Fancy a jump? (reblog)

Happy Saturday to you!

I'd love to say it's really been a fine day but since it's been pouring down all day (please feel free to exchange that word pouring for whatever else you feel might fit in) I'll be a grouse and say that the weather's been pants but the rest of my day has been very pleasant.

I've been out all day signing/selling my novels at the Town Hall in Inverurie (Aberdeenshire, Scotland)  one of my regular FOCUS Craft and Design Fairs venues. I had lots of lovely conversations with customers and also with those who just wanted to be in out of the rain for a while and had no intentions of buying anything from me at all.  But I love the conversations and they may be potential customers, so it's nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'm delighted to have signed some/ and sold 10 novels today because they were hardy souls who ventured out.

It's also my slot at my every second Saturday Wranglers blog where I've been writing about it being National Bridge Day- only one among other weird and wild  celebrations on the 15th October 2016.

I'm re-blogging it here, since it's got some lovely references and some great videos.

"Wow! It’s National Bridge Day!

I’m endlessly amused when I check in to Facebook, or Twitter, or Google+ and find that it’s a ‘National SOMETHING Day”. I just happened to pick up a reference to today, 15^th October, while I was looking for some inspiration for a topic for this blog post and it led me to do a tiny bit of research. That was in between the larger amounts of historical research I do pretty well every day. 

So what is the 15^th October graced with? Should you prefer it you could celebrate it being National Grouch Day, National Cake Decorating Day, Global Handwashing Day, National Mushroom Day, National Chicken Cacciatore Day, I Love Lucy Day… and a whole lot more. (BTW - I love chicken cacciatore) Have a look at the following to see what else is celebrated on the 15th October.

https://www.checkiday.com/10/15 

or look at this one for the whole of October 

http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/october.htm

As we all know, there are 365 days in a year (and 366 in a leap year) but amazingly there are over 1200 ‘National SOMETHING days’!

Before I go on to National Bridge Day, here’s a little bit about having a ‘Grouch’ day. It seems this celebration was started by grouches who wanted to share their exceptionally grumpy lives. 

Why not? Indeed….so if you’re a grouch, celebrating on the 15^th October, then you could give seriously backhanded compliments and share then on Social Media. Hmmm…I personally think there’s a lot of that going on every day on Social Media. 

Try this for more info:

http://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-grouch-day-october-15/

Official National Bridge Day? I wondered if it had something to do with getting together with friends and playing lots of card games of Bridge. I know of a few women in my neighbourhood who regularly meet to play Bridge. They love the companionship, the pitting of their wits, possibly even the addictive gambling aspects should they go down that form of play, as well as honing their considerable skills in what some devotees would say is the most skilful card game of all. I, personally, would be a poor Bridge player, methinks, since some days I can barely remember the names of people around a table never mind which were the last five cards they have just played!

 So what is National Bridge Day? It isn’t to do with cards but it is for the daredevils amongst us who prefer much more physical thrills. You’ll love the 15^th October if you’re like my son-in-law who loves things like jumping from bridges attached to a bungee cord or a dangling rope.

Fayettville, West Virginia, certainly has been doing the day proud. Since 1980, jumpers have been allowed to jump from the New River Gorge Bridge on this special day when all of the traffic lanes are closed, except to pedestrians…and to the paraphernalia that the jumpers need. The video below from 2012 shows that it can be a great day out with many fun activities to watch, or even experience, BUT personally I’m not into leaping off a bridge today or any other 15^th October Day. 

 or there's this one as well...

More about BASE jumping and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASE_jumping

I may not want to leap into the gorge myself but I did write about someone called Nairn Malcolm in my contemporary humorous romantic mystery Take Me Now who is the owner of an Extreme Sports business.

I had quite a lot of ‘armchair’ fun researching what might be the kind of sports he’d be offering to customers via his Adrenalinn Adventures company and he certainly does offer B.A.S.E. jumping type activities, and many others that I probably would try so long as dropping from a great height isn’t involved.

How about you? Are you like me and prefer your daredevil leaping to be a bit more ground based? Or do you crave the BIG experiences? 

Slàinthe!