Emily is peering over the edge of the extensive boardwalk, which runs along part of West Kirby beach towards Red Rocks at Hoylake, (by the houses you can see on the horizon. The beach continues behind these buildings). On one side is the golf course, on the other lie tall sand dunes, reed beds and ponds. Natterjack toads breed here, along with newts and tiny lizards which look like jewels. There are masses of wetland and shoreline birds, too, of course; the Dee Estuary is one of Britain's premier sites for migrating birds. The weather is rather grey and choppy today. You'll be able to see this for yourself if you take a peek through the Wirral webcam. I've just added this to my links list on my page. If you're patient, you might be able to watch the seals. http://www.camserv.co.uk/wirralcam/home.shtml Last night saw another gathering of Riverside Writers . This month's writing project had been set on the theme of The Missing Chai r inspired, apparently, by my...

Note: This post was originally in the form of a clickable poll, published on LiveJournal. Having spent the better part of today trying to settle on a name for a young male character in a short story, I have finally come to a decision. I’ll sign off and do something else! PS. Baby name dictionaries make for very boring reading. Poll #936357 name a character Which of these is your favourite name? Oliver Dominick Elisha Tavion Rowan

My low opinion of television has been echoed in a recent study, which has called for a total ban on TV for all children under the age of three, for a maximum of one hour per day for the three-to-fives age group, and for severe restrictions on time spent in front of the screen for older children. Psychologist Dr Aric Sigman has published a report analysing thirty-five scientific studies about television's effects on viewers, which has identified fifteen negative effects. These include obesity, damage to the immune system due to reduced melatonin levels, eyesight problems, an increased likelihood of Alzheimer's, Autism, diabetes and attention disorders. Read the full article here:- http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=265852007 To these disorders, I would propose that of decreased imagination, as all any television viewer is required to do is to stare mindlessly at the contraption while a constant stream of mediocrity and trash (and who-knows-what subliminal messages) pour into ...

Mutley Cuddles Incarnate c. 1993 - February 18th, 2007. Early this morning, my adorable tom cat succumbed to old age.

Art in Liverpool http://www.artinliverpool.com/blog/blogarch/literature/  and Nerve Magazine http://www.catalystmedia.org.uk/issues/misc/articles/word_is.htm  both carry write-ups of the recent Word Is They Say (WITS) literary festival in Liverpool, which I took part in. One of the funniest films I've watched in a long time is Jake West 's Evil Aliens , produced by Tim Dennison . The blurb on the back of the DVD box says, "Michelle Fox (Emily Booth) takes a film crew to deepest, darkest Wales to investigate claims of alien abduction. The television crew don't believe a word of the story until the real stars arrive. They're aliens and they're not friendly." What follows is a hilarious spoof splatter/gore film - hardly my usual preferred choice of genre, but this truly was so funny. Suffice to say that I'll never see a combine harvester again without remembering this film. Recommended! In contrast, one of the most boring films I've seen in m...

Thank you, everyone, for all the messages of condolence. These have been shared with my family, who were all touched by the responses left in the LiveJournal post. Yesterday morning, the day of my father’s funeral, began with a snow blizzard. It is still lightly snowing now, as I type this. Ah, how like us Brits to chatter on about the weather…. The catering company had already delivered the cold buffet before Richard and I arrived at my mother's house. Several people had travelled considerable distances to be there. My father’s nephew Philip and his wife Kelly had driven up from Lincoln and had added on quite a detour to collect my father’s eighty-one year-old sister Elsie and her son Clifford. My sister Evelyn and her husband Andrew were there, of course, as was my brother Eric. My sister Hazel , her husband Tony and their two daughters were waiting at Howe Bridge Crematorium when we arrived in the limosine behind the hearse which bore my father's coffin. A number of oth...

10 November 1927 - 1 February 2007. My father, John Eric Bray, died at 5pm tonight after a long and cruel battle with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.