NEWS
A friend of mine is fond of saying “You’re such a dork!” She’s usually smiling when she says this, so I choose to take it as a compliment. I may be a dork, but I’m a cheerful clever little dork. This week I wrote what could be considered a very dorky blog post that is published at Sci-Fi Bloggers. It’s about the influence science fiction has on society and culture. If you’re quick you can catch it on their front page, but you can access it directly from here as well.
More like an old Nokia than an iPhone, but you get the point.
In other news I am now only going to do a blog post every other week. I’m finding that works better for me. Also I don’t like continually spamming people’s inboxes every single week. You’re more likely to peruse my stuff if it doesn’t bombard you on an almost daily basis.
WEEKLY RANT
I managed to cram in 38 hours of work over 3 days in the past week. I hadn’t planned on doing this, but it was one of those weeks. In hindsight it wasn’t a good idea – I now resemble an extra from The Walking Dead. But that wasn’t what I wanted to rant about. What I wanted to rant about is cars.
I like driving in my car,
It’s definitely not a Jaguar,
I like driving in my car,
I’m amazed it’s got this far!
My car is a Peugeot 307 HDI. Sounds flash doesn’t it? It’s not. It’s a bit like the Millennium Falcon: Doesn’t look like much, but it can make .5 past light speed. Well technically more like 85 mph comfortably without rattling or falling apart. It gives good mileage (careful now!), can outrun a Vauxhall Corsa, and fools a BMW with its nippy acceleration and handling at roundabouts. It’s especially funny when a confused Beemer driver pulls up alongside and tries to see the badge on the front of the car. Some git nicked the badge 2 years ago, along with the front left fog light when I left the car at the office overnight. The fog light I can understand, but the badge? Despite all this it’s been an efficient little motor. Well, until the last 6 months.
In August the electrics failed (£150). Then the timing belt had to be replaced in September (£500). Car tax came due in December (£85). MOT and service was in January (£160). Wear and tear repairs in January prior to the MOT (£478). And now after my mechanic assured me that everything is now ‘fine until the MOT next year’, the bloody ignition started coughing and failing over the past two weeks. It wasn’t the battery as I had that checked, so my mechanic thinks it might be the starter motor (£90 min). I hope it’s the sodding starter motor as I’m fed up with all these repairs, not least because it’s hard earned money I’ve had to spend.
Why do I bother to drive you ask? Well in addition to writing full time, for those that don’t know I also run another business on the side. Being a full time writer means you’re sometimes hard up for money, so I went into business with a good friend a few years back to help supplement income. Our business requires a lot of driving so a car is kind of an essential. Plus it’s more tax efficient if you own the vehicle yourself. Unfortunately that means you pay for the running costs yourself. It does all balance out when you do your tax return, but it’s a pretty hard hit to take in a short space of time when things go wrong.
Recently I realised that my writing business was taking a hit because of divided time, so I instigated a plan to redress the situation so I focus all my time on writing. It seems to be working, but I never count the chickens till the hens come home to roost so more on that at a later date.
ADVICE
- Rhymes-with-skip happens
- More rhymes-with-skip happens
- Beer helps
- Friends more
- Sod’s law is a constant law in the Universe
