Most Versatile Blogger Award

To be absolutely honest, I’m not really a fan of awards of any type. To see rock stars, sports stars or film stars slapping themselves on the back while spurting crocodile tears has me yelling for the sick bucket normally, but I’m making an exception here, partly because I doubt whether there’s going to be a globally televised ceremony, where I will be expected to give a speech thanking all my dear old friends for back-stabbing me at every opportunity over all the years, and partly because Barry O’Leary put me down as his tenth most versatile blog. I’ve never been tenth in anything before except competitions and races with only ten people in them. Still, obviously I’m not nearly so versatile as I thought I was.

So let me first hand a warm hand of thanks to Barry for submitting me to this ordeal. Don’t you worry, Barry, I’ll get my own back one day. Just be a bit more careful when walking down deserted streets late at night.

Barry’s blog A Novel Spain – Spain through the eyes of a novelist  gives many British ex-pats a look at the country they have adopted – and has adopted them – through the eyes of someone who has married into a Spanish family, and is worth reading just for that. I don’t envy him living in Seville, not because I don’t like the city, it’s a must, as far as visiting goes. But I put it in the Turkish bath category of cities, nice to visit for a couple of hours, but I couldn’t stand working in one because of the heat. Barry’s blog is very honest and to the point.

I live with a German in Conil de la Frontera, which is not quite the same as marrying into a Spanish family and experiencing all the fiestas and customs first hand.

Neither Angelica’s or my family are on our doorstep, so our experiences of Spain are very different, even though most of our friends and acquaintances here are Spanish.

Angelica wouldn’t ever speak to me again if I didn’t put her at the top of my list. And that was a great temptation, I have to admit, but in the end, I had to include her for her wonderful protraits, and to keep the peace. But her versatile side comes through her drawing blog, not her portrait site, which is here.

1. Angelica Westerhoff, which shows an artist’s view of Conil and its people. Warts and all, at times.
2. eljaygee Laura Bloomsbury’s photographs take me back to London and the many years I lived there. Her trips to the seaside and country evoke a real feeling of England.
3. El bueno, El Feo y El Malo is another photographic blog I’ve just started following. Although my blog mainly features writing, I love photography, and was immediately impressed by the quality of Ron’s work.
4. Spanish Scribbles In common with Barry,  I’m a fan of WendyKate’s sketches of the area round Jimena de la Frontera and the little comments she makes. I also love the comments she leaves on my sites.
5. Ginger’s Grocery With Ginger’s Grocery you get what you went in for: a nice, homely chat with the woman behind the counter.
6. Le Blog Although Ritika doesn’t post so often these days, her articulate and insightful views on life for a female student in India are very refreshing indeed.
7. Rangewriter It’s a real pleasure to follow Linda’s voyage of discovery in her homeland of the US seen through the eye of her lens.
8. Eremophila’s Musings take me right to the other side of the world to Australia, where the seasons are the opposite to here.  Her photos give a real idea of what rural life in Australia can be like, and show her love for the environment.
9. Oh God, My Wife is German I stole this from Barry’s list partly because oh God, my wife is German too, so I can relate. But, oh God, my mother was Norwegian, and that’s something else.
10. Just A Small Town Girl is another one of those sites, which serves as a peephole on the daily life of a 22-year-old graduate on the brink of adult life.
11. The Culture Monk I doubt whether Kenneth Justice needs any awards. Nevertheless, his tour of US coffee houses meeting people is inspirational in both content and originality. He wore himself out doing it, but it was well-worth following. He’s slowed down now, but there’s plenty more to come, I feel.
12. Peter Black’s Poems Peter Black’s beautiful poems and voice, remind me of the late Oscar Brown Jnr, who I was privileged enough to share a few days with in the 1990s. To be sitting in a cottage in Shropshire in the small hours and be the only one present to hear him recite a poem was a great moment indeed.
13. The Bloggess The weird and wired world of the Bloggess appeals to my surreal sense of humour.
14. Am Writing to hold onto myself Derek Lubangakene doesn’t post as much as he used to. But the various writings he has introduced me to have been extremely enlightening.
15. Sandra Danby I’ve only recently stumbled across Sandra Danby because she stumbled across me. But her site holds a lot of interesting stuff for aspiring writers and is well worth following.

Well, that’s that done. I’m sorry to say, having come to the end, I don’t really have time for this, and am not interested in getting an award. I hope I haven’t pushed other people in to doing things they don’t want to. But if by any chance you do want to take part you have to post a list of fifteen other blogs you think are versatile. I really think the word versatile inappropriate as it asks far too much. Most of the blogs I’ve recommended, though I enjoy, do not fit into that category. I sort of feel as though I’ve been dragged into some sort of mutual appreciation society. So I will not be taking part in any future award schemes. Oh, it’s not quite done, now I have to write seven lies about myself, which all other nominees have to do. It’s almost like being nominated to face a firing squad.

1. I was a stowaway on Apollo 11 the first manned craft to land on the moon.
2. Before I started writing I was a highwire walker in a circus that toured Mongolia.
3. I have a cabinet full of awards for versatile blogs in my bedroom.
4. My real name is Nayrb Gnimmeh, as I am from a parallel dimension where everything is the other way round.
5. I keep a herd of camels in my garage waiting for the moment the world runs out of oil.
6. I seems I have just spent a lifetime trying to get an award I don’t really want.
7. I hate awards.

Sorry, Barry, I couldn’t resist it. Nevertheless, I wish you the best of luck, mate. Oh my God! It’s only now I see that one of the people I nominated for the award is the same Sandra Danby who set it up. Thanks a lot, Sandra, I didn’t know it was you. Anyway, I hope you win. Here’s where Sandra hides: Notes on a Spanish Valley. Just joking, honest, but not about the you winning bit.

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