Zone Doubt, a.k.a. 'Surreal Я Us'...

Joules, trusted by... dozens... to make a drama out of your crisis...

Other sites:

:: JAT :: WaveWrights :: Publications ::

I live to write. It's not wise to get in my way.

... I'd write my autobiography, but no-one would believe it....


If you come across any words you don't recognise in this blog, take a look at the Taylorspeke Glossary in the left-hand infopane, you'll usually find a definition there.


The Poppy Tales

(Transformers fanfiction!)

Transformers mini-comics here.




Adventures in Orchids

Apparently I am now collecting them...

There's room for one - or maybe two, at a pinch - more on that bedroom windowsill (the only one in the house that's ideal for them). Let's see what I find. Well, that didn't last long...


EO - Everlasting orchid. Phalaenopsis. I've had this orchid since 2007 and it just keeps flowering...







AO - Alien face orchid. Phalaenopsis . Bought 2018 - lovely little flowers, all different patterns!





RO - Rescued orchid photo to come when it flowers. Phalaenopsis. Rescued from a bin up the road in 2019. Classic!






TO - Tiny orchid. Phalaenopsis. Bought at Tesco 21.8.20. It just begged to come home with me. How could I say no?





CO - Crimson orchid. Cambria. Another Tesco find. This one may be going to live in Ken's room once we've redecorated and put up the new shelving; it prefers a cooler, less sunny windowsill. If so, I'll need to find another cambrian to keep it company.






GO - Golden orchid. Phalaenopsis. Saw this one when I bought CO and left it behind - then immediately regretted it as soon as I got home. Never seen one like it before. Ken, bless him, went back over to Tesco in the rain and bought it for me...





DO - Dendrobium Orchid. Smells of wisteria, so beautiful...











RO2 - Rescued orchid no 2. Phalaenopsis. This is the one I rescued from the wall along the road middle of 2021.








PO. Pink orchid. Phalaenopsis. This is the one I bought at Cabury Garden Centre on special, late 2021. It's much happier here!










TWO. Teeny weeny orchid, Phalaenopsis. Rescued from Tesco end 2021 (I think).




















My IMDb ep summaries

(completed)
Arthur of the Britons
Sky
Star Maidens
The Starlost
Space Rangers
The Sentinel (part: seasons 2 and 3)
Swamp Thing (part: season 3)
Gravedale High
Transformers: Armada
Transformers: Energon
Transformers: Cybertron (part)
Misfits of Science (four eps)
Zoo Gang
Zodiac
Jupiter Moon
Transformers: Beast Wars (part: seasons 2 and 3)
Transformers: Beast Machines (part)
Vampire Princess Miyu
Starhyke
Nathan Barley
No Heroics
Undermind (3 eps)
Will Shakespeare (Tim Curry version)
Nightwalker
12 Kingdoms
Trigun (ep 8)
Rayearth
Hyperdrive (season 2 ep 3)
The Café

For later:

Missing Earthian ep
Missing Haibane Renme eps


Silver birch at Eastwood 

Farm

"Autumnal - nothing to do with leaves. It is to do with a certain brownness at the edges of the day... Brown is creeping up on us, take my word for it... Russets and tangerine shades of old gold flushing the very outside edge of the senses... deep shining ochres, burnt umber and parchments of baked earth - reflecting on itself and through itself, filtering the light. At such times, perhaps, coincidentally, the leaves might fall, somewhere..."

(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Act 2: Tom Stoppard)

Autumn...

I love this time of year. I love the colours, the sharp slant of sunlight on the trees, mosaics of acid-yellow and harts- blood, velvet and darkness and a haze of mist-grey over the hills. I love its immanence, its mellowness, the tang of frost just around the corner of the year...

Watching the little birds in the goat-willow in my garden, I realised something more.

I love this land with a fierce, possessive love, deep-rooted in two thousand years of history. From the frosted beaches and cloud-brushing peaks of the north to the wind-haunted meanderings of the rivers of the east, from the sensuous rolling patchworked hills of the south to the demanding dark moors of the west, this land seeps into bone and blood and synapse, mother of motley nobility, culture, individual freedoms. It can be known. It can be understood. It can be felt deep inside.

I love its effortless eccentricities, its vigour and vibrancy, its flawed perfections, its silent strength and tenacious resilience, its hard-won tolerances and intense and variable beauty, the profound energy in its sacred mythical landscape.

Home and more-than-home, the forces that shape and protect and bind, in me, as I am in the land. Love returning love in the stillness for those who'll only take the time to listen...

(Joules, Autumn 2004)


All photographs taken by Joules unless otherwise specified. All photographs © Joules A Taylor or other specified individual.


In Memoriam

17.03.09 - Argent

25.07.08 - Raptor

18.12.07 - Quyn

02.12.06 - Ryme


Currently enjoying:
Muse
Transformers - IDW, Prime, Animated, Rescue Bots, Earthspark.

Currently reading:
Cixin Liu - newest favourite author.
Ben Miller. wow. Just, wow...


Currently working on:
Haadri
Dystopic novel starring Devon from Dystopia

Currently chuffed with:
My garden

Currently miffed at:
Effing BND (you know who I mean)
Nestlé, TFG Tinyhands Fart, Toadface Farage

Currently maintaining:
Wavewrights, on and off...
BCHS
BCW


Blog Pics
I've gathered some of my pages of photos together: the page of links is here. I'll be adding more as time goes by!




Evil Squid
A Little Glossary of Taylorspeke
(in no particular order)

plit popints - n. Typo for 'plot points' typed on a keyboard with more than half the characters worn off...

[PING] (alt [ping]) - n. A brainwave. The text equivalent of a lightbulb going on blindingly over someone's head. Usually mine. And usually at the most inconvenient of times. [sigh]

TPTB - The Powers That Be.

wulmet - n. A person of little or no talent who somehow inveigles himself into a position where he is in power over other, far more talented people and uses his position to downplay them in order to try to make himself feel superior.

biteable - referring to an anatomical part vb, tasty.

Flatterfed - vb. 27.02.08: my typo for flattered, but since it's so cutely apt I thought it would fit nicely here. Lutra defined it as "the lovely warm feeling of satisfaction resulting from enthusiastic reviews..." (which I've been getting for my MB fics).

Composted - vb, 'compos mentis', mentally capable of working. Contrast with uncomposted or non- composted, not 'compos mentis', not capable of working, hungover...

Cumbles - n, cucumbers.

Kewp - how Ken says 'thank you'. We rather like Lutra's 'nanx', too...

Musekick - noun, music, without which I cannot work.

'feinne - noun, caffeine, essential for correct mental functioning, especially first thing in the morning. I prefer mine in the form of SodaStream Diet Coke. And on that subject...

Skoosh - verb, noun. To skoosh - to add CO2 to a sodastream bottle filled with water to make it fizzy, prior to adding Diet Coke syrup (or just drinking as sparkling water). A skoosh - a bottle of water that has been skooshed. Skooshy - something that has been skooshed, water, or that whipped cream that comes in tins you have to shake then upend and press the nozzle...

Shoogle - verb. To shake gently, for example, of roast potatoes in a roasting tin to ensure they're covered with oil. I have vague memories of this being a real Scottish colloquialism...

Stegasaurus - n, spider of the genus tegenaria. Why? No idea. I just find it easier, that's all...
Edit 08.09.07: Lutra thinks that Brian is a good name for a mini-stegasaurus. From now on, any 'Brian's in the posts may be assumed to be a tegenaria. Except where otherwise specified.

Viterals - noun, vitamins + minerals. Also a pun on victuals.

Splish - verb. A combination of slosh and splash.

Parrots - noun, paracetemol (from the old joke "Why are there no aspirin tablets in the jungle? Because the parrots eat 'em all...")

Maggles - noun, magpies. As opposed to non-magical people.

Flamewings - noun. Swifts. So called because the first time we became aware of them was an early summer evening when they were flying high, the light from the setting sun seemingly turning their wings to flames. Lovely little birds. We always know summer's arrived when we hear their high-pitched squeeing.

Murfs - noun, moths.

Peasant cut - noun, roughly cut up into big chunks, e.g. vegetables chopped in a hurry for a hearty stew or soup. By extension, anything prepared in a hurry - haircut, material, even a first draft of a story...

Giraffe - noun, a carafe (of wine, coffee or water, for example).

Shrumps - noun, mushrooms.

Splings - noun, Kai's spelling homework: by extension, any spelling.

Tyops - noun, typos. var toyps, typso, psyto, psoyt, etc. Usual result of a dose of the fingerials (see next entry).

Fingerials - (pr. fin GEEE ree yalls) noun, fingers that will not type what you want them to.

Haddock - noun, time, of which I never have enough. (Origin of this term here.)

Sleep - noun? vb? a.k.a. sheeeeeeeeep.... I used to know what this word meant...


The Updates Blog

The place to stay notified of WaveWrights' Fiction updates: Zone, Darkside, DarkRealm, Matrix, Vault, Safehouse 13...




my computer gremlin Butch. click the pic to see the larger image

Butch, my computer gremlin. Click the pic for larger version, and read his adventures here...

Butch by the talented 

Sylverthorne

A gift for me! Butch by the very talented Sylverthorne. Click pic for larger image.

Joules' 

Haddock

This is MY haddock. It was caught exclusively for me by Talon. No, you can't have any. I need all the haddock I can get!!



A'lestrel by Valkyrie.

A'lestrel - a gift for me from Valkyrie...



Albino Alsatian Benten (c) MEBird 

2004

Another gorgeous Valkyrie gift for me - Benten the Albino Alsatian! Click thumbnail for larger image.

Radittsu, an oekaki for my birthday 04 

by 

Onna

Oekai by Bakayaro Onna - Radittsu at his sexiest...



The Zone Plant from
The Zone 

blog 

plant

OrganicHTML (which alas no longer seems to exist...)
[::..My Regular Reads..::]
:: Astronomical Pic of the Day [>]
:: What is Space... [>]
:: Dark Roasted Blend [>]
:: BLDG [>]
:: Watchismo Times [>]
[::..Fun Places..::]
::HubbleSite
Stunning...
::PALEOMAP Project
Absolutely fascinating.
:: Skymap
Check out the night sky where you are!
[::..Useful Sites..::]
:: GreenNet
First stop for environmental matters
:: The Forest of Avon
Our local community forest and places to visit
:: The Guardian
Online Guardian Newspaper.
:: Symbols
Exactly what it says
:: World Timeserver
For checking the current time around this world
:: Universal Currency Converter
Actually it's just a terran-global currency converter, not universal, but it's still useful...

So what is it with the haddock? Am I some kind of fish freak?

I'll leave that to others to decide.

The tale (or tail if you prefer) harks back to October 2000, when my GoodTwin and I, ably assisted by Sue, ran the first UK Professionals convention...
It's common knowledge that I never have enough time, and I was determined not to bewail the fact that weekend: hence I promised not to use the 'T' word...
Of course, that didn't really work (if nothing else I had to let the trainees know what times things were supposed to be happening!) so we decided a substitute word would be employed instead. There were several suggestions. Banana came very close to being chosen. However, I eventually decided that 'haddock' fitted the bill nicely. Ever since, haddock=time. Hence the title of my forthcoming autobiography,
My Half-Life in the Haddock Space Continuum....


Normally I wouldn't, but these were just irresistible...

How could I resist?

Just too adorable...

and to complete the rainbow...

These Too-Kawaii Kitties
were adopted from
Ghost's Anime Page (which appears to have disappeared, alas...)

[::..Anime/Manga..::]
Useful sites:

BBTS -
Fabulous anime figures

Anime Lyrics
A huge selection... evil popups

Anime still needed to complete series' I'm collecting... Many thanks to everyone who has helped me acquire the collection!
Ai no Kusabi

Owned:
   DVD
   Dj: June Special
   CD: Ambivalence

Cyber City Oedo 808

Owned:
   DVD
   All 3 eps on Video, dubbed
   Dj: Cyberage 1-3
   Illustrated Book 2 (Benten's) in Japanese

From Eroica with Love

Owned:
   Manga Vols 1, 9, 11

Mirage of Blaze

Owned:
   DVD Vol 1 (eps 1-4)

R.G. Veda

Owned:
   English Manga: Vol 1
   Japanese Manga: Vol 1-7 complete
   Tarot Pack
   R.G.Veda video

Twelve Kingdoms

Owned:
   Anime Vol 1-12: complete

Under the Glass Moon

Owned:
   Manga Vol 1, 2
Vol 3 needed

Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust

Owned:
   DVD

   Vampire Hunter D Book 1



New Vampire Miyu

Owned:
   (Studio Ironcat) Manga Vols 1 -5 (complete)


Yami no Matsuei

Owned:
   Viz Manga: English translation, Vols 1 - 11 (complete: I believe vol 12 is only available online)
   Japanese 3-DVD set
   Central Park Media: Descendants of Darkness Vol. 1, English/Japanese subbed.
   Sketchbook


[::..Joules SP fied..::]


... this is Terra? How the hell'd I end up here...?

(Thanks, Lutra, for the quote!)

[::..archive..::]
07/01/2002 - 07/31/2002
08/01/2002 - 08/31/2002
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11/01/2002 - 11/30/2002
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03/01/2005 - 03/31/2005
04/01/2005 - 04/30/2005
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07/01/2005 - 07/31/2005
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10/01/2006 - 10/31/2006
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02/01/2007 - 02/28/2007
03/01/2007 - 03/31/2007
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01/022016 - 28/02/2016
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01/12/2018 - 31/12/2018
01/01/2019 - 31/01/2019
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01/01/2020 - 31/01/2020
01/02/2020 - 29/02/2020
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01/05/2020 - 31/05/2020
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01/12/2020 - 31/12/2020
01/01/2021 - 31/01/2021
01/02/2021 - 28/02/2021
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01/10/2021 - 31/10/2021
01/11/2021 - 30/11/2021
01/12/2021 - 31/12/2021
01/01/2022 - 31/01/2022
01/02/2022 - 28/02/2022
01/03/2022 - 31/03/2022
01/04/2022 - 30/04/2022
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01/06/2022 - 31/06/2022
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01/10/2022 - 31/10/2022
01/11/2021 - 31/11/2021
01/12/2022 - 31/12/2022
01/01/2023 - 31/01/2023
01/02/2023 - 28/02/2023
01/03/2023 - 31/03/2023
01/04/2023 - 30/04/2023
01/08/2023 - 31/08/2023
01/11/2023 - 31/11/2023

Monday, April 23, 2007

Right. Let's see...
Link to the photos (again).
18/04/07
The realisation that I was finally on holiday hit as the coach reached Millennium Square (by which time Kood's playlist had reached Nightwish's Phantom of the Opera - perfect timing!) Brilliant blue cloudless sky, hardly anyone on the coach and my favourite music - what more could one ask? Even the Avonmouth Bridge didn't seem as frightening as usual.
Glastonbury TorI even managed to photograph Glastonbury Tor as we drove across the Somerset Levels - I usually can't find it, as I always think it's a lot closer to the motorway than it really is. (Actually, I think this pic looks better than the ones on the slideshow!)
Arrived at Exeter with over an hour to wait for the 56 bus, which takes the scenic route to Exmouth - but it was hot, and my rucksack was heavy, and I wanted to see the sea, so caught the 57 instead (a few stops, but more direct). It's quite fun being high enough to see over hedges and bridges: a short way upstream of the Bridge Inn (amazing pub, not a right angle or completely level floor in the place when I was last there) is a pretty little weir across the river. And what was a pick-your-own strawberry farm now has a big market mall with all sorts of local farm and organic produce (Wendy tells me. Sorry, I've forgotten the name! Do they have a website?)
Got into Exmouth about 4.30 pm, and strode off to find my temporary abode - the Breken Guest House, all of a minute and a half's walk from the seafront. It's clean and fairly comfortable, the en suite great, the price very good (£26 per night) and the food is filling and tasty (full English breakfast: choice of cereal if you like it, which I don't particularly, orange juice, a three-cup pot of nice coffee, a plate of sausage, bacon, beans, fried tomato and egg to your personal preference - mine being with the yolk broken and the whole thing fried both sides, as I can't abide runny egg - and two rounds of toast with marmalade). The hosts are pleasant and helpful, though Carlo's Italian (I think) accent is so strong it takes a while to get used to. My room was on the top (third) floor, up four flights of stairs, so I got a fair bit of exercise without even leaving the house! (And the lock was new, and stuck twice, necessitating a bit of WD40 action from Carlo...)
I dumped everything, found the local Somerfield for biscuits and diet coke for the room, then dropped into Capell's fish and chip shop for a quick dinner (not as good as our local chippie in Sandy Park rd, I'm afraid) - and then went down to walk along the front as far as the Octagon and just sit for an hour. Or two. I lost track of time. Hence those sunset photos...
Sheer bliss. Cool sea breeze cleared the sinuses and the mind, and at that time of evening there were very few people around. It was with considerable reluctance I returned to the Breken.
I slept very soundly that night.
19/04/07
Ken woke me with an alarm phone call - and it was then I discovered I'd not packed my phone recharger... Although actually that turned out well, as no-one could call me without my OK, as I had to leave the phone off most of the time (and it's cheaper to ring the home landline from the mobile than vice-versa anyway.) Had an 8.15 breakfast then headed off to Maer Rocks.
It was wonderful, walking barefoot along a deserted beach (too early for the holiday makers) paddling in very cold water at the sea's edge. At the Rocks I settled down on the sand to sketch and read (and take photos, of course). Didn't get much sketching done (it's offputting having people trying to look over your shoulder) but I did finish Vampire Hunter D volume 1...
It's a lot better than the anime, and explains the background to the story, which I never knew. My only problem with it was the sheer purpleness of the translation, which really was completely over the top in places, though I don't know if that was because the Japanese was like it or if that is the translator's style... Not that it matters, I'm intrigued enough to want to read at least a few more of the novels (apparently there are 17 in total, though I don't think they've all been translated yet!) Most enjoyable despite the 'urple - so much so I lost track of time and burned rather badly on my face, but more particularly on my lower legs. [sigh] And of course I didn't have any sun cream with me, never bother with the stuff.
Still, as synchronicity would have it, I had packed a tiny free sample of Olay's Definity anti-aging cream, which soothed my face, stopped the burning and peeling (my face is now a rather healthy looking pale golden-brown), and is also SPF 15, thus preventing any further problems with being out in the sun. Didn't help my poor legs though, which are still an angry red, although they don't hurt any more.
I picked up a triple pack of sandwiches (ham and cheese, prawn mayonnaise, chicken salad) and a banana for dinner - needed healthy after the day before! - and went to sit in a shelter to eat...
dinner view dinner view 2
With a view like this, who needs table service?
I Robot was on TV that night, so I had that on in the background while I tried to ease the sunburn!
20/04/07
Went around the town in the morning - all sort of little gift and souvenir and second-hand shops. Picked up a few odds 'n' sods, checked out the Olde Exmouth Gem Shop - which had a couple of copies of Ken's Early Heaven Oracle for sale - and bought a small Tortoises of Harmony figure for the lounge. Just 'cause we don't have one, and having written about it it seemed like a nice idea...
It was cooler on Thursday, with a cold westerly breeze off the sea, so I found myself a shelter looking over the beach - to avoid any more sunburn - and read the other book I'd taken with me, Justina Robson's Keeping it Real. I'd read a review of it and it sounded great...
Alas, it was not. The initial premise - quantum bomb splits reality, creating separate but accessible 'worlds' in which earth's mythological creatures are real - sounded fascinating, but the book itself is horribly derivative, a sort of cross-over of Robocop and Lord of the Rings with bits of other films and books thrown in. Worst of all Lila Black, the heroine, is a blatant Mary-Sue. [shudder] And Lutra? You'd really, really hate her elves... Very disappointing. I'm now in two minds as to whether to bother reading the two others of her books I have or not...
Wendy arrived at about 5.30, and we wandered off to the Bath House (used to be called the Deer Leap before it changed hands) for an onion ring pole, gammon steak for her and chicken New Yorker for me, and toffee apple and chocolate sundae desserts. It was great! Wonderful to chat too - I'm just sorry the blasted headache dulled things a bit. It was a lovely evening in spite of that: thanks for coming down.
Venus was brilliant below a silver crescent moon when we left. I tried to photograph it but there was too much camera shake, couldn't get a decent shot.
21/04/07
Up early and caught the 9.50 am 56 bus to Exeter...
This is the one that goes all round the houses and takes an hour to drive the 10 miles between the two places. And it is not, trust me, because the drivers take their time. In fact it was positively nerve-wracking, the driver flinging the vehicle wildly down country lanes only a few inches wider than the bus itself, slewing to a stop to let oncoming cars inch their way past at passing places... I have a new-found respect for country drivers...
dinner view 2This lovely little place on the outskirts of Lympstone was for sale! Medium-sized garden with a double garage and a wooden summer house: looked charming, but that thatch would be the devil to keep in good repair. ->
We drove through Lympstone village, Woodbury village, Woodbury Salterton village, and Aylesbeare,dinner view 2 where apparently this barn door is the village notice board. The bus drops briefly into Exeter airport before stopping at the bus station: I used to walk out to the airport when I was a teenager, to watch the planes. It's all motorway now, by the looks of it.
Arrived at the folks' about 11.15, and we went to the Exeter Arms hotel for dinner - a very tasty carvery - then back to chat and watch DVDs until my coach at 6 pm, a lovely relaxing day. The trip back was great too, and the welcome home a treat! (Everyone except Raptor, who was well pissed off that I'd gone away. She's come around now.)
Then, of course, I found out about blogger - but I've already dealt with that. On the plus side, I ran a Norton update and found that they've now removed that blasted file that kept failing to install, so I can now run the update without having to uncheck anything, which is good. However, the snails have been at my seedlings, damn them, and we really, really need rain. It's forecast for the next two or three days, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
It was only four days in total, two of them mostly spent travelling, but it felt like much longer. I had a fantastic time - just being somewhere else, and by myself, was wonderful.
But it's nice to be back.
I'm starving at the moment - have my diabetes appointment at 9.50 tomorrow morning, oh joy - and have a few emails to deal with when I get back from the doctors', but otherwise I may still be able to take this week nice and easily. Which would be good, as what I thought was just hayfever seems to be turning into the cold my brother has.
Eh well. With a little luck it will either fizzle out or go as quickly as it came!
Later - I'm having an early night.

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