Travel Acts of Kindness

Write in 100 words about a time when travelling in a developing country, you experienced an act of kindness. Read some of the entries to get an idea the type of story. Try not avoid saccharine.

Free

Deadline: 22 July 2009
The competition from Global Giving I think is more to raise awareness.

Enter the 'Acts of Kindness' Travel Competition

To enter, simply spend five minutes telling us about an 'Act of Kindness' that you have experienced whilst travelling by adding your story below (in no more than 100 words).

Prizes: A lucky winner will win a trip for two to visit a GlobalGiving project in a country of their choice. 10 runners up will win goody bags containing a selection of prizes including travel gear.

8 out of 10 Brits have experienced an 'Act of Kindness' whilst travelling. Tell us your story below.


Were you lost and someone gave you directions?
Were you invited to a local event or festivity?
Did you receive a gift?
Did your vehicle break down and someone helped you?
Did you receive an impromptu local tour?

Basil Bunting Poetry Competition

The Inaugural Basil Bunting Poetry Award 2009 sounds very interesting and rich.

This award has been launched to acknowledge and celebrate the life and work of Basil Bunting. He was a leading British modernist poet whose poems have established their place amongst the twentieth century’s best poetry. Bunting’s precise and measured speech in his best known long poem Briggflatts led the critic Cyril Connolly to describe it as ‘the finest long poem to have been published in English since T S Eliot’s Four Quartets'.

First Prize: £1000.00

Second Prize: £500.00

Third Prize: £250.00

Up to three commendations of £75.00 each

Judges: Sean O'Brien, Linda France, Paul Batchelor

Deadline:30 September 2009
Winners will be announced: 10 December 2009
Max 42 lines
Fee: first poem is £7 and for any further poems £3 each.

Here we go again - Patrick Kavanagh Award

Just to tell you, there is no point whatsoever anyone else entering this competition year because this award is mine, mine, mine I tell you (demonic laugh)

Prize: €1,000.
Entry fee: €25.

For a first unpublished collection of poems in English. The award is open to poets, born on the island of Ireland, or of Irish nationality, or long term resident in Ireland.

The collection of poems in English must be original and consist of 20 poems. Individual poems should not be more than 40 lines.

Only works that are unpublished or published in a magazine are eligible (as a opposed to what?)

Two typed copies of the collection must be submitted with an entry form.

The Patrick Kavanagh Society reserves the right to arrange with the poet a reading from their award winning poetry at the Annual Kavanagh Commemoration at Inniskeen on November 27, 2009.

Deadline: September 25, 2009.

Oxegen 2009

We went to the Friday as day trippers, mainly because of the great lineup. 100 Euro each for a day compared to 90 Euros for your average concert at The Point (O2) or Croker is a good deal in these recessionary times.

Goffs parking and buses well organised - free sweets too. Not very nice - Randoms. Loads of car parking attendants, security and bar staff. Where do they go to get these temp jobs? My son would kill for that type of work. Anyone tell me?



First pint of Heinie then out of the drizzle and in to the Green Sphere tent to see The Dirty Epics - a good, Irish (light) rock band with a sassy lead singer in a frock that defied gravity and cut her hands with mirror ball cut outs. (Pony and The Cure) Radio Friendly and a good festival band.


The rain was more of a shower now than a drizzle. Then the main stage for The Coronas. Again, a crowd pleaser. And they were obviously having a good time themselves, which is infectious. The lead singer smiled as he sang
and was on the cute side. Note to self for readings. Smile.

Now the rain was actual rain. I put on my poncho which is a bit like wearing a tent. Not a good look but dry. Went to the Heineken Green Bar (they should sponsor me for this. I'd welcome that. I'm a big Heineken fan, me) which was covered over and had a good view of the O2 stage while we sat and sipped The Answer were playing. Apparently they're from Downpatrick but they played like they wished they were from New Jersey or Detroit. Long flowing locks and lots of heavy guitar thrashing. If they were the answer, I quipped (I don't often quip) I wondered what the question was. I missed God is An Astronaut at the Green Spheres stage.



Back for some wishy-washy noodles then to the main stage for James. We had the Millionaires CD in the car for years and know the album inside out. They didn't play anything I recognised. They had a good time with solid music and a bit of manic dancing on stage but didn't rock this audience. The trumpet player was wearing a dress. He was a male trumpet player and quite hairy. Actually he looked pretty cool. This could start a trend. The rain stopped though.



Some jolly nice coffee, a pitstop at the pretty OK festival loos and a very nice falafel and hummous wrap at the vegetarian and vegan stand. Then Lily Allen. She's very funny, very rude and a talented wordsmith. Great fun. The crowd were word perfect even for songs that hadn't been on the radio - too rude. She pointed out her young cousin watching from the sound gantry. The Northerners around me talked a lot though so I couldn't make out everything she said between sets. She did give some tips for the gentlemen on their lovemaking techniques I have to endorse. (The Fear, LDN) Someone kicked a footbal with a banana taped to it. Why? She kicked it back.



Girl in the crowd was very hazy and made everyone nearby twirl. She didn't ask me at first, just the good looking guys (of which there were many) then the good looking girls (also many) then anyone and everyone including me. Was strangely relieved not to be left out.

Then to the Green Spheres tent to see what Mogwai were like. They wre very serious, very loud, staring at their shoelaces while playing. Not a great festival band. Lots of enthusiastic head nodding and not much toe tapping from the audience.



Many dozy teenagers around now, jolly rather than agressive, no fighting that I saw. I did see a sheepish looking man being lead away by 4 garda followed by his girlfriend. No idea what he did but he wasn't putting up any resistance, physical or verbal.

The Script I wasn't expecting much from so we watched from afar, lying down in a field. They were much better than forecast with some great sing a long tunes and a fairly packed crowd. I people watched. Wellies are the thing for all girls and lots of lads. Short shorts and Tropicana coloured legs, clashing colours also de rigeur. And waterproofs.


Overheard from a Cork girl. "When in Rome, drink like the Romans do." Imagine this in a strong Cork city accent.

Escaped to get some wine (not me, driving) then to Snow Patrol. Not top on my list, I was torn between them and Republic of Loose, but they played a terrific set. They had a very responsive audience. They brought two young girls on stage to sing and did lots of 'now you sing' girls first, then the lads. Lads won hands down. I wonder what the make up of the audience is. There were lots of gaggles of girls but also loads of lads with the man buddies. Anyway, Snow Patrol won me over completely. I think they supported U2 so have had lots of practise recently. Chasing Cars was a real stormer. Open Your Eyes and Shut Your Eyes.



They played videos on the main screens between acts. While we were waiting for Blur, they played Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and everyone joined in. Brilliant. Then Billy Jean by Michael Jackson.

Dark now and everyone ready for my main reason for coming. Blur. I've seen them twice before, once in Cork and once at the RDS. Both times absolutely fantastic. I tried not to watch the Glastonbury set on TV so as not to spoil it. Great set. All the best ones. Girls and Boys had the tiring crowd bouncing and hands in the air. Graham Coxon's guitar screaming, heavy heavy bass making my trouser legs vibrate but Damon is the one for me. A real showman, so energetic, leaping about the stage and slightly stoned too.



Lots of the older stuff I didn't know so well, rough around the edges but that's what made it great. Slick has no place at a festival. Super light show. Beetlebum was great and Coffee & TV, always a good 'un. Park Life. The End. Love it. All Join In. Gradually made my way forward for the first encore. A good proportion of the crowd was tiring. Second encore I was at the barrier between the main crowd and the front section with a brilliant view. Song 2 had the crowd leaving the ground and The Universal finished the day. Damon coming down into the crowd, adoring it and they adoring him. A massive, fantastic day. Icing. really, you're spoiling us.

Humo(u)r

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Vair vair funny lyrics, good singing and dancing too. Who said Americans had no sense of humour?
Stolen from culch.ie

Rules from Kurt

Kurt Vonnegut once published a list of rules for writing fiction. This is what he said: Which ones chime with you? Me it's 2 and 3 and I'm going to have to think more 4.

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things: reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

He also said, ‘The greatest American short story writer of my generation was Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964). She broke practically every one of my rules but the first. Great writers tend to do that.'

From Andrew O'Hagan's interview of M.J.Hyland at the Manchester Review.

Do you think they're all bogus or only partly bogus?

Where have you done it?

Check this out from the Guardian, Ledbury Festival.

Me? On a train, on a plane, in hospital, on a bus, in a car (not driving) nowhere really weird that springs to mind.