Stockpiling memories

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My mother did not believe in running out of things. After she died it took us three months to use up her stock of loo paper. Her mammoth roll of cling-film lasted me a year. It was twenty-two months before I needed to buy more ginger conserve ("Because they stopped making it one time, darling, don't you remember? We had terrible trouble finding it again.").

Silver foil, light bulbs, batteries.... I finished them all, one by one. And just this last week I blew my nose on the very last multi-coloured tissue in the very last box I unearthed from her airing cupboard (no, I never worked out why they were kept there either).

Rest in peace, Mum. Hope they've got a decent supermarket up there.

Hellibores moved from my mother's shade garden to mine when I sold her bungalow.
Rosemary Coulson: 4th June 1930 - 30th September 2005
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I Love London

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Now, I know I've lived in East Anglia for nearly thirty years, but London has always been my city.

It's where I was born, where I did all my growing up. It's in my bones. It puts a fizz in my blood like nowhere else in the world.

And it has its moments of sheer, unexpected surprise.

This looks like the interior of any church, looking out towards the garden, right?

But it isn't. Because this is St Dunstan in the East, in the heart of London, and this photo was taken from the outside looking in
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The tiny church, bombed beyond reasonable repair during WW2, has been turned into a city garden. Instead of being demolished for redevelopment, it is now a small oasis surrounded by office blocks
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I love London.








PS - thanks to Fiona Harper for directing my feet there
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Black Box

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I blame Liz Fenwick. See, this is my black box. (In a later post I'll show you what's inside it.)

But Liz found another black box. A black box created by Stray to promote a book by Caroline Smailes called - wait for it - Black Boxes.

The book is about choices. And the Black Box Widget is about choices too. In theory, the choices you make when you open it will connect you to a blog (or website) belonging to someone who also made similar choices.

Ha!

What it really does is to steal away all your will-power so you can't help opening the little beauty over and over again. You start off thinking, "Hey, this is cool. All these nice blogs to land in." But after three or four hours, you're doing it because it's so bewitching watching the darling boxes rotate and open up to display more choices. And after seven or eight hours you're doing it because you actually are interested in all the choices you're making.

So, if you are on a deadline, do not open this box

Taking my mind off.....

Have just been to have troublesome upper tooth 'investigated'. This is dentist-speak for scraped out, prodded, tutted over and re-filled.

"It's much better," I said brightly when I arrived.
He looked at me. "But you told me last week that whenever you drank anything cold you felt as if your ears were being torn off."
"Well yes," I said. "But I've been limiting myself to tea. And red wine at room temperature."
He sighed. "Just sit in the chair."

Consequently am now numb from right cheekbone to right eye and having difficulty drinking my tea without dribbling.


So, I'm cheering myself up playing with the publicity-postcards that arrived today. Aren't they gorgeous? Can't decide whether I like the fan design on silver lamé or the casual block design on blue velvet.

It's going to be a real wrench to send them off to all the libraries in the Yellow Pages in the hopes of making a few sales.

But, hey, I can always order more!

TA DAAA!!!

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Here it is! The final cover of Fair Deception

Available to pre-order from the Robert Hale website, or indeed Amazon or your local independent bookshop (but at the moment, ordering from Hale is much cheaper)

Aren't you just itching to find out what happens when gorgeous Kit rescues Susanna from the dastardly Rafe Warwick? If you haven't got time to read the whole first chapter, here is a tiny taster:





. He knelt next to the tub and before Susanna could divine his intent, lifted her leg and lowered her foot into the cold water.
. Her gasp was less for the icy temperature than for the fact that his grasp on her calf had been disturbingly sensuous.
. “I beg your pardon, did I jar you?”
. “No, I - ”
. But he was frowning and gently stroking the red weal. “The ankle I saw you twist, but how did this happen?”
. “Mr Warwick has a cane,” said Susanna, twitching at his touch and thanking God that her foot was already becoming numb. “And an uncertain temper.”
. Her rescuer sat back on his heels. “As well you did not provoke it further. I have heard that cane doubles as a sword-stick.”
. Susanna stared at him in horror. “And you hit him with your bare fists? He might have drawn on both of us!”
. “That’s Mr Kit for you,” said the footman cheerfully. “Acts first and thinks later. Always has done.”

Now that's my kind of hero!

When in, er, Cambridgeshire...

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Now this really isn't something you see every day. Cyclists, yes. Cambridgeshire is full of cyclists. Cyclists dressed as Roman centurions complete with modern-day steel chariot, no.

So after I'd got over the shock (thinking that maybe he was a miasma brought on by Too Much Rain), I abandoned the washing up and rushed outside with my camera, just in time to see the centurion conferring with his support vehicle and deciding to head back the other way.


Apparently they are riding the length and breadth of the country for various charities, including the East Anglia Children's Hospices.

"But why as a Roman centurion?" I called as they disappeared into the unremitting drizzle.

I think he yelled back that it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

This cannot be comfortable!

Now, I know that cats can - and do - sleep anywhere.

But this really cannot be comfortable!

Sometimes, I worry about Archer.

Punts and a chocolate box

Lovely lunch in Cambridge today with Elaine from Random Jottings.

We sat on the Galleria balcony and watched the punts, eating and chatting and then - disaster - no sticky toffee pudding on the menu!




So Elaine consoled herself with the Dutch Apple Flan (with toffee sauce)





and I had ... a Chocolate Box.


Yes, really, it is a divine cube of multiple layers of different textures of chocolate. And it came with toffee sauce and cream.

We both agreed it was a good thing we only met for lunch every six weeks or so...

FAIR DECEPTION ready to pre-order

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Wahay! Fair Deception is available to pre-order on the Robert Hale website at £13.29 instead of £18.99. Plus free postage too!

Go to the book description to get in before stocks run out. You won't be sent it until October, mind, but by then you'll have forgotten you ordered it, so the parcel will come as a lovely surprise.

This is the rough of the cover - it's lovely, but by the time the real one comes out I'm hoping the artist will have taken on board my mentioning that Kit has flaxen hair and Susanna's red-gold curls are the source of all her troubles...

Bed and Breakfast?

Now this is something I've never seen before - a whole mass of bees sleeping in the dahlia bed!


These photos were taken about 7 o'clock in the morning - each bee sleeping on its own dahlia flower. They were definitely sleeping, not feeding, because I'd been watching them for half-an-hour or so before it occurred to me to get the camera. As the sun warmed them, they stirred and flew off. By 7.30am they'd all gone.


Very strange.
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Regency Evening

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Lovely Regency outing to the Victoria&Albert museum in South Kensington last night. A whole evening dedicated to various Regency pastimes.

We started with games of skill and chance (mostly chance, obviously, as I lost every one) in the most wonderful setting. Norfolk House was the first residence in London to have a bespoke music room. The glorious and totally over-the-top mirrors and panelling were rescued when the house was sold and have been lovingly restored to turn room 52 on Level 2 into a recreation of the Norfolk House Music Room.

The games on offer were Loo (cards), Teetotum (a spinner/counter game favoured by dowagers because the rules are so simple it gave them ample opportunity to observe the company in the room whilst they played), Hazard and Snake-eyes (both dice). Here is novelist Louise Allen busy writing notes at the Teetotum table.


Next we went to the John Madesjski Garden where fencers from the Royal Armouries entertained us with fencing, single-sticks,




quarterstaffs


and bare-knuckle fighting.
Excellent stuff.




Then it was along to the Raphael gallery where our host and hostess demonstrated a Minuet (which took an astonishing amount of space - they'd have needed an immense room if everybody at the ball had wanted to join in), accompanied by musicians on genuine 18th century instruments. We all then took part in a simple round dance in which you had approximately twelve seconds with your partner before repeating the measure with the next partner and so on and so on and so on all around the circle. Talk about speed dating!


Back to watch a re-creation of the Sheriden duel and handle real Regency swords (much lighter than Louise and I expected) and then off for a guided tour through the Regency galleries.

And then we staggered off for nice Thai food and the last train home.

Wonderful evening.

Garden Day

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Conference packs printed.

Conference packs posted.

Workshop choices coming in.




I think it's time I tackled this...

Paper, paper everywhere...

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Normal service will be resumed once I've finished compiling the Romantic Novelists' Association conference pack.


And printing it out.

And collating it.

And putting it in everyone's envelopes.

And buying more teabags.

Summer Party 2008

So, after two weeks of unbroken sunshine, I throw open the curtains on the morning of the Romantic Novelists' Association Summer Party - and am confronted with rain. I was so shocked that for quite a long time I couldn't actually remember what I usually wear when it's raining. In fact, I couldn't remember so thoroughly that I drove off to catch the London train in my sandals. And got completely soaked. Good thing I had strappy party footwear in my bag.


The weather, however, only made people more determined to enjoy themselves (which is saying something for an RNA do). After catching up with lots of friends (and stopping the canapé waiter with the sausages and mash by will power alone) came the speeches.


I was delighted when 'my' Joan Hessayon cup was awarded to Giselle Green for her début novel Pandora's Box.



After the party, as is our wont, those of us that were still standing went off for a meal (the calories in the canapés having been used up in the effort of chasing after them) at an extremely nice Italian restaurant.

Not only did they not object to our extreme cheerfulness, they even invented an extra table so we could all eat together without us having to tell them that we numbered some well-known writers in our midst.

Spring has, er, sagged...

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It was hot and sunny over the weekend. I put on shorts. I mowed the lawn.

I came indoors and caught sight of myself in the mirror.

I am now into the fourth day of a no-booze-or-chocolate diet.
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