Steve’s Comments (group member since Sep 26, 2010)

Steve’s comments from the Q&A with Steve Morris group.

When I was a kid, I remember him as a prominent politician in the Thatcher government, then he was sent to prison for perjury or something. I never knew he was a fiction author. He must have had plenty of time to perfect his art!!

Well the village where I live seems to have regular staff which is great because they get to know everyone. Having said that, in my opinion the service had deteriorated seriously over the last two years. Only today I find that I am waiting for a maths book to arrive which was sent by 1st class mail on the 13th. I am still waiting for the first mail delivery of the week to arrive and it is now Thursday. As it is half-term week, I have been working outside most of the day and no postpersons have been up our private road today.

I am chuffed with the kindness of two Amazon customers in the last week or so:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-revie...

I hope they keep running through all the cuts. I saw one on Friday night on the way home visiting sheltered accommodation. Such an essential service.

Good morning. I know they have some sort of book running on who can be the last one to resort to long trousers throughout the winter. I'd like to say how much I admire them but the disproportionate increases in stamp prices can never be justified in the current economic climate given their performance record!

You are fortunate to have a solid library there including all day Saturday opening. Long may it stay!

On the BBC R4 news this morning they spoke of 200 library closures nationwide over the last year and 175 libraries are now being run by volunteer staff. Very sad.
I still see mobile libraries around which is good.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/gov...

That Lancashire library sounds exactly how a library should be. A welcome place for everyone, for learning and for community. It sounds like it has been refurbished from a healthy balance sheet albeit from the good fortune of a lottery. I exepect it has good opening hours as well.
I was pleased to see the one in Shrewsbury is open on Sunday mornings which will help students.
Libraries should receive manadatory funding.

Perhaps the Government will try the same game they play with schools by closing the smaller local libraries in favour of fewer larger urban libraries.

Ordering books through libraries is really useful. I had to get hold of a thin work on Dyscalculia recently which retailed for about 30 pounds. My nearest town library got it through an inter-library loan in about 5 days. Great service.

2 in the afternoon? As in 2:00PM? You need a few cockerels under your bedroom window. 4:00AM those guys kick off where I live. The insomniac geese don't need much disturbing either.

Interestingly a year or so ago, the postcode where I currently live was officially the worst performing Royal Mail postcode in England. Christmas cards were arriving as late as March. Couriers are often much better for parcels than the RM but I'm never home when they come so I end up having to drive miles to collect them from depots!

One silver lining is the job creation for delivery staff.

Maybe libraries will have to adapt to encompass developing technologies but they are an important point of social contact for many. It is sad to see any closures.

Copies of Playing Havoc should be available in some UK libraries this spring.

I cannot believe how some public libraries are in danger of closing down due to UK government cuts. For me as a young reader Libraries were such a treasure trove of discovery.

Hello, I'm not sure that Yattar Yattar is available by mail order as it is given away free. I'll try find out for you.

Yes, I'm sure that many Britons are doing their Christmas shopping through the internet. It beats travelling, parking and queuing. Even routine shopping is more of a chore this time of year with all the panic buying. Most shops will only be closed for one or two days!

Here is a direct link to the article on Playing Havoc in the winter edition of (Free) Yattar Yattar magazine.

http://www.pneumasprings.co.uk/Yattar...

I saw the magazines available on a stand outside Sainsbury this morning.

I'm chuffed with the article about Playing Havoc in the winter edition of Yattar Yattar magazine. The glossy mag is given away free in the foyers of large supermarkets in the West Midlands and Wales.

http://www.yattaryattar.co.uk/read-is...

Another monthly print magazine had promised to feature Playing Havoc in the summer. We rushed to send the hi-res cover photos to make their deadline for their next issue.

For some reason they left the book out and they haven't replied to our queries since.

The same thing has happened with the radio stories. I was told to record the samples for a deadline, spent ages getting them just right and sent them off. They haven't spoken to me since.

Manners cost little.

Playing Havoc is featured in the first issue of a new online book magazine, Reader's Shadow:

http://issuu.com/read2review/docs/rea...

This can be read online.

Also here is a link to the recent Read for your Future charity feature. Thank you to Lora and Mechelle for their help.

Read for your Future aims to put books into the hands of disadvantaged teenagers in the USA. A worthwhile cause in anyone's book.

http://readforyourfuture.blogspot.co....

Just confirmed that a UK print magazine will feature Playing Havoc in their Christmas edition together with an interview about it and a competition to give away some paperback copies of the book. Ideal Xmas presents.

Details to follow nearer the time. Any thoughts of Xmas, when autumn has only just appeared in the UK are quite clearly unseasonal!

I'm with you on this Richard. How do news readers live with themselves? Even worse when your teaching is recorded on video. I really dislke that and can't watch it!

It certainly does look complicated! However I always think that Cangjie look so artistic.

Thank you for the link. I am embarrassed to say that I actually need help understanding that page!

And we have to appreciate that you are writing in a second language too.

When you type in Mandarin, do you use a different keyboard than a Western one?