Saturday

The Church of England drivel through their rag paper on Fridays, so the blog stats go up sharply for me on Fridays and weekends.

I slept through the night, although there were flashbacks in there somewhere.
I woke to a grey dawn at 6.30, I hadn't set the alarms, but I woke then, and rather than go into flashbacks, I got up.

I looked out the window, and I couldn't tell if the black pavements were black because of ice or thaw, until a carer trotted confidently by on her way to the nursing home, she was wearing soft carer shoes and she wasn't slipping or nervous, so I decided it was thawed. The thaw started last night, it rose above freezing, and water was running down the road, a few cars crept through, after the road had been impassable all day.
And this morning, the thaw was well under way. I put my jumper and jeans and boots on and walked down to the sea, a lot of the ice is gone, a significant amount of snow is gone, the wind is still strong but not so bitter, there is mist over the sea and hills.

I had a walk around, and came back. I was quite warm when I came back, but as soon as I was in the office and working, I started to feel a bit cold.

I am working on a review.

Yesterday was quite a day. I ventured out briefly, the whole area was thick ice, road, pavements, everything, very dangerous.
Anyone out was shouting about skis and spiked boots.

I walked carefully down to the sea, there was an abandoned car on the seaward, someone couldn't get out of skidding and left the car there, hazardous, if any other cars or emergency services went that way, but no traffic was moving down there.
On the front, the road was clear from under Eastern Hill to Town. Although the path was a bit slippery still. In town a team were keeping everything clear, the shops were mainly trading as normal despite the transport chaos. I got milk and the paper, there was no panic buying here, locals are very calm people.

I walked back, the ice was so bad, and no-one had reported on our area really, so I did photography.

On the way back, a man was stupidly trying to go up onto our road even though it was impassable, I shouted 'reverse!' because he was going to slide and hit things otherwise, and two girls closer to the car repeated the message, he was abusive to them, then a group of lads walked over and offered to help push him out of difficulties, but he was abusive to them as well.
He couldn't get the car onto our road and he had to slide back.
We all remarked the stupidity of it, because yesterday and the day before, no-one should have been driving except if they really had to, and no-one in their right mind would try to climb the hill roads with the ice on them. A number of cars have simply been destroyed this week by people thinking they knew better.

When I got home I emailed the local news sites with my report and pictures, and I was chuffed to be published. I was chatting to my friend on email and I told her she knew a famous person now. The lovely thing about my Christian friends is that they know that there are better things than fame and fortune, and that brushing shoulders with a 'famous person' is nothing special really as we are human and God is God. I know that too.

Anyway, after that short and dangerous venture out, I stayed home as I had a 500 word article to research and write, and so I did that.
In the evening as I was working and also bidding for jobs on my secondary work site, that lists jobs and you bid for them, ie experience and qualifications and how much you would charge, you compete against other writers. I was surprised to be messaged by one of the companies that I had bid to.

I have only been using the site for a week, so I am a newbie among thousands of very competitive writers, and on average it takes 35 bids to win a contract, and I haven't done 35 bids yet, so I was impressed to be considered for work.

Anyway, they interviewed me briefly and were satisfied with that, and they asked me for a 250-300 word specific sample by the end of the day.
They are a broker, so they use the site to sub-contract work out. But they have a lot of work to sub-contract.
The only problem is, their wage is well below even my bottom rate.

But I have to think in terms of buildup as a new freelance writer, which has enough benefits.
Each bit of work \I complete is reviewed and builds my reputation and presence, and work is work, money is money, the same as doing sub-contract in gardening, same thing, it is work and money.

So I completed the article I was doing for the other site and I did my sample, 300 words. And handed it in, it was due to review today, and it has gone to their recruiting manager.

Now I am working on a book review. I have read the book, drafted the review, and am now consolidating the draft.