Blazing June!

It's hardly been that.  So far, this has been a wet, cold and miserable June.  As we were looking for a short break we decided to take Sam the dog for a holiday to Scarborough on the East Coast. Normally I love going there, however, we needed our thermals, hats, gloves and general winter wear. And, this was June 1st!

The weather was grey, unwelcoming and the east wind coming off that North Sea was little short of vicious.
Happily Sam thoroughly enjoyed his long walks and playtime on the beach, even if we felt it was more like January than June.

 Scarborough is two resorts in one. On the South Bay, there is the old town, harbour and castle. All interesting and full of life. The castle has over three thousand years of history and well worth a visit.  There is only one way to travel at South Bay and that is the old funicular tram up and down the steep cliffs

The North Bay is the quieter side with the lovely Peasholm Park and Northstead Manor Gardens. However, this time I didn't take any photos of there as the weather was so wild.

WRITING
Resolution, the novel, is still in the deep editing phase, although there is light at the end of the tunnel and I hope to be writing The End, very soon.

 Meanwhile I am also involved in reading and judging short stories for a competition run by HysteriaUK, run by the Hysterectomy Society. No, you don't need to have undergone that operation or to be a woman to enter. The competition is open until August 31st, so if you fancy having a go, please do.  http://hysteriauk.co.uk/.  There are three categories: short stories; flash fiction and poetry. I notice one of the blogs I follow, that of the prolific writer Simon Whaley, is giving useful advice on his blog about writing for competitions. There is a link to his blog on my sidebar. Please go and have a look.

Spring Festival

Our village holds a festival every May, that is a mixture of folk music, morris dancing, entertainment and participation.  This year the weather was not kind. Some sunny moments but a cold wind, rain and a tremendous hailstorm with hail the size of small pebbles.  This meant the field was muddy and slippy. This meant that some of the Morris and Sword dancing had to be postponed.

Nevertheless, it didn't stop the music, the beer swigging, ice-cream eating and lots of food from candy floss to chips being consumed.  Children disregarded the weather and had a good time on the fairground rides.

Some of the music was free to listen to. Grab a beer and sit and enjoy. Other events were ticketed and held on site or in venues around the village.

The Morris dancers and bands gathered around the pubs. Always popular venues whatever the weather!  http://www.shepleyspringfestival.co.uk/

May 16

A Saturday Stroll.

Occasionally we buy a day-rover train ticket and take ourselves off, first catching the train from the village. At Huddersfield we catch a train to Leeds and from there take the next one leaving to somewhere within the West Yorkshire boundary.

This particular Saturday it was Ilkley.

Ilkley is a lovely town nestled into the moors. Yes, it's the famous town of the song - On Ilkley Moor Bhat 'at. (On Ilkley Moor without a hat for those unused to the local dialect!)

We strolled close to the moor without actually walking on it this time.

This was followed by a walk around the lovely town. In summer there is a band playing most weekends. A great place to stop for an ice cream and tap your foot along to the music.

Follow this with a stroll by the river and you have the makings of a perfect day. We follow this with coffee and cake of course. There is a Betty's in Ilkley but I'm going to confess that it's not my favourite cafe. It's always too crowded and busy with long queues. I prefer the local, individually owned cafes, with their welcome and delicious baking.

Writing

Hmm. This is where I confess to not managing much writing or editing of the novel, recently. We have had a few difficult weeks with a serious plumbing problem, which may mean the kitchen floor having to be lifted. It's not been a conducive time to writing.
However let me tell you a little about 'Resolution'. Initially I wanted to set the book in the U.S. because I wanted Resolution to be the name of the town. We simply do not give our British towns names like that. Unfortunately it didn't work. Despite lots of advice and help I had to accept that I wasn't 'getting' the American idiom and 'feel' right. 

After some thought and heartache I moved the story from the USA to the U.K. cr a location from two or three local towns. It has made the writing much easier. For example when I described hurrying down a steep cobbled street in the rain, I knew exactly how slippy that can be. I have managed to keep the name and change the setting to The Resolution Hotel. 

May Day Village Fete.

We have just enjoyed a village fete complete with maypole dancing, 'old fashioned' fairground games, a band playing and lots of cake to eat.

This particular celebration was arranged to celebrate the fact that, after years of bureaucracy, our small village green was finally registered and protected from development.

The children seemed to really enjoy their dancing, we certainly enjoyed watching them.

There was plenty for everyone to do

Including a large steam train running around a garden to the delight of every child large and small!

Fortunately the rain stayed away and although it was cloudy and chilly it didn't spoil anyone's enjoyment.

RESOLUTION -the novel

I'm still busy editing, looking for repetition and areas where the story doesn't flow...and I'm finding plenty of them! I have been asked to give a few hints about the story. I will, very soon, well, when I feel brave enough.  One little tidbit to keep you going is that my four main characters are Carly Mitchell, Ben Thornton, Steve Sinclair and Emily Anderson. The story is centred in a small Yorkshire Mill Town called Yeardon and in the Resolution Hotel within the town. Enough for now!

A First Time for Everything.

Hello and welcome to my first ever blog.
In fact this is a week of firsts for me.
I've been intending to write a blog for some time and have finally got around to it, so all being well this is one first for me.
The second first (if you understand me) is going on my first protest. It wasn't a march more of a standing around. Our local hospital, the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, is in danger of being closed. I won't bore you with the politics but needless to say I and many others feel very strongly about this. We went to a meeting at the local stadium but along with many others were locked out when the small meeting room was full.

The crowd were good humoured and friendly if somewhat noisy, but then their intention was to be heard.

My next 'first' was nothing earth shattering but I found very interesting. I joined the local WI.

No, I don't see myself as the next Calender Girl! I was welcomed to a friendly and informal meeting. Yes, we did sing Jerusalem but there was not a pot of jam in sight,  There was, however, plenty of home baked cake.  Our local WI is a large and thriving group.

So, my writing. Where am I up to on that?  My novel 'Resolution' is in the throes of edits, deep and cutting edits. I'm finding it harder than the actual writing of the book. I know some writers love the editing stage. I'm afraid I find it a little soul destroying at the moment. Hopefully that will change as I grow into it and gain more satisfaction from seeing the novel develop.

Cheers!