Thursday 26 November 2015

On John McDonnell, spam & not much more...



Welcome to the place I like to think of as The Arse End of Nowhere. I'm again blogging daily in that I've managed to blog for six successive days and a few more before that My new technique of typing straight into the editor window helps. It stops me falling into my best habit of editing for hours. The down side is that this is not how I usually write. This is me at my worst. Unedited. Unpolished. Unstructured.

Today, I recommend my new article about John McDonnell. You can read it over at The What & The Why. There's also a cartoon and a bit of Photoshopping. I was quite pleased with all three.

Meanwhile, back here at TAEON, I'm under SPAM attack. That's the worst of coming back to a blog. I've lost what few regular readers I had but I've gained a place on the lists of sites that Spammers use. I've had four emails today asking me if I'd like bulk buy traffic cones from China. Three fake comments got through my defences and tried to sell you plastic straws (also from China). I also seem to have found myself on some list of business people in the North West and they keep asking me to attend a networking session at some local hotel starting at 6am in the morning. Even if I was a business man looking to network, I would not get up at 6am in the morning. It's an unGodly hour and even if I am unGodly, I'm not getting up that early.

My piece about Dawkins is coming along slowly. Phrasing things just the right way can be pain. I'm constantly trying to anticipate how my words can be misconstrued by people deliberately looking to misconstrue.

Also trying to find a job or work, which is soul destroying given that I only want to write and draw. People my age usually have careers around them or behind them. I just have years of strange and questionable accomplishments. I joke with people that I'll end up sweeping the streets but, really, I think that's probably aiming too high. All the good street sweeping jobs will have gone. What jobs for somebody hugely overqualified for most things, no track record in other things, and a whole lot of skills that nobody would want this end of the country? I couldn't even work for a local newspaper since my skills aren't exactly suited to detailing the drama of a chimney pot falling down. This time next year, I'll be lucky to be living in a tent.

4 comments:

  1. Well, I remain a regular reader, even if my commenting is sporadic. Can't help on the job front, though... should we be calling your Trigger? Or perhaps, Rodney?

    ReplyDelete
  2. RR, you can call me anything you like, though I'm not such a Fools & Horses fan so I don't get the reference. Did they sweep the streets? Or are you suggesting I'm a plonker? If so, then I agree. I am a plonker. So perhaps you should call me Rodney... Christ, that's a depressing thought for a Friday afternoon...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Trigger was the street cleaner - the favourite character of a lot of people, including me, and Roger Lloyd Pack played him with a consummate skill. He was not the brightest spark in the fire, and insisted on calling Rodney "Dave"; hence, with your name being David, it seemed witty (well, to me, anyway) to suggest you be called Rodney.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ah, so I was almost right. Funny thing about OFAH, I used to really enjoy the early series when Granddad was in it. When it become hugely popular and a 'national treasure', I couldn't stand it. It was always trying to mix comedy with really maudlin kitchen sink dramas. Can't remember the name of Rodney's girlfriend but those series were just horrible. And then there was the Christmas specials... Urgh. Just feel myself wanting to go and hide under the stairs until it's finished. ;)

    ReplyDelete