beauty. Even at a young age the budding artist had a strong sense of justice and was indignant on behalf of the children who were so unfairly discriminated against.

After a short career as an actress, self-taught Hatterman started to paint Indonesians and Surinamers, identifying with her subjects so much that she eventually considered herself black and her marriage to a white Dutch man, a mixed one. In 1953 she moved to Suriname and totally immersed herself in painting and Surinamese culture. She played an active role in the community and was a founder of art education in the former colony. If you would like to know more about this complex and fascinating artist I recommend the excellent biography, Nola by Ellen de Vries. It is only available in Dutch however!

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Posted on September 29, 2012 by ASWilliams

Thought provoking blog by repat, Craig Thompson about how the experience of living abroad boosts creativity.

Craig Thompson's avatarClearing Customs

You’ve been overseas and you’re back in the US looking for work. Not many job descriptions say that the “ideal candidate will have lived outside the US.” So what transferable qualities or skills have your experiences developed in you? How about adaptability, flexibility, resilience, and empathy?

Here’s something else you can add to your qualifications, and there’s research to back up the claim: creativity.

Finding the Relationship between Creativity and Living Cross-Culturally

A few years ago, William Maddux and Adam Galinsky conducted a series of experiments that demonstrate the link between living abroad and creativity.

  1. In the first, the pair showed that the more time a subject had spent living (though not traveling) abroad, the more likely it was for him to solve a particular puzzle. But the cause-effect relationship wasn’t clear. What if it’s simply because creative people choose more often to live abroad?
  2. The second experiment verified the…

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