Now this might interest a few of you. I am currently in the process of writing my story. I know it is generally famous people who write their autobiographies but I thought I would give it a bash. Been writing it for about a week now and it has been extremely cathartic. It is quite funny too(so far). Once it is done i will email it to anyone willing to read it and we shall see how it goes down.

Ronnie I would be interested in knowing what the project is and what you would like me to do.

I'd certainly like to read it!

£18,000 WRITER'S BURSARY AVAILABLE!

MCNA is awarding an £18,000 Writer's Bursary to an aspiring writer, novice or experienced, who would like to dedicate up to 12 months writing a fiction novel. The bursary is designed for a writer to work on a novel, however we are accepting applications from writers who would prefer to work on a collection of short stories/novellas. Candidates are invited to write about any subject, so long as it is substantially one of fiction and imagination, and, the writer retains full copyright over their finished work. Comprehensive information on the bursary, judging panel and application process is available on our website: http://www.medicalcasenotes.co.uk/bursary/
The closing date for entries is November 30, 2006.

http://www.scottishwriters.co.uk

Just thought I would come on here for a little rant at the world.

Firstly, what has happened to the world? I remember when I was about 8 or 9 and I went swimming with my mates and we were allowed to go on our own. We walked the streets of my town and walked through parks as a short cut to get to the pool. When we got there we paid 50p to get in and we walked down the flight of stairs to the changing rooms. Once we got to the changing rooms, we heard the noise from the pool, all the kids shouting and screaming. The changing rooms were open and had no doors but we got into our trunks and put our stuff in our locker and ran to the pool and dive bombed in. Splashing was par for the course. Either side of the pool there would be mums, dads, grans and grandads watching and waving and even taking pictures. There were life guards who would only "check you" if you were getting out of hand or swore at someone.
Once your eyes were nipping with the chlorene, we would get dried and go up to the vending machines in the main foyer and get a chicken soup in a plastic cup that burned the mouth of us. We then walked down the main street as it got dark and watched all the adults do their shopping and watch people go into pubs for nights out and think that we will be doing that one day. We would then take the same short cuts home through parks and streets and make it home safely where our mothers would be waiting with the washing machine door open for our towels and trunks. We would then be ordered to get a bath and get into our jammies. Once we got to the living room there would be toast and tea waiting on us. Then we were allowed to watch the football and it was off to bed.
Those were the days but what has happened to the world? When did it become such a dangerous place to be? Nowadays if a group of boys want to go swimming it has to be organised like an excursion. First of all, what to wear. All boys now wear tracksuits that cost £60 plus trainers that cost alot more. Then there is the hair cut. It has to be modelled on a kids t.v presenter. Then coated in hurricane proof gel. Next. Who is taking you. Due to the influx of paedophiles in the last 10 years from Paedolia kids now are not allowed to go anywhere without being accompanied by a government vetted, police checked, de wormed, de loused and C of S adult. Then. There is the seatbelt issue. I dont ever remember wearing a seatbelt in a car when i was a child and riding in the passenger seat was a treat. Now? Pile in, buckle up or we are going nowhere and if you do manage to get somewhere and the police see that you are not wearing a belt, then it is an on the spot fine. Next. When you get there, it no longer costs 50p to go swimming. No! It now costs the equivelant to a loaf, pint of milk, half dozen eggs, 4 square slice and the newspapers. You now need to pay for a locker? Never. Now the changing rooms. They are state of the art security monitored with bars running over the top and the walls go right to the floor. Grabbing your pals foot under the wall was a laugh in my day. Also now there are signs everywhere saying that any device that can capture and image or video is banned. Now there is something fundamentally wrong with that. Everything now captures and image or a video. Phones, mp3 players, digi cams, pen cams, I even saw a boy the other day with a action figure that took your picture!!!
So no photos to remember your day. Also the life guards now? Who in their right mind would entrust their childrens safety and ultimately, their life with these adolescent, hormone enraged, self obsessed, narsacistic, sunbed dwelling fuck wits? They are more interested in looking good in shorts and trying to see their reflection in a tile.
Then after 20 mins sitting about trying to look cool and seeing who has a "six pack" its time to go up to the fast food counter in the complex and spend £6 on a cheeseburger that is reminiscent of a diseased organ (excuse the freudian slip). Then once the afore mentioned vetted adult comes back to pick them up it is home to throw the chlorine smelling backpack on the kitchen floor and demand that "maw" washes it. Then its off out to have under age sex, drink, take drugs, fight in the streets and cause mayhem.

When and why did this world become so...shite?

Another rant! This time at...Everything else!

It's a free country! Remember that saying? Well in a funny kind of way it still is. If you do what you are told!
Below is a list of things that you must do in order for it still to be a free country:

Don't smoke
Drink Alchohol in moderation
Don't drink Alchohol
Give Blood
Don't Go on to a plane with a water bottle
Carry an ID Card
Dont get into debt
Get a credit card
Get on the property Ladder
Work all the hours god sends to pay the sky high mortgage
Dont work too many hours
Abide by health and safety at all times
Eat organic foods
Have a mixed diet
Don't eat saturated fat
Dont eat monosaturated fat
Eat fat its good for you
Pay tax
Dont hit your kids
Dont watch too much t.v
Take an interest in politics - watch BBC Parliament
Excercise daily
Relax Daily
Dont drop litter
Pay higher council tax for substandard local authority binmen
Dont take the law into your own hands
Phone the police and wait on them sending an officer round 3 weeks later

Just a thought.

Also this ID card thing is ludicrous. Did you now know that there are 5000 plumbers in Britain...that are Polish? Did you also know that Poland has the 3rd worst sewage and drainage system in Europe?
When my son is my age he will probably meet a girl called Sheena Polokwarskovinki who has a mother who smokes 60 a day and is never out the County Bingo and a father who cant speak a word of the queens and wouldn't know copper pipe from dog shite. A nice girl?

I am against any foreigner coming to our country and living and working here. i am not racist, far from it but put the shoe on the other sock and do you honestly believe that we would be welcomed into the bosom of any other country the way people are welcomed here? No is the answer. My wife currently pays £12 per week for her bus to work. A woman from Uganda she works with gets on the same bus as her at the same stop and pays £7 for the same weekly ticket. Why? She has a card stating that because she is an immigrant she must pay less. Also, my brother has just opened a catering equipment shop in my home town but not after some lengthy legal battles against numerous Asians who tried to sabotage his efforts in starting the business by claiming that the council, Letting agency and my brothers solicitor were infact RACIST. The smashed the front of the shop windows the day before my brother opened and then denied it was them. When the police arrested them and said we saw 4 asian men doing this and you were identified and as you are asian too it is no coincidence that the windows were smashed (sorry if this is hard to follow). They then tried the racism card with the police. They then stated that they should have been allowed to have the shop instead of my brother as they need the money more than him.

Therefore I believe we should only allow foreigners into our country on holiday and likewise for us.

On that note, I bid you a good evening/morning

Hi,
 
We just wanted to let you know about our very unique contest and see if you would like to let your readers know about it. It can be found at http://gypsylar.com/Screenwriting_Competition.html
 
Thanks,
L.W. Smith
Producer/Director
Gypsy Lar Productions

Further to McDade's rant...

If I had known then what I know now, I'd have invested in oil and tobacco then retired at 40 as a millionaire!

The Eighties

During the early eighties I learned to drive. I had 10 lessons, the tenth being the one immediately prior to my driving test. I think the lessons cost just under £3 each because I'm sure the entire 'experience' of getting my driving license cost no more than £40 including the test. Petrol was about 75p per gallon (4.5litres) and 20 cigarettes cost roughly the same. Now, 2006, a gallon of petrol costs £4.50 and 20 cigarettes... is about the same!

In the eighties, we bought our first house, parting with a whopping great two grand to cover the deposit, surveyors and solicitors fees. It was a very difficult decision to make! Did we go for
A) the detached country fixie-up with one room and no bath or hot water at £13,000,
B) the brand new 'spam valley' semi with all mod cons for £16,000, or
C) the one room terraced fixie-up with both a bath and hot running water at £12,000?
We settled for the latter... then the rates jumped from £189 a year to about £600+ when the Government introduced the Poll Tax. That wasn't good for self-employed and earning about £50 per week and having 3 dogs, a cat, 12 chickens, a few ponies and a house renovation underway.

But things soon changed when the bread strikes began... I became a born again entrepreneur. Or, to put it another way, was so skint that I traded home made bread and fresh eggs for anything but bread or eggs. Looking back, I really think that the true spirit of entrepreneurialism was born in the eighties! I could get 20 Regal Kingsize for a dozen eggs! As I recall at that time, a loaf of bread cost about 69p... that was almost as much as a gallon of petrol or 20 cigarettes!!! (The cheap loaf never arrived until the great war of the supermarkets during the late nineties.)

This rant could go on for pages and pages but I'm going to stop now and leave you with the following quotes... wondering about them, as I do.

"Use your loaf"
"Man cannot live on bread alone"
"It's all about the dough"

NEVER BE FOOLED BY THE PRICE OF A LOAF!

Dear Fellow Writers I would like to bring to your attention something that as occured to me in the past week regarding the Robert McLellan Award for Poetry.
I submitted three poems for the award ( closing date for entrys 9th Aug),on the 2and of Sept I received a call informing me that one of my Poems had been judged the Winning Entry,I think you can imagine my delight and excitement at winning such a Award plus the cash prize of one thousand pound,I was invited to go to the Isle of Arran for the Award Ceremony on the 9th of Sept,I duly purchased Rail Tickets and booked a Hotel on Arran for the 8th/9th of Sept,on the 5th of Sept I received a call asking me to confirm that I would be attending the Award Ceremony.
The Winning Poem should have appeared on the McLellan Website on the 6th Sept,nothing appeared,nor on the morning of the 7th Sept,at 1010hrs on the 7th I received a call informing me that there had been a "mistake" and that I had not won the Award!!!!,I am sure you can imagine the effect of such news had on me.
That the McLellan organzers must have had my entry before the 9th of Aug and only discoverd a "mistake" 48hrs before the Award Ceremony after informing that I had won the Award 96 hours previously,I am sorry but I find this very hard to accept.
I have written this post so that You,My fellow writers are aware of the appalling and unaceptable behaviour of the people involved in the McLellan Award

bernie_shelton@hotmail.com

I would like to thank you for your time
Bernie

Would anyone interested in receiving competition news and updates, including the 'NYK' writing competitions please register (or re-register) for free membership at http://www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk/newsletter.htm
All previous membership details prior to 10th September 2006 nhave been deleted.
Thank you

I like jabbing Hippos with Javelins

tonights comment is bizzare.

onions make tiny aeroplanes from their skin when nobody is looking

god bless steve irwin.

Crikey!!!!

You were a legend.

Edited by author 08-11-2006 22:49
SAVING YOU CYBERDOSH EVERY DAY

CYBERDOSH SAVERS

A new topic for you. Cyberdosh Savers is now posting daily news about sales, bargains, discounts, cashback incentives, money spinning ideas and money off vouchers. Operated by NYK Media, in conjunction with the other Scottishmultimedia websites, Cyberdosh is the name given to the millions of pounds worth of cash, or dosh, that transfers daily through the virtual reality that we know as the Internet. It's all about the money, and we aim to tell the world how it's done in Scotland. We Scots aren't mean, we are frugal!

For 2007, plans are already afoot for edition 13 of 'Now You Know' magazine. This next issue will deal with the issues of finance and today's financial climate. If you have a story to tell, a poem to write or some super saver ideas that you would like to share with the readers, email them to the editor via the website at http://www.scottishwriters.co.uk

If you are a company or prospective advertiser and would like to incorporate any discount vouchers or exclusive offers within NYK magazine, please get in touch.

10% OFF CARPETS, WISHAW
As a reader of 'Now You Know' in the Lanarkshire or surrounding area, you can still take advantage of the great 10% OFF at Cambusnethan Carpets, Wishaw. The voucher is included in edition 11. To get a back copy of this booklet, simply send payment of £2.99 to:

NYK Media,
PO Box 7827
Wigtown
Newton Stewart
Dumfries & Galloway
DG8 9ZY

Visit the British Web Shop

Now You Know About CYB€RDO$H

Subscribe to our FREE NEWSLETTER and you will receive an exclusive 10% discount in the Cyberdosh auctions (excluding postage & packaging). Details further down newsletter...

Welcome to the new look newsletter from NYK Media. 'NYK' stands for Now You Know, which is the name of the magazine we publish. As well as the magazine, we also operate our own website project, offering members the chance to promote themselves, their projects and their businesses online via www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk and in the magazine. All of our associated websites are linked to this one name, regardless of the content.

WHAT IS CYBERDOSH?
Cyber - relating to the Internet
Dosh - money, cash, finances

With the seasonal shopping blitz now underway, we have been trawling the Internet finding the best bargains around and, more importantly, sampling the various sites for ourselves. Cyber shopping IS the way of the future and digital transactions are becoming the 'norm', so if you haven't yet discovered the benefits (and the massive savings you can make) then this is the place to start. We are here to help you save your hard-earned cash online - and that's what we call CYBERDOSH. ( More on this subject at http://www.cyberdosh.com )

BRITISH WEB SHOP
As an easy starting point, we are developing an online shopping centre at http://www.britishwebshop.co.uk that will promote many of the well-known high street brands along with some less well known retailers that have money-spinning, cost-cutting bargains to offer. We have introduced the 'Top 10 Cyberdosh Savers' section along with a new 'Shop & Save' page that features current special offers, discounts and sales items. With the increase in online shopping, many retailers are now offering cash back incentives, free gifts and loyalty points. Each of these tempting concepts now has its own section in the www.britishwebshop.co.uk Our 'Top 10 Cyberdosh Savers' are all reviewed by NYK Media and come to you with our personal recommendations.

CYBERDOSH FREEBIES - GET FREE STUFF
How much cheaper can it be than FREE? Within the 'CYBERDOSH FREEBIES' section, we are currently offering the following items absolutely FREE OF CHARGE- you simply pay postage & packaging of £2.99 each time you claim a FREE GIFT.

Systran Professional language translation software - rrp £129.99, get yours FREE
Encyclopaedia Britannica 2006 on CD - rrp £19.99, get yours FREE
Deluxe 5 piece hair clipper/grooming kit - rrp £9.99, get yours FREE
New edition Monopoly for PC - rrp £19.99, get yours FREE
AND Route Planner 2006 UK & Ireland (PC) - rrp £39.99, get yours FREE
Selection of DVDs such as The Full Monty, Alladin, - get one FREE
3D Garden Designer software - rrp £14.99, get yours FREE
Orange pre-pay Sim card with FREE credit and FREE cinema tickets - get yours FREE

The above are just a few examples of the 76 FREE gifts available online now. You can claim yours by visiting http://www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk/FREE You do not have to make any other purchases to claim your freebie, so long as you don't mind paying the small delivery charge. NB: you can only claim one free gift at a time.

CYBERDOSH AUCTIONS
We now have our own Cyberdosh auction online. It can be accessed at http://www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk/auction There are hundreds of items awaiting listing on the site but we are doing our best to list them as quickly as possible. It's free to register as a bidder and, as a subscriber to this FREE NEWSLETTER, you are entitled to an extra 10% discount off final selling prices of all items listed in the Cyberdosh auction. Simply remember to add your code in the comments box when paying for items.

FREE MESSAGEBOARDS
Once again, we have introduced more free to use messageboards for users to leave their own hints and tips relating to cyberdosh. These can be accessed via the main pages of the Cyberdosh website, British Web Shop website or http://www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk/Messageboards

Cyberdosh is the subject being covered in the next edition of 'Now You Know', so get writing - submit all your stories, hints, tips and money-saving ideas in time for edition 13, which is planned for publication early next year.

FUTURE NEWSLETTERS
If you would like to submit some news, hints, tips or advice for inclusion in future newsletters, please send text within an email to nykmedia@aol.com

That's all for now, don't forget to claim your free Cyberdosh discount and make the most of the season's shopping. To keep up to date with Cyberdosh news, visit the messageboards on site at www.cyberdosh.com or www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk/Messageboards where we will be featuring many of the top bargains available.

That's about it for now, but watch out for the next edition of 'Now You Know' and subscribe to these boards to receive free email reminders when they get updated.

Bye for now!

The ed.

PS: Visit http://www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk/Greasypalm
I signed up to this and have already saved a small fortune. (I can't disclose the exact items or amounts, because most of the friends and relatives that are on my 'pressie list' read these newsletters). The cashback incentives, along with available discounts, can add up to amazing savings! I recommended it to another friend and she's found house insurance £55 cheaper than her previous quote, PLUS the offer of over £30 cashback! I've now recommended it to someone for car insurance! If you decide to join, everytime you recommend a friend you could earn another £7.00 for yourself! As The Big Bad Bunny always says, "It's all those cyber pennies that make the cyber pounds." That's Cyberdosh!

CYBERDOSH TIP 1 - Credit cards are always interest free when you pay off the balance each month plus some give you cashback on balance payments. It maybe less than 1% but that cashback is over and above the online cashback you can earn, so that amounts to even more Cyberdosh savings in the long run. I wouldn't entertain credit cards if there were no benefits, the card companies probably hate customers like us! :-)

CYBERDOSH TIP 2 - Always pay off credit balances BEFORE interest is chargeable and never draw cash on a credit card. If you are paying ridiculous interest rates at present, switch the debt to a card that offers 12 months interest free and charges 2% or less for the transaction and get the debt cleared.

CYBERDOSH TIP 3 - Credit cards offer better protection to the consumer than ordinary bank debit cards but don't go applying for too many at the one time as this can damage your credit score. The same happens when applying for the best mortgage or loan deals.