tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-296453482024-02-20T15:57:18.531+00:00The Best Kept Secret on the InternetThe home page of a freelance writer & technical author.<br>
<em>All posts © Martyn Kinsella-Jones 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 etc.</em><br>
<em>Links are fine but the words are mine.</em>Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-24741784766031332222011-11-22T21:22:00.001+00:002011-11-22T21:25:25.442+00:00Gone to WordpressHave transferred all author blogging activity to my Wordpress blog. I'm leaving this blog up purely as an archive.Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-65627933341923040682011-04-03T04:02:00.004+00:002011-04-03T04:53:42.474+00:00Spring cleaningHave revisited the blog for the first time since June last year. Plenty of water under the bridge since then.Item one; first visit to the UK since I left in 2007. Amazed by the plethora of health and safety inspired signs all over the UK. Amusing and disappointing visits with old friends. I do miss them sometimes, but not so much as to want to return to the UK. Some walked past me without Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-47245089319363915372010-06-20T20:38:00.003+00:002010-06-20T20:56:30.706+00:003D Astronomy displayThis weekend has been busy with Joanna being here as part of her Summer break from Uni, and we've been looking after her. Lots of Motherly hugs from Angie to make up for the long absence. We look forward to doing the same for both Laura and Joanna after they graduate next year.Taking a break from family matters, on Saturday I dodged off to the Museum to help out setting up a 3D Astronomy Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-82438933214959930902010-06-16T01:45:00.005+00:002010-06-16T03:57:51.696+00:00FiredIt's cannon season once more, and this lunchtime I persuaded Angie to come and video a noon firing at the bastion. I quite enjoy this little Summertime task, done in addition to my other voluntary work at Nanaimo District Museum. Corinne, one of the museums Summer students, does the speech and tries not to fluff her lines bless her little cotton socks, while I do the grunt work of loading, Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-103740779336233962010-03-28T19:49:00.004+00:002010-03-29T00:46:12.985+00:00MovingA lot of moving going on of late. Over Christmas and new year I moved house. Angie had the common sense to absent herself to visit the kids and her mother back in the UK, leaving me on my ownsome to do everything.At the Museum there is always motion. The new Coal Mining exhibit which I've been helping out with every Tuesday, the Bastion Cannons, which have just had their carriages refurbished,Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-91374669144152991092010-01-28T23:02:00.003+00:002010-01-28T23:08:21.856+00:00Sp*m OFF!Comment spam, i.e. commercial messages posted within comments on this blog are deleted as soon as the blog owner becomes aware of them. Which is usually about 30 seconds after they are posted. So SPAM OFF!Incidentally, the products of comment spammers are automatically put on a "I will never use your service - ever, and will slag your products and services off to all my friends at the first Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-66421953792547681612009-10-07T04:29:00.004+00:002009-10-07T05:14:22.874+00:00Watching Seals danceIn August 2008 while on a day trip to Gabriola Island I witnessed something I'd never seen or heard of before, something never seen in wildlife documentaries. A Seal, less than fifty feet from the shore was repeatedly leaping two thirds of it's body length out of the water and slapping its pectoral flippers and tail on the surface with repeated loud smacks! The day was quite warm, with Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-27288265121602829872009-08-17T20:40:00.000+00:002009-08-17T20:43:12.648+00:00The view from my front roomToday Dodd Narrows is the colour of bright beaten steel, rippling and glistening in the late afternoon light. Our view framed by white primed architrave of our small apartments front door and fine pebbled concrete steps. From there the pale brown dusted green of a Canadian Summer lawn in the front yard bakes bordered by an aging brown picket fence. Beyond that, a steep grassy bank leading downMartyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-45856282416108906222009-07-16T16:04:00.002+00:002009-07-16T16:54:57.974+00:00Is this a hoax?Dear Account User This Email is from Gmail Customer Care and we are sending it to every Gmail Email User Accounts Owner for safety. we are having congestion due to the anonymous registration of Gmail accounts so we are shutting down some Gmail accounts and your account was among those to be deleted. We are sending this email to you so that you can verify and let us know if you still want to Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-52369857647408147282009-05-15T00:10:00.004+00:002009-05-15T00:35:17.616+00:00Bang 3Call from Alexis at the Museum. "Hey Martyn, we need someone to fire the Cannon on Friday. Can you help?"Well, I'm up for it.Have been browsing the web for information on our two six pounders, affectionately known as 'Lefty' and 'Righty'. No broad arrow marking so they aren't British Ordnance. From what I can make out they were made by a company called Bailey, Pegg & Co of Brierly Hill, Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-31659882012390909382009-05-13T15:45:00.004+00:002009-05-15T00:10:41.961+00:00Bang 2Driving home last night, Angie and I were having a giggle about what hoops we'd have to jump through in order to fire a cannon in the UK. In a moment of mirth, I came up with this list;Volunteers have serviceable cannon which has been restored to working order, they go to Mayor for permission to have a regular noonday gun firing once a week during the summer months to help boost the local Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-91257593847500858272009-05-13T05:23:00.007+00:002009-05-13T05:51:17.560+00:00BangToday I got to load and fire a cannon. A real live six pounder cannon. I prepared the charge (Under supervision), I cleaned out the bore with a swab / rammer and set the fuse before igniting it. Thus I can state truthfully that I am one of the few people who has blown their wad all over Nanaimo Harbour. I'm completely tickled by the whole thing.For the past few weeks I've been making Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-79216547135127514682009-04-23T16:41:00.003+00:002009-04-23T17:12:22.340+00:00Reasons to be cheerful - and notUps;Reason 1: The voice activated switch my Tetra volunteers made worked beautifully first time. It allows the lady we made it for to call for help and also answer her phone. LifeLine are dead chuffed and so am I.Reason 2: Angie won an award for her work at the museum, and I managed to make two new lightweight tampions for the Bastion display cannon out of resin. Because of problems with Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-15470628453721557462009-04-08T05:18:00.003+00:002009-04-08T06:06:16.995+00:00Getting betterSpring has finally arrived thank goodness, and we've had the all the doors and windows open this weekend to air our current domicile out a little. This Easter I'm hoping it will be warm enough to open everything up and hoover it to perdition. The pet freshening spray and baking powder shake 'n vac can only deal with so much dog.Work permit documentation finally arrived last week, ncessitating Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-84292810847427740732009-03-18T03:10:00.005+00:002009-03-18T04:26:39.222+00:00Small challengesTetra have picked up a new challenge, and I have three new volunteers to find projects for. The challenge is building a voice activated switch for a bed bound lady with MS. The switch has to connect to an emergency service via their equipment. One of my new volunteers is good with electronics, and I've handed the project to him. Voice activation isn't new, but the challenge is filtering the Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-9010320408831485892009-02-16T17:56:00.006+00:002009-02-16T19:45:24.094+00:00Work permits, stress and other stuffImmigration to Canada can be a nerve testing business, especially when you see the processing times. My work permit was submitted for renewal in plenty of time, but after a forty minute phone call the other day, I found that there is almost a ninety day lead time on renewals if done via the processing centre at Vegreville, Alberta. The upside is that I'm allowed to stay and work because while Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-75823683831263032112008-12-29T18:52:00.005+00:002008-12-29T19:29:01.622+00:00I need....Have been debating the wisdom of posting unpublished (Unpublishable?) work on the sister blog to this one. I have a serious catalogue of work; two completed novels of over 100,000 words, innumerable short stories and several screenplays but the problem as always is getting it read. All my submissions seem to be languishing in various publishers 'slush piles'. No one critiques work unless you Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-78021488011949419682008-10-06T01:48:00.005+00:002008-10-06T03:16:17.557+00:00AutumnFall has begun, the Maple and Birch are turning, and the time has come around to restart hawking my 130,000 word manuscript around the publishers. Not a prospect I care to face, but an unsold manuscript is just so much wasted time. So sell I must.While the long wait for publisher replies continues, the realities of life intrude, and a day job must be found. To this end I have enlisted on a Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-78227992351909849222008-07-27T16:32:00.004+00:002008-07-27T17:05:40.638+00:00OuchHave elected to stop volunteer work for the next three or four weeks. I worked hard yesterday, fixing up a 70 pound diving display dummy for Nanaimo museum yesterday before my old knee injury tripped out. Served me right for electing to carry the thing down a gravel slope hundred and fifty metres from the old premises to the new place. My knee can go months, years, without playing up, then a Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-372139788309870672008-07-24T19:07:00.006+00:002008-07-24T19:26:44.335+00:00Name checkWell, another little bit of local recognition. Tonight is the gala opening of the brand spanking new Nanaimo Museum.A lot of hard work has gone into getting everything where it is, and tonight the local dignitaries come round to make speeches and have a look at the result of all the sheer graft put in by the volunteers and staff. Angie and I have been pitching in where we can, and I am mightilyMartyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-57992442881899429432008-07-23T07:42:00.002+00:002008-07-23T07:46:45.680+00:00Social networking+Got an e-mail from someone about their brand new, whizzy social networking web site, and would I like to sign up? As it was free, and to stop them pestering me, I signed up for a free account. Not that I'm interested in Facebook et al. I do all my networking face to face.Why? Because on social networking sites, no-one can taste the beer.Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-64214230756713893232008-07-17T01:31:00.004+00:002008-07-17T01:46:32.583+00:00What I do when not writingWell, there's the day job, and then there's restoring stuff like this for the new Nanaimo Museum. The top picture is of a 1909 hand cranked and much modified Powers Cameragraph No 5. The filaments in the hand blown Edison manufactured lamp look sound, and the lenses are in the main intact. Having spent some fourteen or so hours on this machine, I think with the addition of some electric cableMartyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-90911390722225504082008-07-10T23:15:00.006+00:002008-07-11T15:31:10.183+00:00Big monthWhat with one thing and another, early July 2008 has been quite intense. The best news of all is that I passed my British Columbia class five driving test first time. Written exam was Tuesday, the actual driving test this morning. The test centre is a far cry from the miserable, dour experience of an English Driving test as I recall them. The staff smile. They chat, they banter, they Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-15574457667398698122008-06-18T19:41:00.003+00:002008-06-18T20:05:49.241+00:00Head downI started a MSS in January. Nothing special. Genre fiction. Today I will complete it. Good, believable characters, and the story sprints along nicely from premise to conclusion, all one hundred and twenty thousand words of it with a cracking denoument. That's pretty good as output goes. Five months from a few hundred words and the roughest of outlines to quite a reasonable piece of work. Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29645348.post-27085140389518347272008-02-09T22:44:00.000+00:002008-02-09T23:03:11.854+00:00BusyKind of lost track on this blog. I'd almost forgotten about it because there was so little time to post, and not much to post about. I've had a little run in with Canadian immigration when I went to apply for a work permit and 'leave to remain'. The guys at the border didn't like the look of the job I've been given, and told me to go away and try again. We went back to get some guidance from Martyn Kinsella-Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14830743694495302323noreply@blogger.com0