Camy

Love it! 😂 I forget the names of characters I've written, too.

Emma Raducana, the British 18 year old, went to the US Open on spec as she wasn't ranked in the top 300. So first, she had to qualify to play...! During her phenomenal run to the final, where she played Canada'a 19 year old Leylah Fernandez, Raducana didn't drop a set. She won the final 6-4, 6-3. Thanks to Amazon Prime Video, who allowed the UK's Channel 4 to broadcast the final, I got to watch the match live. WOW!

...and along comes a new variant - mu https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/health/2021/09/03/covid-19-mu-variant-here-but-fauci-says-not-immediate-threat/5715182001/

Huh... Well, I did say:

Ditto... damn it! Tanner Booth is a terrific name.

W00T!

Wonderful! It brings out the dancing emoticons in us all...

Watch this: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/did-covid-leak-from-a-lab-in-china/on-demand/72973-001 Gain of function research is interesting (gobsmackingly terrifying) - especially when carried out at Bio-Security level 2 (the same as a dentist's office).

Erm... no? C - (not the slavering, friendly 'C', but the cute and beaky one).

You should try Father Brown by G.K Chesterton. Superb! Also, there's a TV series to gawp at. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Brown

'Error- please delete' must be a message from the Galactic Confederation to their nearest star-ship to Earth.

A nice bit of needlepoint...

The peregrination between the erogenous and effluvious 'tain't as far as one might erroneously think.

Oh, I thought it was an erogenous posting...

Cockwomble by Camy You’re a bastard, John, a complete and utter cockwomble,” I said, glowering at my best friend who had the gall to grin at me. I came yea close to thumping him. “Cute, isn’t he?” John said, grin getting bigger, almost wolfish. “Still, that was no reason to turn tail and run. You fucked up the rehearsal and audition good and proper, mate.” “I know,” I said, “but after Nick’s tantrum last week and Gavin’s the week before I reckon I’m due a tantrum of my own, and a bit of TLC. Fair do’s.” “TLC, eh? Isn’t that what your right hand’s for?” “Left, to be pedantic. Besides it’s none of your business what I do with my hands.” “Surely is if I’m managing you,” John said, grin fading. “We’ve got traction on social media, gigs booked, a week left to rehearse, and that bloke coming from the label. It’s important, Neil.” “I know,” I said, prodding at a jam doughnut that had seen better days. We were standing in the rehearsal room’s tiny kitchen, which was, to be frank, like the rest of the place; a shithole. I took a sip of the instant coffee John had made. It didn’t improve my mood. “So?” “Think they’ll still be here?” I mused. “Duh!” “Right,” I said, mentally girding my loins for the caustic comments I knew I’d get from the rest of the band, and adding my coffee cup to the pile already in the sink. I was glad I didn’t have to wash up. “I take it he’s a good bass player?” “He wouldn’t be here if…” “Umm… hi?” I turned around so fast I was amazed I hadn’t scorched the lino, and there he was: the cutest bass player in the world. If I’d been a cartoon, along with a klaxon, my eyes would have leapt out of their sockets and turned into beating hearts. Oh, why do I have to be gay, and why does everyone I know have to be so damn heterosexual. It’s not bloody fair! “Hi… Guy? Right?” “Yep, that’s me.” Guy said. John snickered and his grin reappeared. “As we were introduced a mere fifteen minutes ago I guess it’s proof your short term memory is up to snuff. "Anyway,” he barreled on, as I realised I was gawping at him and shut my mouth with a clack of teeth, “The band sent me to find out if that was it and they could pack up and go home, or if you’d be deigning to come back and rehearse for a bit. Also, I need to tell my mum when she should pick me up.” “Sorry, what? Your mum?” “Yeah, she’s a dear,” he said with a sweet smile. “She brought me ‘cause my bike’s off the road at present, and I didn’t want to splurge for a cab.” “I don’t blame you,” I said, determined not to get flustered. Casually, I leant back against the kitchen counter and put my elbow in the rancid sink water. “Fuck!” I sputtered, pushing myself off the counter. “Nice wet sweatshirt,” Guy said, with a grin that matched John’s. “So…?” “So please tell them I’ll be back just as soon as I’ve changed my top.” “I’ll go,” John said, and did just that, closing the kitchen door behind him. Bemused, I looked at the door, then over at Guy who was standing with his back to the far wall. He was, in real terms, about five feet away from me. Too close. You can’t kiss someone you’ve only just met, so stop thinking about it. Besides, he’s too young. Must be if his mother brought him to audition. “How old are you?” I said, before my brain had a chance to stop me. He blinked, then smiled, his eyes creasing with laughter. “Old enough.”

🤣 🤣 🤣

'The Long Way' was originally called 'The Log Way' because of a typo!

Pragmatically, as a species, we're fucked. Until we open our eyes and realise we all live on the same planet, in the middle of nowhere, without any lifeboats: it's not going to get any better. And even if we all start pulling in the same direction tomorrow, it's probably too late. Until we're all vaccinated - not just those living in wealthy countries - Covid will remain an existential threat. ...and then there's climate change - that nobody in their right mind can now deny. ...and a global population that is verging on eight billion - which is unsustainable. Beam me up Scotty! --------- “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

Wow! Desert Dropping does require a re-read! I wish Dom Luka hadn't stepped away from writing - especially before finishing 'With Trust.'

Gave it a go, didn't like it. However "Red, White, and Royal Blue", though the premise is ludicrous, is a lot of fun.

TOR publishing give away a book a month. This month it is: Lauren Shippen’s The Infinite Noise is a stunning, original debut novel based on her wildly popular and award-winning podcast The Bright Sessions. “What if the X-Men, instead of becoming superheroes, decided to spend some time in therapy?” (Vox on The Bright Sessions) An LGBT novel with great reviews. Sign up at: https://ebookclub.tor.com/ Download before 11:59 PM ET, August 13th, 2021.

Like wearing masks, or being vaccinated?

'Groms' is a wonderful story!

I rest my case.