Christina Hollis: A Learning Experience

Beautiful, isn't it? Pic via Pixabay

I can't believe how quickly my first term at university is passing. It's flying by. I assumed it would be only my writing that saw the benefit of a Masters course at the University of Gloucestershire. Instead, it's proving to be invaluable in all sorts of ways. 

My navigating, driving, parking, and socialising skills are all improving in leaps and bounds. I can now find my way around Cheltenham pretty well (both on foot and by car), I've learned the best lanes to be in during rush hour (because there's so much traffic you can't always see the lane markings). I always used to go shopping very early, so there was plenty of room to park. My university schedule means that's no longer an option. I've had to get used to reversing into the very last parking space in a packed car park (driving a tiny car helped with that one!).  Workshopping as part of a group of ten isn't half as bad as I thought it would be, now I've got used to everyone.

I'd recommend further education to everyone. You're never too old to learn something new!

Christina Hollis writes contemporary fiction starring complex men and independent women. She has written more than twenty novels, sold nearly three million books, and her work has been translated into twenty different languages. When she isn’t writing, Christina is cooking, walking her dog, or gardening.

You can catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: Of Blind Dates and Rearranged Fixtures...

The Perfect Blind Date...

It's been quite a week. On Monday, OH and I appeared on BBC Radio Gloucestershire. Then on Tuesday, the spotlight swung right away from us, as Son No. 1's much delayed visit to his prospective university went ahead at the third attempt. 

During the first week of April, I got an email from the team at our local radio station, BBC Radio Gloucestershire. They were planning a feature on blind dates. That's how I met my husband, and I'd included the detail in my LinkedIn Profile. A researcher picked up on it, and they contacted me. 

Led to this...

We were asked to get to the studio before 11am. It's near Gloucester Royal Hospital—a journey I've been making every couple of months for the past ten years to take our son for consultants' appointments. The journey is always a nightmare, so we set off at 9.45am to make sure we wouldn't be late. Wouldn't you know it? The traffic was so light, we arrived just after twenty past ten. That was a whole forty minutes early for our interview. Talk about looking keen!

Luckily, the studios of the BBC turned out to be a mini version of St Mark's Square in Venice—the place was full of  interesting people. Two guests came and went during our self-imposed wait, and both were fascinating.  Darren had been invited to talk about the difficulty disabled people face when trying to get tickets for, and decent access to, live music events. Stuart was an historian, working on the history of businesses in the area of Cheltenham around the Bath Road known as the Suffolks and Tivoli.  

While we chatted the waiting time flew by, and then we were led into Anna King's studio to take part in the live broadcast. I've often listened to Anna's morning programme, so appearing on it was a real treat.  Here's the link to the show. Anna has a great taste in music, and all the features are interesting. The blind date section starts at 2:10 on the slider. The Vox Pops and emails about people's romantic experiences are really worth hearing. Most were funny, but it was lovely to hear that Barbara from Cheltenham was married to her blind date for sixty happy years, and they had a large family together. 

Now Our Son's Heading Off To This!

Our own happy family is getting to the stage where the children are spreading their wings. On Tuesday, I took Son No. 1 to view the University of Gloucestershire's computing division. He's got his heart set on going there, but our first two attempts to visit the place were jinxed. Along with everyone else, we were snowed in on the original date of the University Open Day. A revised date was set...and we were snowed in on that day, too! This week we made it, at the third attempt. We had a good look round the campus and halls of residence, and we were impressed. Our son was pretty convinced it was the right place before we went. Now he's certain. That's good news for him, but it's bittersweet news for us. It doesn't seem like five minutes ago we were waiting for him to be born. That happy event happened in Gloucester too, so it's obviously a lucky place for our family.

Christina's next book, Women’s Lives In Bristol 1850-1950 will be published by Pen and Sword Books early next year. As well as her local history work, Christina Hollis writes contemporary fiction starring complex men and independent women. She has written eighteen contemporary novels, sold nearly three million books, and her books have been translated into twenty different languages. When she isn’t writing, Christina is cooking, walking her dog, or beekeeping.

You can catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Her current release, Heart Of A Hostage, is published by The Wild Rose Press and available at myBook.to/HeartOfAHostage  worldwide.

Christina Hollis: One Day, One Hundred Years and Seven Thousand, Seven Hundred Names.

"Our" Colours, By Nilfanion

On Sunday, 3rd August, it was my privilege to attend a ceremony at Gloucester Cathedral to commemorate the start of World War One (or the Great War, as it was known before 1939). That war started one hundred years ago last week. I was one of more than three hundred people, one from each parish in the diocese of Gloucester, who took a small but important part in a service to mark the beginning of what was supposed to be "The War To End All Wars".

I and my fellow Presenters each had a document printed with the name of every person from our respective parishes who died during the war. Although the village where I live is very small, mine had twenty-three names on it. Other people from larger parishes had dozens of names. The main part of the service consisted of the Presenters filing up to the altar, where each in turn handed their document to the Lord Lieutenant of  Gloucestershire, who is the Queen's representative in the county. 

It's the kind of ceremony England does brilliantly, and this was no exception.The invitation said "uniforms and decorations to be worn". Sun shining through the stained glass windows bounced off so many medals, braid and even spurs the effect was amazing but I didn't take any photos. It would have been disrespectful. As all the regimental banners were paraded up to the altar, I thought how moved both my grandfathers would have been to know we still remember that terrible time. Both men were decorated in World War One, one on the Western Front, the other in Mesopotamia (an area covering much of the Middle East).

Before the service began, I worried I'd cry when they played the music used for Remembrance Day. It always has that effect on me, but it didn't happen this time. Once I'd delivered my list of names I turned to go back to my seat, glad I'd managed to stay dry-eyed. Then I saw the stream of people behind me, still heading toward the altar. It went on, and on, and on. Each person held a document representing many deaths, and all walked in stunned silence. That was unbearably poignant.

What is really tragic is that one hundred years later, people are still dying all over the world, because human nature won't let us all live in peace together.

The following day, the collected list of 7,700 names was read aloud in the cathedral. The ceremony began at 9:00am, and the continuous recitation took seven hours and twenty-five minutes.

Christina Hollis writes both contemporary and historical fiction - when she isn't cooking, gardening or beekeeping. You can catch up with her at http://www.christinahollis.blogspot.com, on Twitter and Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at http://www.christinahollis.com