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Oh my word! So much excitement!
Time to charge up the batteries.
You do realise, Eddie, that my dog gets fed at 5 p.m.?
Hm? Interesting choice of day as, for once, I will not be staring at a PC screen at 5pm....... but do I want to take part?
What's the prize? What's my motivation here?
J
If this was posted on the last thread, I apologise here and now for repeating myself .....
I emailed the following to Jonnie earlier re the Book Club.
(Open quotes)I'm going to make a proposal for the Book Club. The idea was sparked by Admin Annie referring to Molesworth. I therefore think I should post on the Blog the following proposal:
Admin Annie, as the inspiration for the Book Club, should nominate something for the froggers to read by tomorrow at close of play, and those who want to take up the challenge of reading her choice should start reporting back on Eddie's first posting for Monday 11th December.
If the suggestion goes down okay, perhaps you could post that up on the book club page.
I'd also like to suggest, if it's possible, for the Book Club page to have a comments box whereon froggers could comment randomly on books they have loved.
I'll post this now, with the proviso that its feasible at your end. (Close quotes)
Thought I'd better post here, too, as Eddie's put in a late thread.
Oh dear:-( If it had been the day before or the day after, I could've taken a more interesting photo... Still at least we can all plan ahead :-)
Hi Big Sister et al
an html version of the history should be at control about now. Formatting as the original. Hope it works. :o))
With regard to 'soft' loans being a grey area,
So now we have not only a black economy, but a grey one as well?
Yours Aye
ed
Brake, brake!! I responded to someone who had quoted Molesworth, albeit with a quote of my own from the same oevre, and when someone didn't recognise it - Robbiedo? - told him about it.
Having said that I am happy to kick off if that is OK with everyone else. Do nominees have to say why they have chosen a particular book? or just baldly post a title and author?Or haven't we decided?
Please can we have the Magic Faraway Tree, I'm sure someone suggested it?!
Admin A
I suppose it would be nice (a la Good Read) to give a bit of background for your choice .... But perhaps not too much at the outset - you could always add later on once the comments 'pour in'.
If the others agree, of course ....
Yeah! Valerie Singleton!
It just gets better and better!
HelenSparkles:
I'll second that, too. If it isn't the first book, perhaps it can be the second?
I had thought of suggesting we had a grown up book and a childhood favourite. How do the rest of you feel? They could run in parallel .....
Ummm Eddie, whose voice is that reading out the contact details tonight? I'm sure it's a voice I should recogise, but I can't place it....
Steve,
You're wonderful BUT ..... where are the blue plaques?
why has the spokesman for black police officers appeared to change his mind, when he earlier said that the discipline actions were not disportionate,
his previous comment was they were at best misguided at worst racist
Fearless Fred
Now Now Now - I mean fancy not recognising Valerie Singleton
Big Sister
Ah.... (sound of innocent whistling whilst looking absently skyward)
Whoops. Never saw them, honest guv. They never showed up on my M*c but if you email one to me (if they were all the same, otherwise email all of them) I'll fit them in. I know where they go but, well, in all the excitement, I just forgot. Sorry.
Fantastic idea Big Sister (12), might need a bit of a long lead time for the grown up book though, what with all the time we are spending at the beach.
It might be nice to run parallel childhood favourites and grown up books. As the childhood favourite seems already to be chosen by Helen and Big Sis :-) I will happily start the grown up one.
I don't think I can post directly to the book club page via Jonnie's site so here goes - my book to kick off the Froggers Book Club is
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult.
I know this is possibly a typical book club sort of choice but I picked it mainly because it explores a reasonably topical issue which has featured on PM; ie having a baby to save the life of an already living, but ill, child.
It's well written - perhaps a bit overwritten in places; the multiple POVs are convincing and differentiated, and it has a double twist at the end which cleverer readers than me might anticipate.
Now where can I get a copy of the magic faraway tree?
(Note to Eddie - aren't you proud of us? We're developing our own site AND we've set up our own book club. Don't think Today or TWAO or TWT have managed either of those, let alone both in the same week!)
Sis, (14)
it is!
Now, all that is needed is to save it to the same directory as the html file and stick in the appropriate code where required...
xx
ed
Is that 5pm FM or 5PM Digital? There's a difference you know!
thanks Ed
Ed,
You're a marvel!
Have also emailed it as a Word doc to Steve.
Glad Helen likes the idea of the parallel book club!!!!!!!
And WITH blue plaques, though they're a wee bit small.
ed
Admin annie
Ta, will get copy tomorrow. it's not going to harrow me is it. haven't got over the Robbie's story yet.
And magic faraway tree is available from an amaz ing internet bookshop.
xx
Aunt Dahlia
Please tell me that you weren't really too upset. He's a very soulful looking dog, is somewhat prone to exaggeration but his heart is in the right place. I have had a word with him.
Sorry Robbie, I'd got wound up istening to some man trying to justify shooting chimps full of dopamine so he could 'experiment' on them, and bolted here for comfort. I am a lily livered soul, and it was beautifully written.
Oh no! I must now hang my head in abject shame, having not recognised VS... :((
Woe!
I've been off-frog for a few days. My mother is in hospital in another part of the country - day trip gone wrong - and I've spent my spare time sorting things out chez elle and making phone calls etc at home. Catching a short gasp of breath.
Can't take time off to check all the frogs - what important things have I missed? I throw myself on your mercy, my froggy friends. A precis, if you'd be so kind.
You should ask for a second photo at 6pm, to discover how much our worlds have changed.
I'm a bit confused, where are you all, I was at the beach, only to find you'd gone to the woods. Now I can't find you anywhere, it's ok though, I think some of you are working hard for my benefit behind the scenes.
The book sounds good, and is one I wouldn't have chosen for myself, I like that aspect of AGR; interesting results emerge from people reading a book they might otherwise have missed. Thanks & Goodnight.
Magic Faraway Tree - yay!
Still lost. Help, anyone? Have ben looking after Mum and would appreciate summary of what's been going on.
Thanks
Why I ask? What is the incentive here?
Sounds fun but also sounds as if it has not been thought through as everything was rather vague, even to how we send you our images.
Can anyone tell me how to set my Nokia mobile phone to alert me around 4.30pm so I don't forget?
/blogs/pm/2006/08/woody.shtml
Um - Frances, think that'll take you to the Wood as the beach seems to be closed. Robbie and Rupert have been telling doggytails, the Book club seems ready to go, with the first (2) books being Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree, and Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper, o wait you'll have read that further up the tree. Eddie has congratulated Jonnie on www.pmlog.co.uk, check it out it's fantastic. Fearless has set up a froggersflikrblog on the Flikeringsite (I'd need to navigate away to find the link - too technical for this time of night). Fifi has posted a link to utube, so you can see a real live giggling frogglet! Oh yes and we are to take our photos of 5pm at 5pm next Tuesday.
Is that enough to be going on with?
I should have previewed - jonnie's oeuvre is of course www.pmblog.co.uk - I tried to catch it as it fled from the screen....
Big Sis
I think you'll have to ask Eddie for another new beach. I'd ask him myself but he seems to listen to you. Is it respect or fear?
Flickr everyone
Morning all,
I know, been away, and will be again v soon.
Though I detected a disguised reference of a PM regular listener this evening at a social event (to which I was habitually late), when the 135 degree sitting position was discussed. I kept quiet, as I'm usually on the road during PM.
And not sitting at 135 degrees.
Having missed Monday's PM, I wondered whether VS had appeared on Monday's edition or not. Yes, Lissa, I know, it's never too late...Who else will provide links - Derek Cooper? Claire English?
Eddie,
Have you realised not everyone has a digital camera ? nor a mobile with a camera ? if I buy a film for my camera or a disposable camera you will have to wait till I take the other 25 pics and get them developed. How soon do you want this on the website ?? also 5pm is a funny time. You are likely to have lots of pics of people at bus stops etc,getting ready to leave the office etc is this what you want ?
why not make it the whole day ? they did this in Ireland and made it into a book "Day in the life of Ireland" published as a book for cancer research, I found it in the library.
Re; BigSis and the book club. -- Please log on to
and click on the bookclub page. You will find a contact form to e-mail BigSis with your nominations.
Thanks to Matthew for discovering the Flickr links to PM picsatfive which we will be covering in the gallery section.
Or should I have said thanks to somefool for setting up the pm pictsatfive flickr site ;-)
Er, You do all know that 'The Magic Faraway Tree' is the second book in a trilogy, don't you? The first being 'The Enchanted Wood' and the last being 'The Folk of the Faraway Tree'. Why are you starting in the middle?
Hands up if your stomach hurt from laughing at Saucepan. Or if you wished and wished you could meet Moonface too...
Umm can I plead ignorance of The Magic Faraway Tree? I've never even heard of it! (I know, I know, a poor deprived FFred... slinks away to the corner, sobbing softly)
I do hope you won't be slouching tonight Eddie, remember that 135 degrees!
Appy,
Yes, I knew that. It may be that some froggers will want to read the full trilogy!
Shall we keep it at the one children's book, though, for the purposes of the exercise? After all, we've now been set two reads for homework and I don't yet know how long is My Sister's Keeper.
Incidentally, was Admin Annie being ironic in her choice? ;-))
RJD - I've emailed him nicely. I do hope he will help us remoor.
Big Sis x
Jonnie - It's lovely. There's an email for you at home.
I had posted something else, which seems to have disappeared ..... Why, I wonder? So, time to repeat myself:
Appy - yes, I was aware of that myself having read all three (many years ago, I fear!) But shall we stick to the one officially (and unofficially we can read all three? - I'm easy, whatever the majority want ...) Can't wait to taste those sweets again, and the thrill of the ladder (won't say too much, it might spoil the fun for others)
RJD - Have taken up your suggestion. Let's see if Eddie can help.
FF: I think you'll need to suspend reality for the Faraway Tree. Think CS Lewis for the masses .....
Silence
Dear Eddie,
You are very quiet today. Which may mean you're busy. Or looking for your camera.
However, if you have a spare moment in your ever so busy schedule, and assuming the email I sent hasn't been passed to you (yet), could you do us froggers a huge favour and just set up a new Beach thread here? Eddie's Beach? or whatever?
Your devoted Big Sister
Big Sis and others
Anne P posted the following on the The Wood
/blogs/pm/2006/08/woody.shtml
"On a more serious note, does anyone else feel we have become just a tad indisciplined over the last few days and have spread our 'beach' into threads that might have held more serious comments.
I only ask because I am concerned that we should not be scaring off any lurkers who are intimidated by seeing us as an 'in-crowd' and who might actually want to post an opinion on the latest news.
I agree with her and hopefully Eddie will gives us a new beach. It doesn't mean that we have to be serious all the time on the main themes but I think we should be careful of the "in crowd" possibility.
Christina (39), you are right of course - but there is no time limit! We can be patient. And will be. Indeed, inspired by the contributors to this blog, who take things in new and wonderful directions we could never have imagined, we have literally no idea what we are going to do with the photos. So it may take us a while to come up with something. Take your time...
Eddie: Thanks for livening up that sitting position interview last night with a live demonstration, I was laughing trying to imagine what position you ended up in when you commented that your arms needed to be 2 or 3 metres longer to reach your desk.
Yes, Robbie, I saw that too. And it is the case that, unless the Beach is clearly signposted (and not too far away) we are liable to become fragmented.
But I have pled (?) to Lord Mair at least twice now today, to no effect, and that despite his recent comment that he's always happy to help.
Clearly he's been consorting with the politicians too much lately.
Following on from the book club suggestions...
Sorry but I just can't be doing with Enid Blyton. I read a couple as a child (can't remember any of them) & tried to read some to my daughter when people gave her the books. But I'm glad to say she didn't like them at all, & she even gave away the Famous Five cd that was in the paper at the weekend. Now Paddington Bear, & William, on the other hand, we can all read & listen to til the cows come home. They are so FUNNY! I think that's what we missed in Enid Blyton. There didn't seem to be any anarchic or irreverent stuff.
Not that we are like that as a family... oh no.
Hi Annasee
Your point is taken - and I think for the immediate future the parallel books could easily go forward, so William and Paddington could certainly join them. Am a great fan of Mr. Brown myself, though don't really know Paddington. Which is why the children's bit could be a nice excuse to dip my nose into some of the children's literature that I missed (no children of my own, so missed out on a lot).
A tentative suggestion: could you post stuff onto the Book Club page on Jonnie's site? that way it will be in one place for me to pick up. And there's a slot for emailing directly to me too. I'll do my best to try to get it right for everybody/the majority. And you can all complain if I don't!
I was never into the Famous Five either. The only Enid Blytons I read were the Faraway Tree trilogy, The Wishing Chair books (which were related to the Faraway Tree ones) and the 'Mystery of...' series. The last had the imaginatively titled group of children known as "The Five Find-Outers and Dog", and they were silly and spooky.
Just had the urge to share that - I know not why...
Ooo next Tuesday. And me not at work that day either.
Will I remember??? (Doubt it)
Aperitif,
Exactly what I thought about EB. In fact, I preferred the Secret Seven (they had a parrot, if I remember rightly). The only good thing about the FF was Timmy .....
To answer myself, I did not remember rightly. Kiki the parrot was in the Adventure series. I just googled and found an Enid Blyton website.
Strange, really, looking at all that stuff again. I hadn't realised that The Enchanted Wood predated CS Lewis' Narnia books by more than a decade. Which makes me wonder if the great CS was inspired by Enid Blyton.
I know it's easy to knock the lady, but I think she drove forward children's literature in the prewar years. And whatever we think of her literary merits as adults, just getting children to avidly read (as did I) is not to be sneered at.
[note to Mr. Moderator: If you don't like the link below, please post my comment without it]
I've posted below the link to the website with her books in case other froggers want to peek.
It this photography thingy a surprise birthday present for me?
Mary
Aperitif, I just liked the Magic Faraway Tree better than the Enchanted Wood, and I thought there were only 2 books anyway! I think I shall stick with the grown up book anyway, I've enough to do what with working and Frogging.
Oh Big Sis, Thanks for the marvelous link.
HelenSparkles, Does that mean that you never read "The Folk of the Faraway Tree"? I think that was my favourite of the three actually. I heartily recommend it!
5pm by the clock on my wall? or 5pm BST? (we're not all in same timezone...)
Dan (64), 5PM GMT. Usually Eddie qualifies it, but clearly not at the head of this thread.
Aperitif (63) It does but I shall get onto it right away!
I am becoming increasingly annoyed at the mispronunciation of many English words used on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio & TV and ITV.
It appears someone in authority has ordered the use of the hard "A" in words such as 'Master', 'Grass', etc., which sounds ridiculous
It is acceptable if the speaker normally uses the hard "A" but not when it is imposed by someone who wishes to change the way the whole of the UK speaks.
Could you explain why this is happening.