Northern Exposure 8. Bridgemont

It is great to see that you are back from such a long hiatus. Hope you are doing well health wise.

You have been in my thoughts and prayers. Thanks for bring back our friend Granger, I have missed both you and he.

Mr Arbour, I think you are among the most accomplished historically correct authors currently writing. I thoroughly enjoy your well researched stories. You know that George III had several episodes of 'regression dementia' as it came to be called. The one you recount in this chapter is the most dramatic. 

North American readers probably won't realise the huge gap extant between the 95 per cent of ordinary people and the 5 per cent of the gentry and aristocracy in Britain in the time of which you are writing. Granger and his ilk could get away with things which ordinary people certainly could not. And, for the sake of these stories, a damn good thing too!!

So George III was thought of by the common Londoner as 'a bit sick in the head' . But he was hardly considered mad.

So onward, wordsmith Mark, to the Neva and the gun ports of Peterburg's golden shining Admiralty.

I look forward to every word.  

Adam

The thaw has come !!!  THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Yay!

George is back! But more importantly, so's Mark!

I like using bing.com  I love their pics they post every day on there from all over the world and their writeup about the pics or the reasons for them. I thought I would post this because today June 25th. Today marks the International Day of the Seafarer. So all you guys that love this story and stories about sailors and the sea, today is the day to honor them.

2 hours ago, Mark Arbour said:

I try to target every two weeks, but I don't always meet that deadline.  That's especially true when I'm in a part of the story that requires a lot of research.  The next chapter is in editing now, though, so it shouldn't be too long.

Thanks for all your effort Mark, an historical novel is a major undertaking. And you did put George in a hard place to be (for a couple of months anyway). Next time you should having doing something easy, like conquer a couple of islands or a whole archipelago 😁

Mark, a big thanks for all u do. George has been a great distraction , a place to come home to. Reread the series now a couple of times, my favorite series competing with the Dune novels. Big hug, thanks Chris

I thought I'd put my comment here cause it may be a tad long. I have loved and been reading CAP a long time. One day I had nothing to do so thought I'd drop in to see what Bridgemont was like. The idea of a story based around sailors of olde did not exactly entice. 

Well, I have just finished and and now up to date (as of this am) and I miss it already. I was too interested in the story to comment after each chapter. The next chapter kept calling out to me. I decided to do one big long comment instead. I will try to keep this brief as possible:

a) why, why, why did we have to lose Michel? That was so sad. He was such a lovely wee chap

b) I cried when Granger was posted

c) I was happy when Calvert was transferred to Intrepid. For me, I liked John Travers as his 'great' love. LOL, even if Granger himself didn't feel that way. For me it was my truth that mattered

d) the fight with the Floreal was exciting to me. There were others that were as well, but this was the first truly exciting one...

e) %$#@&* Wilcox. The whole lot of them

f) John Travers dying was a very sad moment for me

g) considering they were given a minute per member to get their shite together, I am betting the Committee of 30 were glad they had so many members

h) one of the negatives about reading the whole thing at once (when it is supposed to be read in installments) is that sometimes an author will mention a characteristic regularly to remind readers of the same, but if you've continuously read the whole thing these reminders seem more regular. I am over Granger's, '...I'm lonely...'

i) Caroline being pregnant with another Man's child was a shock. I guess they never had any type of birth control back then. It was more shocking to me than her double tryst, but then the lack of discretion was major regarding the tryst. I know the value system was way different and her lack of explanation, etc was the main issue but I felt really sorry for Caroline and the way Granger treated her. I think Granger is way worse than her - like way WAY worse. I also don't think he has been as discrete as he should have been on multiple occasions. But different times, etc

j) I am happy to be a cog in the wheel. The world of politics, business, etc is way beyond me. It would be frikkin exhausting. It would be like crawling through a minefield with more mine than field. No, no, no...

k) '...And Captain Avila is on that ship...' Loved it. Loved it. Loved it

l) I find the diplomatic way they talk (can't think of better words to describe it) is way annoying. Like way WAY annoying. It is way to long winded and fake to me. There are definite benefits cause there are some people I know who could be a bit more refined in their mannerisms, speech and actions - but it is way too tedious

I do not fully like Granger. Normally for me, that would be a straight turn off. I normally have to like the Hero or Heroine of a story e.g. he is a snob and a ho. But the fact he is not perfect is...okay. I hope he finds another Forever Love. Someone that completes him, that he is happy to with. He has to remain married to Caroline, etc. But someone that can be his heart-felt rock. Okay, so I know what I mean. Starting to ramble so I will stop here. 

I love this story. It has taken over my life for just over a week. Thank you so much. There is so much to it and so much that could have been commented on. So many characters, adventures, etc. Again, thank you so much. I have really enjoyed it so much. Just don't ask me to choose between this and CAP. That would be way hard. Sorry this is all over the place.

The one thing I want to finish with -

Please please PLEASE do NOT let anything bad happen to Winkler. He is just the best. Ya just wanna hug him to death and look after him for a while, especially when he is cold. Him and Jacob seem perfect for each other. Just perfect!

Another very well written and thought provoking chapter. Thanks very much for the reflection on the characters. It's induced me to reread previous chapters.