ROBUST discussion

Hi, I'm Andre Jute. I'm a writer, though I'm trying to break the habit. Perhaps I'll succeed after I reissue all my backlist as ebooks.

Goodreads author page:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/299...

Amazon Author Central pages:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K1KSHI
http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B001K1KSHI

Blog:
http://coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/

Netsite:
http://coolmainpress.com/andrejute.html

Latest books:

Andre, I believe you live in Cork?

So.... Guinness or the local Beamish?

James wrote: "Andre, I believe you live in Cork?

So.... Guinness or the local Beamish?"

In County Cork, not the city itself. I don't drink beer or stout, didn't even when I was on loan from my ad agency to Whitbread and Amstel to create new brands. The only beer I like, and drink once in a blue moon when staying with the sort of friends who offer one beer, is Newcastle Brown Ale. I don't mind cider in the summer instead of another kind of aperitif before dinner.

I drink wine but I'm not a snob, drinking mostly regional varietals; I knew all about Australian and Chilean wines before anyone else, and I knew about the good Californians when Californian wine was still typed as wine for drunks. The other day I served bulk Chardonnay from South Australia and opened a bottle under a famous label as well, several times the price of the bulk label from Lidl, then challenged guests to tell the difference. (I know there is none. I know the vineyard and the winemaster, an old chum with whom I lunch at La Mama up the Barossa once a month when I'm in South Australia.) The usual snobs thought the one from the expensive label was better. None of the women made that dumb mistake...

I take it from your question that you're a stout drinker... Which?

Here in the UK our stout choices are now pretty much reduced to Guinness or Guinness Extra Cold (abomination). If a pub serves it well I often have Guinness, but mainly I'm a bitter drinker (in both senses...)

James

An Australian friend showed me round Cork - very nice place, much more laid back than Dublin.

Are you cured of writing then?

I live in the country, twenty miles and twenty minutes from the airport and the big hospital and the English Market (the big place with all the food stalls right in the heart of the town).

I haven't written anything since before Christmas. I've been editing a couple of my own books for launch on the Kindle, and some books by others. But I'll go back to writing when I can; it's an incurable disease.

Every writer has their season I think, maybe yours just has to come 'round.

I had the blessing to visit Ireland some years ago (along with England, Scotland and Wales) but sadly didn't get the chance to visit Cork. Perhaps next time.

Cork is a super small city, and West Cork (the county, the countryside) is wonderful to live in.

Writing has been good to me. My season comes around and around and around, every so often. The thing is not to be impatient, and not to be greedy.

My boss is from Cork. I could listen to him talk all day - but don't tell him that!

Blarney, where the magic stone of eloquence is, is just outside Cork.

I would like to visit Cork one day. I've got family in Ireland - I'd love to go looking for them. O'Callaghan is the name - I'm told it's a very common name.

The O'Callaghan's are everywhere. You need to know something more.

But Ireland can be surprising. Year before last, after living in Bandon for thirty years, I was doing television about new bicycle facilities ("Time for the Minister to pull her fat finger out of her fat arse and stop lying to us," that sort of mealymouthing.) when a bystander said to me casually, entirely on a different tack, "Did you know about the two Jute cousins who lived up Oliver Plunkett Street? Last one died in 1972, just a few years before you came." So I cut a segment about that as well, and had a whole bunch of calls about other Jutes, none alive though.

None of my father's brothers are still alive. I don't think there is anyone who could tell me a thing.

Grandfather came over in the 1800's.

You need a parish, a village, a town, a county even if you know something else that distinguished them.

County Claire? Which isn't a whole lot.

Oh... Clare is lovely, and the Burren... if I could go back to visit, Clare is where I'd go. It was lovely. The Cliffs of Moher were incredible, but there were too many people.
Then south to the Ring of Kerry. Every corner you turn makes you long to bring out your camera... It was gorgeous

Kat: Clare, two centuries ago. I wish you luck, but that will be a hard trawl through parish records and graveyards. Perhaps there is some genealogical database on the internet but to me it sounds like an expert job.

Valerie: Sensible people visit the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren but live on the other side of the island, where it is on average 2 degrees warmer...

*laughing* Well I can't entirely disagree with you there, but no one has ever claimed I'm sensible.

Andre when I first saw your name I was positive you were french canadian go figure.

Montreal in its fleeting summer is one of my favourite cities. In fact, I like almost all the Canadian cities, and the people in them, most civilized. But I'm sorry to say I wouldn't want to live there: too cold.

Thanks for the files to all those books Andre, I get the idea that you're trying to broaden my reading horizons.

Enjoy!

From Kissing the Blarney

An elevation I might not reach without the motor. The motor is that discreet front hub, hardly bigger than the SON dynamo hub it replaced. The battery looks like a vacuum flask or a water bottle. This is a real sleeper of an electric bike installation.

Read here how I did it: Building an Electric Bike aka Pedelec

The finished result in one of my favourite places.

Sometimes I think you're the smartest guy in the room.

Ah yes, beautiful Eire...

You go, Andre! Teh, heh, you had more than one set of wheels turning on this one...