Paul Davy

It’s the day after Boxing Day 2019. There is a lull from the chaos. From family, food and drink. Until we celebrate New Years next week of course.  We have had a two-night sleepover at the in-laws. Christmas Day night and Boxing Day night. Me, the wife and the three boys. Three lunches and two dinners.  There has been pork shoulder, crackling, apple sauce, Eton mess, Cornish pasties, quiche, chocolate trifle, honey roast ham and bacon sandwiches.  There have been a couple of times where I couldn’t eat anymore. I was on the edge of being sick. After the meal, I couldn’t move and I needed a nap.  On Boxing Day we were all allowed out for an hour or so. To go for a walk around the park. The fresh air was so invigorating.  During all this time together, it was difficult to find time to write. I pledged to myself to write and post one blog article a week for a year. This week especially has been a struggle.  Schedule    The main problem when writing is scheduling the time in. Normally I hav

One of my goals at the moment, is to publish one blog post a week for a year. Currently, I am about halfway. I have published 32 articles since the beginning of May 2019. I have published over 42,000 words. Two articles have over 300 views. A further two have over 400 views.   Yet, I have won no awards, I have received no monies. I haven’t gained any new newsletter subscribers. I still have the sixteen friends and family I have had since the beginning.   I thought, all you did was write, and that they would come. Apparently not. Then I found medium.com. A community of writers, for writers, helping writers. The successful ones get paid thousands of dollars (or pounds) for their articles. I thought, if I could post articles on here, then I could find the audience I am looking for.   After 3 months and after posting 28 of my 32 articles, I have.……..   21 followers   And 2 claps   (Claps replace ‘likes’ on Facebook. But the more claps you get, the more money you get paid.)   I started to t

It is less than two weeks before Christmas. My wife and I are trying to move house for our family. The new house would be closer to work, closer to the mothers-in-law and only 5 minutes walk to a park. We haven’t exchanged contracts and the last possible date to complete is just over a week away. It is still possible, but the chances of moving are getting slim. But I still have hope. In preparation for the move, we have started to ready ourselves. We have started boxing up the belongings we wish to keep and discard the items we no longer need. Items we thought may be of use to others, we have tried to pass them on. Charity I love books. My garage is full of plastic boxes full of books. Unfortunately, I just don’t have the room to display them in my current home. I even had 5 bookcases in the garage, ready to display the books. I wasn’t willing to get rid of the books, but I was happy to pass on the bookcases. I arranged for a charity to come round to collect. I sat in all Saturday

The story of R.U. Harby and his uncle.  An uncle of R.U. Harby, from Williamsburg, Maryland went west to Colorado to make his fortune in the gold rush.  Harby’s uncle started digging. Finally, he found a vein of gold ore. He covered it up and hid it. He went home to raise funds. Funds to buy the machinery that would allow him to extract the gold. He begged and borrowed from friends, family and neighbours.  Once they had enough funds, Harby and his uncle return to the site of the gold. They bought the machinery and started digging.  Things started well and they quickly earned enough to pay off their debts. They were excited and dreamed of the wealth they would amass.  Then the supply of gold stopped. The vein disappeared.  They kept on digging but found nothing.  Eventually, in frustration, they quit. They sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars.  Harby and his uncle went home in disappointment.  The astute junk man called in a mining engineer. The engineer calculated