Top Ten’

Picturesque English Villages

~ beetleypete ~ 64 Comments

The idea of the perfect English village has been promoted in books, films, and television series. Tourists from all over the world come to this country in search of them, and many still exist. Ironically, that fame has changed them in character, if not in architecture. Some can be crammed with tourists during the season, and property prices for the charming cottages in them have exploded.

Wealthy second-home owners snap up most houses that come onto the market, and local people find themselves unable to afford to live where they were brought up. Many of the villages are in the large area known as The Cotswolds, designated as an ‘Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty’. Because so many houses were built using the light-coloured Cotswold Stone, some of the villages are very similar in appearance.

These are considered to be the ‘Ten Best’.
(The photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.)

Bilbury, Gloucestershire.

Abbotsbury, close to the coast in Devon.

Bourton-On-The-Water, Gloucestershire.

Clovelly, Devon.

Polperro, Cornwall.

Naunton, Gloucestershire.

Painswick, Gloucestershire.

Port Isaac, Cornwall.

Castle Combe, Wiltshire.

Lower Slaughter, Gloucestershire.

Top Ten Films

~ beetleypete ~ 12 Comments

Back to 2017, and a film post many of you have seen. My main interest in reblogging this is that I have recently reviewed my choices, and I find they still hold good now. New followers might like to see them.

beetleypete

When I first started this blog in 2012, Top Tens were all the rage. Most days, it seemed to me as if there was a Top Ten of everything on the blog. This ranged from the top ten cute cats, to the top ten favourite film stars, through to the top ten favourite places to go in the world, and the top ten best snack foods. Top Ten mania had hit blogging, and could not be avoided.

Not long after I started to write posts about film and cinema, the ‘Top Tenners’ came knocking on my door. They sent me links to their own top tens, and asked to know my own preferences. Who were my favourite actors? My list of best directors? The questions went on and on. The barrage was relentless, for a while. Some blogging sites were even called ‘My Top Ten’, and other variations. These Top…

View original post 1,360 more words

My Top Ten Posts

~ beetleypete ~ 64 Comments

For the last few years, there has been little change in the most-read posts on this blog.

No matter how much fiction I write, or how much I love to post about films and cinema, none of that gets close.

As Julie is watching ‘Dancing On Ice’, and I would sooner sit out in the rain than watch that, I just checked my stats again.

Here are those top posts, with number ten first.

10) My Blog: Privacy And Cookies Notice. It has had 677 views.
This was published on the 31st of May, 2018.
It was a very short post, complaining about issues with WordPress, and the notice in question.

09) Beetley Village. It has had 840 views.
It was published on the 16th of August, 2012.
This is a detailed post about what you might expect to see if you ever visit Beetley.

08) Birds Don’t Like Cornflakes. It has had 857 views.
This was published on the 31st of August, 2013.
It was about feeding birds in the garden, and how they had refused to eat the cornflakes I had scattered on the lawn.

07) Ollie: A dog’s like and dislikes. It has had 864 views.
This was published on the 12th of September, 2016.
It was about things that my dog likes, and other things he doesn’t.
It is the only post featuring Ollie in this top ten.

06) Beachlands: Pevensey Bay. It has had 924 views.
This was published on the 24th of March, 2016.
It is a photo post, featuring photos of Modernist and Art Deco bungalows on a 1930s housing estate in Sussex.

05) The driest county in England. It has had 1,623 views.
This was published on the 29th of August, 2012.
It is about how I was told that Norfolk was the driest county in this country, and it hadn’t stopped raining since I moved here.

04) Dereham: A Norfolk Town. It has had 1,820 views.
This was published on the 17th of April, 2014.
It is about the nearest town to Beetley, the market town of Dereham.

03) Whatever happened to? : Jimmy Somerville. It has had 2,071 views.
This was published on the 10th of August, 2016.
It is about the singer and front man of Bronski Beat, and The Communards.
It features pop video clips, and asks why we never hear of him now.

02) About. It has had 2,925 views.
This was published in 2012, and is regularly updated.
It is about me and my life, and features a photo of me with Ollie.
The popularity of this post shows the importance of having a good ‘About’ page.

The number one post will come as no surprise to regular followers.
It has been at number one since shortly after publication, and is read at least once every day.

……Drum Roll……

01) Whatever Happened to?: Jamiroquai. It has had 4,298 views.
This was published on the 4th of September, 2016.
Since then, it has been the subject of many more posts remarking on its popularity.
It is about the British Acid-Jazz band of that name, and asks why they had disappeared.
It features pop video clips, and discusses why they dropped out of the music scene.
After I published this, they released a new album in 2017. It wasn’t very good.

So, there you have it. Do you know what your own top posts are? If you fancy it, why not do do something similar?
Then link it to this post, and we can all find out what are readers out there are enjoying the most.

Ten Things I really Like

~ beetleypete ~ 76 Comments

In the absence of a fictional muse at the moment, and slightly confused by feeling unwell and taking lots of medicine, I started to think about things I really like. I suspect this happened in my mind to offset the doldrums of thinking about being ill. Whatever the reason, it cheered me up. So here is a rare ‘top ten’ from me, and a very personal one at that. It is not in any order of preference.

1) Red Wine.
I like it a lot, and will drink any red-coloured wine, even Cabernet Sauvignon. My favourites are Pinotage, Chianti, Burgundy, and Shiraz. I also enjoy Montepulciano D’Abruzzo, Dao, and Rioja.

2) More red wine.
As above, but more.

3) Watching good films again.
I love to re-watch a film I enjoyed, and realise why I loved it so much in the first place. Some random examples of this would include ‘The Duellists’, ‘Goodfellas’, ‘Donnie Brasco’, ‘The Hunger’ (1983), ‘Zulu’, and of course ‘Blade Runner’.

4) Eating Out.
I don’t mind cooking. I cook most of our meals, and I am happy to do so. Some of them amount to little more that ‘hotting up’ something bought already prepared, and adding a few vegetables. But I do cook some things from scratch, and when I am in the mood, I serve a very good roast potato, if I say so myself. Despite that, eating out in a restaurant is something I have always enjoyed. It doesn’t have to be a fancy, or expensive place. As long as the atmosphere is convivial, and the food is cooked and served by someone else, I am usually very happy indeed.

5) Watching foreign films with subtitles.
Most of you already know that I rate foreign films highly. In most cases, I enjoy them more than films in my own language. There are various reasons for this, but I would say that the dominant one is that it is good to not know who the actors are. This stops any preconceptions based on previous roles, or earlier bad performances. An imaginary example of this might be an actor like Bruce Willis appearing in a 19th century epic costume drama. Given his reputation, I would already be thinking ‘This is not going to work’. However, put the Danish equivalent of Bruce into a similar historical epic, and I am none the wiser.

6) Listening to sentimental old songs.
This has got worse as I get older. I love nothing more than to hear a really old song, and wallow around in the sentiment of it. I’m not talking the 1960s or 1980s here. The songs that really get to me are much older than those. You might never even have heard of most of them, but when you get to my age, look them up, and feel your eyes moisten. ‘We’ll Gather Lilacs’, ‘Pennies From Heaven’, ‘The Very Thought Of You’, ‘They Can’t Take That Away From Me’, ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’. And many more…

7) Wandering about with Ollie.
Having such a good companion as my dog Ollie means that I have to go out. And when we are out walking, even on the most familiar routes, I relish the fresh air, and contact with nature. But even more than that, I welcome the chance to think. Out on those walks, I think about a lot of good stuff, including most of what I write about on this blog. If not for Ollie, I would probably be watching 24-hour rolling news, and writing nothing at all.

8) Memories.
No surprise of course, but I do love my memories. The best thing about them is that I still remember them, good or bad. When I stop writing about memories, you will all know something is badly wrong with me.

9) Solitude.
I have mentioned this before, but I get a lot of pleasure from time spent alone. I am aware that this is a choice, and if it was not a choice, it might not be so enjoyable. But solitude is something that can be studied. It can be developed, almost like a trade or a skill. Once you have mastered the basics, it is really very good indeed.

10) Blogging.
This had to be included, didn’t it? Since starting out, somewhat reluctantly, in 2012, blogging has become my ‘other life’. What I do with certain hours of the day, how I keep in touch with so many people, maintaining an active mind, and developing friendships in that great community. It wouldn’t have been a list of things I really like, without blogging being featured.

There you have it. Feel free to dislike any of the things I really like. I won’t mind.

And if you want to add your own ten, or even just a few, please leave a comment.