Too busy to Barf,,

 Too busy to barf (Vomit) is a generic title..Quite often in the frantic world of news garthering in which I was involved on numerous occasions I have had to suppress the urgent need to get rid of my last meal...not because of food poisoning but because I had just witnessed something that simply made me sick.

The first one to spring to mind was in Sidon..I believe it was in the Lebanon..I was hurrying to catch up with the IDF which was making its way to Beirut to conduct some business..and we had driven along the coast from Tel Aviv in Israel.  It was a slow journey and we had been on the road for some hours..Eventually we stopped and pulled over in front of a huge pile of building debris..sat in the shade of the vehicle and attacked our hotel wrapped beef sandwiches..

We didnt get far into the sandwiches, they smelled OFF.....we put it down to being in a hot truck for several hours in hot sunshine..we were very hungry and attempted to eat as much as possible...we had a long drive ahead of us..None of the crew made it through more than half a sandwch...As is the case in some countries a film crew attracts attention from the kids..lotsa them..They are naturally curious and ask a lot of questions..one of them asked why we werent eating the packed lunches which we had thrown into the rubble heap.. We said they smelled bad and must have gone off...they smelled rotten.

This made the kids fall about laughing...and we found out why. 

The rubble heap we were sitting near was until a few days ago a residential block of flats..In the skirmishes the went on between the two armies the block had collapesd. The occupants had all made it down to the supposed safety of the underground garage...all 120 of them...the apartment block had been hit and it had collapsed...the sheltering occupants were still in the garage...No attempt at rescue had taken place..The smell of rotting corpes is difficult to get out of ones brain..We quckly moved on.

Too busy to barf...I have a number of these stories..I wiil post them occasionally.

Safety...

 This past week we have had some builders in to rememove an old boiler and remove it...in with the new, more efficient, modern one. They did a great job...but created a mountain of dust..The workmen were ok ..they had face masks, gogles ..dust extractors, sprays..metal clad gloves..everythinh to to protect them...all supplied by the company that employed them..Great stuff

When I started work as a deep seam coal miner in 1955 I had nothing supplied, bought my own boiler suit, absoloutely no protective equipment, no masks, goggles or gloves..Nothing..and we were working in seams that were 3 feet deep where the air was thick with coal dust, the meal break was 20 minutes taken on the seam where it was impossible to stand up//No toilests or wash rooms..When we were in a wet seam we simply got wet up to our waists...I finished up with Pneumonia...all for less than 5 pounds a week...and we considered we were well paid.

It occurred to me that perhaps my career choice was the wrong one...so I changed it...not everyone was as lucky.

It is different now and rightly so but some of my workmates spent their entire working life in those conditions...not many reached retirement age. We are so lucky right now. 

Winter quarters.

 A wonderful sight here in our Italian Mountain village It was the annual move of the cows from the high pastures to their winter quarters. Superb animals, all with massive bells arouund thier necks and huge bouquets of floweres on their heads..all surrounded by their families in traditional costume..lotsa kids...Beautiful weather for it.. Love it.

Visitors

Thank you everyone..The visitor numbers to the site have now exceeded over 71,000.....keep it up.

Streamers

 We are having great fun watching the Streamers from various companies..A massive choice of evening viewing..I recall the days when we only had one choice  BBC1..then BB2..The ITV lincences blew the industry apart....fortunately it eneabled me to get a start in the industry.  I loved every minute of it.

One thing that is impressive with the Streamers..  The Production values..  The quality in almost every department is superb..Lotsa talented folk out there ....and vast amoutns of money..Long may it coinue..One day perhaps we can all enjoy 'HATRACK' when it reaches the right production company... working on it.... Keep a lookout.

Book sales

 Good news today..  Our books are selling well  'The Fiddler'..'Maginty's Quest' and 'The Stack'

The Fiddler'  Set in Italy ..about a young farmhand who trieds to join Mozarts Orchestra...The journey changes his life..massively

Maginty's Quest..Three small sea creatures rescue a pirate who is also a magician and he gives them a quest..250 years later they carry it out..A great young readers romp.

The Stack..A family dynasty tale..It begins in the first wordl war and concerns the activities of two young British soldiers who seek out the NEW WORLD and continues up to the present time..Locations are UK..Gallipoli..Australia and USA

All three novels began as Screenplays and then  adapted into books..

All available from Amazon.  Check them out,,RJ

'HATRACK'

 Hi everyone..This is Richard Dodd..the owner of this site..nice to see you all visiting..At the moment I am working on a new TV streaming project called 'HATRACK'.

The concept has been viewed by a number of A list industry professionals and they have all given it an enthusiastic  thumbs up.  It is mainly aimed at a teenage audience but for the first time it will involve them  both in the viewing and the spin off game..

The concept has been offered to a number of Streaming companies and we await feed back..

More on this as/if  we get it.

In the meantime if any of you want to post your experiences in the industry then please feel free to offer them up and I will see they are published...

Talk later.  RD.