Sunday, August 20, 2006
Sadly lacking in motivation

But still managed over 1200 words this evening. Not bad considering I spent the day driving my daughter and her cousin back to Hampshire from "oop north". I am having trouble keeping my eyes open, but I have just left my characters in a pub in Glasgow and I feel the need to join them for a whisky...

Posted by Martin Austwick 2006-08-20 15:41:49

Friday, August 11, 2006
Hmmmm

I'm not sure how to write this. Or even if I should. I've been away a while you see. I kinda left in the middle of things and dropped a lot of work onto other people. For this I'm sorry.

Life kinda got in the way.

Now I'm back, at least for the time being. I packed in the office job and have spent the year travelling round doing the knife thing again. It is ok. I love the job and the monehy is improving. I've done one or two shows that have worked out very well indeed. I have however put writing aside for some time.

Until recently.

For no reason I could see I started to write again. I just sat and started to type. I have added a few thousand words onto a couple of my ongoing stories and spent some time developing some of the characters so I can see what was going to happen. Time will tell I suppose

As if by magic round about the same time I received an email asking me to submit to a forthcoming anthology and so I got that off this afternoon. I'm not sure if it'll be good enough, I like the story but that is rarely enough... Time will tell.

I've also sent a proposal to a History Mag that has published me before about an article on criminality amongst Clergy in the Middle Ages, I hope they go for it, it is a fascinating subject. It seems promising so far, they replied straight away saying, yes, we're interested, tell us more... Time will tell.

Now I should go and start acting like a moderator again.

Posted by Martin Austwick 2006-08-11 16:27:30

Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Dreams

Some dreams come and go, some stay with you.

I chased a dream once, I packed in my day-job and travelled around re-enactment fairs and markets selling the products of my forge.

Now I work in insurance in a big office in a city centre.

I’ve swapped my dirty, ripped jeans for a suit and my thick leather gloves for a smart tie. I have a stable income, I have private health insurance, I have a reliable car, I have a nice house, but I also have a dream.

It involves packing in my day-job and travelling round re-enactment fairs and markets selling the products of my forge.

Posted by Martin Austwick 2005-08-31 17:28:36

Thursday, July 14, 2005
Politics, Religion, Poverty, and Murder (long)

For the second time in a week London fell silent today. It was a moving experience, the streets were lined with people paying their respects to the dead. Offices, restaurants, shops and even hospitals emptied onto the pavements. Even the taxis pulled in to the side of the road for two minutes. No one spoke a word, we just met outside, stood in silence and then went back in. My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones, I hope that this in someway shows them that they are not alone and that we care. As someone that narrowly missed out being caught up in the bombings I am left wondering about how tenuous our hold on life is. I got off the tube to walk, it’s not something I do often, maybe twice in the last few months. I will never know if that saved my life, it is possible that it did, perhaps though I would have been fine even had I stayed on the tube and changed at King’s Cross as I originally intended.

I’m also troubled by finding out that the bombers came from West Yorkshire. As a Yorkshire man who has spent most of his adult life in West Yorkshire I am angry, ashamed but worryingly not surprised.

In medicine it has been proven that giving children mixed messages about their value can cause psychiatric problems, if you tell a child you love them and hit them at the same time you will vastly increase their chances of becoming Mentally Ill in later life. Why then are we surprised that the same thing happens with communities? Multiculturalism teaches people that they do not have to accept the culture of Britain, that the culture of their grandparents is just as viable, in fact in some instances it is better. Add this to the following facts and you can see the recipe for disaster.

25% of non-Muslims live on an income that is below the national average. 80% of Muslims do.

An ICM poll carried out by the Guardian showed that 13% of British Muslims supported the actions of Al-Qaeda.

In the Eighties Ray Honeyford, a Bradford Headmaster, warned against Multiculturalism in Schools. He was branded a Racist and forced to resign.

After the 1999 Race riots in Bradford Lord Ouseley concluded that fear of being branded a racist prevented local people challenging the antisocial behaviour of young people in Ethnic Minorites.

It isn’t really a surprise that young disaffected men from these areas are being targeted by the recruiters of Extremist organisations. It also doesn’t really surprise me that people from the north were chosen to carry out the terrorist acts. It is all too easy for those of us from the North of the country to feel distanced from the south, especially London. The picture we are painted is that of an affluent area, a bustling metropolis filled with rich, good-looking, healthy people with excellent jobs. Whilst we live in ghettos filled with derelict houses, we queue outside abandoned factories for our dole cheques and we hate the fact that it is our poverty that allows the rich to be so rich.

I escaped which makes me even worse. I am a northerner that moved south and got a good job. I have shown an ability to move through doors that are not open to all. Add this to the institutionalised racism in Britain, the poor quality of education in inner city northern schools and the very real anti-Muslim sentiment expressed by some people and you have a culture ripe for revolt.

I am not trying in any way to justify the attacks, I am just trying to search for a reason they took place at all. The people I feel the most sorry for though are the poor fools that carried out the bombings. They have been used by evil men who twist the truth, they have been fooled and have died for it. I have no idea how to solve the problem but I’m sure I’ll inflict my opinions on you again one day soon.

Posted by Martin Austwick 2005-07-14 08:09:19

Monday, July 11, 2005
Work...

I've been getting fed up with agency work for ages now. I love workgin in the forge but not only does it get a little lonely day after day after day but it isn't paying well at the moment. So I decided to start looking for a proper job.

I popped into Reed on the off chance on friday as I was passing and found myself applying for a job in Private Healthcare Insurance. It sounds like quite a lot of fun to be honest and another plus is that it isn't in London which will save me

i) £100 a week in travelling costs.

ii) Three-four hours travelling a day

iii) Getting blown up by terrorists

So all in all I'm quite hoping I get it. It's a drop in money but I'll get holiday pay and sickness cover and I'm hoping I'll get PMI too... My current temp contract finishes on the 2nd August, it'd be nice to have something to go to!

Posted by Martin Austwick 2005-07-11 17:26:20