Thursday 27 December 2012

A lazy day


A few days ago I was expecting a nice lazy day.

It was the last day of school for junior, and SWMBO, (she who must be obeyed), was planning to spend the day shopping in London. It was also arranged that junior would meet up with SWMBO later in the afternoon once school finished for the Christmas break, to attend a theatrical production. As it happens it was A Christmas Carol by Mr Dickens, with Simon Callow doing it as a one man show. For various reason I declined the offer of going when the tickets were booked, and when the morning dawned I was looking forward, apart from the several trips to the railway station to drop all the parties off at the appropriate times, to a day and an evening of relative peace, i.e. I could watch the football. However, when junior got up and eventually staggered downstairs he greeted the morning with a sniff, a cough, and a moan. He wasn’t feeling very well. He had a cold. Ah bless him. A cold!

‘Man flu?’ asked SWMBO. 

Junior nodded, and then turned around and crawled back to bed, indicating that perhaps he wouldn’t be joining his mother for a trip to the theatre after all.

‘You want to come?’ she asked me. ‘I’ll go on my own if you don’t.’

I thought a moment and realised that what she actually said was not what she said....give me a point for realising that! ‘Yes dear,’ says I with barely a hesitation, and then waved goodbye to my football and my lazy day.

The train was actually clean and on time, and I stared out the window while SWMBO first read the paper and then played with her phone. She looked at me and then said. ‘Shall we go to the Dickens museum? It will be cheaper than going to Oxford Street.’

I was quick to agree.

It was raining as we hastened through the streets towards Bloomsbury, though she had an umbrella, I didn’t. It was blue with spots on, and small....a one person umbrella. She tried to hold it up so that both of us could share, but what happened was that both of us got wet on one side. I gave in and got wholly soaked. So sodden wet we turned up at Mr Dickens’ former abode. I hope he didn’t mind me dripping on his carpet.
It’s an interesting place, and done out as he would have seen it and well worth the visit. I did a little mental calculation and realised that I could probably afford about a square inch of the floorspace, so would have quite a problem fitting my furniture into that. Nice house though.

Thankfully by the time we came out the rain had stopped, so we walked, eventually coming to Holborn. We passed a restaurant that we went to some twenty years previous when we picked up our wedding rings from the jewellers. We looked at each other, and yes, we did, we went in....and it hadn’t changed a bit!
A quick trip afterwards to Liberty's and then a couple of pints in an old pub before turning up to watch Mr Callow do his thing.

The theatre was warm, and I’d had a couple of pints. I felt my eyes droop. I received an elbow in the ribs. I just hope Mr Callow didn’t notice! Actually the performance was brilliant, how the hell he could remember all those lines I just don’t know, well I think he remembered all the lines, as I just said, I may have missed a couple!

After the applause he richly deserved we started to make our way to the train station and home. We paused on the bridge over the Thames and looked towards St Paul's. Everything was lit up for Christmas, and the lights played on the ripples of the river, it was really quite beautiful. I took a picture and sent it to junior before we caught the train home.

A lovely day, and made all the better when we got back and I asked if he had got the picture I sent.

‘Yes!’ he snarled. ‘Thanks for rubbing it in!’

I grinned back at him before opening the wine and pouring two glasses, one for me and one for she....actually I rather liked my lazy day!

     

Tuesday 20 November 2012

Too much to do

Today I have too much to do, consequently I probably won't achieve anything.

I have to decorate the bathroom, rip up the kitchen floor and replace with brand new sparkling tiles. I have to sort out the hall and take a shovel to junior's bedroom. I have to go and get the shopping for the week and I have to walk the dogs, one of whom is cowering under the table as the local farmer won't turn off his bloody crow scarer!

Outside it is raining, the garden is a mess, but I can scrub that one off the list as I ain't going to clear up in the rain! I have drying washing all over the house, it needs ironing......so I look carefully and decide which items I can get away with, the missus won't know, hopefully.

I should write, but the mind is too full of everything else and so the delete button is getting red hot.

It's wet, it's cloudy and it's quickly becoming a day where you think, 'sod it.'......and it's still only the morning!

Tuesday 6 November 2012

How do I write?

A lot of writers plan meticulously, they know how their story is going to progress step by step, chapter by chapter, from the very beginning. It's all there, characters, plot, scenes, outcome. Everything. All they need to do is to put it down on paper....but I don't, but sometimes I wish I could!

I think of a character in a situation, and then let it develop.

I've tried to plan, then tried to stick to the plan, but unfortunately my characters won't let me, they go off at tangents, they disappear from the page only to appear somewhere else, they take on a mind of their own and to hell with the consequences, they wag their fingers at me when I try to make them go in a direction they don't want to go...and then they dig their heels in, refusing to move. So instead of planning, now I just let the book form by following the characters and letting them show me their story. They sort of guide me as I write, lead me through page after page, which is interesting as I haven't a clue as to where they are going to take me, what they'll show me, and more importantly, what's going to happen to them. The reality is that I'm just as keen to find out what the story is all about as everyone else. The difference is that get to find out first!



Wednesday 31 October 2012

Welcome to my blog....the first I've done.

I am the author of the newly released novel called Bankers Draft, a humorous fantasy, with a just about competent private detective.

I have been writing for many years, although the above is the first book I've published. I was a paramedic for many years and the way I relaxed was by first reading copious quantities of books during the down time at work. After a while it began to dawn on me that instead of reading whilst at work, I might try writing instead. So I did. Stuffed into the quiet room without the tv booming out I began to scribble away, long hand, on scrap pieces of A4. Little did I know then that one day I would see some of my work in print.