Gone Away
Dispatches from a life in America
270 posts
A Place by Any Other Name
Names are funny things. Sometimes they don't quite fit and we have to invent new ones that somehow describe more aptly. That is how my kids became Mad, Boogie and the Pootle. But it's not just names of people that I…
Gone Away to Australia
For a few weeks now, The Blog Herald has been running a series called 100 blogs in 100 days . The idea is that a different blog will be highlighted on each of those one hundred days, thereby introducing new readers to…
Colonial Thinking
My regular readers may find this hard to believe but I spend a lot of time thinking about the blog and its direction. I have a basic aim (to showcase my writing) but within that there is huge variety in the subjects I…
Humor and Humour
Let's face it, humor and humour are two different things. Although the Americans and the British can understand many of each other's jokes, there are areas of comedy where one nation will stare at the other in blank…
A Tale of an Epiphany
I knew if I hung around the back door of PoserPundit.com long enough, I'd pick up a scarcely-used epiphany. Sure enough, I'd lurked in the alley only a few minutes when one came hurtling through a window. I heard the…
All About WBA
John Evans of Syntagma recently posed a question to the Writers Blog Alliance (WBA) : "Is WBA losing its momentum?" We have thrown that around a bit and generally agreed that any loss of momentum should be overcome when…
The American Experience
We all like to hear what others think of us, provided it's not given with malice. We Brits, for example, love Bill Bryson above all other travel writers because he writes of us with gentle humor and appreciation for his…
The 51st State
I have maintained for some time that England should petition America to be the 51st State. There are benefits that would accrue to both sides if this were to happen but note first that I said "England", not Britain or…
Icons
My name is Clive Allen; I am an icoholic. Ah, how releasing it is to say those words! Even though for several years now I have managed to control my addiction, the fact is that once you're an icoholic, you are always an…
Some Doom and Gloom
As we watch the aftermath of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, I cannot help but think we might be looking at a microcosm of the collapse of western civilization. Is this the way the world ends, not with a bang but in…
Blog Day and the Writer
John Evans of Syntagma has posted about Blog Day , although he would prefer to call it Blogosphere Day . He then goes on to consider what has happened within the blogosphere over the last twelve months and it makes…
Katrina
As I watch the television pictures of hurricane Katrina battering the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, it becomes very clear that the geographers are right to call Britain's climate temperate. One can live…
Christina's World
It is still a matter of some wonder to me that I now live upon the Great Plains, the legendary prairie of a thousand Western movies and television shows, the home of the Sioux, the Cheyenne and the Comanche. This land…
The Computer And I
I do love computers. Since 1995, when I first discovered them, I have spent far too much of my life immersed in the worlds they make possible. It was inevitable too that, having found out what they were for, I should…
An Interim Thought
Very often it's what you don't say, you know. We are strange creatures and much of our communication consists of an expression about the eyes, a pause where none was expected, a tug of the ear or a sigh. Ask any married…
An Unlikely Dream
It was not as if Andy did not know who stood before him when he opened the front door. Some faces are so instantly recognizable from their constant repetition in the media that we all know them, even though we might…
The Vagaries of Memory
Yesterday, an email from "Book Millionaire Real" appeared in my Gmail inbox. I was about to delete it as spam when the heading and first words caught my eye: "Book Millionaire Update - Dear Clive, Thank you for yo..."…
Introversion <em>and</em> How To Win Friends...
Introversion My wife, Kathy, and I were talking the other day about my favorite subject: me. She spends a lot of time on the excellent endeavor of trying to fathom the conundrum that is me and I find her conclusions…
A Thought on the Kingdom
In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit. Judges 21:25 (NIV) That statement comes right at the end of the book of Judges in the Bible and I have always found it interesting. It is often taken to mean…
Keeping the Customer Satisfied
To mangle a sentiment from a great American: "You can please some of the people all of the time; and you can please all of the people some of the time; but you can't please all of the people all of the time." This has…