Welcome to Janet's Blog

I first used this blog to publish "Trash" before I knew about ebooks. I wrote "Trash" twenty years ago. The novel explains why, in the original version of "If not for the tomatoes" Annie wrote: "We had aliens come and tell us". It wasn't Al Gore at all.

Annie isn't the hero of "Trash", but she has her own story ( a much more polished novel). Go to smashwords.com and look for "Tipping Point". (Follow the link to the right.)

If you're a first time visitor to my blog, try reading "If not for the tomatoes" first. (It's the short story in Annie's future - look in 6/5/07) This is only half the story, though. The complete story that inspired Tipping Point appears in my other blog as "Our choices".

To begin reading "Trash", start at 17/6/07. (Many apologies for the poor navigation.)

READ ON FOR LATEST BLOG POST


Friday 6 January 2017

Happy New Year!

Okay, okay. I know I'm a week late, but I've been engaged in important business, caring for my new rescue puppy. It meant that on New Year's Eve I only stayed at the shindig for an hour, leaving my partner there to get a lift home with friends. But I couldn't abandon sweet Ruby. I had driven her home from Walwa just that afternoon, a looong car journey (six and a half hours including stops).

Being home actually had an upside. Ruby just wanted to sleep, but I couldn't. So I watched some TV, and then Skyped Call as she sat bored in a Swiss hotel room, Callum sitting next to her with his arm in a sling. (I don't think they're ready to talk about their skiing holiday yet.) And not long after midnight, Nev was back for a New Year's kiss.

I don't often talk about my personal life in my blog, but my start to the year has been a good one. The sun is starting to think about peering over the horizon as I write, so before I take Ruby for a walk in the morning cool, I just need to get something off my chest.

I saw the early fireworks on the tube NY's Eve. As the presenter enthused about how many millions of dollars, and tonnes of fireworks were being used, I was horrified by the pall of smoke that almost obscured the display. In a year that will probably end up being the hottest on record, again, I despair of humankind getting the message that we really need to pull our heads in. There seems to be very little will to change the behaviours that have lead to the most serious threat faced by our world. (Climate change, not Trump.) Instead we continue to party as if there's no tomorrow; which we'll bring about if we keep this up!

It reminds me of the ever-vexing problems in the Middle East. Syria is the main focus at present. I was interested to see the comment on Facebook, saying that since over 60% of the weapons being used came from America, a trade embargo would actually be the most effective way to end the conflict. But my friend common sense has been dead for some time now.

And the conflict is adding to the environmental damage that is speeding up the destabilisation of our climate. First with the impact of the manufacture of the weapons through mining and production, and then with the damage that the weapons cause and the toxic chemicals they release.

Every thing we do has an effect.

“When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money.”

The native American proverb remains prophetic. Can we learn before it is too late?