Open book meme

Fruits of My Mind tagged me for this little meme, ‘Open Book’. These were the instructions:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open it at page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence/ phrase.
4. Blog the next four sentences/ phrases together with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig your shelves for that very special or intellectual book.
6. Pass it forward to six friends

I don’t read books too often and can go many months without touching one. So this is the last one I read whilst on holiday in Süd Tirol at the start of the year. It's about an ex SAS soldier going deep undercover and was a good read.

As everyone may have noticed this blog has been a bit thin on the ground lately. Maybe this meme may just jump start me. So here is the extract from the book.

Others are hear-seekers, whose nose cones ‘smell’ the heat of the aircraft’s own engines and home towards it. Blowpipe was much more basic than that; it was styled ‘command to line of sight’, or CLOS; and it meant the firer had to stand there and guide the rocket all the way to target by sending radio signals from a tiny control stick to the moveable fins in the rocket’s head.

I decided to pass on, passing it on. Apathy rools ok.

Roar!

Recently swenglishexpat over at Fruits of my Mind awarded me a Roar. I would be the last person to describe myself as a writer, as I am not. But nether the less my humble little blog is honoured to receive the award. Greenhaddock really started out as a journal to document the changes occurring over the seasons in our garden, but rapidly changed more into entries about the Juniorette and football. I guess I should put a bit more green and garden stuff in some time, and I suppose I should use spell checkers more often, but hey life's too short for good grammar!

Here are the details of the award: Those people I've given this award to are encouraged to post it on their own blogs; list three things they believe are necessary for good, powerful writing; and then pass the award on to the five blogs they want to honour, who in turn pass it on to five others, etc., etc. Let's send a roar through the blogsphere! The image at the top left can be copied and pasted onto other blogs. Also, a small size of the award for sidebars can be found over at the writing circle site.

My tips to good and powerful blog writing are:

1. Content is the most important thing. It should be interesting.
2. Not too long an article as many people have short attention spans (me included)
3. Pictures of naked women do help (not really, but I couldn’t really think of a good third one!)

So for my award nominees (I know it's only 3!)

Bob Gentry – Bob’s Journal was one of the first blogs I came across in the blogosphere and I have been reading ever since. He is also a very talented singer/songwriter and his music really rocks!

Red Baron – Der Roter Baron writes some very thought provoking posts. He tackles the more serious political issues in the world, and isn’t afraid to say what he thinks. I like his style.

Beaman’s World – A very powerful writer who has written some extremely good short stories and beautiful poetry.

7 Random things

I have been tagged by Expat Traveller for the 7 Random things meme. Check out her blog. She is an excellent photographer and a very good swimmer.

1. I have no middle name.

2. I have one grey pubic hair called George.

3. I really don't like driving. I'd much rather be a passenger. Infact cars don't really interest me at all.

4. I have an under active thyroid gland. Which can sometimes explain my sloth like nature :)

5. Whilst drunk during my teenage years I fell out of a first floor window whilst looking for the bathroom. I survived the fall with no injuries.

6. My favourite bird is the Peregrine Falcon

7. My grandfather participated in the last British square formed by the British army. Quite ironic really as he was in the Navy at the time.

Here are the rules which you must abide by if you are tagged.
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 3 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

I am tagging Fruits of my mind, Combe Martin Life, and Cheeseburgers & Sauerkraut

Tagged and released

I was tagged by Beaman a few days ago for a meme. I’m not really a meme person, but I thought I would give it ago. Beaman added a twist to his meme by asking his readers to pose questions and then he would reply with the answers. I thought about doing the same, but in the end opted for the original version.

Rules: Each person posts the rules before their list, then they list 8 things about themselves. At the end of the post, that person tags and links to 8 other people; then visits those people’s sites and comments, letting them know that they have been tagged, and to come read the post, so they know what they have to do.

1. If I drink vodka I lose my shoes. This has happened on several occasions, so I have subsequently stopped drinking vodka.
2. Many years ago I broke an international trade embargo and bought a boat from South Africa. This was during the years I worked and lived on Ascension Island and I went fishing most weekends, catching mainly Tuna, Wahoo and the occasional Sailfish.
3. I have dived several times with sharks. I have great respect for these hunters of the ocean. Scuba diving was my greatest passion in life for a lot of years. I had a lot of fun, but I was also in a few dodgy situations that could have cost me my life.
4. I have been locked out of hotels rooms in the middle of the night a couple of times. Once with underwear, and once without. It’s a long walk to reception to get a spare key when you are stark bollock naked.
5. My great grandfather was born in Georgia in the USA, and emmigrated to the UK. This was deemed unusual at the time as most people were emigrating the other way.
6. I was expelled from the 6^th Form at school for disruptive behaviour. To the dismay of the Head of the 6^th Form I was allowed to continue with my A level education when I promised the Head Master that I would change my attitude and work hard for the remainder of the year. I was of course lying.
7. I am prepared to kill what I eat. I have over the years slaughtered Sheep, Pigs and shot the occasional rabbit. Nowadays I still eat meat, but not as much as what I used to.
8. When I was 5 years old, there was a mix up between my mother and a neighbour about who should pick me up from school. When nobody turned up I decided to walk home. A man helped me cross the main road. He didn’t let go of my hand and started to take me on a different route. I realised something was wrong, escaped his grip and ran home like the wind. Later I described him to the Police and he was arrested a couple of months later, but only after sexually assaulting another child.

In the spirit of memes or what ever, I now tag - Island Girl, Surfermom, Rooks Nest, Seedlings in Stone, My Thailand Diary, Fruits of my Mind, CanadianSwiss & Chanceless