I’m back! Thanks to a problem with the internet, compounded by my service provider – naturally – I have been unable to catch up with your wonderful blogs and have only had a short time to use work’s WiFi so please bear with me as I spend a day or two catching up with your words, photos and assorted musings.
Recently there has been no reading in my life, work takes up a good portion of the night, followed by blogging and a recent obsession with gritty English drama This is England has further disrupted my already poor time keeping skills. The boon of having no internet though is the freedom to read, which is where the stumbling block began, I told myself (and almost believed that lying cad!) that I had fallen out of love with reading, it wasn’t my fault I just couldn’t find a book that I wanted to read anywhere on my shelves.
In sheer desperation (and keeping an eye on the time so I didn’t miss my bus) I picked up a travel book and there it was, that joy of discovery, those thoughts and ideas that make one smile and wish to do things, to experience and to live. It was back! My love for the written word and the stories it tells, I managed to finish two books in the five days and now the internet is working, the balancing act becomes more urgent. There is renewed ambition to do more with this blog, to further the contacts, friends and opportunities already made, all this on top of working nights for the next four months at least.
It’s great to finally return the fold, to see all the posts I have missed, the emails, last week’s football scores from around the world and all the rest of it, to flex the writing muscles again and to start copying up the notes on various things that came to mind on that unintended and bleak hiatus. It wasn’t a holiday, it was a long pining session to be back blogging and this time I hope I really can come back brighter.
Book to the Future 
“”E’s not dead, e’s pining for the fjords!” to quote Monty Python’s famous sketch. I did wonder where you were, and started to write, but then figured that (as you reveal and also foretold, neat prophesying, that!) you were merely busy with all the new things your life now holds. If you want to read a really artsy-fartsy travel book with lots of images and stuff, why not try Henry James’s “Italian Hours”? Anyway, glad you’re back, and look forward to seeing that daring flash of ankle, mentally speaking, that you promised us some weeks back.
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I love a good Python sketch! I never realised how much I used the internet until it was no longer there, harrowing stuff, Stephen King should write a book about it. I will have a look for James’ old school history/travel lesson, I think Dickens’ jaunt around tha part of the world may prove the more lively of the two but I do like to compare and contrast.
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Brilliant loved how simply you cleared your thoughts in these words. It’s a catch 22 I guess but sometimes you need the hiatus to miss it all the more and I guess you missed my post too. Stay imbibing stay expressing my blog buddy.
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I shall be catching up with everybody in the next day or two, I have so many blogs that I try and regularly visit that time off makes it epic to catch up again but I will persevere and do it with a smile on my face.
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You got burned out on reading, just as many of us writers get burned out with writing (we call it writer’s block!) Never believer the Lying Cad…You absolutely LOVE words and it shows 🙂 sometimes we just need a bit of isolative silence to remember in this world of rush rush rush 😉
Glad you are back !
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I think I need to take at least a couple of days a week to read properly and not just pick at it. I’ve been a bit rubbish at it and need to get properly back into it with a vengeance. It makes the art of picking a book I want to read more important which is always good.
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that is also true. setting aside time so we can do the things we love to do is SO important. I just had to learn this as well, by setting aside time to write and limiting my social media-ing. Reading Rubbish will make you hate words quicker than slipping on a banana peel will rocket you to earth! 🙂
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What a dramatic image! It’s tough to balance but once I get a routine and stick to it (the tricky part) then it will all fall into place. I do hate picking up a book that’s a dud, I think I am on the whole I choose pretty well and of course recommendations from people I trust on here helps as well. That reminds me, I really should indulge in a guilty pleasure book at some point, something cheesy hopefully.
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Good to see you book! haha!
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Glad to be book!
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Welcome back! It helps to take those breaks – I’m pretty much always taking them so you don’t have to worry about catching up with me. I can’t imagine falling out of love with reading though and I’m happy to hear you fell back in. If you’re still looking for something good, I recently read Wool by Hugh Howey and loved it.
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I shall check Wool out, I think I was just a bit grumpy for not having made the time to read, it’s the price of the blog though. I am proud of what I’ve built up and want to do more as well but I need to balance that with reading which is what got me blogging in the first place and I can’t run out of books!
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It’s good to have you back, Ste. Sometimes no internet can be a blessing in disguise if you want to get some writing done — except if you work from home. LOL are you sure you want to catch up on the rugby scores? 😀 Tell you what though, I’m a bit apprehensive about our game with Wales this weekend.
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I have seen adverts for the rugby on for weeks but only found out before the game against you guys that the world cup had started. I’ve never really watched much of the rugby, I’m strictly a football man myself. You of course have my support for the Wales game though!
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I assume by football, you mean real football with a round ball. Thanks for the well wishes against Wales, for the Rugby, Ste. I’d love for us to win, but I wouldn’t be terribly heartbroken if we lost against Wales, I’m rather partial to the Welsh 🙂
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Of course I mean proper football, the football where liberal use of the foot is applied, none of this holding it business. You got your win today and perhaps the Welsh can have one of their own later on to give the European Championships a more local flavour as both Ireland’s are through.
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I only found out the results about an hour ago. Bit slow off the mark today 🙂
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Haha, me too, I got so into my review that I lost track of all things important…well just the football.
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I thought you were on a holiday. But, honestly, you know, sometimes spending a few days without internet is good for mind body and soul. I, too, read a lot when my internet occasionally stops working 😀
By the way, a good news for me and thanks to you for that, I’ve won a copy of “The Mill”. 😀 Jess contacted me and the book has been shipped. I’m really happy… 🙂
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I would have preferred a brief hiatus with the internet still working but now it’s back I’m happy. Jess mentioned over email, congratulations, I hope you enjoy it!
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Dirty Stopout. I had you dead and buried.
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Like a good villian, I always come back from my hollowed out volcano.
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I wondered where you’d got to as well and was pleased when I saw your review of the Joe McGinnis book. We had awful problems with our internet provider and very slow internet speeds earlier this year. The only time of day that I had enough speed to get anything done was well after midnight. Reading your conversation with Shadowoperator above made me think that I had James’ Italian Hours. I then spent ages going through all my shelves which are so full they have two rows of books on them and re-discovered old dusty friends but not Italian Hours. I did find his English Hours so that was probably what I was thinking of. I have also got Dicken’s Pictures from Italy which I might have mentioned before sometime? But then again I might not. He is very observant and amusing but so rude about the Roman Catholic Church! So sorry you have so much night work to do but pleased you have found enjoyment in reading again. I get like that sometimes – usually when I’m worried or stressed or when I’ve had to plough through a long book that I haven’t enjoyed. That seems to make me reluctant to read anything for a while.
Take care! 🙂
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Nothing beats finding those old friends and realising how many great books there is to read and reread. I do like Dickens’ way with words and his forthrightness, I am intrigued to read his views on Catholicism now though, I like a bit of drama in my books. For me the problem has been time, just finding a decent stretch to sit and get involved with my book but things should be changing now I hope and I shall be around more.
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Oh good! I missed your regular reviews but more than my selfish wishes, I am glad your life is more settled. Dickens was a man of his time and was very suspicious of the Catholics who had only been emancipated 15 or so years before his trip. He couldn’t bear (what he thought was) the greed of the RC church in Italy and he didn’t like the way people wandered in and out of the church during the services. There was so much poverty everywhere but not in the churches.
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I am the same with my selfish wishes, encouraging writers to write in the hope of a review copy lol, I found out today I have a holiday the week after next which is my first week off in just over a year, I may be blogging in bed for a week.
The Italian way of doing things is definitely different and after church they all go to the football as well. I do think one of the problems with the RC church, aside from well publicised scandals is the opulence on display in some of the places of worship, it does highlight the richness of the church and in these hard times it does lead to the question how can the wealth be kept, its same as the football teams, spending so many millions on new players. I think this year the Premier League clubs spent upwards of 800 million on transfers.
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Have a lovely week off work! I agree re church & football teams. I think Dickens might have had something to say about our current politicians who have all sorts of profitable side-lines as well as being extremely rich to start with and who are trying to cut benefits to the poor, the sick and the out-of-work.
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Elected representatives lining their pockets with side jobs that are usually connected to legislation they deal with, a conflict of interests and a half there. The disparity is obscene, he would have had a field day and given the press a much needed bit of respect as well.
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Absolutely!
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Aldous Huxley’s Crome Yellow is a good one. Read it last week. Welcome book!
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I think that’s already on my list of need to buys, the ever growing list that breeds quicker than rabbits.
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Have you tried the j Updike Run Rabbit Run novels. I’m serious, they’re very good.
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I haven’t yet, they are in the list though, somebody else, or most likely your good self mentioned them a while back.
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Oh jeez!! Sounds terrible! The non-availability of internet. But good to have you back. Since, I returned in the blog space, I was wondering where you’d been.. I managed a couple of posts on both my blogs. Feels so nice to be back blogging. How is work?
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It was an enforced hiatus, I can’t keep away that long otherwise, I did come back with plenty more ideas though so that’s a plus point. Work is okay, adjusting to nights hasn’t been to bad and I am looking forward to my days off, I may be able to get some proper sleep then!
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Yes, getting proper sleep is always a damn challenge, thanks to our routines.
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It’s easy enough to look at books and say “I don’t fancy reading that, or that, or that” But when you pick it up and start reading it, then it becomes something else and grabs a hold again.
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That’s true, I needed something light to get me started and a travel book with plenty of humour and football in it was the perfect tonic!
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SteJ, welcome back. You’ve been missed, my dear friend. I’m so happy you found your love of books was only misplaced, and not lost forever. Hugs.
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It’s good to be back and catch up, I came back to a massive inbox full of joy and also the offer of another free book, so I am a cheery Ste now!
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‘This is England’ reminds me of how before moving to Nottingham and knowing nothing about the place, I sat looking at a map for areas to search for houses in. I thought St Ann’s,The Meadows and Forest Fields sounded idyllic, and Arnold and Beeston sounded crap. A quick drive about solved that.
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Haha, I live in an area that looks similar to some of the settings, although a little less bleaker, I feel my walks to work getting more gritty by the day. I pass through Arnold quite a lot on my way to Sherwood, you definitely made the right choice.
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Welcome back! The internet is great until it goes down, then bleak isolation is all yours.
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All I had was work and then the ticking of a clock at home, it was grim, like a film set up north.
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I really admire you for posting such beatiful reviews…
Reading is a great experience and books are friends for life…
So nice to read your words, this morning, dear Ste…
Have a great weekend ahead. Sending best wishes. Aquileana 🐉☀️
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Thank you for your kind words, I agree with you about books being friends for life and through them I like to think that I have made friends for life on the blog, so a double gift for lucky ol’ me. I shall make sure I have a great weekend if you do as well. we won against Estonia and I have Pretzels, so at the moment it’s really good!
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Similar thing here. New job mainly. I prefer podcasts when commuting, but with nights getting longer, there’s no world to watch go by from the bus, so my commuting reads are starting up. It is, as you say, a great feeling to get back into the worlds of others. And as you also say, sharing this means dealing with the weak link that is the Internet. It totally grinds.
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I’ve recently moved onto nights so I get to enjoy moonlight walks and no buses, but the 24 hour Tesco is something that cheers me up of a morning. Like with so much in life I didn’t appreciate it enough whilst I had it, losing it for a bit has impressed on me how great the net is, well in certain respects at any rate.
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Glad to see you’re back Steve, sorry to hear about your internet issues. I know how you feel, I’ve been pining to get back into blogging as well, but with all of this new home stuff, blogging has become a bit of a balancing act for me as well. Though I feel like when it comes down to it you would be much better at keeping things balanced than I am, for my skills in this department need a bit of a tune up.
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I was thinking about a short break from the blog before I lost the net but as soon as it went down I just needed to blog, typical lol. I am hoping to get a routine in place but naturally I will not stick to it and then this problem will arise again, it gives life a bit of drama though so I shouldn’t complain. How’s your new place coming along?
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I think that this happens with everyone blogging wise, they want to take a break and then, boom! The internet service crashes. So automatically what’s our response, I miss blogging and Facebook. I think we’ve become a wee bit too obsessed with technology, as well as too dependent on it.
The house stuff is going fine, a few issues here and there like any new/older home, but it’s given me a lot of blogging material. Now all I have to do is find a spare moment or two to blog more about it.
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I agree, that’s why I try and read and take time away from screens, unless I am reading a book for review on the laptop, oh the irony! If only we had as much time as we do ideas, we would be prolific bloggers lol.
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Oh time, when we want and need it, there’s never enough.
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Ahh my friend, at last I am here to visit and so glad that you are back, bigger, brighter and more invigorated than ever! I was shocked rigid when I read that you thought you had fallen out of love with reading. If that happens to you, what hope do the rest of us have? I know just what you mean about enjoying not having the distraction of the internet, yet missing your online community so much. I’ve taped This is England and can’t wait to watch it all, when we get a spare moment, ha! I missed the 90s here, my experience being totally American. Great to be back here again.
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It was a horrible realisation to think that my book love had ended luckily all it took was a good book to show me how wrong I was. I do love you guys, it is great that we get to chat and have so much influence on each others thoughts. Have you seen any of This is England? If you haven’t I would recommend the film first, the series is better but the whole thing is addictive. I have missed you my friend.
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We just switched internet service providers. After a contract year of frustration – it was quite a relief. Keeping my fingers crossed for less to no lagging & less to no frustration.
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It turns out that they’d upgraded the system and we needed a new router, which they didn’t warn us about or bother to offer to send one out until the third time of calling. The company I’m with tend to assume the fault is yours if the internet stops working. Still glad to be back writing again.
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Yay! 🙂
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Happy to hear your love of the Written Word was triggered again, my dear 🙂 And, you know, sometimes life forces us to take a break. I know mine has!
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Life gets in the way annoyingly but we adapt, It’s good to have gotten through it though…I did miss reading.
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Yes, it’s a flavor of “void” all its own, right? And I desperately miss really writing…
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When you get the time to indulge again it will feel wonderful!
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