Some Favourite Things

Kindest reader,

I thought today to put forth some new points I have not really discussed upon this blog before, I was pointed to this by someone who had read a little of my eBook and noticed in the preface that I would discourage the reader from reading any of my work and instead direct them to reading that of other poets. Here, I had mentioned other poets but in no way discussed my favourites, so I thought I would list those poems and poets who have inspired me, and whose work I place amongst my most favourite things upon this earth.

Firstly, there is the work of a poet called Herbert Kingsford, a poet who until recently was completely unknown. I have done some work trying to give him some kind of recognition on the internet; recording the publishing of his book on certain book registry sites, adding a wikipedia article about him, etc. He was a man who was born in 1845 and who died in 1909, never recognised as a poet in his lifetime other than by his friends, and, as far as I can tell, never published until a small book of his poetry was produced for his friends and family to remember him by after his death. I happened to chance upon what is likely one of the only copies of that book at a jumble sale when I was about ten years old, there are still pencil notes from the first owner who obviously knew him well enough to be able to correct some of the typing errors in a number of his poems. I would link you to some of his poetry, but none exist currently that I know of, other than the small green leather bound book on my shelf. I am currently busy working on an eBook of his work, but am only a third of the way through so far, and hope to have it finished by the end of the year. A link will be here for you then!

As far as poets are concerned, there are few whose poetry I have enjoyed as much as Kingsford’s, however, there are a few wonderful poems that I will happilly list below.

• An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, by Thomas Gray, is my favourite poem in the world, and the only poem I would say I enjoy more than the poetry of Herbert Kingsford. His Ode to a Favourite Cat is also a great poem.
• The Absent Lover, and To Death: An Irregular Ode, both by Stephen Duck.
• Poems 40 and 51 in A Shropshire Lad, by A.E.Housman.
• Ode on Drinking, as well as The Conclusion, both by Allan Ramsay.
• The Reward of Song and The Man Who Discovered the Use of a Chair, both by Alfred Noyes.
• And you can never go wrong with Spike Milligan.

I’d recommend reading any of these to anyone, and hope that anyone who does take a look at any of them enjoys them as much as I do.

Farewell, for now, fine reader,

Mike

When Olympus Reached Aberystwyth

My few yet darling readers,

Just a simple post today, about seeing the Olympic Torch come through Aberystywth – the first time I have ever seen such an event, and one which will likely remain memorable for some years to come.

In all honesty (honesty seeming to have lately not been the exact pursuit of this blog) the last week has not been the best for me, since my final exam did not go anywhere near as well as planned. What is the point of complaining here? You might ask, oh dear reader; I know that there is no point worrying, indeed my true reason for much of my worry right now is not one I have expressed to a soul, and I believe that is the best place for it to be right now, but it does feel good to confess to the whole world my anxieties about failure and similar articles, even if they are expressed upon a page that few if any are likely to care for so much. It is, I assure you, an honest pleasure if not a relief to express them here simply and purely, that I might forget about them from my own person if they are simply left as a small ponderance upon this humble blog.

But, so much with my resentful nature, I find it discourages me from writing as much as I suspect it has discouraged you from reading, I assure you; no more of that shall occur upon this humble post. I was supposed to be talking about today’s adventures, not yesterday’s follies.

I was out in Aberystwyth today with the most beautiful girl I have ever met, my lovely girlfriend Rosie who I’ve not mentioned yet on this blog, she was trying to avoid revising and I was probably helping far too much. After a sit on the beach, an icecream, emptying my shoes of stones, having coffee, going shopping, avoiding revision some more, and general laziness, we became part of a crowd at that ran the length of the main road through Aberystwyth. We had no idea what they were waiting for, but we assumed that they had probably assembled for some reason other than the simple pleasure of being in a crowd.

After a huge amount of police cars, a number of people dressed in blue, a bus, a number of different people dressed in green, a bus either advertising coca cola or mcdonalds, some more police cars, and a flight of rather confused seagulls, it began to rain. It was, I must say, the most majestic lead up to rain that I had ever seen, but, it seemed, it was not just the rain that this parade was celebrating, for moments later the flicker of that famous fire came into view at the other end of the high street. Flags were waved, people cheered, and the world seemed to be observed at that moment through a field of camera phones, all centred on the one figure bearing that mighty flame. And that, good reader, is the image I will not forget, the man himself must have been at least in his late sixties, but the smile on his face was that of youthful jubilation at the honour that had been gifted to him, and it was a truly magnificent sight to see that symbol of international unity pass through our humble town.

I’m not sure what was better today, being able to spend so much of it with my wonderful girlfriend, or seeing such a spectacle, of course I’m being silly – it is clearly the fact that I was able to spend the time with Rosie, but it was nice to see the olympic torch as well, and something that I will remember gladly for many years to come.

My gladdest and humblest farewell,

Mike

Unintended Downloads

My dear readers,

I’m very happy to announce this afternoon that I have produced my first ever eBook using a free tool called Sigil, which I recommend to anyone else interested in publishing such an article. It can be downloaded HERE and is a very easy to use program (I downloaded it late last night and within a few hours I’ve managed to get used to it enough to produce a complete eBook containing all the text I wanted as well as images, and even custom fonts. I am very tempted to produce a quick guide to using Sigil in a series of blogs once my exams have finished.

For now you can find my attempt at an eBook on the new Unintended Downloads page I have added to celebrate its production (and also partly to have a sensible place to add downloads, but that’s really just an added bonus). It is only an attempt at an eBook and I by no way claim it is any good, but I do like to show off, and so I appologise for any time of yours that I may waste with it.

Farewell,

Mike

Passing the Exam, only to Fail at the Revision

My good and dearest of readers,

Yes, it is that finest of hours again, when I, that is myself, write some more words of failed wit upon this neglected fold of the internet. I, that is myself again, have been hard at work revising and thusly have produced an article of no discernable purpose (Other than this blog) which I am now to present to you. ‘Oh no,’ I hear you cry, my most honest and beauticious of readers, ‘This blog is most useful and only the greatest and most correct of establishments upon the internet itself!’ While this is true, I must say that the present state of the internet makes that no surprising achievement, and, therefore, I simply say that I am glad to present to you this musical score, and, should it please you, stay off the grass.

Fondest of regards,

Mike

A New Blog

Y   dearest readers, who, by now, may have noticed my blog much changed from its previous austere form, into this new and still austere form. Fear not, the change is not a sign of my growing tired of this blog, nor is it a sign of lepracy, though I am often informed it may be. In fact, my good and humble readers, I have removed my blog from my university account so that I have a perminant place upon the ever shifting ether known as the internet.

And, should any new reader find this blog now that it is moved, I welcome any whome I may not have annoyed with my ramblings previously; welcome to my new and much enlarged blog about things that have little purpose and less reason, for, as you may have already noticed, I write a lot for a little, and dream a little more.

So, for old and new, I shall set this new and most important agenda, as I did in my very first blog, of important things which need to be blogged about. The first, yes, for that is where I start, my dear readers, is that I must use the word beauticious in every blog, a word which I have enjoyed now for several blog posts now past and that I intent to use reguarly to describe all things of taste and sensibility upon which I may stumble. The second, for indeed it is by the laws of most things that second must inevitable follow first, is that I will spend far longer discussing nothing, and less time not discussing it. And finally, yes finally my kind and most wonderous of readers, is that I will continue to ramble on over the summer months and will not forget about my humble blog to which I owe so much, or not so much, it is hard to tell when maths is involved.

Until next time, my dearest readers,

Farewell,

Mike

A Correct Reason for the Instigation of Perpetual Motion in Ouranopithecus Hominids

Oh good and humble readers of my honest art which some name blogging,

It is with amorous fervor that I type this, my latest installment of this chronicle of life, for your fine eyes to gaze upon. This is, with little reason and less fact, due to the end of my lectures and similar ways of work for the summer; these have in fact given way to examinations due to commence upon the week commencing next. Oh how I envy the most beauticious flocks of avien crockery presently at the summit of the teapot, it is without any moral implications that I await to prance amongst thee. Alas, however, no such crockery based shenanigans are likely to begin in the foreseeable future, a blessing, perhaps, or perhaps not, it is so hard to tell when much, if not all, of my musings are completely fantastical.

This is part of the reason why I have added a new and much needed category to my blog, under which this is now posted; ‘Things that didn’t happen’ since I believe it is most important not only to keep track of what has happened, but to also remember what hasn’t.

There, my good and wonderful readers, I must end this tale of woe and misfortune and replace it with a picture of seven dutch huntsmen destroying the Great Wall of China with an assortment of sharpened vegetables*. So, for now, I must bid farewell to you finest of people, and once more agree to blog again upon the commencing of another great event when the time comes.

Until then, my good readers,

Take care,

Mike

*Such images may not be available in your area, or may simply be made up, to confirm please see the category of this post.