Wanna simple domain name?

The clunky old address came for free with my ISP, and they have since changed from ntlworld to Virgin, without changing their URLs, and all that. But http://tobyphilpott.tk/ will find me.

I decided to take a free domain name from Dot.tk - this remains free so long as you have (I think it is) 25 visits per month or something. Anyway, I used it, and eventually decided to upgrade to the paid domain name, because it seems like a good cause to help people whose island just might disappear if the oceans keep rising, for instance. And, anyway, I love that each country got its own little part of the Internet.

TK = Tokelau.

According to that Wiki piece "Tokelau has added more than 10% to its GDP through registrations of domain names under its top-level domain, .tk"

So click on the image below, if you want to find out more...

It's too damned quiet!

If anyone wondered where I went (I doubt it) then you should know I have written a film script in the last fortnight.

I didn't say it was any good (or even finished) but I completed the first draft in half the time allotted by Script Frenzy.

Here's my entry page on Script Frenzy - already at the 100 page mark, as planned for the end of April.

To help me focus, I started a separate blog for the Script process, and may keep it going for writing projects generally.

You can find that here: Right...well...

Busking and Hat Fairs

It was great to hear from Mike Dean the other day. He's the man behind the original Covent Garden Hat Fairs (1973/4) - long before the 'official busking for tourists' that you now see.

When I was a kid the theatre queues around Covent Garden had entertainers to amuse them while they waited to go in. The tradition had faded, but quite a few of us had started to rebuild the busking tradition. I did juggling, magic, acrobatics and fire-eating - working solo, as well as with The Raree Show, and with Justin Case (as Foolproof).

While Covent Garden was still a fruit and vegetable market, and an unusual and atmospheric place (working through the night, pubs open at dawn, etc) Mike got permission for people to busk anywhere within the area for a couple of days a year. No booking in advance, no payment, no auditions for quality and very little supervision. Wonderful, joyous anarchy in the streets.


A culture clash (and local politics) eventually drove the Hat Fair away, but it landed in Winchester and has thrived for 36 years now. London's loss, as far as I am concerned.

Winchester Hat Fair.

Anyway, Mike is writing something about the period, and was digging around for stories and photos, etc. On my website I had quoted a delightful impressionistic piece by Gerard Benson (Poet Laureate of Bradford) which appeared in the New Statesman at the time - Hats in the air.