Silver Surfer of the Year Awards [continued]

And here is the certificate in larger format to prove it. It is a pity that the silver lettering they have used for the title makes a rather disappointing scan. I have suggested to Digital Unite that they might design a digital award logo that winners and runners-up could download onto their own websites. If that came with a link to their website, it would help to widen their publicity.


Just to put this in perspective, although the Silver Surfer Awards are a national event, they do of course depend on people being nominated. I was lucky enough to have a friend who knew of the awards through his work, and he nominated me. There were 114 nominations this year, which apparently is the most they've ever had. It seems relatively few to me, though, considering what I am sure is a vastly greater number of older people who are using computer skills to enhance their own lives and to benefit others. So I am enjoying this award not only for myself, but on behalf of all those who were not nominated, but could have been.

************

I hoped to write lots today, but unfortunately, after an almost sleepless night in which the whole buzzing awards scene was churning around in my head, I fell asleep at the last minute, then jumped out of bed too quickly because I was late. This brought on a dizzy spell (blood pressure medication problems) which scrambled my head for about 4 or 5 hours. So I never got to my morning appointment as I was in no state to drive, but I nevertheless had to field phone calls from the local press and the BBC. More about that another day; there will be pictures too. Now, though, it's supper and an early early (that's not a mistype) night for me.

Silver Surfer of the Year Awards

Today is a special day for me. At 2 o'clock this afternoon, Thursday 23rd October, I shall be presenting myself at Portcullis House, the House of Commons, in London, to receive a runner-up certificate in the Silver Surfer of the Year Awards 2008. I was nominated for this by a friend, but never really imagined I would get anywhere near, so I am feeling quite chuffed! I was asked to keep it to myself until the day of the awards, which is why I haven't blogged about it sooner.

Normally there is one winner and two runners-up, but this year, they tell me, entries were so good that they've chosen four runners-up. My local MP has been invited and hopes to attend, and press releases have gone out to the local papers in the winners' areas. I will let you know more when it is all over.

The awards are run annually by a company called Digital Unite, whose aim is to bring digital literacy to older people who might not otherwise find access easy. They work through their network of specialist DU Tutors, their Community Programmes, and their annual outreach campaign, Silver Surfers' Day, which is designed to encourage organisations of every kind, both large and small, to get involved by running their own events. Digital Unite is Britain's specialist in Digital Inclusion for Older People. You can find out more on http://www.silversurfersday.org/.


From this -

- to this !

Garden clearance

Every year at about this time I have to have my gardener and his son in for a day's work to clear my garden. I am not a gardener myself, and am generally content for my garden to be a green one, with little in the borders but some flowering shrubs, and anything else that seeds and grows by itself, without much help from anyone. But I have to keep it under control, or it would go completely wild and annoy the neighbours too.

This year I decided to be more ruthless than usual, and ask them to cut my lilac so drastically that it will not flower for two years now. The trouble is, as it grows taller and taller, I can no longer appreciate it from my diningroom, where I spend a lot of time, (doing paperwork on the table, NOT eating!), and can only enjoy its blooms from my spare bedroom window. So now and again I sacrifice a year's blooming to get it down to ground floor level again.

The other drastic job was done on a holly tree, which has been about halved in height. This has produced quite a surprise, which is the rather odd phallic looking growth on the other side of the fence at the bottom of the garden. It was quite obscured by my holly tree and has caused me some amusement. I haven't managed to get a decent close-up of it, as it never seems to get really well lit by the sun, or if it does, it is always at a time when I have forgotten about it. But the picture will enlarge for a closer view.

Also, to my great annoyance, it seems that I am no longer able to hold the camera steady enough to get sharp pictures. I don't think it is shaking hands, so much as a gentle swaying of the whole body, which begins to lose it's balance as I try to focus in the viewfinder. I plan to get a new camera anyway, but I suspect that will not make much difference. It is going to be very frustrating if I can no longer take the pictures I want for my blog, as I believe pictures are very important for it.

Am I right in thinking that digital cameras are going the way of having display screens only, and no viewfinders - or the cheaper ones anyway? I would appreciate any comments from readers who have cameras like this, as to whether it is a disadvantage or not. The only one I can think of is, if the sun is shining directly on the display screen, you can't see the picture of what you are taking.

NeoCounter

When I installed this new gadget - or is it a widget, I hardly know the difference, or even if there is one - I thought it would be interesting to see where in the world my readers were coming from. [You will find it at the bottom of my sidebar.]


My first reaction is that in 11 days from installation, a total of 203 hits doesn't seem much beside the grand total of 25573 on my ordinary hit counter; but that one has been running for a year or so. Isn't it annoying that the technology is not there for these counters to count backwards as well, and give you your overall totals!


The second thing of note is that, not surprisingly, of the 34 countries in all, the US and the UK lead the field, with, as of now, 67 hits from the former and 65 from the latter. Australia and Canada are next with 10 and 9 hits, France with 7, Portugal and India with 3. The rest are all 2s and 1s.


Now then, you blog surfers in the UK: are you going to let the United States keep two hits ahead of you forever, as they have been up to now? It won't do you know. This is a British blog by a British writer and I expect my strongest support to come from the United Kingdom!



Having said which, with my tongue well into my cheek, I hasten to add that I consider myself to be just as much a citizen of the world as I am of the UK, and it gratifies me hugely to find that approximately half my hits are from non-English-speaking countries. I don't get comments from them though -that would be really nice.

Motherlove

If I do not write often in my blog about my sons and grandchildren, it is not because they are not important to me. On the contrary, they bring colour, drama and joy into my life, and there is so much I would like to write about. But some of them do not care to have their lives exposed on the world wide web, and do not want to have pictures of their young children posted either, and I must respect their wishes. But not writing about them or posting their pictures is a considerable frustration to me.


I think I may allow myself, however, to post this poem about them which I wrote many years ago, but which I would write again today:

They are great big lads
My four boys,
Bonny and brawny.
They have to bend
To hug their Mum.
Such pride I feel
In each of them
For his own specialness.
And when they gather
All at once
To celebrate
Some family event,
Then memory flows
And laughter breaks
In great explosions.
All the past
In which I played
My part
Is laid before me -
And my heart bursts
With joy.

Cats ...

Before sending this greetings card, I thought I would share it with any fellow cat lovers I may have among my readers.

Doom and disaster!

The end of the world is nigh!


I read in the paper the other day that it is being forecast that in two years' time we shall have run out of internet addresses. Just imagine, if nobody else could sign up for email!


I remember, not long after getting a computer, asking naively if cyberspace could ever become full up with the internet and the web; I was more or less laughed at. So if we are not going to run short of cyberspace, what is it that will be in short supply when we run out of internet addresses? Do I really want to know? Could I understand if I was told? Explanations in words of three syllables max please!

For those who do wish to understand, here are a couple of links to articles in the Times and the Guardian.