Samuel Peeps

Do you like being like Mr Nosey when you read books? Do you feel like you want to spy on the author's life and see who means the most to him, or perhaps her? Some writers are very secretive, others say a great deal about themselves. Guess which type I am? What type are you. A bit of both, maybe?

When I buy a new book, often the first bit I turn to is what used to be called in the olden days the "frontispiece". That's the bit where the writer or their publisher has sometimes got someone else famous to say nice things about the new book- especially useful if nobody has ever heard of the writer before and they want to sell more books: I suppose even Roald Dahl had to start somewhere, after all! It's also often called a preface or a foreword.

However, that's not the bit at the front that arouses my curiosity the most: it's the "dedication" or "acknowledgments" that I like to look at. You don't have to include it in a book of course, but doing so says more about you than good reviews ever can. It's where the writer names all those people who have helped them with the book, taught them important lessons in their life,given them advice or maybe just amused them. But just as often too, the Acknowledgments are where you will find out about really special people who the author just wants to mention because they love them!

Thinking all this through today on a historic day in British history, I thought it was high time I dedicated one of these blogs to somebody. Who will it be, you ask yourself? Will it be my favourite teacher? Mr Weir's probably long gone, but who would be yours? Or a relative- my grandma perhaps, who used to love reading my stories of what I had been up to on holiday? I suppose you could even dedicate your blog to a favourite pet- but we've had so many lovely cats, it would be unfair to single any one of them out.

So perhaps I should choose a figure from history. Now, who could that possibly be today, Friday 21st October AD 2005(only just as it's nearly over!)? How about a certain Admiral Horatio, Lord Nelson? Surely on the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar that might be an appropriate choice, and what a day it's been for followers of England's greatest man of the sea and the hero of the moment those two centuries ago.

I wish I could even dedicate these words to my secretary ( I wish I had one!) or to other people who have helped me as I've written these little bits and pieces over the last seventeen months or so. But apart from the encouraging comments that my friends do make, which boost my confidence no end, there aren't any little helpers out there, or even any much bigger ones. I haven't got any gnomes who come in and eat all the brain waves inside my head every night (do you think that might be what dreams are all about really?) and then scamper around like little ants on my computer keys so that you too can feed on my thoughts, for what they're worth.

If I did have Marky's little helpers like this, then maybe you'd have seen a bit more writing from me at this web address over the last month; so sorry, dear reader, if you've been disappointed that the Anyway cupboard's been bare for a while. Truth is I have either been too tired or too weighed down by other cares to say very much in my blogs lately, though I have been very keen to.

However, I couldn't let this auspicious (love the word, but still not sure exactly what it means, are you?) time pass without dedicating this latest posting to one special little boy out there in computer land who had his own great celebration today. I'm going to be Top Secret like the best special agent and not tell you all his name. But he must have a mention, because today remembers the day he battled his way out of his Mummy's tummy back in the late nineties, so now he's celebrating his EIGHTH birthday no less, and days don't come much more special than birthdays, do they!

I was very happy to have a bit of an early celebration with my junior friend Sam this week, along with my (very!) old friends his Mum and Dad on a flying visit (well, by train really!) to the North West of England where he lives. He's a great little guy and such fun! The lad's getting on very well with his sums, is good to his baby brother most of the time, and he even told me some great poems about the seasons.

Mind you, I don't know whether Sam likes keeping a diary or not, like the very famous man of the same first name who wrote so much about the Great Fire of London and also worked for the Royal Navy, I discovered today while visiting a navy museum in South East London. One thing's for sure though: Sam doesn't miss a trick at all and I wonder whether when he's playing hide and seek, Samuel Peeps?

Many Happy Returns of the Day, and God Bless, little man from a rather bigger one!