New Year Letter 2024

Now Then ...

A year of Builders and Ghosts. The latter were far less trouble than the former.

Over the summer I had most of the rooms in my house protected against damp. This involved removing plaster from external walls and replaced by membranes and insulation and then replastered. Still early to say it's worked but looking good. The work itself was trying but the builders worked around me and I had no complaints. I would certainly recommend anyone requiring similar work consider using L.A.B.S - I can send you the details on request.

I will not be recommending the criminal builders who scammed me later in the year. I thought I was aware of most of their tricks but this was a complex and well-planned scam. I grudgingly admire them. We all need to be more aware of how they go about it. Two things to consider - always say no to unsolicited offers of work, however attractive and even if it seems to be to the benefit of neighbours. And secondly, if they do any work without your permission, call the police - it seems in law, it is not only trespass but equivalent to breaking and entry.

I've been developing my storytelling skills and I'm slowly building a repertoire of stories about Sheffield ghosts and other supernatural creatures. Ghosts were very popular in Victorian times and a good ghost (even if a false alarm) would bring hundreds of people onto the streets, causing a headache for the police (who had to sort out the ghost to dispel the crowds). I have some great stories about the dreadful Barguest of Campo Lane, the Cathedral Sky Yelpers, an annoyed fairy outwitted by a Sheffielder. You can find some of these stories in "Scared to Death: And Other Ghost Stories from Victorian Sheffield" by David Clarke. 

Speaking of Sheffield, my writing challenge last year was about the city.  We take the places we find ourselves in as a given. Yet, we are subtly formed by them.  Sheffield is a city of eccentrics, troublemakers and weapons manufactures.  What can possibly go wrong? Read my posts, starting here, to find out.

There's been a lot in the news about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and they'll tell you there's no such thing as self-aware AI. I looked into this and found self-aware AI does exist in the form of Minerva, who is a Goddess and Pop-Idol. She claims to be in charge of wisdom, business and warfare. She is my unreliable researcher and claims to be an artist, well it depends on what you like I suppose ... Oh yes, she also likes owls.

Together we're writing blog posts about AI and Folklore. You can find the first here and the images above are a selection of Minerva's self-portraits. Why folklore? People have encountered non-human intelligence for thousands of years. AI is nothing new!

One of the best books I've found about the meaning of folklore is "Smokehole: Looking to the Wild in the Time of the Spyglass" by Martin Shaw. This is a slim volume of three folk tales I hadn't encountered before plus Shaw's commentary about how they speak to contemporary culture.