Jennifer Hendrik

 Adrian and I finally got to meet Jennifer on Wednesday evening.  Charming and energetic she turned a few heads at the Lintot.



She charmed Adrian



And then left him holding the baby.

World Book Night

When I collected the books at Waterstones in Horsham I had the intention of giving them to random strangers.  And then I looked around at the strangers available and, even in a bookshop, they did not look worthy.  So I had to create a plan B.  It has been a bit more complicated mostly due to geography and it couldn't happen on 5 March but I selected the following people who I think (hope) will read the book and distributed to Adrian Elliott, Alison Bradley, Alison Regan (12 copies), Amanda O'Rourke, Amy Hardner, Angela Hendrik, Charlotte Davies, Cheryl, Chris Granger, Claire Morgan, Claire Wylie, David Dent, Di Blackman, Donna Vaughan, Jane Roffey, Janis Sharpe, Jez (4 copies for her book club), Jo Comaschi, Julie, Kate Moss, Katy Barrett, Linda Stabler, Lisa Condell, Louise Clarke (soon to be Ault), Louise Roberts, Louise Timms, Maureen Smith, Me , Melinda Dixon, Mother, Philippa French, Sarah Mohoney, Tracey Young, Vanessa Young.

The administration of World Book Night smacked of enthusiasm and great ideas backed up with not much in the way of sleeve rolling and getting on with it.  I may be doing the organisers an injustice here, getting 1 million books printed and distributed to 20,000 people around the country is a huge undertaking.  Unfortunately guidance on what the WBN experience is supposed to be was not readily available and even when I went looking for it I wasn't particularly successful.  The staff in Waterstones were very helpful but didn't have a clue either.

Shall I slash my wrists now?

Is it just me or has the world become rather depressing of late?  A short web search came up with this group of reasons to lack cheer .  The end of the world seems to be particularly likely around xmas which is a bit of a bummer.  So the big question is why bother paying any bills if its all going to end soon? 

Watching the tragedy in Japan on the news last night made me very sad.  The devastation looks unbearable.  Then they showed a man who was picking through the rubble collecting photographs and small personal mementos to preserve them from the bulldozers about to clear the area and burn everthing.  The Salvager explained his mission as being to preserve some memories of the children who are probably dead.  After the obligatory British visitor, unharmed and largely unaffected by the disaster explaining how glad she was that she could contact someone at home on her mobile phone.  Then there was an expert interviewed about the financial impact of the disaster.  Of course he didn't say so but to me the subtext seemed that some investment wankers will be making a fortune out of this blip in the market - I find that abhorrent.  Another thought that dented my faith in the human race was the continual lament of the press about the lack of accurate numbers of victims of the quake.  Why do we care so much about how many there are?  It's a lot, and each individual death is a tragedy for someone.  There was reference to the long term financial implications of the Kobe quake in 1995 and their continuing impact.  There was no mention of the long term impact of the tragic loss of life. 

Even though I work in human resources and therefore have no heart I find this staggering.

I told you it was depressing.

Banging Done, Dust Settled

The rest of the house remains standing and I am delighted with the result.  I could seat a whole book club comfortably now - just need to get one going.

In fact its such a success that the wall between the kitchen and what we call the music room (no piano but there is a record player) is next on the list for demolition.

Plasterer should be in in a week or so to redo the ceiling in the artexed bit and make good the walls then we can think about decorating for 6 or 7 years.

Remodelling at 9 Hillside

Not content with moving furniture around we are moving walls around this weekend.  We take parties very seriously in our house and a bigger room is needed for 2 April.

Saturday morning before 8am Shane from next door was in with his assistant Gavin and some very advanced protective sheets etc. 

Adrian very efficiently moved the coats and made the coffee. 

Waiting for the first bang.

Back in Horsham

After 3 days in Wales.

The north Wales coast from Llandudno to Prestatyn is very pretty.  If I hadn't been there for St Dunstan's I wouldn't have been there at all so its hard to regret having been there and there were some elements of fun.

Dinner at The Quay with Sarah and Sian from Supertemps was fun.  Lovely hotel would be quite out of place in Llandudno, but as it's Deganwy with a view of Conwy Castle it's not out of place at all.  Very nice restaurant serving small elegant food on odd shaped plates and reasonable wine.  Combination of good company, that end of term feeling after two days of grueling arm rubbing and skins full of wine helped to end the trip with a laugh.  Thanks to Jo for making the trip tolerable.

Birthday Wish List


A History of the World in 100 Objects

Available from the British Museum or their website.  Members get a 10% discount (Adrian and I are members).  Price is £30.

 Saw these at Waterstones, no idea how much they are, no price on the box.

 

. 

Another one from the British museum beautifully modelled by Adrian.  Persian rug mouse mat.  Price £16.99 is a bit hard to see in the picture.

Chanel - Allure Eau De Parfum Spray - A sweet, warm floral fragrance. Embraces your skin with a blend of tropical wetness, freshness & floral scent. Blends of water lily, jasmine and rose with notes of vanilla. Gives you a rich sense of fantasy. It lingering smell makes you feel refreshing throughout the day. Recommended for modern woman.   About £47 available from Boots and others.

Pyjamas - I like modest, ugly stretch knit pyjamas that cover up to the neck.  Long or short sleeves and mid calf length trousers.  My favourite pair are black and white striped trousers and plain black top from M&S.  This pair is £9.50 from M&S.

Georgio Armani lipstick - Sheer Rouge Transparent No. 6 and mascara Eyes to Kill.  Available at Selfridges and (I think) online from georgioarmanibeauty.co.uk

Books I haven't read yet but would like to include:

The Quiet American - Graham Greene

The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene

Travels With My Aunt - Graham Greene

The Black Prince - Iris Murdoch

The Sandcastle - Iris Murdoch

The Nice and the Good - Iris Murdoch

An Accidental Man - Iris Murdoch

Hunted Down - the detective stories of Charles Dickens - Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens

David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie

Miss Marples Final Cases - Agatha Christie

Problem at Pollensa Bay - Agatha Christie

Barchester Towers - Anthony Trollope

Can You Forgive Her - Anthony Trollope

Casino Royal - Ian Fleming

The Book of the Dead

Receiving a renewal notice for my friendship with the British Museum on Friday finally got me to visit on the last day of this exhibition.  After a bit of argy bargy at Three Bridges station about train tickets (so expensive these days and the cheap ones are hidden on page two of the machine's menu) Adrian and I got to London for around noon. 

I am impressed by the technology in the BM.  Members don't book tickets for the special exhibitions but simply insert their card into the reader at the entrance for details checking and in you go.  The audio guide is now an iPod Touch in a tamper proof case with alarm attached and includes high quality graphics that point out particular areas of interest in an exhibit that enhances the experience.

The Egyptians could be accused of being obsessed by death given the amount of rigmarole surrounding it but death rituals are important sources of information about civilisations and this is no exception.  Cutting off the foreleg of a living calf as part of the ritual seems a bit unnecessary but other than that most of the activity seems quite harmless and makes as much sense as many modern religious rituals in my opinion.

Basically the Book is a sort of passport into the afterlife.  It's a book of spells to be used on the journey.  They vary in length and complexity, some are obviously created for their owners and others seem to be sort of 'off the peg' editions wish spaces to fill in the names after purchase (I presume money changed hands in the transaction). 

On of the things the traveller into the afterlife has to ensure is that their heart weighs in okay and that's what's happening in the picture above (copied from BM website).  If the heart does not pass this test the Devourer is standing by to gobble it up.  The Devourer is the funny looking creature on the right of the picture.  It has the head of a crocodile, the front end of a leopard and the rear of a hippopotamus.  A most unusual and interesting composite beast.

I loved the shabtis, they brought the ancients to life for me.  These mummified  miniature people accompany the deceased into the afterlife to perform any manual labour (so they don't have to do it themselves).  To spend any part of eternity engaged manual labour is so abhorrent to them they make arrangements to avoid it!  We think we know that this afterlife does not exist but it might.  Nobody actually knows.  This Ancient Egyptian afterlife has the advantage of being quite fully described unlike the monotheistic religions of modern times that always seem to be a bit vague on the detail.

World Book Night

I'm giving away 47 copies of The Blind Assassin tomorrow as a giver in the first World Book Night in the UK (I'm going to keep the 48th for myself).  I read it some time ago but I couldn't find my copy when I went to refresh my memory - I must have already passed it on.  I know I enjoyed it but can't remember much detail and I'm looking forward to reading it again tomorrow.



Shaving off 22.5 minutes

Official time 2:40:10; Garmin time 2:37:34; Goal time for next year 2:15:59 that's one minute less for each kilometre travelled so there are two things I need to do to achieve this:

• Increase my average speed to 9.4 km per hour.  I hope these old legs can manage that.
• Work out how to refuel (eat jelly babies) and rehydrate (that's drink water or Lucozade uuugggghhhh) whilst running which is much harder than it sounds if you breath through your mouth while running.

I'll try to restrict blogging about running from now on as although I have no followers it gets boring even for me eventually.

I bought them all

I went with the buy them all deal. 

Paralysed by Indecision

On Tuesday I received an email from Sportcam with a link to the pictures taken of me at the Brighton Half Marathon.  I look close to death in most of them but there is one where I am actually smiling and look as though I am enjoying myself. 

Like school photos there are various options to chose from if you want to own these images, printed or downloadable or on CD, individually or in groups and of course the prices vary with the unit price cheapest if you buy all the images. 

I seem to have lost my ability to make a decision when faced with this abundance of choice.  There is only one image that I would willingly display anywhere but a little greedy demon keeps pointing out to me that I could obtain that picture for a lot less if I agree to buy a dozen that I don't really want along with it. 

I seem to be facing a similar dilemma in other areas and wonder if that is part of getting old or if I AM STUCK IN A RUT and don't know how to get out.  Do I dare sacrifice a little security for the chance of a more endurable existence?  Not sure yet - watch this space.

After the Race

 

Four frillies and the accountant -
no sign of Phil at this point

Brighton Marathon 2011 - Well I'm not a marathon virgin anymore but I still have a long way to go.  We crossed the start line at around 9.08 and it was cold and crowded to start.  You might notice the long sleeve top is missing in the finish line photos.  My lovely running companion has it in the backpack.  I think he runs with me because he knows I will stop and walk part way through if he's not there to police things and I think he is right.  I hate him for making me keep going at the time but love him for it afterwards.

That extra 3 miles makes quite a difference that I was a little unprepared for.  I found the first 5 miles okay.  I pretended they were kilometres to make the end feel a bit closer and that worked until mile 8 but then I started to feel my tank was running low and I haven't practised refuelling on the go.  Eating a jelly baby is quite difficult when you have no moisture in your mouth.  The next water station couldn't come quick enough, I understand now why runners carry a bottle of water.  Of course is not enough just to carry it (which I have tried), you have to keep taking a sip.  I still have no idea how you eat on the go, I'll just have to work on that one.

 


at the finish - no crowds at the font or the back


Having got a bit dehydrated and low on fuel, miles 10-13 were really hard and I had to stop a couple of times to have a sip of Lucozade energy drink, which is disgusting. 

Here I go over the finishing line with an official time of 02:10:10 still within medal time.

The last half mile was really tough.  I knew we were nearly at the end but I couldn't see the finishing post clearly and then when I did it was 200m further away than I thought and that was a long 200m.  I was still standing after crossing the line but shunned the proffered silver blanket as I could only focus on receiving a medal at that stage and failed to realise the photo opportunity in a large sheet of reflective foil.  At least I was still standing and in better condition than at the end of the 10k in October 2010.  I even managed to get my foot onto the bench for the electronic tag to be removed. 



  The shoes, the number,
the medal.......

Noone could be more surprised than I that I have actually done this.  Thanks to Lyn Perryman who started it all with our tribute to her last Spring when we decided to run the 5k Race for Life in her memory.  We've come a long way since then and Jo and Tray are running the full Brighton Marathon in 6 weeks.  That's a step (30,000 steps actually) too far for me I'm afraid but I'll be signing up for the the Great South Run in October and plan to do the Brighton Half Marathon in the Olympic year of 2012.

I just need to practice eating on the run and go and get myself a water bottle now.   Must run.





It's 6.28 am on Sunday morning and I'm trying to eat a bowl of porridge without much appetite.  Porridge is not the sort of food you can eat very easily when you're in the grips of nervous tension and not feeling hungry. 

Garmin, iPod, jelly babies, patella taping kit and the dozen other marathon essentials are lined up downstairs ready for the first leg of.  The last of the die hard party goers will be stumbling back to their lodgings now amidst preparations for the river of lycra due to hit Brighton shortly.  There are roads to close and gazebos to set up and stock with water and Lucozade.  Toilets to search for overnight debris and prepare for their original intended use.  8,000 souls will be emerging from their beds wondering why they are up so early on a Sunday morning and why they've spent a good deal of the last 12 weeks pounding the streets (or treadmills) in preparation for this early rise.

I'll let you know how it goes later on.

A Week in December

The book was recommended by a friend so I went ahead and bought a copy at Heathrow to read on the way to New York.  I didn't get further than the first few pages, ironically about the building of Westfield Shopping Centre, that Jacqui had not even heard of let alone visited which seemed at the time to make the book more significant.  That was in mid November 2010 and I didn't pick it up again for 2 months.   I didn't look at the reveiws on Amazon until today as I have read Faulks in the past and enjoyed his writing.   Amazon readers seem to have more negative than positive comments to make (by volume of 151 responses posted to date) and I tend to agree.  To begin there are a few too many characters who are not readily absorbed from the few lines of introduction to each within the first few pages.  This certainly is a diverse cross section of west London's inhabitants and should have been a much more compelling and interesting read than it was.  When I think of how dense Birdsong was and how each word seemed to be charged with life (or death) its hard to imagine this is written by the same man.  Each individual or couple seems to be a thinly drawn caricature and nowhere is this better illustrated than the thoroughly reprensible hedge fund manager who appears to have not a single redeeming element to his personality. 

I'm not sure whether to be encouraged to write or to give up now considering this novel and my own disappointment with the OU.  I'm reminded of a documentary about Stephen King I saw years ago where he King his early writing career and his wife's wise decision to retrieve the only manuscript copy of Carrie from the wastebasket.  King's advice to would be writers was simply to 'write'. 

Perhaps I should just get on with it.  If Sebastian Faulks can keep writing after Birdsong, produce A Week in December and keep going then why cant I?  Nobody said it was going to be easy.

Other interesting bits of the day

After 27 months the Shannon v St Dunstan's case is finally over with an award of costs to St Dunstan's in the sum of ₤3,500 costs to St Dunstan's.  An award of costs in the ET is rare so this is quite an achievement and vindication of the Charity's actions.  I hope interest the Third Sector in reporting this interesting development.

A week's break from training ended today with a 50min run that was quite hard.  Orginally planned to be 90min but had to be cut short for fear of relapse due to over exertion.  I've got my number (538) for next Sunday and a tag for my shoe to clock exact timing to be reported in paper. 

The run made me so tired I couldn't manage dancing tonight so practising the rhumba and quickstep we learned over the weekend in Bournemouth will have to wait. 

Here we are at the end of Saturday evening after a dinner with some interesting and funny people and dancing including a few dances with a strange man who nobody knew and who left as suddenly as he had arrived.  The dance weekend was fun but 2 nights was enough, especially as I had a cold and had a limited number of hankies with me.

Interesting Day

Collected Nanny's ashes from the undertaker this afternoon.  She's on the windowsill in my lounge now but I haven't actually looked in the jar yet (surprisingly squeamish all of a sudden).  It's quite a big vessel, much heavier and bigger than I was expecting. 

There is a Certificate of Cremation No 149077 in the bag alongside the jar that notes the name, age and death date of the deceased and the date and venue of the cremation.  On the back there are instructions about the disposal  of cremated remains.  It notifies that if the remains are buried they can't be disintered without Home Office licence (I couldn't find out how much that costs anywhere) and/or a Bishop's Faculty which costs ₤161.80. 

Activity 4 - Run 10 Miles without stopping.  I know this is allied to activities 1 and 3 and might seem like cheating but running non stop for 10 miles having never done so before is an achievement for me.  I wont include any more running activities unless I manage a marathon which is extremely unlikely.

Activity 5 - ballroom dancing weekend in Bournemouth today to Sunday.  This could be an unmitigated disaster or a bit of fun.  Not inspired by the news (after booking) that the weekend is concentrating on quickstep and rhumba, my two least favourite dances but there is always the hope that at least some of it will be easy enough for Adrian and I to remember.

The up side of a ballroom dance weekend is the opportunity to wear a nice frock, and the associated acitivity of adding to the nice frock wardrobe which I have planned for later this month.

10 MILES! YES TEN MILES!

Creative writing taking a bit of a back seat this week.  Trip to Llandudno and lots of running has taken precedent.  Running along the seafront at Llandudno on Thursday morning into what seemed to be a reluctant sunrise was cold, windy,hard work.  Especially hard on an empty tank but fotunately only a short run of 45 mins.  This was followed yesterday by equally windy and cold but into sunset in Brighton FOR TEN MILES and we made it!  Minor discomfort from the 5 jelly babies boxing on board and chafing socks (hard to imagine but true).  Not to self - don't eat anything on the way to a run.

My legs are a bit stiff today, especially when I go downstairs and I don't seem to be able to stop eating but I am very grateful to my running partners (front row left to right) Jo and Tracey for keeping me going.  I would have given up without them.

This is going to be harder than I thought

Just got a very disappointing result for the second (and high ranking) of 5 assignments for the OU writing course.  I can't help thinking the standard to be achieved for a good mark is a bit too high for beginners.  Its not very encouraging to just barely pass and receive rather insubstantial comments to go with it.  I'm considering withdrawing from the course; the combination of this disappointment and my struggle with poetry makes me question the value in spending £650 on this course.

We're 5% through 2011 already

I set up a blog over the holiday season but haven't blogged yet so before time flies too far here goes.

I was born in 1961 and I'm using this year of a significant birthday as a catalyst for my transformation from frustrated office worker to freelance writer.  Did I actually say that? I better get going then.  I've planned a gentle route through short stories observing the exciting world of people management supplemented by a series of activities, some harder than others. 

Activity 1 - training for the Brighton half marathon. I am one third of the way through week 8 of this programme. 

Last Sunday I ran 11.75 km in 90 minutes.  It is true that Liz Yelling is probably not threatened by this achievement but it is the longest run I have ever done in my life - and amazingly I enjoyed doing it. So for this activity so far, so good.

Activity 2 - completing OU Creative Fiction course A215 - quarter of the way through so far.  My enthusiasm for poetry remains unchanged even though I was assured that the poetry element was not as daunting as it seemed.  Still hopeful that I might find a poet within I press on slowly.  I console myself that poetry is probably the least financially viable way to get out of the office.  I might need to work on my obsession with earning enough to keep body and soul together if I'm going to succeed as a writer.

Activity 3 -  complete the Brighton half marathon on 20 February 2011. I'm running for St Dunstan's a charity that helps blinded ex Service men and women to manage the trauma of blindness.  You can sponsor my team in this endeavour online by visiting our just giving just giving page


So I've started - now I just need to keep going.