Wednesday 24 September 2008

A personal interlude about literature, food and friends

One social network is a great place to promote another. I recently joined 6 Degrees of Separation (6dgr). They are claiming to give you a very generous $4 per referral, but there is a slight hitch. They don't have a payment gateway for anyone outside the USA and I'm getting a lot of comments that people won't join unless they can see a way to get paid - in short, they think it could be a scam.

I see their point, but this is what I'm telling them. Go and join anyway. There's a forum inside where you can add your voice to the clamour for an international payment gateway that doesn't require us to mess around sendiing documents in the mail. They are being rather snotty about Paypal and Alertpay and the like. If Paypal is good enough for millions of ebayers worldwide, it should be good enough for them.

6dgr is definitely for grownups. I use Facebook and Yuwie, but I'm also aware that they are aimed at the 'younger end of the market'. Get in there and invite your friends.

I actually drafted this post yesterday. It was a spooky kind of day even for superstitious old me. Within the space of an hour and a half I ran into 3 friends I'd not seen in a good while, even though we live very close. After the second, I was quite certain there would be a third and sure enough there was!

Havant is a small UK South Coast town shopping centre, although it draws from quite a wide area. In recent months several coffee shops and cafes have opened, to the point I would have thought that there was just too much competition.

For just a coffee and a quiet atmosphere, my choice is Caffe Nero. This coffee-shop chain IMO beats Costa, Starbucks and the rest of them for the quality of its food and coffee - perhaps it's the excellent training they give their staff, in working the espresso machines and for customer service.

This morning, I met a friend for a traditional English breakfast at Ninos which is a new cafe in North Street, Havant, next door to the Six Bells pub. It was generous, well cooked and tasty. They do takeaway sandwiches as well and I highly recommend it. It is clean and attractively decorated and the staff are welcoming and helpful.

One of the friends I met is Lucy Flannery who is the director of the Havant Literary Festival which happens this weekend (25th-28th September 2008). The area is associated with a number of internationally known authors and writers past and present, including PG Wodehouse, Nevil Shute and modern crime writer Pauline Rowson. All of them will feature in the festival events together with many more in different venues around the town.

Links -
Havant Literary Festival - http://www.havantlitfest.hampshire.org.uk/
Pauline Rowson - http://www.rowmark.co.uk/
6DGR - http://www.6dgr.com/index.php?mode=join&ref_id=3558
Caffe Nero - http://www.caffenero.com/

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