So That's It Then!

Teletext has announced that it is to end its television service, the Internet has finally made it redundant. As many of you regulars, who am I kidding ? As you plucky visitors who have stumbled across my page on their way to something more interesting and have repeated the error will know I used to write television reviews for Teletext back in the early nineties. It was the first time I had done any writing that had been seen in public and I can remember the thrill and excitement of seeing my review for Terry and June on the T.V screen one Saturday morning.

In those far off pre-Internet and e-mail days you had to write a review of 125 words or less and fax it to the editor. There was no payment involved just a labour of love, the weekly T.V review was done by a guy called Sam Brady who looked like Elvis Costello's twin brother, the viewers reviews were written by me and a lady from Cornwall. Teletext would send you a screen print of your reviews, I still have some of mine somewhere I will try and find them for a future post. After teletext I joined a local writers circle where I met some keen amateurs like myself and some very good professionals who were willing to share their 'secrets' which us amateurs hoped would rub off on us like some magic pixie dust. At the writers circle I won many awards, the most valued ones being those awarded by people outside of the group, but it was meeting like minded people that was the key and some well known 'faces' in the world of writing such as, Fred Smith (the writer of 633 Squadron), Field Marshall Montgomery's second in command (whose name escapes me), Steven Spielberg's main advisor on Jurassic Park and Sam Snape.

I stopped going to Writers Circle meetings once Janis returned to work, the Tuesday evening meetings clashed with the two nights of the week that she worked, and in 2003 started posting this blog.

And this week things have come full circle in a way, following my time off work at the end of last November for 'stress' I have got much more into my photography, to the extent that I have been posting on Flickr. Anyway the point of posting is twofold, firstly you want to get your photographs out there in the big wide world and secondly you get a reaction, hopefully, from like minded people - a bit like this blog. I set myself three projects for 2009, the Dorset Coastline, Dorset Bach Huts and Debris/Litter on the beach. I haven't had a lot of reaction but what there has been has been very positive, so much so that two groups have asked to use pictures from the beach and beach hut sets, but this week came the biggest thrill. An environmental group from the good old U.S of A contacted me by e-mail to ask if they could use two dozen of my beach debris photographs in an online story about damage to the planet and also they might be using them in advertising campaigns in which case I will get some wonga! The weird thing is that it feels strange knowing that somebody in Seattle or California wants to use my photographs in this way - I posted one of them with some attached artwork on here last month. Anyway, aside from finding my name on a list of pinko, planet saving, yogurt knitting, lefty communist sympathisers, what do I have to lose?