Unfortunately, old chum, my last contact in the DOD related industries retired from Convair about 8 years ago.
Good luck. Best, R.E.F. > On Jan 3, 2015, at 9:00 AM, Richard Williamson <[email protected]> wrote: > > Alas, > > Due to a confluence of planning, I had assumed that I would be here for about > a year. I was in Milton Keynes for about six months, while the company said > they were trying to get me work and residency permits for Germany (Munich). > Given their inability to make that happen in the short term, I decided that I > would move to Edinburgh, and once the permits were in place (next Fall > sometime), I would move from here to down there. > > From Edinburgh, the flights to Germany cost about the same but the cost of > living is about 70% of what MK is, and it doesn't take hours to get to the > airports (Gatwick or LHR, although sometimes I could use Luton). > > Turns out they (the company) weren't actually getting the permits, indeed > they decided that it would cost too much, so instead they made me redundant, > just before Christmas. Eh. Such is my life. > > So instead I will be here for about 60 more days, at which time I either need > a new corporate sponsor to remain (Tier 2 visa), or I need to leave the > country. https://www.linkedin.com/in/aentity > <https://www.linkedin.com/in/aentity> :) in case you or somebody you know are > hiring. Actually, Ray, if you have any friends down your way at Northrop > Grumman ... :D ) > > I've decided to use the 60 days to do some re-edits on some novellas > ("Stowaway" and "Deflection Point"), write another novella in that same > universe ("Stale Chips") (all three about 120k words), and hopefully finish > the light rom-com thriller ("A Fictional Account") which will come in at > around 85k words. Of those ~200k, about 75k will be new and the rest polish, > which is almost exactly a Nanowrimo/day rate, so is quite reasonable. > > As an aside, Charles Stross recently blogged that the Novella is actually > making a resurgence in the market, given the ability for writers to > self-publish now. His thought is that a Novella (45-65k words) is actually a > better length for a self-published work, as it represents a less expensive > "buy-in" by a prospective reader, they don't need to spend as much money (or > time) to find out if a writer can actually put two words together in order to > be entertaining. > > Anyway, I'll write "Stale Chips" and self-pub the three and see what happens. > > This is now street address #50 in 50 years. I made a spreadsheet in case I > have to apply for a security clearance. > > rip > > > On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 4:22 PM, Raymond Feist <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > >> On Jan 3, 2015, at 4:02 AM, Richard Williamson <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> Yep. >> >> I moved to Edinburgh* just before Christmas. This is unrelated to my >> enjoyment of the finest thing in life (single malt whiskey). It is, >> however, an enabler :/ >> >> Anyway. A bottle of 18yo Glengoyne at the distillery: gbp 72. At the local >> whiskey shop at Northbridge (across from the Prêt if you're here), it is gbp >> 77, although I've seen it on sale for gbp 69. in US$ that's around $110 >> (using the distillery shop price, at the current www.xe.com >> <http://www.xe.com/> exchange rate). >> >> A friend can order it at her local liquor store in Branford, CT for $105. >> qed. >> >> rip >> > > When I was building my collection, I did a fair bit of online shopping in the > UK (mostly London, which has the deeper discounts (by comparison, deep is a > relative term)) Best prices are US, Japan, and Portugal (not so much for > deep cut, but mostly rarer stuff collectors are selling off—some surprisingly > cheap for what they’re offering). > > The nice thing about getting the collection close to where I want, I could > slow down at get fussy, looking for the great bargains. > > Anyway, love Edinburgh, though the weather isn’t all that, but the city has > loads of charm. How long you planning on being there, oh Wandering One? > > Best, R.E.F. > >
