Isn't that the trailer-tent?

A Trigano trailer-tent

This is the name of my mother's new blog. I'm not sure about the theme yet, it may go through several changes before I find one that suits, but it's off the ground, that's the main thing!

She isn't actually the one doing the creating or writing because regular readers of this blog will remember that her house is something of an internet-free zone. No, it's a project for my eldest, to get him to practice typing. They don't teach children to type in French schools, despite it being one of the most useful skills to have in the modern age. I think they expect kids to acquire typing as a skill by osmosis.

Anyway, my mother sent me, at my request, some of her travel diaries written during family holidays dating back to the 1960s. My eldest is supposed to be writing them up into the blog and at the same time practising using all his fingers to type.

Naturally, he was wildly unenthusiastic about this task initially until I told him it would please his grandmother greatly, be very good for him, and he would earn €10 a month out of it. It was the final argument that won him over in the end...

So I've set it up and he has to write a day of diary per week to start with. The entries are quite long, and his typing is very slow, so one has to be reasonable. As it picks up, I hope he can up the rhythm.

The first one starts with a camping trip to Holland in 1968. I think my parents were boycotting France at that time because of an ungrateful de Gaulle being in charge. They didn't have the trailer tent at that time, but an ordinary blue one that took some strength and determination to put up and take down.

I remember my mother telling me that they bought it because they went to a camping fair and decided it would be the only way they could afford to travel abroad on holiday with us kids. My mother was the real instigator of all this, I think my dad would have been happy with annual trips to Blackpool to stay with his parents, or at most, a week in a b&b in Devon.

Once the idea was planted in his head though, he became all enthusiastic and bossy and took over. Taking over however, did not equate with organisation, so the diaries are full of his forgetfulness and my mother having to adapt to unforeseen situations.

I hope my eldest does a good job because these diaries are very entertaining. I've certainly enjoyed reading through my escapades in Holland, and my younger brother's penchant for wine (aged 1)!

WebCat 4.0

I was rather taken with this history of blogging, being a cat lover myself - not a crazy Brigitte Bardot type dotty old bat with 50 rescued moggies doing a wall of death jumping from curtains to chair tops to kitchen work-surfaces to tiny window into the garden without once touching down paw to tile - having just the one, Ulysse.

I haven't actually blogged about him much mainly because he keeps himself to himself so I don't see what he gets up to. I know he's the chef du quartier and sees off intruders without much injury, to himself at least. It's only now that the weather is getting cooler that he is deigning to spend more time in our company. Asleep.

Funny how the History of Blogging sounds different if you replace 'cat' with 'dog'. It's just not the same.

Is this what blogging boils down to really though? Telling cat tales? Ultimately, probably, yes. But you're getting into deep water if you ask 'what is the meaning of blogging?', almost as much as if you ask 'what is the meaning of life?'. You can answer both with 'existence'. A blogger's desire to exist visibly - I blog online, therefore I am - is palpably linked to the point of his/her existence. If nobody sees you, are you really there?

I know I'm here, because you are reading this blog...

So, to celebrate the reaffirmation of my existence, for your pleasure and your joy, I offer you the latest cat cartoon from Simon's Cat.

The ultimate in cat blogging.

Gripe ho

I was getting a little testy today as I read my way through the Times and Telegraph online. The first irritating episode was reading that 99.999999% of all blogs are not worth reading, and I can't remember where I read it but if I find it again, I'll post the link. It was made by some big time journalist and it made me very cross.

What does he mean by 'worth reading'? According to what criteria? His? The majority of blogs are written for a small audience, sometimes just a family. They are worth reading by that community of readers and have no aspirations for global fame. Are they thus, by definition, 'worthless'? Just because most writers don't write for millions it doesn't mean their blogs are 'not worth reading'.

Just because a blog is written by a big time journalist doesn't make it 'worth reading' either. Look at what has become of the Telegraph blogs since Colin Randall left. Most rarely inspire comments, and when they do, the numbers often hover under 5. How would they fare out of the rarified atmosphere of the online journal, in the cut and thrust of the blogosphere?

That was gripe #1. The second comes from one of those blogs, the one by Lila Das Gupta. Now, I'm sure she's a lovely lady and she means well, but really. The arrogance of it. She's undertaking an experiment not to go shopping for a whole year and write about her horrific experiences. Oh my goodness, what a trial! The poor thing, how will she survive?

I made a rather caustic comment on her blog to the effect that what she is describing as a gung-ho lifestyle experiment describes my life, so big deal. Only, at the end of her traumatic year, she'll have saved up a lovely lot of dosh to pay off her mortgage or go out for a mega shop while the rest of us on a tight budget continue not to go shopping.

But, wow, is it like really possible not to go shopping??? Pah.

Introducing Promo'Arts Blog

Promo'Arts, the association (for which I am the Secrétaire) which aims to promote 'jeune talent' and raising money for good causes now has a blog, which yours truly created this week.

It is, of course still in its infancy (both the association and the blog) but a date has been set for a fund-raising evening at the superb Domaine de Verchant to raise money for cancer research in May. Three paintings by Jean Leccia, one of the most renowned painters in the region will be auctioned, together with a raffle to win a painting by Diane Rauscher-Kennedy, who painted 'Loft', on the left there, and whose work is visible in greater numbers on the Promo'Arts blog.

For those who take an interest in such things, I decided to try out Wordpress as the blog host site. I like Blogger, but you only get one page, whereas Wordpress allows you to mimick a website by adding more pages. I wanted to be able to distinguish between Promo'Arts news, pages for participating artists, and a basic 'About' page. I have yet to write the text, but the foundations are laid.

We are especially looking for sponsors and DRK, the President, has been out banging on doors and hotting up the phone lines in search of generous companies. Generosity has certain fiscal advantages, of course, as does buying a painting through the association. For those of you who pay too much tax, you can help the association AND offset the purchase against tax, so basically everyone's a winner babe!

Most recently, Diane donated a beautiful dyptique painting called Stormy Sea to the Institut St Pierre, a children's hospital at Palavas les Flots. They invited her to a special ceremony to thank her, and laid on a lovely gouter for all the children so they enjoyed it even more! I went along as a hanger-on and made myself useful passing round sweets to the kids, although not to all, as it's a centre of childhood obesity, so those kids were, of course, privés de bonbons.

Diane makes an annual donation, when she chooses the best painting of the series and offers it to a marvellous local institution. Others who have benefitted are the Pompiers de l'Hérault to whom she gave the painting 'Garrigue en Flammes' in honour of those who participated in 9/11. As she is half-American, she felt more than gratitude for their bravery and courage. I didn't know her at the time, so didn't go to the shindig they laid on for her, which I somewhat regret, because who wouldn't want to be in a room filled with hunky firemen in boots?

Anyway, if you know of anyone who might be interested in joining the association, or being a sponsor, or buying a painting, you can contact Promo'Arts by emailing: promoarts_france at yahoo.fr (anti-spam measures, sorry).

Houston, we have a problem...

Dear old Blogger is having a hissy fit. I don't think it's me, as others seem to be experiencing similar ennuis.

If you have been trying to post a message, you've probably been confronted with a boring old error message telling you politely that your request cannot be processed. My apologies on behalf of Blogger, and if it's any consolation, I can't post messages on my own blog either. Just posts.

Just hold onto your hats and normal service will be resumed shortly.

Edited to say that normal service has now been resumed!

10 things I'd never do

I've been tagged by Angela to tell you about 10 things I'd never do. I suppose this is in reference to the Telegraph articles on the club which suddenly sprang to life on things you've never done.

This is a bit different though, as it's on things I'd never do. I suppose the two overlap somewhat, anyway here goes:

1. I'd never again watch horror movies. They give me nightmares.
2. I'd never watch crap like 'Big Brother', 'I'm a celebrity...'
3. I'd never cheek a police officer. Way to risky!
4. I'd never knowingly eat horsemeat. No way. Ever.
5. I'd never take part in swinging parties.
   
6. I'd never let my children face danger alone. Grrrrrr. Just try me...
7. I'd never take up jogging although I do like cycling.
   
8. I'd never betray my friends.
9. I'd never give up G&T.
10. I'd never like to do heavy duty DIY ever again, due to overkill.

So now I'll have to tag others.
Sam in Brittany
Mr Filthy France
Laban of UKCommentators
Treespotter

Update the next day.
I keep thinking of things now:

1. I'd never have a boob job.
2. I'd never let myself get obese.
3. I'd never try taking drugs such as heroin, cocaine, etc.
4. I'd never send my boys away to school. I'd miss them too much.
   
5. I'd never rob a bank even though they are some of the biggest robbers out there.
6. I'd never drop my aitches.
7. I'd never let the boys smoke at home (if they ever started).
8. I'd never take up paragliding, parachuting, micro-lighting or any other precarious activity that takes place a long way up.
9. I'd never carry a gun.
10. I'd never buy a season ticket to watch a football team. Rugby maybe, concerts more likely.
    

Academically Surveyed

Tests and surveys lend themselves perfectly to the internet. You fill in a few questions about yourself and come up, instantly, with some fascinating aspect of your personality that you never knew before, like that you resemble a carrot rather than a lychee, or a Renault Clio rather than a Jensen Interceptor (yellow). They are great fun and are used on dating sites such as Tickle. I did one and came up with an IQ of 148 which I thought a tad excessive, so I did it again and the result was, I'm sure, closer to reality...

More seriously, academics doing research on social mores, behaviour and attitudes can reach a much wider audience, and the results, especially for surveys conducted on internet use, will be that much more valid.

I haven't amused myself with a silly test recently, but I have taken part in a Manchester University survey on privacy on the internet. It's part of a study by Karen Mccullagh as part of her PhD research, which is sponsored by the ESRC and Office of the Information Commissioner, UK.

The reason why I'm plugging it here, is that it is specifically aimed at bloggers and the content of their blogs - how much they divulge of their private lives, jobs, name and so on, or whether the nature of their blog is based on information about others and their lives, politics, fashion (such as GoFugYourself).

There are also questions on what types of information you consider to be sensitive and whether you have ever got into trouble because of something you included in your blog about someone else or your job.

It takes less than 5 minutes to do, so if you'd like to participate, the link is here.

Karen will send you the results of the survey if you request them. Go on, do it - the more the merrier!

Bye bye T, hi Salut!

The more eagle-eyed amongst my regular readers may have noticed that Colin Randall's blog link has changed.

Despite enjoying wide and enthusiastic popularity amongst his blog followers on The Telegraph, and the fact that he is a highly respected and serious journalist too (more importantly, in fact!), the Powers that Be at the Telegraph have decided to make him redundant.

In various cost-cutting measures, he and some other foreign journalists have been given the chop, which is more a demonstration (to partisan fans of Colin) of idiocy by the Telegraph bosses rather than sound economic policy. Still, there's no accounting for either taste or accountants and so Colin, Alec Russell (in Washington) and others are off to pastures new.

Colin wrote a valedictory blog in the T to say farewell to his minimal fly-be-night readers and au revoir to his many old faithfuls. We have all been trekking over to his new blog, which, for the moment looks very much like this one (what great taste he has...) and are waiting in hope for more of his anecdotes, words of wisdom, observations and reflections on the idiosyncracies of things French.

I certainly hope Colin quickly finds a more appreciative news agency, and am certain he'll be snapped up to the extent he may never get time to write much in his new blog. So, good luck Colin, and from what I have seen already, you'll find all your regular readers at Salut! who are champing at the bit to comment, argue, miss the point, change the subject and generally have a cosy blogging time as a result of your inspiration.

A plus, as they say over here...

Can't post won't post

It seems that having 'upgraded' to Beta Blogger, those who have an ordinary Blogger account can no longer post comments on my blog. Likewise, I cannot post comments on non-Beta Blogger accounts.

This is annoying as I have tried many a time to spread a little wit and flippancy only to be informed at the end that my words of wisdom are not accepted. I'll never get those minutes back, you know. Wasted for all eternity.

So, now you know why you might be having trouble posting.