So that's 3 accidents, 2 serious and 1 less so to hit the new James Bond film as they attempt to finish making it, and now everyone's seems convinced that the film is jinxed in some way. Even The Times, Telegraph, Independent i.e. the newspapers that I respect, have gone to sensationalist, clutching-at-straws theories about someone in the same region having a heart attack at the same time and drawing on other examples of misfortune where vague comparisons were drawn. And they're generally making Kilamanjaro out of a slight bump in the lawn.

Accidents happen, but no-one seems able to believe that, it has to have been caused by something else somehow.

Still, great publicity though; makes me want to go and see the film even more...

Anyone got any good ideas on how to start blogs? I'm sure that I'd blog a lot, lot more because I've lots of topics to blog about, I'm just not very good at starting these things...

This is the second story for which I'd like feedback. It features the same characters five years later.

Regards

Matthew.

MARTINA DOESN’T WANT TO LIVE HERE ANY MORE

“Martina I’ve been wondering” said Thomas “that now that we’re older and we’ve been going out with each other for five years…”
“…and known each other for about ten”. She said
“That we shouldn’t move on in our lives and live together. I want us to live together”.
“Oh Thomas” she cooed “I’d love to do that but… I don’t see how we’ll be able to afford it”.
“Well” he said, looking coy, “I got that inheritance money from my grandma a couple of months ago and,” he reached into his jacket pocket, “my numbers came up on the lottery”.
“You never did!” she exclaimed
“Five numbers, a nice five-figure sum. Enough to change my life and your life and certainly enough to buy a significant part of something major like, say, a house!”
Martina screamed in delight and threw her arms round Thomas.
“Then you’ll do it?” he said “you’ll move in with me, we’ll buy a house together?”
“Yes!” she said

Martina went home that night like she was floating on air. This had made a lovely, surprise suffix to her 18th birthday a couple of days before and now, with Thomas’s money, she could see the wonderful future laid out in front of her.

“Mum, Dad!” she said as she breezed through the front door “Thomas asked me to move in with him, we’re going to buy a house together!”
“Not so fast young lady!” said her dad.
“Now Gerry, let’s wait and she what she has to say” said her mum
“Go on then, what did he say to you?” he said
“Well, he wants us to buy a house and move in together and I said I would it’s great isn’t it? I’m going to be living with him!”
“And just where are you going to get the money to pay for that? We won’t be able to support you fully as much as we want to, you know that. We’ve got three children, two of which are still fully dependent on us and we have to support all of you equally”.
“Yes, yes, I know I’ve got two twin brothers but it’s okay. Thomas got five numbers on the lottery so there’s enough money there to pay for it”.
“No”.
“What!”
“No”.
“No he really has won the lottery and everything, he showed me the ticket. He say’s he’s got a five-figure sum from it and wants to spend it on a house for the two of us and…”
“No I don’t doubt that he’s won the lottery, I’ll check with his dad later, but there’s no way we’re going to let you buy a house and move out from here at this stage”.
“Stop being such an old scrooge! Why not?”
“Martina, we love you. But owning a house is a massive responsibility and is something that is very hard to do these days. We want you to be old enough and mature enough to be able to cope with all the responsibilities”.
“I’m 18 dad! It was my birthday the other day. I’m an adult now, I think I can look after myself now don’t you”.
“No Martina, you can’t really” said her mum
“What! I can”
“I don’t think so, not properly. Just because you can drink, smoke, vote and drive doesn’t mean that you’re also capable of looking after yourself or not being dependent on someone else in one way or another”.
“I-I don’t think you love me any more!”
“Of course we do! We just don’t want you to go getting carried away with yourself just because you’re in love. We’re warning you not to do too much too soon because otherwise it’ll not work out the way you had both wanted it to and you’ll just end up disappointed”.
“But no, listen, I’ve been thinking. What about all that money you’ve got tied up in those properties you’ve got. I was thinking you could just…well…sell one of those and then you’ve got the money there to be able to help us out with moving into our new house and paying for it and stuff. Or instead, we could just move into one of those houses straight away, cleanly and everything; no messing about”.
“We’re not going to just drop everything because you’ve told us to” said Gerry “I’m sorry but it doesn’t work like that! Besides, those properties that I own are there as a long-term investment. Eventually the money will all come back to you, James and Richard anyway. And that’ll be a lot of money by then, even split between the three of you. That’s when you can go off and buy your big house and all the stuff to go with it; not now”.
“That’s our legacy to the three of you” said mum
“Is it!? You just don’t want me to have any fun that’s all!”
“Alright, suppose you two did by a house and you did move in together and we did all club together to buy you everything that you’d need. What would you do next? You can’t wash you own clothes for example, can Thomas do that?”
“Erm…we’d learn”
“And what about the other domestic things like cooking and cleaning? Who’d do all that eh? You get home from work, knackered at the end of every day and what’s the first thing you do? At the moment it’s get something out the fridge and watch the telly isn’t it. How would you feel if suddenly you had to start cooking dinner, put some clothes in the washing machine, wash the pots, empty all the bins into the big bin outside…?”
“I’m sure we’d work something out”.
“Take the blinkers off and look round a little. What happens when that something stops? It’s continuous, you don’t just stop doing all that stuff 6 months down the line and we don’t want you to come crying to us when you’ve had enough of the boring domestic stuff that you’ve got to do if you’ve got your own house”.
“People break up over that sort of stuff y’know. When they can’t agree on who’s doing what or who’s paying what. D’you want that to happen to the two of you? We think you make to good-a couple to have to break up over such a silly little thing”.
“Now you’re just trying to scare me. It seems like such a good idea to me. Why can’t I move in with him?”
“There’s nothing stopping you, but just trust us when we say that it’s not what’s best for you right now. In a few years maybe, but not at this moment in time”.
“Aww, but…”
“Look, why don’t I give his dad a ring and we’ll all get together round the dinner table and we can talk about this properly okay?”
“Alright”.

Hi everybody;

As part of my Creative Writing course at University I wonder if yo lovely people would be able to offer me some feedback on a couple of stories I've written.

Many thanks

Matthew.

MARTINA WON’T STOMACH IT ANY MORE

Martina came to the top of the stairs because someone was calling her.
“Martina! Would you come here please!?”
“What is it Dad?” she said, plonking herself at the top of the stairs.
“Would you like to tell me what happened today?”
“But I’m tired; I want to go to bed”. She said. “I didn’t do anything wrong anyway”.
“No, I just want to know what happened that’s all, come here”.
“Alright”
“Now, why don’t you start at the beginning?”
“Well, I’d gone out like you know and I was down at the park by Watergate Road”.
“Then what happened?”
“Well Sonia, Thomas and Daniel were already down there and Sonia just kept going on and on about her new mobile phone. Reckons it can do everything that mine can’t and won’t let me forget it. Thomas likes me a lot I can tell and when I got there he was the one who was furthest away from me”.
“What time was all this?”
“About midday”
“Yeah”
“Anyway, we were all just talking away and stuff and then I realised that Thomas had edged closer and was standing right next to me. Because he was and I could guess what he wanted to do next.”
“Ok”
“And that’s when Daniel just lost it. I don’t know why, he just flipped. He hates me for some reason and has for years or he’s jealous of Thomas or something; I don’t really know to be honest. But he just started screaming and shouting, calling me all sorts of names and stuff I hadn’t done. Sonia was just stood there watching all this and Daniel was like, right there, in my face. And, I-I just lost it, I’m sorry. But he didn’t know about my martial arts training.”
“Why did he do that?”
“I don’t know. There haven’t been any tell-tale signs that anything was wrong. He’s always been okay with me most of the time. I can’t lie and say that’s he’s my most favourite person in the world and sometimes he’s a bit cold and distant but we see enough of each other round school so he’s put up with me for a long time if he doesn’t like me”.
“So what happened?”
“Oh well, today? I floored him! Basically”.
“Wait a minute, isn’t that the same Daniel who lives on Watson Drive?”
“Yeah”
“Oh no, no, no”
“I know, I’m sorry. It’s not that bad is it?”
“I had a bit of a run-in with his dad a few years ago but that shouldn’t have had any affect on what happened here, between our children”.
“Oh, right”.
“Why didn’t you just walk away when all the shouting started?”
“I don’t know; just spur of the moment stuff and I just didn’t care any more.”
“What state did you leave him in?”
“I’ve no idea, I don’t care either. He was just in a heap on the floor. I stormed off up to the other park at Ferham and stayed there for awhile. The other two stayed there all open-mouthed and stuff ‘cos they didn’t know I could do that.”
“Well no, they wouldn’t would they?
“Never had to use it before…”

“…I guess I’m finding out who my friends are, aren’t I?”
“Listen Marty; you…”
“…I’m sorry”
“You don’t have to keep apologising for what you did; you were standing up for yourself. Daniel, Sonia and Thomas now know where you stand. They know how much tormenting you can tolerate before you react to it. You’ll find that in the future they’ll come to respect that.”
“Yeah, but…”
“But what?”
“I could have put him in hospital”
“That’s never bothered you before!”
“Erm no, but…”
“Then forget about it. If your conscience is bothering you that much, go round there and apologise. If not, wait till you see him again at school and just have a quiet word with him about what you did and why and then move on. No need to dwell on what’s already gone before.”
“As long as he’s still talking to me”
“Well you’ll find out won’t you!?”
“I guess so”.

“But what will the others say?”
“I wouldn’t worry about them if I were you”
“No?”
“No. If they’re truly your friends they’ll stick by you. Or at least they should once they’ve got all their facts straight”.
“That’s alright then”.
“Yeah”.
“Wow, Dad. You give some really great advice. I’ve never known you do that before”.
“Because I haven’t had to before; just don’t go getting yourself into that sort of trouble again. And then I won’t have to do it again okay?”
“Okay, I love you Dad!”
“I love you too sweetheart!”

To all User who have assisted me so far.
My thanks go out to you all.

I can assure you that I have been collating the returned questionnaires together and analysing the reults together with conducting primary research (through direct 1-to-1 interviews) and tertiary research as well. All of which takes time and I am now writing up a first draft. I have discovered that blogs cover a multitude of sins and are flexile and diverse entities that can cover almost anything. Therefore pinning down what I'm going to say in my article and accompanying coursework has been the main issue for me.
All of which is why I haven't being updating this page as often as might have been expected by some. Apologies if I've upset anyone.

Regards

Matthew

Today sees the start of an important investigation.

I am writing a dissertation for Derby University for my final year university degree. My aim is to discover the extent to which internet blogs are a great form of self expression when “ranked” alongside other methods. This is in the subject area of Creative Writing. To do so I need to gather as much information and feedback as possible from bloggers about their blogs, blogging habits, topics raised etc.

If you think you can help me out, please do get in touch and I will e-mail you my questions. I endeavour to update everyone with some results once my project nears completion.
Thank you very much in advance.

Matthew Hopps

Matthopps@hotmail.com
:D

Travel advisory website Tripadvisor.com published the results of its survey last week revealing that Ryanair had been voted the worst (least liked) airline for the second year running; citing delays, uncomfortable seats, lack of legroom and unfriendly staff as reasons. All of which is great, coming just a couple of days before I was due to fly to Belgium for a part reccé-part break on… you guessed it…RYANAIR! Oh thank you very much – that made me very happy indeed.
At this point at should make clear that I don’t like budget airlines and much prefer conventional airlines, for want of a better word, like British Airways, Virgin, Continental and so on.

In amongst all this what I find good is the dreadful irony of it all. Yes you can fly for 1p but you fly to the least-direct, secondary airport therefore increasing transfer costs and times, also, there are hidden costs to pay for checking in bags, manual check in at the airport and other stuff and you have to fly at less comfortable times like 06:00 meaning you have to be up and at the airport at about 04:30. The best of all these though has to be the ‘priority’ booking. On Ryanair you don’t reserve seats and it’s just like a bus in that respect, but you can pay an extra £2/€3 each to have the privilege of boarding the plane first. What is the point of that?! In flying on budget airlines one of the things you’re surely saying to the world is that you’re too tight to pay for a ‘conventional’ flight but you’re still generous enough to part with a bit more for priority booking. That makes no sense to me at all, you might as well queue up with the rest of us and take what you pay for.

So whilst I had a nice time in Brussels all I really have to say is this, yes flying ryanair is fine for the hour or so max it takes to get to Belgium, I can put up with that. Any further though, and I’m with the other airlines.

A few days ago (alright, the 20 Oct 07’) James May presented the above titled show on radio 4 about:

In the late Eighties, as the City boomed and Thatcherism thrived, a rumour began to spread that Supercar-driving City traders were among those speeding through the night in highly illegal M25 road races.

I listened to that programme (several times in fact) and my first thought was WOW! I would have wanted to have done that! That would have just been brilliant. I mean, illegal, morally, ethically, religiously and whatever-else-e-ly wrong but – WOW! Everything that’s described about the feeling of freedom, the adrenaline rush, the magic of it all; everything that was good about the 80’s (as far as I know) was right there.

He was right though, building a motorway in the shape of a big circle was sort of asking for it. But what I want to know is why didn’t they just go and do a track day at Brands Hatch? That would’ve made the most sense surely. Brands Hatch is next to the M25 and it wouldn’t have been illegal – but then again how many of them would’ve really cared about that. I guess because they were all city trader types, they’d all have been health and safety rebels. A bit like me actually.

What a crying shame, my internet’s been playing up for the last few weeks, working for an hour or so and then deciding it didn’t want to send any more data through the modem. Now that we’ve phoned up and ordered Sky – to change from Virgin which we’re currently on; it’s just about been working fine since. Coincidence? Not likely

Anyway

Oh dear, that wasn’t a good few days has it? Seems Britain can’t win or qualify for anything at sport, but at least our Rugby boys showed the football prima donnas what sportsmanship, loyalty and overall proper sport is like. Meanwhile our queen (by which I mean Victoria Beckham) is in crisis! First she was lonely and no her hair’s the wrong colour for Britain and she reckons she glows in the dark because of it. Wow! How does this woman live from day to day? How hard can it be to make friends in your position? “Hello, I’m Victoria Beckham, would you be my friend {I’ll give you a free Ferrari if you do}. Job done.

As F1 fan, I very much would have wanted to support Lewis Hamilton this year, but was put off almost immediately by ITV’s constant bias and propaganda that he’s the best thing since Jesus or something. Sure support the Brits, but there are 21 other drivers on the grid; give them a bit of recognition as well, after all, they’ve been on similar journeys to Hamilton to get on the grid; showing just the same amounts of commitment, determination, talent, skill, wallet size etc that it takes to be a racing driver. The way James Allen talks you’d think there was only 1 driver in the race and only 1 in history worth mentioning. Like a lot of people I found myself turned away from supporting Hamilton by the constant worshipping of him by all the ITV team (except Martin Brundle). Plus I’m a Williams fan so that helped a bit as well…

Sometimes, finding the right thing to say is a task almost impossible, writes Matthew Hopps…

I’ve been struggling for these past few days; and not for the first time either. Normally, I’m such a wordy person and have the knowledge, vocabulary and ability to express myself in ways that are creditable and without resorting to low-brow, wideboy-type nonsense. More recently however as I’ve come to know more about the world around me, I haven’t always appreciated parts of what is now known as 21st century Britain: example I find a lot of things that are generally popular, like reality television shows, scandals and sensationalism to be absurd, ridiculous, disillusioned wastes of time, space and money and I don’t have anything to do with them. In short, more-often-than-once I’ve found myself in situations where I can’t think of ANYTHING to say about any subject pertinent to anything.

Probably, this is because everything has already been said about everything anyway in one way, shape or form; so trying to come up with something original to say or romanticise something in a previously-unexplored way is, these days, increasingly difficult. Also, lots of other opinions about current subjects would have already been posted all over the common media and/or I just find whatever’s being discussed too absurd, ridiculous, hollow or frustrating to bother commenting on. Also, I don’t want to just post anything that’s just going to be dull or lifeless because it wouldn’t make entertaining reading to the world out there, reading this blog. So I’ve got some serious thinking to do.

Matthew

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