MY mistake!

On reflection, and with prompting from the Daily Mail, I realise my criticism was unfounded. Although the headline seemed clumsy, by the time I had looked at it afresh I realised it was grammatically correct.

It read “It’s time for us mums to go on strike.”

If it had read “It is time we mums went on strike” I would have been correct. but the use of the word ‘for’ meant the sentence, without ‘mums’ would read “It’s time for us to go on strike.” which meant they were right. I stirred up a hornets’ nest on Mailonline. Good job I can recognise when I am wrong. I feel a bit of a twit but I don’t think it will stop me. I have given up with ‘different from’ as nobody uses that any more but will take more care in future before I comment on line.

Advertisement

Grammar

I have just had a message from the Daily Mail saying they have had to take down a post from me as they had a load of complaints.

I was criticising a grammatical error made by the headliners over a perfectly written article but it seems some folk took offence. So the paper gave in and took down my comment. It seems grammar doesn’t matter any more, but the I suppose headlines are different. I wouldn’t care but substituting ‘we’ for ‘us’ would not have taken up any more space.

I make mistakes but I would have hoped the paper would have recognised the error and thanked me. No chance!

Recording

I have just returned from recording a magazine for the Voice of Progress, a local newspaper for the blind. I was lucky enough to meet a folk singer/song writer who had had a fascinating background and who was willing to share it with our listeners and sing a few songs while he played the guitar.

Littlehampton and Worthing are fortunate in having this facility where free discs are sent to people who have registered with the charity so that they can hear local news and listen to items chosen by the readers, which can include pieces about history, travel nature, music and, in my case, poems and stories. I’ll add a couple of verses from one of the poems I used this morning.

Wonderful Worthing.

Sunny Worthing is the place to stay

A town between the South Downs and the sea

Maybe you’ll never want to go away

So much to entertain you, here, is free.

There’s festivals, parades and fairs and fun

There’s jazz and folk and organ concerts too

There’s parks for younger ones to climb and run

And artists’ open houses – all to view.

 

Publication!

There was I , trying, unsuccessfully,to get a photo of the magpies pulling twigs off the silver birch tree to make nests ( through the kitchen window) when Hubby brought in the paper.

To my surprise and delight they had printed a letter I sent. Now to sit back and see if there are any repercussions.I was sticking up for Worthing which has been in the press recently due to the average age of the population.What people don’t seem to recognise is that folk here live longer because it is suited to a relaxed and yet sociable lifestyle.

There’s no doubt that one of the advantages is the creative atmosphere. I would never have imagined I could write six novels in ten years until we moved here.

I have also dug out some poems,mostly about birds, colours and getting fit – ready for my next recording for the Voice of Progress.