I was rubbish at teaching today. I hadn't prepared the lesson well enough, and the kiddiwinks (okay, they're aged 19-31, but still...) got restless and wondered aloud why there weren't any handouts. I also went through all their CVs and helped them sell themselves a little better to potential employers, so that was a good thing. Perhaps it was a ( Read more... )

Arizona was everything we'd hoped it would be - other than consistently dry and warm. Yes, we hit a patch of cold, wet weather that wasn't what we expected in Arizona in October. But we're English; we coped. Photos of the trip can be found here...

Some highlights:

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, a beautiful patch of the Sonora Desert, ( Read more... )

...so, yeah, we went to Arizona.  And it was brilliant.  So brilliant that I still haven't got around to writing up my holiday journal.  Stayed tuned, if you're interested.  It will appear ( Read more... )

I'm off on my long-planned roadtrip tomorrow - I'm taking my mum to Arizona!  (Plus Vegas).  We've been dreaming about doing this, the pair of us, for years.  I've done loads of American roadtrips on my own (I worked out the other day that this is about my 12th or 13th trip to the US) but this will be special.  My mother is as big an Americophile ( Read more... )

I had a fun night last night. I was in London to perform some stand-up comedy at a new regular monthly night called Funny Women @ Turnmills.  It was a lovely venue, complete with chandeliers - a far cry from the smoky dives I normally play.  But in some ways I prefer smoky dives - more atmosphere.  I've been doing stand-up for nearly a year now, ( Read more... )

My Morning Jacket are pretty much everything you could want from a rock band.  They are loud and passionate, ambitious and epic, with great tunes, a love for American musical heritage plus - and this isn't always the case in rock - you can actually dance to them.  Jim James' voice is gorgeous.  I saw them Friday night at the Astoria in London and ( Read more... )

I've been stressing about my WIP, but today I managed to rewrite the synopsis and get a few chapters together to send to my agent ahead of our meeting on Friday.  That feels good.  Something else good has happened today - well, more of a relief, actually - so another weight has lifted ( Read more... )

I used to dream of going to the Isle of Wight.  I saw it every morning on the drive to school, and when my dad played the Carpenters' version of "Ticket To Ride" on his eight-track, I thought Karen Carpenter was sad because her boyfriend was leaving her for a new life on the island.  I first went there on a trip with my best schoolfriend Elizabeth ( Read more... )

It's been a beautiful day here - warm, sunny and breezy.  Instead of spending the day stuck behind my computer I walked down to the seafront and found a bench perched on top of the ramparts overlooking the whole of Southsea and the Isle of Wight.  I wrote for a couple of hours, and probably achieved more than if I'd been sitting at my desk all day ( Read more... )

It seems I mostly get to see my family for funerals these days.  It must be part of being middle-aged.  Yesterday was the funeral of my brother-in-law's mother, who was very much a part of our extended family.  A sad day, but also a happy time as well as we all got together and remembered good times.  In the evening a group of us - my sister and ( Read more... )