There has been a long gap
since my last post the reason being:
I have had enough of
politics, all the talking, shouting, ranting and raving in the world cannot
make a difference to what is happening in this country, so I am changing tack
in midstream and leaving the politics to the politicians, let them deal with
the mess they have made, while I get on with my life and my writing.
So I will be posting at
least every two weeks, and sharing the ups and downs of my joy in reading and my writing journey with whoever comes along
for the ride.
There are so much more
interesting things to talk about besides the mess that this country is in, so
let me tell you about my amazing discoveries, and I hope you will come along
with me, on this writing, learning, and bookish journey.
Recently I went to the
Milnerton Flea Market, which is one of my absolute favourite activities, after
writing, reading, learning, cooking, listening to good music and surfing the net for useful
information. If I have to leave my keypad and notebook for
anything, hunting for bargains at the Flea Market will get me out every single time.
I love looking at what
people find valuable, and although there is plenty of OPJ [other people’s junk]
as Kim calls it, I sometimes manage to find treasures. I especially love old and interesting books.
One man/woman’s junk is another man/woman’s gold. And books and the knowledge
they contain is my gold.
Sunday morning around ten
the weather was cold, windy and rain threatened any minute. We, being the four
of us, Hans who is my fiancé, my daughter Kim, with my grand daughter Riley and
I had just finished breakfast. I was planning to spend the day in bed reading.
I have a Virginia Woolf Biograpy written by her nephew,
Quentin Bell which I had planned to finish reading today. Han’s was already
back in bed, snug under the duvet reading a Michael Connoly thriller. He loves reading just as much as I do, and
discussing the books we read, so no problem there. We would have some long
discussions on the pro’s and con’s, stye, and author and the merits of action
which is his favourite, over psychological thrillers and biographies
which is my favourite, of each book we read.
I liked to think Hans and I
are like Virginia and Leonard Woolf who had a true marriage of minds. I have
never met a more telepathic, understanding and sensitive man than my Hans. And
he loves me for myself, everything that I am and everything that I am not,
warts and all, and I love him for a thousand and one reasons, warts and all. Most people do not get us, but we certainly
get each other. We both believe so strongly in each other. He is my rock, just
as I am his.
My daughter Kim suggested
we go to the Flea Market, as she was in the mood for finding a bargain. With no real excuse not to, Virginia
So off we went, Kim, Riley
and I. When last had I been to the Flea
Market? Possibly six months ago? Although I am invariably almost broke, due to
the price of food, so I have to spend wisely. I thought why not? The tip I
learned from previous occasions was to only take what I was prepared to spend.
So armed with my spending money, and Kim with her spending money,we set off.
Even Riley, my grand daughter got into the mood and brought her fifty rands she
had taken pains to save for a rainy day, which is what today was; an almost
rainy day. .
I needed a good ridged steak
pan. Every since an ex-neighbour of mine, Karen
showed me the absolute bargain she found; a Bauer cast-iron steak pan, just the right
size for two medium sized steaks. She had bought it at the Flea Market for only
ten rand. I was determined to find one
too. So what if the weather looked like
it might rain, at least it was not raining when we left.
We bundled ourselves into
our boots, jackets and scarves and thank goodness we did, as I had forgotten
how cold Paarden Eiland could be, right on the sea, just a wall deviding the
rocks from the Flea Market. The ground
in the parking lot was muddy, large
shiny brown puddles which we skipped over, but once inside the flea market
the asphalt was fairly dry.
Perhaps today was my lucky
day! On my last visit to this very same Flea Market Kim pulled me away from yet
another book stand as she had found a stall that sold steak pans. I had a
choice of about nine steak pans, each one covered in grease, some chipped.
Nothing I wanted so far, so I looked around the stand.
I could not believe the prices this guy was charging; especially
since the seller never had the decency to clean any of them. And he wanted R200 per pan, even though there
were six different unheard of makes, none of them a Bauer.
He obviously had no idea
and had the cheek to say that the pan I was looking at just needed was a good
clean-up and it was an absolute bargain!
That did not even warrant a reply. I was so disgusted, and before I could tell
him so, Kim, forever the diplomat, dragged me off to look at something else
before I made a scene.
Once I see a book stall I
get stuck, I just cannot walk past books without reading every title to find
something interesting. I am way past the
stage of reading love stories, horror stories, historical and gothic tales,
chic literature, and every other genre. I now read to find out what I don’t know,
and that is plenty.
My purpose on this earth is
to find out all I can about whatever I need to know. And I will know what that
is when I find it. I will look through every book on the stand for that special
one that can teach me what I do not know, that fires up my imagination. This is
one of the best ways I know of detoxing and expanding my mind by reading
something so ‘out there’ that it defies science and reason.
To anyone else a book on
Space Age Crystals, the art and science of Crystal growing – on Earth and in
Space by Kristal Education Inc. might be the most boring of subjects, but I
love knowledge, learning about something I know absolutely nothing about, and also
to dispel age old misconceptions and all this for which I paid the princely sum
of two rand; an absolute bargain in my book.
Granted the book, more of a leaflet actually, is just fifty pages long but long
enough as a mind opener.
On the back cover is a
picture of astronaut George Nelson with a tray of protein crystals being grown
on board the space shuttle during mission STS-26 which took place in the early
nineties. These protein crystals will be
used in creative and innovative ways and research will be done on them to
produce new drugs to combat cancer and AIDS.
American students do
experiments on board the space shuttles and come up with some wonderful
inventions, which have practical uses.
This same book shows a
space colony of the 21st century which is a giant space shuttle
called Island One. This is designed to provide living conditions which can
house 10,000 inhabitants, with similar conditions to those on Earth- amazingly there are
cities, rivers, lakes, mountains,
forests and all of this without the pollution. But sometime cynic that I am, I thought, just
wait till they put real humans in these space cities and who knows what the
human race will make of it.
The outer structure of
Island One will be built from non terrestrial materials, materials harvested
from the moon or asteroids. This colony will rotate and produce artificial
gravity. Something to look forward to for the next generation: Going on holiday to Island One to a brave new
world. It makes me glad to be alive. So
no matter how bad this world is, one thing we can be sure of is that great
minds are working on the next world, Island One, in the sky, a world without
pollution, global warming and hopefully crimeless.
I have found countless
treasures such as this, and so what if you can find the same information on the
internet, yes you probably could, but just the look of the little booklet and
the lay- out, almost like an e-book, but more classic, with a monochrome cover with
the inside pictures in colour.
A further bargain I found
was exactly what I needed, a black faux leather covered notebook to use as a
journal. This has a tab and clip on the cover for closing, and is exactly the
right size to fit into my handbag. My old journals are black, large, lined and
not in the least as inspiring as this little notebook. I bought three of them,
as who knows when I will next get to the flea market again. The stall holder
assured me she would have regular stock, so hopefully I will be able to find
them again when I next need to restock my writing materials. At a further stand
I found nibbed pens, but for them one needs real ink. And although the ink
bottles were there, they were empty, as they were from an archaeological dig in
Cape Town
Oh, almost forgot, I found
my bargain steak pan, the make Bavaria, ridged, clean, used yes, but almost
new, with a double heavy bottom, a non-stick surface, easily cleanable, a
wooden handle and much lighter than a Bauer, but just as good, and all of this
for the princely sum of fifty rand. I
was chuffed. Can’t wait to try it out on
some rib-eye, rump and fillet steaks.
As much as I love the
internet for the information it provides, I love real books too much to forego
the pleasure of reading them in their original format. Who says that books are
no longer necessary? E-books and Kindle
reads are great for carrying around your whole library with you, but also
extremely addictive. The problem is, too much of a good thing is a bad thing,
in my book.
I like the look of the
crisp white or yellow pages, the feel of a book in my hands, the smell of a new
or old book as one turns the page. E-books are published and written by the
millions on every imaginable subject, which is good for information, but to
sell them you have to up your game every book, just like real books, but real
books are read by real people, e-books are read by robots of the information
age chasing the “How to make money faster than you can count it” genre.
Books just ain’t what they
used to be; published, marketed and big occasions when they came out. Now the
poor writer must market his own book, publish it himself and resort to an
e-book format to compete with the amount of writers doing the same to satisfy
the money monster. Books like I know them will never be the same, therefore I prefer
the old books, the real books. Hans has been raving over the merits of a Kindle
which holds a whole library of books, can be taken anywhere, and is easy and
more convenient for the reader than a traditional book. Ha, I will use a
Kindle, if needs be, but I want to see my favourite books on my bookshelf in
living live colour.
There is still a sense of
hope and adventure in them, a sense of a future good or bad, still to come. The
books written today, are full of violence, murder and mayhem, aliens, and the
most unrealistic words inhabited by vampires, avatars and such strange
creatures. I suppose I am from a time
that remembers how books were before we had the internet, twitter, facebook,
stumbleupon, delicious, Reddit, LinkedIn, and the hundreds of apps that make
this world such a small place. Apps are being invented faster than even the
inventors can keep up with, it really is too much information.
.
Some of my favourite authors:
Virginia Woolf – one very brave and tortured woman who dared to be
different in Victorian times.
Simone de Beauvior – A
Brilliant writer, who hobnobbed with the great
philosophers of
her time such as Jean-Paul Sarte.
Erica Jong - Extremely honest, and very funny.
All of the above are famous
for their feminist views, each broke new ground with their writing, and I love
the way they are absolutely true to themselves, no holds barred.
Modern authors:
Jeffrey Deaver – Most
amazing plots and twists to his thrillers.
David Morrel – He gives the best writing
advice I have ever read, plus his
thrillers
are very good. He is a master storyteller.
I loved his book: Creepers
which is set in NY underground subway.
Stephen King – For his
great imagination, his absolute dedication to his craft and
his weirdness.
Writing sites I subscribe to:
WritetoDone - This is one of the best sites for
writers
Inspirational and practical advice and help
CopyBlogger – For blogging
advice, tips and everything you need to blog
SheWrites - For she writers, new and not so new,
inspiring, and welcoming
Jeff Goins - This site is great, good and useful
plus honest. Jeff tells it like it
Is.
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