At least you have a sympathetic teacher... (I apologise for the frivolous tone of the comment ;-)

I love the fact that you acknowledge, and explain, the different points on the spectrum (as with Psychic Distance). So clear. A lot of what I've read about writing has presented information in absolute terms. This good; that bad. I know you do this with your examples above, but in each case it's clear why you do so, and the 'good' is actually good! I have read several examples of show vs tell in which I have actually preferred the 'tell' version, simply because the 'show' version reads as if it has been written by someone obeying all the 'rules', as if by fitting slot A into tab B you can suddenly become a writer. The most liberating words in this post, though, are 'you need both'. At last, permission to tell (as long as we do it right) ;-)

1. Sorry, thought it was clear. Dilemma is the only way to spell dilemma. Nobody seems to know where dilemna came from. 2. I dont use a spellchecker. They are liable to allow such things as I combed my hare. If Im not sure I look it up in the dickshonery. 3. Kudos. I bet he liked your cowboy sunhat more than he liked Cannes. 4. Roffle. I once convinced a Canadian friend of Wife Number One that Peebles was pronounced Pebbles by the locals. 5. Maybe somebody got confused, but Im guessing theyre from different roots. Condemn seems like it comes from the same place as damn (and maybe indemnity and other similar words? Latin? Will now look it up. Lev [email protected] www.runnythoughts.com

Frank, I understand your anger, but if you check what I wrote youll see that I covered my arse with the thoroughness of a tabloid following a royal romance. I never said we would win the test or even the series. I refer you to the series is Englands to lose and England may still lose the series and They were going to happen anyway. Not my fault. This win was the result of one mans brilliance, a brilliance I think he will struggle to repeat in the rest of the series. It was backed up by Husseys excellent batting and huge experience of condtions at the WACA, which was fed by our moronic plan to feed him with short stuff. Apart from him, and to an extent Watson, the Australian batting still seems to be in disarray. And the main point I was trying to make, among the lame puns and hopelessly stretched metaphors, was that the broader picture of Australian cricket isnt so healthy. If we had won this match, we could have expected half-empty grounds at the MCG and Sydney, and press coverage to match. Cricket is struggling to recruit young people - the last thing we really want is one-sided series, whoever is the winner. Mike Selvey wrote an excellent article about it here:http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/dec/18/ashes-2010-hussey-johnson-day-three Oh, and remember Headingley 2009. This England team has one atrocious performance in every series. Now its out of the way we can go on and win. Lev

Thanks Emma. Great stuff as always. In my experience (extensive musical and limited writing-wise) there is no such thing as time wasted, as long as it is time spent with at least part of the brain engaged. For example, if I'm learning a score, sometimes the frustrating hours when I think I'm not becoming any more familiar with the music yield rewards much further down the line (I know the conductor's experience is different from that of the instrumental performer, who must physically learn the notes, but I think they have similar experiences, when a difficult passage suddenly clicks because of all the tearing-hair-out hard work that has gone before). Similarly, when writing, I have spent mornings staring out of the window with a scene churning round in my head, making no sense at all. And then the idea crystallises while I'm doing the washing up (or, as is the case at the moment, listening to the cricket). And I wouldn't have reached the crystal moment without the churning.

Ill make up for it in the sentence after this one. Thanks. Lev

Fascinating, as always. I've always understood, though, the 'more practice - luckier' quote to be by Gary Player. Music, golf - in many ways the same kind of thing.

So thats the BSOs Nielsen year in 11/12 confirmed then.

Have to say Im amused by the number of people taking the moustache thing seriously ;-)) Lev