Monthly Archives
Another interesting thing that came out of the SYP talk, was that, in order to âget noticedâ these days, there are a whole new breed of people to send your work to. There are so many writers out there that…
Continue readingAs the ghosts and ghouls and trickânâtreaters were spilling out onto the Oxford streets for a ghostly-cold night, I returned (after a short trip into Oxford to find a birthday present for my mum) I returned to OUP and met…
Continue readingIâve been putting my handwritten changes to chapter 13 into the Word file. Because I was working offline with an old fashioned pen-type of arrangement I havenât seen the comments and corrections that Helen has already made to an earlier…
Continue readingApropos of nothing in particular, and I canât remember how this came into my head, but I think it was something I heard on Radio 4… If there is a loving male/female couple and theyâve been together for years and…
Continue readingToday was mostly taken up with taking a (beastly wet) drive down to Fareham with Emma and her sister for Sunday lunch with Grandma and Aunty Gill who was over from the States (yes, Emma too has relatives in the…
Continue readingLast night, whilst vacumning round the house, I reversed my bedroom in order to have a ‘bedside table’ and lamp on both sides of it. In addition to this I may be able to find room for one or two…
Continue readingDonât laugh, but yes, Iâve just had my first ever Panini. It wasnât intentional, however got too preoccupied tidying out my airing cupboard last night that I forgot to put some bread on so had nothing to make sandwiches with…
Continue readingThatâs it. Iâve finished revising chapter 13. It’s weird, but as I’ve been doing the revising, I have been crossing out the bits that I thought, god this is really crap, but-I-need-to-write-it-to-get-the-story-on as I was writing it, and sure enough,…
Continue readingEugh, it’s been a yucky week. Dull work, dull weather, and not even any magpie inducing shiny things or lights at the end of the tunnel yet as to when my second interview is! Ggrrr… I’m trying to remain optimistic….
Continue readingThatâs the problem with having really great weekends like this last one. It seems that the more that Emma and I have really good weekends, the more we miss each other in the intervening weeks. Goodness knows what itâs going…
Continue readingHaving given the weekends sloes there âfirst frostâ in the freezer, this evening I have made this years sloe gin. I think maybe, we went a little over the top with the picking … I have got three bottles of…
Continue reading1. Red sky in the morning, Shepherd’s warning – that was the gorgeously beautiful sky that greeted me upon pulling back the curtains this morning. Okay, I confess it, had I actually had got up when I should have got…
Continue readingThe plan for today was originally to go to the University of Oxford arboretum to gaze upon the autumn colours. That was, at least, until yesterday’s bike buying exploits. So Plan B was to go for a bike ride, come…
Continue readingThis weekend is the six month anniversary of Emma and mine’s first date. She arrived at my house on Friday afternoon and was waiting for me, making use of my wireless broadband connection. It was not quite a repeat of…
Continue readingNote to self: when one buys a present for one’s gorgeous girlfriend, one should not right about it in an unprotected post in these pages. Furthermore, when said gorgeous girlfriend is hooked up to one’s own wireless network and says…
Continue readingYes, I know, mentioning Christmas even before Halloween? How could I? Scurrilous behaviour! 😉 But for some of us, we have to. Now that last weekend’s Proms-style concert is done and dusted, we have to turn our attention to Saturday…
Continue readingI had to defrost my car for the first time this season â a clear sign that those nights are getting cold. Another thing that was clear today was the light; clean and clear, and cold and crisp. It was…
Continue reading1. I watched yesterday’s episode of Jamie at Home tonight, and it was all about one of the best vegetables ever - the squash. Pumpkins have to be great donâ’t they? You can make Halloween lanterns out of them but…
Continue readingLast night, I arrived home from work to find that Emma had stolen into my house, and lit candles, poured wine, and got a delicious baked salmon meal planned. It was one of the most special of surprises I think…
Continue readingSometime between 1 and 1.30 this afternoon the rain started in earnest. White lines of rain pouring from the sky. And it continued â all afternoon â and I was glad that I wimped out biking it into work today….
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