October | 2021 | Guy Portman's Blog

Time For A Change.

Oct 22 2021

I started this blog on March 12th, 2012. The first ever post was about my recent trip to Miami – Miami: Day One. For the past nine-and-a-half years, I have written a blog post every Friday without fail, with the exception of one occasion due to technical issues.

The plan was to keep blogging until the end of my days. However, this week I made the decision to take a break. I’ve just had enough. The thing feels stale, stagnant, listless, and of little use in promoting my titles. I have no inclination to try and increase my presence on WordPress, as I feel that my energies could be put to better use elsewhere.

The blog will still be online. As for the book reviews section, I will continue to update this with reviews of books I’ve read. There are currently over 130 reviews. But, until I have a change of heart, or big news to bring you, I will not be writing blog posts.

The plan is get on with other stuff. I have written two books this year. Both of which need editing, and won’t be released for quite some time yet. In other news, The Necropolis Trilogy is poised to be remastered. #1 Necropolis will be removed from sale, rewritten and then put back up as a new title. A new cover may be necessary and a reworded blurb too. Hopefully, parts #2 and #3 just need a bit of work and won’t require uploading as new books. This way, I can keep the sterling reviews, which #1 Necropolis never achieved. Perhaps this was inevitable, as it was only the second book I ever wrote.

This is what I tell myself every morning when I wake up – The world will embrace the new and improved Dyson Devereux. Readers will be engrossed from the beginning and eager to read the entire trilogy.

It’s called positive visualisation. OIympic athletes do it all the time. And I’m talking about the successful ones, not Eddie The Eagle, or that swimmer from The Guinea.

I also have plans to write another two books in the near future. By this time next year, I aim to have twelve books out.

It is time for a reset. I will still be visiting your blogs; the few of you who still visit mine regularly that is.

Have a good weekend.

Another Week Bites The Dust

Oct 15 2021

This week’s blog post is being written in a frantic rush. Storm clouds are gathering and I need to get substantial cutting done in the garden before the ground is deluged. I might not get another chance for quite some time. To compound matters, I have pulled or possibly severed the muscle on the inside of my thigh. It’s the abductor magnus I believe. Things like this never used to happen when I was young.

It’s been a few weeks since I posted a picture of a deer. Here is one I took a few days back.

Here is Trigga at a small pond we stumbled across the other day.

Another week; another kebab.

I had Indian last week. Vegetable samosas are one of my favourites.

The drink is a King Cobra. Standard Cobra is a great beer to have with curry, due to it not being fizzy. However, King Cobra is another matter. This beer/champagne hybrid is pretentious plonk. I will not be consuming it again.

It’s a dog’s life.

That rain could be on the way, and there’s the darkness too. It’s that time of year. So, I better run. Have a good weekend.

Squid, Siamese, Sweets, Staropramen & Swifts.

Oct 08 2021

I do like alliteration, at least when it comes to blog posts. The Squid in the title refers to the Korean Netflix series ‘Squid Game’. Half the world is watching the show at present, as am I. The most memorable part for me was the cookie cutting game. Never would have thought cookie cutting could be so fraught.

‘Siamese Twins’ is the book I am poised to start, but just haven’t quite got around to yet. 2021 has not been a prolific reading year thus far.

Now for the sweets. Are you a fan of cheesecake? For some reason I was under the impression I couldn’t stand the stuff. That all changed when I tucked into this specimen complete with icing.

Starting the day with a nougat pastry is not the norm. However, last Saturday was an exception.

Staropramen is a Czech beer, which is often sold quite cheaply in the supermarket despite it being what could be described as a premium beer. You’ve probably had it before. It’s pretty good.

Time for the swifts. These swifts stopped off by my house on their migration south. At least I think they are swifts, they’re not swallows. They were here last year too. It surprises me that they spend so much time flying about. One would have thought they’d use the time to rest, unless of course they are training for the long journey ahead.

Have a good weekend.

A Trip Away

Oct 01 2021

Last week I went to Norfolk for three nights. Little did I know on departing that a national petrol crisis was poised to begin. Fortunately, I was able to secure enough petrol to make the 150+ mile trip home. Not planning to go anywhere until the petrol fiasco ends. That may not be happening anytime soon despite the government’s claims to the contrary. Anyway, back to the trip.

New location; same animals. Captured these roe in a fen field first thing in the morning.

Trigga and a female viszla we came across on a walk.

A mute swan.

Time for a swim.

Back in the day whale bones, bones from slaughterhouses, and even human bones were ground down into bonemeal at the Narborough Bone Mill. The bonemeal was used for fertiliser.

Don’t believe me. You can read all about it here.

A mediaeval church in Narborough.

You can’t beat meat from the butcher, especially not this butcher.

Burgers from the butcher.

I wasn’t the only who tucked in.

If you come across any petrol let me know, I’ve only got eight miles left. For those of you who use the metric system, that’s not a lot. Have a great weekend.