Sunday 21 July 2013

Suffer little children


How about this? My nine year-old was on a two day camp here in Ireland a few weeks ago, with a club that shall remain nameless. Instructions to parents included "please ensure that sun protection cream is provided."
He returned from a great time a bit sore. He does tan but it had been very hot and sunny, and his upper back was badly burnt. The adult supervisors told the kids they weren't allowed to apply sun protection to the children's skin as the rules prevent them touching the kids. Also the kids weren't supervised to apply cream to each other where they couldn't reach. My son had managed to smear sun cream on most of his body except the upper back.
We've always been so careful to avoid the kind of burning and peeling of previous generations. A couple of nights of bad sleep, after-sun lotion liberally applied, then the peeling. I was pretty angry at the time but the club was closed for summer and I soon moved on to being a grumpy old man about other things.
Today we were buying lunch at an outdoor event when a man with kids said hello to my son. He said he knew him from the camp club wotsit nameless thingy and asked me if my son had been one of the burn victims. His own son had been hospitalised with second degree burns and given morphine; things had been much worse for him than for my son. I began to express my opinions on the neglect exhibited, lack of supervision, risk to future health and the nonsense of no one exhibiting some common sense. He said he had been there but they weren't allowed to touch the kids and the kids wouldn't have applied the cream to each other.
What was today's event? It was a fundraiser for cancer.

Saturday 13 July 2013

Out of the Mouths of Babes #poem

Weird Sounds
by Eoin, age 9
Kilkenny, Ireland


The quietest sound in the world must be
An ant trying to crawl into the sea.

The saddest sound in the world must be
A dog whining because he wants his tea.

The funniest sound in the world must be
a person burping as loud as me.

The loudest sound in the world must be
someone screaming like a banshee.




Thursday 4 July 2013

Grabbing the Knife by its Edge - #Goodreads paperback giveaway

Marble City Publishing is doing a Goodreads Giveaway of two paperback copies of the Knife Edge Anthology. This collection of twenty-five crime / thriller / mystery / suspense stories has had a great reception in online bookstores and all profits go to the children's literacy charity Booktrust.org. There are twenty-three writers involved including Marble City authors (Jim Williams, yours truly and others) and winners from the recent genre competition at multi-story.co.uk. Click below to enter the giveaway.


Goodreads Book Giveaway

Knife Edge by Jim Williams

Knife Edge

by Jim Williams

Giveaway ends August 12, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win