Ash

Sweden, the cold chatter of birdsong as it echoes through silent skies. Elliott's first birthday party, the reason for our trip, is now a distant memory, and he grows in size and ability by the hour. He must be a Midwich Cuckoo. I built a section of stone wall from the coloured volcanic rocks that is everywhere present, and have been able to observe jays and a woodpecker up close.

I have also managed to complete the revisions to the book, thanks to the magic of memory sticks. Now to print the copies for my volunteer readers. And then to seek a publisher, the blockbuster nature of the project being of bank-busting proportions for an outfit like Turn Up.

Sun shines on the righteous today, but we've had snow.

I should record that this is the first 'field entry' I have yet managed for the blog. Contemplate that one if you will.

Boot/Foot Displacement Massacre Memorial Moan

Who’d be a Viking
On St Brice’s Day?
When the striking starts
It smarts,
Whatever they may say.

‘Unready’ they said
He’d be, that Bastard
King, Ethelred; Danes
At pains
To dodge the deeds he fostered.

To our counsels kept
We took our down time
While in they crept, and swords,
Not words,
Were used to draw the line.

Coincidence

Last Friday morning over the first cup of tea of the day, I was reading The Oxford History of England volume about Anglo-Saxon England and reached the part that described Aethelred the Unready's order to massacre Danes on St Brice's Day in 1002. They'd obviously got up his nose. Later in the day I read in The Independent an article describing an archeological find in Dorset in which the bodies of a band of Vikings had been found. The report made it clear that they had been killed in that massacre on St Brice's Day 1002.

Funding

It is with some reluctance that I must report that this site is not funded in any way by offshore funds that should otherwise have gone to the UK taxpayer. More’s the pity, say I. Do I really? No, more would be very acceptable, thank you.

So, you ask, what’s been afoot in the topsy turvey world of Turn Up? I received a very wonderful comment from my friend Fran about Winter Dance on the Santa’s Twin EP. That’s what makes all these endeavours worthwhile, fran-kly.

My brain seems to have more unresponsive soft tissue than most, so the planned improvements to the website are still moving forward, but very slowly. Marcus continues to be a great support, and I will get myself geared up and together soon.

Mostly, I have been spending my time writing my novel. I thought it was time to produce one, and a story has emerged in the telling. It is called ‘Treatment’ and is a satirical comedy thriller. What I do with it, or myself, when it is finished remains to be seen. If you are a rival publisher with a yen for publicity and a monumental advance burning a hole in your pocket, don’t be afraid to make contact, toot sweet!

I sense the competition will be fierce, and I fully expect to be submerged by the bidding war I have just set in motion.

Ultimately

Ultimately, matey,
When you walk along the road
Twice as much returns
As half the stuff that goes.

Persons So Disposed

Upon re-reading my entry for 18th January, I am concerned to note that I may have received a sly visit from Miss Interpretation. A suggestion may have crept in that I was less than tolerant of specific individuals.

Nothing could be further from intention. I was directing the comment to General Reader, that over-promoted militaristic type who lurks in murky quarters.

I hesitate to speculate what sort of offspring would result were Miss Interpretation and General Reader ever to meet under circumstances of tumescence!

Dragon Tattoos

Now and again Turn Up likes to give pointers to our cultural or otherwise thinking, influences, recommendations even. You make your own mind up about them.

It’s not often that I find myself reading the current number one bestseller in the book charts. But, a couple of weeks ago that’s exactly what happened. I gradually became aware during last year of the stir created by Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy and asked for them for Christmas. I thoroughly recommend you do the same next year if you haven’t succumbed before then. Well-written, tightly plotted, and gripping. You don’t need a Swedish connection to appreciate them, but it adds to the interest. You need to read them in sequence, so start with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and take her from there.

And, depending on your interest in sound system hardware, take a look at this short interview to be found at www.audiojunkies.com/blog/730/an-insiders-look-at-the-grateful-deads-wall-of-sound - now, that would have been amazing to use. Perhaps Echo Road should be thinking along these lines.

To return to a vaguely Scandinavian theme, have a look at this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinrOnjzh_4 - I think you’ll enjoy that one.