Tackling The TBR

 

 

In December 2018 I launched Tackling The TBR, a challenge to reduce the ever extending TBR pile and 2019 was pretty successful in that regard. In 2020 I intended to make a big effort to reduce my TBR by buying less, getting stuff read and getting rid of the things that I just don't want to read from my bookshelves and my ereaders Maurice and Myrnin! However the darn Coronavirus Pandemic has put the skids under all my plans and I had to suspend the challenge. I've now decided to bring it back in a bid to kickstart my TBR reduction as nothing else has been working.
 
The TBR total shown is the total number of books I own but have not read yet-wishlist books are NOT in my TBR! Sometimes there will be a difference between the books read and new total-if I read a book not on the TBR it counts for books read for the week but not for this challenge.

BOOKS IN

-Books in refers to bought, downloaded or gifted books being added to the TBR list. 

BOOKS OUT

-Books read refers to books read that were ON the TBR and DNFed is obvious. 

-Deleted from the TBR are books I lost interest in reading, or sequels to DNFed books I no longer want to read and have been removed without starting to read them. These three categories added together are my books 'out'.

I'm posting my progress on the 7th, 14th, 21st and final day of the month as before, even if there is no progress to report and anyone else is welcome to join in. No rules, set up your posts how you want and when you want, just reduce the pile! And each week I'll add my new week to the end of the post so I can track how the whole month went.

September 1st-21st   

TBR Start Total: 1524

BOOKS IN:

New Books In: 17

BOOKS OUT:

Books Read: 4

Books DNF: 

Others Deleted From TBR: 

Target Total: 1500

New Total: 1537

The month itself has had more downs than ups, buying in lots of Coronation Street books to cheer myself up plus a few pre-orders have arrived too. I've only read four books which isn't great but it is better than a slap in the face with a wet fish!

********************

September 22nd-30th   

TBR Start Total: 1537

BOOKS IN:

New Books In: 4

BOOKS OUT:

Books Read: 3

Books DNF: 

Others Deleted From TBR: 

Target Total: 1500

New Total: 1538

I pretty much cancelled out the damage inflicted recently so that is a good thing! Now I face the month of October, where I MUST get some horror read!

 

Autumn Blues

This is pretty much the weather we've had this week and our poor grey squirrel troop are getting soaked when they come to feed, poor wee guys! They look like drowned rats! I'm glad we're feeding them so they will be nicely looked after this winter but the little beggars have gone through 11kg of monkey nuts in about five weeks!!! I'd post a photo but I'm done with battling blogger over inserting images. We do love watching their quirky antics and they actually 'tell' us when there is a cat in the garden or something upsets them. They're getting quite tame and I love sitting in the garden to talk to them as they feed! They seem to listen and can understand what we try to tell them sometimes. They have kept me sane this summer. At the moment we definitely have five, possibly six but we haven't sighted all six together so we can't be sure but we regularly see four or five at the same time.

For those of you not familiar with Dave (above), he is a furry pumpkin toy that I rescued from the shelves of Asda many years ago, giving him safe harbour from psycho pumpkin eaters every autumn! Dave is very much part of the family and will be co-hosting Spooky Booky Month with me, here at the Book Cave. Dave loves horror books and we hope to be reading a few this year and enjoying a break from Covid reality together! 

A few of you have been asking about the Goodreads Group and if I'm giving up the blog as I seem to keep changing my mind each time Blogger messes me about. The short answer is I literally don't know what I'm doing right now. At the moment I have opened the group and set it to private. I'm moving over all the blog posts I want to keep which is still a work in progress, but I need to edit and update them all and move them into the right folders and things. I also have to construct a directory of book reviews for the genres featured on the group. I'm still in two minds about opening it up to others to join as doing that would be a ton of work every day and I need to be sure before I decide. At the moment it is a good free storage device and it's easy to copy and paste whole blog posts over in seconds-minus the graphics! I hope to do a full update on what is happening at the group soon.

As for Blogger, I'm just not wanting to use it much right now, at least until it sorts this graphics mess out. Jeez I'm so sick of that, and having to switch to 'normal' every time I want to leave a space...stupid Blogger! I'm sorry I haven't been around much over the last two weeks. Part of it is losing the motivation to do posts on the new Blogger, which is frustrating because I WANT to connect with everyone! At the moment I just can't face complicated posts with lots of graphics because of all the hassle. I'm still lurking on your blogs, posting comments there, answering comments here and doing a few posts each week but it just isn't the same. I had big plans for lots of lists and book tags and fun things for October that have been shelved due to Blogger issues.

I don't feel like reading, yet it isn't stopping me buying a pile of books this summer. Yes they are all books I want but when your TBR is going up again it is depressing. I'm also fed up with the state of my room. Every time I go in and out I fall over something or knock something over. The plan was before winter, I'd get the room sorted but I have so little energy, the very idea of it knackers me. I need to clear out the shelves of the big TV unit my dad built for me and get rid of stuff I'm not using. That would clear some floor space for me and give me space to store books or dvds. But here's the kicker...to get the room back into a decent living area, I'll need to remove a whole bookcase so the other bookcases can all be put against a wall and my chair can be used for reading instead of as a clothes hanger. 

*shudders with fear* 

The idea is to clear out the crap from all my bookshelves with a double depth (a row of stuff in the back of each then a row at the front) by getting rid of old VHS tapes, guide books to places I'll never visit, maps, unwanted books etc. Then I can get books I've read in the back out of sight and the TBR lot at the front. The idea of removing a whole bookcase scares me but I need to do it to get control of the books I own and give me space to sit in my chair in read or have space to play my Wii. It sort of has to be done and one of them does have a broken shelf, so it would be the one I'd get rid of. But first I need to do the TV unit some night. *groans* My dad and I are also buying in plastic storage boxes to replace all the cardboard boxes that we've been storing stuff in as spiders seem to love those boxes. Yuk. 

In spite of the virus restrictions, life is going on as normal. I'm getting all of what I need from Asda delivery and Amazon delivery or the odd trip to the local shops maybe once or twice a week. We are approaching winter, desperate to avoid both the virus and the flu, keep taking care of our squirrels and each other, and stay warm over the winter as we watch dvds, read etc. I'll take a nice quiet time thank you. 

 

Talk to you soon, stay safe.

Chuckles 

 

60 Years Of Coronation Street-1980/1981

This image is my own and I use it to promote my favourite TV series. I make no money from this. Coronation Street is the property of ITV.

In December this year, serial drama/soap Coronation Street will celebrate 60 years on British TV. I have been watching it from the late 70's and remain a big fan. Between now and December I will be looking at the best bits from the Corrie years. This time I'm looking at my ten favourite storylines/episodes from 1980 and 1981.

1) The death of Renee Roberts
I loved her relationship with Alf Roberts, her gossipy nature and her dreadful family! I was gutted that they killed her off. A driving lesson goes wrong when Renee loses her nerve and as Alf gets out to take over the driving, a lorry crashes into the car, killing Renee. Alf is also investigated for drink driving.

2) Rita leaves Len 

Why an intelligent and attractive woman like Rita wanted a rude, violent, ignorant thug like Len is a mystery to me. I don't know what women saw in him. Rita finally gets tired of being his skivvy in a house that is falling apart and moves to Blackpool. He finally sees sense, brings her home and changes for the better.

3) Arnold the bigamist
Emily finally puts losing Ernest behind her and in spite of her doubts, agrees to marry Arnold. The problem is, he's controlling, hates her friends and dumped his wife right after their wedding but never bothered to divorce, leaving him as a bigamist. Emily is distraught and hides away from all her worried neighbours.

4) The woes of Gail Tilsley

Gail becomes pregnant and finally gets Brian to move away from Ivy. Ivy continues to interfere, trying to keep Audrey away from family gatherings and disapproving of Gail working in the cafe. Audrey causes Brian to lose his job. Bert also loses his job and gets depressed when he can't find work. The year ends with Gail giving birth to Nicky.

5) The factory girls v Hilda
Hilda swears she gave Vera her pools money but Vera says she doesn't. To pay them back, Hilda fakes a win for the rest of the syndicate, who start a spending spree. Vera spends all her savings for bills and Hilda is horrified. The girls force Mike to sack her. Hilda does save Elsie from a house fire the same year.

1981

6) Ken and Deirdre
The wedding of Ken and Deirdre took place two days before the Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana. After all the on-again-off-again issues, Deirdre's relationships with Billy, Ray and Mike, Ken being unsure about having another wife and Albert's meddling, finally the couple marry to the delight of the street and the viewers!

7) Elsie's Man Trouble
Elsie has a bad year with men, (big surprise there!) throwing herself at the attractive Wally who was never interested in anything except friendship with her, getting involved with another for one night whose angry wife then trashes Elsie's home as revenge, and for good measure getting sacked from her job at Jim's cafe.

8) Gordon Lewis
Bet, Betty and Fred never had the best relationship behind the bar but when Annie is away, they  unite their anger against relief manager Gordon Lewis who fires Fred, causing the women to quit in sympathy. Annie returns to find her staff gone and Gordon's tarts running the Rovers, a situation she quickly puts right! Also loved Eunice & Fred's romance and wedding!

9) Emily's hostage crisis
Arnold returns with his mental health in tatters, declaring his love for Emily and saying the solution is for them to kill themselves to be together. She is rescued by the passing Len. Arnold dies in a mental hospital later that year and leaves his money to Emily who decides to use it to do good in the community and compensates his first wife.

10) Gail's Latest Bad Year

You have to feel for Gail. The joy of a new baby turns sour with Brian being forced to take on two jobs to pay the bills and flirting with a rich customer who fancies him. Bert is caught cheating the dole, Brian is in court for hurting an armed robber at the garage forecourt during a robbery and a neighbour makes an unwanted pass at Gail, ruining the friendship of the two couples.

Around The Blogs With Chuckles

 

We all enjoy snooping and lurking on other people's blogs right? Why not share those entertaining things you found with other readers and bloggers too! Welcome to Around the Blogs with Chuckles, where I take time out to show you some of my favourite blog posts from the previous seven days and link you up so you can check them out. 

It is vital that we all stick together online at this time. Do what you can to show some love to other blogs, to books and authors and let us all know that you are staying safe and well. Hearing from our friends will make it easier to deal with whatever is coming in the next few months. Stay safe everyone.

This week...

   

1) Book Review-When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

Barb's review.

http://bookertsfarm.blogspot.com/2020/09/i-think-were-having-identity-crisis.html 

 

2) Book Review-The Haunted Shore by by Neil Spring 

Heather's review.

https://www.randomredheadedramblings.com/2020/09/haunted-shore-by-neil-spring.html  

 

3) Akismet Customer Service

Bookstooge lets rip!

https://bookstooge.wordpress.com/2020/09/26/akismet-top-notch-customer-service-not-quite/  

 

4) September Book Haul

AJ shares her list.

http://ajsterkel.blogspot.com/2020/09/book-haul-september-2020.html  

 

5) Book Review-Breasts & Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

Heather's review.

https://www.randomredheadedramblings.com/2020/09/breastandeggs.html  

 

6) Book Review-The Residence by Andrew Pyper

Mogsy's review.

https://bibliosanctum.com/2020/09/22/book-review-the-residence-by-andrew-pyper/  

Chuckles Weekend Roundup

Welcome to my feature Chuckles Weekend Roundup where I will be looking at what books I've received, anything interesting I've done or bought or watched and other random stuff. I'll be taking a look back at what happened in my blogging world too, sort of like The Sunday Post that some of you do!

Please note that I'll be visiting your STS/SP as normal, but I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow DISQUS to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I am the only one who does that on my social media! I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. Sometimes, I have problems leaving messages on blogs hosted by Wordpress-they try to block me because I deleted my account with them but I will persevere as it only happens the odd time!

Hi everyone. Sorry I've been a bit absent this week but I really needed a break away from the blog so I could work on other things. I hoped to get more reading done but that didn't really happen as all I want to do at the moment is sloth around watching TV, interacting with our squirrel horde who are so cheeky and funny, and getting on with other stuff in both the house and on the computer. I still have plenty work to do on my Goodreads Group, moving good blog posts over to it and getting it ready for opening hopefully sometime next month. I think I'll keep my blog open for now and see how things are at the end of the year, whether Blogger has fixed enough stuff, if I'm liking the group better etc before any other decisions are taken. I will probably open the group up anyway, once I have things ready. Not sure when though!

Jeez it's annoying having to keep reminding Blogger to keep me on Normal Spacing for blog posts-it keeps throwing me on to Paragraph and it's annoying. If I WANT Paragraph, I'll put it to that myself!!! I feel no urge to do posts with graphics as it is too much hassle but of course on my Goodreads Group, my posts are graphic-less too. Bummer. Anyway, I'll be around this week though I'll also be busy off the blog too, once I get caught up with this week and what I missed. I added a couple of books that I saw on other people's blogs and got a few in. I'm about to battle to try and put in the book covers now *sighs*

That was a nightmare AGAIN. This Blogger is beyond useless for trying to do a quick and normal blog post. Fifteen minutes to get three images in a row and the text below in the right place. Utter nightmare. You need the patience of a saint which I don't have. And now it won't let me start a new paragraph at all. Wonderful. The joys of blogging are being sucked out of me every day I spend on stupid Blogger.

Chuckles Blogging World

I've spent the last two days trying to catch up on about nine days of stuff that I missed on your blogs and I didn't have time to get to everything, sorry, so there aren't as many comments as I'd like to have left. Hopefully this week willl be a bit better! I'll be catching up with comments on my own blog as soon as I get my roundup posts completed. The rest of today will be getting posts ready for next week and then watching the football on Twitter while I continue to sort files around my computer, maybe move some stuff to Goodreads. I'll be doing a post about what is going to be on my Goodreads Group too.

 

Book Reviews 

None this week as Blogger is pissing me off

 

Regular Posts 

 

Around The Blogs With Chuckles

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/09/around-blogs-with-chuckles_10.html 

 

Top Ten Tuesday

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/08/top-ten-tuesday-ten-books-im-waiting.html 

 

Prepping With Chuckles

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/09/prepping-with-chuckles-winter-checklist.html 

 

Discussion Posts 

 

60 Years of Corrie-Best Characters 60's/70's

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/09/60-years-of-coronation-street-best.html 

 

The Falling Leaves Of Autum #3 

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-falling-leaves-of-autumn-3.html 

 

Authors Behaving Badly

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/09/authors-behaving-badly-richard-brittain.html 

 

I've Had It To The Back Teeth With Blogger

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/09/ive-had-it-to-back-teeth-with-blogger.html 

 

  Reading Challenges

 

Tackling The TBR

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/09/tackling-tbr.html 

 

 Films & TV & Music

I've continued my morning routine of watching Harry Potter while I blog in the mornings as it helps me to relax. At night I'm watching Corrie documentaries mostly or doing a few chapters of reading but not much. 

 

Book Tags/Blog Awards 

none until Blogger gets a grip

 

The Week Ahead 

Busy! I'm trying to delete unwanted files, gut my ereaders, move posts from Blogger to Goodreads, chase cats away from our squirrels, do housework and not have a meltdown over anything that goes wrong! I might even read a little as I want to finally get that Goodreads Challenge off my back!

 

FOLLOW ME:

https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chuckles-book-cave-9910183 
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3426724-chucklesthescot 
https://twitter.com/chucklesthescot 
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/chucklesthescot/ 

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday-Ten Books I'm Waiting For This Autumn!

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/top-ten-tuesday/

NB: I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow them to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account.

1) Ant Middleton-Zero Negativity (Sep 2020)

2) Allie Brosh-Solutions And Other Problems (Sep 2020)

3) Ernest Cline-Ready Player Two (Nov 2020)

4) ITV-60 Years Of Coronation Street (Oct 2020)

5) Bob Woodward-Rage (Sep 2020)

6) Michael Cohen-Disloyal (Sep 2020)

7) Michael Stephen Fuchs-Arisen: Raiders vol 1 (Aug 2020)

8) Patrick Maguire & Gabriel Pogrund-Left Out (Sep 2020)

9) Ian Hernon-Anti-Semitism & The Left (Jan 2020)

10) Jim Sciutto-The Madman Theory (Sep 2020)

 

There are a few September releases here and a January one but I want them in paperback so I'll have a longer wait and I literally got Allie's book yesterday which looks so amazing. The paperback of Raiders came out after the August date for the ebook and it should be with me in a few days.

Tackling The TBR

 

In December 2018 I launched Tackling The TBR, a challenge to reduce the ever extending TBR pile and 2019 was pretty successful in that regard. In 2020 I intended to make a big effort to reduce my TBR by buying less, getting stuff read and getting rid of the things that I just don't want to read from my bookshelves and my ereaders Maurice and Myrnin! However the darn Coronavirus Pandemic has put the skids under all my plans and I had to suspend the challenge. I've now decided to bring it back in a bid to kickstart my TBR reduction as nothing else has been working.
 
The TBR total shown is the total number of books I own but have not read yet-wishlist books are NOT in my TBR! Sometimes there will be a difference between the books read and new total-if I read a book not on the TBR it counts for books read for the week but not for this challenge.

BOOKS IN

-Books in refers to bought, downloaded or gifted books being added to the TBR list. 

BOOKS OUT

-Books read refers to books read that were ON the TBR and DNFed is obvious. 

-Deleted from the TBR are books I lost interest in reading, or sequels to DNFed books I no longer want to read and have been removed without starting to read them. These three categories added together are my books 'out'.

I'm posting my progress on the 7th, 14th, 21st and final day of the month as before, even if there is no progress to report and anyone else is welcome to join in. No rules, set up your posts how you want and when you want, just reduce the pile! And each week I'll add my new week to the end of the post so I can track how the whole month went.

September 1st-21st   

TBR Start Total: 1524

BOOKS IN:

New Books In: 17

BOOKS OUT:

Books Read: 4

Books DNF: 

Others Deleted From TBR: 

Target Total:

New Total: 1537

The month itself has had more downs than ups, buying in lots of Coronation Street books to cheer myself up plus a few pre-orders have arrived too. I've only read four books which isn't great but it is better than a slap in the face with a wet fish!

********************

Prepping With Chuckles-The Winter Checklist

 

It's nearing the end of September and we are facing a new lockdown here in the UK in the coming days. I've been using the spring, summer and autumn to ensure that I have the winter supplies ready for use in case the shops close down now or over the winter. It's time to take a final look at what we need for winter and use the remaining time before lockdown to get those final items in if need be. I've learned lessons from the first lockdown as to what I ran short of and have corrected those errors. I'm loaded for bear and will have everything I need by the weekend.

 

FOOD & DRINK

I'm still getting regular food deliveries to the house and I've made sure that I have enough of the following to last until spring in case deliveries become harder to get (excuse any spelling mistakes) These will keep for long term storage in any cupboard are a good base of supplies to have ready.

 

-dried pasta (shells, twists, spaghetti, linguine, macaroni, canneloni)

-rice (white, Paella, basmati, jasmine, tomato) 

-2 litre bottles of Tomato & Basil sauce & Teriyaki sauce

-Boxed macaroni

-powdered pasta sauces

-packet sauces (beef, chicken, paella, bread, sausage, pasta bake etc)

-tinned fruit & veg

-tinned meat, fish, pasta & sandwich spreads

-Old El Paso supplies

-tinned soup & packet soup

-powdered soup ingrediants & dried vegetables

-coconut milk 

-jars of sauce (tuna pasta bake, curry, italian, indian, chinese, soy, worcester) 

-powdered butter, milk, cheese 

-baking supplies & bread powder

-salt, vinegar, brown & white sugar, herbs & spices

-coffee, hot chocolate, chicken bovril, teabags, powdered milk & orange 

 

-bottled water & cans of pepsi/diet pepsi, Lime Cordial, beer, fruit juice & ribena

-freezer stocked with meat, fish, potatoes, onion rings, chips, pizza

 

CLEANING & HOUSE SUPPLIES

-lemon spray & citronella (keeps spiders away)

-glass, shower, bathroom, kitchen cleaners & de-greasers, toilet block

-anti spider spray & plug ins

-toilet roll & kitchen towels, sponges, cloths, dusters & polish

-hand gel, hand wash, bars of soap, personal hygiene

-air freshener, fabric spray, washing up liquid, bleach

-rubbing alcohol

-face masks, plastic gloves

-tin foil, cling film 

-batteries, light bulbs, refills for humidifiers re-stocked

-superglue, grouting mix, Polyfilla, Brasso, bin liners

 

MEDICAL

-mouthwash, toothpaste, toothbrushes, dental repair kits, medicated mouthwash

-topped up first aid kits  

-cough bottles & cough sweets

-nasal spray, throat spray, eye drops, vics inhalers & vaporub, deep heat, eye soother 

-paper hankies

-st johns wort (depression)

-apple cider vinegar 

-snowfire & vaseline

-paracetamol & painkillers 

-cold & flu remedies

 

ENTERTAINMENT

-pens for writing & colouring & correction fluid 

-sellotape & craft glue

-spare scrapbooks

-jigsaw & 3D/4D puzzles

-painting by number kits & craft projects

-colouring books

-a few favourite DVDs on Blu Ray

-books! ( a few on order!) 

-puzzle books & magazines 

SQUIRRELS & BIRDS

-two big 11kg bags of monkey nuts for squirrels to dine on

-bird seed

-extra bird & squirrel feeders

ESSENTIALS DONE

-flu jags received

-security lights replaced

-paint & varnish ready for spring

-furry slippers bought

-winter clothes & blankets looked out

-salt for garden path beside door

-everything for Xmas & New Year dinners bought in

-collecting favourite Simply Cook meals to use this winter

 

I feel better prepared for a winter of flu and virus issues, more so than ever before, without having went overboard into hoarding territory. I'm ready for extended lockdown and self isolation should it be necessary. I have all the food, medical and household supplies I need and extra things for entertainment to keep me happy. We've also ensured that our squirrels Juan, (takes one nut at a time), Rodney (dozy like Rodney Trotter from Only Fools & Horses) & Fu Manchu (karate kicks the feeding box!) are fed, so don't forget to get your pet food, toys and treats for your pets!

 

Please be ready for winter, flu and potential Covid 19 outbreaks.

Take care of yourselves!

Chuckles

I've had it to the back teeth with Blogger

Today I decided to try and get back into my blogging routine by firstly posting a message from Dave that I constructed yesterday and forgot to post. Then I decided to update my Tackling The TBR post and do a revamped version of an old book tag I enjoyed doing years ago. And I've had nothing but trouble with the two of them and then some.

I noticed today that Legacy was no longer an option on my blog. Typical. I decided it was time to give the new system a proper go and see what happened. I looked back at an old Tackling The TBR post (I was copying the text for my new post as I always do) and noticed that some of my text was suddenly missing. I looked back and noticed EVERY one of these posts over the last three months had the same text missing. It was there the last day I posted but not today. That started my temper. No doubt something to do with the new interface in some way I can't understand. Every time I tried to delete something on the post I was editing, it pasted another copy of the same text right in the middle of what I was doing. That was annoying and weird. I did finally get it done but it was frustrating. It'll be posted on the 21st-probably.

I then tried to edit an old book tag post to re-do for fun. I found it in the stuff I was shifting over to Goodreads and decided I wanted to do an updated version of it. But when I highlighted an image I wanted to delete, instead of the simple delete I'm used to, it was 'framed' by dotted lines, (like you see on these graphic design sites or that paint thing Windows had in its office documents) and when I deleted the image, the dotted lines remained until I got rid of it. I had that annoyance with every photo I had to delete and can't find a way to stop it appearing. Anyone got any ideas on how to fix that or why its there? And when I went on and deleted the text on this edited book tag post, it instead pasted the whole of my Tackling The TBR text right in the middle of the book tag. WTAF is going on with that? Is anyone else getting this crap and can it be stopped?

 

I am suspending operations on Blogger until this mess is sorted but if it isn't fixed soon, then this time I'm gone. This is WORSE than the issues I had with the images moving around. Is this what a future on Blogger is going to be-irritating new issues coming up and taking ages to be sorted? With the mood I'm in right now, I'm ready to just put my foot through the computer.

The Falling Leaves of Autumn #3

 

Hi everyone, it's me Dave, the furry pumpkin!

I thought I'd come and say hello to you and update you on what is happening around here. I'll be around through Halloween this year as my mum Chuckles has promised me full protection from the psychos and weirdos who like to celebrate the spooky season by trying to eat my pumpkin relatives! Snack on a pile of berries or carve a parsnip why don't you!!!

 

I'm sorry that my mum hasn't been around this week but she has been suffering from a mix of stress, insomnia and a lack of motivation to get anything done, along with a minor head cold. Nothing to worry about but I insisted that she take a few days off to relax and just read and watch DVDs. Basically the doctor is messing around my mum and grandpa's medication, the neighbour's dog is barking every minute of the day and driving us all mad and my grandpa has had more hassle with companies that his brother had been dealing with before he died. We sort of feel that we are going round in circles and not making much progress. Our area is also back in lockdown because of rising Covid 19 cases and we are trying to stay safe at the moment and not go out. It's all a bit depressing really.

 

My mum has been really hacked off with it all, and the ongoing insomnia has left her tired and lacking in motivation and concentration to get anything done on the blog. She has used the time to watch DVDs and get a small amount of reading done but I can also report a small book splurge which made her feel better-until it ruined her Tackling The TBR challenge! She has asked me to say sorry for being absent and that she hopes to do some catchup on your blogs and comments over this weekend and try and get back on track soon. She has also asked me to say that she isn't leaving the blog anytime soon (she would tell you if she was) and fully expects to be taking part in Halloween special posts all next month in spite of a few issues remaining on blogger. We'll just see how things go with that mob!

 

So no weekend post or reading catchup this week but she hopes to be posting again soon as she misses all you guys!

 

Cheers, Dave 

 

PS Since this post mum has had a nightmare doing two blog posts. See next blog post.

Authors Behaving Badly-Richard Brittain Update

We've all heard the stories about authors stalking those who didn't like their books, usually online, hidden behind their computers or getting their fans to abuse someone. It's the ugly side to being a book reviewer isn't it. But this story shocked me so badly that I had to write this post. It is the story of UK author and Countdown Champion (A tv show in the UK) who stalked a girl that he took a fancy to all over the country to her obvious alarm, then wrote disturbing blog posts about it and got himself into plenty trouble over it. He travelled almost 500 miles all the way up to Scotland to attack another young woman with a bottle to the head, leaving her with a head injury that required stitches-because she didn't like his book and said so online. This is the full shocking story, for those who did not hear about it last year when it happened.

Richard Brittain became obsessed with a young woman and started to stalk her, sending her gifts, love letters and messages, following her around the country and this is an extract from the creepy blog post he wrote about her. In the interests of fairness I should point out that he has amended the start and end of the story with an apology for his behaviour which I hope he means.

"In a first-person blog post titled "The Benevolent Stalker", which is quite widely doing the rounds at the moment, Richard describes his infatuation with and ensuing stalking of a young woman he went to university with. On the surface, it’s straight up weird and terrifying, but also a rare glimpse into the mind of a stalker who genuinely doesn’t know he’s a stalker. He just thinks he’s in an especially one-sided relationship.

https://www.vice.com/da/article/4w7pn...

"On Valentine’s Day 2014, I sent her another card, with an elaborate drawing of a wild scene. In it, she became the character Ella Tundra, and that is how The World Rose began. Seven months later, when it was complete, I decided to try to make my book known by getting into the national news. I found out that she worked in Glasgow, so I travelled there with a plan. I was going to tell her that if she came with me, and we faked a kidnapping, we would both become famous. We would go into the hills and camp out for a few days while the nation searched. I had brought the necessary supplies.

I would like to reiterate that I was not plotting to kidnap her. I was planning on asking her if she would be interested in pretending to be kidnapped, so that we would make the news and people would learn about our story. Yesterday, I saw her on the street and approached her, and called her name, but she freaked out. “How?” she said. “How are you here?” She turned and snapped me on her phone before hurrying away. I didn’t even get to tell her about my plan. I didn’t want to make a scene because people were staring. I also realised that I didn’t have the heart to ask her if she would like to be kidnapped.

The book he wrote based on this poor woman, The World Rose, was put on WattPad, Amazon and Goodreads and Paige, amongst others was not impressed by it and said so. I do not have access to her review so I can't say if her comments were just negative about the book or something unpleasant about the author. However I do not condone stalking and violence in any situation. He hit her from behind with a wine bottle and did this to her:

Nice huh? Paige tells her story here:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/sco...

You don't think that writing a negative review of a book can put you in this kind of danger. This guy seems to have a thing about stalking people in Scotland so if you live there, I suggest you don't review his book... He has yet to be sentenced but pled guilty in court to stalking the first woman and assaulting the second. 

*****UPDATE*****

A Countdown champion who travelled halfway across the country to brutally attack a teenage girl has contacted her following his release from prison. Richard Brittain went 400 miles from his home in Bedford to the Asda store in Fife where Paige Rolland worked in order to smash the teenager over the head with a full bottle of wine.

The 2006 Countdown series champion used Facebook to track down the Fife woman, who was 18 at the time, after she criticised a book that he wrote, The Daily Record reported. Having been released after serving half of his 30 month sentence, Brittain has contacted his terrified victim again - despite being subject to an indefinite non-harassment order.

He sent a handwritten note to her home address claiming that nothing was real "except their love" and that he would love her "forever". Brittain also referred to Paige as his "Scottish thistle" before signing off "This page is torn because we are torn without each other.”

Paige, who has moved to a secret address for her safety, suffers from severe anxiety, takes medication for her mental health issues and has dropped out of university since the attack. She said: “I live in fear every day he’s going to track me down again. “I want people to know what this man is capable of – and nobody seems able to stop him. I was offered victim support at the time but ended up in private therapy. I just feel the justice system is geared towards the perpetrator and not the victim. It doesn’t take into account the long-term needs of a victim of an unprovoked attack. He obviously didn’t fear going back to prison or he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to track down my home address again. Prison didn’t change him or rehabilitate him.”

Brittain, who was locked up in 2015, sent Paige a private Facebook message following his release. “I dreamed of you last night. Are you going to send me back to prison?" he wrote. “Maybe I need it – I’m bored out of my mind. How is the nursing degree going? I was quite surprised they revealed such information about you in court. I was tempted to get a bus ticket to Dundee and come visit you but I thought that might look weird. Any chance we could just become friends actually? We could keep our communications secret like we did in last night’s dream.”

The 32-year-old later sent a follow up message begging Paige not to tell anyone about the first one. He also penned numerous sick poems about her on his blog, which has since been deleted. One mentions a “Scotch tartan queen”, adding: “In the cereal aisle we made contact with one another.” When Paige, now 23, received the letter she contacted Police Scotland. Brittain was reported to the procurator fiscal, who decided not to proceed with charges due to the stalker’s mental health. It’s understood he is in a psychiatric ward in England.

Paige said that she "could have died" have she been hit any harder by Brittain. Despite the brutal nature of the attack and the mental issues she is dealing with, Paige was refused criminal injury compensation because she suffered no long term physical effects following the attack. “What about the mental effects?" she added. "My life has changed completely. I was going to be a midwife and should be almost qualified now. Instead, I’m fighting a battle every day because of what he did to me. “There needs to be greater emphasis on the mental well-being of victims of crime and support for however long they need it. “I might have coped a lot better if he hadn’t continued to stalk me after he left prison.”

Brittain attacked Paige in October 2014 after she left an online review of a story he had uploaded to the internet. The pair had never met. 

60 Years Of Coronation Street-Best Characters Of The 60's/70's

This image is my own and I use it to promote my favourite TV series. I make no money from this. Coronation Street is the property of ITV.

In December this year, serial drama/soap Coronation Street will celebrate 60 years on British TV. I have been watching it from the late 70's and remain a big fan. Between now and December I will be looking at the best bits from the Corrie years. This time I'm looking at my favourite ten characters from the 60's and 70's.

1) Deirdre Langton

I loved her personality and the way she stopped new husband Ray from being such an arsewipe all the time. I never liked Ray but he worked with her. She had to deal with a sexual assault, her husband having an affair, nearly losing her daughter in a lorry crash and trying to bring up Tracy on her own. 

2) Elsie Tanner

I thought Elsie was so beautiful and glamorous in the 70's and I loved how she took crap from nobody. Her disaster love life was always interesting to watch and she never had much luck. Loved seeing her rows with the factory people and Mike Baldwin, and the way she took in young female lodgers who needed guidance.

3) Renee Bradshaw

Renee bought the shop after the Cleggs, and had a run in with Annie Walker and a romance with a man who flitted in and out of her life. She married Alf Roberts which was a great on screen partnership, was friends with Bet Lynch and tragically died in a car crash just a few years after marrying. I was sad to see the end of Renee.

4) Betty Turpin

Betty was always famous for telling it like it is, her famous hotpot, taking no crap from those she worked with and being a friendly face behind the bar. Her best moments include the death of her husband, her battles with Annie and Fred, the story of her illegitimate son being brought up by her married sister. Betty's sarky put downs were always so funny.

5) Rita Littlewood

Another bold and brassy woman, nightclub singer turned shop manager Rita had memorable scenes with slob thug husband Len and jealous battles with Elsie over him. Rita was nobody's fool and I liked that. I also enjoyed her partnership in the shop with long suffering Mavis, a friendship that lasted to the late 90's.

 
6) Jack Walker

Watching the 60's episodes, Jack was my favourite. He was that kind grandfather figure with great humour but he could also handle any trouble at the bar. Best moments include confronting Len for hitting Elsie, the viaduct crash where you fear he dies and his general good humour in dealing with Annie's social climbing!

7) Valerie Tatlock

Val was a sweet girl who had to put up with the way Ken Barlow treated her as his wife-the cheating, leaving their twins home alone and needing rescue when a fire broke out, the way he talked down to her constantly. Val was bright and friendly, survived a hostage situation, and her tragic death had consequences for her children Susan and Peter Barlow.

8) Concepta Riley

The first Rovers barmaid, capable feisty Irish Concepta was cheery, friendly and tough. I really liked her attitude and she was loved by Annie Walker. Perhaps marrying her to Harry was premature as a new man in charge of Corrie promptly wrote them out by sending them to live in Ireland. A waste of a good character.

9) Irma Ogden

Embarrassed by the arrival of her family in the street, Irma tried not to be considered an Ogden. She was lively and pretty, with a mixed love life until she married David Barlow, despite interference from his brother Ken. Irma returns home to Coronation Street after David and their son are killed in a car crash in Australia. 

10) Maggie Clegg

Betty's no nonsense sister who ran the corner shop. She long suffered with her alcoholic husband and bought the Corner Shop to keep him sober but they divorced. Her romantic disappointments continued but she faced a crisis when people who wanted to buy the shop discovered that Betty was really Gordon's mother.  

Around The Blogs With Chuckles

We all enjoy snooping and lurking on other people's blogs right? Why not share those entertaining things you found with other readers and bloggers too! Welcome to Around the Blogs with Chuckles, where I take time out to show you some of my favourite blog posts from the previous seven days and link you up so you can check them out. 

It is vital that we all stick together online at this time. Do what you can to show some love to other blogs, to books and authors and let us all know that you are staying safe and well. Hearing from our friends will make it easier to deal with whatever is coming in the next few months. Stay safe everyone.

This week...

 

1) This Is Not My Fault 

Art projects with glue don't mix with fur...

https://thebloggess.com/2020/09/08/this-is-not-my-fault/ 

 

2) Book Review-The Bounty Hunter by PR Garcia

Sherry's review.

http://www.fundinmental.com/bounty-hunter-p-r-garcia/#.X1nx6It7ncs 

3) Book Review-The Line Between by Tosca Lee

Susan's review.

http://www.blogginboutbooks.com/2020/09/exciting-apocalyptic-novel-timely-and.html?utm_source=bloglovin.com&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlogginboutBooks+%28Bloggin%27+%27bout+Books%29 

 

4) Book Review-The Barren Grounds by David Alexander Robertson

Lindsi's review.

https://www.doyoudog-ear.com/2020/09/the-barren-grounds-misewa-saga-1-by.html 

5) Book Review-An Inconvenient Woman by Stephanie Buelens

Heather's review. 

https://www.randomredheadedramblings.com/2020/09/Inconvenientwoman.html

 

 

Chuckles Weekend Roundup

Welcome to my feature Chuckles Weekend Roundup where I will be looking at what books I've received, anything interesting I've done or bought or watched and other random stuff. I'll be taking a look back at what happened in my blogging world too, sort of like The Sunday Post that some of you do!

Please note that I'll be visiting your STS/SP as normal, but I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow DISQUS to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I am the only one who does that on my social media! I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. Sometimes, I have problems leaving messages on blogs hosted by Wordpress-they try to block me because I deleted my account with them but I will persevere as it only happens the odd time!

OK I'm constructing this post using the new Blogger to see if it has fixed the issues that have had me complaining so much and considering going elsewhere. I won't know how it is behaving until I get to the graphics bit later! It did allow me to remove a gap above my dog picture much easier than before so fingers crossed. I'm still struggling with the insomnia but gradually trying new remedies or altering doses of what I'm trying. It's frustrating but eventually I'll hit on the right combination. I need to be patient, which is not one of my virtues! Reading has again been slow as I can only read small bits at a time. At the moment spending time trying to sleep has been more important as you can imagine. I am reading a few behind the scenes books for Coronation Street which are good even if my reading of them is pretty slow.

Book buying has been steady as I've been snapping up second hand Coronation Street books from Amazon to add to my collection. I should have plenty to read and before the year is out I want to re-read the biographies I have of the Corrie stars and give them a better review. I've had to re-buy a couple but as I've already read them, they don't go on the TBR which is good! We are enjoying watching the antics of a group of squirrels that are using our squirrel feeder. They are cute and funny and one is becoming tame enough to come and say hello when we go out to fill the feeder. I find watching them very relaxing in these stressful times! 

Chuckles Buys

Here are the books that I bought this week. And I finally was able to cut out that annoying gap between headers and text. I can also say that changing text colour is easier than old Blogger. My text colours used to change themselves at random as I wrote!

 

Hurrah! It took a while but I did get them all lined up. I'm getting a bit more used to it but it's still a pain in the rear end. Anyway, on with the show!

 

 Chuckles Blogging World

Blogging has been sporadic this week I'm afraid with a lack of posts because I've been considering a full time move to Goodreads. So I've been setting up a group there and copying blog posts to store there. It will actually be a good back up to have if I stay with Blogger. Blogger seems to be sorting out a few of the issues and I've worked out how to get round a few issues too. I might end up staying here after all.

 

Book Reviews 

none this week

 

Regular Posts

 

Chuckles Friday Reading Roundup

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/09/chuckles-friday-reading-roundup.html 

 

Around The Blogs With Chuckles

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/09/around-blogs-with-chuckles_5.html 

 

Top Ten Tuesday

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/09/top-ten-tuesday-books-from-childhood-i.html 

 

#SixDegrees of Separation

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/09/6degrees-of-seperation-september.html 

 

Discussion Posts 

 

Falling Leaves of Autumn #1

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-falling-leaves-of-autumn-1.html 

 

Falling Leaves of Autumn #2

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-falling-leaves-of-autumn-2.html 

 

Leaving Blogger...What are the options for me?

https://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2020/09/leaving-bloggerwhat-are-options-for-me.html 

 

Reading Challenges 

none this week, Tackling The TBR returns next week

 

Films & TV & Music 

I watched a bit of darts and a few documentaries about Coronation Street, avoided the news and watched a few films like A Bug's Life, Harry Potter and the original Jumanji. 

 

Book Tags/Blog Awards 

none this week

 

The Week Ahead

I'm struggling with concentration for reading fiction but I have a big pile of Coronation Street related books and biographies to get through so I'll stick to that for now and see how my sleeping goes. As long as I'm reading something!

 

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