Quotation time again...

I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other....

~Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854

Vegetarianism at its most simple...

800 million people are hungry and there’s no need.

We could easily produce enough food to feed everyone, if only we stopped feeding all the crops to the animals.

100kg of plant protein produces only 9kg of beef protein or 31kg of milk protein.

Doesn’t it make sense to just eat the plants?

Book Signing

I'm having a book signing at ISHCMC, which is kind of easy to arrange as it's the school where I work... Actually the kids are having an Action Day in support of a local charity (Wildlife at Risk) and I thought I'd piggy back the event and donate a percentage of profits to the same cause. Two birds with one stone, as it were. I get exposure and readership and WAR gets much needed funds.

There is potential to do the same with 'Benny and Binny' (which comes out in two weeks, incidentally) and an Exhibition the Grade 5 students are organising on the theme of Children's Rights and Responsibilities.

alpha to omega

Tuesday 15th August I have broken free! I feel like a character from ‘The Great Escape’; I can hear the theme tune in my head, see the steely grimace on McQueen’s face. I feel like breaking into a run, clicking my heels together, Andy Capp style. The sheer exhilaration of it! Was I so fed up with England that I feel this elated to be free of it? Apparently so. As the taxi pulled up to my new apartment Rachel shouted down to ask, in Greek, how much it was. The taxi driver promptly reduced his fare by almost half, dumped my bags brusquely on the street and took my money most ungraciously before slamming his door after him and speeding off, tyres squealing as he went. Welcome to Greece.

Five minutes later, re-united with Rachel and Richard, I was sat on a balcony in 32 degrees of Mediterranean sunshine, drinking gin and tonic with a slice of lemon, memories of a cold and damp northern England already faded. Yes! I think I’m going to like it here.

Later, in the privacy of my own room, I am assailed by the enormity of what I have done. I have always believed that a few short hours, minutes or seconds even, given the right circumstances, can change your life. Here I am, my life changed! I look out of the French windows, wondering vaguely why they are called that, and see mountains in the near distance. The cloudless sky is a brilliant blue. The heat is oppressive, but feels good nonetheless. I feel inspired. I feel alive.

What limits the ‘is’?

Fear

Take heart

Take a deep breath

Boldly step forward

Into your life.

Only you can do this

Only you can create regrets

For decisions not made

Chances not taken.

Only you can be true enough

To yourself

To allow yourself

To live.

I have this slightly uncomfortable feeling that I have come here to run away. Bollocks to it. What's wrong with running away? "He who fights and runs away…”

I throw my backpack onto the double bed. It’s the one I bargained for outside a pub in north London only two days ago from the guy who used to live here. Seventy-five quid for a double bed, matching desk and weird-looking hat stand. Not bad, I think, now that I see them. I need to sit down and breathe deeply and resist the temptation to giggle like a child. I have stepped out of my predictable life in England. I have stepped out of an impending marriage, of kids too-soon-to-be-able-to-offer-them-anything, of mortgages and debts, of the future I was following, my pre-ordained Hell. Now my future is no longer the claustrophobic place I didn't want to visit; it's wide open, full of uncertainty and possibilities I can't yet see. I like this feeling. Slightly understated, that.

I can't face unpacking just yet, so I shall wander downstairs to where I hear ice cubes clinking invitingly…

Doldrums

Not writer's block, as such, but just that annoying stage when one project hasn't quite finished, but is out of my hands and I can't do anything about it now. Waiting for licensing approval from communist authorities...

Book review

Having sold a few books through eBay, I check back to the groups I joined now and again to keep up with developments. I was surprised and more than a little moved to come across a review for 'Is' by someone who had bought and read it. I won't publish her name her, as I haven't asked her permission, but this is what she wrote:

"I FINISHED READING 'IS' LAST NIGHT, AND I HAVE TO SAY IT IS AN ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT READ.I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN.IT CAME IN THE POST EARLY YESTERDAY MORNING, I DITCHED THE DEAN KOONTZ I WAS HALFWAY THROUGH AND GOT RIGHT INTO THIS INSTEAD.

THE STORY IS CRAM PACKED FULL OF MATERIAL WHICH WOULD INSPIRE IN-DEPTH PHILOSOPHICAL DEBATE AROUND THE MAIN SUBJECT AREAS IN THE BOOK,THOSE OF LIFE, LOVE AND DEATH.THE WRITING IS IMPRESSIVE AND I CAN DEFINITELY SEE THIS ON THE BEST SELLER LIST BEFORE TOO LONG. IN FACT, I HAVE READ BOOKS ALREADY BEST SELLERS WHICH I DON'T THINK ARE HALF AS GOOD AS THIS.

SCOTT LANGSTON IS A MARVEL AT PUTTING INTO WORDS HIS CHARACTERS' INNERMOST THOUGHTS AND MOTIVES. THE BOOK IS WRITTEN USING MAINLY DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE MAIN CHARACTERS AS WELL AS THE INGENIOUS INNER DIALOGUE AND DREAM SEQUENCES OF MARTIN, WHO I SEE TO BE HIS MAIN CHARACTER. THE STORY IS SAD AND BEAUTIFUL AT THE SAME TIME, AND ULTIMATELY INSPIRATIONAL. I HAVE READ MANY HUNDREDS OF NOVELS, VERY FEW OF WHICH HAVE LEFT QUITE AS BIG AN IMPRESSION ON ME AS THIS ONE.
READING GROUPS WOULD LOVE THIS NOVEL, PLENTY TO DISCUSS WITHIN ITS PAGES. I CAN ALSO SEE 'IS' AS A SUGGESTED READING FOR PHILOSOPHY CLASSES AS WELL AS LITERATURE CLASSES.

MY OLD PHILOSOPHY LECTURER SUGGESTED 'SOPHIE'S WORLD' TO MY CLASS,BUT I FOUND IT WAS MORE OF A TEXTBOOK TRYING HARD TO BE A NOVEL BUT FAILING MISERABLY.'IS', ON THE OTHER HAND IS A SKILLFULLY WRITTEN, BEAUTIFULLY DESCRIPTIVE STORY IN THE FIRST INSTANCE WITH A VERY STRONG PHILOSOPHICAL CURRENT RUNNING THROUGHOUT ITS PAGES. I WOULD PLACE THIS ONE IN MY TOP 10 READS OF ALL TIME. 9/10

BUY THIS BOOK, YOU WON'T REGRET IT!

YOU MAY NEED YOUR HANKIES AT THE READY DURING THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS,I DID! I WOULD ALSO SUGGEST TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE SIGNED COPIES WHILST YOU CAN. "

What more can I say? Thank you - you know who you are...

Getting things moving...

It looks like my children's book - Benny and Binny - will be published within a month. As I'm working with Grade 5 at school on an Exhibition on Children's Rights, it seemed only natural that I could advertise and sell the book, giving away a percentage of profits to one of the charities identified by the kids.

Similarly, I am going to move the last copies I have of my book 'Is' through a charity event at school supporting WAR (Wildlife at Risk) which is a local charity combating traffic in and mistreatment of endangered species. I shall be signing copies of the book and donating a percentage of profits once again. After that, I shall let Amazon and Barnes and Noble do their best - I'm not a salesman and I find the necessary self-promotion side of being an author most disagreeable. Maybe I should find an agent...