RIP + David Farrant 1946 - 2019 +

The Human Touch Blog ~
David Farrant

We’ll Just Have To See . . .

Interesting phone call earlier from a friend who’d just got back from a short holiday and ‘caught up’ on my last Blog.

She told me a little about their holiday then asked if I had considered putting up a couple of pages from my new book. Well, no, I haven’t really considered it as us authors are always ‘guarded’ about putting up ‘pre-release’ material before it has actually been published. Its not as if anybody could possibly ‘steal’ anything as all the material relates directly to myself; its rather that I’d just rather wait until the book (or books) have been released in hard copy before giving any ‘sneak previews’! I don’t know. Maybe one or two A5 pages of my new autobiography wouldn’t break this accepted rule, but it might be seen as boring if taken out of context to the rest of the story as it all happened. And the last thing I want to do is ‘bore’ anybody! I am talking about the autobiography here which will probably hit 450-500 pages. That’s a lot, and she was right when she said that could not distract from the whole. But I’ll have to think about it because I don’t want to incur the wrath of anybody without proper agreement and consultation. (The person I have in mind doesn’t live that far away but her decision would be absolutely final! Maybe she won’t mind – we’ll just have to see). One thing is certain, however, this only applies (if it applies at all) to the autobiography.

Pact with the Devil is another book entirely and is so ‘dynamental’ (yes, I know that is not a proper word – but just read for that ‘dynamite’!) it cannot be previewed in any way until its release in hard cover copy. But regarding the autobiography: Maybe K would agree to a couple of pages – I really don’t know. She’ll certainly know about the suggestion though as she reads my Blog methodically.

Lovely and hot again today. I really don’t mind the heat; just an excuse for one or two cold beers! It’s the sort of weather that encourages ‘skimpy’ clothing. And you know, I don’t mind that either! So. What else is there? Nothing really. Just loads of typed words waiting to be put onto paper. And believe me, when that really happens, the word ‘dynamite’ will become obsolete in the dictionary!

Have fun everyone! David

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8 Responses

  1. Hullo David,
    With regards your recent blog & reference thereof to you risking to ‘bore’ us with excerpts from your autobiography may I be boring by proxy? …I will tap away regardlessly (& probably randomly) as I feel fit.
    It has transpired that the Tory leader David Cameron is to holiday at an old coastal dwelling in Cornwall once ‘cursed’ in the C16th by an White Witch called Mother Ivey. She struck down a field on the estate with utterances that should any member of the family living on the place till or plough a sod of the soil henceforth.. the said family would suffer a bereavement! The reason behind this was the wealthy owner fertilised the field with a shipload of salt pilchard in spite of Ma Ivey’s imploring it be given to the poor & starveing villagers in the next village. It is said the curse rang true within months when the owners son died; hencewith the shaken family ploughed NO MORE for nigh on 300 years. Role on WW2 & the ‘Dig for Victory’ thing and the Agric Improvwements Service wanted the field ploughed. The shakey family begged forebearance (lest another son & heir be stricken by the curse) and won the day surprisingly. However the Home Guard turned up and dug trenches in the field….and soon after one of the family was killed in an air-raid. Twice more the curse apparently bit, once when a metal detectorist dug in the field (One had a fatal heart attack) and again when despite warnings a service pipe was laid across the land (this time the foreman paid the price..yeh, died!!)
    So what are we to make of such rich tales? This one apparently handed down by local word-of-mouth but I suppose researchable by paper trail if one had the inclination. May I beg to suggest that as in so much of the old religion since so little surely was written down (and this goes back to what you were debating about the origins of Wicca) these things can only grow in the telling or become embellished at given (fashionable) times. So in the present day it becomes unclear as to start or endpoints? One thing the established religions had in spades were monasteries full of chroniclers & scribes assiduously sifting their (artfully subjective?) accounts. Were not the practitioners of Lug or whatever heretical outlaws….with little ploughs hooked up to little toads (haha) and reviled and/or feared outside of all but the most closed and introspective communities. So the old religoionists were secretive & shadowy. As a simile or example to show you were a supporter of the Jacobite cause following the defeat at Culloden they had a drinking glass which when placed in front of a mirror…and with a light shining directly from a certain angle relative to the glass….read ‘To the health of Bonnie Prince Charles’. The other camp had the Royal Albert Hall reverberating to the sound of ‘God Save the King’ with an added verse savagely underlining the point that the Highland(er)s had been singularly ‘stuffed’.
    None of this gets us anywhere but good to chat
    Best wishes, Mike

  2. Hi again David
    Just reading some of your older blogs. The one where you were saying about the WWp & how official circles wouldn’t accept Wicca as a rightful religion. This reminded me of my father – when conscipted in the RAF. They demanded he put RC or Cof E or Judaea or some twaddle on the service papers, he stuck out for Agnostic or Atheist but they were not having it – all hell to pay (but he was a ‘Barrack-Room-lawyer’ first to last!). But I guess if you think about it they just don’t want atheist or agnostic written on a guy’s Commonwealth War Graves headstone – at the end of the day it’s just practicalities! There are so many goons out there would demand a Jedi priestess officiate at their Sunday Service – & given half the chance who would blame them!! …..actuall…No!..won’t ask that
    If Life is Seven Ages in a Shakespearian sense I guess i’m aged 4 (unless) 7 is a wooden suit in which case i’m overlapping….or crossing over
    Orr. I’m off to bed!!!!!!!!!

  3. Hi David,
    Thanks for agreeing to put up some extracts from your new book. I don’t want you to divulge too much though – it’ll spoil it!
    Columbine.

  4. For Mike
    Thanks for those thoughts and reflections. Yes, its always difficult when you sometimes come up against tradition. Especially so if this happens to involve religion or religious beliefs. More especially so if this happens to involve Wicca which has always been ‘frowned on’ by the traditional Churches.
    Quite apart from that, I haven’t exactly got a good reputation in this respect which doesn’t help!
    Anyway, I have never really cared what people think about me, and I’m unlikely to change now!
    Please do keep posting Mike.
    For the moment,
    David

  5. Hi Columbine,
    Yes see you Friday with R. I know he’s seen the state of the place, but its even worse now! (if that’s possible!). They’ve given me a temporary room just downstairs as a kitchen which means I have to keep walking up and down stairs to get a cold beer out of the fridge! The large back room is completely empty and I’ve got everything else piled up in my lounge. Its difficult to write but somehow I manage. I really must get another (trustworthy) secretary soon. If you hadn’t gone and got married, I’d ask you!
    Gareth won’t be here Friday – he’s coming tomorrow instead.
    I still have to confirm with K about a book extract. I don’t see that one short extract would do any harm – but only the one. The piece I’ve just finished might be OK. It tells how I ran away from boarding school at the age of 12 and caused a ‘national alert!’.
    I’m definitely not putting up any new stuff about ghosts, vampires or Highgate. That can all wait for the book.
    So, see you both Friday if I don’t speak to you before,
    For the moment,
    David

  6. Hi David,
    About last Friday…I have done that little job that you asked me to do. You should hear shortly….
    Columbine.

  7. Thanks Columbine,
    I have taken care of everything this end as well. Was in there lunchtime.
    Thanks again,
    David

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