Every year, Michael Winner spends his Christmas vacation in Barbados, staying at the world famous Sandy Lane Hotel. It’s arguably one of the world’s most exclusive places to see and be seen this festive time of year, with room rates approaching $3,000 a night with a 14-night minimum stay required. Food and drink not included. Release the dogs!

And as he does every year on his return to London, Michael Winner publishes a Barbados Restaurant Review in the Sunday Times “Winners’ Dinners” column. Restaurant managers and owners have been known to enter DEFCOM 3 on high alert when “Winner, Sandy Lane, 444-2000” appears in his reservation book. His ascerbic (some claim cruel) wit and take-no-prisoners style of restaurant review has fans and haters alike who agree on one thing: you either love him or hate him.

Michael Winner has made more than 30 films in his directing career. His best known film was probably DEATH WISH, starring Charles Bronson. But his weekly Winner’s Dinners column for The Sunday Times is how he’s best known among foodies in the UK and the US. He tours the world’s best restaurants, then provides a roundup of what went wrong, either or both.

In his recently published Barbados Review on February 10, Michael Winner mentioned how the food at Sandy Lane had tanked last Christmas season. Yet he still ate 35 lunches and dinners there, only going out seven times. One of the restaurants he visited was The Fishpot, a restaurant he had never visited in the 25 years since he came to Barbados. The Fishpot Restaurant, with its 21-room hotel across the street, is owned by Andrew and Patricia Warden. Winner stated that The Fish Pot is “absolutely great…”

Winner was not so kind to The Cliff, calling it “the so-called great rubbish dump of Barbados”. Twisting the knife, he went on to say that it was “the world’s most oversold second-rate place.” Oh. We do not share Mr. Winner’s vitriol having dined there recently with friends. A little stuffy maybe, but we were in our own little world and tuned out from little annoyances, like refilling water glasses mid-sip; Less is more, please. We’ll agree with his comment about the boring nonchalance and smug attitude of the 20-something front desk staff, but we find it vaguely amusing in a WHO’S THE CLERK AND WHO’S THE CUSTOMER kind of way. In short, more good than bad.

Another restaurant that felt the wrath of her indigestion was Daphne’s, Daphne’s sister restaurant in London. Mr. Winner said that Daphne’s “occasionally has reasonable food, but the service is so slow that everyone complains a lot.” We too have found the service spotty, but General Manager Marco Pavone works very hard to overcome the island mentality of some waiters which is the Achilles heel of most restaurants in Barbados. Daphne’s consistently delivers quality, innovative Italian cuisine and you just can’t beat the view.

But number 1 on Mr Winner’s Barbados chart was The Fishpot. “Turn left off of Sandy Lane and drive for 25 minutes, passing endless billboards hiding upcoming apartment blocks and foreboding signs on vacant land that read: Prime Residential Site For Sale. Eventually you arrive in old Barbados There are little wooden houses, beachside market stalls, reedbeds, and an aura of better times.” That’s a Bajan version of MAPQUEST. “At Fishpot you sit by the sea, in an old 17th century fort. It’s quiet. It’s beautiful. It’s what Caribbean life should be.”

Michael Winner first went to lunch with Richard Hanlon, who he says is his “favorite interior designer,” and was so impressed that he returned to dinner with music mogul Lucian Grainge and his wife.

“For lunch, Fishpot had fresh local lobster, which is more than Sandy Lane could offer at the time. They featured lobster from Belize that must have been on ice for so long that all of its spirit and structure was gone.”

Another Restaurant Review will be out soon and we understand you are talking about another one of our favorite restaurants, the Lone Star. Winner has been a fan of the Lone Star for a long time, but you never know if a sick WINNER will be blowing. We await his words, kind sir, with great anticipation.

Although they have broken up, they know that her heart still yearns for her ex.

Whatever the conflicts, discussions, misunderstandings, you feel that your love for him is much more than all that pain.

Maybe, you even made some mistakes in the relationship that you now regret.

All you want is to come back and make everything better and have his presence in your life again. In other words, you know without a doubt that you want it back.

As a love and relationship coach for women, I have seen several clients make critical mistakes right now when they want their exes back.

Did you know that the very things you want to do right now to get him back will keep him from coming back to you?

Yes.

If you feel like calling him and “talking about” how sorry you are will bring him back, then you’re sadly on the wrong track.

Here’s a golden nugget of expert advice: You can’t convince a man to have feelings for you and want to get back with you.

You have to create that experience within him of missing you and wanting you! That will bring your man back and not any amount of talking or convincing or worse, pleading.

So how do you create that experience for your man? My ways may seem counter-intuitive to you at first, but I can guarantee you that they work!

1) Give him the space to miss you

If you keep calling and texting and being present in his life, you will never create that space he needs for him to miss you. He needs to feel within himself what he has lost. He needs to sit alone at the dinner table without you, he needs to miss your comforting voice and touch. He can only feel these feelings of missing you and wanting you if you are not there.

So, refrain from your urges to text and call or initiate any type of contact with him.

I know this will be hard, but it’s worth practicing if you really want your man back.

2) Avoid places where he will be present

When we want our ex back, we come up with all sorts of reasons to try to see him.

Let’s be honest. We attend that distant and boring acquaintance’s birthday party simply because we know our man will be there. We also show up at golf class because we know you visit there regularly for practice.

We thought that if only he could see us and we could talk about how sorry we are, the passion and feelings of the past would revive in his heart. Could not be farther from the truth.

When you arrive at a place or a party not just for yourself, but with the hidden agenda of seeing your ex, he can instantly sense in your environment that he is the center of your life and that you subconsciously crave his attention. As you can imagine, this is not a very attractive and safe vibe for a woman to give a man. It definitely doesn’t help you bring him back. In fact, it pushes him further.

So refrain from showing up at places for your sake unless of course you are going somewhere alone and for yourself alone.

3) Bring back your diva vibe in your own life

As much as we like to believe that playing the female martyr in love will win our man’s sympathy, it doesn’t.

All he does is make you look weak, desperate, and unable to lead your own life without him.

Yes, your heart was broken. Yes, you still love him and miss him. But there are still many beautiful things to enjoy in your life and to be grateful for. Celebrate them and celebrate yourself!

While accepting and acknowledging the sadness she feels from the break within her heart, it’s also crucial that she get back to living her best life again.

Remember, no man on this planet can break you in a way that you can’t get up again and rebuild.

Interestingly, your man will find you much more attractive when he sees you being a diva after your breakup than when he sees you sniffling, sobbing and begging for his attention.

Following these steps will inspire your ex IF he is the right man to call and get in touch with you. When he contacts you, that is the time to open up and authentically share the sadness that you carry in your heart. However, you want to do this only when he has taken the initiative to contact you.

The 3 ways I give here to get your ex back to work, but they need you to be patient as a woman and trust this expert advice that you can’t get a man back by chasing him or talking to him. get back into the relationship.

No new technology rolls out without a hitch, and video conferencing had more than its share of bumps in the road before becoming the widely used communications staple it is today. The history of video conferencing in its earliest form dates back to the 1960s, when AT&T introduced the Picturephone at the World’s Fair in New York. Although it was considered a fascinating curiosity, it never caught on and was too expensive to be practical for most consumers when it was offered for $160 a month in 1970. Commercial use of real video conferencing was first realized with the Ericsson Demonstration of the First Transatlantic Video Call LME. Soon, other companies began refining video conferencing technologies, including advancements such as Network Video Protocol (NVP) in 1976 and Packet Video Protocol (PVP) in 1981. However, neither of these were put into commercial use. and remained in the laboratory or in a private company. spent. In 1976, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone established video conferencing (VC) between Tokyo and Osaka for company use. IBM Japan did the same thing in 1982 by setting up VC running at 48000 bps to connect with internal IBM video conferencing links already established in the US so they could have weekly meetings. 1980s Introduces Commercial Video Conferencing In 1982, Compression Labs introduces its VC system to the world for $250,000 with $1,000 per hour lines. The system was huge and used enormous resources capable of tripping 15 amp circuit breakers. However, it was the only working VC system available until PictureTel’s VC hit the market in 1986 with its substantially cheaper $80,000 system with $100 per hour lines. In the time between these two commercially offered systems, other video conferencing systems were developed that were never offered commercially. The history of video conferencing is not complete without mentioning these systems which were either prototypes or systems developed specifically for internal use by a variety of corporations or organizations, including the military. Around 1984, Datapoint was using the Datapoint MINX system at its Texas campus and had provided the system to the military. In the late 1980s, Mitsubishi began selling a still image phone that was basically a market flop. They abandoned the line two years after introducing it. In 1991, IBM introduced the first PC-based video conferencing system: PicTel. It was a black and white system using what was at the time incredibly cheap at $30 an hour for the lines, while the system itself cost $20,000. In June of the same year, DARTnet successfully connected a transcontinental IP network of more than a dozen research sites in the United States and Great Britain using T1 trunks. Today, DARTnet has evolved into the CAIRN system, connecting dozens of institutions. CU-SeeMe revolutionizes video conferencing One of the most famous systems in the history of video conferencing was the CU-SeeMe developed for the MacIntosh system in 1992. Although the first version had no audio, it was the best video system developed to that point. By 1993, the MAC program was multipoint capable, and by 1994, CU-SeeMe MAC was a true video conference with audio. Recognizing the limitations of MAC support in a Windows world, developers worked diligently to implement CU-SeeME for Windows from April 1994 (without audio), closely followed by the audio version, CU-SeeMe v0.66b1 for Windows. Windows in August 1995. In 1992, AT&T released its own $1,500 video phone for the home market. It was a borderline success. In the same year, the world’s first MBone audio/video transmission took place, and INRIA’s video conferencing system was launched in July. This is the year that saw the first real explosion in video conferencing for businesses around the world and eventually led to the standards developed by the ITU. The International Telecommunications Union develops encryption standards The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) began developing standards for videoconferencing encryption in 1996, when they established the H.263 Standard to reduce bandwidth for the transmission of low-rate communications of bits. Other standards were developed, including H.323 for packet-based multimedia communications. These are a variety of other telecommunications standards that were revised and updated in 1998. In 1999, the Moving Pictures Experts Group developed the MPEG-4 standard as an ISO standard for multimedia content. In 1993, VocalChat Novell IPX networks introduced their video conferencing system, but it was doomed from the start and didn’t last long. Microsoft finally jumped on the video conferencing bandwagon with NetMeeting, a descendant of PictureTel’s Liveshare Plus, in August 1996 (although it had no video in this version). By December of the same year, Microsoft NetMeeting v2.0b2 with video was released. That same month, VocalTec’s Internet Phone v4.0 for Windows was introduced. VRVS connects global research centers The Virtual Room Videoconferencing System (VRVS) project at Caltech-CERN began in July 1997. They developed VRVS specifically to provide video conferencing for researchers from the Large Hadron Collider Project and scientists from nuclear and high energy industries. Physics community in the United States and Europe. It has been so successful that seed money was allocated for phase two, CalREN-2, to enhance and expand the already existing VRVS system in order to expand it to include geneticists, physicians, and a host of other scientists on the video conferencing network. all over the world. The Cornell University development team released CU-SeeMe v1.0 in 1998. This color video version was compatible with Windows and MacIntosh, and was a huge step forward in PC video conferencing. In May of that year, the team moved on to other projects. In February 1999, MMUSIC released the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). The platform showed some advantages over H.323 that the user appreciated and soon made it almost as popular. 1999 was a busy year, with the release of NetMeeting v3.0b, quickly followed by version three of the ITU H.323 standard. Next came the release of iVisit v2.3b5 for Windows and Mac, followed by Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) version 1. In December, Microsoft released a service pack for NetMeeting v3.01 (4.4.3388) and an ISO standard MPEG-4 version two was released. Ultimately, PSInet was the first company to launch automated H.323 multipoint services. As we said, 1999 was a very busy year. SIP entered version 1.30 in November 2000, the same year that the H.323 standard reached version 4, and Samsung launched its 3G MPEG-4 video streaming cell phone, the first of its kind. It was a success, particularly in Japan. As expected, Microsoft NetMeeting had to release another service pack for version 3.01. In 2001, Windows XP messenger announced that it would now support Session Initiation Protocol. This was the same year that the world’s first transatlantic telesurgery was performed using video conferencing. In this case, video conferencing was instrumental in allowing a surgeon in the US to use a robot abroad to perform gallbladder surgery on a patient. It was one of the most compelling non-commercial uses in the history of video conferencing and brought the technology to the attention of the medical profession and the general public. In October 2001, television reporters began using a portable satellite and videophone to broadcast live from Afghanistan during the war. It was the first use of video conferencing technology to have a live video chat with someone in a war zone, again bringing video conferencing to the forefront of people’s imaginations. Founded in December 2001, the Joint Video Team completed the basic research that led to ITU-T H.264 in December 2002. This protocol standardized video compression technology for both MPEG-4 and ITU-T in one wide range of application areas, making it more versatile than its predecessors. In March 2003, the new technology was ready for release to the industry. New Uses for Video Conferencing Technologies 2003 also saw increased use of video conferencing for off-campus classrooms. Interactive classrooms became more popular as streaming video quality increased and delay decreased. Companies such as VBrick provided various MPEG-4 systems to universities across the country. Desktop video conferencing is also on the rise and gaining popularity. Newer companies on the market are now refining the performance details other than the drivetrain nuts and bolts. In April 2004, Applied Global Technologies developed a voice-activated camera for use in video conferences that tracks the voices of multiple speakers to focus on whoever is speaking during a conference call. In March 2004, Linux announced the release of GnomeMeeting, a free H.323-compliant video conferencing platform that is compatible with NetMeeting. With the constant advances in video conferencing systems, it seems obvious that the technology will continue to evolve and become an integral part of business and personal life. As new advances are made and systems become more reasonably priced, keep in mind that your options are still determined by your network type, system requirements, and what your particular conferencing needs are. This article on “The History of Video Conferencing” was reproduced with permission.

Copyright © 2004 Evaluateek Publishing.

How to be stronger in tennis? How Much Strength Training Do Tennis Players Need? A good level of strength has become an important part of performance. The game is getting faster and faster and tennis players must get stronger and stronger to keep up with their opponents.

The strength of the tennis player is one of the keys to becoming a better player. At all levels and even for young players, strength training can help players improve their tennis game. From 1 to 6 hours a week depending on level, weight training is today a main part of the training program.

Strength training for tennis has different goals and the first and perhaps the most important is injury prevention. Tennis is an activity that engages the entire body in explosive and repeated movements. A good strength training program should focus on different parts of the body, upper and lower. It takes a long time to strengthen the different joints like shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips and knees. Those are the most common areas where injuries can occur.

Overuse injuries are common in all sports and tennis players who follow a consistent weight training program will have the opportunity to prevent this and then perform better and better. Injury prevention is one of the reasons young athletes should be part of a strength training program. This will be with elastic bands and light weights and will be of great help to the players.

For older and better players, strength training needs to be increasingly intense to help players become stronger and more powerful on the court. The game of tennis is very intense, the shots are powerful and fast, so weak players cannot keep up with their opponent if they do not have a minimum of strength in their body.

At an advanced level, everyone has good technique and groundstrokes, the main difference will be physical. Tennis players need to be fast and powerful on the court and this can be improved with proper strength training.

To improve the strength of a tennis player, coaches or players must follow step-by-step strategies. When players start strength training, they need to use light weights, high reps (15 to 20), and they need to work their lower and upper body. This is usually done with circuit training 2-3 times a week.

After a few weeks of training, the loads can be increased and more sets of 8 to 12 repetitions can be done. Always work on full body strength. The player is now ready for more intense training and this will help him gain more muscles with hypertrophy. Only once those two phases have been done can athletes start working more specifically and with more weights. Starting too early with weights that are too heavy will lead to injury, and again, the main goal of strength training is to prevent injury.

A heavier weight will actually work on the specific strength a tennis player needs. Doing more explosive exercises with weights is what high performance players need. This is usually done after puberty and players who follow consistent and efficient physical and weight training will really increase their performance on the court. A good level of strength does not come in a week of training. It takes time and work but it is one of the keys if you want to be able to reach high levels of tennis.

Hunters are always in conflict with conservatives and environmental protectionists. The fight seems to go on as long as the hunting spirit expresses itself in the minds of modern hunters. Hunting for food is generally accepted as the rule of nature, but when it comes to sports or trophy hunting, differences of various kinds arise, a fierce fight that seems endless. Hunters can put these concerns aside and pursue their passion to go wild and chase animals in the wild once they are ready to hunt in South Africa.

Different companies offer hunting packages in South Africa that cover the provision of information on the hunting season, the identification of hunting locations, the availability of trophy hunting options and provide essentials such as accommodation and dining in luxury or semi-luxury rooms, weapons, guards and trekking facilities such as jeep, mini bus, elephant or horse. If the adventurer allows it, you can also try a walking safari, where you enter lands where elephants, lions, leopards, giraffes and mighty antelopes roam.

There are many animals, including the big five: elephant, lion, leopard, rhino, and buffalo. Zebra, Oryx, Kudu, Red Leopard, Steenbok, Wild Boar, Cheetah, Baboon, Vermin, Gemsbok, etc. are the animals you can see on the South African hunting safari.

Not all animals are seen in all seasons – your South African hunting company should be able to find out what types of animals may be available at the time of your visit. The highest levels of skills and patients are required for a successful home run.

Most of the hunted animals will end up on the dining tables of local people who, at least in part, depend on the hunters for their food. This may be an answer for those who hate this great safari.

As you head out into the wild, the greatest adventure may be moving alone. But it’s also easy to get lost in nature. Therefore, it is not advisable to enter the hunting area alone. South African hunting companies will provide you with the necessary guides and hunters to ensure you get a good catch and return safely.

Other wildlife options and diversion to primate conditions include bow hunting, in which you experience ‘almost’ the same as the primitive caveman while protecting his life, along with his women and children.

So where do you think you’ll get that hunting for survival experience? Are you hoping to have such an experience while out with hundreds of other hunters looking to share a turkey or deer? Although you cannot move in isolation, you should choose a hunting itinerary in South Africa that does not overload the hunting ground with too many hunters. Not only does it take away from the true South African hunting spirit, but it also leaves you with a less than satisfactory catch.

The symptoms of indigestion have almost become comic relief in television commercials. People burping, clutching their Tums, and singing along to cute Alka-Seltzer jingles has created the illusion that indigestion is not just normal, but fun. However, there is nothing funny about indigestion or its symptoms.

When someone complains of indigestion, it can range from the top of the digestive tract all the way down. People may complain of reflux, heartburn, stomach pain, bloating, gas pain, and eventually diarrhea. Understandably, not wanting to put up with these uncomfortable symptoms, a person turns to over-the-counter medications to ease the discomfort.

This nonchalant attitude to the seriousness of indigestion on the part of advertisers, coupled with the availability of easy self-medication with over-the-counter products, combines to create the perfect storm in a person’s health. If a person considers indigestion symptoms to be a natural part of life and temporary treatment is available to lessen the discomfort, there is no desire to get to the heart of the problem.

So what is the real problem that makes antacid products one of the most profitable industries? There are a few theories to consider:

Eat excessively
One of the most obvious precursors to indigestion, in the absence of any other medical problem, is overeating. Society is growing at an alarming rate. There was a time when people ate real food, the one found on the outside walls of grocery stores. Meat, produce, and dairy were normal meals and were cooked at home. Today, fast food chains are everywhere, for those fast-paced people who need a quick meal. Boxed convenience foods pop into the microwave for dinner in minutes. The restaurants offer starters, large main courses and desserts. Everywhere you look, people are consuming far more at one time than their digestive systems can handle. People seem to be eating for pleasure and not to control hunger. Our bodies are quite capable of telling us when they are hungry (the growing stomach) and when they have been pushed to the limit (indigestion).

Unhealthy diets and food intolerances
Continuous consumption of unhealthy foods such as snacks and soft drinks has also affected the human body. It must be understood that these products are not actually food, nor does our body know what to do with them. Whether a person is truly intolerant to certain foods or is consuming dead foods that are irritating the intestinal lining, stopping eating these products is the only way to soothe the intestines to start healing from the inside. Most people have seen how glue can clean a penny. Imagine the impact this drink has on the intestinal walls over time. Indigestion symptoms are the body’s way of letting a person know that it cannot digest or process these foods.

Symptoms of indigestion caused by lack of digestion
The ironic problem with indigestion is that people use antacids to relieve symptoms, which, in turn, decrease the amount of stomach acid needed to digest food. Over time, this cycle of not digesting food results in much more serious symptoms than indigestion, it can affect the immune system of the entire body because nutrition from food and supplements cannot be absorbed properly, with the digestive tract constantly changing.

If you have ongoing stomach upset, it’s important to get checked out by your doctor first to rule out any other potential causes of your upset. If no other problems are found, it’s time to start watching what and how you eat. Eating only when you’re hungry, stopping overeating, consuming natural foods from which your body can replenish nutrition, and allowing stomach acid levels to return to normal should reduce indigestion symptoms in no time.

Sometimes it’s just words that can help you steal her heart! Women are emotional and sometimes it just takes the right word to make her melt in your arms. If you’re wondering what you could say to bring your wife back into her life, then maybe these tips will help you in ways you can’t imagine.

“I am sorry”
The most wonderful and healing words are “sorry”. An apology that comes from the heart has healing qualities. Maybe your wife is just waiting to hear you say these words for a long time. Don’t let her down and you won’t regret it. She will come back to you immediately.

“We can talk?
Never let your personal pride and ego come between you and your wife. If you think your wife is worth it and she is not much of a sacrifice, then go ahead and ask her to meet with you so you can talk with all your heart.

“I take responsibility”
These are words every woman wants to hear her husband say at some point or another. She makes her feel safe and at peace. If this was a big problem that caused problems in the past, it’s never too late to take responsibility.

“I appreciate you”
These are words that will make up for the past when you took advantage of your wife and took her for granted. This breakup has made you realize how much you need her in your life. You have decided that you appreciate the little things she did to make your life more comfortable. Well, you can tell her now, she’ll soften her up and make her want to get back with you.

“Don’t you think we deserve a second chance?”
These words are full of hope. Make him realize that you had a wonderful relationship until things started to go sour. Remind him of the good and precious times you spent together. Make him stop at the good part of your married life and he’ll definitely think you deserve a second chance.

“I am willing to forgive and forget”
In case your wife was primarily responsible for the breakup and even cheated on you in the past, then it takes a lot of love and forgiveness on your part to want her back. Telling her that you are willing to forgive and forget the past is a step toward a safe reconciliation, especially if she regrets it too.

“Let’s Try Again”
These words say it all: she will know that you are willing to do your best and try to make the marriage a success. These words also speak of a joint effort and working together. It cancels the blame and does not put the responsibility on one person. She will be more open to the idea of ​​getting back together with you.

Games that require a lot of running and jumping, such as baseball, football, lacrosse, or soccer, require the use of special cleats. If you take your regular running shoes on this ground then you won’t be able to keep your balance and you will end up hurting yourself. If you are a football player, then you must understand the great need for football boots. Soccer is a fast-paced, non-stop game that requires you to run continuously without losing your balance. His fancy regular sportswear doesn’t help in these games due to the roughness of the game. They are very supportive while running on the ground. Known by various names, they are made with all the twists and turns and skids you have to deal with on the ground in mind. But there are many types for different games and you may get confused when choosing. So, first understand the difference in the types and their range. Don’t wear soccer cleats in soccer because it really isn’t safe.

how do they look – The back of the cleat has a slight heel that offers support while you run. The toe or upper part is stitched with scoops to provide a smooth kick and last longer. The studs at the bottom can be made of metal, plastic or rubber spike. They are removable. If they come off, don’t worry, they can be fixed. Aside from the running part, the studs are useful when skidding or if you slip on wet snow or water.

Its types and its purpose. – They come in three types: round, sharp and hard ground. The hard ground gives you the right traction on firm, hard surfaces, the bladed studs create less pressure, and the round studs offer more points of contact with the pitch. Choose the one that seems most compatible to you. But remember to buy the ones that are made especially for soccer.

Other sports cleats and the difference in them. – The basketball ones have studs in front that are useful for digging into the ground and getting out easily. If you hit someone or step on someone with them, it could be dangerous.

Cleats in shoes made for soccer are present on the rim and bottom. Compared to baseball cleats, soccer cleats are different. Their leather is thicker and heavier, which helps you jump. The soccer ones facilitate turns and skids.

Now coming to soccer. They are lighter than baseball or soccer shoes. The soccer ones come in two fits: mid cut and low cut, the soccer ones come only in low cut. The inner padding can be removed and repositioned. Many schools have instructed their students to wear soccer cleats. If you wear any other sportswear on a soccer field, your chances of being banned from playing at your school are high.

Crime fiction is big business right now, but there are certain situations that have been overplayed so much that they’ve become genre clichés and everyone knows what to expect next. Here are ten cliches to try to avoid and thoughts on how to subvert cliches if you decide to use them.

policemen and doctors

You can find this perennial favorite in both crime and historical fiction. You’ll see it on ER, NYPD Blue, and cross-genre shows like the X Files. The doctor says “Okay, but just for a minute” or “It’s one touch and you’re done. The next few hours will be crucial” or “It could be minutes, it could be days… you never know with coma cases.” The police usually don’t say anything. They just stand and chew the scenery in frustration.

Mulder and Scully actually spend a lot of their time hanging around hospitals, but it doesn’t show much because the patients aren’t their common criminals or witnesses.

And that’s the way to get around this. Get a new twist and add some tension. Perhaps the patient is related to the police or the doctor. Or maybe the doctor is an amateur detective and knows more than the policeman? But beware of “Dick Van Dyke” syndrome… it takes you into a whole new area of ​​cliché.

the new partner

In this scenario, a veteran cop has to find a new partner after the death of the old one. The novice is either eager as mustard and eager to please, or exhausted by personal problems. He is probably best known in modern times for the Lethal Weapon movies. The writers tried to add some tension early in the series by having Mel Gibson as a borderline case of suicide, and that gave the first film an edge; but was lost on later installations. By the time the fourth movie came around, they had fallen so deeply into a buddy-movie relationship that all of the drama was lost in favor of light comedy.

You need to do some serious subversion if you want to use this situation. People have tried having a dog as a partner in K9, having their mom as a partner in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, and having foreigners as friends in the great Arnie’s Red Heat.

Outside of strictly police procedural, we’ve also had the robot friend in Robocop, the ghost friend in Randall and Hopkirk (deceased), the alien friend in Alien Nation, the wizard friend in Jonathan Creek, the ex-military friend in Sherlock Holmes and Poirot. The list goes on and on.

Regardless of how you do it, filling in the blanks is easy in this scenario. What you need is something new. What if they assign the policeman a politician who does a season to meet people? Or, on a completely bland but potentially fun level, how about the schizophrenic cop who happens to be his own friend?

The rookie in the morgue

Once just the province of young students in Quincy, this one now appears on television in the CSI or Crossing Jordan franchise and in print in Kay Scarpetta’s books. There are generally two ways one can proceed. Either the young cop runs off, hands to his mouth, or he stands still, ice cold and distant, while the autopsy proceeds.

Inspector Morse tried to subvert this situation by having the veteran be the squeamish one, but how about having the rookie as the pathologist?

Whatever you do, try not to give the pathologist a chance to be smug and condescending while explaining large portions of the plot. In the UK, this is overdone in Silent Witness and Waking the Dead, and is just a lazy way of moving the story forward.

The curmudgeonly lieutenant chews up the cop

In movies and TV shows, this happens to all leading men, and Clint Eastwood must be tired of it. In the Dirty Harry series, he was rarely outside of his boss’s office.

It usually ends with the lieutenant and cop growling at each other, so what if one of them is completely cool and relaxed? Or what if one of them is deaf?

And if you must write this scene, please don’t use lines like “I’ll have your badge for that” or “I’m not covering for you this time.”

The muddy defense attorney

This was a favorite in NYPD Blue and was guaranteed to go up Sipowitz’s nose. Once you’ve presented the snazzy suit, snazzy hairdo, and briefcase, this guy will inevitably say, “My client has no further comment” or “You had no right to talk to him without me.” Everybody knows the rest.

Again, seriousness is needed to put a new spin on this situation. Could your lawyer be an ex-cop who knows all the moves, or a relative or lover of one of the cops? How about a lawyer defending himself? Or a counterculture advocate covered in tattoos and piercings?

Whatever you do, try to come up with some creative invective. Slimeball, sleazeball, reptile, and shyster have all been overused.

The car chase

Bullitt and The French Connection set the standard, and Gone in 60 Seconds brought it into the 21st century, but this situation has grown tired. There are so many old ladies to avoid, so many road signs to hit, and so many police cars to smash before your audience gets tired.

Over the years, the Bond movies have used just about every possible permutation, so you’ll be hard-pressed to come up with something new. It would be better to add tension in another way.

In an attempt to appear fresh, the chase element has sometimes been dropped entirely in favor of racing against time such as in Speed ​​or Die Hard With a Vengeance. To be successful, you’ll need a good reason for the trip to take place, a disastrous outcome if you don’t succeed, and a few good mistakes along the way.

But beware. Too much carnage and your readers will start thinking of The Blues Brothers. And please don’t make your protagonist drive the wrong way down a one-way street…it’s been done too often.

the shooting

Raymond Chandler’s advice to crime writers still stands. “If your plot is failing, have a man come in with a gun.” However, you must be careful. Too many people still transfer scenes from old cowboy movies almost verbatim to modern cop scenes.

Probably the best recent shooting was on Michael Mann’s Heat. You cared who lived or died, and there was excitement and tension. Therein lies the trick. Make your readers have an opinion, not only about your hero, but also about the other characters. By the end of LA Confidential, we knew everyone involved in the climax, and it was more satisfying to see who lived or died. Lining up one-dimensional people as cannon fodder might work in a Saturday night popcorn movie, but we should aim higher than that.

Gunfights work well on film, but can be a drag in print. Some writers tend to slow things down, especially to take a close look at wounds. Unless you’re careful, it can be read like a medical textbook.

And please, no heads “exploding like overripe watermelons.”

The policeman in the cafe

This was used on Chips in every episode, giving them an excuse to show a motorcycle speeding from a parking lot with loose gravel flying around.

He’s also a favorite in most of the aforementioned buddy movies, and especially Starsky and Hutch. They’ll be in a cafe, reflecting on the reprimand they’ve received from their boss, when a call comes in. The radio plays, giving them the opportunity to attach a flashing light to the roof of their car and go on a car chase, closely followed by a gunfight. Do you see how it is possible to execute one cliché on another? Pretty soon you’d have a whole plot, but would someone buy it?

One way to change this scene could be to have an alternate means for the cops to get the message. Could you have them listen to something on television? Or how about on a cell phone or laptop…there are multiple opportunities for mistakes, misunderstandings or criminal action there, and they haven’t been overstated…yet.

Good Cop / Bad Cop

The interview between the good cop and the bad cop became a cliché almost as soon as the crime novel began. A good example, almost seventy years old, can be seen in The Maltese Falcon. By now, everyone knows the moves and your readers will be bored long before the interview is over. Unless you’re being self-referential and tongue-in-cheek, like in LA Confidential, you’ll never make it.

Cracker tried to completely subvert the interview situation by having it conducted by a psychiatrist who played both cops in one. At The Rock, Sean Connery, as a prisoner, told Nicholas Cage what questions he should ask him. He will have to find something equally innovative if he wants it to work.

How about having two good cops? Or two bad cops? Or maybe there’s a new computer system designed by psychologists to ask the right questions in the right order? How would your cops and your prisoner handle that?

the strange wife

Why do all the fictional cops have relationship problems? This scene always goes the same way. The wife says, “You never see the kids anymore.” The policeman doesn’t say anything, because his mobile phone interrupts. You know the rest.

Cracker is again a good example, as he went through this scene in almost every episode. Pacino performed a variation with his girlfriend on Heat.

Cracker not only has a failed marriage, but is also a gambler and drinker. In recent years, people have been giving cops more and more problems to overcome, culminating in Denzel Washington’s paraplegic investigator in The Bone Collector. He wouldn’t even try to top that.

Why not original? Turn your police into a healthy, stable and happily married man. Now there is a challenge.

conclusion

The next time you read or watch a police drama, take a look at how many of the above are still in use. All of these can and often do happen in any story…just shuffle the paragraphs, throw in a murder or two and you have an instant plot.

But unless you can subvert some of the cliches, don’t expect anyone to buy it.