Archive for November, 2009
My short story writing course (3)
November 12th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
My short story writing course at the City Lit has now been running for eight weeks, although I have only been able to attend on five occasions. In recent weeks, we’ve been looking at the issue of the point of view (POV) of the narrator. Basically there are two choices. One option is the first […]
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Nothing lasts forever (1)
November 11th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
For the past 25 years, I’ve lived in the same semi-detached house in north-west London. Even though we live in a major capital city, it has not felt like it because at the bottom of our garden is a spinney with some huge trees. However, the largest – a horse chestnut standing about 60 feet […]
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Nothing lasts forever (2)
November 11th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
If we carry on fuelling world economic growth largely through the use of oil resources, one day the oil will run out. For years, people have talked of “peak oil” – the time when oil production levels start to fall. According to this story, oil reserves are not as high as was thought and we […]
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My “Thought For The Week”
November 10th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
Today I added the 1,500th e-mail address to the circulation list for my “Thought For The Week”. I have been sending out these thoughts every Sunday for over 10 years to a growing number of people all around the world. If you would like to know what kind of thoughts I’ve been circulating, check out […]
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“A Dog Helps Dog World”
November 10th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
Ed Mayo – who was the founding Chief Executive and a colleague of mine at Consumer Focus – has just become Secretary General of Co-operatives UK. He’s drafted a kind of manifesto that rejects the ‘dog eats dog’ world of so much of contemporary society and presented a kind of ‘dog helps dog’ model based […]
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How green is your supermarket?
November 9th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
Some UK supermarkets are greening up their act and doing more to help customers shop green but others are lagging well behind according to new mystery shopping exercise by Consumer Focus on whose Board I sit. The UK’s top nine supermarket chains were ranked on sustainability measures such as availability of UK in-season fruit and […]
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Listening to Iranian music
November 8th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
I always like to purchase some local music when I visit a new country. During my holiday last week in Iran, we were in the town of Kashan where I bought two CDs of work by local musician and singer Mohammad Reza Shajarian. I’m listening to it now as I work on the computer – […]
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My 13th short story
November 7th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
Before I went on holiday to Iran, I drafted my 13th short story. Since returning, I’ve finalised it and posted it on my web site. It’s called “The Away Day”. Please check it out and let me know what you think.
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Back from Iran
November 7th, 2009 by Roger Darlington
Vee and I returned home this morning from our week’s holiday in Iran. We had a wonderful time. All went well and we had no political problems, although we were in the country for the 30th anniversary of the taking of the American Embassy hostages. More so than any other country I’ve visited – and […]
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