But how do we ever get to celebrate as a country?  That’s something.  When London got the Olympic bid there was a call for the country as a whole to come together.  And the country went, ‘meh’.  Of course, I’m not celebrating either.

It’s a Royal Wedding today and I say good for them.  I’m actually watching the coverage as I type this, not that I planned to but I’ve got something in my head.  I’m thinking all i want to see is the first look on his face when William first see Kate walking down the ailse.  And that’ll be me.  (Ruth wants to see the dress.  )

The thing is with William and Harry is that they have grown up under different circumstances to previous Royal children, previous heirs to the throne, with all the coverage (and hate) they’ve recieved through the years.  And I feel sorry for them.  They’ve been born into a family who will always be derised and they’ve been at a disadvantage ever since birth.  People’ll hate them just for who they are.

But today let’s put the hate down, eh?  Give them their wedding at least.  I remember my wedding day fondly.  It was perfect, just for who it was I saw walking down that aisle.  Let’s give them that.

I’ve heard that in my home town of Paisley there’s a demo by the local Socialists to protest and this afternoon the Orange Order are out to march in support.  For the first time in my life I’m actually impressed by a move from the Orange Order.  Don’t tell anyone I said that though. 

Moments to go.  And off to something else? 

- Alistair

Certainly, before she was born, we had moved all the horror films and anything else with disturbing imagery onto the top shelf.  In her presence we don’t watch anything with excessive swearing or violence, but some scenes do fall though gaps in the net.  The Saboteur definitely has some fruity language amid all the Nazi killing.

Then there is the nudity.  She’s seen both of us in the buff as we leave the shower and as we get dressed, and that’s fine.  It’s just part of growing up.  We’re bombarded with this imagery every day and it’s always of the ‘Ccoooooooorr’ variety.  Go into any newsagent and you’ll find the porn on the top shelf and all the rest of the not-quite-porn at eye-level or lower.

In other countries, nudity is more normal.  There’s an acceptance of it that isn’t smutty.  Girls and boys should be encouraged to have a positive body-image.  They won’t get it if the only nude bodies they ever see are porn-boobed, pec-enhanced or scrawny.  As she grows, we can’t restrict Aurora from seeing this stuff, but we can help her understand that these images exist in a context she doesn’t have to accept.  That these images don’t reflect reality.

- Alistair (and Ruth)

However, it’s Ruth who is working through the series, not me.  I tend to get caught up with it, like tonight for instance.  After a worryingly sub-standard Chinese take-away, I’ve been working through a story and idly paying attention to Lost playing in the background.

I’ve discovered something.  In an episode of Lost a weird thing happens.  There’s sometimes a lot of story, with surprisingly little happening.  I don’t know about later series but in series six there’s a change.  Loads happens every episode and, what’s more, it doesn’t matter if you’re following it or not.  I can watch an episode and have no idea how it relates to the rest of the overall story.  The important thing here is that I don’t care what happens before or after.  ‘Oh, look’, say I.  ‘Sawyer’s a cop.’  Who cares?  He’ll find a way to spend most of the episode half naked.  They had ratings to worry about.  These things matter.

Earlier in the evening a particular character was on screen.  ‘That’s Charlie’s brother,’ Ruth says.  Good for him, I think.  My only vague frame of reference is that Charlie used to be a Hobbit.  He’s come a long way since Hetty Wainthropp Investigates.

- Alistair

Had some cracking ideas on the bus home from my early shift, as my mind was a-wandering.  Listening to copious amounts of prog on the way didn’t hurt, I’m sure.  (Pure by Pendragon if you must know.)

The ideas came thick and fast and, once Ruth and Aurora left the flat for an hour or two to catch up with folks, I wrenched myself away from the interweb to review what I’ve written and make copious notes.  The thing is that with the SVQ I was battering work into it at some pace towards the end and there’s no reason why I can take up that pace with my fiction.

I know, I know I’ve said that before, procrastination gets easier the more I do it, but if I don’t keep saying that I can do it then I don’t think I ever will.

Distractions are the key or, more specifically, managing them.  But I can afford myself a bit of distraction time.  It worked with the SVQ, to work past a line in the sand then allow myself only, and strictly, 15 mins of fun time away from the screen.  Against all previous experience it actually worked.  So why can’t I apply the same to my fiction?

Part of that problem, I think at least, are deadlines.  The SVQ had a very strict one.  NaNoWriMo had a deadline (and I know I only managed it the once.)  But writing for some imagined ‘I might send this to X, Y and Z website/publisher/agent’ deadline just hasn’t worked, especially when you can shift that line in the sand whenever you like.

So what’s different now?

Time.  I have it and I don’t know how long for.  I’ll be applying for new jobs and depending on the eventual success of that process I’ll have a whole new shift pattern (and I wouldn’t call what I have now a ‘pattern’) to deal with and I don’t know yet how that’ll pan out.

- Alistair

It’s easily one of the best kids movies of all time. Certainly It’s one that I want Aurora to enjoy as she grows up.

But as we Ruth and I watched it (part of the streaming service we have from LoveFilm through our PS3 – it’s a wonder I ever leave the flat) we noticed that everything is set up for Charlie to succeed.

This was in our heads after watching one of the documentaries for Pixar’s Up. When discussing the end of the villain, the impact of his demise in the film shouldn’t overshadow the resolution for the main character. Simply, all aspects of the story serve the main character.

With this in mind, let’s go through a few thoughts.

With Slugworth, the shadowy man who always seems to be there during the interview to whisper his intentions re. the everlasting gobstopper to the unsuspecting youth, in three out of the five children he’s there at the television interview. For Verucca Salt he’s in the factory when the ticket is discovered. And for Charlie he’s in the tunnel between the candy shop and Charlie’s home.

Let’s think about that last one. He’s in the tunnel waiting for Charlie. How would he know to do that unless he had already been scoped out by Wonka? Unless the coin that caught Charlie’s eye had been planted there? Unless the candy shop owner had deliberately given him the right bar. UNLESS IT WAS ALL PART OF THE PLAN?

I’m willing to accept at this point that I’m over thinking this…

- Alistair

So I had changed the plan to work on my outstanding Dark Angel Space Marines.  A bit of undercoating, a bit of base-coating.  That was a minor success.

And for the afternoon I thought I’d try and catch up with Coach, but he was busy.  Nevermind, there was still Dark Angels to paint…

So far, twenty have been undercoated, ten of those have been fully undercoated and basecoated, five of them have their accessories and weapons part painted and, finally, one actually glued up and finished.

Not brilliant but a lot further forward than I was this morning… 

- Alistair

It’s running well, if clunky (i’m too used to the quad core madness on the big machine), but it’ll do everything I need of it.  Already I’ve set up yWriter5, Sonar3, my Evolution mailbox and I’m just transferring my files and folders as I type this.  Of course, the main point of running things off the laptop is for the convenience of future writing.  This means I can get some work done on the train to work in the morning and actually head out and about for peace and quiet writing rather than stay on the main machine here in the middle of distraction-ville.

Or that’s the plan.  I am the procrastination master after all.

Ruthy’s laptop is looking as shiny as sin.  It’s a Windows 7 monster and I’m so impressed with Win 7 I may have to replace XP on the desktop.  But first things first.  There’s a laptop to finish setting up.

Oh, what a hard life…

- Alistair

Non-child related activity included a trip to China Buffet King (classy!), The Works (cheap!) and Beanscene (tea!) for a welcome rest.

Truth be told I’ve been really stressed recently and trying to keep a relaxed face on it is getting a bit more difficult, so it’s welcome to get some time and just ponder for a while.

Still, hitting The Works means I have a new copy of ‘The Right Hand Of Doom & Other Tales of Solomon Kane’ by Robert E. Howard!  Win!

Slowly he rose, mechanically wiping his hands upon his cloak.  A dark scowl had settled on his sombre brow.  Yet he made no wild, reckless vow, swore no oath by saints or devils.

‘Men shall die for this,’ he said coldly.

When I grow up I want to be Solomon Kane…  *sigh*

- Alistair

Grace Jones.

According to Ruthy, Grace Jones is “the screaming chaos that awaits us all at the end of time”.

Perfect.  Couldn’t have said it better myself.

- Alistair