Marrakesh

Writers don’t go on holiday, they research a setting for a book, get inspiration or go on a fact finding mission, well that’s my excuse at least for the employment office. It’s true in a way, as I’m trying to see this place through the eyes of Cameron and what he would make of the place and I'm writing this blog.

Marrakesh is certainly a culture shock; you know you’re not in Europe anymore. Not just because the sight of Camels and the typical Moroccan architecture but because the chaos around you. Not only do you have to avoid Taxis, cars and scooters while crossing the road, now you have to avoid horse drawn carriages and donkey carts too.

Then there is the poverty, according to one statistic I saw, 40% of the population in Morocco lives below the poverty line. This contrasts sharply with the number of extremely luxurious Hotels you can find in this city. You have to keep this in mind when you walk about and you get accosted every 5 seconds. Taxis, trinket sellers, snake charmers; everybody wants a piece of you. Small wonder, it’s easy to forget how good we westerners have it.

Would I send Cameron here? I can’t imagine him liking the place, the amount of stray dogs is more than offset by the amount of stray cats; they would hound him out of town. It is warm and sunny for 10 months out of the year, but I think a vampire would struggle to find a dark and quiet spot here during the day. I do think he would like all the clubs and the amount of tourists to prey on…..I have a few more days here to let the millions of impressions sink in more and then we will see if a trip to Morocco is an option. One thing is for sure; Marrakesh is an inspiring place and it will take me a while to process all these impressions.   

Feature and follow friday #4

To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

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8. If you're new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

Question of the Week: Who is your blogger BFF? Tell us a little bit about him or her? If not tell us why you need or don’t need a blogger BFF. 

I Have to be really sad here and say I don't have any BFF blogger friends. I'm fairly new to this virtual community and I don't know any bloggers personally, but I feel I've been welcomed in this community with open arms. I'm learning a lot from you all and discovering so many new things. Like the blog hop:) Some of you have given me reviews and featured my blog on their sites. So no BFF but many new friends.

Clarence street

The location for the start of my book is Clarence street in Stockbridge which is a rather attractive part of Edinburgh. I chose this street as it would have existed when Cameron was a boy and because I used to live there, so I know what the flats look like from the inside. When I started to research whether it would have been plausible he lived there I found that before 1914 there is very little documentation about life in Edinburgh, so I had to keep things vague and just go with the few snippets I found.

I wanted Cameron's dad to work in the brewing industry as this was a major employer at the turn of the century in Edinburgh and my grandfather was also a beer brewer. Then I came across this fantastic photo and decided that Cameron's dad was a cooper and he would follow his dad as an apprentice when he left school, which in those days was at 14.

 A cooper was a skilled artisan and therefore well paid. The fact that these men are well dressed confirms that. This fits in nicely with the only thing I could find out about Clarence street in 1900; a sign writer lived there; also a skilled artisan.

Later in the book Cameron returns to Edinburgh and finds Clarence street much changed. The street is full of cars squeezed in between ugly black wheely bins.(in the photo you can just see the top of one) Unfortunately these eyesores became necessary as we had a problem with urban foxes and seagulls tearing open the bin bags. I quite liked encountering a fox now and then walking home at night. We even had a family of 5 foxes living in our back garden, and the cubs were very cute and playful but also very noisy. Hey Cameron, ever wondered what fox taste like?

Feature and follow friday #3

Question of the Week: Resolutions: Put together your blogger resolution list for all of us to see!

I already published 10 resolutions on my blog.  Here are the 3 main once relevant to blogging:

1. Doing reviews of self published e-books I had the pleasure of receiving for free

2.Read all the blogs I’m now subscribed to as there are some good ones out there with some great tips for writers. I've just not had the time but I need to develop a strategy for promoting the first book. 

3.Figure out how to improve my blog and what the hell Pinterest actually is and then linking the two. Need to get more web savvy. 

Please click on the link below to see all the blogs taking part:

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Book review: Monkey talk by T.Lucas Earl

Now I have self-published a book on Amazon I take a lot more notice of other self-published authors and mostly if one of them gives their book or short story away, I make an effort to read it. Some were bad but Monkey talk by T. Lucas Earl was a pleasant surprise. This short story is currently available on Amazon at $1.26 and I fully recommend it.

The story is set at some point in the future where through pills and a speech augmentation chip chimpanzees have developed human abilities. We meet Professor Towry a chimpanzee who lectures in cybernetic technology and his new human assistant Ms.Lui. We see this new world through the eyes of Prof. Towry. He is a rational thinker who doesn’t think he is inferior to humans and doesn’t accept being treated differently. We find out that the pills only partly supress his animal nature and often at night he is a different animal.

The story is a familiar ‘if you mess with nature there will be consequences’ but it’s written in an original, funny and intelligent way. The character of Professor Towry is grumpy, prejudiced and at times aggressive but despite that you have to feel sorry for him as this rational chimpanzee sees his life descent into mayhem on occasion.

I give this short story 5 stars.

Best intentions

At the moment I’m counting my last days of work. When I started this job it seemed like a dream; working in a high end jewellers in Monte Carlo was just too good to be true..... and it was. I won’t say too much, I'll just let Cameron fictionally deal with some of the issues in book two. Anyway the 1^st of January I will be a free woman again. 

On the 1^st of January many of us have a list of new years resolutions in order to make a fresh start, but mostly a few days later we will carry on as before. I do hope to hit the ground running and make the most of my new freedom before another job snags me again. Here are a few things I hope to achieve and change in 2014:

1. Finish that second book.
2. I don’t want to, but I better get a good CV out there.
3. Do reviews of self-published free books. I believe in paying it forward, if I’m expecting people to do reviews of my book during a giveaway I’d better do a few myself.
4. Weather permitting, have a daily swim.
5. Actually use some of all my cooking books and try some new recipes.
6. Read all the blogs I’m now subscribed to as there are some good ones out there with some great tips for writers. I've just not had the time but I need to develop a strategy for promoting the first book.
7. Figure out how to improve my blog and what the hell Pinterest actually is and then linking the two. Need to get more web savvy.
8. Unrelated, but I really need to throw out some of my make-up. I know my bronzing pearls are at least 15 years old, how could they have lasted that long?????
9. Improve my French.(I say this every year and I'm sure there is improvement, but my inner teacher keeps telling me: 'must do better!')
10. Let all good intentions go to waste by getting a kitten which will no doubt distract me from doing all the things I set out to do.

I would like to know what your New Year’s resolution are.

Christmas Palm trees

In one of my previous posts I showed you how Monaco has spared no expense into turning the place into a Christmas picture post card. All very pretty but unrealistic. It is 13°C here and it is unlikely we will ever have a pack of snow like the artificial pack that is lying outside the Casino just now. In Cros de Cagnes where I live they have decided to work with the local trees; the wonderful palms.

Now when I say local trees I will have to admit that some of the varieties of trees were introduced here by the British. From Africa came eucalyptus, from Australia mimosa, and in 1864 the Phoenix Canariensis was introduced better known as the palm tree. The palms, mimosas and eucalyptus trees introduced by the Brits absolutely thrive in this climate and I think they are a marvelous addition. I found a great bit about the history of Cannes on the following site:
http://www.riviera.fr/cannhist.htm

At home we decided to embrace a local species too and went for a Christmas lime tree instead of the customary pine. Limes make very fetching baubles and an even better Gin and Tonic.

Then at night the lights come on and the boulevards in Nice and elsewhere on the Côte are lit up by rows of festive palm trees. Christmas spirit and not a flock of snow, fake or otherwise in sight.

Feature and follow friday 2

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Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

 The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!  How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow the Features and you must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post. A lot of blogs are transitioning to Wordpress in which they do not have the luxury of GFC, so an RSS subscription is appreciated or if you choose an email subscription. If you don't have GFC please state in your post how you would like to be followed.

 

Question of the Week: 

Pick a book in your favorite genre that you’d recommend to a reluctant reader.

At the moment I'm reading a lot of french literature and I can imagine there will be a lot of reluctant readers for this genre. One of my favorite french writers is Alexander Dumas. I can recommend the count of Monte Christo. I know it is a well known story but not many people brave the full version which is a 5 book thick tome. It is well worth the read as it gives you a better sense of the long time it takes Edward Dantes to get his revenge and the effort it takes him. I enjoyed it immensely.

Next Week's Question: 

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! What books did Santa stuff your stocking with this holiday season? Do a holiday book haul for us! If you don’t celebrate just show off your books that you got this week. Pictures!!! 

  This is a Blog Hop!

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1. Parajunkee {Host}	2. Alison Can Read {Host}
3. Words With Sarah {Feature}	4. The Storybook Kingdom {Feature}
5. So Many Books, So Little Time	6. Traci @ Mad Hatter Reads
7. Moonlight Reader	8. Kathy @ A Glass of Wine
9. Kendal @ Kinx's Book Nook	10. Charlotte @ Thoughts and Pens
11. Galavanting Girl Books	12. Mary @ Buried Under Romance
13. Once Upon a Coffin	14. The Crazy Bookworm
15. Brittany @ Spare Time book Blog	16. Sharrice @ Reese's Reviews: MA2F
17. Jackie's Bookbytes	18. Em @ The YA Book Butterfly
19. Shauni @ Bodice Rippers, Femme Fatales and Fantasy	20. Shauni @ Tea and Book
21. Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction	22. Kim @ Divergent Gryffindor
23. Emdawg's Book Blog	24. Amie @ Magic Of Words
25. Kristen@ Seeing Night Reviews	26. The Paperback Princesses
27. Kayla @ The Bibliophilic Nerds	28. Munira @ In Vogue with Books
29. Horea @ Moody Lions	30. Aaron @ Dreaming About Other Worlds
31. Aneta @ Angelic Book Reviews	32. Crystal @ Elegantly Bound Books
33. CREATE WITH JOY	34. Anna @ Diamond&Coal Book Reviews
35. Isabelle's Book Reviews	36. Isabelle'a Book Reviews
37. Camille @ Girl meets Books	38. Jackie @ Jackie's Book World
39. Languageintheblood	40. My Addiction For Books and Coffee

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Christmas

I know it is a bit early but this probably will be my last post before Christmas as my place of work is now open on Sundays and I will be working 6 days a week, so I want to leave you with some wonderful images from planet money in the fake snow.

It is nice to work in a place where you pretty much have a policeman on every street corner. I can only imagine what would happen to all these decorations on a Saturday night in Edinburgh. It would probably have traffic cone on top and a few Irn bru cans dangling of its branches.

Hotel hermitage; this is where the rich and famous stay when visiting planet money. It all looks even better at night but I haven't succeeded in taking any good night time pics.

Planet money wouldn't be planet money without its banks and financial institutions and as you can see no money has been spared at the Companie Monegasque de banque. At Barclays they went for a winter cute fest with teddy s and other stuffed animals.

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas. I'll try and survive my last 13 days of work and hope to put up another post before the New year.

The border

This might look like any other street in Monaco and on the face of it nothing special, but this is the border between Monaco and France. The picture was taken from the Monaco side and where the pharmacy is, begins Beausoleil and France.

 Living in the EU we are used to walking from one country into another without any border controls, but mostly you know you have crossed the border; the language has changed and the road signs look different. Here you wouldn't have noticed you had walked into another country; roadsigns and language are the same, however on the other side of planet money things are very different.

In France, workers enjoy a 35 hour work week. (I do have to explain that the 1.5hour lunch break is not paid so days are actually longer than in Britain where your lunch is 45min, paid and counts towards the 40 hour work week) On planet money we work 40 hours and the 1.5hour lunch break is unpaid. France has decent healthcare that covers 70% of what the government says it should cost. Monaco covers 80% of what your treatment actually cost.( I must say healthcare here is pretty excellent.)
France has very strict employment laws. I'm sure Planet money has employment laws too, but they seem to be optional.(Unpaid overtime! What! That can't be legal, surely!) France is a republic where as Monaco is having no plans in the near future to have either a revolution or behead their monarch.

I'm sure there are many other differences you can't see on the photo, but the most important one for my colleagues and I is that France is cheaper and that is why we often walk up here to have lunch and do some shopping. If you're coming to Monaco, book a hotel in Beausoleil; it is just a few minutes walk from the casino and prices are much more reasonable.

Juan les Pins

We moved to the south of France nearly 3 years ago and after the amazing weekend we just had it is hard not to feel just a little bit smug. The UK has been battered by high tides, storms and snow while we have enjoyed t-shirt weather. This weekend I managed to get 3 days off in a row and we decided to make the most of it. 3 years on we still have the feeling that we are on holiday every time we get a day off. We decided to take a train 20 min up the line to Juan les Pins. From there you get some amazing views over the bay of Juan. In my book it is the place where Cameron had moored his yacht to enjoy all that Cannes (on the other side of the bay) had to offer.

Juan les Pins is worth a visit as it is one of the few places along the coast that has a sandy beach. Most of the town has seen better days though and it isn't as upmarket as Cannes. In December the season is definitely over, but there are still plenty of bars and cafes open along the sea front and on a sunny day you can enjoy beautiful  views over the bay. I recommend enjoying afternoon tea on the terrace of the very smart art deco hotel Belles Rives or even brave a swim (I did and it really wasn't too bad with a wet suit!) Getting off the train today it was hard to imagine I will be back at this station tomorrow at 8am to go back to work and reality. (Sigh!)

More bigger boats

Before you call in the grammar police, let me explain the title. It was inspired by one of my favorite you-tube video's and if you like cats I would advice you to have a look at it. It is titled 'Many too small boxes and Maru' and features a cat trying to get inside a series of boxes that are too small for this portly but persistent kitty. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XID_W4neJo

I thought of this video when the biggest boat of the year so far, The Queen Elizabeth (Cunards flagship) moored up in Monaco yesterday. It looked just ridiculously big for the small harbour, dwarfing even the most impressive luxury yachts. 

This was taken from the spot where I normally enjoy my lunch. This week we've been having just the best December weather, allowing me to strip down to a short sleeved blouse. Looking at this large cruise ship I was wondering if I could use it in the book. Vampire being stuck on a large boat with carefree holiday makers would make for a good story line. I'm sure Cameron would have a great time, drugging hapless victims and maybe even leaving a body or two in his and the Queen's wake.