Cherie’s Place – Archives

This is a copy of all the posts and comments from my original Blogspot Blog.

You can find my most recent posts on my new WordPress Blog which can be found here.

 

Moving Home

Well Blog home that it is

I have been toying with the idea of hosting my blog on my web space for some time. I have finally taken the plunge. Hopefully it will be easy for everyone to use and I hope you like the new design it is called Amazing Grace. I am still playing around with one or two features, so you may see a few subtle differences over time.

My New home can be found here, I hope you will visit. A welcome message and a new blog post can be found there.

PS: Let me know if you experience any problems with the site.

 

Slumdog & MoD Pay

Earlier this evening I watched the film Slumdog Millionaire which I found to be excellent, although I found the emphasis to be quite different from the book on which it is based. I am not going to give you a review on the film but you can find a a good one here.

I read the book when it first came out in paperback. I really enjoyed it and loved the premise, which certainly did come across in the film. The ending though is quite different from the book, which incidentally was originally called Q&A and written by Vikas Swarup. I might do a review of the book for you when I can find my copy…

I came back to some good news in my mail box – the MoD pay ballot results. PCS members have voted against accepting the divisive pay offer. The offer means that some of the lowest paid members would receive a cut in their earning potential whilst other members would receive as much as a 17% pay rise.

 

Preparing for Conference

The voting papers and agendas for the PCS main and group conferences all landed up in my mail this week. I am happy to say I have completed my voting papers and they are ready for posting tomorrow. Obviously I knew what agenda items were tabled for the group conference (I am on the standing orders committee after all ). But today for the first time I saw the National Conference agenda. The agenda is always very busy but reading between the lines I noticed some very interesting motions up for debate…

One of my tasks whilst at the conferences is to report on the key motions and debates, sharing information with PCS members who were unable to attend.

I am toying with the idea of doing ‘Conference Live Tweeting’ – live updates via twitter which will automatically update on my blog and also the local PCS site…

 

Cherie’s Place – Thought for the Week

The friendship that can cease has never been real.

Saint Jerome

 

PhotoHunt – Protect(ion)

I did wonder if I was going to be able to post my PhotoHunt on time this week. Last night my computer decided to throw another wobbly and rebooted itself twice and then turned itself off, refusing to be switched back on again… I tried again this morning and still nothing. So I tried different sockets and checked inside to see if the light blue light on the motherboard was still glowing, which was much to my relief.

I was beginning to think that yet another PSU had blown up. On the off chance I changed the power cable over and it started working again… I think it was having little joke at my expense.

But anyway onto the PhotoHunt pictures. I spotted this lovely scene on my recent trip to Little Moreton Hall.

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

 

Firmin by Sam Savage

…Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife

The book is set in 1960’s Boston in an urban area that is scheduled for regeneration. The novel is narrated by Fermin, a rat who lives in the basement of a run down bookstore. Fermin was the runt of the litter and always last in line to get food. In order to stay alive he start nibbling on the books in the shop. After a while he gains the ability to read. He thinks and sounds more like a human than a rat. At the begining of the novel if I hadn’t already know in advance that I wouldn’t have realised he was a rat.

Firmin is a gallant soul who is gifted and wise. He is shunned by his fellow rats and makes plans to befriend the bookseller. In addition to reading books Firmin has a fondness of the local picture house where he views what he calls his lovelies on the big screen.

The book is very philosophical and has well drawn characters, and Fermin is quite charming. The book is interspersed with pictures of characters and events that Fermin encounters along the way, I found these quite charming. Before each chapter there were also pictures of book covers these didn’t really add a lot for me.

I really enjoyed the book and found it quite a page turner.