Seaside

The sun was shining, bright and clear across a beach covered with a light frost. There's more pictures at Felixstowe Radio - just click on the image at top left, and then you can click again to even larger images - we could even supply prints if you were interested.
Isn't life great!

Hemlock Ebook

We've just created ebook versions of Hemlock: the paperback version is 1-898030-87-1.
The Adobe ebook is ISBN 1-89803090-1 and the Microsoft ebook, and PalmPilot versions are at 1-898-03096-0
Have patience, this is brand-new information, and the book industry doesn't work that fast, so your favourite bookseller may just shrug shoulders are mutter, 'the computer says 'no''.
If you have that trouble, just email us at sales@braiswick.com and we'll supply all your needs - at low-cost. Ebook versions cost just $7.00 (£3.00), and you can pay using PayPal or your normal credit card.

Hemlock

Hemlock by Joyce Dore is a novel about Boadicea, an English heroine, who rampaged against the Roman occupiers of her lands in East Anglia, England until she was captured and executed. ISBN 1898030871 published by Braiswick
Hemlock describes her life, and adds an unusual twist to the story. Listen to Chapter Four of the book or visit her web site at www.joycedore.co.uk

A life passes

The sister of a friend died, and Eileen Aldous wrote a poem;

Sister

To know you were there
was enough,
To call, and relieve
the stress life brings
To laugh our loud
together
and feel the happiness
the family bond
although you are no longer here
the importance of your life
upon mine
is a bond never to be broken
The influence of you, on me
Never to be lost
It is within me

Doggie Caps

Here's an idea whose time has arrived: caps for dogs.
Available from Castle Pet Supplies they are made from top-quality blue denim, with the dog's name embroidered in gold. A personal present that comes in four different sizes.
Treat your dog to a present. His friends will be really impressed.

South Sea Confusion

It gets worse. Now Bloor Homes, whose name should now be followed by audible boos, has submitted another plan. Suffolk Coastal District Council, who are safely tucked in the pockets of Bloor (boo), will acquiesce, and now they look likely to totally demolish the Herman de Stern.
Insurance money to rebuild? Of no consequence the councillors will say. This development is not about the people of Felixstowe, it goes far deeper than that.
There are personal feuds rising to the surface again, as councillors seek retribution for causes once thought lost. There is still great confusion as to the real motives behind the councillors' adamant adherence to any plan that Bloor Homes (boo hiss) put forward. Just why do they want this scheme?
It will do nothing for the area, destroy the sea views of a few residents, increase the traffic load and remove 500 parking spaces. There must be logical arguments somewhere, but they are not stated, and cannot be found by conjecture alone.
You give a stranger 17.5 acres of land. They give you a few wooden toys and a maintenance liability of about £100,000 a year. That's supposed to be a good deal.
Please tell me how.

High Tides

The South Seafront development at Felixstowe looked threatened last night. Indeed the whole of lower Felixstowe was in some danger. It's true that the flood gates had been closed but the high tide brought the sea right up to the very edge of the promenade. That means that nearby houses were some ten feet below sea level. Not much further to go, there's hardly any leeway, no margin of error. Yet the Suffolk Coastal District Council plan to allow a developer to build on the only remaining piece of flood plain.
Never mind. This is a pretty flower, don't you think?

A Long Hard Road for Children

The headlines today scream that children are now too much trouble. Doesn't anyway stop to think what it must be like to be a child? We have created a world where the poor kids are always competing, must always be better, faster, quicker, cleverer than their peers.
Our education system cannot teach our children basic literacy and numeracy skills so we are destroying any hope for the future. Too many children feel disenfranchised, and they are right to feel that way. We offer them next to nothing.
If they fail, they face the scrapheap, unless they choose to become drug dealers. If they pass every exam they take too many will also fail: ending up in poorly-paid jobs where nobody respects them as people, but merely as money-making cogs in the machinery of business.
Young women too often find an alternative – pregnancy. The father of the child easily abrogates responsibility, leaving the hapless young mother and the state to bring up the next generation of failures.
This may sound pessimistic, and its meant to be. There are many success stories, people who struggle against insurmountable odds to achieve their goals. That's not the argument, indeed that fact can be turned round into the face of educationalists because our entrepreneurs have often failed at school.
In this town of Felixstowe teenagers are given little encouragement. Their wishes are not really considered, and few facilities are provided. They were promised a skateboard park ten years ago, their children are now waiting for that to happen.
These bright sparkles in our midst are the future. We must give them more time to develop, not treat them as consumers to be sold even more plastic junk. The toy industry should be swept away - it sells rubbish.

Samhain starts

Last night saw many tricks and treats as children took unwittingly celebrated one of the most significant sabats of the year. Now we have moved to the start of a new year, and this is a time for reflection and planning as we take stock of the harvest gathered from our labours over the past year and after a short rest begin to make plans for the coming year.
In the Daughter Dedanan and the Cauldron of Undry the young heroine passes over into the Ortherworld on Samhain, whisked away by banshees on the back of a wild boar. It's a great story, tied to the legends of an Ireland that is sadly no more.