Corrie Weekly Update - Eccles, by 'eck

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here

This week on Corrie, Eccles got a storyline all of her own.
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I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

Bougainvillea as a houseplant

I adore Bougainvillea when I've seen it on holiday abroad.  It sprawls, it's wild, I've seen it growing along coast roads and beaches in all kinds of colours including orange and white.  My favourite colour is the deep cherry red. 

I'd always wondered about growing it at home, here in England but knew it would have to be kept indoors as it likes a lot of heat and there's no way it would stand a British winter outside. 

But, I was always put off trying to grow one in the house for two reasons.  The first was that I had no idea where to buy them from, apart from online, and buying plants online without seeing their condition is an idea I can't buy into.  The second reason I was put off having one at home is that everything I read about them suggested they'd be too difficult to grow. This is an exotic plant, after all.  It's foreign and clearly not for the likes of me with my tendency to cottage garden.

And then one day last summer I found bougainvillea for sale at £5 a pot in a local greengrocer.  I couldn't believe it.  There were about a dozen healthy plants, all with the beginnings of flowers (well, bracts) on them and I bought one, took it home, potted it up into something bigger and kept it indoors in a conservatory over the summer where it baked in the sun during the day.  It bloomed, it flowered (well, got more bracts) in the most gorgeous purple colour. 

Not knowing what to do with it over the winter, I chopped it right back and kept it in a corner of the living room, out of sight, out of mind. I expected it to die.  But for the cost of a fiver, even if it did die, it wouldn't have been the end of the world - but it would have been a shame.

In spring, I started watering it gently and green shoots started appearing on the plant.  As the weather warmed up and the light increased, the plant started sprouting new shoots, new leaves, and finally, new bracts which have coloured again.  The picture above was taken this week, as the bracts have started to turn purple once more. There's still more to come, it'll be even  more blooming gorgeous quite soon.

And so, if there is a point to this blog post about bougainvillea, it's this.  Let no-one tell you that this exotic plant is difficult to grow or to look after or to over-winter.  It's not. It couldn't be more easy.   I'm after another one now, in a different colour, and I plan to re-visit the greengrocer soon to see if she has any more plants this summer.
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I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

Green fingers and mucky brown nails

Come into my garden....

All of the pictures taken so far this year showing the garden at its best are now on my flickr site.

Have a look at them here, if you'd like to.
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I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

Corrie Weekly Update - the cultural version

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here

This week on Corrie, Sally and Tim were un-engaged.
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I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

Pic: A Perfect Duet for sale on Corrie set tour

Here's a picture of my book - A Perfect Duet, the diary of Roy and Hayley Cropper - for sale on the shelves in the shop on the Coronation Street set tour. 

Photo courtesy of Jonny Grimshaw.

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I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

A Perfect Duet now available on Corrie set tour

My book is now available for sale in the shop on the Coronation Street set tour in Manchester. 

I could not be more proud and pleased.

And now... working on the second book for release in time for Christmas!
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I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

About Me

I'm editor of the Coronation Street Blog, a fan website which attracts almost half a million (yes, that's half a million!) Corrie fans per month. Find out what makes the website so special with celebrity bloggers, exclusive interviews and competitions - read all about it here.

The Coronation Street Blog has been praised by The Guardian as Marvellous and twice by the Manchester Evening News as Excellent and Essential reading for Street fans. 

I also own the original, first ever Coronation Street fan website www.corrie.net

I am the author of A Perfect Duet - the diary of Roy and Hayley Cropper, an unofficial Coronation Street companion book. The book was released in May 2014 by FBS Publishing and has a foreword by actress Julie Hesmondhalgh, who played Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street.

I am also the author of Norman Bates with a Briefcase - the Richard Hillman Story, an unofficial Coronation Street companion book. The book has a foreword by actor Brian Capron, who played Richard Hillman in Coronation Street, and was released in December 2014 for Kindle.  Find out more here.

July 2013: I interviewed the woman who dressed the Coronation Street icons. Read it here.

In 2010 I was commissioned to write a number of articles for Coronation Street's official 50th anniversary magazine.  I also used to write freelance for the now defunct Coronation Street magazine. And I also wrote freelance for the official Coronation Street website at itv.com.


I also write a Coronation Street monthly update for The Union Jack, the only national USA newspaper for British ex-pats.

In 2008 I was commissioned to update Coronation Street: The Complete Saga, a novel by Katherine Hardy, with major events from the cobbles from 2003 to 2008, a five year update.

The book is available via Amazon here. My name appears on an imprint page inside the book.

In 2010 I was commissioned to update the Coronation Street Saga novel once again for Corrie's 50th anniversary.

The book is available via Amazon here.

I graduated as a (very) mature student in 2001 with First Class (Hons) and a prize for excellence in communication after studying Journalism at the University of Sunderland. During my degree, my personal website, a spoof tabloid paper, was shortlisted for The Guardian Student Media Awards.

While I was studying my journalism degree, I was invited to work in the Coronation Street press office where I worked on the ITV book: Access All Areas: Behind the Scenes at Coronation Street.

After graduation I carried on my studies at postgrad level, and in one essay discussing representation of femininity in Coronation Street. If you're looking for academic sources of info, then a good place to start is the list I've compiled for Corrie net

NEW FOR KINDLE!
My Corrie (unofficial) weekly updates from 1995 - 20 years in 20 e-books
All the wit and warmth of Weatherfield, none of the waffle
Available from amazon.co.uk and amazon.com

I've also e-published a book of rather wonderfully daft poems too.
Find out more here.

And my novel Triple Whammy has now moved from the back of my knicker drawer to Amazon.
Find out more here.



Follow me on twitter
 
See my photos on flickr
 

Corrie Weekly Update - the one with Hayley's hanky

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here

This week on Corrie, Roy helped Carla. 
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I'm on twitter @flaming_nora