tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25031765226309228932024-03-19T03:34:25.483-07:00Evelyn Tidman WritesEvelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-40133623845919973412024-02-02T07:17:00.000-08:002024-02-02T07:17:13.854-08:00A Hurricane Of Love<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Let’s
get a dog, we said. It’ll be fun, we said. Let’s get a puppy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It’s
not exactly as though we are without experience. We’ve had five other dogs, all
raised from puppy, so you would think we would be prepared for the onslaught
that is Rosie. OK, we are quite a bit older now, but still…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The mistake we always make is that of thinking the new dog is going to be
like the old one who just passed away. We miss our old dog; she was easy, and
at fourteen, let’s face it, she didn’t have that much energy left.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Enter
Rosie, a red (they call it ‘ruby’) cavapoo. Now don’t make the mistake of
thinking a fluffy, curly-haired little sweetie. This one has long legs a long
snout, and a long body. And is, so far, smooth haired. We think there may be a
hint of ‘feathers’ on her legs and tummy, and she certainly has fluffy ears, so
we await developments. Not your typical cavapoo, then.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvfhOBZsLo8FAKYR9wHhjUNmow3NbEBHfI7Sy16C3x8PPpKyG9WuxhYImEPXSXYHswBDbTdSjO3rHnnTo2U0gqmY4JLrBFFUG5UNJ94FecByDZGoeRr263crFy4W18xqXb9y_ueOJ3-YzMyxNbdETX-EDZmAvC3r9N2AJB6DBJJs3jPpXXV0mQj8w_UToO/s4608/IMG_20231230_201339.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4608" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvfhOBZsLo8FAKYR9wHhjUNmow3NbEBHfI7Sy16C3x8PPpKyG9WuxhYImEPXSXYHswBDbTdSjO3rHnnTo2U0gqmY4JLrBFFUG5UNJ94FecByDZGoeRr263crFy4W18xqXb9y_ueOJ3-YzMyxNbdETX-EDZmAvC3r9N2AJB6DBJJs3jPpXXV0mQj8w_UToO/s320/IMG_20231230_201339.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Enter
a whirlwind of needle-sharp teeth and hypodermic claws, ideally suited to
pulling at clothing, and biting people. We have given up trying to look smart
for the time being, reassuring ourselves that it will pass. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">She’s only a
puppy.</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Currently I have jumpers with threads pulled, a pair of gloves which
are wearable only to take the dog for a walk, skirts with pulls and hems unravelled.
And people who come to our house wearing good clothes, leave looking just as dishevelled
as we do!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">So,
you’ve seen her picture. Butter wouldn’t melt, right? Wrong! Anything that
comes within range is chewable, including lumps of concrete, stones, and pieces
of wood from the log store in the garden and the log basket in the house. In no
time they are in pieces, and our newly vacuumed floor looks like I haven’t
bothered in months! Also coming in for chewing is any item of clothing she can
find lying where you just dropped it, and the woollen blankets I have used as
protective covers on the sofas. One has a particularly unattractive hole in the
centre. And they both have the fringes chewed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Time
passes, and discipline comes into play. Someone suggested a rolled-up newspaper
to make a noise. We slapped it (no, not on the dog!) on the furniture. Sudden
and absolute obedience! For the first couple of times. Obviously, use
sparingly. But it does stop her mugging visitors in the hope of a fuss. As for
the teeth, (no, we didn’t have them all pulled out, although the thought did
cross my mind!) but we put in place a ‘no teeth on skin’ rule and dumped her
unceremoniously on the floor when she broke the rule, with a loud shout of ‘No’
or even ‘Owww!’ as we dived for the box of sticking plasters in the cupboard.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Now
she has stopped chewing us, she is quite lovable if she can stay still long
enough. Like yesterday. She was so pleased to see me when I came in. I thought
we had got the whirlwind greeting out of her system and dared to sit in the
easy chair in the kitchen with a cup of coffee when she suddenly launched
herself at me and jumped straight onto my lap. Hot coffee sprayed up the white wall,
over the little side table, over my lap, and over the dog who, to my shouts of
protests, shot into her ‘crate’ and pretended it was nothing to do with her!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">She’s nearly four months old now. I take her for walks in the park, where her
favourite thing is to mug everyone there for a fuss. I think of the mud stains she dawbs on their clothes, and the pulled threads, too, and try desperately to
call her back to me. She comes. Eventually. (She has good recall when she isn’t
distracted.) Thankfully, most people are good-natured about it, as they can see
she is a puppy, and they all give her some leeway.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I
thought, therefore, it would be a good idea to take her to a country lane near
where we live where there are hardly any people. And it worked. No people to
molest, not near a road. Good, I thought, I’ve cracked it! I found out my
mistake when we came to the first muddy puddle, and by the time we got back to
the car the mud was half way up the dog. The recent rain had turned the place
into a quagmire in places and a marsh in others.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Well,
it’s all a work in progress, and she is progressing very well. She learns quickly.
The jumping up, though, has to go, so that is something we are still working
on.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Someone
said recently that puppies are like a whirlwind of love. More like a hurricane of love!
Worth it? Oh yes. Most of the time.</span></p>Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-48781399227458363422023-12-07T08:22:00.000-08:002023-12-07T08:22:42.907-08:00CHEMICALS IN MY DISHWASHER MADE ME ILL<p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How often we do things and do not think of the consequences. We put things in our mouths and it doesn't enter our heads to question whether it is safe or not. In fact, we don't think of them at all. But chemicals are not made for the body, so it is not surprising that sometimes our bodies eventually react in unpleasant and, perhaps, even fatal ways.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">18 months ago I developed an arrhythmia in my heart. It was called pre-ventricular contraction, or PVC, which meant that my heart would beat twice at once, and then miss a beat to make up for it. It manifested itself to me in chest pains, a thudding in my heart which was painful on its own, breathlessness, weakness, dizziness, lowered blood pressure which made me feel faint. At its worst I could not even walk around the garden. If I took the dog out, I had to stop walking </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer;" tabindex="-1"></a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">every few minutes to catch my breath and calm my heart. It was very distressing.</span></span></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;">I was a hospital job, and on the ECG it looked like my heart rate had dropped to as low as 30. It should be between 60 and 80. They put me on beta-blockers which made things even worse. I did not think they would let me out in time for the Memorial last year. But they did, although I was still very unwell. More tests followed. My doctor took me off the beta-blockers and things improved marginally. I had a very unpleasant MRI scan at Papworth. And they could not find the cause. No blocked arteries, etc.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;">Roundabout the end of August last year I had a mild 24 hour fever, and didn't feel like eating. All my heart symptoms vanished! I felt I was on to something here, so when I felt better, I began introducing food one thing at a time. If I ate a certain food that disagreed with me, within half an hour I would be getting my arrhythmia again.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;">In time I found a whole list of food I could not eat. (Including bread, which was very inconvenientIt didn't help that I reacted to Gluten-free bread.) But most of all I reacted to additives in food. I made absolutely <i>everything</i> by hand. I thought I'd cracked it. My diet became very restricted, and I scrutinised absolutely every ingredients label. And some days I would be well. But most days I would react to something.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;">But then the days when I was well became fewer and fewer, and in the end I had no respite days at all. This year in September we went on a self-catering holiday. When we came back, I picked up a glass for a drink of water and noticed a smell - a lemony smell. It was dishwasher rinse-aid. On holiday we had washed up by hand, so I expect that was why I noticed the smell. And suddenly I wondered, 'Could it be rinse-aid?' After all, nearly everything I put in my mouth had been touched by something cleaned in the dishwasher.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;">I re-washed all the cutlery in the drawer and rinsed absolutely everything else before use. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;">End of symptoms!</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;">Foods that I had cut out I started to reintroduce, one at a time. That's on-going. I have been two months now with no symptoms. I still avoid chemical additives in food. And that is another subject. But who would have thought that the residue of rinse-aid on cutlery, cups, glasses, plates and cooking equipment would make me so ill? I have since switched to a different brand of dishwasher detergent that does not contain rinse aid in its capsules or tablets.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;">I am telling you this in case anyone else is suffering and it helps them. It took me well over a year to discover what the problem was, and the solution was simple in the end - without the help of the medical profession who did not have a clue, although they tried.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial;">Evelyn Tidman.</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto"><br /></div></div>Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-4761676273746994092020-04-11T08:35:00.002-07:002020-04-11T08:35:32.784-07:00It's All Lost in Translation<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not only do I write historical novels, I also read them, and I am
particularly fond of Regency romances many of which are ably penned by
American authors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is a problem, however, with the difference between
American English and British English. Whilst in a modern setting a Brit can use
any amount of Americanisms, for we’ve all learnt them from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hollywood</st1:place></st1:city>, for a historical novel we need to
be especially careful. Although a writer could escape detection if his/her
audience were all Americans, he/she will not escape even the casual scrutiny of
a British reader. For British writers, too, affected as we are by the American
culture, it is good to make sure of the language that we use. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The most useful tool a writer can have is access to an
on-line dictionary, like Lexico powered by the Oxford English Dictionary <a href="https://www.blogger.com/(https://www.lexico.com/)">(https://www.lexico.com/)</a>. Looking up a suspect word
will not only give definitions, but at the end of each entry there is usually
a brief etymology of the word providing its origins and history. I find it
helpful when I am not sure how old a word is and whether my protagonists would
have used it in the time period I am writing about. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here I have listed some of the pitfalls for American and
British writers. Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list, and I may well add
to it later. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Grammar and general:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gotten. As in ‘I have gotten…’ Brits do not use the word, although
‘uneducated’ Brits and children might use it. Just ‘got’ will do (without the
‘have). However, we do say ‘forgotten’ and ‘begotten’. There are many who feel
the verb ‘to get’ has no place in literature anyway, and should be replaced by
another verb.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘Fit’ in the past tense. ‘It fit her perfectly’ is imperfect
English to Brits. The past tense of the verb ‘to fit’ is surely ‘fitted’. ‘It
fitted her perfectly.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The past tense of ‘to spit’ is ‘spat’.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wash-up. To ‘wash up’ for Brits is to ‘do the dishes’. ‘I am
going to wash up’, or I am going to do the washing-up’ is to wash the dishes.
To wash oneself, we say, ‘to have a wash’, or simply, ‘to wash’.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Snuck. Please – the past tense of ‘to sneak’ is ‘sneaked.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘As is’. No. Brits say, ‘as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">it</i> is’.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘Is all’. Not an English phrase. But we might say, 'that is all I am saying on the subject.'</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Visit. British people do not visit <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">with</i> someone. They go to visit someone. No ‘with’. So one would not
say, ‘I have been to visit with Susan.’ But rather, I have been to visit
Susan’, or ‘I visited Susan’. ‘I am going to visit Aunt Sarah’. ‘I enjoyed
visiting Diana’. ‘Thank you for your visit.’ To say you are going to ‘visit
with Susan’ implies that you are going to take Susan with you when you go to
visit someone else!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Different from. In <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region></st1:place> it is ‘different to’. ‘The
bonnet was different from the one she wore yesterday’ should be ‘The bonnet was
different to the one she wore yesterday.’ A dead giveaway. However, we do say, ‘differ
from’. ‘Julia’s dress differed from Syliva’s.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘Trash’ or ‘garbage’. We have ‘rubbish’ in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region></st1:place>, not ‘trash’ and not ‘garbage’.
Our ‘trash can’ is actually a ‘rubbish bin’ or, historically, sometimes an ‘ash
bin’, owing to the fact that the contents were mostly made up of ash from the
fire. Hence, also, ‘ash-heaps’, often called ‘middens’.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘Thinking on’ – in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region> we say ‘thinking of’ or ‘thinking
about’.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">House:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stoop or stoep. I've seen this several times in Regency novels. We do not have, nor ever have had, a front stoop or stoep. We have a
doorstep, a front doorstep and a back doorstep. Even in Regency times. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Porch. While on the subject of buildings, we may have a
porch. This is not the American ‘front porch’ that everyone sees in a wild-west
film, but is a very small covering to the front door. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nor do we have vestibules. When one goes in the front door,
one is in the ‘hall’. Be it ever so small and narrow, or big enough to fit a <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city> bus in, it is
always a hall. Unless one is in a cottage in which case one enters straight
into the living room, or front room.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Floors. Now this one is enough to get anyone in a tangle. In <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
the ‘first floor’ is what we Brits call the ‘ground floor’. That makes the
American ‘second floor’ the ‘first floor’. And so on. Got it? No, neither have
we! To make matters worse, we will often refer to the ‘floors’ as ‘storeys’.
‘He had a room on the second storey.’ Which in American is the third floor!
‘They live in a three-storey house’ means the house has three floors – a ground
floor, a first floor and a second floor. This is also true in public buildings
such as hospitals and hotels where there are lifts. Useful to know if you are
travelling to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bedroom:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Turn in. While British people may now use the phrase ‘turn
in’ when they mean ‘go to bed’ (after all, we’ve been watching westerns and
other Hollywood offerings for decades), it is not a British phrase, and would
not be used by a lady or gentleman in 19<sup>th</sup> century <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region> (or
before).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3jm7lN6HCgcESU8fuG-zbN_ILHiHewkcbCqv-aNuhPukBzPTWPxYCAmZ666YGMBO9oi4lGZwmMvVim38kkDe96sF37FGlKrj6NOUnML5ll9snULVhiGPWcUN-vnOmkvYy_dXAOKlzUNb1/s1600/Regency+dressing+table+1800+to+1810.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="944" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3jm7lN6HCgcESU8fuG-zbN_ILHiHewkcbCqv-aNuhPukBzPTWPxYCAmZ666YGMBO9oi4lGZwmMvVim38kkDe96sF37FGlKrj6NOUnML5ll9snULVhiGPWcUN-vnOmkvYy_dXAOKlzUNb1/s320/Regency+dressing+table+1800+to+1810.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Regency dressing table 1800-1810<br />Courtesy Wikimedia Commons </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Vanity. We do not have a ‘vanity’ or ‘vanity units’. (Or, at
least, we do, but they are cupboards with a sink or basin in
the top, often in the bathroom.) It is a ‘dressing table’, please! A woman will
sit at the dressing table as she puts on her makeup, does her hair, or her maid
does her hair, etc. Usually there is a mirror on the dressing table, either
free-standing or integral. A dressing table will have drawers on either side, with a space between for the owner to sit relatively near and not have her knees or feet impeded. Sometimes there may be a shallow drawer in the middle, too.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Don’t forget that other piece of equipment in a bedchamber,
namely a wash-stand with ewer and basin. Also, a bedroom would have a commode. Hah!
Regency Britain did not have water closets or bathrooms, or bathing rooms.
Sorry. Filthy old lot they were! A bath would be of the tin variety, placed in
front of the fire in the bedroom, and filled with hot water from the kitchen
range brought up by the servants. Needless to say, it did not happen often.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bedding. We do not have ‘comforters’ in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region></st1:place> and never did. Except
sometimes a baby will have a ‘comforter’ or ‘dummy’ to suck, which is not what
Americans mean by ‘comforter’, I think. These days, what Americans call a ‘comforter’,
the sort you have on the bed, we call a ‘quilt’. It used to be called a ‘Continental
quilt’, but now just quilt. It is filled with hollow-fibre, and loosely
quilted, and always plain white. We put on it a ‘quilt cover’ which can be
removed and washed, but which is a pig to put on, especially if the quilt is
large (think extra-large pillowcase). The quilt covers the bed and hangs over
the sides and bottom, and snuggles all around the sleeper. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the past, a quilt used to be called an ‘eiderdown’
because it was filled with feathers from the eider duck (or more likely
chickens, but we’ll let that pass!) loosely quilted, and might be of the
patchwork variety, or maybe embroidered, etc. but with no separate cover. The
feathers worked their way out of the cover through the material, and had a
habit of pricking a person. (I remember it well.) A bed was made up with
perhaps a blanket on the mattress (optional), a bottom sheet, a top sheet,
layers of scratchy, itchy, black, grey or cream coloured blankets, depending on
season, a ‘bedspread’ historically called a ‘counterpane’, and, if it were
really cold, an eiderdown. The sheets and blankets were ‘tucked in’ under the
edge of the mattress (hence, one was ‘tucked into bed’) and the weight of it
all anchored the sleeper in the bed! A long person might find that his feet
were pinned into the bed, and he would have to kick the blankets out in order
to free them. Bedspreads were usually a single layer of fabric meant to ‘dress’
the bed, to make it look pretty, and could be loose on the bed, being tucked in
at the foot end if there was a foot board, or draping loose all around, and
covering the pillows, so it might be on top of the eiderdown, or it may be
beneath, depending on the state, or decoration, of the eiderdown. Sometimes
they matched the curtains. We have quilted bedspreads today, to pretty up the
bed, but not everyone has them. I remember as a child the heaviness of those ‘bedclothes’
(which is what they were called) and still I wasn’t warm in bed! No central
heating in those days, and if a person was lucky enough to have a fire in their
bedroom (or bed chamber) the heat from it very likely didn’t reach more than
six feet from the fire. We often woke up to ice on the windows on the inside
which stuck the curtains to the glass. Oh, the blessings of central heating and
a light, warm, modern quilt!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘Drapes’. We call them ‘curtains’.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Farming:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Corn. To Americans, corn is, well, corn. We call that
sweetcorn these days. But historically, in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>, corn could refer to wheat
too, as sweetcorn was relatively unknown until the middle of the 20<sup>th</sup>
century.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Grains. No Brit, even today, will refer to ‘grains’. We say
‘cereals’ or ‘cereal crops’ and the term includes, wheat, oats, barley. Historically,
that was about it in the cereal cultivation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Winter wheat is a fairly recent thing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wildlife:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We do not have wild chipmunks in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region></st1:place>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We do not have bluebirds in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region></st1:place>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We do not have skunks in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We do not have hummingbirds in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region></st1:place>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While we have recently re-introduced beaver into some parts of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
prior to that they have been extinct here since the 15<sup>th</sup> century. And
wolves and bears have been extinct far longer, though this is not the case on
the Continent. Do check up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Squirrels were red, until the American grey squirrel came
along. Worth doing research on timing for that one.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bug. In today’s world, we Brits will use the word ‘bug’ when
we mean insect or germ, simply because we have learned it off you Americans!
However, no self-respecting Regency Brit would use the word ‘bug’. ‘Insect’,
please. Or 'creepy crawlie' if you like.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lady-bugs. And while we are on the subject, we call these
creatures ‘ladybirds’. Yes, I know they are not birds, but there you go. Also,
different regions have colloquial words for them. In <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Norfolk</st1:city></st1:place>, for example, they are called
‘bishybarnabees’. Quite!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Money:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKS4f9vu8q472h7XLgd7p8hoBHT5cXrHLJM0yb8QpMC_2X5n8ueCBhhqjAuq3KXuE_3nzZO71o3Y70cbVYZdsJFuRcjYKS1mKN2cIB18VW8Mx9mu4hclWhbW8EnwUYOsHSrRHFt_88GLcG/s1600/threepenny+piece.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="1165" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKS4f9vu8q472h7XLgd7p8hoBHT5cXrHLJM0yb8QpMC_2X5n8ueCBhhqjAuq3KXuE_3nzZO71o3Y70cbVYZdsJFuRcjYKS1mKN2cIB18VW8Mx9mu4hclWhbW8EnwUYOsHSrRHFt_88GLcG/s320/threepenny+piece.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">20th century 12 sided brass 3d. bit<br />
By Welkinridge - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3212570</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Until 15<sup>th</sup> February 1971 we had £ s d., or
pounds, shillings and pence. There were 12 pennies to the shilling, and 20
shillings to the pound. A guinea was 21 shillings, or £1 1s 0d. as it was
written (now it would be £1.05). No wonder we went decimal! Incidentally,
guineas were usually made of gold. In the 18<sup>th</sup> century, a golden
guinea was the equivalent of a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">louis d’or
</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and other foreign currencies. Worth
doing research on if you are going further back in history. A pound coin was
called a sovereign, made of gold. Half a penny was called a halfpenny, or
ha’pence/ha’penny to one and all. A quarter of a penny was a farthing. Also in
coinage, there were crowns (5 shillings), half crowns (2 shillings and six
pence), a florin (2 shillings), a shilling (12 pence, remember?), a sixpence,
and a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>threepenny piece all of which were
made of silver, although in the 20<sup>th</sup> century, the silver content was
reduced. A threepenny piece or bit, was called a ‘thruppeny bit’ (pronounced ‘throopeny
bit’) or <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘thruppence’ (3d.), was a small
coin. In the mid 20<sup>th</sup> century, the design was changed to a 12-sided
brass coin. Then came the bronze coins consisting of a penny, ha’penny and
farthing. There was not always paper money, either, which was invented in the
19<sup>th</sup> century, so do your homework. Many of us who are older can
remember a pound note and a ten shilling note. A pound might be called a
‘nicker’ by a Londoner but not usually by upper class people, or a ‘quid’, but
everyone used the word ‘bob’ for shilling. ‘Have you got a ten bob note, guv?’ There
are lots of cant phrases for our coinage, especially among the lower classes,
and especially too in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city>,
too many to mention here, so again, research is required.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4a8oBchCqAGes3TP02hqgoPrlDGDMMWtYs-SSGUY0ubbMVtoX5Mh0u9NdLDni46irbo9CTSH7LV8jPBCUAyw7Z0V0dOfawla008SrBBzp1TWdVAbv7EmACSyvnAwsQ5Rtm6Ybly5ki6F/s1600/British_threepence_1899.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="145" data-original-width="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4a8oBchCqAGes3TP02hqgoPrlDGDMMWtYs-SSGUY0ubbMVtoX5Mh0u9NdLDni46irbo9CTSH7LV8jPBCUAyw7Z0V0dOfawla008SrBBzp1TWdVAbv7EmACSyvnAwsQ5Rtm6Ybly5ki6F/s1600/British_threepence_1899.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Queen Victoria silver 3d. bit<br />
By .Hephaestos at en.wikipedia - Copied from http://worldcoingallery.com/countries/img9/76-777.jpgTransferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by User:Sreejithk2000 using CommonsHelper., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17761513</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Time:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dates and numbers. Americans leave out the word ‘and’, as in
‘two hundred twenty-nine’. Brits say, ‘two hundred <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> twenty-nine’, and that goes for all numbers. ‘Fourteen
thousand, three hundred <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> fifty
three.’ For years too: ‘two thousand <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and </i>seven.’
‘Two thousand <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> nineteen’. ‘Two
thousand <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> twenty.’ Or just ‘twenty-twenty,
twenty-nineteen’, etc. In times past, it was ‘nineteen-o-nine’ but ‘nineteen
fourteen’. I know it’s crazy, but there it is. Also, Brits put the day first,
the month second and the year last. So, ‘15<sup>th</sup> February, 1971’,
or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘15.2.71’ Historically, however,
there does not seem to have been a set rule. The idea of using just figures for
dates is relatively recent. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘A fourth’. And while we are on the subject, ‘a fourth’ in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>, is ‘a
quarter’. ‘Three-fourths’, therefore, becomes ‘three-quarters’.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Time. To say, ‘eight forty-five’ is very recent for Brits,
which we have learned off the Americans, and many of us older ones still do not
use it much. Many of us still say the time the way our parents and ancestors
did, so: ‘eight o’clock, five past eight, ten past eight, a quarter past eight,
twenty past eight, twenty-five past eight, half past eight,’ etc. Once you are
past the half past, you are going towards the hour, so it is not ‘eight
thirty-one,’ but ‘twenty-nine minutes to nine’, ‘twenty-five to nine’, ‘twenty
to nine’, ‘a quarter to nine’, ‘ten to nine’, ‘five to nine,’ etc. And even
more archaically, but used still by the oldest generation, ‘five and twenty to
nine’ or ‘five and twenty past eight’, which is what my mother (who would now
be 103 if she were still with us) used to say. There was no twenty-four hour
clock. And as far as most Brits are concerned, there still isn’t, though some
do try to force us into that line. The older ones among us find we are always
converting back to the old way of saying things. I’ve lost count of the number
of American authors who have Regency people saying ‘dinner is at seven thirty.’
A dead give-away.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Seasons: 'Fall'. In <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>, we don’t have ‘fall’, we
have ‘autumn’, and the adjective ‘autumnal’. No English person would ever refer
to the ‘fall’. I am surprised American authors do not know this.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While we are on the subject of seasons, summer in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region> rarely
hits 90<sup>o</sup>F, well not before global warming at any rate. In winter, we
usually do not expect much in the way of snow. But in Regency England, the
winters were particularly harsh, and even the <st1:place w:st="on">Thames</st1:place>
froze over in 1814 so that there was a frost fair on the
river ice. During most winters in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region> it is not possible, nor
advisable, to skate on a pond, or venture onto the ice, as it is too thin.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Transport:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cars. Not autos. Not automobiles. Cars. Always. No, I know they will not turn up in a Regency novel, but just worthy of mention. We have a front and back 'bumper', not a ‘fender’. We have a
‘bonnet’, which is the cover in front for the engine, not a ‘hood’. We have a
‘boot’ not a ‘trunk’.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Carriages/Coaches. Historically, a carriage was pulled by
horses. So was a coach, though the latter was more usually a public affair,
such as the mail coach. Today, however, we have ‘carriages’ pulled by a train engine!
I believe Americans call them ‘cars’. A ‘coach’ today is what Americans
call a ‘bus’, but usually for private hire. (When I told my American friend
that we went on an outing by ‘coach’ she thought I meant a carriage pulled by
horses!) A ‘bus’ is public transport, like the red Routemasters which were a
trademark of London (And yes, it is true that you wait hours for a bus, then
three come along at once! I’ve experienced that many times!) Similar ones are
seen and used all over the country. But we can have a minibus, which is a
transit-type van converted to carry people with windows and seats in the back. Ah.
It’s all lost in translation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Don’t forget, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region> drives on the left, unlike
almost everyone else. It has always been the case, even in the days of horse
and carriage.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5-s6yHeUWqp403fqf0IWCghqw8-w2HVFUN_pzWknVRPGppqbozSHvfYDQ6W5y6bPe6f88c2C4koP0p6ykHfcqikCPZuGxtZWs0RcS7lPmtgoJhyphenhyphen8MoKKzuCajMoC29jru6dvsAwnj_1NB/s1600/two-man-on-a-carriage-with-horse-636012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1465" data-original-width="1600" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5-s6yHeUWqp403fqf0IWCghqw8-w2HVFUN_pzWknVRPGppqbozSHvfYDQ6W5y6bPe6f88c2C4koP0p6ykHfcqikCPZuGxtZWs0RcS7lPmtgoJhyphenhyphen8MoKKzuCajMoC29jru6dvsAwnj_1NB/s320/two-man-on-a-carriage-with-horse-636012.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture by Renee Amusson, Pexels</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Food:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A ‘biscuit’ in American is actually a ‘scone’ (pronounced
‘scone’ or ‘sconn’) in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
A British ‘biscuit’ is what the Americans call a ‘cookie’. ‘Shortbread’ is also
a biscuit/cookie, and quite delicious.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘Candies’ we call ‘sweets’. Historically, sweetmeats. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Table linen: ‘Table napkins’. They are (as was the case historically)
placed beside the cutlery of a person at dinner. They are used for wiping one’s
hands, or mouth, but never for one’s nose. These days they can be made out of
layers of tissue paper, or some fabric. In good restaurants, linen or cotton
napkins are the norm. Historically, whether at home or eating out, a napkin was
made from fabric, usually linen, and could be embroidered. In the 17<sup>th</sup>
century and before, they were large, and thrown over the diner’s shoulder. You
need to check that up if you are thinking of using that, and also other
etiquette at table for the times. Don’t forget that historically, nearly every
household in the land used a white linen or cotton tablecloth for all meals
which might well be embroidered. Many people still use them, as do restaurants. It was a matter of pride that one's table linen was spotless and snowy white.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For cutlery settings at a formal dinner, you need to look up
the number and placement and uses of the various knives, forks and spoons, if
you plan to use that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Babies:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Babies’ ‘napkins’ or, more commonly, ‘nappies’ are what
Americans call ‘diapers’. A baby has a ‘bib’ placed or tied around its neck to
catch dribble, food, etc.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
British babies do not ‘spit up’. They may throw up, vomit,
or ‘bring back’ their milk or feed, but no self-respecting British baby ‘spits
up’!<br />
<br />
<b>Language:</b><br />
No 19th century gentleman (nor even well into the 20th century come to that) would ever swear in front of a woman. No woman, whether highborn or lowly. And no child, either. Swear words that Americans do not view as profanity, and probably think are quite quaint, are for the English quite offensive. And some have originated too recently to be used in a Regency novel. There are many 'cant' phrases and words that were current at the time, and that would add colour to speech, so please do some homework. A dictionary of historical slang, such as <i>The Penguin Dictionary of Historical Slang</i> is a real help, showing when a word or phrase was current, what it actually meant, and its etymology. There are also many online helps and lists of historical slang. Do not leave it to chance. Look it up.<br />
<br />
Also, I've noticed, Americans seem to think we use the word 'twit' to mean idiot or fool. While it used to be common in the mid 20th century, I don't think people use it that much nowadays. Historically, 'twit' did not come into use until the 1930's. To see it in a Regency novel makes me do a double-take. It is quite out of place. It has appeared in three different novels that I have read recently.<br />
<br />
No doubt there are other Americanisms that escape me at the present, but these seem to be among the worst offenders. If a writer is 'in the head' of a British character, particularly in a historical setting, then their thoughts, and especially their speech should not contain Americanisms - well not if the writer would like to bring authenticity to their work. Mostly, the historical research is beautifully done, the story is excellent, and the characters are well-drawn, and it would be a shame to let down all that effort by a few misplaced words.<br />
<br />
I hope this little exercise helps pick up some of those gaffs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-84080915021151218912018-11-30T07:04:00.000-08:002018-11-30T07:04:40.885-08:00BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE - WHO WAS HE?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9_L0wHLazrQ28yxGf-jmtOMZQK-99rK8m5GTVP0ESNeWevKCI8HuDkFPKNOFX2er-bbLy5DtKYZif1zU5PrB8ACX96v1ypusJdB1Xplx2m1L6Nrf_35n83oa5nVczV1LtBeIGqu1HIOjH/s1600/Bonnie+Prince+Charlie%252C+by+me.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="863" data-original-width="599" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9_L0wHLazrQ28yxGf-jmtOMZQK-99rK8m5GTVP0ESNeWevKCI8HuDkFPKNOFX2er-bbLy5DtKYZif1zU5PrB8ACX96v1ypusJdB1Xplx2m1L6Nrf_35n83oa5nVczV1LtBeIGqu1HIOjH/s320/Bonnie+Prince+Charlie%252C+by+me.png" width="222" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Born on 31 December 1720, Charles Edward <span style="background: white; color: #222222;">Louis John
Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart was the grandson of King James II of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Great Britain</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
and should have been heir to the British throne.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Should have, but wasn’t. Because the British government got rid of James II
in what came to be known as the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He and his wife
Mary of <st1:city w:st="on">Modena</st1:city> and their baby son James Francis
Edward, (Charles Edward’s father) fled to <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region>
and settled ultimately in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Rome</st1:city></st1:place>.
Whereupon the British offered the throne to James II’s daughter Mary (by his
first wife Anne Hyde) and her husband William of Orange, who was James’ nephew.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Why?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">James II’s big crime was to convert to Catholicism. By marrying his
second wife Mary who was also Catholic, sent the British establishment into
panic. No-one in <st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region>
wanted a return to the fanatical Catholicism of a century previously, where
Mary Tudor tried to bring the Inquisition to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region></st1:place> and brought in a reign of
terror. Not for nothing was Mary Tudor called Bloody Mary! Hundreds were burnt
at the stake during her five year reign because they refused to convert to the
Catholic faith. So James’ openly becoming a Catholic and marrying a Catholic
set English hearts into meltdown. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As a result, he struggled against Parliament for the whole of his four
year reign. The birth of his son, James Francis further upset the English
establishment. Now there could be a succession of Catholic kings! That could
not be allowed to happen. While they could tolerate James’ conversion to
Catholicism if he behaved himself, they could not and would not put up with a
Catholic succession. So they got rid of James II in the Glorious Revolution of
1688, putting William and Mary on the throne.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In 1701, James II died and his son James Francis claimed the British
throne as James III of <st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Ireland</st1:country-region>, and James VIII
of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Scotland</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
Not that it mattered. The establishment had no intention of allowing him the
throne, despite the fact that he had the backing of his cousin Louis XIV of <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region> and many Jacobite supporters in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
Perhaps he thought that when the throne became vacant in 1702, with no
offspring of William and Mary, he would be given the throne. Not so. The
government had foreseen that possibility and James Francis found himself out of
the picture by the Act of Settlement which prohibited any Catholic sitting on
the British throne.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Instead, the throne was given to Anne, James Francis’ half sister. Inconveniently,
and despite having eleven children and many miscarriages, all Anne’s children
pre-deceased her and when she died in 1714, Parliament sought a protestant heir
to the throne. Disregarding James Francis, and no less than fifty other people who
might have had greater claim, they settled on George of Hanover, a Protestant.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">George was the great grandson of King James I through his daughter,
Elizabeth of Bohemia.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In 1715, James Francis, now a man of twenty-seven came to Britain and attempted
to retrieve the throne in the Jacobite Rising of that year, with no success.
Narrowly avoiding capture he fled back to the Continent, where he married Maria
Clementina Sobieska, granddaughter of the Polish King John III of Beuburg. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They had two sons, Charles Edward Stuart, also known as Bonnie Prince
Charlie, and Henry Benedict Stuart who became a Cardinal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Understandably, both James Francis and his eldest son Charles believed
the throne of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Great Britain</st1:country-region></st1:place>
belonged to them by right. James even called himself James III of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region></st1:place>
and VIII of Scotland. With James becoming too old for the venture, Charles took
up the cause, and aged twenty-four sailed for <st1:country-region w:st="on">Scotland</st1:country-region>
in 1745, raising an army from the clans of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Scotland</st1:country-region>
with a view to eventually marching on <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">London</st1:city></st1:place>
and claiming the throne. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Charles Edward was indeed ‘bonny’. A good-looking young man, he had the
ability to charm and to lead. When he arrived in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Scotland</st1:country-region></st1:place> the clans readily came to
his call, and he had a formidable army. However, promised help from the French
did not materialise. After some initial successes, his plans came to an abrupt
end at the battle of Culloden in April 1746, where the government forces under
the Duke of Cumberland, second son of King George II, routed the Scots in a
devastating defeat.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For Charles, there was just one thing to do—flee!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And flee he did. His subsequent escape from the clutches of the British with
the help of a Scottish lass is the subject of my book, <i>Over the Sea to Skye</i>, to
be published soon.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-70700798421285979372017-10-21T09:21:00.002-07:002017-10-21T10:37:20.148-07:00Crime and Punishment in Britain in the 18th and early 19th centuries.<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: 37.7953px;">We have all heard how in previous centuries a person could be hanged on the slightest pretext. </span> What crimes merited transportation? Or death? Or corporal punishment? Quite by accident, I came across the following information.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<b>“Death Without the Benefit of Clergy”<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
There were more
than 160 offences which warranted the death penalty, the sentence being “death
without the benefit of Clergy.” This term was attached to many sentences. What
exactly was ‘Benefit of Clergy’?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
Basically, Benefit of Clergy, <i>privilegium clericale,</i> came about in
1274 under Edward I in response to the high esteem in which the ruling classes
held the church. It meant that: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Places consecrated to religious duties were exempted
from criminal arrest. Hence, the idea that a criminal could claim sanctuary in
a church.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Clergymen were exempt from being brought before a
secular judge in certain cases.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
Later, anyone who could read could
claim benefit of clergy. If a literate man were condemned to death, the bishop
of the diocese had the option of claiming him as a clerk, and find him a place
among the clergy as he saw fit. The prisoner at the bar was given a Latin book
in black Gothic characters by the ordinary, from which he must read one or two
verses. If the ordinary declared him to be ‘<i>legit
ut clericus</i>’, that is ‘He reads like a clerk’, the offender was burnt in
the hand. If he could not read, he suffered death.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
Henry VII restricted the privilege
in 1489, and in 1512 was abolished by Henry VIII with regard to murder and
other serious crimes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
So what crimes merited the death
penalty?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<b>High Treason<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
High Treason was considered the
worst civil crime, and was divided into seven different categories:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Compassing (i.e. bringing about, scheming or plotting)
or imagining the death of the king, queen, or heir apparent.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Levying war against the king in his realm.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Adhering to the king’s enemies and giving them aid in
the realm or elsewhere.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Slaying the king’s chancellor, or judge, in the
execution of their offices.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Violating the queen, the eldest daughter of the king,
or the wife of the heir apparent, or eldest son.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Counterfeiting the king’s great seal, or the privy
seal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->7.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Counterfeiting the king’s money, or bringing false
money into the kingdom.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
The punishment for High Treason was:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
<i>“That the offender be drawn to the gallows, on the ground or pavement;
that he be hanged by the neck, and then cut down alive; that his entrails be
taken out and burned while he is yet alive; that his head be cut off; that his
body be divided into four parts; and that his head and quarters be at the
King’s disposal.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
However, women were only to be
drawn and hanged, although previously, they were burned at the stake.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<b>Petty Treason<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
Petty Treason was the offence of:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 67.5pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 67.5pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->A
servant killing his master.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 67.5pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 67.5pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->A
wife killing her husband.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 67.5pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 67.5pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->A
person killing a prelate. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 31.5pt;">
The sentence was death.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 31.5pt;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 31.5pt; text-align: center;">
<b>Felonies<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 31.5pt;">
<o:p> </o:p><span style="text-indent: 1cm;">Two kinds of felonies – public and
private.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<b>Public felonies</b> were state felonies relating to:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->The coin of the realm.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->The king and his Counsellors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Soldiers and marines.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Embezzling public property.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Riot and sedition.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Escape from prison.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->7.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Revenue and trade.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
<b>Private felonies:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Murder. When a murderer had been executed, his body was
handed over for dissection, and his property was forfeited to the State (as was
the property of a suicide).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Manslaughter. A person who was guilty of manslaughter
had his hand burned and his possessions forfeited.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Sodomy. Punishment: Death.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Rape. Punishment: Death.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Forcible marriage. ‘Forcible marriage or defilement of
women’ was an offence where the property was considered more important than
chastity. It was a felony without the benefit of clergy to take away <i>for lucre</i> any woman having lands or
goods, or being an heir apparent to an estate by force or against her will and
to marry or to defile her. However, the forcible marriage or defilement of a
woman without an estate was not punishable at all! Obviously wealth had a
higher moral virtue!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Polygamy. A statute of James I declared Polygamy to be
a felony, but not excluded from benefit of clergy, so offenders were not
subject to the death penalty, but were transported, although there are no
records of polygamists arriving in <st1:place w:st="on">New
South Wales</st1:place>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->7.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Maiming. ‘Maiming, cutting the tongue, putting out the
eyes of any of the King’s liege people, slitting the nose, cutting off a nose
or lip, or cutting off or disabling any limb or member by malice forethought
and by ling in wait with an intention to maim or disfigure’ was called
‘Mayhem’, and was subject to death.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->8.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Simple Larceny. Divided into grand larceny and petit
larceny. Grand larceny, punishable by death and the forfeiture of property, was
“the felonious taking and carry[ing] away the mere personal property or goods
of another above the value of twelve-pence [1 shilling].’ Petit larceny was
taking of goods valued at less than twelve pence, and was punishable by
imprisonment, whipping, or transportation, and the forfeiture of goods and
chattels.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->9.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->‘Mixt larceny’ was the taking of a man or goods from
his house. If a person was previously threatened or assaulted, the crime was
termed Robbery. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->10.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Piracy</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->11.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Arson.
Punishable by death without the benefit of clergy if someone set fire to corn,
stacks of straw, hay, or wood, or rescuing any such offender; setting fire to a
coalmine, windmill, watermill or other mill, or pulling down the same; burning
any ship; burning the king’s ships of war, afloat or building, the dock-yards
or any of the buildings, arsenals or stores therein. Threatening by anonymous
or fictitious letters to burn houses, barns etc. But if someone burned their
own house without injuring anyone else, it was only counted as a misdemeanour
and punished by fine, imprisonment or the pillory. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->12.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Burglary.
Punishable by death for both perpetrators and those who were accessories before
the event.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
The following “domestic aggravations”
or larceny were punishable with death without the benefit of clergy: Larcenies
above the value of twelve pence:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->In a church or chapel, with or without violence or
breaking the same.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->In a booth or tent, a market or fair, in the daytime or
in the night, by violence or breaking the same, the owner or some of his family
being therein.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->By robbing a dwelling in the daytime, any person being
therein; in a dwelling-house by day or by night, without breaking, any person
being therein and put in fear.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
Larcenies to the value of five
shillings:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo7; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->By breaking any house, outhouse, shop or warehouse
belonging in the daytime.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo7; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Privately stealing goods, wares, or merchandise in any
shop, warehouse, coach house, or stable by day or night, though the same was
not broken open, and though no person was therein.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
Larcenies to the value of forty
shillings [£2] from a dwelling house or its outhouses, although the same be not
broken, and whether a person is therein or not, unless committed upon their
masters by apprentices under the age of fifteen years.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm; text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_QcV9cPysTPkpuHuEOY2C7qcRJycVZp_yvsfDewH8SXfzZ9cZ9spR39fkgqr_4OYp9DJapFv3_rancKMlqYZRalRqQhNtrfFhmneQSgqZy2TmPySN2vq5IP_yNvdQxpOVX6h3nhYbjB2S/s1600/Hanging+outside+Newgate.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="649" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_QcV9cPysTPkpuHuEOY2C7qcRJycVZp_yvsfDewH8SXfzZ9cZ9spR39fkgqr_4OYp9DJapFv3_rancKMlqYZRalRqQhNtrfFhmneQSgqZy2TmPySN2vq5IP_yNvdQxpOVX6h3nhYbjB2S/s320/Hanging+outside+Newgate.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Hanging outside Newgate - Wikimedia</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm; text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Other Principle Capital Offences<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Stealing an heiress</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Forgery of deeds, bonds, etc.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Bankrupts not surrendering, or concealing their
effects.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Highway robbery.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Stealing bank notes, bonds, etc.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Stealing linen from bleaching grounds, or destroying
the same.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->7.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Maiming or killing cattle maliciously.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->8.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Stealing horses, cattle, or sheep.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->9.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Shooting at a revenue officer, or any other person.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->10.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Breaking
down the head of a fish-pond, whereby fish may be lost</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->11.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Cutting
down trees in an avenue, garden, etc.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->12.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Cutting
down river or sea banks, or hop binds.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->13.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Taking
reward for helping another to stolen goods.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->14.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Returning
from Transportation, or being at large in the Kingdom after sentence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->15.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Stabbing
a person unarmed, or not having a weapon drawn, if he dies within six months.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->16.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Concealing
the birth of a bastard child.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->17.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Sending
threatening letters.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->18.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Riots
by twelve or more, and not dispersing in an hour after proclamation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->19.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Stealing
woollen cloth from tenter ground.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->20.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Stealing
from a ship in distress.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->21.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Challenging
jurors above 20 in capital felonies or standing mute.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->22.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Selling
cottons with forged stamps.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->23.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Deer
stealing, second offence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->24.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Uttering
counterfeit money.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->25.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Prisoners
under Insolvent Act guilty of perjury.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->26.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Destroying
silk or velvet in the loom, or the tools for manufacturing same, or destroying
woollen goods, racks, or tools, or entering a house for that purpose.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->27.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->servants
purloining their master’s goods, value 40 shillings.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->28.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Personating
bail, or acknowledging fines or judgements in another’s name.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->29.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Escape
by breaking prison;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->30.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Sacrilege.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->31.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Attempts
to kill Privy Counsellors, etc.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->32.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Smuggling
by persons armed or assembling armed for that purpose.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->33.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Robbery
of mail.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->34.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Destroying
turnpikes or bridges, gates, weighing engines, locks, sluices, engines for
draining marshes, etc.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->35.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Mutiny.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->36.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Desertion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->37.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Soldiers
or sailors enlisting into foreign service.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1cm;">
<b>Crimes not punishable by death</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
‘Single Felonies’ were punished by
transportation, whipping, imprisonment, the pillory and hard labour in houses
of correction according to the offence:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Grand larceny, which was every sort of theft above the
value of one shilling, not otherwise distinguished.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Receiving or buying stolen goods, jewels and plate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Ripping or stealing lead, iron, copper, etc., or buying
or receiving the same.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Stealing or receiving ore from black lead mines.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Stealing from furnished lodgings.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Setting fire to underwood.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->7.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Stealing letters, or destroying a letter or packet,
advancing the postage and secreting the money.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->8.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Embezzling naval stores.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->9.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Petty larcenies or thefts under one shilling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->10.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Assaulting
with intent to rob.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->11.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Aliens
returning after being ordered out of the kingdom.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->12.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Stealing
fish from a pond or river, fishing in enclosed ponds, or buying stolen fish.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->13.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Stealing
roots, trees, or plants of the value of 5 shillings or destroying them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->14.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Stealing
children with their apparel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->15.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Bigamy,
or marrying more wives or husbands than one.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->16.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Assaulting
or cutting, or burning clothes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->17.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Counterfeiting
the copper coin.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->18.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Solemnising
marriage clandestinely.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->19.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Manslaughter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->20.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Cutting
or stealing timber trees.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->21.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Stealing
a shroud out of a grave.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->22.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Watermen
carrying too many passengers in the <st1:place w:st="on">Thames</st1:place>, if
any drowned.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->23.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Perjury.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->24.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Frauds
by cheating or swindling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->25.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Conspiring
to injure others.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->26.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Stealing
dead bodies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->27.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Stealing
growing cabbages, turnips, etc.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->28.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Cutting
and stealing wood.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->29.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Robbing
orchards and gardens.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->30.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Stealing
deer from forests.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->31.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Stealing
dogs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->32.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Making
and selling fireworks and squibs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->33.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Throwing
the same on fire about the streets.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->34.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Uttering
base money.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->35.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Embezzlements
in the woollen, silk or other manufactures.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->36.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Combinations
and conspiracies for raising the price of wages.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->37.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Keeping
bawdy and disorderly houses.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->38.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Escaping
out of House of Correction.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 64.35pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 64.35pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->39.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Committing
the same offence, after being once punished as rogues and vagabonds.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
Because the punishments were OTT
to the crimes, often petty crimes went unpunished, and punishments when handed
down were often not carried out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<i>Treaties on the Police of the Metropolis</i> by Dr. Colquhoun in 1780
states:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
“It generally happens in the
metropolis that out of from 2,000 to 2,500 prisoners who are tried for
different crimes in the various Courts of Justice, above five sixth parts are
for larcenies, acts of vagrancy and smaller offences, where the Benefit of
Clergy either attaches or does not apply at all. The major part are, of course,
returned upon Society, after a short imprisonment, or some corporal punishment,
so frequently to renew their depredations on the public. But a vast proportion
are always acquitted.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
In the year 1795, out of 1,894 prisoners
tried at the Old Bailey and the different assizes in the country, (not taking
the smaller courts into account), 854 were acquitted because of no prosecutors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
“According to the present system,
out of about two hundred and upwards who are, upon an average every year,
doomed to suffer the punishment of death, four-fifths or more are generally
pardoned, either on condition of being transported, or of going into his
Majesty’s service, and not seldom, without any condition at all. Hence it is
that, calculating on all the difference chances, encouragement to commit
crimes, actually arise[s] out of the system intended for their prevention –
first from the hope of avoiding detection and apprehension; secondly of
escaping conviction, from the means to vitiate and suborn the evidence;
thirdly, from the mercy of the jury, in considering the punishment too severe;
and fourthly, from the interest of persons of rank or consideration applying
for the interference of Royal mercy, by pardons.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
So the 18th century malefactor might get away with it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
Or he/she might not.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
Evelyn Tidman is the author of four historical novels. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
www.evelyntidmanauthor.com</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-51996664580467199602017-05-27T07:51:00.001-07:002017-05-27T08:32:04.213-07:00PMS – Pre-Menstrual Syndrome – How to cope<div class="MsoNormal">
PMS—premenstrual syndrome—is a blight on the lives of many
women of reproductive age and their families. I know, because I was one of
them.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiooEIhmCIoggvIlPBF5Wah_cT4zOFpO1o9lKooYYb9ULdR83zAZ1rI1AE-ORdDbnNyVgQfuhInPGckbFYSxhtX3n6dQnnEWy3esoUbF1g2FyjUZtHWvBvmjevilRwJXgpGq52S2I7xRncH/s1600/woman+StockSnap_BG7CZQ5JRN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiooEIhmCIoggvIlPBF5Wah_cT4zOFpO1o9lKooYYb9ULdR83zAZ1rI1AE-ORdDbnNyVgQfuhInPGckbFYSxhtX3n6dQnnEWy3esoUbF1g2FyjUZtHWvBvmjevilRwJXgpGq52S2I7xRncH/s320/woman+StockSnap_BG7CZQ5JRN.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For a lucky few, the symptoms are hardly noticeable. For
others it is like world war three, turning a usually stable woman into a
psychotic manic depressive for one or two weeks every month. Characterised by
excessive mood swings, temper tantrums, unreasonableness, depression, PMS has
been responsible for women attacking their partners and children and even
committing suicide and murder. So although men may snigger at it, and others
take it with a pinch of salt as an excuse for bad behaviour, it is not a
subject to be taken lightly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Worse, many women have no idea that it is their monthly
cycle which is affecting them so badly. Even when I had been diagnosed with PMS
I still did not recognise that the reason I was feeling so bad was because of
those pesky hormones. Under the influence of PMS I have smashed a window with
my bare fist, attacked my husband, nearly killed my 5 year old daughter,
considered killing myself. You get the picture.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQpNhjEIpcQ55w2evLZqt6gYUhtmSVcLTi7mtFBMnT0KhWGz4QunwAvKFNsxPmHUC-ym0EF9uqBIKLWTyNmYXhSjNnMOmfTGbWnR0OEEuQAZ0Jacy5OBX_0m_TqNIBFynLfZ7bIJniP-bg/s1600/woman+StockSnap_3RWIOL09QM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQpNhjEIpcQ55w2evLZqt6gYUhtmSVcLTi7mtFBMnT0KhWGz4QunwAvKFNsxPmHUC-ym0EF9uqBIKLWTyNmYXhSjNnMOmfTGbWnR0OEEuQAZ0Jacy5OBX_0m_TqNIBFynLfZ7bIJniP-bg/s320/woman+StockSnap_3RWIOL09QM.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what changed my life?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Surprisingly, it was a book by Adelle Davis written in the
1970s called <i>Let’s Get Well. </i>Working
on the principle that many of our common ailments are caused by bad nutrition,
she uses research to suggest that a lack of certain vitamins and minerals can
lead to all sorts of physical problems. With regard to PMS (or premenstrual tension as she calls it) she cites a
study (page 221) which showed "starting approximately ten days prior to
menstruation, when the ovaries are the least active, the blood calcium drops
steadily and progressively. Such a calcium decrease results in premenstrual
tension, nervousness, headaches, insomnia, and mental depression . . . Crimes
of violence committed by women take place mostly during this period." She went
on to advise taking tablets containing calcium and magnesium, and
a vitamin D supplement.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I thought, ‘What have I got to lose?’ Out I went and bought
calcium and magnesium tablets, and they also contained vitamin D. Within an
hour or two of taking them, the symptoms disappeared. It was as if a fog
suddenly cleared, and I became normal. I felt better, I no longer had
uncontrollable rages. Wow! Flushed with this success, I reported back to the doctor, who
laughed. (She'd been no help in any case!) That was back in the eighties. Today, the benefits of calcium
and magnesium in treating PMS are more widely recognised. And magnesium seems
to be the real goodie here.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Zinc, calcium, and magnesium are
three of the most important minerals essential for good health. Magnesium aids
in the absorption of<span class="apple-converted-space"><u> </u></span>calcium
by the body, while zinc actively supports the body’s immune system. Women of all ages benefit
immensely from the intake of magnesium. Besides keeping osteoporosis at bay,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>magnesium health benefits in women
include relief from symptoms of menopause and premenstrual syndrome (PMS). It
also minimizes the risk of premature labor.” – http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/Magnesium-health-benefits-supplements/2014/10/01/id/369647/</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So how much calcium should we
take? Doctor Adelle Davis recommended that we should take half magnesium to
calcium. So, if we take a supplement*, it should contain, say, 400 mg. calcium
and 200 mg. magnesium. It might contain more or less, but the ratio should be the same.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not to be overlooked is the
benefit of Vitamin B6. “<span style="background: white;">The B6 vitamin is needed
for proper brain development and function and to make the hormones serotonin
and norepinephrine which affect mood.” –
http://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/benefits-of-vitamin-b6.aspx</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana";"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;">The
NIH [National Institutes of Health] also considers vitamin B6 "possibly
effective" for alleviating upset stomach and vomiting during pregnancy,
symptoms of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://www.verywell.com/natural-remedies-for-premenstrual-syndrome-pms-88420"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;">premenstrual syndrome</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;">(including breast pain and depression) and behavioral
disorders in children with low levels of serotonin (a brain chemical involved
in regulating mood).”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
https://www.verywell.com/vitamin-b6-what-you-need-to-know-89527<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In <st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region>, the government have
recommended no more than 50 mg of B6 daily.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you are taking any medication
or have other health issues, consult a doctor before taking supplements.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As for me, I take a calcium and
magnesium tablet every day, as well as B6, even though I am long past the
menopause. Why? Because I find even now that if I don’t, within a day or two, I
start to go down, become irritable, and depressed. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My mother also suffered from
severe osteoporosis, and two of my daughters showed very low bone density on a
scan. Meanwhile, my bone density showed 120%, way above what it needed to be,
which is excellent news.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So benefits all round. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Of course, not every woman responds to the same therapy. In the event of severe depression, seek the help of a qualified doctor.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
____________________<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">* Just so you know, I found one ‘own brand’
calcium/magnesium supplement from a well-known British health food chain to be
totally ineffective. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Evelyn Tidman is the author of historical novels, available on Amazon.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Website, www.evelyntidmanauthor.com</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh73Elmpc9dmXUEUr33TbWgutqj1mxPta6KTiOpGpAETGqIw4CkqaxtjzrTubZ__eNBs9FLG_NRbdiyGBLMwKiHRpVPek_ba9nKzP-s5emmJwxk4Q2YLKRlFlcT4y43tjjo05LvNd0KFSir/s1600/Four+books-1+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1589" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh73Elmpc9dmXUEUr33TbWgutqj1mxPta6KTiOpGpAETGqIw4CkqaxtjzrTubZ__eNBs9FLG_NRbdiyGBLMwKiHRpVPek_ba9nKzP-s5emmJwxk4Q2YLKRlFlcT4y43tjjo05LvNd0KFSir/s320/Four+books-1+copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-38832346833458886322017-02-27T08:12:00.002-08:002017-02-27T08:12:25.447-08:00More about formatting books for print or Ebooks: Back to front Apostrophes<div class="MsoNormal">
As writers formatting our own books, we can fall foul all
sorts of hiccups. One of them is apostrophes facing right instead of left! It
spoils the book for me as a reader and screams ‘self published.’ What we all
want is nice professional text. So how can we fix those pesky apostrophes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now I am not talking about those apostrophes which denote
possessiveness, as opposed to plurals. There are other excellent notes on those
should you need to look them up. No, I’m talking about those denoting missing
letters. And not to be forgotten are the speech marks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As everyone using Word knows, apostrophes do not always do
what you want them to. For example, in historical speech, or in colloquial
speech, a writer might want to drop an initial letter, as in <i>’tis</i> for <i>it is, </i>or <i>’ard</i> for <i>hard</i>. Each time an initial apostrophe
needs to be added. The trouble with Word is that if you put an initial apostrophe
at the beginning of a word, it comes out back to front, eg.:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘Tis
raining ‘ard tonight.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How can we turn the apostrophe around?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Depending on which version of Word you are using it might be
a simple matter. Such as holding down Control and hitting the apostrophe key
twice to get a left-facing apostrophe.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
’Tis
raining ’ard tonight.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another method is to put in two apostrophes. Because two
together will face each other. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘’Tis
raining ‘’ard tonight. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then go back and delete the unwanted one. Long winded but
effective.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A third method is to go to <b>Insert > Symbol > </b>and scroll through until you find what you
want, and click on it, click <b>insert</b>.
Also long-winded. But from this menu, before you click insert, you can make a
permanent code for this symbol by going to <b>shortcut
key. </b>Add a code of your choice, in this case <b>control </b>+<b> ’ + ’</b>. (Word
automatically adds the + and , symbols. ) Click <b>assign</b>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqLyJB2_YfO_2AE2OuwZqQB8Sq3koU3XLwjx3zaBS1fmBoPsVUD-hUh-bJoci_53dVGyCukqCZ351Y3pL6fgeCYFkQf_HYeGG8z0ro6iNsGGJFWpuHCcLZQv90AAouIQeq9nRxNpKxRmCe/s1600/Pesky+apostrophes+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqLyJB2_YfO_2AE2OuwZqQB8Sq3koU3XLwjx3zaBS1fmBoPsVUD-hUh-bJoci_53dVGyCukqCZ351Y3pL6fgeCYFkQf_HYeGG8z0ro6iNsGGJFWpuHCcLZQv90AAouIQeq9nRxNpKxRmCe/s320/Pesky+apostrophes+2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnBUj8uBL01zjCDXdZwY6Pb6LyAlKdhxPZK3eoE3ExVPtZWnJDzFW72zA1YOQxjM-2gUgQLyYrTK_x7H-fk3g1nnVDH6fImumkCq5ivjEw8e_NP40S9pWq4LTlrDAi4ymFoYCxKmGiQtBy/s1600/Pesky+apostrophes+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnBUj8uBL01zjCDXdZwY6Pb6LyAlKdhxPZK3eoE3ExVPtZWnJDzFW72zA1YOQxjM-2gUgQLyYrTK_x7H-fk3g1nnVDH6fImumkCq5ivjEw8e_NP40S9pWq4LTlrDAi4ymFoYCxKmGiQtBy/s320/Pesky+apostrophes+1.png" width="277" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By this means (and using a different code) you can add
any symbol you like. For example, in my book Gentleman of Fortune, the heroine
was called Lúcia. So I needed to access the accent mark quickly. I put that
also on the apostrophe key, and made it control plus one tap on the key.
So I would type:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>L[control </b>+<b> ’]ucia. </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the ‘u’ was hit the accent would appear above it. (In
the end after about fifty thousand times of doing this, I decided to put Lúcia
on the autotext. Wish I’d thought of it sooner!)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, a word about dashes—that is the two – (small dashes) together to make a long dash—If
your version of Word doesn’t do it, it is found on <b>Insert > autotext > auto format as you type</b>; check the
appropriate box. This looks nice and professional when you have a printed book.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, suppose you want to say at the end of a paragraph:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I cannot
stay, I really can’t— </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you just type the sentence, when you hit <b>space,</b> or <b>return </b>for the paragraph it will come out like this: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I cannot
stay, I really can’t--</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No long dash. You need to add a full stop, apostrophe, etc.,
to the end, or a letter then space, you will get the desired effect:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I cannot
stay, I really can’t--<b>n plus space</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course you need to delete the letter [n] or full stop, or
whatever, and the dash will remain a long dash. Job done.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Simple when you know how!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Evelyn Tidman is the author of four historical novels.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Available on Amazon at <a href="http://author.to/ETidman">http://Author.to/ETidman </a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Website: www.evelyntidmanauthor.com</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjluCWfalKOGRyFkRxi67soIK7yOBZZogJ7a899KR1tDqdImyYKEgxZfL1cwc9920k_VKMTPMS82gZhaCPtcQVG-Ie9GTJ80OsG0h0og4b3SzqJy0Qtov_XsXuxzJAoCd4WhXHFUGetz-VY/s1600/Four+books-1+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjluCWfalKOGRyFkRxi67soIK7yOBZZogJ7a899KR1tDqdImyYKEgxZfL1cwc9920k_VKMTPMS82gZhaCPtcQVG-Ie9GTJ80OsG0h0og4b3SzqJy0Qtov_XsXuxzJAoCd4WhXHFUGetz-VY/s400/Four+books-1+copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-50978231580230445612016-11-22T09:24:00.001-08:002016-11-22T09:24:18.237-08:00How Could 17th Century Exiles Receive Money from England?<div class="MsoNormal">
As a writer, there are times when a character in a
historical novel needs to get their hands on some money. In seventeenth century
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region>,
how did they do it?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I came across this when I researched life for the exiles in
the court of Charles II in <st1:city w:st="on">Holland</st1:city> and <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region>. Many
were running out of money, and Edward Hyde writes of the generosity of the
Princess Royal (i.e., Mary, sister to Charles II, wife of William I of <st1:place w:st="on">Orange</st1:place>) in providing a
house for him, rent free: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>During that time the
Princess Royal had, out of her own princely nature and inclination, cultivated
by the civility and offices of the Lady Stanhope, conferred a very seasonable
obligation upon him </i>[that is, Edward Hyde] <i>, by assigning a house that was in her disposal at Breda to his wife
and children, who thereupon left Antwerp, and without the payment of any house
rent, were more conveniently, because more frugally, settled in their new
mansion at Breda.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Which prompted me to ask: How did he survive? Where did he
get money to live on? Was someone sending him money? If so, how? And not just
Hyde, but all the exiles. Some struggled in poverty.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Roger L’Estrange, while he was in Newgate, needed money to
pay the jailer, and for his food and lodging.
When he slipped out of Newgate with ‘the privity of [his] keeper’ where did he
get the money to survive? He had no inheritance yet, but he did have an
allowance from his family in <st1:city w:st="on">Norfolk</st1:city>.
But he did not go to <st1:city w:st="on">Norfolk</st1:city>, he went to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Kent</st1:country-region>. So how
did his allowance reach him?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A glance at the banking system in 17<sup>th</sup> century <st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region> might
be useful. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first provincial bank was opened in 1650, two years
after Roger was in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Kent</st1:country-region>,
and it was not until 1694 that the Bank of England was founded. Until then, the
prototype of banking was through goldsmiths. They had acquired much gold following
the dissolution of the monasteries. However many goldsmiths were associated
with the Crown, and Charles I seized the gold held at the Royal Mint in the
Tower of London, making the Royal Mint no longer a safe place to keep gold. The
goldsmiths turned to the gentry and aristocracy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Goldsmiths, the ‘keepers of running cash’ accepted gold in
exchange for a receipt. Further, they accepted written instructions to pay back
either to the depositor or to a third party, which instruction was the
precursor of the cheque or banknote. So Roger could have received written
instructions from his father, or his father’s agent or clerk, to receive money
from a goldsmith.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But what about those abroad in exile? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In unrelated research, I came across a thesis on Sugar
plantations in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jamaica</st1:place></st1:country-region>
in which the writer cites documents
relating to bills of exchange in the 1650s. A bill of exchange enabled a person
from <st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region> to send money
to his ‘agent’ (in this case, a brother) in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jamaica</st1:place></st1:country-region>, or, presumably, anywhere
else in the world.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What is a bill of exchange, how does it work? Basically,
it too is a forerunner of the modern cheque. It is a written order made by one
person (the drawer) to another person (the drawee – in the case of a modern
cheque that would be the bank) to pay a third person (the payee). The order is
addressed to the drawee, and he has to agree to pay the money to the payee. So,
while Roger was in exile, his father could have sent his allowance by a bill of
exchange.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A bill of exchange is negotiable. That means that the payee
could endorse the order in favour of someone else for them to draw on it. In
turn, they could also endorse the order in favour of yet another person and so
on <i>ad infinitum</i>. The last person to
hold the bill of exchange may claim the amount against the drawee, no matter
who else may think he has a claim on it. Which is why it is called ‘negotiable’
and why modern cheques are crossed and marked ‘non negotiable’. Of course a
negotiable bill of exchange could be subject to theft, forgery, and so on – I see
a plot developing here!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the case of the plantation, the owner lived in <st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region> and sent bills of exchange to his brother in <st1:place w:st="on">Jamaica</st1:place>.
The owner had a network of associates in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Jamaica</st1:country-region>, neighbours, family,
friends, one of whom could have been willing to act as the drawee, one who
trusted the owner to compensate him. Or perhaps the drawer had already deposited
money with the drawee in advance, say, before the drawee left <st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region> for <st1:country-region w:st="on">Jamaica</st1:country-region>. The account does not say.
The same might be true of those in Charles II’s court in exile. With regard to
the goldsmiths, had the drawer already deposited gold with them for use in the
future? Or was there some kind of network arrangement between goldsmiths? If
anyone knows, please tell me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
So that is the technical bit. Through bills of exchange, or
orders to goldsmiths, money could be sent to anywhere in the world, and our
characters need not be pining in poverty.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rebellion - Roger L'Estrange and the Kent Petition by Evelyn Tidman is available now in <a href="http://mybook.to/RebP">Print</a> and <a href="http://mybook.to/Reb">Kindle</a> or visit her <a href="http://www.evelyntidmanauthor.com/">website</a>.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5vxD7wHK_ldIhfS6_3Rz-m0P8UijQLmJmxw4LRvN5R5fXD_Hc_yaSNCzgekwxE_oNCcxSe9rcqbWe5NCfCXCAEzBqehLcMb1ZU2Gb61oQHjyk9v2CkxOEDKTdEJOec3mrxmO0Q2SDuam2/s1600/quarter+size+REBELLION+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5vxD7wHK_ldIhfS6_3Rz-m0P8UijQLmJmxw4LRvN5R5fXD_Hc_yaSNCzgekwxE_oNCcxSe9rcqbWe5NCfCXCAEzBqehLcMb1ZU2Gb61oQHjyk9v2CkxOEDKTdEJOec3mrxmO0Q2SDuam2/s320/quarter+size+REBELLION+copy.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></div>
Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-30069449828292352202016-09-19T07:57:00.001-07:002016-09-19T07:57:24.248-07:00HISTORICAL CALENDARS - JULIAN AND GREGORIAN <div class="MsoNormal">
While researching for my latest WIP I wanted to know on what day of the week a certain date in 1644 fell. So I found an online calendar for that year. Easy peasy? Well, no, not exactly. For when I came across some information which gave me a different day and date for that year, and
guess what? It did not tally with the online calendar. And that meant a headache for me. Why the discrepancy?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eventually, it dawned on me that the calendar changed, from Julian to Gregorian. Actually it was in 1752. Could
that be the reason? Was my 1644 online calendar wrong? Never let it be said, but that was the case.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After some digging, I found a Julian calendar.
If you want to know, it is here: <span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://5ko.free.fr/en/jul.php?y=1644">http://5ko.free.fr/en/jul.php?y=1644</a>
. </span>And guess what! The dates and days tallied with
the historical record.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So why did the calendar change from Julian to
Gregorian?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is all to do with the sun. The
Julian calendar, which had been in use since Julius Caesar for whom it was named, did not properly reflect the actual time it takes the Earth to circle
the sun. The Julian calendar had a formula which included a leap year every
four years. It meant that eventually the vernal equinox and the winter solstice
did not occur on the right date. The Gregorian calendar brought it all back
into line.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pope Gregory XIII (hence the name
Gregorian, of course!) issued a papal bull in 1582 decreeing that ten days
should be dropped when changing to the new calendar. But not every country
adopted the new Gregorian calendar immediately. While <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Italy</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Poland</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Portugal</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Spain</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Austria</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region>
(Catholic states) changed in 1582-3, other countries took longer, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Turkey</st1:country-region>, for
example waiting until 1926/27. And the longer they waited to change, the more
days had to be dropped to bring it into line with the Gregorian Calendar.
Britain and most areas of the US and Canada changed in 1752 and had to drop 11
days, while the Turks in 1926/7 had to drop 13 days.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why the discrepancy? It takes the
Earth approximately 365.242189 days to circle the Sun. That is 365 days, 5
hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds. If we did not have a leap year every four
years, we would lose almost six hours off our calendar each year. After 100
years, we would be out by 24 days. Notice the word <i>almost. </i>Almost six hours. Not six whole hours. Therefore, a leap
year is not <i>every</i> four years. To
identify a leap year, therefore, the year must be divisible by 4. If, however,
the year can be evenly divided by 100, it is not a leap year, unless it can
also be evenly divided by 400, then it is a leap year. (Confusing, ain't it!) So the year 2000 and
2400 are leap years. 1800, 1900, 2200, 2300 and 2500 are not leap years. Got
it?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My thanks to John Chapman on
Facebook who drew my attention to the following: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: #F6F7F9; color: #1d2129;">“1750 ran
from 25 March to 24 March, 365 days<br />
1751 ran from 25 March</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> to
31 December, 282 days<br />
1752 ran from 1 January to 31 December, 354 days (it should have been a leap
year but, the 29 Feb. and 11 days from the 3 to 13 September were missed out to
bring the calendar back in line with the Sun).<br />
1753 ran from 1 January to 31 December, 365 days.<br />
The <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
was still British at the time so it is the same. Other countries in <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place> changed their calendar from the Julian to
Gregorian on different dates - some earlier - some later.<span class="apple-converted-space">”</span></span> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He further added:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: #F6F7F9; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 9.0pt;"> </span></span><span class="uficommentbody"><span style="background: #F6F7F9; color: #1d2129;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">The tax year in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Britain</st1:country-region>
used to start on Lady Day(25th March) When they changed it they didn't dare
shorten the tax year which is why the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s tax year starts on 6th April
now.</span>”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His comments sent me off on another tack. Prior to the introduction of the
Gregorian calendar in 1582, New year was considered to be 25<sup>th</sup> March,
or as my friend John says above, Lady Day. This has led to great confusion
about dates. In the 17<sup>th</sup> and 18<sup>th</sup> centuries, dates
recorded between 1<sup>st</sup> January and 24<sup>th</sup> March were often
written thus: 22<sup>nd</sup> February, 1642/3. If there was no second figure there
could be confusion over whether the date was actually in 1642 or 1643 as we view
it. This is particularly true of dates of birth or death, leaving one wondering
if the person were actually 89 or 90 years old when they died! It took a long
while, probably until the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, for
people to make the change properly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So when you ask Google the day of
the week for a certain date, if it is before 1752 beware. They are probably
using the Gregorian calendar. Though why anyone would want to know what it
should have been according to the Gregorian calendar is beyond me. Don’t we want
to know how the people at the time viewed it? That means looking at the Julian
calendar.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now I have some corrections to
make! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Evelyn Tidman is the author of four historical novels.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Her latest work, set in 1648 during the English Civil Wars is out now on Amazon in both <a href="http://mybook.to/Reb">Kindle</a> and <a href="http://mybook.to/RebP">Print</a> versions.</b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvhbQyVRKMgQ0PskSgkbxq2GYSIMTYFIaw_J70veLfs60ZAILcgUtpsBQE7ex-9uVlKWPmL0rKQ9fnTMwO28wpBZrNae2VUsNViugXKzJ_zHbCF8uqcawc6h_YSlypeHSDBMLIihhrJRLJ/s1600/quarter+size+REBELLION+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvhbQyVRKMgQ0PskSgkbxq2GYSIMTYFIaw_J70veLfs60ZAILcgUtpsBQE7ex-9uVlKWPmL0rKQ9fnTMwO28wpBZrNae2VUsNViugXKzJ_zHbCF8uqcawc6h_YSlypeHSDBMLIihhrJRLJ/s320/quarter+size+REBELLION+copy.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-68446419290676327072014-12-10T07:16:00.002-08:002014-12-10T07:16:54.506-08:00PINTEREST - HOW TO USE IT Pinterest seems to be an enigma for many just starting out. And I must admit when I first signed up to the site, I put on a few pics, named one or two boards, and promptly forgot about it. Periodically I'd get an email from Pinterest suggesting boards I could follow, but I wasn't sure how that could be of any benefit to me.<br />
<br />
I am assuming you have a Pinterest account, and have signed in. So now what?<br />
<br />
<b>What can you <i>use</i> Pinterest for?</b><br />
<br />
You can use it for any pictures that you like, really. It keeps them in one place. You can refer back to them. For example, if you like gardening or are planning to design your own, you might like to collect some pics of gardens that you like or give you ideas. In that way, Pinterest is like a scrap book. In my case, I'm writing about the English Civil War and I want to see action shots, pictures of real people, the clothes they wore, the items they used and so on. It gives me ideas when I am writing, and will give me ideas for a book cover later. I am also fascinated by pirates and sailing ships as I wrote a pirate novel. The Pilgrim Fathers are another favourite. Spin offs are seventeenth century clothes, Tudor clothes, and so on. I am also fascinated by China (the country) and art and cooking - well as you can see the list is almost endless.<br />
<br />
<b>How does Pinterest <i>work</i>?</b><br />
<br />
Pinterest is a social media site. Just as with Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and others, you follow someone, they follow you. Simple. Well, not quite that simple. How do you know who to follow? Probably the easiest way is to put a subject in the Pinterest search box. If you like gardening (let's assume you do), search for 'gardening'. Now you are presented with some options. Click on one, say 'gardening DIY'. Now you are presented with a page of pictures. Hundreds of pictures. You can narrow the field if you like by clicking one of the icons above the pictures, or you can scroll down and look at whatever you want.<br />
<br />
Choose a picture. If you hover your cursor over it, you will see the 'pin it' button in the top left hand corner. Like this:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjceOF8X9sNGyJ9YNriVZ_TnZjwDOg_1PQFk4MhOlQLC99OV8RQhXu9S_zapjQZMO_MFZetHSMCwJrKjz3SEOjvF93FZJQRVk8V4QDqCVgWfyYyPRsdCbPggsvamoFnBhPPfAowY2PhqjV8/s1600/Gardening+Pinterest.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjceOF8X9sNGyJ9YNriVZ_TnZjwDOg_1PQFk4MhOlQLC99OV8RQhXu9S_zapjQZMO_MFZetHSMCwJrKjz3SEOjvF93FZJQRVk8V4QDqCVgWfyYyPRsdCbPggsvamoFnBhPPfAowY2PhqjV8/s1600/Gardening+Pinterest.png" height="400" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
If you click the red Pin it button, you will get something like this:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1U7BSOCqyZjG2HKPefxAiK4UOEE_1QJsBkrRwOng8pVMpXJPQHzuuVuYnU1zU2WFCrZaweXZoV6AIv-5AceCPDKF1b9qoV_DP5x2HqNQB9ICToq21Mv79trQEmKhE_Byus_GTzCZCWU21/s1600/Pinterest+pick+a+board.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1U7BSOCqyZjG2HKPefxAiK4UOEE_1QJsBkrRwOng8pVMpXJPQHzuuVuYnU1zU2WFCrZaweXZoV6AIv-5AceCPDKF1b9qoV_DP5x2HqNQB9ICToq21Mv79trQEmKhE_Byus_GTzCZCWU21/s1600/Pinterest+pick+a+board.png" height="170" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
I don't particularly want a picture related to gardening on my English Civil War board, so I need to change that to something more appropriate, or even create a new one. If you want to share it to Facebook or Twitter click those boxes, but remember next time to un-tick them if you don't want to keep sharing your pins with Facebook and Twitter! It tends to remember the last thing you did in that respect. If you want to add or change the description, do so now. Click '<i>Pin it'. </i>Job done.<br />
<br />
Now what happens next is that the person who put the picture on Pinterest in the first place will get an email saying that you have pinned one of their 'pins'. Now they may decide to follow you. If they do, you can decide to follow them, either all their boards, or just some of them, or one of them. To see all their boards, on the email notification, click on their profile picture, and you will see the options of all or some boards. You can repin other pics from their boards too, if you like.<br />
<br />
When you follow someone's board, every time they pin to that board, you get their 'pins' on your feed. To find your feed, click the red 'P' button at the side of the search bar. The feed is updated regularly. You can 'repin' from anything that comes in on your feed, thus starting the cycle of follow and follow back all over again. Be selective when following all of someone's boards. They could have lots, many of which will not be of interest to you. As you get their pins on your feed, you could find a lot of stuff that just clogs up the feed.<br />
<br />
That's the basics of how Pinterest works.<br />
<br />
<b>How can you use Pinterest for marketing?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
You can pin pictures not only from Pinterest, but also from your own computer, or from the net. To do so from your own computer is straightforward. To do so from other sites, you can do one of two things. One, you can download the picture to your computer first. For those who don't know, put the cursor over the picture, right click, click 'save image as', and put it where you can find it again, then upload it to Pinterest. Fine if you want a lot of extra pics on your computer, which rather means you don't need Pinterest then!<br />
<br />
The easier way is to get a 'pin it' button. You can try two ways. Put 'pin it button' in the search bar, or go to the question mark at the bottom right of the Pinterest page, and put it in the search there. Follow the instructions. It's very quick and this gives you a red 'P' at the right hand end of your task bar on your internet browser. Now, and here's the clever bit, when you are on the net and you come across a pic you want to pin, put the cursor over the pic, and the 'pin it' button magically appears in the top left hand corner:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglDIP0FoBHdcL9YSfWf2fUP6R_C3vgJMl5kVbTw7dwS8zOspNRBG6H0IqAMGo9lPb6Q8sfWQv0JPgM9LxlNgmfasLgU7cP-1W0Ng5aLBT-NAhV04_8ZxB7rxNs_7wvb_XXwPfqUFKk8rGB/s1600/Pin+it.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglDIP0FoBHdcL9YSfWf2fUP6R_C3vgJMl5kVbTw7dwS8zOspNRBG6H0IqAMGo9lPb6Q8sfWQv0JPgM9LxlNgmfasLgU7cP-1W0Ng5aLBT-NAhV04_8ZxB7rxNs_7wvb_XXwPfqUFKk8rGB/s1600/Pin+it.png" height="285" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Click it. This one is from Twitter, but you can get pins from anywhere on the web, (unless they have managed to disable that.)<br />
<br />
Now there is another clever bit. If others have pinned from anywhere on the net, you can find the site they pinned from. This is how.<br />
<br />
Go back to the gardening picture that you found on Pinterest, and hover the cursor over it. Now just click on the picture, and suddenly you've got a bigger version of the picture. Now you have some options at the top of the image. You can, of course, 'pin it'. You can 'Like it' (in which case the original pinner gets an email notification), you can 'send it', that is send it to someone who is also on Pinterest, or you can Facebook share. Or, you can go to 'Visit Site':<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimbkUY4RF8iJKacXNC46AESr6674SBCTyH2CjPyYtCFsPeeYVJAG11pwarjCAlCFYskuD581-zjb_eArDf8YPGKLysFcHCal-lGim1Suzixo64LaUm8xfYsB1CpPJWEMwr64QWeZIL7bjd/s1600/Visit+Site.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimbkUY4RF8iJKacXNC46AESr6674SBCTyH2CjPyYtCFsPeeYVJAG11pwarjCAlCFYskuD581-zjb_eArDf8YPGKLysFcHCal-lGim1Suzixo64LaUm8xfYsB1CpPJWEMwr64QWeZIL7bjd/s1600/Visit+Site.png" height="350" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Clicking Visit Site will take you to the original website. Very useful if you want to know how to put plants in bottles, or if you want a recipe or whatever.<br />
<br />
Also very useful if you want to advertise your stuff. Create a board for the items you want to advertise. Start putting pictures on it of anything related to the item. With my pirate book, as I said before, it is anything to do with pirates or ships. Also add a pic of the item itself. You probably don't need me to tell you to go to your own site or selling platform as a member of the public would, and pin a picture of the item of interest from there. Don't upload it from your computer, because it will not take the person looking on Pinterest anywhere. You can add a note about it if you like on the bottom of the picture. You can also add a URL, but it would need to be a shortened one. Periodically, pin a picture of your item of interest again as it will get buried under other pins you've done on that board. Remember, your pins will go out to your followers' feeds, which may cause them to look at your board.<br />
<br />
Does Pinterest help in marketing? Yes, definitely, but it is difficult to say how much, as there is no way of monitoring how many people will go to your website or whatever from Pinterest.<br />
<br />
I hope this helps all you who are wondering what to do with Pinterest.<br />
<br />
Happy pinning!<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Evelyn Tidman is the author of:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkb8q8ThtgdhfpYITe_pHLlaXK7lbiHtc2VgX_tHnYZmWPQNitOzBwPqDX_YYTDWYYhSTZdzYHbZCJ12Cx9qlgsamrBDop7cgr00U2Kp29DP2HigZWvIhtSA82UmiW8wMN4QUs2OYZnINo/s1600/ONE+SMALL+CANDLE2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkb8q8ThtgdhfpYITe_pHLlaXK7lbiHtc2VgX_tHnYZmWPQNitOzBwPqDX_YYTDWYYhSTZdzYHbZCJ12Cx9qlgsamrBDop7cgr00U2Kp29DP2HigZWvIhtSA82UmiW8wMN4QUs2OYZnINo/s1600/ONE+SMALL+CANDLE2.JPG" height="200" width="131" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcWEkEHMrGqT_BATx-VXP7PJ9sE_asMG5jfibBM2B_GFutEiP7aFSijx9j0qCAL3jFDcAQ77Dhe8yaq00qVulzrpkLtL4pr-QlSqQoK0sTdZ5pSxKwniDsAwNgPRJgvW1SQ4SanTgvvdKN/s1600/GENTLEMAN+OF+FORTUNE2+(1)%2BThis%2Bis%2Bit!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcWEkEHMrGqT_BATx-VXP7PJ9sE_asMG5jfibBM2B_GFutEiP7aFSijx9j0qCAL3jFDcAQ77Dhe8yaq00qVulzrpkLtL4pr-QlSqQoK0sTdZ5pSxKwniDsAwNgPRJgvW1SQ4SanTgvvdKN/s1600/GENTLEMAN+OF+FORTUNE2+(1)%2BThis%2Bis%2Bit!.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMZEvL4iC1-kwNikMfntufYCmLt7V7BQGaiG13xsErkf1FNDo3Agth8bpL4CKor6gZasNWaldZl8RzFXU_T9A5AdnTy8jIL0WGdjSc2ZQuY6FOfdvppRyx1zTsEbyOUksosf7w9btzbXO/s1600/Front+Cover+-1+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMZEvL4iC1-kwNikMfntufYCmLt7V7BQGaiG13xsErkf1FNDo3Agth8bpL4CKor6gZasNWaldZl8RzFXU_T9A5AdnTy8jIL0WGdjSc2ZQuY6FOfdvppRyx1zTsEbyOUksosf7w9btzbXO/s1600/Front+Cover+-1+copy.jpg" height="200" width="141" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Available on Amazon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.evelyntidmanauthor.com</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-87304599887073902632014-10-25T07:43:00.001-07:002014-10-25T07:43:40.501-07:00FORMATTING YOUR FILE FOR CREATE SPACE PRINT ON DEMANDPreviously, I wrote about formatting a book file for Kindle, which you can find <a href="http://evelyntidmanwrites.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/formatting-your-book-for-kindle-for.html">here:</a><br />
<br />
However, I thought it would be a good idea to also explain a little about formatting for Create Space, Amazon's print on demand subsidiary.<br />
<br />
I will assume you have your book already completed and ready to go, without the formatting in place. However, if you happen to be at the beginning, having not written a word so far, then you can implement the what-have-you's before you start, which will make life a whole lot easier.<br />
<br />
You are going to want your book to look like any other printed book. If you take an ordinary book off your bookshelves, you will notice several things about the way the pages are set out. This is what you are going to do with yours.<br />
<br />
First, it all needs to be in single line-spacing. On Word 2003 and probably other versions of Word, you should have the option of single or double line-spacing on your toolbar. If not, go into Tools > customise > commands > format and in the right hand pane scroll down until you find a box with two horizontal parallel lines (single line-spacing). Click and drag to toolbar. Do the same for one and a half line-spacing and double if you like.<br />
<br />
On your document (and I am assuming you have all the chapters and all the bits and pieces like title page, and copyright page etc. all in the same file) Highlight All (control + A). Click your single-line-space thingy.<br />
<br />
You do not need extra line spaces between paragraphs, unless you are starting a new scene. Then you have an extra line space to indicate that.<br />
<br />
You need to justify your margins (that is, make them level each side.) You have an icon on the toolbar for that. Or you can control + J. A note here, especially for the English. We do not need two spaces after full-stops (periods in American!), colons, question marks,exclamation marks etc. If you have put them in you will find out why we don't need them when you justify your margins! Reduce them to one space. (Find/replace menu on Edit.) When you're checking your work before publishing, this is something you need to be vigilant about - we do not want hulking great gaps in our text, now, do we?<br />
<br />
Take out 'orphans and widows' and 'Keep lines together'. This is an infuriating thing Word puts in. Basically, it is designed to stop you splitting paragraphs, so that you do not have one line of a paragraph at the bottom of one page and the rest on the next. Fine if you are writing a letter. A pain in the nether-regions when you are formatting a book. Because you will notice in books that all the pages are nicely lined up at the top and bottom with no dirty-great gaps until the end of the chapter. That's what you want. So, highlight all (control + A) go into Format > paragraph > lines and page breaks. Make sure everything is unchecked. Hopefully that will take it all out. If you find you still have a problem with it at a certain location in the text, you will need to go directly to that problem, and go through the sequence again. Sometimes Word can mess you about on this one. If anyone from Microsoft reads this, can you please stop Word automatically installing orphans and widows in future!<br />
<br />
Now you will perhaps have indented your paragraphs using the tab key. Apparently, this is a no-no. To undo that, Highlight All, (control + A) Format > Indents and Spacing. Where it says 'Special' and beneath it in the drop down box 'First Line' click the down arrow beside it. Click 'none' and OK. You will lose all your paragraph indents throughout the file. Do not panic. Go to Format again, indents and spacing. Now on the left hand side where it says 'Indentation' in the box marked 'left' you will see 0 cm. Change that to 1.0 cm. Click OK. Now it will seem to you that nothing has happened to your text. Actually, what has happened is that all the text has moved over 1 cm to the right. That is because you now have hanging paragraphs. You need to un-hang the paragraphs. To do this, if you do not have the command on your toolbar, you need to go into Tools > Customise > Commands > Format and scroll down until you find Hanging Indent and beneath it Un Hang. Click and drag Un Hang to your toolbar. When you've done that, and with your document highlighted, click Un Hang. Suddenly your text has indented paragraphs.<br />
<br />
Now each new chapter and each new scene where you have a break in the chapter starts with a block paragraph. There is no easy way to tell you this! You just have to go through the text and each time you come to it you have to alter it by hand. This is how you do it. Put your cursor at the beginning of the text you want to align on the left. Format > paragraph > Indents and Spacing > special and in the drop down box click none. Sorted.<br />
<br />
If you want to centre anything, like title chapters, you can highlight it and click control + E, and it will go to the centre. But if it is already indented on the left, it will put it slightly off-centre to the right. To correct this, highlight the centred object, and take out the indent as above: Format > paragraph > Indents and Spacing > Special dropdown: none. THEN do control + E and it will be nicely in the centre. Sometimes, you find that Word centres the whole of the next paragraph as well! Don't ask me why! Just highlight it and on your toolbar click 'justify' or control J.<br />
<br />
Begin each chapter on a new page. At the end of each chapter you need to Insert > page break.<br />
<br />
To centre the title pages: You will have selected your font and size, etc. You will have centred your title page as you want it. But it will be at the top of your page, not in the centre where you want it. Make sure you have inserted a page break after the last letter on the page. Highlight the page. Then into File > page setup > layout. Then:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG8HOK8dgT71RbrgSg18tTPwlEwvLyeIxdPmh0zxpJRrcwQCbXbrEnilz4FiPvA28ihWcrG0hEe1f5Sjnq-MMV4yNm7ZwlfZdtFyH_h4brgw0g3LBwm6wgPrx9EKqdP4GeOx1gsTH912R0/s1600/Centering+vertically.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG8HOK8dgT71RbrgSg18tTPwlEwvLyeIxdPmh0zxpJRrcwQCbXbrEnilz4FiPvA28ihWcrG0hEe1f5Sjnq-MMV4yNm7ZwlfZdtFyH_h4brgw0g3LBwm6wgPrx9EKqdP4GeOx1gsTH912R0/s1600/Centering+vertically.png" height="320" width="263" /></a></div>
<br />
Make sure the section start is New Page. Make sure under Headers and Footers Differet odd and even and different first page are both checked. Make sure Vertical alignment says centre. And make sure you apply this to 'This Section' or it will do the whole book!<br />
<br />
Repeat for your copyright page etc.<br />
<br />
Numbering pages. Oh what a pain this can be. Reason being if you want your numbers on the outside top corner of the page, each odd number will be on the right of the page, and each even number will be on the left. You do this on the Header and Footer menu on View on your toolbar. It should look something like this:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuk03clJzayeDH7cEvzmES368sshVXZ4aX0JL_PAmgn9gyo6JR2-jvXUTQnyksNA1JObZwo7B6fADdPyOOuocndRhqlvtUllYNYhZzt1lAVBDz3Tt5wf9R3BAE6UbsHdQZTtIpPot_1y58/s1600/Header+and+footer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuk03clJzayeDH7cEvzmES368sshVXZ4aX0JL_PAmgn9gyo6JR2-jvXUTQnyksNA1JObZwo7B6fADdPyOOuocndRhqlvtUllYNYhZzt1lAVBDz3Tt5wf9R3BAE6UbsHdQZTtIpPot_1y58/s1600/Header+and+footer.png" height="400" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Next bit it that blue bar. You need to go to page setup on that - slide the cursor along until you find it. This what you get:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAWztOIsBYh69Iz2urVbqqejjVXehVCyD4cixB0xD_kaYlKkMSo14xbko6fDWHo-iA111W5-pT9JU3SbYdYyQXvYpEl2wQWuvn71kSzZLhPJ-4Kfc3uUAlsuJwIaymWcvpp2fdGdh2rIh2/s1600/Headers+for+page+numbers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAWztOIsBYh69Iz2urVbqqejjVXehVCyD4cixB0xD_kaYlKkMSo14xbko6fDWHo-iA111W5-pT9JU3SbYdYyQXvYpEl2wQWuvn71kSzZLhPJ-4Kfc3uUAlsuJwIaymWcvpp2fdGdh2rIh2/s1600/Headers+for+page+numbers.png" height="416" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Notice, again you have Different odd and even page and Different first page checked. Your vertical alignment is Top. And you apply to Whole document. Click OK.<br />
<br />
Now back to the blue bar. Since you do not want a page number on the first page, go to page 2, decide where you want the number to be by going into the dotted line box at the top of the page and clicking the position. Now go into your blue bar and the first icon is Insert page numbers. Click it, and a 2 should appear where you had clicked in the dotted line box. Move down to the next page, go into the dotted line box, move the cursor to where you want the page number to be (opposite side to previous page) and click. Then in blue box click Insert Page number. It should say 3. The next page should automatically say 4, the next 5 and so on, with the numbers alternating sides.<br />
<br />
If you do not want page numbers on your title pages, then go to where you want the numbers to start. On the menu in the illustration above, instead of Apply to Whole Document instead in the drop down box you want This point Forward. You will now see that it is labelled in the dotted line box section 2 and also you will see Link to previous. That means the numbers will run on, but this section is different to the last. You can repeat this for each chapter heading. I have a new section for each of the Title, copyright, dedication pages, etc. Mess about with it. You can always re-do it. Close the blue bar.<br />
<br />
Remember, you will want Chapter 1 to start on an odd page number (Think about it!)<br />
<br />
Now for the actual pages. You can download a template from Create Space, highlight all (control +A) copy, (control + C) and paste (control + V). However, you may find you need to do some adjusting, especially at the beginning. I leave that bit to you.<br />
<br />
If you wish to do it yourself, this is how it is done. File > page setup. Make sure it is on Portrait. >paper. Select the size, or type in the size you want. It is a good idea to make sure it is a standard size for Create Space files, or if you are printing independently, for them too. Create Space like 6 in x 9 in. Independent printers like A5 or something like.<br />
<br />
Now you need to adjust your margins. This is what Create Space gave me for a 6 in x 9 in book.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1huppi-s88sA0_Gvv9xAFyBief5nWV2g4NKxQiMENjbIGyNHGj7iHxrlxMvUoj5jam1oFivkJpfMZFX8RhCFaKbL8nf1EfTeWlx54btjsd_DZWFSgPSwUqsGkgfFUm7Jap1F5jqu0ZalX/s1600/page+set+up+for+Create+Space.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1huppi-s88sA0_Gvv9xAFyBief5nWV2g4NKxQiMENjbIGyNHGj7iHxrlxMvUoj5jam1oFivkJpfMZFX8RhCFaKbL8nf1EfTeWlx54btjsd_DZWFSgPSwUqsGkgfFUm7Jap1F5jqu0ZalX/s1600/page+set+up+for+Create+Space.png" height="320" width="266" /></a></div>
<br />
You will note that there is .33 cm for the gutter. The gutter is a print industry term for the bit of the page nearest the spine, so that the text doesn't run into the spine. Notice also that instead of left and right margins, you have Inside and Outside. That is because we have put 'mirror margins' in the drop-down box. Make sure the orientation is Portrait. Click OK when you have done that.<br />
<br />
Convert to a PDF file. You can buy a PDF converter disc on Ebay for as little as £5.00. Or you can pay a whole lot more for an Adobe one. I got a £5.00 version and when I converted the file, all the letters were on top of each other! I threw that one away and bought a different £5.00 one and it is fine. Easy to use. And as an added bonus, it will also change the pixel density in pictures and convert them from anything to J.PEG or anything else. A good £5.00 worth I think.<br />
<br />
I think that just about covers it.<br />
<br />
The next job is to get your Create Space account and go through the motions of uploading files. If I've forgotten anything, let me know.<br />
<br />
Evelyn Tidman is the author of GENTLEMAN OF FORTUNE, The Adventures of Bartholomew Roberts, Pirate, and ONE SMALL CANDLE, The Story of William Bradford and the Pilgrim Fathers. See <a href="http://www.evelyntidmanauthor.com/">website</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRCtTKERa2pLK-0x03KYGsA-qzwg8Ej20hKFORbnSn42fv64lmElNgSPexWlqJweoWm83VeG7rZVwpAiyJiaHxes-xAC6cU7FQhUE0w1aIwTRc4_CVGxBe3eOnjBgOOnQirKt2zFam_I5Z/s1600/Both+book+covers+together.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRCtTKERa2pLK-0x03KYGsA-qzwg8Ej20hKFORbnSn42fv64lmElNgSPexWlqJweoWm83VeG7rZVwpAiyJiaHxes-xAC6cU7FQhUE0w1aIwTRc4_CVGxBe3eOnjBgOOnQirKt2zFam_I5Z/s1600/Both+book+covers+together.jpg" height="241" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-1623514980753362472014-08-20T07:02:00.000-07:002014-08-20T07:07:36.533-07:00The Day my Daughter Nearly Died of Toxic Shock Syndrome<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-BEdQUVH9Y9BZnQvD1omM4io_hmonUWyrSVlnYxqI9iXd3qgwWCkjqs2yFcjBoPaIF5lEIOJlo9A__ZIoGoAOgyhzuQROBAlbJYi2LVgu3mkzTk_GONSaAT-XUdXc934HgF4ivnEdaWCC/s1600/Nic.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-BEdQUVH9Y9BZnQvD1omM4io_hmonUWyrSVlnYxqI9iXd3qgwWCkjqs2yFcjBoPaIF5lEIOJlo9A__ZIoGoAOgyhzuQROBAlbJYi2LVgu3mkzTk_GONSaAT-XUdXc934HgF4ivnEdaWCC/s1600/Nic.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nic </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I was just about to get into the shower to go out when the phone rang. My son-in-law Duncan asked: 'Do you think you can come over?'<br />
'Why do you want me to come over?'<br />
'Nic's not well.'<br />
'What's wrong with her?'<br />
He told me that my daughter of twenty-seven had been ill all night with sickness and diarrhoea and that he had to go out. Would I sit with her? 'I'll be up later,' I said and went off to have my shower.<br />
<br />
Well you know how it is when something doesn't sound quite right. Duncan never phones me. For him to ring and ask for me to come over was Duncan's shorthand for: 'We need help!' So when I came out of the shower I hurriedly dressed and drove the fifteen miles to their house.<br />
<br />
Nic had a temperature, I could see that, but she had taken paracetamol and she felt a little better. 'I think I've got food poisoning,' she said, but she added that she was at the tail end of her menstrual period. She had been taken ill on the Thursday while in London and had made it back to Norfolk later that day. Friday she was still feeling unwell and that night she started the vomiting etc. Today was Saturday, so no doctors except the emergency doctors.<br />
<br />
OK, we've all had food poisoning. And we've all recovered. After Duncan had been out and done whatever it was he had to do, I left them. It was lunchtime by now. I phoned at five o'clock to see how she was, expecting Duncan to tell me she was much better. But no! 'She's worse!' he said.<br />
<br />
I ordered him to get the emergency doctor, and he came, reluctantly, and pronounced that it was appendicitis. 'I don't think it's appendix,' I said to my husband. 'She's got no stomach ache.' Well, anyway, the doctor ordered an ambulance.<br />
<br />
By this time we were in the car and on our way - first to the hospital where there was no sign of Duncan's car, and then to their house (which was not far away from the hospital) where they were still waiting for the ambulance. Now I was shocked to see my daughter. She was drifting in and out of consciousness, and was bright red, so hot with fever. It took the ambulance two hours to come, owing to the fact that it was Guy Fawkes night and half the county was busy getting themselves burned! If we could have got her down the stairs we would have taken her to the hospital ourselves.<br />
<br />
At the hospital the doctors said it was definitely not appendix (so I was right there!), but they did not know what it was. They admitted Nic to the ward with a rehydration drip in her arm, and reluctantly at 11.00 pm we left her, still none the wiser, but now extremely worried.<br />
<br />
At about midnight, by which time she had seen about eight doctors, they informed my daughter that they would give her an internal examination, for which she demanded a female doctor. Which decision saved her life. The only female doctor they could find turned out to be the gynaecologist who took one look at Nic and said: 'Toxic shock,' and ordered intravenous penicillin.<br />
<br />
The eight (male) doctors who were scratching their heads had not added up the facts - the menstrual period including tampon use, the high fever. The vomiting and diarrhoea had everyone thinking it was food poisoning.<br />
<br />
So, just what is Toxic Shock Syndrome? What are the symptoms.<br />
<br />
From Toxic Shock Syndrome Information Service at <a href="http://www.toxicshock.com/tssfacts/">http://www.toxicshock.com/tssfacts/</a> we learn:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif;">Toxic shock syndrome is a rare but very serious illness that can develop rapidly in anyone </strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif;">From a UK population of around 60 million there were about 40 cases reported each year, half of which are associated with women using tampons [Source: UK Public Health Laboratory Service 1985-1995]</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif;">Men, women and children can get toxic shock syndrome, </strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif;">for example following burns, boils, insect bites or infections after surgery. About half of the reported cases are linked to women who use tampons; the other half are not.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif;">With early diagnosis toxic shock syndrome can be successfully treated. </strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif;">Sadly, however, out of the small number of people who fall ill each year, 2-3 people die from TSS. It is important to remember that if TSS is diagnosed and treated early there is a good chance of recovery.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif;">Most doctors will never see a case of toxic shock syndrome. </strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif;">TSS is so rare that most doctors will not come across TSS during their medical careers.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333;">From the last comment, perhaps that is why the doctors did not know what it was. So just what are the symptoms?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333;">The same site tells us:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Some of the symptoms of TSS are much like severe ‘flu’ and usually include some or all of the following:</span></span><br />
<ul style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; margin: 8px 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;">
<li style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 5px; padding-top: 4px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">a sudden high fever (temperature)</span></li>
<li style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 5px; padding-top: 4px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">vomiting</span></li>
<li style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 5px; padding-top: 4px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">a sunburn-like rash</span></li>
<li style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 5px; padding-top: 4px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">diarrhoea</span></li>
<li style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 5px; padding-top: 4px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">fainting or feeling faint</span></li>
<li style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 5px; padding-top: 4px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">muscle aches</span></li>
<li style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 5px; padding-top: 4px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">dizziness</span></li>
<li style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 5px; padding-top: 4px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">confusion</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; padding: 15px 0px 0px;">
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">What should I do if I have these symptoms?</span></strong></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; padding: 15px 0px 0px;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong>Consult your doctor at once</strong>, if you or anyone you know, has some of these symptoms and suspect TSS. If you are wearing a tampon remove it and tell your doctor that you have been using tampons. Don’t worry about being alarmist – it is important to rule out the possibility of having TSS and if necessary your doctor will then be able to begin treatment early.</span></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333;">Well, you will be pleased to know that that incident was some twelve years ago and Nic recovered well, although it took some six weeks or more for her to be fully over it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333;">As for me, I will never forget the night my daughter nearly died.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333;">Evelyn Tidman is the author of GENTLEMAN OF FORTUNE the Adventures of Bartholomew Roberts, Pirate and ONE SMALL CANDLE The Story of the Pilgrim Fathers. <a href="http://www.evelyntidmanauthor.com/">www.evelyntidmanauthor.com</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-14252512102253472332014-06-15T08:14:00.002-07:002016-02-20T13:51:42.746-08:00OVERCOMING ADDICTION TO CODEINE<br />
A 19 year old boy died of methodone overdose our local paper told us yesterday. Another junkie bites the dust? No, the story goes on to say that he became addicted to ordinary prescription painkillers. He had a dislocated shoulder and had been given the tablets for the pain. In a short while he was addicted. The methodone, of course, was supposed to break the addiction.<br />
<br />
Meantime, my own dear husband developed arthritis in his hip. X rays showed that he had no cartilage whatsovever, bone on bone, with excruciating pain. He was given co-codamol for the pain on prescription, which continued after his hip replacement operation. Came the day when there was no more pain, and he thought he didn't need the painkillers any more. But he too was addicted.<br />
<br />
Stopping the tablets made him feel very ill, with aches in arms and legs, restlessness, depressive feeling to the point of suicidal thoughts, heart palpitations, breathlessness, feeling cold, and a general feeling of being unwell. It took us a day to realise it was withdrawal from the tablets, and reading the leaflet in with the pack, it told us exactly that! Back on the tablets, he returned to normal within an hour!<br />
<br />
How common is prescription medication addiction? Well, there doesn't seem to be any information that we could access. But there are sites on line which talk about codeine addiction. A friend who works in a local pharmacy, said that there were a number of people who came in regularly for codeine/paracetamol tablets whom they had on a 'watch' list.<br />
<br />
Why is codeine addictive? Simply put, it is an opiate in the same family as tramadol, morphine, and heroin. And we all know how addictive heroin is.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkbtFr4yF7pkh3aPyhnqo1ygbRlD1-pqekM2HxdIJs3QsxeUSDC6Oda3Mr-gymIDnetrVgc-C0KcQqA81F_PPGlOmjl4CcZi6yIXAmESJ-bElqFw19h6F6W0FzVkxwH4McKpwD-P0lj4Dw/s1600/Cocodamol+tablets.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkbtFr4yF7pkh3aPyhnqo1ygbRlD1-pqekM2HxdIJs3QsxeUSDC6Oda3Mr-gymIDnetrVgc-C0KcQqA81F_PPGlOmjl4CcZi6yIXAmESJ-bElqFw19h6F6W0FzVkxwH4McKpwD-P0lj4Dw/s320/Cocodamol+tablets.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
So, if you found yourself addicted, what can you do about it?<br />
<br />
The sites we looked at all recommended going 'cold turkey'. That is, to just stop the tablets. It would take five days to be free of the tablets, but each day of those five days would increase the symptoms of withdrawal. The pain would increase. (We assumed they meant headache, although my husband did not suffer that; perhaps they meant other, nerve or muscle pain, particularly in the arms and legs.) It did not sound like an option for my husband who has suffered a heart attack two years ago and we did not feel we could risk the palpitations and breathlessness.<br />
<br />
So we went to our doctor, who flatly told us that he didn't think the symptoms my husband experienced could be co-codamol withdrawal! He thought the symptoms could be down to thyroid dysfunction, so he ordered a blood test (ten days to get a blood test, and another five to get the results.) Then come back and see him.<br />
<br />
Back to our friendly website, where one person in America said that her doctor had told her to halve the medication for a week, then again for another week and so on. She decided to go cold turkey, so we have no idea how she got on. But we decided to try that method on our own.<br />
<br />
As the tablets were 30 mg codeine and 500 mg of paracetamol each, and the dose had been two tablets four times a day, making 60 mg of codeine per dose, or 240 mg per day, we could halve the dose by cutting out one tablet. So that's what we did. Initially, he had a few small effects, especially as the time for the next dose came near, but in a short time the body adjusted, and five days later we felt ready for the next drop.<br />
<br />
However, where could we get 15 mg of codeine? Well in Britain, you cannot buy codeine on its own over the counter. You can buy 20mg codeine with ibuprofen over the counter. But heart attack patients cannot take ibuprofen. But we could buy 8mg codeine/500mg paracetamol tablets. And only 32 of them at a time. Why? Because the pack tells you in plain language that they are addictive!<br />
<br />
Anyway, so now it was 2 of those four times a day, and that lasted for four days until the next drop, which was down to just one 8 mg tablet per dose. The first day he had four doses. The second day he had three doses, but the arm and leg aches returned just before each dose. The day after (getting impatient here) he dropped it again by cutting the tablet in half. He had one half (4 mg) twice that day, but just before bed the aches got worse, so he succumbed to an 8 mg. The next day he had no tablets at all until just before bed, when the arms and legs ache came on again, when he had a half tablet (4 mg.) But he did have a very bad night. The next morning he didn't seem to need any, but again just before bed-time he had to have another 4 mg.<br />
<br />
The day after he decided he wasn't going to have the one before bedtime at all. So a completely codeine free day. The aches came on again, but he took two ordinary paracetamol. He had a bad night's sleep, but survived it.<br />
<br />
Yesterday he had no tablets, and no aches only a 'slight feeling' in his arms, and a good night.<br />
<br />
The whole process took us 17 days to be completely free.<br />
<br />
We found also that a good all-round B vitamin tablet helped with the depressive feelings.<br />
<br />
Was it easy? Well, no. Each time we halved the dose, the body reacted, especially at the time just before the next dose was due. The reaction, though was a lot less than the day when he thought he would go cold turkey! It was do-able.<br />
<br />
As for me, I have needed a lot of patience to support him. I had to keep encouraging him. He could do it. I had to remain positive. And when he was bad-tempered (unusual for my normally placid husband) I had to try not to be bad tempered back. Well, we've been married over 42 years now, so we have learned to support each other in love.<br />
<br />
Another thing that helped was keeping a chart of the time and what tablets taken. When we found it hard going we could look back and see the progress he had made.<br />
<br />
Now he is free. Never again will those wretched things darken our doors. It's been a fight, but we got there.<br />
<br />
I have published this post because others may benefit from our experience.<br />
<br />
<br />
Evelyn Tidman is the author of factual historical novels GENTLEMAN OF FORTUNE The Adventures of Bartholomew Roberts, Pirate; ONE SMALL CANDLE The Story of William Bradford and the Pilgrim Fathers; FOR THE KING, Roger L'Estrange and the Siege of King's Lynn.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.evelyntidmanauthor.com/">evelyntidmanauthor.com</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaICqg4S8yp-dh5nKmRy8sMVZXwV75_1ho9dpKc8zbcPi2DZ0Z981-Wt9U9oUv8l9hlLkT-CjTvfzZzrGF-7JCaVzxPKwBYc9Nt1GF9_ZG7MugOc1VpiAaqf5ywzJA-KldkUzfdGhu0ZDi/s1600/Three+book+covers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaICqg4S8yp-dh5nKmRy8sMVZXwV75_1ho9dpKc8zbcPi2DZ0Z981-Wt9U9oUv8l9hlLkT-CjTvfzZzrGF-7JCaVzxPKwBYc9Nt1GF9_ZG7MugOc1VpiAaqf5ywzJA-KldkUzfdGhu0ZDi/s320/Three+book+covers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-73519083504118451472014-06-02T05:29:00.000-07:002014-06-02T11:27:55.460-07:00THE GOOD OLD DAYS?Today we live in a world of indoor plumbing, central heating, electricity, to say nothing of the technology which seems to have overtaken us. But what was it like for poorer people in Britain years ago? Even fifty or sixty years ago, people seemed to be living in the 'dark ages'.<br />
<br />
Modernisation came slowly to rural areas. My grandmother lived in a cottage in the Essex countryside in the fifties<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">with no electricity. She had gas-lighting. She had to pull a chain on it to
start the gas coming through, and put a match to the 'mantle' a small
dome-shaped mesh (about an inch or so across and perhaps an inch and a half
long) which over time would disintegrate and have to be replaced. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 16px;">You would have to get a new one (came in a box of six) from the 'ironmongers'. They were so delicate that when they had been used once, if you touched them you would put your finger through them. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">I always worried that Gran would gas herself, or us (in the days of coal gas, you understand) or that she would blow us all up! It used to make a loud 'poof' as it ignited! But it seemed to work. The gaslight had a peculiar smell which never seemed to dissipate. Makes you wonder how they didn't all asphyxiate from carbon monoxide poisoning.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Of course, there was the open fire. Everyone had an open fire. In London the accumulated smoke from domestic and industrial use of coal combined with certain weather conditions to produce a thick smog. I can remember my Dad having to follow a bus home one night, because you just could not see further than ten feet ahead! </span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Because you had just one coal fire in the house, you lived in one room and spent the evening huddled around a minute black-and-white television with a screen no bigger than a tablet today. The bedrooms were unheated. Net curtains stuck to the windows with frost in the mornings, and you could see your breath. Everything was done in the one living room - you washed in the adjoining kitchen, and you dressed in front of the fire if you did not want to catch pneumonia. The 'front room' which was supposed to be 'posh' was not only unheated, but also abandoned, and became the dumping ground for everything no-one knew what to do with. </span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Later, we graduated to a sparkly new gas fire. But when that new-fangled thing called central heating came in, many people avoided it, not just because of the expense (all that money to install a lot of radiators!) but also because they thought it was unhealthy! This at a time when everyone smoked, and we kids were almost kippered from the smoke of the fire! People also thought that sleeping in a heated bedroom made you weak. You needed to be toughened up! And everyone knew that running gas central heating was so expensive. Well no. The cost of running it was on a par with running a gas fire all day! I did not experience central heating until long after I was married when my husband and I moved to a new house in Norfolk, which was in 1979. And we were the exception then.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Gran in the cottage had a toilet at the bottom of the garden in a
shed full of bits of wood, spiders and their huge webs, to say nothing of the
mice and rats. The toilet consisted of an oil drum (a large round tin can about 3ft
high, rusting and really unlovely) with a toilet seat perched precariously on it! I wouldn't go down
there if I could help it! What did they do with the contents of that oil drum? Well, some people dug a hole in the garden and buried it! Ugh! In Norfolk they had the 'honey cart' which came round at night and collected it. I wouldn't like to say what happened to it then. </span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
In our small Edwardian terraced house in London, we had the luxury of a fully flushing toilet (with the cistern suspended above your head and a long chain for the flush). However, it was 'outside'. Thankfully we had a 'lean-to' or glass conservatory-type building to keep the elements off, which was a luxury our neighbours did not have, but it was still perishingly cold in winter. Most people thought an indoor toilet was 'unhealthy'. More unhealthy than constipation because you couldn't sit there long enough because it was so cold? People had a chamber pot (affectionately called a 'guzunder' because it goes under the bed - get it?) for night time.We had running hot and cold water, but no proper bathroom until Dad built an extension on the house. We kids were washed in the kitchen sink. And the toilet stayed outside.<br />
<br />
Grandmother didn't fare so well. She had a tin bath. I don't know if, at her age, she ever used it, but tin baths were usually placed in front of the fire in the living room, or in front of the range in the kitchen if there was room. Water was heated on the range and tipped into the bath and the family would start with the youngest child and work up to Father. He probably came out dirtier and smellier than he went in! Hair was washed in the kitchen sink, teeth were cleaned in the kitchen sink. All washing of bodies and clothes was done in the kitchen sink. Clothes were wrung out using a mangle, which fascinated us kids!<br />
<br />
My husband and I moved out of London to Norfolk in 1979. A friend of mine brought up in King's Lynn, Norfolk, also in the fifties, did not even have running water. Instead they had a pump at the end of the street. Mind you, we still have a saying in Norfolk that the county is at least ten years behind the rest of the country! I wonder if that is still true? Technology is creeping in even here.<br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Sometime in the sixties, my
grandmother moved out and the cottages (which were probably extremely picturesque and would be worth a fortune today) were demolished, and she went to live with my aunt and uncle, being deemed to old to care for herself. She died aged 79 in 1962.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Ah! Those were the days! The good old days? Give me modern conveniences every time.</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;">Evelyn Tidman is the author of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;">GENTLEMAN OF FORTUNE The Adventures of Bartholomew Roberts, Pirate </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;">and ONE SMALL CANDLE The Story of William Bradford and the Pilgrim Fathers available from Amazon </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;">in print and in Kindle</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;">: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_13?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=evelyn%20tidman&sprefix=EVELYN+TIDMAN%2Caps%2C1873" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;">US</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Evelyn+Tidman" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;">UK</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;"> </span><a href="http://bit.ly/181cHlv" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;">Australia</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;"> </span><a href="http://bit.ly/1dIkfYz" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;">Canada</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;"> . For other countries please see Amazon.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;">See website: www.evelyntidmanauthor.com</span>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7m4KfgESJpO-cJ8SwIHSO02iPDrlVmae4jXP9DYg67NvzdUF9G4zE5ToN2zyoxe_Tj3LJ7i02JdNz3tn96vkHzw5hxzVGGcp90CSTjgM-dujo70olQrWLMLIt1sYbCjYc8pLcQkN9rRw7/s1600/GENTLEMAN+OF+FORTUNE2+(1)+This+is+it!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7m4KfgESJpO-cJ8SwIHSO02iPDrlVmae4jXP9DYg67NvzdUF9G4zE5ToN2zyoxe_Tj3LJ7i02JdNz3tn96vkHzw5hxzVGGcp90CSTjgM-dujo70olQrWLMLIt1sYbCjYc8pLcQkN9rRw7/s1600/GENTLEMAN+OF+FORTUNE2+(1)+This+is+it!.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFFO_LisvtS7p0AmrzOVKJyB0UO3qM4YDOShEvObrJFGw38lMyYbFXlLUGmNhytccbcu1oX2QFzEp832b-ggdMByXFjxuHprstZARPr4kR4MQ2zpdGhAa8SLDwFJbcuDzf_ntSfqrB4aGi/s1600/ONE+SMALL+CANDLE+Cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFFO_LisvtS7p0AmrzOVKJyB0UO3qM4YDOShEvObrJFGw38lMyYbFXlLUGmNhytccbcu1oX2QFzEp832b-ggdMByXFjxuHprstZARPr4kR4MQ2zpdGhAa8SLDwFJbcuDzf_ntSfqrB4aGi/s1600/ONE+SMALL+CANDLE+Cover.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px; text-indent: 38.400001525878906px;"><br /></span>Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-66626665225148214862014-04-26T04:19:00.002-07:002014-04-26T04:19:27.829-07:00The Pilgrims leave for America.<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
A snippet from ONE SMALL CANDLE as the Pilgrims leave Holland on the Speedwell for England on the first leg of their journey to America:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
John Robinson came over and sat down on the blanket beside Will, linking his hands over his drawn up knees. ‘I would that I could come with you Will,’ he said.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
‘We will miss you,’ Will told him. He paused for his heart was full of love for this fearless proclaimer of God’s Word, yet not knowing quite how to express it. ‘I will miss you.’ It was no more than the truth. ‘I want you to know, Brother, that you, and Brother Brewster, have been like fathers to me. I have learned so much from you both.’</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
John Robinson smiled that quiet smile of his, and said gently: ‘We’ve watched you grow up, Will, seen you at a tender age take a stand for the Truth. Don’t ever compromise the Truth. Stand upright for the Lord. Be strong, Will. The company rely on your good sense and your capableness. You are an elder and you know what you are about. Work together with Master Brewster, and Master Carver and Master Fuller. You have strength in you. Use it.’</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
Will was silent, feeling that he was unworthy of this great man’s accolade, yet deeply grateful for it at the same time.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
John Robinson put his hand inside his jerkin and brought out some sheets of paper folded up together and sealed. ‘I have written a letter for all the brothers and sisters, and all those going along with you, which I hope will encourage you all.’</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
Will took the letter and John put his hand on his to stop him opening it. ‘No, it is for when you sail from Southampton. Give it into the hand of Brother Brewster when you meet him there.’</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
Obediently Will tucked it into his doublet. ‘Yes, I will.’</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
‘And write to me, Will. Tell me the details Brother Brewster will not think to tell me, for he is lazy when it comes to writing letters, I think. Look how few he has sent since he has been in England!’</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
‘I will write,’ Will promised.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
John sighed, and the silence between them was awkward. ‘I would I were going with you,’ he repeated. ‘You have no idea how much this means to me, how much I long to go. You are doing the Lord’s work in this. Build a settlement, a colony, help others to come after you, to a place where a man may think and worship as he wishes. And one day, perhaps I can come to you, if the Lord wills it.’</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
‘I would you were coming now,’ Will told him.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
John’s eyes took on a glow as he saw America in his imagination. ‘This will be our Promised Land, Will. We will build Jerusalem, a cause for rejoicing, in the wilderness. A land built on the free worship of God. You are young, Will. You will bear the burdens well. And God will go with you.’</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
As the dawn approached on Saturday 22 July 1620 they began to board the Speedwell. The warm night had turned to rain, soaking passengers and crew and well-wishers.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
To Captain Reynolds’ intense annoyance, everyone went aboard, including those saying farewell. The ship’s decks were a tangle of people, men and women and children, getting caught up in the ropes, in the way of the sailors.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
The moment had come. They wept in each others’ arms, and sobbed, and prayed together. Children wept at being parted from parents. Fear and Patience Brewster sobbed in their mother’s arms, for she was going and taking her two young sons with her and they were not. Bridget Fuller clung to her husband Sam as he tried to comfort her. Digorie Priest said goodbye to his wife Sarah and his sons who were staying, and Sarah Priest in her turn hugged her own brother Isaac Allerton and his wife Mary and their three young children for they were all going. Nothing, Mary Allerton had declared to her husband when he suggested she and the little ones should stay at home, would prevent her from taking her place at her husband’s side, and where she went, her children went, as a matter of course. William White, who was going with his very pregnant wife, Susanna, Sam Fuller’s sister, and their sole surviving son Resolved, aged just five, bid farewell to his cousins Roger White and Bridget Robinson. Mary Cushman was a passenger, ready to meet her husband in Southampton. Catherine Carver kissed her sisters Bridget Robinson and Jane Thickens and Frances Jessop, and her brothers Thomas and Roger White. She was also to meet her husband John Carver in Southampton. Edward Winslow and his wife Elizabeth who had become beloved by all the congregation, had no-one to say goodbye to, but the Blossoms, Thomas and Thomas junior who were going wept with Anne, wife and mother to be left behind.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
John Robinson fell to his knees on the deck, and, as if it were a signal, the noise suddenly stopped, and with almost one motion everyone of the congregation fell to their knees with him. In prayer, with tears, John Robinson begged God for his love and help towards the travellers—the Pilgrims.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
Now the time had come for Will and Dorothy to part from her parents and her sister, and their five-year old son Jonathan.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
The parting was worse than Will had anticipated. An agony that would stay with him a lifetime. For all his youth Jonathan understood that his parents were leaving him, perhaps forever. He clung to Dorothy, sobbing and begging her not to go.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
Dorothy sobbed as she held him tightly. ‘There, there, don’t cry my little man. We’ll soon see you again. I promise.’ But her efforts at soothing him were hampered by her own sobs.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
‘Mother! Please don’t go! Don’t leave me here! Please. I want to go too.’</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
Will bent down and tried a sterner tactic. ‘Now John, no more of this crying. You must be a man and look after grandmother.’</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
But Jonathan clung all the harder and wailed pitifully.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
Will took him from Dorothy, and held him in his own arms. This was his son, his own flesh and blood. Will loved him as a father must, and his resolve weakened. But he was not ignorant of the dangers that lay ahead. No, Jonathan was far too precious to risk on a venture that he knew was fraught with danger.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
Deprived of Jonathan, Dorothy threw her arms around her mother and the two women wept, and then her father, as Will gave Jonathan into his grandmother’s arms. With promises to write and to the sound of Jonathan’s hysterics, Will gently pulled her away, allowing them to leave the ship.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
Captain Reynolds’s voice could be heard above the tumult. They must make sail or lose the tide.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
With all those ashore who were going ashore, Captain Reynolds gave his orders to the mate: ‘Make all sail!’</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
‘Lay aloft there, you laggards!’ cried the mate, and barefooted sailors ran up the rigging, loosing the sails. Others cast off and the ship began to move.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
The passengers lined the gunwales as the wind filled the sails and the Speedwell moved away from the quay, slowly at first, then with growing speed, out into deep water. The passengers waved to their friends and families, calling out last-minute messages.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
And there in the front of the bystanders, his blonde curls shining like ripe corn was Jonathan, Will’s last sight of him, standing between his grandparents, crying out for his mother, little hand outstretched to the ship.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
Will watched him until they were out of sight, as tears streamed down his own face.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
ONE SMALL CANDLE Available in print and Kindle editions</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
Click link below:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_16?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=one+small+candle+by+evelyn+tidman&sprefix=One+Small+Candle%2Cstripbooks%2C252&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Aone+small+candle+by+evelyn+tidman">USA</a> </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_16?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=one%20small%20candle%20by%20evelyn%20tidman&sprefix=One+Small+Candle%2Caps%2C279&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aone%20small%20candle%20by%20evelyn%20tidman">UK</a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=oNE+sMALL+cANDLE+by+Evelyn+Tidman&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AoNE+sMALL+cANDLE+by+Evelyn+Tidman">CANADA</a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com.au/CANDLE-William-Bradford-Pilgrim-Fathers-ebook/dp/B00BOI5QIS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398510631&sr=8-1&keywords=One+Small+Candle+by+Evelyn+Tidman">AUSTRALIA</a> Kindle only.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
For other countries please see Amazon</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfieOYJF7VaAamG98DgeaRE44m26hgNtjV1yNUwSwbf5FhrCvqhiSFEYiIkQaEBP08Wd5WeZbwEWvPYyMTCbmjJHSuUIVDHFUln1vn3qn_nzykWlF-D9VNztbefJOcv_iKWqV1oRIba-Qd/s1600/ONE+SMALL+CANDLE2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfieOYJF7VaAamG98DgeaRE44m26hgNtjV1yNUwSwbf5FhrCvqhiSFEYiIkQaEBP08Wd5WeZbwEWvPYyMTCbmjJHSuUIVDHFUln1vn3qn_nzykWlF-D9VNztbefJOcv_iKWqV1oRIba-Qd/s1600/ONE+SMALL+CANDLE2.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.evelyntidmanauthor.com/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhodXlzSBc7At29OAsmLu2H_oIGYl7niITMOAh3UavriE3BTk6c2FoK7ehHy5XbUoNuil2KzU1XTlYNyVAoIOlN5LfC8fHerVFs6iMjTaUAwNNkFYQanUPrY_asREW2iWD2rtsrgvbRLNK3/s1600/GENTLEMAN+OF+FORTUNE2+(1)+This+is+it!.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also available</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in Print and Kindle formats from Amazon.</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://www.evelyntidmanauthor.com/">My website www.evelyntidmanauthor.com</a></div>
Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-25770101720488345182014-04-08T11:54:00.000-07:002014-04-08T11:54:15.499-07:00MEET THE HERO OF MY NEW NOVEL<div class="MsoNormal">
This is my contribution to the chain of posts by historical fiction authors
in which we introduce the main character of our work in progress of
soon-to-be-published novel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. What is the name
of your character? Is he fictional or a historic person?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
Roger L’Estrange is a real
historical person who was born in 1616.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. When and where is
the story set?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
1640 to 1648 which is during the
English Civil War. The story is set in <st1:city w:st="on">Norfolk</st1:city>,
particularly in Hunstanton and in <st1:place w:st="on">King’s Lynn</st1:place>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3. What should we
know about him?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
Roger L’Estrange is the third and
youngest son of Sir Hamon L’Estrange. He is an impetuous young man, a dashing
cavalier, eager to fight for the King. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4. What is the main
conflict? What messes up his life?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
His royalist father seizes control
of <st1:place w:st="on">King’s Lynn</st1:place> from the hands of Parliament,
which brings Oliver Cromwell and Lord Manchester and a large army to the town
to lay siege to it. Both Roger and his brother fight to defend <st1:city w:st="on">Lynn</st1:city>. At the same time Roger falls in love
with a beautiful Puritan woman, which earns him the displeasure of his father. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5. What is the
personal goal of the character?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
Roger wants to win the approval of
his father and his King. At the same time he is fighting to win his lady
despite the disapproval of both their families. Furthermore he wants <st1:place w:st="on">King’s Lynn</st1:place> in the hands of the royalists, and he will do
anything to achieve it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6. Is there a working
title for this novel, and can we read more about it?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
It is called For The King, and
subtitled Roger L’Estrange and the siege of <st1:place w:st="on">King’s Lynn</st1:place>
during the English Civil War (might change that last bit!). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7. When can we expect
the book to be published?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0cm;">
Well I was hoping for the spring,
but as the spring is already in full swing, I think it might be a bit later! It
is taking longer than I thought. At the latest in the autumn, but possibly in
the summer. Either way, not long!<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p>You can read a snippet from FOR THE KING at http://evelyntidmanwrites.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/for-king.html</o:p><br />
<o:p><br /></o:p>
<o:p>I have tagged other authors who will be posting about their main character on the 12th April: </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><a href="http://www.faridamestek.blogspot.com/">Farida Mestek</a> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><a href="http://queenanneboleyn.com/">Beth Von Staats</a> </o:p><br />
<o:p><br /></o:p>
<o:p><br /></o:p>
<o:p>My other books available from Amazon:</o:p><br />
<o:p><br /></o:p>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTNEocBmND7ao39KY1Sf_VdZVhkpdTS4lb0IztPDbrJ33xrN155gBiKHOoVpZCoAbQrCObMc2IIf2fZDneEC9AbBuDNlOFsETrGnHSYfcaSdYWzE5oPOQDnnTHLHXuVVg9kMVypfpHwB10/s1600/GENTLEMAN+OF+FORTUNE2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTNEocBmND7ao39KY1Sf_VdZVhkpdTS4lb0IztPDbrJ33xrN155gBiKHOoVpZCoAbQrCObMc2IIf2fZDneEC9AbBuDNlOFsETrGnHSYfcaSdYWzE5oPOQDnnTHLHXuVVg9kMVypfpHwB10/s1600/GENTLEMAN+OF+FORTUNE2.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn4_xZ89DQ0DwsS6fLkPz7B4BdDz6eYl5XeSdVWxsNFyPv2u9klEK3F83kkcyZnQ_CMTrwhSNEcKN8vlyYBkxu6ivBPGRYNDOuyUd6f8DuLtQZWNHolRgN9iQJfwnVKlR-VpE-qWHNUE8K/s1600/ONE+SMALL+CANDLE+Cover+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn4_xZ89DQ0DwsS6fLkPz7B4BdDz6eYl5XeSdVWxsNFyPv2u9klEK3F83kkcyZnQ_CMTrwhSNEcKN8vlyYBkxu6ivBPGRYNDOuyUd6f8DuLtQZWNHolRgN9iQJfwnVKlR-VpE-qWHNUE8K/s1600/ONE+SMALL+CANDLE+Cover+2.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-85328243230759132982014-04-08T11:41:00.001-07:002014-06-01T21:47:31.223-07:00FOR THE KING<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 28.8pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;">
<b>The <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Battle</st1:place></st1:city> of Newburn<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 28.8pt; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Newburn, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
August 1640<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 28.8pt; mso-pagination: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Roger Le Strange watched the sea of blue hats of the ranked masses of
Scottish Covenanters across the <st1:place w:st="on">Tyne</st1:place> valley
his heart shuddered in his chest. They outnumbered the King’s army and were better
prepared, more experienced.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 1.0cm;">
‘’Sblood, we’ll be slaughtered!’ someone along
the line swore and Roger glanced towards him. No-one smiled. They sat on their
restless horses grim-faced, staring at imminent death, mechanically struggling
to keep them in the rank.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 1.0cm;">
Roger’s gloved hand shook as it held the rein.
No wonder his horse sidestepped.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.9pt;">
‘You know what Leslie intends to do, don’t
you?’ His father’s deep voice beside him caused him to turn his head sharply to
look at him. As ever, Sir Hamon was cool, matter-of-fact even. His grey eyes
briefly held the ghost of a smile and he calmed Roger.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.9pt;">
He took a steadying breath. ‘He wants to take <st1:place w:st="on">Newcastle</st1:place>.’ The Scottish
target, the town of <st1:city w:st="on">Newcastle</st1:city>, with its
fortifications was no more than five miles to the east but here at Newburn with
its ford was the crossing point over the <st1:place w:st="on">Tyne</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
‘Indeed.’ Sir Hamon squinted in the bright
August sun at the opposite bank. ‘They’ve got artillery in the tower.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
Roger’s eyes followed his gaze to the top of
the square church tower where shadowy dots moved about behind the battlements.
He could not see the guns, but he knew they were there ready to rain death on
the King’s men. ‘I see them,’ he said. ‘How in the name of all that is sacred
did they get them up there?’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
‘A lot of heave-ho-ing I shouldn’t wonder!’ Sir
Hamon turned his attention to the King’s army, the infantry, the pikemen, the
gunners massed on the slopes below them. ‘Damn shambles!’ he grumbled. He
referred to the troops Viscount Conway had mustered for the king, a ramshackle
army of raw and largely untrained recruits, ordinary men who had marched from
the south of the country to arrive exhausted and demoralised in the borderlands. Many of them had no heart
for the fight. They were there because of loyalty to their ‘lords of the manor’
who had been summoned to the King’s army. An undisciplined and unwilling rabble,
Roger thought. They had no idea of the cause of the argument, no grasp of the
politics, no pay and no reason to fight. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 1.0cm;">
Sweat trickled down Roger’s back and stood out
on his clean-shaven lip. He wore a thick, padded gambeson beneath his coat so
that the armour did not chafe through to his skin. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
They had lapsed into silence, father and son.
Tension swaddled the waiting troops. Beyond their own artillery the grassy bank
shimmered in the heat. On the opposite bank the Scots lined up their men behind
the guns. On the King’s side too, men were lined up in ranks. They moved around
as though they were out for a Sunday stroll, shuffling in the heat, weighed
down with glinting armour, those that had it, forming into ragged lines, while
the officers rode up and down bellowing orders. The King should have had a
retained army, trained, ready. But with Parliament withholding payment, he
simply could not afford it. As it was, he could not pay the troops now. The lords
had to see to it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
‘What’s this?’ Sir Hamon moved away a little
and stood up in the stirrups to get a better look. Roger followed his example.
A rider, no three riders, came out from the Scottish ranks, splashing across
the river <st1:place w:st="on">Tyne</st1:place> at the Newburn Ford and
galloped into the English camp.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
Sir Hamon immediately dismounted, handing the
reins to his son and marched to Viscount Conway’s tent. As a mere younger son,
Roger was not privy to the conversations of his commanders, whereas Sir Hamon
was. But as Lord Conway emerged from his tent to meet the riders, he jumped
down from his horse, handed the reins of both horses to their groom who had
magically appeared from behind him and followed at a run behind his father and
found himself at the rear of Lord Conway’s men. He was considered a tall man,
but their hats obscured his vision, so that he moved more to the side to see
what was happening.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
The messengers dressed in tartan skirts and
sashes and blue coats did not dismount, but one of them sporting an impressive
red beard walked his fine chestnut mare forward. Even then he stayed mounted,
staring haughtily down on the English Lord. The Scottish heathens lacked common
manners!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
‘General Leslie sends his compliments to Lord
Conway,’ he bellowed in a thick lilting Scottish brogue so that Roger had to
concentrate hard in order to understand him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
Viscount Conway, an elegant man, with long
flowing light brown hair and an immaculate moustache and small beard, graciously
inclined his head in stark contrast to the uncouth Scottish messenger who
continued:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
‘We, the Covenanters do not wish to fight the
English but General Leslie requests free passage so that we may petition the
King.’ He leaned forward and held out a scroll of paper so that Lord Conway could
reach it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
Breaking the seal, Lord Conway took a minute to
read while the messengers waited and everyone else held their breath.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
Then he pursed his lips. ‘Tell the General that
I cannot accede to his wishes,’ he said and turned his back on the messenger to
return to his tent, contemptuously dismissing him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.9pt;">
The Scotsman’s eyes flashed in anger and all of
<st1:city w:st="on">Conway</st1:city>’s men reached for the swords on their
hips, but although the man grumbled something incomprehensible he turned his
horse’s head and spurred the animal into a gallop down the slope towards the <st1:place w:st="on">Tyne</st1:place>, his companions following behind.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.9pt;">
<st1:place w:st="on">Conway</st1:place> stopped at the tent entrance and turned to Colonel
Lunsford in command of the artillery. ‘Make ready the guns.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
Sir Hamon left <st1:place w:st="on">Conway</st1:place>’s men and Roger joined him as they
returned to the cavalry. Sir Hamon shot him a censuring look, but chose not to
mention Roger’s impertinence. The drummers began to beat the advance and Roger
felt that swoop in his belly of fear and excitement.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
‘This is it,’ Sir Hamon said to Roger.
‘Remember what I taught you. No heroics. Do not risk your life. Make your sword
thrusts true.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
He walked quickly, but Roger kept pace. ‘I will
watch your back, sir.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
He stopped and looked at his son, tenderness in
his eyes. ‘If I do not come home, look after your lady mother,’ he said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
Roger nodded and swallowed. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
Shouts behind them warned them as the first
cannon fired. Turning around, Roger’s heart swooped as he saw the Scottish cavalry
advancing towards the ford. A plume of spray in the <st1:place w:st="on">Tyne</st1:place>
showed where a cannonball from the Royalist’s side hit the water, the aim too
short, but the English adjusted their aim and continued to fire on the Cavalry with
the boom of cannon, spewing smoke and the shuddering of the hot August air. The
smell of burning gunpowder wafted towards them and all at once Roger and Sir
Hamon ran for their horses.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
Scottish horses collapsed beneath their riders,
mown down by the barrage of fire from the Royalists, then the Scots retreated.
However the small victory was short lived. From their vantage points on the slightly
higher ground, the Scots retaliated by pounding the English guns. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
By now Roger and Sir Hamon had reached their
positions and took possession of their mounts, Roger leaping into the saddle,
Sir Hamon hopping up stiffly from the stirrup.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
The bombardment was relentless and the gunners
turned and fled. ‘Look at them!’ Roger cried in disgust. ‘They run from the
Scots!’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
Frowning at the retreating figures of English
artillery running from the enemy, Sir Hamon merely said: ‘Raw recruits. Even
Colonel Lunsford cannot keep them.’ From this higher point they could see the
Scots pouring across the dark river at the ford, could see the whole battle
being played out beneath them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
Frustration made Roger grind his teeth. ‘We
need to give fire!’ But there was no-one left to give fire, they had fled.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
‘Here they come!’ <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
The cry from along the ranks made Roger draw
breath. Beneath him his horse fidgeted and nodded his head. With an effort
Roger held him, patted and stroked the animal’s neck with a black gloved hand and
spoke to him in low tones, but his eyes were on the oncoming Scottish hordes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
‘Hold you hard there, boy.’ Sir Hamon’s voice
was low. Roger took a steadying breath. All along the cavalry line the king’s
men drew their swords with the ring of metal, holding them upright in their
hands, ready for the order.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
They waited as the Scottish cavalry charged
down the hill.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
‘We should go,’ Sir Hamon muttered. ‘He’s
leaving it too late.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
Then as the Scots crossed the river, the order
came from Henry Wilmot, in command of the cavalry. ‘<i>Charge</i>!’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
Digging his heels into his horse’s flanks, with
his father at his side, Roger leaned forward in the saddle as his bay stallion sprang
into action like a suddenly released spring, hurtling headlong down the grassy
slope, hooves thundering over the uneven turf.. Roger kept pace with everyone
else, his sword held out in front of him. No man wanted to be the one out in
front when they met with the enemy, but neither did he want to be the last man.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
The Scottish musketeers had already taken up
their positions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
Suddenly confronted with two ranks of black
muzzles, the first of the cavalry came to a sudden halt in front of Roger and
his father. Quickly they pulled up on the reins as the upper rank of Scottish muskets
belched smoke and popped. A whisper of hot air next to Roger’s ear, felt rather
than heard, was too close for comfort. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
In the confusion, men and horses were hit. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
It was too much for the inexperienced English.
They too broke ranks and began to retreat to get out of the murderous,
death-dealing fire. Sizing up the situation, Roger grabbed the reins on Sir
Hamon’s mount and pulled him round. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
‘Let’s get out of here,’ he bellowed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
FOR THE KING Roger L'Estrange and the Siege of King's Lynn, an English Civil War novel will be published in the autumn.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-indent: 28.8pt;">
<br /></div>
Evelyn Tidman is the author of GENTLEMAN OF FORTUNE The Adventures of Bartholomew Roberts, Pirate and ONE SMALL CANDLE The Story of William Bradford and the Pilgrim Fathers available from Amazon<br />
www.evelyntidmanauthor.com<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoLUBh4U2Yso3E5dYIEdR_wPlpV95M_oHrJQXwxZ787q8jlr9qdMk-FQGZPd_wIXOypup3i9UC_5NojYTuf4DAV2XVA0lVvQtcHyKG241sGK4fGrbeHYbQQibly4UAPnOu9P1FCMqNI70n/s1600/GENTLEMAN+OF+FORTUNE2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoLUBh4U2Yso3E5dYIEdR_wPlpV95M_oHrJQXwxZ787q8jlr9qdMk-FQGZPd_wIXOypup3i9UC_5NojYTuf4DAV2XVA0lVvQtcHyKG241sGK4fGrbeHYbQQibly4UAPnOu9P1FCMqNI70n/s1600/GENTLEMAN+OF+FORTUNE2.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo4ylPq0KtQDeuukVZOWVH7SMEMlUA98UelGg7j7kPpVE2CXqBw8HCLj7xqRv1X_nngEBZta9_Bx_zIFr8wQHw_73RMb9UlbAXkVp0C4t8K7mQ1QXwIrwngeUfEuP3AFcDA8K20MZWA_sj/s1600/ONE+SMALL+CANDLE+Cover+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo4ylPq0KtQDeuukVZOWVH7SMEMlUA98UelGg7j7kPpVE2CXqBw8HCLj7xqRv1X_nngEBZta9_Bx_zIFr8wQHw_73RMb9UlbAXkVp0C4t8K7mQ1QXwIrwngeUfEuP3AFcDA8K20MZWA_sj/s1600/ONE+SMALL+CANDLE+Cover+2.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></a><br />
<br /></div>
Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-74860835822113484262014-03-23T10:01:00.001-07:002014-08-23T08:09:06.052-07:00FORMATTING YOUR BOOK FOR KINDLE For Those Who Are Not Whizz-kids On The ComputerWith the difficulty of landing a publishing contract, many writers are going it alone on the self-publishing trail. I'm one of them. And I have to say that when I had finished the writing and needed to find a way of getting it 'out there' it was like hitting a wall. I had no idea how to get up and over it, or round it, or through it. It seemed impenetrable.<br />
<br />
But bit by bit, I managed it, as many others have. But not without tears and tantrums a-plenty. How the computer is still in one piece I do not know!<br />
<br />
To save others the trauma of fighting their way through this wall, I thought I would explain what I have learned.<br />
<br />
The following applies to Amazon Kindle and is for those who are not computer buffs. That probably means the older ones among us, because the kids can all make a computer whistle 'Dixie' as it dances up the street! So this is the guide for those who don't know how to do hardly anything!<br />
<br />
The work starts as you write your book. Already written it? Well, you'll no doubt have to make some changes. <br />
<br />
Kindle does not recognise the tab key. So if you have used it for your paragraph indentations, each and every one of them will have to be re-done. I use Word 2003, so the instructions here are for that. No doubt other versions of Word will not be too different.<br />
<br />
Go to the start of the word which begins the paragraph and backspace so that it is now on the margin. Go into Format > Paragraph > Indents and Spacing and on the bit which says 'Indentation' go onto 'left'. Change the figure in the box to whatever you want - I use 1.0 cm for indents. Click OK. Your paragraph will be indented. All of it. Do not panic. You have a hanging paragraph. Now click unhang. If you do not have that on your toolbar, you need to put it there. (Tools > Customise > Format and on the right hand column scroll down until you reach 'unhang'. Click and drag it to your toolbar.)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiraVSAOEbuby6YBVpiO6Js9qdJ3ig48kbLHgh_KKxkDjtQxKoSMZCwdpL6zQv7DWZ_WvAv8-NqxoPDkFRlPjUisTPSI3BN8J0jx-hJIEaJQ25MlhZvfzpUtW-dfShs218soAxPATYYTytu/s1600/paragraph+box.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiraVSAOEbuby6YBVpiO6Js9qdJ3ig48kbLHgh_KKxkDjtQxKoSMZCwdpL6zQv7DWZ_WvAv8-NqxoPDkFRlPjUisTPSI3BN8J0jx-hJIEaJQ25MlhZvfzpUtW-dfShs218soAxPATYYTytu/s1600/paragraph+box.png" height="320" width="269" /></a></div>
<br />
Sadly you will have to go through this palaver for all the paragraphs in your book. But if the book is not already written, doing it once for the first indented paragraph will do. You will notice that every paragraph will automatically indent when you hit the 'enter' key.<br />
<br />
While you are in the 'paragraph' box, right at the top click 'Line and Page Breaks' and make sure everything is unchecked. You do not want 'orphans and widows' messing up your formatting, which it does; likewise 'keep lines together'. You may need to do this for every section of your document. You cannot rely on highlighting All (ctrl+A) and then doing it. If you haven't yet typed anything, do it as you indent your first paragraph.<br />
<br />
Note: The first paragraph of a chapter or a new scene is not indented.<br />
<br />
To remove the paragraph indent again, Format > Paragraph > Special and in the drop down box click 'none'.<br />
<br />
A word about spacing. It's got to be single line spacing, even between paragraphs. Use double line spacing only when there is a change of scene, and you may want to put in then a few asterisks, or dashes or whatever takes your fancy. Up to you. But if that bit ends up at the bottom of a page, the reader will not be alerted to the change of scene without some indication.<br />
<br />
Only one space between words, please. And British writers, especially those who have been taught to type and put two spaces after full-stops, question marks, exclamation marks, colons and so on, DON'T. I know it's a bind, but you have to learn not to do it. A bit of retraining needed here. The reason is that when you justify the right hand margin, the computer automatically shuffles the words along and you have these huge great gaps in the line where your extra space is. You might be able to find them all by using Find/Replace. I went through it several times using this method putting a full-stop and two spaces in the 'Find' box and a full-stop and one space in the 'Replace' box. Ditto for question marks etc. And don't forget after speech marks.<br />
<br />
For Kindle, do not put in page numbers as the pages adjust automatically on a Kindle as the reader adjusts the font size. That is also why you do not want 'orphans and widows'.<br />
<br />
Start each chapter on a new page. At the end of each chapter Insert > Break.<br />
<br />
There is a way of inserting a 'Table of Contents' whereby the reader can click on a chapter heading in a list at the beginning of the book and go straight to that chapter. I haven't figured that out yet, but there are on-line tutorials for that.<br />
<br />
When you are happy with your work, justify the RH margin. For those who do not know, the command looks like this:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtf7GizZRaWRtFbi2SHQgYpPXGTy_4HM3hwj3Fnsqu4XRbRoqhSzj8iKsWlgr38ZUFSzxolt4l2Lt4cCTvfYjFuJZ8Ry0ReiSUasMBBCXicbgMOpNQWgipO1qqbZzHmZVhwAL5RDwYvDpV/s1600/margins.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtf7GizZRaWRtFbi2SHQgYpPXGTy_4HM3hwj3Fnsqu4XRbRoqhSzj8iKsWlgr38ZUFSzxolt4l2Lt4cCTvfYjFuJZ8Ry0ReiSUasMBBCXicbgMOpNQWgipO1qqbZzHmZVhwAL5RDwYvDpV/s1600/margins.png" /></a></div>
Click the one on the right.<br />
<br />
Don't forget to proof-read your book.<br />
<br />
Don't forget to add the title page and copyright page etc.<br />
<br />
At the point where you want the book to start, (normally at the place where it says Chapter 1) Insert > Bookmark and add the word START.<br />
<br />
Right, now you are almost ready to go. Now you have to change your document to an HTML Filtered file. To do this, open your book file. Click 'Save As'. Now at the bottom of the box, beneath the bit which says 'File_name', there is a drop-down box which is labelled 'save as type' and beside it it will say 'Word document' in a drop-down box. Click the arrow. Click 'Web Page, Filtered', because that is what you want. (It took me three days to find this. I know, I know, but I just couldn't figure it out! Trial and error got me there in the end!) Click 'Save'. You'll get a warning about 'office specific tabs', but just click 'Yes'. You will still have your original Word document, and now you will have a new one next to it with a symbol which tells you it is your HTML Filtered file.<br />
<br />
Now go to KDP Amazon (Kindle Direct Publishing) and if you have not already signed up etc. do it now.<br />
<br />
As you fill in the on-line form you will upload your cover file. And when you are asked to submit your interior file on the form, it is already there on your computer and waiting for you to upload it. Go through it on the proof-reader to make sure it looks OK.<br />
<br />
Fill in the rest of the form. Click 'Publish'. But don't panic, because you can change your file at any time - such as if you suddenly discover some glaring error! (I found to my horror that I'd left the T out of GENTLEMAN OF FORTUNE on the title page! I looked on Amazon, and there it was(n't)! I soon got that rectified.)<br />
<br />
Have a glass of wine (or cup of coffee if you prefer) and a large slice of cake. You deserve it!<br />
<br />
<br />
Evelyn Tidman is the author of GENTLEMAN OF FORTUNE The Adventures of Bartholomew Roberts, Pirate and ONE SMALL CANDLE The Story of William Bradford and the Pilgrim Fathers - <a href="http://www.evelyntidmanauthor.com/">www.evelyntidmanauthor.com</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibBL6vJjq9JV7zbvS7lAv2pBQj3WKENvgGqPtpwLhcH0JVamQ6HPoXl3emGO9GdyyUqyrgUC7wz5wxu5_C0qLtm92SLZr576YB5EIiEUvwr4zHTuxRjaVRJjtopvxcnoshV-1LSqXVQS7P/s1600/GENTLEMAN+OF+FORTUNE2+(1)%2BThis%2Bis%2Bit!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibBL6vJjq9JV7zbvS7lAv2pBQj3WKENvgGqPtpwLhcH0JVamQ6HPoXl3emGO9GdyyUqyrgUC7wz5wxu5_C0qLtm92SLZr576YB5EIiEUvwr4zHTuxRjaVRJjtopvxcnoshV-1LSqXVQS7P/s1600/GENTLEMAN+OF+FORTUNE2+(1)%2BThis%2Bis%2Bit!.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz05G-cKdW_ZNtfkifN1dPEBTF6xC6L5L9AxBIWHEQV0agiYi_yBY5nd7OV1GajX9hWOuB-CzAIehyphenhyphenHTz-9XXqyfxNN4Gm7gI3tbMRNJLiuP9KMYKn9QTkFSfBb-R_2Xqk8Yq5zVdFoXNm/s1600/ONE+SMALL+CANDLE2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz05G-cKdW_ZNtfkifN1dPEBTF6xC6L5L9AxBIWHEQV0agiYi_yBY5nd7OV1GajX9hWOuB-CzAIehyphenhyphenHTz-9XXqyfxNN4Gm7gI3tbMRNJLiuP9KMYKn9QTkFSfBb-R_2Xqk8Yq5zVdFoXNm/s1600/ONE+SMALL+CANDLE2.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-60577145509460994372014-01-28T19:35:00.000-08:002014-01-28T19:35:12.961-08:00Does Wrongdoing In Religion Mean There Is No God?'I don't believe in God. Religion causes all the wars in the world.'<br />
<br />
A generalisation? Of course. Perhaps, like me, you have heard that said many times as a reason for not believing in God. Obviously, not <i>all </i>the wars fought in the world are because of religion. Nevertheless, many feel that because people who claim to represent God slaughter one another, or do other things which they know to be wrong, that there cannot be a God. If there is a God, they reason, then his people would not be doing these things.<br />
<br />
They are right to a point. HIS people would not be doing these things. But it doesn't mean that God does not exist. Why?<br />
<br />
Everyone who has connection with Christianity in any form knows that Jesus said 'You must love your neighbour as yourself,' and he gave the story of the Good Samaritan to prove the point. Love of neighbour is fundamental to Christianity, just as much as love for God. Love for one's neighbour does not allow a person to kill someone else, or even to hurt them, except in self-defence, or in defence of one's family. Yet the two most murderous wars in history broke out in countries which are predominantly Christian. The first and second world wars had Christians on each side killing each other. Catholics killed Catholics, Protestants killed Protestants. The various churches in each land involved preached that it was one's duty to kill those on the other side.<br />
<br />
But, a person may ask, what would happen if people refused to defend their country because they were Christian?<br />
<br />
The simple answer is that if <i>all</i> Christians on both sides had refused to fight, there would have been no war.<br />
<br />
A friend of mine, now dead, had been a nineteen-year-old in command of a tank division in France during the second world war. One morning, as they were preparing for battle, he watched and listened as an army chaplain said prayers for the men about to go into the battlefield, asking for God to help them. My friend felt that God had no part in this, so he left them praying and went over the hill to see what the Germans were doing. And there he saw an army chaplain also saying prayers for the German soldiers. He asked himself, which side was God on? Could God have been with both sides? Or either side? Would God bless those about to kill others? What about those who died, were they blessed? When a tank received a direct hit, and bits of bodies were scattered around, was God with them then? My friend had the unenviable task of writing to the relatives of his slain men to explain how their son/husband/brother had been killed. By the time I knew him he was anti war - and anti God.<br />
<br />
So, then, who is responsible for wars? Is it God? Or is it people?<br />
<br />
Take another reason why people stop believing in God - the misconduct of those who claim to represent him. What about priests in various churches who have been accused of sexual misconduct, particularly with children? Of course, those in control of the different religions cannot oversee every single thing an individual does. There are always going to be those who rebel. But what do the various churches do about it? What can they do?<br />
<br />
In the first century, Christians were exhorted by the Apostle Paul: 'I am writing you to stop keeping company with anyone called a brother who is sexually immoral or a greedy person or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even eating with such a man . . . "remove the wicked person from among yourselves."' - 1 Corinthians 5:11-13. Surely such a person should not only be removed from the church altogether, but also be dealt with by the law of the land? But what has happened? The scandal appears to be that such men have been moved from the parish where they committed the act to another parish where they continued their disgusting conduct.<br />
<br />
Would God approve of dealing with it in such a way? Clearly His Word says not.<br />
<br />
So, then, do the actions of the various churches prove that there is no God? Not at all. They prove that these ones do not represent Him.<br />
<br />
Jesus said: 'Be on the watch for the false prophets who come to you in sheep's covering but inside they are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will recognise them. Never do people gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles, do they? Likewise every good tree produces fine fruit, but every rotten tree produces worthless fruit.' (Matthew 7: 15-19)<br />
<br />
The warning is clear. What we see is people who claim to represent God, but who clearly do not. But we are brought up to believe that this or that church represents Him so that we do not check any further, and then we are shocked by what we see.<br />
<br />
Is it an evidence that there is no God? No. Because certain ones misrepresent Him and break his laws does not mean he does not exist.<br />
<br />
It means that they are not the ones God is using.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-32909609458247913482013-12-28T13:56:00.004-08:002013-12-28T13:56:54.640-08:00Automatic Tweets - A handy tool, Or A Hidden Danger?In the world of social media, Twitter has become one of the leaders. At its best it allows people to interact with like minds right across the planet, allows people to tweet about what interests them, about their books, their crafts, their art, their music, their businesses and reach potentially millions of people.<br />
<br />
How does it work? Well, for the uninitiated, it's an <i>I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine </i>world. To reach those millions of twitterers, we need our tweets retweeted by kind individuals. So then we retweet for them in return, then they do the same again, and others join in and so it grows.<br />
<br />
But all this retweeting is time consuming. You can spend hours just keeping up with the retweets. And, well, many of us have other things to do.<br />
<br />
So someone devised a way of tweeting and retweeting using an automated system.<br />
<br />
How does it work? Well, basically you allow the automatic retweeter to take over your Twitter account. You put in some tweets of your own which it then churns out in rotation every hour or so, twenty-four hours a day. And when someone retweets for you, the automatic retweeter picks it up, and retweets their last tweet. Simple. Saves you hours. Or so it seems.<br />
<br />
So what are the drawbacks?<br />
<br />
Well really, the automatic retweeter does not discern what the last tweet of the retweeter was. If it is an automated message about someone's unfollowers, or if it is a personal message to someone, or a tweet of thanks, it will retweet it. The problem is that person is hardly going to be thankful for such a retweet and probably will not retweet back for you. Unless they also have an automated retweeter, in which case it is a case of a computer talking to a computer!<br />
<br />
But isn't Twitter a place to connect with people? Or is it becoming just computers talking to each other?<br />
<br />
But what if the person's last tweet was something you disagreed with? Religious perhaps? Or political? Or worse, what if it was pornographic?<br />
<br />
Can't happen? Oh yes it can! It happened to me. I was with an automatic retweeter for just two days, and it retweeted something on my Twitter page which was in the realm of eroticism, with a picture. I was horrified, and I deleted it. I also left the automated retweeter immediately.<br />
<br />
But worse, I have been on other Twitter pages since and come across hard core pornographic photographs, which I assume the person knows nothing about and probably would not have retweeted themselves. Oh yes, they have been automatically retweeted. Twice I came across this in just one week.<br />
<br />
Could this happen to you? Could you be unwittingly retweeting porn?<br />
<br />
Perhaps it would be a good idea to check your tweets and see what the automatic retweeter has been doing in your name.<br />
<br />
To use an automated retweeter or not is a personal decision. But be warned, it does have its drawbacks.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>By the way, if you do leave the automated retweeter, you may find, as I did, that those it picked up who retweeted for you seem to be lost to you. I found I was not getting notifications of retweets. You have to go into settings on your Twitter profile, and Apps and disallow those particular apps. I also had to get regular retweeters to unfollow and then refollow me before it would work properly again, while I did the same to them. A pain, but it worked in the end.</i></span>Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-8595066686936582062013-11-05T00:39:00.002-08:002013-11-05T00:39:52.618-08:00MIRACLE OF LIFEI've got two new grandbabies, twins Fearne and Freya, born just over a week ago. They were born early because my daughter had pre-eclampsia, and they are adorable tiny scraps of life. Fearne is doing well, feeding well, and will soon go home from hospital. Her tiny sister is now also on the mend after an eight-hour operation to repair a tracheoesophageal fistula. (See previous blog 'Praise for the NHS'.)<br />
<br />
And that has set me thinking about how a child is formed in the womb. Perhaps it is something we take for granted. We assume everything will go right, and we will have a perfect little baby at the end of a pregnancy. And most of the time that is the case. But it's when something goes wrong that it highlights the miracle of why it goes right most of the time.<br />
<br />
What do I mean?<br />
<br />
The condition that tiny Freya had is not common, but is also not unknown. In TOF as the cells are dividing to form the baby at the stage soon after conception the oesophagus and the stomach do not join up. Freya's intestine also was not joined to her stomach. Both have been repaired by surgeons and they expect her to make a full recovery. We ask: why did that happen? But perhaps the question we ought to ask is: how does it usually go right?<br />
<br />
I'm no scientist, but it seems to me that the different components within the body must develop independently of each other. So, the oesophagus from the throat is one stage; the stomach is another stage; and a third stage must be the bowel. Maybe there's more stages than that, but let's keep it simple! Then they all join up. (Or in Freya's case, they didn't.)<br />
<br />
So we all know what happens when a baby is conceived. Two cells become one, then they start multiplying. At some stage the cells start to form the baby, the sac, the placenta. Within the baby part, a brain, heart, internal organs, eyes, ears, limbs, spinal column and so on all come into being. I've always thought: What makes those cells do that? What programming is it that forms the different parts of the human body?<br />
<br />
The answer is DNA. Well I cannot go into the complexities of DNA here, it is far too complicated for me! But I found some interesting quotes you might like to consider.<br />
<br />
Did DNA come about by mere chance?<br />
<br />
Quote: "DNA is packaged within the chromosomes in a manner so efficient that it has been called a 'feat of engineering."<br />
<br />
Question: So how could such an organised structure come about? By blind chance or by design?<br />
<br />
Quote: "DNA contains all the instructions needed to build a unique human body and maintain it throughout life."<br />
<br />
Question: How did those instructions come to be in the first place? Blind chance, or by design?<br />
<br />
Quote: "For DNA to work, it has to be copied, read and proofread by a swarm of complex molecular machines called enzymes, which must work together with precision and split-second timing."<br />
<br />
Question: Could a highly complex and reliable machine come about by mere chance? Or did it have a designer and builder? What then of the more complex DNA?<br />
<br />
The more scientists find out about the human body, the complexities of the brain, the eye, the kidneys, heart, and other organs, the more they find out about all living things, about the earth itself, about the universe, the more wonderful it seems to me. Science is showing us more and more that there is design in everything around us. And where there is design, there has to be a Designer.<br />
<br />
That's why I believe in a Creator, someone with the wisdom and power to work it all out.<br />
<br />
Perhaps we should find out more about him.<br />
<br />
<br />Evelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2503176522630922893.post-27742877589765625262013-10-30T10:11:00.003-07:002013-10-30T10:11:43.484-07:00PRAISE FOR THE NHSHow many times do we hear the NHS being rubbished because of this or that failing. Well I for one have nothing but praise for the NHS.<br />
<br />
When other countries have to pay for their medical care, in Britain everyone pays National Insurance throughout their working lives. Not only do we get social care, including old age pensions, but whenever anyone is ill they are treated without charge, without anyone demanding if they have insurance. And they get the best care, regardless of cost.<br />
<br />
Well, OK, perhaps there are some who would disagree. But just this week my family is truly grateful for the NHS.<br />
<br />
Over the last few weeks our daughter, who already has two children, was taken ill with pre-eclampsia and admitted to hospital. But as her condition worsened she was given an emergency C-section on Sunday, and identical twins Freya and Fearne arrived into the world at 34 weeks and 2 days gestation. Baby Freya weighed in at 3lb 5oz and Fearne at 3lb 14oz. Small babies, but not dangerously so.<br />
<br />
Still they were worried about our daughter. She had constant nursing throughout that night and the next day. Every attempt was made to relieve the hypertension. And at last on Monday evening it began to stabilise.<br />
<br />
Which is amazing considering what happened next. On Monday morning the discovery was made that little Freya, the smallest twin, had something wrong. Her oesophagus did not connect with her stomach. So within hours a specialist ambulance arrived and whisked her and her daddy off to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital where the specialists are.<br />
<br />
Tuesday little Freya had an eight hour operation to connect her tubes. And at the expense of the NHS her daddy could have a room and stay at the hospital with her.<br />
<br />
Today she is still sedated, and being intravenously fed, but she has survived the operation.<br />
<br />
Meantime, Mum and Fearne are doing well. Mum is much recovered, and Fearne is thriving.<br />
<br />
What skill the surgical team has to operate on such a tiny baby! And how grateful we are to all the staff at both hospitals for the care they have given my daughter and her husband and her babies.<br />
<br />
Thank you NHS.<br />
<br />
<br />
Evelyn Tidman, bringing history alive. http://bit.ly/TBB3qaEvelyn Tidmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03842383416965177046noreply@blogger.com1