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I try to post most weeks on my blog, but every now and then I take a break. It can be for various reasons, but for me recently as you will know from my last post I've been suffering from a nasty little bug, along with my son, that just seemed to knock the stuffing out of me for nearly six weeks. For the first three weeks I couldn't complete any writing on Revenge my third book in the Daniel Jones series as I felt more like the title of the second book Daniel Jones Doom, than I did like Mark King.
Youth does have a certain vigour that can spur them on. Although my young son was going through the same symptoms as myself he just had so much more energy when he needed it. Those mad moments of frenzy when your rushing about in life. With this bug it left me exhausted after just a few minutes, but with my boy it only seemed to take hold after he had been running about like the lead character in my books, Daniel Jones, after one of his near death experiences.
As an example the family visited Sea Palling beach in Norfolk on a sunny Sunday, and while I laid there on the sand lapping up the sun's rays like a lizard, he was splashing about like a dolphin in the sea with his sister. Every so often he would rush back asking me to join him in the freezing cold water which did quite excite me as much as it did him.
Sea Palling is a lovely place with a Blue Flag beach. It's a small village on the East Coast of Norfolk which has a wonderful 1950's innocence about it; while at the same time it has all the modern fun that you would find in resorts like Miami, Rio, or Bondi beach. Speed-boats, jet skis and something out of a bond movie, jet packs, but powered with water. People flying in the air as water thrusts out of their back pack sending them in any direction they wish! I laid there with one eye open thinking to myself, ' I wonder if I could get one of the characters in one of my next books using one of them?'
We bought the kids a small surf board from the beach shop, which was a great investment because it kept them both occupied without me needing to get wet. Now don't get me wrong. I do like going into the sea, but generally when it's warmer. Unfortunately the North Sea is seasonal in that in winter the water is bloody cold, and it will only slowly warm up in the summer months, so that by late August the temperature is just about manageable. So you can guess what it was like that day at the beginning of spring! Yes, cold, very cold.
Then again when I was a kid growing up in Lowestoft all I needed to get onto the beach, and into the sea, was a couple of hours of sunshine, no matter what the temperature, or month. They eventually came out shivering when we spread out the picnic we had taken. It was a simple fair of crusty rolls and soft cheese, olives, crisps and fruit, but was just perfect for the occasion. Dessert was a traditional 99 ice cream in a cone, with a chocolate flake, from the small beach side cafe, and we had plenty of sugar free fizzy drink to go around.
Some people brought down barbecues with them and as the sun started to drop behind the sand dunes a younger crowd began to appear on the beach ready to watch the evening sun set while perched high up on the dunes.
But by then we were already home and showered. My worn out kids put themselves to bed without a whimper, exhausted from all the fun, and ready for the start of a new school week.
Regards
Mark
I try to post most weeks on my blog, but every now and then I take a break. It can be for various reasons, but for me recently as you will know from my last post I've been suffering from a nasty little bug, along with my son, that just seemed to knock the stuffing out of me for nearly six weeks. For the first three weeks I couldn't complete any writing on Revenge my third book in the Daniel Jones series as I felt more like the title of the second book Daniel Jones Doom, than I did like Mark King.
Youth does have a certain vigour that can spur them on. Although my young son was going through the same symptoms as myself he just had so much more energy when he needed it. Those mad moments of frenzy when your rushing about in life. With this bug it left me exhausted after just a few minutes, but with my boy it only seemed to take hold after he had been running about like the lead character in my books, Daniel Jones, after one of his near death experiences.
As an example the family visited Sea Palling beach in Norfolk on a sunny Sunday, and while I laid there on the sand lapping up the sun's rays like a lizard, he was splashing about like a dolphin in the sea with his sister. Every so often he would rush back asking me to join him in the freezing cold water which did quite excite me as much as it did him.
Sea Palling is a lovely place with a Blue Flag beach. It's a small village on the East Coast of Norfolk which has a wonderful 1950's innocence about it; while at the same time it has all the modern fun that you would find in resorts like Miami, Rio, or Bondi beach. Speed-boats, jet skis and something out of a bond movie, jet packs, but powered with water. People flying in the air as water thrusts out of their back pack sending them in any direction they wish! I laid there with one eye open thinking to myself, ' I wonder if I could get one of the characters in one of my next books using one of them?'
We bought the kids a small surf board from the beach shop, which was a great investment because it kept them both occupied without me needing to get wet. Now don't get me wrong. I do like going into the sea, but generally when it's warmer. Unfortunately the North Sea is seasonal in that in winter the water is bloody cold, and it will only slowly warm up in the summer months, so that by late August the temperature is just about manageable. So you can guess what it was like that day at the beginning of spring! Yes, cold, very cold.
Then again when I was a kid growing up in Lowestoft all I needed to get onto the beach, and into the sea, was a couple of hours of sunshine, no matter what the temperature, or month. They eventually came out shivering when we spread out the picnic we had taken. It was a simple fair of crusty rolls and soft cheese, olives, crisps and fruit, but was just perfect for the occasion. Dessert was a traditional 99 ice cream in a cone, with a chocolate flake, from the small beach side cafe, and we had plenty of sugar free fizzy drink to go around.
Some people brought down barbecues with them and as the sun started to drop behind the sand dunes a younger crowd began to appear on the beach ready to watch the evening sun set while perched high up on the dunes.
But by then we were already home and showered. My worn out kids put themselves to bed without a whimper, exhausted from all the fun, and ready for the start of a new school week.
Regards
Mark
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